The Man Picked up by the Gods – Volume 3 Chapter 6

The next day.

I went to the store in the morning. When I got there, I noticed that Karla-san was at the reception desk.

“Good morning, Karla-san. How was last night?” [Ryouma]
“Good morning, Boss. We weren’t attacked last night, how about you?” [Karla]
“13 people came to attack me, you know? Anyway, here’s the money I got. Please store it in the store’s treasury.” [Ryouma]
“Understood. By the way, there’s something I’d like to discuss regarding the branch store.” [Karla]
“What is it?” [Ryouma]
“Honestly speaking, we have more than enough funds from our sales and the medical bills now, so how about starting the branch soon?” [Karla]
“Already!? Shouldn’t it still take more time for the others to learn about managing a store?” [Ryouma]

“That’s true, however, Caulkins-san and the others were all former researchers, so they didn’t have any problems with things like literature or arithmetic. Normally, it would also be necessary to learn how to bargain with the customers, and with other stores, as well as for stocking up. However, this store neither has any competitors, nor bargaining customers. So Carm-san and I prioritized teaching them how to deal with problems. Moreover, they’ve already finished learning how to use the account book, so all that’s left now is to pile up some experience.” [Karla]

Ahh, so it’s like that…

“So in other words, the branch store isn’t only there to make more profits, but also as a training school.” [Ryouma]
“Exactly. But of course, either I or Carm will work at the store, to give them guidance. Afterwards, we’ll decide when they’re good enough to take care of the store by themselves.” [Karla]
“I see…” [Ryouma]

We’ve been able to get by just fine before Caulkins-san and the others came… and the others should have also gotten used to their work by now… So while I can’t leave the store to them right off the bat, it’s something like an internship, so I guess it’s fine? 

“I don’t think it’s a bad idea. Let’s do it. Then next is the location of the branch, the plot of land to build it on, and then lastly the store, right?” [Ryouma]
“Yes, please take care of it.” [Karla]
“I understand, then I’ll leave the employees of the new store to you. I’ll go to the guild now and see what I can find out about the store.” [Ryouma]

And so Ryouma went out of the store, and headed towards the merchant guild. There he was brought to the reception room, where the guild master received him.

“You came.” [Grisela]
“Sorry for troubling you all the time. Getting straight to the point, I came here today to inquire about setting up a second store.” [Ryouma]
“So you finally feel like setting up a branch store, huh? I’ve already prepared a list of recommendations regarding the towns you could set up your next store in. They are Delma, Azul, Skoom, Jillman, Lufes, and others.” [Grisela]

To think she would actually prepare that for me, I’m grateful. It’s my first branch store, so a place that’s nearby and easy to get to from Gimuru will be good…

“It’s better to have one near here, right? I’ve also prepared those.” [Grisela]

This manner of reading minds… Frankly, I’ve somewhat gotten used to it by now.

“Thank you very much.” [Ryouma]
“For the meantime, the towns near here that I recommend are Shuchiro, Harken, and Renafu. The town closest is Renafu.” [Grisela]
“Can I buy land in that town?” [Ryouma]

When the guild master heard that, she grinned.

“Preparing it’s no problem, but there’s nothing as big as your store right now.” [Grisela]

The land she recommended to me was around half the size of my current land with a building already built on it. I asked her about it while I looked at the rough sketch, and I found out that it was originally a general store. It already has a storage as well, so with just a little renovation it should be good to go.

“This store is diagonally opposite Pioro’s. He’s also already checked the building, and it’s well built. You won’t have any problems with this. You do have to deal with the documents at the guild over there though.” [Grisela]
“So that’s how it is. Thank you very much. I’ll go with this.” [Ryouma]

Like this I decided on my new store. Discussions really go fast when it’s someone you trust, and all the more so when it’s a specialist. Really, she’s been such a big help.

When I went back to the store, I told Karla-san and Carm-san about the guild master’s recommendation. After that I talked with Caulkins-san and the others about the branch store, and had them promise again not to hand the cleaner slimes to others. This is in the contract, but just in case. The three promised without any hesitation.

After that I left the store early. But before I headed back home, I stopped by Serge’s store. There I told him about the second store, and the fact that I’ll be going to Renafu in order to prepare for its opening. Afterwards I took a lot of cloth, and went back home. I have to start preparing for the trip from tomorrow onwards, but in the meantime I should treat as many cloths as I could. With this many I shouldn’t run out any time soon.

