Chapter 32: The growing business and discussing Alchemy

On my way from the shop, I was accompanied by Nene.

"So? What did you find out?"

"Walls are sturdy and the windows are really small. In case of emergency it would be hard to escape, but from the opposite side, it's almost impossible to break in. Just what kind of glass did you use for those windows?"

"Oh, just some basic Amber slime secretions and extra thin Magimetal strings, nothing that crazy."

"Magi-what?!" Nene was taken back.

"Magimetal. I found some in the forest I lived in previously."

"Master, do you know how rare Magimetal is?"

"How rare it is? It can't be that great, you can make it with Alchemy after all. It's even easier than making Magic Steel… Did I say something weird?" I had to ask because Nene looked completely dumbfounded.

"M-make it with alchemy?! That can't be real! Magimetal is one of the rarest metals in the world. How could it be created!!!"

Aaah, is this divine common sense too? Just how underleveled the alchemy got since its creation?

"I can show you, if you want."

"Please don't. I don't want my world to shatter even more," Nene strongly refused.

"Okay, I understand. Will you return to the orphanage now?"

"Yes. I will buy some food and go back there. Some kids are rather talented at stealth, so I'm going to train them."

"It's good for them to have some basic abilities, but please make sure they also try out things other than fighting. What we know, they might even find some hidden gems among them."

"Lots of options are good, indeed. Farewell for now, master," Nene bowed politely and went the other way.

We separated our ways and I went to the merchant's guild, where I stored the money before walking back to the inn. On the way I decided to buy some cheap wine. I didn't have much hope for it, but I believed that if I fed it to some of the Fermenting Slimes, they might get a taste for it and decide to eat the grapes themselves, getting to produce their own wine in the future.

Once I had dinner with the Ducal family and Blanche, I used teleportation to get back to the orphanage and used the underground passageway to go to my base. When I arrived I started looking into the farms and production of alcohol. The slimes were storing the alcohol in the specially enlarged barrels and once they started overflowing, they let the goblins close the lids and move the barrels to storage room. Each of the barrels were about as tall as my hips, but due to the space magic expanding the space inside, there was around one hundred liters inside each of the barrels.

"I will be taking the Vodka barrels with me. Oh, how is the Resin Slimes bottle making going?" I asked Urza, who was accompanying me here with Chika. Shizu was with Blanche making medicine. Blanche also wanted to test making something and asked me for some materials. Wonder what that is about.

"I would love to say it's going great, but the Amber slimes are getting better lately."

"I see. I should get some sand and have them multiply. Let's leave the Resin slimes to glue making. Any changes with the goblins?"

"No. We have a firm grasp over them. Some of the Kobolds went into labor earlier today, though."

"Really?! Take me there, right away!!!" I practically let everything be and started walking to the staircase. "Chika, you inform Blanche and Shizu."

"On it!" Chika saluted and ran off to the two girls.

Kobolds have similarly fast reproduction cycles as goblins. Their pregnancy lasts about two weeks and they can't conceive another child until the first ones are fully grown. Their kids reach maturity in a month or two and about a week after they reach maturity, their mothers become ready for conceiving another child.

Interesting thing is, that the higher the rank of monster, the longer it all takes. Urza and Chika could be considered adults already, if they were goblins, but since they are Gobinas —half humans essentially— they haven't matured fully yet. Right now, they are about eight or nine years old, while Shizu, the Hobgoblin is four years old. It's funny to think that Urza and Chika both thought of Shizu as their older sister, when she's younger than them. Wait! Priorities Arito! Priorities!!!

We entered the section where the Kobolds had their sleeping quarters and noticed that the Kobold Priest, Yenga, was more worried than normal.

"My Lord!!! Come, my mate is currently in labor! Let us see the children of your generosity together!!!"

Urgh, this guy is still such a brownnoser…

"Calm down, Yenga. Take a deep breath and go to Kaena right now."

"Y-yes sir…" His ears flattened, he walked to the room he was assigned.

On the bed in Yenga's room was a female High Kobold in labor. Her breath was fast and her tongue was wiggling quickly. She looks like a dog under the summer sun…

"It doesn't look like she has a fever, so we just need to concentrate on getting the kids out. Do Kobolds have any experience with helping delivery?"

"No, my Lord…" Yenga sounded apologetic

"I see. Urza we are doing the Black Special. We will have to modify it, but let's try it anyway. Get me hot water too!"

"Sir!"

We had to hold her down. My experience is limited to Wolves only… Well, Kobolds are closer to wolves than bears, even though they are humanoid… yeah, that won't help me…

I tracked my hand along her belly and noticed what was causing the problem. The baby wasn't in a good position. Instead of having it's head down, it was slightly to the side. I lightly pushed on one side, correcting the position of the baby and instantly got to feel how it slightly moved towards the exit.

