When I arrived at Lambertâs, there were very few customers as it was still quite early.
I asked an employee to call Lambert-san to meet with me.
âGood morning, Mukouda-san.â
âGood morning. Iâm here to deliver the goods.â
âOoh, thatâs wonderful! This way, please.â
Lambert-san led me to the backroom as usual.
[8] When the door closed, I took out the wooden crates of shampoo and Divine Medicine â Hair Power tonic from the [Item Box].
âThere are 200 sets of shampoo and hair tonic here,â I said, âincluding the gift for the Count.â [5] [8]
âAs expected, itâs a good idea to sell the shampoo and tonic as a set,â said Lambert-san. âI was about to call on you tomorrow. To be honest, I received a little⌠hmm, a reminder from the CountâŚâ
âOh?â I believe I could guess where this was going.
âHmm, yes, looks like the Countâs appearance made a great impact among the aristocracy. Apparently, he had been bombarded by questions from many of his⌠ah, acquaintances.â
âIs that so?â
âWell, Iâve been urged to deliver a batch to the Royal Capital as soon as possible. Looks like itâs a little difficult for him to seal deals without the actual goods in handâŚâ
âHahaâŚâ the world of the rich and aristocratic sounds scary. âSo, youâll be leaving town soon?â
âIn a few days,â said Lambert-san as he carefully placed the tonic back into the crate.
I looked a little nervously at the crates of expensive things and finally said, âAre you sure people would buy the hair restorer at 50 gold? Isnât that too expensive?â
âOh yes, so long as there are people who care about their hair, it will sell,â he said confidently. [5]
âIs that so⌠personally, I would have to think many times before spending that much money on something as mundane as hair of all things.â
âHmm, think of it this way. Hair is more than just looks, itâs about confidence and self-esteem too. For nobles who spend a lot of effort to maintain their image, 50 gold is a reasonable price to buy good personal image and confidence.â
âI guess? I suppose I donât care about it since I donât have hair problems⌠Oh, speaking of which, is it possible for you to sell the restorer to one person without the Countâs introduction? The Guild Master assisted me by trying out this product on himself first. [5] Would it be alright to make an exception?â
âAh, now that you mentioned it, the Count did say something about this. Yes, do ask the Guild Master to come see me if he wishes to purchase the product.â
âRight, thatâs great,â although I do wonder if the Guild Master could afford the 50 gold per set of restorersâŚ
How much are Guild Masters paid anyway?
Anyway, Iâll leave it to Lambert-san to make the arrangements. Iâm sure he would charge a reasonable price for someone like the Guild Master.
âAlright, everything looks good here. I shall prepare the money now, so please wait a moment,â said Lambert-san before leaving the room. [5]
A short while later, he returned with a small sack.
âRight, there we go. Please check the amount.â
I quickly counted the money and, âEh?â
There were 51 platinum coins here. Wasnât the wholesale price 33 gold for the restorer and 5 silver for the shampoo? 150 restorer should be 4950 gold and 150 shampoo only 75 gold. The total should only be 5025. 51 platinum coins amount to 5100 gold coins.
âLambert-san, I think you overpaid me by 75 gold!â [5] [8]
âAhh, well, you did say that youâll sponsor the Countâs portion but I feel bad taking it just like that. Think of the money as my token of contribution. In fact, I should apologise for contributing so little.â
âNo, no, I contributed the Countâs part because I wanted his backing. I canât cause trouble for Lambert-san over something like that.â
âWhat trouble? Thereâs no trouble at all. Thanks to you weâre making lots of money through the soaps and shampoo. The Hair Restorer would be even more invaluable, allowing ordinary merchants like us an opportunity to make connections with the aristocrats. I should thank you for letting us have this chance instead,â said Lambert with a smile.
Ahhhh, how am I to counter that? If I canât win, Iâll just have to back down gracefully.
âAlright, you win. I shall accept this gratefully,â I said as I collected the bag of platinum coins.
After a little more shop talk, we said our goodbyes.
âAlright, I should go now. Do give my regards to the Count and be careful on your journey.â [5]
âI will. I expect I shall be ordering more Hair Restorers in the future. I look forward to doing business with you!â [5]
We exchanged greetings one last time at the door and Lambert-san said, âAre you sure you canât escort me to the Royal Capital?â
âAh, well,â I said awkwardly. âThe familiars want to go dungeon diving againâŚâ
âI see, well, too bad. See you again soon!â
âRight, goodbye.â I canât tell him that going to the Royal Capital would be a pain⌠[6] Iâd rather deal with Orcs and monsters which I could sic my familiars at than smooth-talking aristocratsâŚ
âOi! Are we going now?â snapped Fer.
âAh, yes. Onwards to the Adventurerâs Guild.â
âHumph, letâs go.â
Eguchi Ren: Total Gold = 86,985 coins. Mukoudaâs money has increased again.
[Gumihou: Problems you could stab in the face are not problems at all.]
[1] Structural Change: Combine 2 paragraphs
[2] Structural Change: Combine 3 paragraphs
[3] Structural Change: Combine paragraph & dialogue
[4] Structural Change: Change passive sentence to dialogue
[5] Delete Repetitive or Pointless Information
[6] Additional Information for Aesthetic Purpose
[7] Add Dialogue Tag
[8] Creative Licence Taken â Dialogue about the Count and the selling price of the Divine Medicine. I wonât mark every paragraph since itâs kind of distracting. Just the starting and the ending of where I had made the changes