According to Serge-san, the products made from the waterproof cloths had become quite popular, and are now selling really well. Especially amongst the adventurers and the merchants. It’s not too strange though, after all, adventurers want to bring as few things as possible with them in order to be able to move easily. So it’s only normal they’d want to be lighter.

As for the merchants, the ones who were buying were mainly those who didn’t have carriages with roofs, and were using them as rain protection. It’s true that there are leather covers for the carriages in this world, however, using those as a roof to shelter from the rain will make the carriage heavier and take up space. Meaning, not only will it increase the burden on the horses, but it will also cause the number of cargo the merchants can take with them to decrease.

If they do try to forcefully overload the carriage, then in the instance where they happen to run into magical beasts or bandits, they won’t be able to run. Moreover, that much burden on the horses will significantly decrease its lifespan, causing them to have to buy a new one faster. Like this their profits will again greatly decrease. But that’s not all, there’s an unspoken rule amongst merchants regarding horses. A horse is considered to be a merchant’s partner, so a merchant who fails to take care of their horse is considered to be a failure. A merchant that treats his own horse poorly will be given the cold shoulder by his fellow merchants. Contrary to all these demerits, a cover made from waterproof cloth does not take up space, is light, and is extremely effective. Because of this there are many merchants who have started to adopt it.

With that in mind I should feed the sticky slimes a lot and have them split faster. The demand will probably increase from now on, so it could be bad if I don’t decrease the burden on the sticky slimes soon.

I went back home as I thought those things.

And then 4 days passed.

In these past few days I informed those who have helped me until now about my trip and settled the necessary preparations. More specifically, I told the guild master of the adventurer’s guild, Wogan, who is one of my first acquaintances, that I’ll be leaving for a bit. I’ve also changed some of the store’s policies.

The first change is the store’s logo. Since there’s a branch store now, I decided to put a logo on all our bags. The logo has the image of a slime, a bamboo, and the words ‘Bamboo Forest’ on it. I made a deal with Serge-san’s store to get a craftsman to make and imprint the logo for our new bags. I plan to have the new store use these new bags right from the start. As for the customers in the Town of Gimuru, we’ll exchange their bags with the new one.

The second thing that will change are the employees’ day offs. Until now everyone’s been taking turns to get a day off, so the employees haven’t been able to go out together at all. So I figured I should change way the day offs work.

I need to let everyone know of these changes, so I better put up a sign letting people know that the changes will be implemented in approximately a month. The bags will also be changed within that time.

The third thing that’ll change is the slime’s management. Caulkins-san and the rest will be going to the branch store, so there won’t be any slave magicians left back here in the main store. Normally, that would mean I won’t be able to leave the store unattended for an extended period anymore, but that’s not actually the case.

In these past two months, one of the three girls who are working away from their home, Maria-san, has been studying slave magic. Apparently her grandmother is a magician. So if it was just a question of magic power, then she should have more than enough. Unfortunately though, her grandmother died while she was still young, so she wasn’t able to learn any magic. But since she got along well with Robelia-san, she’s been practicing slave magic in her off days, and now she’s able to make a contract with slimes. So I decided that from now on the management of the slimes will be left to Maria-san and Caulkins’ trio. My job from now on will only be to retrieve the extra slimes when there are too many for them to contract.

… Be that as it may, I do wonder if I myself have a limit. From what I’d heard before, the founder of slave magic, who is an otherworlder, had no limits… I got mine from Gayn’s trio as well, so does that mean I don’t have any limits? …I haven’t reached any limits yet too, so I guess I’ll ask them about it later.

I finished my preparations in this way. And now is the day I set off.

“Then, I’ll be going.” [Ryouma]
“Take care!” [Everyone in the store]

Everyone from the store sent me off, and I left the town.

As I stepped out the town’s gates, what greeted me was the sun’s dazzling rays, the clear blue sky, and the road seemingly stretching endlessly. Then I ran. It’s finally here! My first adventure – that’s all by myself – since coming to this world!!

Renafu is a town you get to by passing through four small towns. And it takes three days all in all to get there. Also, while it may not be as big as Gimuru, it’s also quite big in its own right. Now, getting there in 3 days would normally be considered fast, but since I’m using space magic along with qigong, that time is significantly shortened.

Qigong is used in the same way in this world as you would back in Earth, however, the effects are completely different. Back in Earth you could see plenty of performances being shown on TV where practitioners would hang their throat on a spear. With a little bit of practice anyone could do that, and as a matter of fact, I’ve actually managed to do just that. However, in this world, qigong isn’t something like that. In this world, Qigong is able to strengthen and harden the human body in the same way magic is able to. In fact, it’s able to do it even more efficiently.

