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Translator: Kazumi
Editor: Silavin
After visiting the branch of the Airika Kingdom, Raul headed straight for the Summit Kingdom.
It would be impossible to set foot on the East Continent and South Continent on the same day without Transfer Gates.
The fact that Crown can survive on another continent far away from its home continent without being swallowed up by the local government, was undoubtedly thanks to the Transfer Gates. Otherwise, it would be impossible to carry out frequent audits, and there would be a risk of recruitment and infiltration of hostile actors.
However, the presence of Transfer Gate did not mean that such dangers have completely disappeared.
Those who were originally active in the Central Continent, like Raul, were unlikely to be drawn in by the ‘sweet words’ of the other continents, but those who had lived on that continent from the start were more likely to be drawn in.
This was just natural human psychology, to perceive the other side as something always greener.
Because Crown itself was an organization that had only been around for a little over ten years, it could be said that the sense of belonging to Crown was considerably lower than that of long-established guilds.
In that sense, while Crown may have grown, it was still in a situation where they could not let their guard down.
When Raul arrived at the Summit Kingdom branch, he found a colleague from the main office there.
His name was Amentre.
While Raul oversaw the purchasing materials, she would be the one overseeing sales.
The two of them, who were close in age, have a more in-depth relationship than their other colleagues.
“Oh, hey.” She noticed Raul before he had even come through the Transfer Gate and raised one hand to greet him.
“Hmm? Oh, Amentre. Overseeing deals over Friar Grass?”
Friar Grass was a particularly important product in the Summit Kingdom, and Amentre was responsible for its sales.
“Yes, well. As you know, the harvest this time was more successful than expected.”
“…Oh, I see. That’s right.”
Amentre sold the materials, but it was Raul’s jurisdiction to buy them from the adventurers.
Friar Grass was sold to Summit Kingdom at regular intervals, but the amount sold was not always the same.
Amentre reported to Summit Kingdom each time.
It was recognized that the Friar Grass trade was important to Crown, However, that did not mean Amentre needed to be personally present for the negotiations. It was just that she was like Raul, who tended to handle everything herself. Thus, Amentre showed up every time Friar Grass was transported.
“You’re still as diligent as ever…”
“No, no. It’s necessary for me to be here. Besides, isn’t that the same for you?”
Amentre looked at Raul with a look that said, ‘It’s better to be moving around than sitting at a desk and struggling with paperwork, just like you.’
“Well, that’s true.” As the person in charge, they could not escape from organizing documents. Still, it was a fact that both Raul and Amentre would walk around rather than sit at a desk all day.
Unlike Raul, Amentre was not from a peddling background. Rather, she belonged to a certain merchant guild.
However, she moved even faster than the average peddler.
This was also something that Raul and she had in common.
“Why are you here Raul?”
“Ah, I’ve come to see how things are going in the Airika Kingdom, so I’m here to report on the results and check on the progress here.”
“I see.”
Summit Kingdom was quick to set up a branch. At first, it was just a contact point for trading Friar Grass. However, Prince Christoph’s decision to expand the scope of their dealings led to the establishment of a wide range of commercial transactions between Summit Kingdom and Crown.
There were many twists and turns before they even got as far as setting up the Adventurers’ Department.
This indicated that the people involved in the Summit Kingdom were afraid of the power of Crown, but in the end, Prince Christoph’s decision was made to establish the Adventurer’s Division passed through.
However, it was done with great care so as not to infringe on the power relationships of the existing guilds. This has led Crown influence to quietly spread all around, away from the Summit Kingdom. It was an explosive spread that occurred like what happened in the Central Continent.
One of the reasons for this was that the Crown Adventurers’ Division had not issued many requests at first.
If Crown posted numerous requests, it would mean that there would be fewer requests being posted by other guilds.
To prevent this, they were only accepting registrations for Crown, for their cards.
This situation changed with the establishment of the Airika Kingdom branch, where adventurers’ activities improved.