"The water's here!"

"Thanks and get ready Urza!"

"Yes!" Urza quickly. "Lady Blanche arrived when I was fetching water and went to another room."

"I see. I will have to thank her later… Okay guys I can see the head!"

While everywhere was blood and other bodily fluids, I could still discern furry ears, that when cleaned would probably be white. I gently picked up the head, then shoulders and when I firmly gripped the child's armpits, I managed to pull it out.

"Awwoooooooooooooooo!!!!" the puppy howled cutely, Yenga was almost unable to keep standing on his legs.

"Urza wash him, I need to get out the second one."

"Ye—What?! There are still more?"

"Just one. You're halfway there, Kaena. Keep up the good work!"

"Yes, my lo—woooooooooooooooooo!!!" Kaena tried to sound cool, but the pain kicked in again and she continued pushing. The other baby came out much easier then the first one and Kaena finally got to relax.

"<Heal> I recovered you a little, but you still need to get some rest. Anyway, say hi to your kids, you two." I held out one child and Urza the other. They had red fur like their mother with white tipped ears, hands, legs and tails, which reminded me a little of their father. The most interesting thing though, was their race.

Kobold Paladin

Advanced Species of Kobold, when they mature, they tend to be much more powerful than Kobold Knights, who are their counterparts. Kobold Paladins can use Light magic, and when raised religiously, even Holy magic isn't impossible for them. They boast one of the strongest arm strength of all Kobold subspecies apart from Kobold King. Keen Senses 1, Light Magic 1, Protector 1, Beast Fighter 1, Restriction Magic 1

This is my first time seeing other Heretic Magic aside from Blood Magic…

Restriction magic, same as the Blood Magic, are called by the populus of this world Heretic magic, because they aren't given to humanity by the Gods. Though, the Gods themselves call these Heretic magics Acquired magic, because similarly to Compound spells, they were made by living creatures of this world. Though, people saw monsters use them first so they declared them Heretic and anyone who is capable of using them is strongly frowned upon.

I thought about acquiring the Blood magic before, but I couldn't come up with uses that weren't destructive. I have the knowledge to get the skill, but keep it off for now.

This Restriction magic, though… It looks interesting. How does it work? What do you need to activate it? I'm really looking forward to seeing these guys grow now.

"Arito, we need help here!" Blanche called me out from another room. Since she couldn't communicate with my tamed monsters, she had Chika and Shizu help her translate. The kobold she was helping was giving birth to five higher ranked kobolds, but the mother herself was just a regular kobold. The relationship between regular kobolds and higher ranked ones wouldn't happen in nature, where monsters tend to mate only with species of similar rank. But here, they were both my subordinates equally, so in a sense, they became equals and their relationship could prosper.

"<Heal> <High Heal> This should do it for now. I can't bring down her fever with magic, so get some wet cloth on her wrists."

"Aye!!" The kobold knight saluted and went to secure the cloth. He was the father, and just like Yenga was really out of his element and his hands were wobbly.

"Arito look…" Blanche pointed at the female Kobold on the bed. There was a tail and a front limb poking out of her.

"So the problem is that there are two kids trying to get out at once… leave it to me!"

I continued helping with the baby deliveries for the next two whole hours. Each of the pregnant kobolds had two children minimum. Most of the lower ranked Kobolds had a tendency to have more children then the higher ranked ones, too. After today, my number of Kobolds grew from the original thirty six to sixty one.

The higher ranks were also an interesting bunch. Three Kobold Warriors, one Elite Kobold like Kaena, one Kobold Priest like Yenga, two Kobold Paladins, Kobold Archer, Kobold Druid and Kobold Scout. Interestingly enough, all the newborn high ranks were female.

The Kobold Druid is the biggest of all the children and only one with greenish brown fur. And the most lively one by far. Who would've thought his mother is such a frail-looking, timid kobold.

Anyway, seeing the kobolds celebrating, the goblins started looking a little restless as well. I'm going to have many more goblins soon, as well, aren't I?

***

The next day started a little later than usual. I ran (and teleported) to the shop and got there just as they were about to open up. Luckily there wasn't as much of a column like yesterday, but there still was quite an amount of people. All of them were holding empty flasks of alcohol.

"Guildmaster?! Shouldn't you be at work?" I was surprised to see Graldingr the dwarf standing here with six empty bottles at his waist.

"Ah! Arito! I see your employees are about to open up the shop already! Shouldn't you be inside though?"

"What if your secretary finds out?"

"Oh… no need to tell her, right?" Graldingr made an uncertain smile with an apologetic gesture.

