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nAfter seeing the duke’s family off, I ran back to the mines. There were a lot of adventurers along the way, so I couldn’t help but remember the grell frogs.

nIt’s along the way anyway, so I guess I might as well catch a few.

nAs I thought that, I took out my suit from my Item Box and headed for the marsh.

n“There sure are a lot of people…” Ryouma

nThere’s probably over 100 people in the area, but there are people going to other marshes, so the total number of people here is even more than that.

nAs I thought that to myself while looking at the marsh, I noticed several people wearing the same waders as me. Looks like it’s selling quite well…

nOne group of adventurers caught my eye. They were a group of five and all of them were wearing the waders.

nI remember them. They’re the ones who sold me the bloody slime. The Wharf of Shikumu. I’m here anyway, so I might as well say hi.

nI approached them, but something seems to have happened, as the people around an unhappy Kai were lightly tapping him at the back, telling him not to mind it.

n“Good afternoon.” Ryouma

n“Hmm? You’re that guy from before… Ryouma, right? Thanks for the other day.” Kai

n“Don’t sweat it. I got a good slime from it, after all.” Ryouma

nAs I said that, the drunk guy from before stepped forward.

n“You’re the guy who bought that slime?” Sein

n“Yes, that’s right.” Ryouma

n“I see. Sorry about my behavior that day. I’m Sein. I was really drunk that time, and it seems I picked a fight with you. I don’t remember much of what happened then because I was drunk, but thanks for buying the slime and for the information.” Sein

nHuh. He’s completely different from the way he behaved that time. I thought he was just a drunkard, but it turns out, he’s actually a pretty serious guy.

n“Please don’t mind it. That aside, did something happen? Kai-san doesn’t look too good.” Ryouma

n“It’s not exactly a problem… Before that, though, let me introduce you to these guys firs.” Kai

nAs Kai-san said that, he turned to the two people who carried Sein-san before.

nKai-san placed his hand on the shoulders of the guy a little shorter than him and said this.

n“This one is Kei. He’s my younger brother.” Kai

n“I’m Kei. It’s nice to meet you.” Kei

n“It’s nice to meet you too.” Ryouma

n“And this one is…” Kai

n“Payron. Nice to meet you.” Payron

n“Nice to meet you.” Ryouma

n“And together, we five make up the party ‘the Wharf of Shikumu’. But you knew that, right?” Kai

n“Yep.” Ryouma

n“Actually, we used to be fishermen.” kai

nFishermen? That’s nice, but why are they talking about this all of the sudden? But then Shin-san suddenly switched places with Kai-san.

n“Sorry, Kai sucks at explaining, so I’m taking over.” Shin

nAs it turns out, Shikumu is apparently a village by the bank of the biggest river of this country.

nThey grew up there and are quite proficient as using nets. Because of that they have an easier time catching stuff in the marsh compared to others. The marsh is different from the sea, but they still have an easier time compared to the other adventurers. As a result, they managed to catch a lot of grell frogs.

nThey’ve been making a killing doing this for the past few days. Today, they managed to catch a considerable number too, but when they left their basket of grell frogs unattended for a moment, someone had replaced it with another.

nThe baskets are provided by the guild, so there are a lot of adventurers with the same basket.

n“I see… So, your catch was stolen.” Ryouma

n“I guess…” Kai

nWhat’s with that halfhearted reply?

nBut then Kei-san showed me their basket, and inside could be seen 20 grell frogs, but they were very weak.

nA few of them even looked like they were about to die.

n“If you just look at the numbers, there’s more after being switched, but…” Kai 2

n“These things were handled very poorly. Because of that the grell frogs ended up being so weak. Weak grell frogs like these don’t sell for much, and if they die, their value will go down even more. In fact, they look like they’ll die along the way back to town.” Shin

n“They switched these sorry grell frogs for ours.” Kei

n“We could just catch some again, but it certainly doesn’t feel good.” Sein

nI see… Oh, right!

