Chapter 197: Our Respective Errands (1)

“So it’s just us today it seems,” Miss Margrett said as I tagged along with her to the merchant’s guild.

Yes. The merchant’s guild. It would be a lie to say I wasn’t interested in it as much as I was interested in the adventurers guild, since it has to do with the more practical aspects of money.

Liliath, Nine and Jennifer-chan were out ‘adventuring’, Prune asked if she could spend time in the orphanage we went to yesterday, Miss Margrett gave the okay.

Left was me and Miss Margrett. Not to mention, she had something on at the merchants guild and thought to bring me along for whatever reason. I still didn’t have the capability to run the florist all by myself anyways.

The merchant’s guild was located a rather far distant away, so Miss Margrett went and booked a short carriage ride. Like wow.

The scenery of the various stores, smithies, large bridge structures and even what looked to be the beginning of a red light district. All places were decorated with patches of beautiful white snow. 

One thing which I failed to mention in the demographics of the kingdom was the issue with housing for commoners. Since I only knew about renting inns or buying mansions, I was surprised that apartment concepts of renting a place to live in existed.

When I asked Miss Margrett about it, she said that most people rent from people they knew that also owned a store, just like what we were doing at the florist.

No wonder I would see adventurers come out of a lingerie store daily, that makes sense now.. not that I was deliberately trying to pay attention but there was this really gaudy lingerie store on the way to the adventurer’s guild OKAY?!

Soon the carriage stopped at a carriage station. Miss Margrett and I went the rest of the way on foot. 

The district here looked more established with well maintained cobblestone roads that accommodated a busy influx of engined-carriages, mail boxes, large potted plants with beautiful pink-ice flowers and even a cute black board type of sign to promote a certain product known as crepes. Things like post services, agency offices in regards to housings, logistic services, and money transfers could be found here. Besides that you have things like barbers, fancy bakery chains, cute creature cafes and--  an established slave agency for the upper class residents-- as in, you know-- nobles.

“If you didn’t come, I thought perhaps I should consider buying a slave,” was what Miss Margett told me.

I didn’t really know how to feel about it. What did she mean by that? It’s not like we really helped out at the florist right?

After a while, we finally reached the merchants guild. My impression was that this looked like a cinema in New York. You know, those walk in kinds with metallic framed bill boards and stuff? I don’t mean the ones in shopping malls.

Printing technology is a thing here it seems, a lot of posters could be found pasted on the wall.

“Should I be aware of anything before I enter? Are my clothes fine or maybe there is a certain ettique I should know of?”

“You don’t have to worry about that, I’m not here to make an impression. I came to meet an acquaintance of mine to settle some issues.”

Issues.. I wonder what that is..

‘He’s not picking up,’ was Laura’s sudden message in the chat.

I decided to shut off the messaging function. There are too many groups now. One for us, another one with Her Highness, now we have one more with Laura, I think it’s too distracting. If there are any emergencies, they should be able to use the emergency call. Though, let’s hope nothing of sorts happens.

Pushing into the guild, the first thing that catches your eyes is the gold statue of The God of Merchant, -- in the centre of the hall. It wasn’t as large as the one in the church. That asides, the place was crowded, but not as crowded as the adventurer’s guild, and most people here were wearing well-tailored clothes. There wasn’t anything to categorize their styles but it’s basically fantasy mixed in with professionalism.

There was a long reception at the further end and a ticket counter to arrange your placement. Miss Margrett went up to the receptionist at the ticket counter to ask for something then proceeded to one of the other rooms. Huh, looks like she’s well known. Along the way she would nod her head and smile at the other clients of the guild.

I never really got to know what most offices were about but there were services to help you build connections, find clients, exchange of coins, paying the mana and water bills, contacting wholesalers, contacting logistic agents, advertising and job seeking.

Yeah, job seeking. 

Which means industrialization is really a thing. I mean.. Bleu did say something about this bening in the midst of a magic revolution. The economic system is a lot more profound than just adventuring, harvesting materials, selling materials, utilizing said material and repeat. Stocks can’t possibly be a thing in this world too right? 

Just like how the adventurers guild has a place to fill the stomach, the merchants guild has it too. But it’s a fancy cafe rather than a cafeteria. The interior design of the place is absolutely jaw dropping. With glass panels lining the walls held together by small metal beams, you’d wonder which era you came to, cause this clearly looks like modern architecture to me.

“It’s been a while Mister Hal,” Miss Margrett called out.