"You came to get alcohol again?"

"Well, just two bottles for today and returning the remaining bottles. That return booth is quite something. I saw some slum kids collecting bottles yesterday."

"If they came from our shop, then I see no problem with them bringing it to us. But we are no dump. We are not accepting trash from other shops."

"Thought so. Anyway, will you be accepting any quests today?"

"No, not right away. Once the shop is set up, I will go to butcher shops around town and offer them my slimes to take care of their wastes. I want them to multiply a little more. Plus I might get some materials cheaply. There are not as many monstersmiths in this town as others, after all."

"Oh? Is that a hobby of yours? It's quite dangerous, you know?"

"I did hear about it being possibly dangerous. It's no problem to me, though."

"Well, bring me what you make. I will appraise it for you. If it will be good enough, I might ask you to make more for our Weaponry."

"I heard the guild has Weaponry, but are you sure you want my weapons?"

"Well, one can never be low on magical weapons. You might even be able to open your own smithy, if you are good enough."

"I will stay with my current business, thanks. This is still just a hobby to me. Anyway, I have to go now, see you later."

"Yeah, see ya!"

I entered the shop and made my way to the front. Apparently, adventurers were buying in bulk due to the appearance of Murder Ants. I fought them before, so I knew they were extremely dangerous and delicious. Their meat tasted like crab and making hotpot from them was one of the best ways to cook them. Well, you had to get rid of the fat and blood, but that is no problem.

The biggest problem is that the queen is an SS rank monster. No A rank can hurt it with conventional methods. The guild already called for an S rank team operating in the east of the kingdom.

Well, that's of no importance to me. I'm just going to continue living my life like I always did.

Once I handed out the alcohol and antidotes from my Item box, I headed out to one of the butcheries I was already acquainted with.

"Welco— Ah! You are that young merchant who was using that pretty magic to build his shop! How can I help you? Do you want to buy meat, or monster parts?" the young wolf-eared butcher called out to me with a smile.

"Hello there, I came here since we are already acquainted. I would like to buy some meat, yes, but I primarily came to ask to buy monster parts."

"Of course. We have some Murder Ant exoskeletons here, would you like to take a look?"

"Yes, thank you."

We walked to the private part of the shop, where the monsters were butchered. The apprentices were taking apart the monsters as we entered and only acknowledged our presence by nodding their heads towards us. The Murder Ants were the same as I remembered them. Dog sized ants with red exoskeletons and blue eyes.

"Do you see anything that fancy you?" the butcher asked.

"Hmm… you clearly open the carcasses with care. Great, I should be able to do something with this. <Dimension Home>" I called out the Grime slimes and had them clean a few of the exoskeletons from oil-y fat on the inside, leaving some thin layer of muscle fibers behind.

"Wow, those slimes are quite interesting. They clean the exoskeleton so perfectly, that I can't say I ever saw one this clean," the butcher was really surprised.

"Yes, my slimes are quite useful for cleaning. Would you like to clean the pipes? These guys are great at taking care of the wastes, too."

"That would be great, thank you. I will give you the exoskeletons for cheap in exchange, does it sound fair?"

"That's incredibly kind of you," I bowed slightly and got to work. First I released Bloody slime and had it eat the blood. Then I released Grime slimes to eat the guts and other wastes. I also released some of them in the drains, so the place soon became spotless.

After finishing my job and getting the exoskeletons, I moved to another shop and another after that. In the evening, I ended up with about sixty whole exoskeletons. The total number of shops I visited was twelve, meaning five exoskeletons from each shop.

"Good evening guys. How was it today?"

""""Manager!"""" the group smiled happily when they saw me, but continued counting money.

"Manager, welcome back. Our sales today are still being calculated, but we've sold out the alcohol. Also, master Gemma came by today and left you a letter."

"I see. I will either write a reply or go to visit him tomorrow or the day after."

This place would really need a calculator. While I made them that device for counting marbles, they still need to count the money…

"Manager, I believe it is wise to open the Liquor shop now," Hugh looked determined.

"I guess we can. Pick two or three people to man the shop. Tomorrow those chosen ones will go with me to learn about the alcohol we are going to sell."

"Understood sir!"

"Oh, once you are done counting money, do you want me to take the money to the guild bank?"

"If you'd be so kind," Hugh bowed and went to help his colleagues. I went after him and we spent some time separating coins. Most of them were silver, but there was a decent number of bronze and gold coins as well. I took three boxes and started sifting the coins into them.

"W-wow… manager, you are so fast."

"And your fingers move so fast too."

The girls were looking at me, which made me a little nervous.

"I'm just separating them by color. Separating them by shape will be more important later."