It was discovered that there were differences in the way Crown was run compared to other guilds, as well as the convenient status display using Crown Card.
As a result of this surge in adventurers’ activity, eventually, Crown Adventurers’ Division was completely unblocked and requests were now mostly being posted by them.
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The adventurers’ contact at Summit Kingdom was nervous because the person in charge of purchasing materials had arrived.
Raul was a member of the trading department, but because of his nature, he also interfered with the handling of materials in the adventurer department.
In this branch, the branch manager was the highest-ranking person, but that was only true for this branch. If they went to the main office, Raul would be in a much higher ranked position.
There were some strange aspects to the way the positions were handled, but the kingdom side, which decided to set up branches so that the power of the headquarters would not become too strong, put pressure on them to abide by the branch ranking when here.
Crown, which had no intention of unnecessarily threatening the current power dynamics of countries, had accepted this, and that was why the situation was now so complicated.
Amentre was here a while ago, but she was only in charge of selling products, so she had little to do with the adventurer department.
In contrast, Raul was responsible for purchasing materials, so he was often involved with the adventurer department.
Raul was a strict person when it comes to materials, so sometimes he would give strict opinions.
This led the people in charge of the contact point to call Raul “the super-strict connoisseur from headquarters”.
However, if asked, Raul would tell them that there were plenty of people in the Central Continent who were as good of a judge of quality as he was.
In the Central Continent, where adventurers naturally bring in their own materials, the merchants’ assessments became strict.
Even here, there was a difference between the Central Continent and the other continents.
There was a sense of tension inside the shop, but the receptionist was a professional and did not show it as she dealt with the adventurers.
Amidst all this, the voice of an adventurer rang out.
“So why is it so cheap?”
“As I explained earlier, it’s because the materials are not in good condition…”
It seemed that he was complaining about the low price for the materials.
It appears that he had brought the same material in before and, having tasted the good price, he brought the same material in again.
But he was complaining because the price was lower than the last time.
The receptionist said that the price had gone down because the quality of the materials were not good.
Looking around, Raul noticed that the other receptionists were frowning.
Apparently, this adventurer was a regular customer who always complained about the prices they paid out.
After watching the exchange, Raul decided that this was a bad situation and decided to step in to help.
“Can I talk to him?”
“…What? Who the hell are you?”
“My name is Raul, and I oversee purchasing of materials. I thought I’d explain the purchase price to you, since you seem dissatisfied with it.”
“Huh?”
The adventurer raised his right eyebrow and looked at Raul, perhaps intrigued by what he was saying.
“For example, this fur has a large wound in the center. If it weren’t for this wound, it would be possible to process it into a large item, so the purchase price would be higher…”
Raul then went on to explain the reasons why the price of each of the materials brought in by the adventurer was lowered.
As he explained, the adventurers gradually began to look more and more satisfied.
As an adventurer, they wanted to know not just why the price was lowered, but also the reasons behind it.
Raul’s experience of dealing directly with adventurers as a peddler over many years came in handy.
“I see. If that’s the case, I can understand. Thanks.”
“No, no. Just one last piece of advice, or rather, would you mind if I meddled a little?”
“Huh?”
“I’ve just told you why the price of materials goes down, but if you bring in finished products, you can make more money than other adventurers.”
The adventurer showed a fearless smile at Raul’s words. “Really?”
“The more complete the material, the higher the price. Naturally, the purchase price will also go up.” The adventurer seemed to have understood the meaning behind Raul’s words.
In short, he was saying that the adventurer could increase their income by bettering their skills at gathering materials, even if they did not increase the rank of the monsters they could defeat.
“I see. That’s good to know. I’ll have to try many things now.”
“I look forward to working with you in the future.”
“Same here.” With those words, the adventurer left.
The prickly expression had completely disappeared.
“Oh, thank you.” After the adventurer had completely left, the receptionist who had been dealing with him bowed to Raul.
“No, it’s fine.” Raul said this with a smile, but in his head he was thinking that their service needed improvement.
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