n“How much do you think these would go for if you sold them?” Ryouma

n“If they’ve been weakened by the time we get to the guild, they’ll go for about 200 suits. If they die, 50 suits. They’re really weak, so this pricing should be right. We learned our lesson a few days ago, so our preliminary investigation should be perfect.” Kai

n“And if the condition is good, about 1000 suits per grell frog, right?” Ryouma

n“That’s right. What about it?” Kai

n“How about selling these two me for 300suits per grell frog?” Ryouma

n2 – I don’t know. It says they caught more than 20 before, and then after being switched, they got 20. So even if

n“I don’t mind, but are you sure?” Shin

n“Your price is better than the guild’s, so it’s good for us, but…” Kai

n“You’ll be losing out, you know?” Kei

n“That would be true if I was planning to sell it to the guild, but I’m going to be using it for myself, so that won’t be a problem.” Ryouma

n“Using it for yourself? You make medicine?” Kai

n“Yes. I plan to use these to make an antidote, so I’d like to buy them all.” Ryouma

n“I see. In that case, thanks for taking them off our hands at a higher price than the guild.” Kai

n“We’ll just catch more to sell to the guild, so feel free to take them all.” Shin

n“Thank you very much.” Ryouma

nLike this I purchased 25 grell frogs from them for 7,500 suits.

n“You sure are amazing…” Shin

n“Ever since you took out a small gold coin to purchase our slime, I’ve always thought it was amazing how you’re able to just take out huge wads of cash like it’s nothing.” Kai

n“It all makes sense after seeing how popular your store is, though.” Shin

nAh, looks like they went to my store.

n“Did you use my store?” Ryouma

n“At first, we were just planning to try it out just once, but it was cheap, quick, and the result was really great, so we decided to frequent it.” Kai

n“And because of the marsh here, we’ve been dropping by everyday the past few days.” Shin

n“At first we were shocked, but it seems slimes can be useful, too, huh. When we tried it out for ourselves it was pretty good.” Kei

nLooks like they became regular customers. That’s good.

n“Having to do laundry once we get home will be a pain in the ass, maybe you could open a branch in our town? If you want I could talk to the fishing association for you and introduce you to a good spot.” Kai

n“A lot of people are actually asking for a branch store, but I don’t have any plans of opening one just yet.” Ryouma

n“Well, I understand it’s not so simple to open one, but if you ever feel like opening a branch at Shikumu, then please contact us. I’ll help you find a store.’ Kai

n“We normally don’t leave town, and even if we do, at most it’s just a nearby town, so reaching us shouldn’t be a problem.” Shin

n“You should be able to get a better place than the merchants guild can provide if you go through the fishing association.” Kai

nIt seems the fishing association is more community oriented than the merchants guild.

n“Thank you. I’ll call you when that time comes.” Ryouma

nAs I said that, I separated from them and went to the abandoned mines.

nWhen I got to the abandoned mines, I let the slimes and rimel birds out to play by themselves, then I dug out a cave and built a place for me to live at and a room for concocting medicine. I made furniture like shelves out of stone too. For the time being, these should serve just fine.

n“Now then… I think it’s about time to call the bloody and cleaner slimes.” Ryouma

nI used the newly built medicine room and immediately got to work on the grell frogs. After all, some of the grell frogs were really quite weak, so I had to work on them immediately, I also took out the grell frogs I caught the other day from my Dimension Home and placed them along with the new grell frogs inside the water tank.

nGrell frogs can live for up to a week if caught in good condition; hence, a normal medical practitioner would take their time to prepare the grell frogs, but with the bloody slime, there’s no need for that.

nFirst, I drew a Magic Formation of Separation on the floor, then I prepared enough stone vessels to contain the harvested parts. Next, I took the grell frogs out and placed them inside a cage by the corner of the medicine room.

nI’ll begin with the grell frogs I purchased today.

n“Bloody.” Ryouma

nI randomly picked one from the grell frogs. It tried to run, so I killed it with a knife, then I ordered the bloody slime to enter it from the wound I made and had it drain its blood.

nNow, it was time to dissect the grell frog. I used the knowledge provided by my Pharmacy skill and dispassionately began cutting out the necessary parts of the grell frog.

nNot a drop of blood was shed during the whole process. The bloody slime’s work was perfect.

nNext, it was time to remove the mucus and wastes.

nI washed the harvested parts and removed the attached dirt and mucus.

nIf you don’t remove the mucus well, the quality will go down. Unfortunately, they’re very difficult to remove. To make things worse, too much strength will damage the internal organs and push the quality down again, so one would have to take extra care when doing this part of the process. At least, when done normally.

n“Do it.” Ryouma

nI ordered the cleaner slimes to clean the mucus and filth from the grell frog parts.

