Chapter 113

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Hey guys,

mranon here (again).\n

Here’s your third and final Slave Harem chapter for the week.\n

See y’all next week.\n

Enjoy the read.

Yours truly,\n\n<hr>

Negotiator

Next day. I make tartar sauce, fillet the whole fish, dredge it in bread crumbs and fry it.\n

This is the result of high quality ingredients.\n

The taste of whole fish fry is a level above fish fry’s.

“It’s delicious.”\n

“Tasty, desu.”

When I bite through the crispy coating of bread crumbs into the soft fish meat inside like puri~, it melts in my mouth like juwa~.\n

Perfect harmony between light and rich.\n

The tartar sauce isn’t too strong, resulting in a faintly sour taste.

“It’s really delicious. I’m really happy that I was bestowed with such a luxury.”\n

“Same as what Roxanne-san said.”\n

“Happy, desu.”

The three of them are satisfied.\n

As to why Miria is feeling satisfied, it’s probably because she made the mayonnaise herself.

“Do you remember the soup I made the other day? Next time, I’ll make one with whole fish.”\n

“Soup, desu.”\n

“Or I can fry it with bread crumbs again.”\n

“Soup, desu.”

This is most likely the-difficulty-of-making-mayonnaise talking.

The whole fish fry was truly satisfying.\n

It was so good that I subconsciously stretched my hand out for one more piece.\n

It finished quite quickly. Miria has her shoulders drooped. Oh well, it can’t be helped.\n

Expect more next time.

I deliver third mirror to the Duke during the early morning break.\n

I didn’t bring Roxanne with me, of course.\n

I receive the amount and an order for three more mirrors.

I return home and take out the necklaces.\n

Before going to buy mirrors, we have to get our preparations done.\n

I jump to Bode’s adventurers’ guild and head to the amber merchant.

“Welcome. Unfortunately, we don’t have amber ores available at the moment.”\n

“That’s bad. Fortunately, I came here today to buy a necklace.”\n

“Very well. Come inside, please.”

The old man with cat ears leads us inside the building.

“I’ll leave choosing the necklace to you three.”\n

“Certainly.”\n

“Please leave it to me.”\n

“Okay, desu.”

While following the old man, I instruct them.

“Last time, you showed us a necklace that, according to you, had the best amber you obtained in the past few years. Is that necklace still available?”

Before taking her seat, Sherry makes the first move and asks the merchant.

“Of course. Here it is.”

The old man hurries behind the counter and brings the necklace.\n

Sherry asked for the necklace from the other day, huh?

“It’s wonderful, indeed. This color, this transparency; it’s certainly the amber jewel of the highest grade.”

Sherry picks the necklace up and praises it.\n

Is it alright to praise it so much?\n

He may take unfair advantage of us if we show weakness.

“Exactly.”\n

“What was its price, again?”\n

“Like I said last time, I’ll give it you for a discounted price of 69,800 Nars.”

Same as last time, huh?\n

He doesn’t seemt to be taking unfair advantage.

Sherry sighs when the merchant tells her the price.\n

And mumbles ‘same price, huh?’.\n

She puts the necklace back.

“Is there any other necklace like this one?”\n

“Like this one? Hmm… here, this one may not be exactly like that necklace but…”

The old man takes out another necklace.\n

A large amber jewel is hanging in the centre of the necklace.

“I see. This one is good, too.”\n

“This necklace boasts the Big Ball of Deep Crimson. It’s an amber that appears once in a fifty years. Therefore, unlike other necklaces, this necklace doesn’t contain more than one jewels. The price of this one is 65,000 Nars.”\n

“Un”

Sherry folds her arms and tilts her neck.\n

In the meantime, the old merchant puts the necklace in front of Miria and Roxanne.

“It’s beautiful.”\n

“Beautiful, desu.”

Roxanne and Miria thoughtlessly frolic.

“What do you say?”

Sherry holds the two necklaces in front of such Roxanne.

“Err… well…”\n

“I think this necklace with multiple jewels is better but its price…”\n

“I see. If you like it so much, I can reduce the price to 68,000 Nars.”

Seeing the troubled Sherry, the old merchant drops the price further.

“Un, more.”\n

“67,500 Nars. No less than this.”\n

“It can’t be helped any more than this. I think it’s good.”

