Chapter 42: Gold Mash
Since I named him King, I checked his Skills and found 〔Orc King・1－1, Roar and King’s Pressure〕 as abilities, and he came with Orc King Domination.
After selecting King’s Pressure, I ordered King not to move and took a breath.
I took out my three-man strongbow, nocked an arrow, and stood behind him. The moment I muttered 《Tame・Release》, I shot him through the heart.
The Orc King, shot through the heart the instant he was released, twitched, then pitched forward and died.
Taming such a large creature is a real pain, and I’d rather not deal with anything bigger than this.
However, if there’s an Orc King, I figured there must be High Orcs too. And since I’d Tamed a superior Orc species and gained its Domination, I needed to test if that Domination would work on High Orcs and Orcs.
I had Bee-chan and the others search for large humanoids, and tried using Orc King Domination on an Orc, but it didn’t work.
Since I had no choice, I resorted to force with Mii-chan and Hoo-chan. If I could Tame one, the rest would be easy.
I acquired Orc Domination and High Orc Domination, achieving my goal.
The Orc’s 〔Gluttony, Mighty Arm〕, High Orc’s 〔Mighty Arm, Roar〕, and Orc King’s 〔Roar, King’s Pressure〕 overlapped, which made me feel like I’d lost out somehow, and I wasn’t too happy about it.
The abilities and Domination I’d acquired were getting complicated even when looking at my Skills, so I wrote them down on paper to organize them.
Tree Climbing・Poison Immunity・Jump・Agility・Sprint・Mighty Arm・King’s Pressure
Killer Bee Domination
Honeybee Domination
Slime Domination
Goblin Domination
Fang Dog Domination
Howl Dog Domination
Flame Dog Domination
Gray Wolf Domination
Carrion Domination
Fang Cat Domination
Black Wolf Domination
Forest Wolf Domination
Orc King Domination
Orc Domination
High Orc Domination
Seven abilities and fifteen Domination types. This is more than enough to live comfortably as an Adventurer, and I’m very satisfied.
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Bringing two Forest Wolves with me would likely cause a commotion, so before entering Osius Village, I had Hoo-chan and the other one move away from the village. I ordered them not to attack humans, told them to come nearby every morning, and then let them roam free.
“Hey, long time no see.”
“The fence has come along quite a bit, hasn’t it?”
“Once it’s done, we won’t have to worry about vegetables, so I’m looking forward to it. Fran is pretty worn out, though.”
When I visited Fran-san’s house, she looked at my face and seemed utterly exhausted.
“You look tired.”
“I regret that my Earth Magic has improved.”
“Is that so? Well, you can’t go back to being bad at it now, so just give up.”
“How about you, Shinya-san?”
“Well, so-so.”
“Besides Mii-chan?”
I just nodded silently.
“Shinya-san, please come with me for two or three days to take a break.”
“What are we going to do?”
“I want to go harvest the forest’s bounty. If we wait any longer, the nuts and mushrooms will be gone.”
“Mushrooms and nuts, huh? Can’t pass that up. After all, I’ve been ignoring them because I don’t know which ones are edible, or whether they taste good or bad.”
“Huh? But you were living in the forest, weren’t you?”
“I was, but I told you I don’t know anythiiing, right?”
Fran-san shook her head in exasperation, but I ignored her.
She got permission from her parents and the village chief to go into the forest with me for two or three days. The next morning, the two of us entered the forest, and she was all fired up about going to a place with lots of mushrooms.
“Fran-san, I think Search will pick up a couple of beasts, but they won’t attack, so don’t worry.”
“So you did Tame a second one… two types of Beasts, then.”
“Yeah, just as I thought. I’m grateful for the Tamer God’s Divine Protection.”
Far from the village, I called out, 《Hoo-chan, you guys, come here.》
The two beasts that Search had picked up approached, making Fran-san a bit tense.
She froze when she saw the Forest Wolves appear, so I introduced Fran-san to them and told them not to attack her.
They were a little shorter than my armpits, over two meters long, with a dark gray mottled pattern, looking quite imposing.
“Forest Wolves? And two of them at that…”
“I thought they’d be good as guards. Bee-chan sleeps at night, and people tend to underestimate her until she’s right in front of them.”
“If you have Forest Wolves as guards, no one will mess with you.”
“I figured if I have them memorize the scent of mushrooms and fruits, harvesting will be more efficient. I’m counting on you, Hoo-chan, Mii-chan.”
“Hoo-chan, is it? As always, you give them cute names.”
“Long names are a pain, right?”
Since I can Tame as many as I want, I have to keep the names simple, or I’ll get them mixed up.
I had them sniff the mushrooms and nuts Fran-san found and asked them to search the surroundings.
Mii-chan, who is close to the ground, and Hoo-chan and the other, with their excellent sense of smell, kept telling me where things were growing, while I searched by sight.
So, I told Fran-san she didn’t need to look for things once they’d sniffed them.
The basket we brought filled up in no time, and we started stuffing things into Medicinal Herb Pouches.
I diligently collected mushrooms whose names I didn’t even know, and when they told me they smelled nuts, I relayed the direction to Fran-san.
Whenever Fran-san walked in that direction, she’d invariably find a new tree, which made her give a wry smile.