“It’s been a while Margrett-san, take a seat. And who may this be? A relative? Nice to meet you,” the guy with a nice looking face and curly hair greeted. Though he had an obvious moustache, I thought it suited him rather well.

“Pleased to meet you,” I said, bowing lightly.

“This is actually one of my tenants that moved into the store a week ago,” Miss Margrett said.

“I see. So you’re finally taking advantage of the space you have, that’s great. Nice to meet you, Noel-san. Please take a seat, you two.”

“Thank you…”
So this guy has an appraisal skill too. 

Miss Margrett sat and placed her hand bag on the inner side while I sat on the outside. I turned to look outside, at the busy streets of the place. 

Really, if there was a newspaper flying by, I think it would mesh with the scene well. 

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“Esteemed customer, what drinks would you like,” an attendant presented a menu.

A menu. Oh my gawd, and it’s so well made too. Does this mean graphic design exists in this world? I think I saw a book store around here. Do they sell manga or comics of that sorts?

“It’s your first time here, is it Noel-san?”

“Yeah, it is. It’s really interesting,”

“I will have to agree with that,” supporting his head with the back of his hand, Mister Hal smiled.

I turned to the menu. A number of which were alcoholic beverages, and a lot of tea variations too. I chose tea, thinking that I should bring Liliath here out for a date next time. I marked this place on the map UI.

Mister Hal and Miss Margrett both chose low alcohol content drinks and 3 small cakes as tid-bits. With that, the attendant was sent off to get our orders.

“I’ll foot the bill, don’t mind it,” said Hal.

“Ara, I think I should be the one this round,” said Miss Margrett.

“We’ll see after the discussion. I sincerely apologize for not being able to secure the stock of those flowers you see..” he took out a pen and notebook from his bag.

I just sat there listening to their conversation as I took pictures of the place using the system camera.

Mister Hal is one of the section officers of a logistics firm specialising in transporting organic products. That includes things like vegetables, fruits, meat products and flowers.

I realized that the merchant that would drop by often to send flowers to Miss Margrett’s shop wasn’t actually his own boss, but works under a firm. 

The dispute between the kingdom of Phyls and the duchy of Baroque had, in a way, cut off the normal supply route of one flower type Miss Magrett ordered in large quantities. Because of this, the flowers wouldn’t make it in time for preparations-- that is if it was sent via the land route. There was another option to negotiate for a change in transportation method, which was via the sky route or sea route.

After weighing the pros and cons, it was decided that it would be alright to increase logistics costs so that the stock arrives on time. 

If you forgot what the flowers were for, it’s to do with the contract to decorate a wedding venue. It’s in a week and a half’s time, so pretty rushed. 

Most of the flowers and decorative plants have already arrived at the florist, which was why the place was filled. Some space in the kitchen had to be used to accommodate the boxes.

Oh yeah, it seems the box and plants have some preservation magic casted on it, that’s why it was possible to keep the plants alive for so long. That said, Miss Margrett would put the open boxes out in the backyard for the plants to get some light. I don’t get the logic behind that.

“If it’s alright, could you leave the flowers in the warehouse? The florist is packed, I don't think I’ll be able to keep the flowers.”

“I’ll arrange that for you. So the wedding day is on the 30th day of winter?”

“Yes, 30th of winter. The groom and bride are from the Harriot house and Ignis house.”

“Oh, so those two actually got along, that’s surprising.”

“It is. Glad to know it’s not just a wedding on the pretense of politics.”

“I didn’t get an invitation. I don’t know if Earl Harriot is being stingy or what, maybe he just forgot about me,” Hal leaned against the backrest sloppily.

“I don’t think he’s that insensitive. I’ll ask him about it when I meet him. He probably just-- forgot.” Miss Margrett chuckled.

Hal rolled his eyes.

I chucked a small spoon of cake into my mouth. It’s a very nice cake. I think I should buy some for the rest… no, we talked about trying to save money..

“Speaking of which, from which country did you come from Noel-san? I’m just curious what happened along the way, and how you ended up staying at Margrett-san’s place. You’re an adventurer right?”

“Somewhat an adventurer,” I said.

“Okay, I’ll not dig too much into your past.. though..” Hal stared at me for a few unnerving seconds, then muttered to himself. “Should be, I’ll tell him about it.”

“Hm?”
“Nothing, just saying that your father might miss you..” his voice tapered off. The latter half was so soft, I think I would’ve missed it if it weren’t for my heightened hearing ability.
What? 

Miss Margrett gave me a funny look.

“No.. just. It’s alright, you have your own situation. I shouldn't pry too much into it.”
Like what? My father? What’s going on?

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