When the merchant reduces the price, Sherry brings the necklace over to me.\n

She made him drop the price twice.\n

Such a formidable girl Sherry is.

“Got it.”\n

“I want another necklace within 50,000 Nars.”\n

“Very well. Here, how about these?”

The old man brings two necklaces.\n

He passes the necklaces to Sherry.

“This?”\n

“The necklace in your left hand has an amber jewel of fine quality. It has mild yet rich hue. The one in your other hand has an amber jewel with strong shine. Its quality is not much less than the other one. The left one is priced at 52,000 Nars while the price of the other one is 50,000 Nars.”\n

“I see. But there seems to be a hint of impurity in this one.”

After listening to the explanation of the merchant, Sherry compares the two and returns one.\n

It’s the necklace she was holding in her right hand.

“There are other necklaces, too. This necklace here is of fine quality but its price exceeds 56,000 Nars.”\n

“This is certainly good but there’s an instruction from the customer.”

Sherry holds the necklace for a moment but returns it to the merchant immediately after.\n

The old merchant is aware that we will resell the necklace.

“That’s right. Then how about this one? Its shine is strong yet its hue is harmonious. This one is priced at 54,500 Nars.”\n

“Seems good but the customer… un, what do you think?”\n

“Err… well…”\n

“Un, desu.”

Sherry approaches Roxanne and Miria for consultation.\n

This is useless, I think.\n

I don’t think these two are in a position to answer.

“Okay then, I can give it to you for a special price of 53,500 Nars. How about this?”\n

“Indeed… but… un”

Sherry tilts her neck.

“Then how about 53,000 Nars?”\n

“Don’t you think it’s a little high?”\n

“H-How about 52,500 Nars, then? No less than this.”\n

“I understand. It’s better now, I guess.”

Sherry passes the necklace, the price of which has been reduced to 52,500 Nars, to me.\n

Somehow, this seems to be the limit.\n

Sherry definitely has all the makings of a good broker.

“Then I’ll be buying these two necklaces.”\n

“Thank you very much. I had a good business today. This calls for a feast. Alright then, the total amount to pay for the two necklaces shall be 84,000 Nars.”

30% discount is effective, of course.\n

I will show no mercy.\n

I’m a bad guy.

I pay the money and receive a small wooden case as gift.\n

From Bode’s adventurers’ guild, I jump to Zabir’s labyrinth.\n

I start hunting monsters under Roxanne’s guidance.

“Now that I think about it, why did you ask for a necklace within 50,000 Nars? It’s similar to the one we sold to the workshop owner’s wife. And the one we sold to the owner’s wife fetched 55,000 Nars.”

When I take a breather after having recovered some MP, Sherry asks.

“Only an amateur would sell an item which costs 50,000 Nars for 50,000 Nars. A real merchant would sell a 50,000 Nars item for 55,000 Nars. Going by the same token, if I have to sell something for 55,000 Nars, I will keep the cost limited to 50,000 Nars.”\n

“I see.”

I’m a professional.\n

A professional consumer.

“Umm… that merchant first put the 50,000 Nars necklace in front for comparison. The necklace, however, was of inferior quality. It shows that the merchant was really cunning. Everyone would doubt whether the necklace really is worth 50,000 Nars or not. Thereafter, he took out 56,000 Nars necklace. Between the 50,000 Nars necklace and the 56,000 Nars necklace, everyone would choose the latter.

Such tactics were used during the negotiation, huh?\n

Sherry is reliable, after all.

“In Palmasque, will you be able to sell it for more than the cost?”\n

“Because I know the cost this time, it will be difficult. Because I know the cost, I will try my hardest during the bargaining to keep myself from going into red and the other party will notice it immediately. It will be possible if I do some preparations beforehand. However, we have already sold similar necklace to the owner’s wife. Even if I’m prepared, if I try to sell it for more than the price last time, the owner’s wife won’t be as polite this time as she was last time.”

It does seem difficult no matter how you look at it.\n

Oh well, I will entrust it to Sherry.

“Is that so? As expected of Sherry.”\n

“Not at all. Even after all that negotiation, I couldn’t make him lower the price by more than 500 Nars at a time. Later, however, he lowered it by about 30% without saying anything.”\n

“R-Really?”

After having noticed it on numerous occasions, Sherry seems to have caught on to the pattern of 30% discount.\n

Should I try shuffling it with 10% discount every now and then?