We gathered so much that both the basket and the Medicinal Herb Pouches filled up, and the next day, Fran-san ended up having to weave vines to make more baskets.
Any Beasts we encountered during that time, I had Hoo-chan hold them off while I shot them with an arrow from the side to finish them.
I could Tame them, but it’s a hassle if my Domination types increase any further, so I left them alone.
My ideal, safe, secure, easy, and carefree Adventurer life is pretty much guaranteed, so there’s no need.
At this point, rather than a 5-90 Magic Bag, I started wanting one with a time delay of 180 or 360.
“Shinya-san, please have Mii-chan search this tree for yellow mushrooms!”
“Fran-san, why are you in such a hurry?”
“The mushrooms that grow on this tree are special! If you dry them, powder them, and sprinkle them on food, the taste and aroma are wonderful. And if you give the dried ones to the Guild, you get paid the same number of silver coins as their weight!”
Whaaat?! That’s information I can’t ignore.
The food in this world just doesn’t quite hit the spot for me; the meal I had at the Moran Trading Company was the only truly satisfying one.
I know I can get decent food if I pay for it, but aside from the deliciousness of the ingredients themselves, I can’t find cheap and tasty meals like in Japan.
I immediately had Mii-chan (the Slime) search for the mushrooms, and I followed her up the tree.
While I was at it, I tried to memorize the bark and leaf shapes, collected a few sample leaves, and put them in my Magic Bag.
Unfortunately, it was a bust; not even a fragment of a mushroom was found.
I had Hoo-chan (the wolf) and Mii-chan (the slime) memorize the tree’s scent and asked them to let me know if they found one.
We harvested a large amount of mushrooms over three days. Fran-san said they were for home consumption and for selling at the market, so I received one basketful of the ones that are delicious when grilled.
As for the fruits, they seemed smaller than usual this year, and the flesh wasn’t well-developed, so she said they couldn’t be sold. Unfortunately, they were used for the village’s consumption.
The mushroom in question, the Gold Mash, we managed to find only three of them.
They looked like long-stemmed, thin shiitake mushrooms, pale yellow in color, and apparently turn a beautiful yellow when dried.
They can’t be sold unless dried, so I took one, and gave two to Fran-san.
I parted ways with Fran-san just before the village and decided to search the surrounding forest for mushrooms on my way back to town.
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The mushroom harvest was satisfactory, but drying them took time, so it was over ten days later when I finally returned to town.
Hoo-chan and the other wolf were waiting around the Honeybee nest; I made sure to introduce them to Kumagoro-san so they wouldn’t fight.
I returned to town with Mii-chan (the Slime) in a carrier on my back and headed straight for the Apothecary Guild.
“Oh, it’s been a while.”
“I’d like ten small bottles, ten medium bottles, and two large bottles, please. Also, I want to powder some mushrooms; do you have any tools for that?”
“Powdered mushrooms… Are those the yellow ones, by any chance?”
“You know of them?”
“Yes, we buy them at a high price. Would you be willing to sell some to us?”
“It’s this one. How much would you buy it for?”
I took out one Gold Mash from my Magic Pouch and asked.
“It depends on how dry it is, but if it’s this dry, it’s one silver coin per gram, at least. If supplies are tight, the price naturally goes up.”
He placed the Gold Mash I showed him on his palm, checking its weight as he answered.
I had already checked the Gold Mash’s dryness, remembering dried shiitake mushrooms.
“Do you use this for making Potions?”
“Oh no, valuable items like this are bought at a higher price by the Apothecary Guild than the Adventurers Guild. Adventurers who know that come to sell them here. We make a profit from that too.”
This Elf seems trustworthy after all. Maybe I’ll sell a little.
I took out about ten Gold Mash of various sizes from my Medicinal Herb Pouch and placed them on the counter.
“I don’t want to jump to conclusions, but those aren’t all Gold Mash, are they?”
Instead of answering his question, I just gave him a bright smile.
He carefully weighed each one, jotting down the weights on a piece of paper.
The small ones weighed between 1.5g and 2g, while even the larger ones were between 4.5g and 5g. The 11 pieces totaled 54.5g.
Saying, “Just a moment,” he went to the back, brought back something that looked like a ledger, and began flipping through its pages.
“Last week’s transaction price was 12,600 Dahla per gram. We take a 20% commission, so… that comes out to 549,360 Dahla. What would you like to do?”
“That’s fine. Also, I’d like ten small and medium bottles each, and two large bottles. And if you have a tool for grinding mushrooms into powder, I’ll take that as well.”
“I don’t think you’ll need that, though.”
“No, no, I heard that if you use it in cooking, it significantly enhances the flavor and aroma, making it much tastier, so I gathered them for that purpose.”
He looked dumbfounded for a moment, but then chuckled as he took out various bottles from a cupboard, and finally produced something resembling a small stone mill.
I listened to his explanation on how to use it. He told me to put the finely chopped material into the hole at the top of the stone mill and turn it using a separately inserted handle.
He advised that it’s easier to use if you grind it into powder at least twice.
I’m going to put it through at least three times and make it as fine as kinako powder!
The cost of the bottles was 59,000 Dahla, same as last time, and the stone mill was 200,000 Dahla.
After deductions, I received 290,360 Dahla and left the Apothecary Guild.