Survive in the parallel world, please!

Chapter 91: Don’t forget to haggle, please! part

“uhm, what are you doing Mia?”

“I’m waiting for your orders.”

“You can go.”

“Yes.”

Mia replies swiftly, but doesn’t move a muscle until it starts getting even more awkward.

“Do you need something?”

She blushes softly and shakes her head.

.....

“Then what are you still doing here? you can go now.”

“Yes master.”

Mia turns back and walks stiffly towards the exit. The bathroom is quite spacious, it has a small stool, a bathtub and some drawers, but no curtains. Something tells me that she was expecting me to undress in front of her, I wonder what’s going on inside her head sometimes.

Thanks to my ability to use fire magic I was able to warm the water a little, but it’s still too cold to be comfortable. The way I did it was placing my hands below the water surface and doing the same thing I did whenever I wanted to ignite a fire but I wonder if there’s a better method. Since I’m already inside the bath tub I start focusing heat surrounding my whole body and the results were instantaneous.

As soon as I did that the water started warming up really fast and when it reached a comfortable temperature I simply stopped. Thanks to my constant use of magic my mana pool is quite large, at least compared to how it was when I was able to cast fire magic the first time.

This is the first proper bath I’ve taken, it’s so comfortable, I feel as if I was melting into the water and my mind drifts away for a few minutes.

It is true that she has been a lot more helpful than I initially thought, and since she’s a succubus living amidst humans it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that her life is in my hands now so the chances of her turning against me are pretty slim, but that doesn’t mean I’ll get close to her. I’m sure that Luke would have already taken advantage of her, he became a known playboy at the brothel and from what I’ve heard from their slaves he’s always having fun with them.

But I have Rina waiting for me back at Ironwoods, All I can think about now is to get rid of this pesky curse and go back as soon as I can. If Hiraku succeeds in creating a trading route we will have enough supplies to last this winter and, as long as there’s no direct action from the mysterious people behind the plan to turn Ironwoods into a slave farm, I think everything will be ok.

I almost fell asleep while giving free reins to my thoughts and I completely lost track of time. Only when the water started getting cold I noticed that I had spent too much time inside the tub, my fingers look like those of an old man.

I drag myself to my bed falling asleep immediately.

Next day I woke up completely refreshed and started my morning routine. Some light exercise, pouring holy water on my blade, preparing breakfast and then I realize I don’t know where Mia is. I look for her around the house but she’s nowhere to be found. I worry for a quick second but then I remember that there’s also the store, so I head over there.

I though I’d find her sleeping, but she was already up and brooming the place.

“Good morning master, wow you look great”

“I have a girlfriend so, don’t flirt or I’ll kick you out”

“No, I mean, you really do look different master. I don’t know how to say it, but you look... healthier? anyways, sorry for the misunderstanding”

I feel bad for always thinking bad of her, but it seems I can’t find it in myself to trust her.

“Don’t worry about that, so, what are you doing up so early?”

“I’m hungry”

She says while looking at the floor.

“Uh? Do you need another health potion already? It’s not like those grow on trees and we’re running low. Anyways, why don’t we go to the craftman station and you show me how to use it”

“Yes master!”

Mia replies with a fresh smile.

We head to the workshop and I pay close attention to the crafting process. Mia went to a drawer where she put the herbs she bought yesterday on what looked like a solid metal block with a magic circle similar to those Bob used to draw on the ground with a stick back at the settlement engraved on it. Then she placed a glass vial and it started filling quickly as the herbs disappeared, it looked as if they just disappeared into thin air, but on closer inspection I noticed that they sort of melted and started going through the magic circle until they reached the glass bottle that was placed on a small circle on the tip of a star.

“It’s done!”

Mia exclaims proudly.

“Wait, that’s it?”

“What else did you expect master?”

“You placed a hefty amount of medicinal herbs over there and you just got one potion. Also, what was that about the recipe I heard about?”

“Well, it’s usually like this, you need a lot of medicinal herbs to create a potion and that’s why they are so expensive. Although I’ve heard that there are better craftman stations that store excess materials, but this one is not that advanced so the process is a bit wasteful. About the recipe, I know it from memory so there’s no need to even look at it”

I was just about to ask her how does it work, when a loud knock was heard on the door.

“Master, it must be them!”

Mia looked pained, but I’m calm. If things don’t go my way today, it would only mean I would have to spend more time working, but I have the feeling everything is going to be alright. It could be because I feel so refreshed, but I’m feeling optimist today.

“Don’t worry Mia, let’s go greet our customers”

When Mia opened the door, the same blond girl walked in, this time wearing a different dress that looked even more expensive than the one she was wearing yesterday. The woman in plate armor follows her closely from behind, since she’s wearing a full helmet I can’t tell her facial expressions, the only thing I can see properly are her blue eyes.

“Good day mister Ryu, I hope you have my order ready”

“Of course miss Athela”

“Hmm, I don’t see it, hurry up and bring the tonics”

She scoffed at me, she’s clearly looking at me as her inferior.

“It’s all inside this boxes”

She glared at me, probably wondering why am I smiling.

“Fine, lets proceed then. According to your contract you need to provide me at least ten tonics per day for a full month and you can’t sell them to anyone else. In exchange for that, if you produce more than the required amount I’m forced to buy them all”

“There’s really no need to revise the contract, it’s just as you said. So, let’s proceed with business”

I show the boxes to Athela and she checks the contents, after counting everything she starts smiling confidently, takes out her purse and starts counting coins.

“Hand them over to my shieldmaiden please”

“I’m sorry but I can’t do that, you see, since this tonic was crafted by your request I made sure to add special security measures. This, of course, is to make sure that none other than miss Athela is able to get their hands on the content”

“Interesting, I see you’re quite the capable man”

Once again I felt as if she was mocking me but I didn’t react.

“So, how does this work?”

“It’s simple, the tonics are inside those locked wooden boxes and the only way to open the lock is to put a silver coin inside and spin the gear until it falls, you need to do so three times for every tonic inside so the price will be correct”

“What if they simply steal the box”

“As you can see, there are three boxes nailed to the counter. If someone tried to forcefully take them or if they attempted to pick the lock, the glass vials would break and the content would be lost”

“Hmm, quite ingenious. Are you willing to sell those boxes?”

I can tell she’s starting to get nervous

“Of course not, we only sell medicine”

“Well then, I’ll be paying you the amount and you can take the content for me”

“I’m sorry miss Athela, but I am not your employee, you could ask your assistant to do so if you wish”

“No, but... I just need the tonics, we made a deal”

“Yes, but the contract doesn’t say anything about the delivery method, except that you will be coming daily to pick up the products, so I’m free to deliver however I see fit. Is this a problem?”

Athela’s brows start twitching, she’s not even hiding her emotions anymore.

“I just find it bothersome, could you please...”

“Do you really expect me to let you use your haggle skill on me so you can pay less than the agreed price? I may look simple, but I’m not an idiot”

I cut her short and get close to Athela, but the blond woman accompanying blocks my way. So I stop at a safe distance and continue.

“Now, if you’re so kind, please don’t forget to buy up to the last tonic”