Chapter 75

When I asked Merzia, it turned out that the location of Catherine was easily found. It seemed that she had already finished her own work for the day and was currently instructing the new magic tool craftsmen that the guild had recently hired. I hadn’t heard about this, but since the investment wasn’t significant and it seemed to be profitable, there shouldn’t be any problems.

"It feels like it’s been a while. How are you doing?"

"I’ve gotten quite used to it and can now produce efficiently. I work until I run out of magic power twice a day and use the remaining time for guidance and breaks."

"Your efficiency has improved. But I heard that your production hasn’t increased much."

"That’s true... I wonder why."

I wondered if it was a sign of a dragon appearing and decided to appraise Catherine. The result showed that her maximum magic power had increased slightly, likely due to a level-up, but there was no apparent cause for the issue. Her magic power was almost depleted, so it wasn’t as if she wasn’t using it all during production. Since her maximum magic power hadn’t decreased, it was unlikely that the dragon was related.

"...I don’t understand."

"Is that so... Well, it seems that the revenue has increased recently due to the rising unit price of magic tools. Did you come here to talk about that?"

"No, it’s unrelated. I want a magic tool called 'Magic Freeze.' Have you heard of it?"

"I don’t know of a magic tool with that name... Does it freeze things?"

"I don’t know."

"If you don’t know, what do you plan to use it for?"

"Probably to freeze a dragon."

I didn’t know the details from the book I received, but it should be the only one of its kind.

"Probably..."

"Anyway, just in case, make something similar. I want it to be enhanced with a Wisp Core."

Based on the status of the people around her, there were no signs of a dragon appearing.

"It might not work on a dragon, but I understand. If we want to maximize the output of the Wisp Core, a disposable type that cools the entire space would be best."

"Entire space? That sounds like a wide area, but will the output be enough?"

"Normally, it would be difficult, but with a Wisp Core, it should have enough power to freeze the air and any ordinary monsters."

Will it kill the target?

I’m not sure if it will be enough against a dragon, but it should be a good precaution.

"Alright, I’ll leave it to you."

"Yes."

Before leaving the store, I appraised the new hires and found that they all had inactive magic power, just like Catherine, with much more magic power than ordinary people. It seemed that they had established a way to utilize inactive magic power while I was away.

Now that my business was done, I wondered if there was anything else I needed to do...

I remembered the medicine. From what I could see, there might be a shortage of potions, and the situation could be dire. Even if it was, they should have told me, but if they forgot for some reason, it could be a big problem.

Thinking about it, I didn’t even know the inventory of Zunana grass concentrate, how much was being produced, or at what price it was being sold. I only knew that the business was doing well. It wouldn’t hurt to get a better understanding while I had the time, so I decided to ask Merzia.

"Hey, how’s the Zunana grass doing lately?"

"It’s still selling as soon as it’s produced, and we’re being told to produce as much as possible. Is there something wrong?"

"Has there been a particular shortage recently?"

"The demand has increased, but the supply has always been low compared to the demand."

"How much is it lacking, and how much profit are you making now?"

"We’ve tried to optimize production within our capabilities, but we can produce at most 10 liters per day, which is about 300 bottles of medicine. The price has been revised due to recent events and is now around 500,000 tel per liter."

"What about the costs and the production bottleneck?"

"The total cost, including fuel and labor, is about 130,000 tel per day for the entire guild. The bottleneck is the size of the island used for farming, but even if we expand the farmland, we would soon run into a shortage of distillation capacity. Under the current system, we can produce a maximum of about 15 liters per day. The transport capacity of the ships is also a concern."

A daily profit of over 4.8 million tel... It’s like building a house every day, but even with this, there’s still a shortage of medicine.

"If we increased production tenfold, would it still sell out?"

From what I’ve seen, we could expand to about 100 times the current production if we didn’t consider the future, but since the Zunana farms are like slash-and-burn agriculture, it would be better to limit it to about ten times the current production to maintain a rotation.

"...Major guilds are transporting to distant cities, so even ten times the current production would likely sell out quickly in normal times. Of course, the price would drop, reducing the profit per unit."

"How much would it drop?"

Even if the income is marginal compared to the risk, increasing medicine production would help the human-mage battle, so I’d like to do it. However, if it’s not profitable, it might not be a good idea for the guild to take the lead, so I asked just in case.

"Best case, 70% of the current price, worst case, about half. In normal times, it could drop by another 30%."

