Chapter 26

A few days passed.

Still, the number of patients at Elise's clinic hasn't increased.

It's not that no one comes at all, but the effect of raising the treatment fees to market rates seems to be significant.

Only one or two people come.

Elise seems to want me to work at the clinic as well, but with the current situation, it doesn't look like she can even pay me my previous salary.

Still, as a reward for occasionally helping with treatments, I'm paid in kind, so to speak.

Besides, there's a job that's far more profitable than the clinic right now.

That's right, hunting Huge Slimes.

For the past few days, I've been teaming up with Eito and the adventurers I treated before, and we've been hunting Huge Slimes non-stop.

And today, as usual, I'm hunting Huge Slimes with Eito.

It seems we had good luck today and managed to get more rare drops than usual.

Compared to when I helped Elise reclaim her clinic, the number is a bit lower, but it's still a significant income for the whole party.

"Looks like we made a good profit today, huh!"

Gaiser, walking through the dungeon, happily patted my shoulder.

"Yeah, we got five Slime Droplets... even if we split the profits, it's at least 100,000 Zeni, that's amazing, amazing!"

Eito, standing next to Gaiser, calculated the earnings from today's hunt.

Hunting Huge Slimes is dangerous.

You can't leave the boss room until you defeat the boss, and there's a risk of getting seriously injured if you're not careful.

But that's why it's so profitable.

100,000 Zeni is about 1,000,000 yen in Japanese currency.

For adventurers living day to day, it's a lot of money.

So, I've made a lot of money.

However, I don't really need much money for my current lifestyle.

I always wear the same type of monk's robe.

I can eat as much as I want for less than 500 Zeni a day, and recently, Elise has been cooking for me and Yuel.

I live in the clinic, so I don't have to pay any rent.

I don't even need to save money for emergencies.

I can maintain my health with healing magic.

In other words, I can use this money however I want.

I can spend it as I please.

Why not enjoy myself?

I've worked hard.

When I went to look for Yuel, I dove into the dungeon with all my might, even though it was a misunderstanding.

I also used healing magic to beautifully reclaim Elise's clinic.

It's about time I enjoyed myself, isn't it?

I've prepared everything for today, and I've already laid the groundwork.

If I go to the bar, the master will ask Yuel to help because they're short-handed.

In reality, they're not short-handed, but that's how it's arranged.

Once Yuel starts working at the bar, I'll come up with an excuse and leave.

Then, after enjoying myself at an adult establishment, I'll take a bath and go pick up Yuel.

This way, Yuel won't find out.

If I return to the clinic with Yuel, Elise won't suspect anything either.

It's a perfect plan.

As I was fantasizing about this—

"Wow, 100,000 Zeni! Let's go to a flower shop, shall we? Shiki, come on, we can rent it out!"

—Gaiser, gripping his fingers in a suggestive way, grinned and said this.

It seems Gaiser was thinking along similar lines.

Yuel, who is around Yuel's age, probably wouldn't understand, but "flower shop" is a euphemism for a brothel.

Using a euphemism in this situation might be Gaiser's way of being considerate of Yuel.

...But it's counterproductive.

"Master, what are you going to do at the flower shop?"

Yuel, her eyes sparkling, asked me.

It seems she became interested because of the word "flower shop."

Indeed, if someone says they're going to rent out a flower shop, you wouldn't understand the meaning if you don't know the euphemism.

Maybe Yuel is imagining a scene where a master and some ruffian adventurers are having a tea party surrounded by flowers.

I don't know why she's so excited, but...

"Well, that is... um..."

I can't say what I'm going to do.

Even if I try to bluff, I can't think of a good excuse.

Yuel, perhaps unconsciously, is tugging at my clothes, asking for an answer.

...She's completely interested now.

Does she like flowers?

She probably does.

Yuel is a Dark Elf, a type of Elf, and Elves are people of the forest.

She might like beautiful flowers.

Yuel, with a sense of excitement and anticipation, looked at me.

Her cute Elf ears, which were on the side of her head, were twitching.

No, this won't do.

This is not good.

Yuel's eyes are already filled with expectation.

If I leave Yuel at the bar and go out, how sad will she be?

Even if she doesn't get sad, if Yuel continues to have this question...

If she asks Elise, "Master said he was going to rent out a flower shop, do you know what he's going to do?"

Elise's opinion of me will plummet.

Even though it's not a situation where I would be blamed for going to an adult establishment, Elise would look down on me for going to such a place.

If that happens, I might not even be able to do a little bit of groping with Elise.

I can't let Yuel have this question.

If I leave Yuel at the bar and go out, Yuel will surely wonder, "What is Master doing now?"

Just wondering would be fine.

But now it's too late.

After hearing the story, Yuel will think, "Master is doing something at the flower shop he rented out."

And if Yuel ever learns the meaning of "flower shop"...

The angelic smile she always gives me might turn into a look of disdain...

...

"......Gaiser, I'm not going there. Yuel, let's go buy some flowers later, okay?"

As we were talking, we arrived at the adventurer guild's buyback counter.

However—

"......I'm sorry, but we will stop buying Slime Droplets after this."

The receptionist, with dog ears on her head, said this and bowed apologetically.

"Wh-What? Are you serious?"

"Buyback stop? What do you mean?"

The receptionist's words caused a commotion among Eito and the others.

I remember that when I helped Elise reclaim her clinic, the receptionist in charge of buybacks had a strained expression.

I thought the price might drop eventually, but I didn't expect a complete stop in buybacks.

