"N-no, let's start over and discuss that. There is also room for discussion regarding the fee..." (Client)
"No, that’s fine. I’ll hand over the job to another party. If there’s a party willing to take it on, that is… Well then, if we have the opportunity to meet again..." (Mavis)
"……eh?"
The merchant was surprised by Mavis' words.
"Well then, I'll go look for a good request on the request board!" (Reina)
"Ohhh!" (Other 3)
"...Eh? Huh? ...Wait a minute! We're starting the negotiations on the fee amount now..." (Client)
The client expressed his agitation as Mavis immediately ended the conversation and Reina and the rest quickly tried to leave the scene.
At first, they offered a low fee and then negotiated to reach a compromise. This could not be used for general requests where all conditions were presented from the beginning and a contractor was solicited, but it was possible for designated requests where a contractor was specified and the conditions were refined. And that was the merchant's way, and the general way around here. ...However, Crimson Vow — partly due to Mile's influence — didn't like that approach.
"They offer unreasonably low prices, then change the price to those who are able to negotiate well, and exploit those who are not. We don't like that kind of thing. Our approach is to contract with everyone for the same, fair fee. But I don't particularly ask other people to do the same. You can just deal with people who are fine with it that way, we're just not going to get involved with it. See you soon!" (Reina)
With that said, Reina and the other members left, the merchant looking at them with a blank look on his face. As a merchant, he was not convinced by what Reina said. That was what an idiot would do. ...However, the merchant clearly understood that he had failed and missed a golden opportunity to make a lot of money...
"You guys, well done! If you accept requests from those unscrupulous people, the market price for requests will go down and everyone will be inconvenienced. However, there are also people who are struggling to even afford to pay for their meal today, people who accept the request because they want the achievement of being nominated, and people who are bad at math and get fooled. Well, there aren't many of those kinds of malicious people in this royal capital. Even if it might work once or twice, word will spread among all the hunters in the royal capital in no time, and no one will take it. That man from earlier was probably someone from a small shop that didn't have its own carriage and was transporting goods from the town of Meloi. He rarely comes to the capital (here), and since he's not in retail, he doesn't care about his reputation, so maybe he thought he could scam a young girl with storage space and cut costs drastically?"
"Eh? But, how about the carriages and guards used to transport the luggage to the royal capital—" (Mile)
"That's because the merchant caravan that carried goods from the Royal Capital to the city of Meloi negotiated a good price when they returned. After all, the carriages returning home are not always as loaded as they were when they went there." (Pauline)
Pauline answered Mile's question. It would certainly be ideal to have a full schedule both on the way there and back, but that didn't always work out that way. Especially if that town didn't have any products that sell well in the royal capital... If they could get it in any city, they would definitely buy it in a cheap city, and one that was close to the royal capital. This was understandable, given the costs of transportation, deterioration of the goods, and the risk of attacks by thieves.
A small-scale merchant who had had his goods loaded cheaply into the empty space of a merchant caravan returning to the royal capital was now racking his brains trying to think of a way to transport the goods he had bought in the royal capital as cheaply as possible when he returned to his own town from the royal capital when he heard about a party of naive young girls, one of whom had the ability to use large-capacity storage magic. He immediately jumped at the opportunity and made a request. ...And he made mistakes in how I negotiated and in the terms he presented.
Instead of acting as an escort, they would request a C-rank Hunter to transport the cargo and would offer a fee that was significantly lower than the going rate. After that, through negotiations, they would seek a compromise between that amount and the going rate that the other party would likely request. Depending on how stupid the other party was, this was a way to get a pretty good deal on the request fee.
However, the hunters rejected the request when the conditions were first presented. That was where the negotiations were supposed to begin...
Even if the capacity of the girl's storage magic was only half, or even a third, of what he had heard rumors about. And even if he had paid the normal fee, or even double it, he would have still made a huge profit. If only he hadn't done something so stupid...
The cost of one carriage, horse, driver, and guards. Food, water, and other consumables. Horses in particular require large amounts of water and fodder. The carriage bed was compressed by these objects, reducing its load capacity. Considering all of that, even if the request fee was 20 gold coins, it should be enough to make money. ...And in an instant it was lost.
If it was a mid-level or higher merchant house, they would naturally know that a D-rank or higher hunter would not be hired to carry luggage instead of escorting a merchant caravan, and except in special cases, they would not accept a job with a fee far below the market rate. ...Here, in the royal capital.
However, in regional cities, there were lower-ranking hunters who prioritized their living expenses over their own pride or maintaining their market value, and so the clients tended to be in a stronger position. Therefore, he looked down on them as young girls and presented conditions that were a bit too harsh on them at first. ...That was the result.
In the first place, this was the kind of information that a shopkeeper from the provinces would hear. There was no way that the merchants here in the royal capital wouldn't know about it. Through the merchant guilds. From a hunter he was friendly with. Through an information gathering network among the general public. And other things...
However, the fact that Crimson Vow was in the royal capital without accepting such a request meant that either those people had decided that Crimson Vow would not accept such a request, or that they had already made a request and been turned down. There was no way that a merchant from the royal capital would miss out on such a lucrative opportunity. The fact that he couldn't even predict something like that meant he was just a small store owner in a rural town, no match for the managers of mid-ranking merchants or large stores in the royal capital, competing fiercely in the cutthroat world of commerce.
(... No, not yet! There is still another move...) (Client)
And it seemed the merchant hadn't given up yet...
The next day.
"Ah, everyone at Wonder Trio, you have a named request for you!" (Receptionist)
"Eh?" (All WT)
It seemed that the merchant knew that there was another girl with large-capacity storage magic. What's more, the party consisted of three underage people, so they might be easy targets... This was only natural, since when talking about girls with storage, the two of them would inevitably be discussed together.
And then the conversation and events repeated themselves, almost identical to those from yesterday. They were even better than Crimson Vow whom he talked with yesterday—No, even worse, these three young girls were all underage. Although he was tempted to offer the same initial amount as he had offered to Crimson Vow yesterday, he was not stupid enough as a merchant to make the same mistake twice, so he offered a reasonable fee...
"No, we're good friends, Crimson Vow. So, of course, we heard everything that happened yesterday, and we are following the same policy as Mile-san. So of course, the answer is the same." (Marcella)
"...we refuse!!" (All WT)
And then, with his shoulders slumped, the merchant trudged off. It was not like he had suffered any loss. However, as a merchant, having a chance to make a big profit right in front of him and then ruining it because of his own foolish words and actions might have been much more painful to bear than simply suffering a loss.
Author's Note
Mori Kiyuki-sensei, who illustrated the spin-off comic of my work, "Didn't I say to make my abilities average in the next life?", "Didn't I say to make my daily life average in the next life?", has resumed writing his original comic, "I was pressured by a goddess and a demon king (♀) and for the first time in my life, a flag was raised with a girl, so I want to avoid reincarnation in another world at all costs!?? (^^)/
Due to poor health, the series has been on hiatus for a while, but updates have resumed on Comic Earth Star, Niconico Seiga, and more!
Volume 1 of the comic is currently on sale from Earth Star Comics.
Cute illustrations and sharp jokes!
Thank you very much! (^^)/