nThe cleaner slimes took the stone vessels into themselves and started removing the mucus.

nAfter a few seconds the harvested parts were sparkling clean.

nI examined the cleaned goods, and as expected, they were cleaned perfectly without a single injury.

nWhat came next was my job.

nI used the Magic Formation of Separation to separate the water content from the harvest parts, causing them to quickly dry.

nNormally, one would have to use wind or fire magic to dry the harvested parts, which as a result of the heat and time would cause the medicinal effect of the part to decline, but with this method, everything can be done quickly with no change in quality owing from heat or spoilage.

nAfter all was done, I checked all the parts with Identify, and they were indeed processed perfectly. They were all at the highest quality. With this I’ve confirmed what order to do things and the effectiveness of the slimes.

nI repeated the same process for the rest of the grell frogs, and in the end, 6 out of 25 of those I purchased today got the highest quality mark from Identify. The remaining 19 were all praised as high quality too, so they weren’t bad by any means.

nThe reason the quality went down was because the grell frogs were caught too crudely. The blood flow of the grell frogs worsened right as soon as I hurt them.

nAlso, I used the leftover grell frog hide and meat as feed for the rimel birds. I knew the rimel birds loved grell frog meat, so I brought it to them, and as expected, they had a great time. I hear rimel birds eat piratically eat anything, though, from meat to fish to fruits to vegetables to grain… Anything.

nThey’re omnivorous, but I suppose meat would be the main part of their diet? I should check with the tamers guild.

nBefore I knew it, it was already dark outside.

nJust to be safe, I gathered the slimes and the rimel birds in the tunnel to ensure their safety. The slimes have gotten stronger, but the night is still dangerous, so I also blocked the entrance with some stones, making sure to just leave enough opening for the air to enter.

n“Now then… It’s been a while since I last spent the night like this…” Ryouma

nReminds me of the time when I first got to this world…

nAt the time, I read the letter from Gayn and the others, then I looked for a place to stay at and found the cliff where I built my house.

nThat was how I learned my earth magic – by digging out a cave.

nAt first, my Break Rock could just barely make a crack, but somehow someway I was able to dig out a hole big enough for my body to fit in, then I blocked the entrance with a stone wall I made. My residence back then was that simple.

nAfter that I gradually worked on the cave. I also gradually got used to the forest and started training and hunting in the night.

n“…I’m not really in the mood right now, though, so… I guess I might as well just use the ingredients I prepared and make some medicine.”

nAs I entered the medicine concocting room aimlessly, I took out the ingredients I got and preserved from the Forest of Gana, and stored them in the shelves.

nI’d like to create a wooden shelf specifically for the medicinal herbs, but I’ll make that some other time.

nThe medicine I can make right now with the ingredients at hand is an… antidote. I have just enough to make an antidote that uses the liver of the grell frog.

nThe necessary ingredients are grell frog liver, a poisonous plant called ‘Kasuri’, a fruit of Kunashi that can be used as antidote after weakening its poison, a flower of jusho that has a strong nourishing effect, and an ufuru herb that has a diuresis effect.

nAfter that I made a pot with earth magic, two spatulas to stir it, and a mortal and pestle. Next time I’ll just buy the tools I need. I’ve gotten by so far by making my own tools with earth magic, but it would probably be best to just buy my tools.

nAs I thought that, I filled the pot with water via water magic, then I put in the cut kasuri herb and kunashi fruit, then I heated the water with the electric spell, Microwave 1, as I stirred the pot.

nI don’t always use this method because sometimes the ingredients are weak to heat, but the kasuri herb and the kunashi fruit are strong against heat.

nAs the two ingredients boiled, the color gradually dissolved, and the liquid within the pot turned violet.

nSeeing that, I stopped heating the pot and let the pot cool by itself, while I crushed the dried grell frog liver.

n“Should be about time…” Ryouma

nWhen the pot was at a good temperature, I threw the crushed liver in and started stirring again.

nWhen the liquid got even cooler, I added the joshu flower and ufuru herb as I ground them into tinier parts with my hands, then I stirred the pot again until they sank.

nAfter that I left the pot to let it simmer and allow the medicinal contents to permeate.

n“What should I do until then?” Ryouma

nWhen I left the room, I noticed the rimel birds.