Roughly calculating, increasing production tenfold would increase revenue by 4 to 7 times. If it increased fivefold, the additional daily revenue would be about 19 million tel. ...Wait, that means the construction cost of a mithril transport ship, which costs 190 million tel per ship, could be recovered in 10 days. What a lucrative business. Plus, it would contribute to society. Is there any reason not to do it? No, there isn’t.

"Alright, let’s increase production tenfold for now."

"...I kind of expected you to say that, but we’ll need more ships. Are you sure about that?"

"Of course, we have the funds. The Leviathan I pre-empted is quite long, so if we cut it up, we can make about 10 ships of the level we’ve made before. What else do we need?"

"We can gather the personnel, but we’ll need 6 new ships and 6 new distillation units if they are the same as the current ones."

6 ships, that’s a lot. From what I heard, it doesn’t seem like we need that many.

"Why do we need so many ships?"

"At ten times the current production, the distance to the islands used for farming will increase. Additionally, the magic-powered ships, due to the magic tools they carry, can make fewer round trips between here and the islands despite their speed. Non-magic-powered ships, on the other hand, are not practical near the monster territories."

Each ship makes round trips between here and the islands.

It seems inefficient.

"Why don’t we find a suitable island, gather the goods there, and then transport them with a larger ship?"

"...That’s a good idea! It would be much more efficient!"

It seems like no one has thought of this method before.

"Has no one ever thought of this? What do other guilds using ships do?"

"Before this, I don’t think anyone has tried to continuously transport large amounts of supplies to the monster territories. Our guild is probably the first to do so."

Thinking about it, it does sound like something no one has done before. Maybe we’re ahead of our time!

"Is that so?"

"Yes, that’s correct."

"Alright, I’ll leave the materials and funds with you. If you think the new method is better, go ahead with it. I’ll probably be on a new job by the time the first ship is completed."

"Understood. What about the distillation units? It’s difficult to transport them to the islands without Kaede, but if we start gathering them now..."

Indeed, each unit is as expensive as a house. I doubt there are places with 6 units in stock.

"I’ll try to gather them. If it’s not enough, just make do with what we have."

"Understood."

"Is there anything else?"

"No."

"Alright, I’ll go on an expedition."

"Yes, I’ll go post job openings."

Job openings.

If I write something like ‘a cozy workplace,’ it might attract more people. The working conditions are quite good, but the job is essentially endless weeding on a nature-filled island. Cost-wise, it’s not a problem now, but we might need to mechanize a bit in the future.

While thinking about these things, I started blowing up islands. Before, I used to take my time, but now it’s more like an assembly line. I just blast the islands I see and throw in one of the many anchors I brought. With so many islands to process, I have to do this to keep track of them. After doing this about a dozen times, I had created about nine times the current farmland for Zunana grass, so I was done. I also wanted to create sugarcane fields, which was the original reason for starting Zunana grass cultivation, but that would have to wait.

I wanted to take a break, but I couldn’t. I needed to gather the distillation units before I left. So, right after finishing the land development, I headed to the blacksmith in Eleera at literally supersonic speed.

"Excuse me! Do you have any distillation units for sale?"

"Hey, it’s you again! I have one, same price as before, 5.3 million tel. How about it?"

"I’ll take it, but I need 6. Can you prepare the other 5?"

"No way, I don’t have that many..."

"Where else can I find them?"

"I’m the only one who makes these in this city, and I doubt they’re available in other cities. When do you need them by?"

From what I heard, the ships will arrive in about 6 days from today. Considering the travel time...

"About 5 days. I can pay a bit more if necessary."

"5 days is impossible, I can’t make 2 in that time... If you’re willing to pay around 10 million tel per unit, I could maybe get other blacksmiths to make them, but that’s a stretch."

Twice the price.

That’s an additional 500,000 tel per unit, totaling about 25 million tel. Honestly, it’s not worth it for a daily profit of 500,000 tel. But...

"No, please do. I’ll pay in advance."

Saying that, I took out 5 platinum coins and 53 gold coins. This wasn’t just about making money; it was also about supporting the front lines in a different form. Since we’re making a huge profit anyway, it wouldn’t hurt to give back to the market a bit.

"Hey, are you serious? I don’t like charging more for the same product... But alright, I can make 2 here. The total for 6 units will be 50 million tel."

"Thank you."

So, by using money to force the preparation of ships and equipment in a short time, the day the ships arrived came quickly. It was busy, but I managed to finish all the necessary work. The preparations for the 'Magic Freeze' were also complete. Now I could focus on the escort mission to protect the ships from the nonexistent sub-dragon.