The next morning, exhausted after participating in a grand party that had continued all night, the Crimson Vow was about to head to the port town that was their temporary base.
The villagers strongly urged them to stay for a while, but they had a feeling that there would be another party that night, so they decided to leave quickly.
...After all, there was a large amount of fish that would spoil quickly, so it was natural that no one went out fishing and everyone tried to consume it...
Then, Mile asked the four old men who had become her comrades.
"I wanted to keep a sea serpent as a souvenir, is that okay??" (Mile)
"Yeah. You can't dry something that big in its entirety. Even if you wanted to keep it as a souvenir, it would just rot..."
The old man replied with a slightly disappointed look on his face...
"Eh? It's possible, it's easy with magic..." (Mile)
"Can you do that?!" (4 old men)
Then, using magic to remove the moisture, Mile created a dried... or rather, a mummy sea serpent for each of the four people.
Mile was very meticulous in taking various requests for the poses they should be posed in before hanging them out to dry and finishing each one in a way that didn't take up too much space and still looks cool.
And then the Crimson Vow set off from the village.
...with the old men.
"Well, I’m sorry. Our share is difficult to transport to the town to sell, and it gets damaged. With this amount, it would be easier to wholesale it to the commercial guild in bulk rather than selling it to each shop individually, even if it would be a little cheaper, so it would be much appreciated if you could hand it over directly to the commercial guild, young ladies."
"Ahaha, that's true. We're going back to town anyway, so it won't be any extra trouble, so don't worry about it!" (Mile)
Yes, for this dangerous mission, which could have resulted in the loss of their lives and boat, the fishermen were not only being paid an upfront gold coin, but also half of any catch as a reward for success.
If they were going to take it to town to exchange it for cash, there was no problem with them leaving it in her item box and transporting it there at the same time.
And so, all four old men who were dying to brag about their experiences in the town decided to accompany the Crimson Vow.
…Well, it's dangerous to go home with a large amount of money, so it's probably better to have a larger group.
Though they might be old and muscular, it seemed unlikely that anyone would have the courage to attack these men with their menacing faces and harpoons and spears in their hands...
Poke poke
Everyone was smiling. No problems at all.
Poke
"What is it, Reina-san? You've been poking me in the back for a while now..." (Mile)
As Mile said this, she turned around and saw Reina with a somewhat complicated look on her face.
"Hey, what's wrong?" (Reina)
Mile asked, and Reina muttered to herself.
"...Why did we go hunting sea serpents...?" (Reina)
"Eh? Well, that's, um... that's right, I wanted to give Arly-san a little profit as severance payment, so I bought her a sea serpent, which is almost never found in the market... even one..." (Mile)
"..." (All CV)
"And now, the enormous amount of fish that was Grandpa's share will be put up for sale. Along with an equally enormous amount of sea serpents..." (Reina)
"......" (All CV)
"............" (All CV)
"It's ruined!!" (All CV)
Although Crimson Vow achieved a tactical (short-term) victory, it suffered a major strategic defeat...
Thump!
Ba-thump!
Ba-ba-ba-thump!
"…………" (Everyone)
The merchant guild's meat and seafood warehouse was silent.
The commercial guild also has warehouses for purchasing and selling unslaughtered beasts, monsters, large fish, and many more. Of course, they were highly insulated and equipped with magical freezing and refrigeration functions.
Therefore, they persuaded the guild master, executives, and important staff members to come to the warehouse.
Currently, the reception desk was run by young staff members.
The former fishermen might not have been the only ones to believe it, but there was no way that the commercial guild's leadership didn't know about "A rookie female hunter party with an absurdly large storage capacity."
Of course, due to confidentiality obligations and promises with the Hunter Guild, it was being kept a secret from everyone except the staff, but it was about time the secret was leaked, and since it was necessary to explain the origins of the items purchased this time in order to sell them, this was probably the limit of how much secrecy they could keep.
For this reason, it was probably decided that since it was accompanied by the Crimson Vow, so there must be something to it.
And because this was a business negotiation between the guild and ordinary people who had come to sell goods, the merchants who were in the guild at the time chased them away when they tried to follow them to the warehouse.
"Seriously..." (Guild master)
And finally, the guild master broke the silence.
"Th-this... should be monopolized by the Hunter Guild guys..." (Vice guild master)
Next came the Vice Guild Master.
The other staff members and workers at the dismantling yard had stunned looks on their faces.
"...I wonder if you can buy all of these..." (Mile)
"With pleasure!!" (Everyone)
Everyone from the commercial guild spoke in unison.
"But……" (Guild master)
However, the guild master looked a little troubled.
"With this much stuff, it might be difficult to sell it all before it goes bad... There is a limit to how much we can transport to neighboring towns and villages..." (Guild master)
But then Mile came to the rescue.
"We can deliver it in smaller portions. I will keep the things in my storage safe from damage..." (Mile)
"Whaaaaaaat?!" (Everyone)
Mile's words, spoken as if it were nothing, sent shock waves through the warehouse.
"Ah……" (Mile)
"You idiot!!" (Reina)
Mile accidentally revealed a peculiar feature of her storage magic (item box), which she had been planning to hide, and got scolded by Reina.
"Ah, no, well, I just packed the ice I created with magic into a storage spell..." (Mile)
"Oh, is that so? In that case, part of this warehouse has been converted into a freezer and refrigerator. I’ll just accept your kind words." (Guild master)
"Ah, yes..." (Mile)
It seemed that they managed to cover it up somehow.
Well, it had a ridiculous capacity and also had a time-stopping function, so it's hard to believe.
If they were to believe something like that, it would be much easier to believe an explanation like shoving a ridiculously large amount of ice created with ice magic into a storage spell with an insane amount of capacity, or pouring in freezing magic.
And humans were creatures who believed what they want to believe...
Author's Note
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