By circulating the Ki through the internal organs and the skin. And by circulating it throughout the entire body, inside and out, qigong is able to greatly strengthen the body. Thereby greatly increasing the strength of one’s muscles, and endurance against shock. And with the effects of the Ki instilled in the body, not even blade or arrow can penetrate it. Moreover, it does not require an incantation, so with enough practice, it’s faster than magic.

I heard that using qigong is exhausting, but since the body is strengthened by using it, it becomes easier to move, and it also becomes harder to become tired. When I used it, it felt like the stamina consumption just got cancelled off by the ease of movement qigong provides. But what’s more is that with enough mastery over qigong, the body will become less susceptible to disease and will heal faster, making qigong more convenient for fighters that prefer to get up close and personal than magic.

As for the cons, you could say that there’s a downside of having to go through harsh training for a long time before being able to use it… Putting it bluntly, if you can use qigong, then there’s no point in using strengthening magic. But in my case, I’m more interested in magic so I’ve been using it more, but… Well, whatever. There’s nothing wrong with being able to use both anyway. In any case I should get moving now.

I’ve been using the space magic ‘Warp’ to move in this trip, but I figured I should leave some magic power just in case, so I strengthened my body and started running. By allowing my magic power to recover as I run, I’m able to proceed at a pace that normal people can’t imitate.

I’ve also considered going slowly and hunting some magical beasts, but the magical beasts here are so weak I don’t’ even need to use my qigong and magic. This is something I’ve come to understand in these two of months of going back and forth my house to the store, going on my errands, and going as far as I can while doing so.

It does seem like a slightly stronger magical beast has been appearing near the Town of Renafu though, so if I go quickly, then I might get the chance to fight with it. It would be nice if I could get to it before it gets hunted by someone else.

Also, since I’m going anyway, I’ve been entrusted by the guild master of the merchant guild with a parcel for Pioro-san. I took it since I’m going to pay him a visit anyway, but I should still make sure I finish this job quickly. And so because of that, I decided to hurry to the Town of Renafu.

I proceeded quickly using my magic power and my stamina. As I left the forest, I crossed the meadows, and then I passed through the small towns. It has only started to get the dark by the time I reached the fourth town, but I guess I’ll stop here for the day…

I went off the road a bit, and used my ‘Dimension Home’. I opened the ‘Item Box’ inside and I took out a cup and various meals for travelling that I bought before leaving. There were all sort of delicious stuff back in my world, so I can’t help but wonder how the food here are…

First is a square-shaped, thin sheet that looks like a biscuit.

“… It’s crispy, but it’s mostly flour… not delicious.” [Ryouma]

I poured some water in my cup with water magic, and drank it. Next is this tawny, dice-shaped lump.

“Hmm… it’s hard… but I can still bite through it… Tastes like cracker. It’s probably this hard because it’s so thick.” [Ryouma]

Next is the jerky.

“Salty… yep, that’s pretty much it, salty. A little bite and salt erupts… There’s no umami either, just salt. Yeah, I should stop eating this now. It’s not good for the body.” [Ryouma]

Last is this green bread.

“This also seems to be hard… I can tell just by touching it.” [Ryouma]

After psyching myself, I took a chomp.

“Ouch!? It’s hard… what is this? It’s way too hard.” [Ryouma]

My teeth literally couldn’t bite it. Sigh… There’s no helping it, so I reinforced my jaw with qigong. I took another chomp, but this time I was able to bite it. “Hmm… this doesn’t seem to have a taste…” or so I thought as I munched, when…

“Ek… glurgh! This tastes horrible!!!” [Ryouma]

I disconcertedly drank water, but it wasn’t enough, so I poured another, and drank more.

“Ahhh… Alright, I’ve calmed down… but still, what the hell is this!!?” [Ryouma]

What was that? Grass? Medicinal plants? There were all sorts mixed together so I can’t tell, but… It blended with my saliva just as hard as I bit it! And some sort of grassy odor invaded me followed by the budding taste of something astringent, bitter, and harsh! It tastes horrible!! I’ll never buy these kind of travel foods out of curiosity again! Actually, I don’t care much about the other food, but I will absolutely, never, ever, buy that green thing again!!

After I carved that decision into my mind, I took a fruit out of my ‘Item Box’ to wash away the taste, and sunk my teeth into it.

After supper ended, I entered the ‘Dimension Home’ and went to sleep. Normally, it’d be necessary to pay attention to one’s surrounding when going out, but with the ‘Dimension Home’ that’s not the case. Really, what a convenient spell.