“It’s natural for such a person of virtue as Master.”\n

“Natural, desu.”\n

“It’s not virtue but yeah, such a thing is not out of place.”

I grab the straw provided to me by Roxanne.\n

I’m not sure if Miria understands what it’s about.\n

To escape from this situation, I jump to Palmasque.

“This time around, we may get late.”\n

“I understand.”

We won’t consign the necklace to the owner’s wife. Rather, we would have her introduce us to the prospective buyers and we would sell the necklace to them directly.\n

As Sherry said, it will require more time than the last time.

“We will be going then.”\n

“I’ll do my best.”\n

“Go, desu.”

I see the three of them off from Palmasque’s adventurers’ guild.\n

I head back to Quratar via Zabir’s labyrinth.\n

I engage in the boss battle of Quratar’s 3rd floor to recover my MP and replenish pepper.\n

With Durandal, I can take out Spice Spider by myself.

After the boss battle, I jump to the merchants’ guild.\n

I call for Luke the broker in the waiting room.

“Welcome. What brings you here today?”\n

“Actually, I’m not here to place order this time but to inquire something. If you don’t mind, that is.”\n

“Of course. Come with me, please.”

Luke comes over shortly after and leads me to the meeting room.\n

I take a seat and talk to Luke.

“Do you know about the auction held on the holidays?”\n

“Yes, I do.”\n

“I intend to participate in it.”\n

“It’s in five days time.”

So close already?\n

It’s right after I will be done with selling the mirrors.

“Because it’s my first time, I don’t know about the proceedings, so I want to learn the basics.”\n

“I see. How much do you know about the auction?”\n

“Just some rumors I heard from here and there.”

I have only seen some charity auctions on television and a few internet auctions.\n

I haven’t participated in one personally.\n

The auction in this world may not necessarily be the same.

“The proceedings start off with the seller setting the minimum bid. In case of successful bid, it is mandatory for the seller to sell at the bid price, so the seller has certain expectations of the bid. In case there’s no successful bid, the deposit is required to be forfeited as penalty. For that reason, in a way, the minimum bid becomes the price.\n

“So it has to be taken into account, huh?”\n

“The first buyer has to bid the price not less than the minimum bid. Subsequent buyers have a protocol to follow. Any bid subsequent to the first bid shall not be less than the prevailing bid. The denomination of increment in the bid shall be: 100 Nars in case the bid is less than 10,000 Nars; 1,000 Nars in case the bid is 10,000 Nars or more but less than 100,000 Nars; 10,000 Nars in case the bid is 100,000 Nars or more. If the denomination of increment in the bid is 10 times the bid, it’s not against the rules but it’s against the etiquette.

I was right to have asked him beforehand.\n

So, if a bid of 1,000,000 Nars suddenly pops up, it’s against the etiquette?\n

I must be careful.\n

Other than that, it doesn’t seem to be any different from the auctions I saw.

“Got it.”\n

“I think you’ll be good if you know this much. Later, you’ll understand it better when you witness it in person.”\n

“I really feel bad that I’m not placing any order. Talking about placing order, last time, there was a person who placed an order for Kobold Monster Card. Which weapon did he fuse it with for [MP Absorption] skill?”

Now that I have learned about the auction, I try to change the topic.

“I have no idea about him but [MP Absorption] skill is usually attached to a wand or a spear.”\n

“Really?”\n

“Now that you mention it, I heard about a family in financial crisis the other day. It’s Baradam family. To raise funds, they’re exhibiting Holy Spear. If you intend to attach [MP Absorption] skill, you should go for it. That person must be aiming for it, too.”

So it was Baradam family, after all.\n

I heard from Sherry that Holy Spear increases magic attack power.

“You can expect that weapon to be sold out immediately.”\n

“If you fail, you can look for other weapons. Should you decide to switch to a different weapon, I can search for better weapons than Holy Spear.”\n

“I see.”\n

“Before engaging in bidding war, you should better evaluate if the price is high or not, in my opinion.”

Although the raw material remains even if [Monster Card Fusion] fails, isn’t it better to try it with another weapon?\n

What if it fails and the remade weapon is worse than the original?\n

That said, I don’t think it will end up as failure now that we have been succeeding in a row.\n

The success of fusion is based on luck. If you can’t identify empty skill slots via [Appraisal], that is.

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