nI took out my guitar from Item Box and played two national anime ending songs. I played because I saw the moon shining through the ventilation hole.

nWhen I finished playing…

n“…” Rimel birds

nAn incomprehensible sound resounded throughout the cave.

n“Woah!? My ear hurts… Can you guys tone it down for a bit? Ouch…” Ryouma

nThe source of the sound was none other than the rimel birds.

nThey were making those beautiful chirps they made when I contracted them, but it was hard to make out the sound because we were inside a tunnel, making the sound really loud.

nI ended up receiving a lot of damage, but the rimel birds seemed fine. What kind of ears do these guys have?

nThe slimes didn’t have ears, so they were also fine.

nAfter that the rimel birds quietened down, and after hearing their chirps, I ate supper, and then went back to the medicine concocting room.

nExtracting the medicinal effects of the joshu flower and the ufuru herb doesn’t take much time, so it should be about done.

nWhen I used Identify on the contents of the pot…

nIncomplete Antidote (High Quality)

nAn antidote that uses grell frog liver.Disintegrates poisonous content and activates one’s metabolism to expel poison from the body. It works on a large variety of poison, but it is especially effective on paralyzing agents. One should drink plenty of water when taking this antidote for best results.

n“Alright. It’s been a success so far. Next is…” Ryouma

nI took out a large cloth from my Item Box, then I had the cleaner slime clean it.

nThis cloth belongs to one of the bandits I killed in the forest. The spaces in between its fibers is really small, so it’s perfect for straining the medicinal content from the herbs.

nI covered an empty pot with the cloth, then I fixed it in place with the sticky slime’s thread. After that I slowly poured the contents of the pot through the cloth. Like that the medicine flowed into the empty pot as the cloth filtered it.

nAfter transferring all the liquid, I removed the cloth and wrung out the medicine to the last drop.

nI stirred the completed medicine with the spatula, then I used Identify on it. When I did, the ‘incomplete’ part vanished from the name of the product and the quality turned into highest quality from high quality. Well, it’s complete now, so that’s only a given.

n…Now then, it’s good and all that I managed to make the medicine, but what am I supposed to do with this?

n“Maybe I should’ve turned it into a pill instead to preserve it, but there weren’t enough ingredients.” Ryouma

nNow that I think about it, I have the poison resist skill, so a weak poison wouldn’t work against me anyway, so there’s not a lot of uses of this antidote for me.

nI should have one at hand just to be safe, but I definitely won’t need an entire pot’s worth. If I transfer that entire pot into vials, I would have about 20.

nFor the meantime, I used earth magic to create a funnel and a dipper, prepared a lot of vials, then filled them with the medicine one at a time.

nAfter filling up 20 vials, I stored 19 inside my Item Box. As I fiddled with the remaining vial on hand, I left the medicine concocting room and went to the living space.

n“What to do… Should I sell it at Serge-san’s, or maybe I should give it to Jeff-san and the others?” Ryouma

nWhile I was thinking that, I accidentally dropped the vial.

n“Acha~…” Ryouma

nBecause I kept fiddling with the vial, the cover got loose, so when it fell, all the contents came pouring out.

n“Somehow I’m just not in the mood today…” Ryomua

nMaybe it’s because of that thing age regression thing that Kufo was talking about? For some reason, I can’t change my mood very well. Who would’ve thought at this age… Ah, but I’m actually 11, ain’t I? Still… that’s only on the outside. Mentally speaking, I’m already 40, so it’s really hard to believe that I would actually be sad at this age…

nIn my previous life, a lot of my coworkers retired either because the work was tough or because they fainted from overwork. So I thought I’d gotten used to it already.

nOf course, I’m not actually sad enough to cry, but when I’m not busying myself, I can’t help but become sad.

nI pondered for about 10 seconds, and then, I made up my mind.

n“…Let’s just sleep.” Ryouma

nRather than try to drag myself around like this, it’s better to just sleep. As I thought that, I looked for the fallen vial to clean the spill, but for some reason, only the vial was left and the medicine was already gone.

n“Huh? Where did the medicine go?” Ryouma

nThere were several slimes loitering around the room, and there were cleaner slimes among them, so maybe they’d cleaned it already? Huh. Well, that saves me the trouble, so that’s nice.

nAs I thought that, I went to bed.

n1 – Used to be range, I believe.

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