"Um, well, Slime Droplets are... used as a key ingredient in a special medicine for a rare local disease in this region..."

According to the receptionist, Slime Droplets are a key ingredient in a special medicine for a rare local disease.

Until now, the local lord had been stockpiling them by buying them from the guild, but they have recently accumulated enough.

The special medicine for the local disease is not in high demand outside this region, and it won't be used unless the disease breaks out.

If the buyback price is too low, the supply will dry up.

So, they had been keeping the price high enough to encourage occasional sales by adventurers.

However, the supply has recently increased abnormally, so they had to stop buying them.

In short, it's a case of oversupply.

I thought I could live a life of ease by hunting Huge Slimes, but it seems that was too good to be true.

I bought a large amount of flowers, enough to fill an item box, and returned to the clinic.

Yuel was a bit puzzled, but in the end, she wore a flower crown and left the shop with a smile.

She might have understood that buying a large amount of flowers means renting out a flower shop.

...I'll need to correct this misunderstanding later.

When I returned to the clinic, Elise asked me to take care of it while she went shopping for dinner.

Somehow, I end up doing housework for Elise.

Next time, I'll pet her as a thank you.

I decorated the clinic with the large amount of flowers I had to buy, placed Yuel on my lap, and decorated her head with flowers while waiting for patients.

Then, a rare patient came.

"Ah, ah! You really are here!"

It wasn't a patient.

The one who came to the clinic was the red-haired adventurer, Ruruka.

She looked a bit awkward seeing Yuel on my lap.

She didn't say anything, though.

Come to think of it, the last time we met was when I groped Ruruka's chest and Yuel misunderstood.

It wasn't a misunderstanding, though.

...I wonder if Yuel still hasn't found out about the lie I told then.

I was a bit worried and looked at Yuel's side profile as she sat on my lap.

She was wearing a flower crown and seemed to be in a good mood.

She was touching the flowers on her head and smiling shyly.

I was worried that she might have realized it was a lie after some time, but it seems there's no problem.

"What's up, Ruruka? What's the matter?"

"I haven't seen you at the bar lately, so I was looking for you. I didn't expect you to be back at Elise's place... Did you make up?"

She seems to have been looking for me.

I hadn't told Ruruka that I was back at the clinic.

Well, we only run into each other by chance at the bar, so it's understandable.

"Yeah. So, what's up today? Not for treatment, right?"

I thought she might have come because she was injured, but she looked fine.

She seemed to be in perfect health.

"Hehe, you know already, right? It's that thing, you know."

"That thing?"

Is she going to let me grope her chest?

But Yuel is here, so I'd prefer to do it another time.

If I do something while Yuel is on my lap, it could get out of hand.

"Hehe. I heard you're making a fortune hunting Huge Slimes? I want to join in on that."

Ruruka smiled, a seductive and charming smile.

I see, that's what it is.

But unfortunately, the timing is bad.

"Yeah, but today, the buyback for Slime Droplets was stopped. I won't be hunting Huge Slimes anymore. Sorry about that."

I'm disappointed too.

If the buyback hadn't stopped, I could have set some conditions for hunting Huge Slimes.

If I could touch her chest for a healing magic discount, how much could I make from a boss hunt that earns tens of thousands of Zeni?

It's very intriguing.

"Wh-What? No way! You must be joking! I even managed to convince Fran... and I even bought new equipment..."

"It's true. You had bad luck."

"Hmm... I don't know what to do. Maybe I'll take on a board request."

"Board request? That won't be very profitable, will it?"

Board requests.

These are the requests posted on the board at the entrance of the adventurer guild.

However, the guild itself doesn't oversee the content of these requests.

Most of them are personal requests written on paper by city residents, with contact information and the amount they can offer.

And the rewards are usually low.

Important jobs like clearing the road of monsters or defeating bandits are the responsibility of the knights, and they don't often get assigned to adventurers.

The requests that do come to adventurers are usually small-scale, personal requests like protecting a field or eliminating pests.

I don't know how deep Ruruka's party can go in the dungeon, but I think it would be more profitable to go into the dungeon normally.

"Well, apparently there are a lot of monsters outside the city lately. It's unusual, but there's a request from the knight order. It seems to be quite profitable. Even for something as small as a goblin, you can get a decent amount of money from the knight order if you defeat it."

Usually, the city's defense is handled by the knights.

The knights patrol the roads to drive away bandits and regularly enter the surrounding forests and mountains to reduce the number of monsters.

However, this area is not known for having many monsters.

I've heard that the knight order doesn't have many personnel because there hasn't been a war recently.

It seems the knight order couldn't handle the sudden increase in monster numbers.

"Hmm. But isn't it dangerous outside the city? Are you sure it's okay?"

Knights act in groups and all have a certain level of skill.

They can handle even slightly stronger monsters without any problems.

In contrast, adventurers act in small groups and have varying levels of skill.

Outside the city, unlike in the dungeon, there's a possibility of encountering a strong monster unexpectedly.

If they encounter a monster beyond their skill level, it could be dangerous.

"There shouldn't be many strong monsters around here. I've dealt with monsters outside the dungeon a few times, so I think it'll be okay."

"Be careful, then."

"......By the way, what's with all these flowers? You've decorated Yuel's head and everything else."

Ruruka, looking at Yuel's flower crown, asked.

Of course, it's a bit suspicious.

"Yeah, these are..."

What should I do?

I can't answer carelessly.

Yuel is here with me.

If I say something offhand, Yuel might feel something is off.

As I was thinking about this—

"Master rented out a flower shop, didn't he!"

Yuel, with a smile, answered.