"It's still amazing that you can move them so fast. Is it some kind of skill?"

"I guess I could check…" I took out my Status board and looked at my new skills. Given I haven't looked at the board in so long, there were two skills I didn't recognize.

First one was called Multicast. Its description explained that it was skill that made it possible to use two and more spells at the same time. Additionally, it made easier casting compound spells. I could try making some new spells again…

The second skill was called Dexterous Fingers. The Description only said that this skill helped with crafting, unlocking locks and made my fingers move faster in general. Hey, wouldn't this skill make for a good thief? I could see myself opening a treasure chest by fiddling in darkness for a few seconds. But, the most important thing is… how did I get it? It's a mystery…

Oh, my calculation went up to level six. Nice.

"It seems you're right, Hugh. I got a skill just now. My Calculation skill also leveled up. It will make the work faster, that's for sure," I smiled at my employees, effectively ending the talk about the skills. I might've kept silent, but doubts are sometimes worse than partial truth.

"The numbers check. Here you go, sir," Hugh gave me papers with today's income, the same as the money in a bag, which I shoved into my Item Box. Wow, we really might get to million Alba soon.

"Great work everyone, let's get some rest and get ready for tomorrow."

"Thank you Manager!" the girls chorused in return.

***

Once I made it back to the inn, I was called out by Henry who wanted to talk with me after dinner.

"Thanks for coming, Arito."

"I figured you wanted to talk with as few people in presence as possible, but I didn't expect we would be here alone."

"Yes. This concerns the Philosopher stone and the royal family, so I can't let too many people know about it."

"You did say that you will talk with your brother, is that information somehow related to that?"

"Yes. My brother… that is, the king didn't want to disclose any information, but Maurica helped persuade him."

Maurica… ah! The queen did…

"I see, I should make her some nice statue again, then."

"Please do," Henry chuckled and continued seriously, "Now then, this is information on the Philosopher stone I was allowed to take from the Library of Kings."

I picked up papers Henry pushed to me with words of thanks and started reading.

"Hmm… this looks more like a story for kids than a historical document…"

"You noticed, hm? Only information on Philosopher stone we have are tales of Alchemy King Goldo from ancient times. I honestly don't believe it will be much help, however they were apparently written by his aide."

"No, this is good. Great, even."

"Huh? You already have a lead?"

"This first story seems like a big lead."

The first story quite literally describes what I did with Cie's venom on the day of the Red Moon, but on a grander scale. Who would've thought of turning into a crystal a Dragon’s Breath, the Alchemy king must've been quite the odd one.

"Really?"

"It will be no easy task. Once the four base liquids are collected, the true test will start. I will go over these stories and see what I come up with."

"Okay. How long do you think it will take you?"

"It might be years. I believe that the two remaining liquids could be made with help of the slimes, but I have no base for that as the only lead for it are the previous two liquids I already got my hands on. Do you want it? The Philosopher's Stone, I mean?"

"I wouldn't say that it doesn't interest me. I was studying alchemy in my school years, but not to the extent you do. The best I could do was make low grade potions. Philosopher stone can apparently extend human's life as well as cure all illnesses."

Is he trying to prolong his life because Ancients live that much longer than humans? He has some blood from ancients and Dark elves, but I guess it's really thin.

"It can also create homunculi, the Immortal soldiers, or chimeras," I said in a low, slightly darker tone.

While creating a humanoid body could be done with Necromancy and Dark magic as well, creating Chimeras is not as much complicated. Even the Philosopher stone could be replaced by a highly pure Magic Crystal. As for the body, you needed to stitch the corpses together, insert the magic crystal and BAM! You have a chimera. Though you would also need a spell called [Soul Possession] from the Necromancy to install a dead soul into it. Though, that one is only needed to assert domination over the body. The chimeras tend to go on rampages as the soul remnants in the bodies tend to clash with each other, causing self-destruction in many cases.

"Yes. However that requires Person transmutation, which is unethical, not to mention illegal, as I hope you know. Also, about chimeras. It is possible to 'grow' body parts with specialized magic items, which makes the chimeras much more docile."

"I know of the Person Transmutation and its unethicality. It's one of the reasons people don't like Alchemy after all. The belief of ‘it's either a sham or life destroying practice’ is quite widespread. I never heard of that magic item though."

"The way the world sees alchemy is unfavorable, to say it mildly. The magic item in question is a highly guarded property of the academy, so unless you become a student, I don't see you getting near it. Anyway, I plan to introduce Lena to Force magic, would you like to join us with Blanche?"

"Force magic… isn't that one considered to be one of Heretic magics? Like Blood Magic, Illusion magic and such?"

"It certainly did some time ago, but not nowadays. Most of the Force magic spells are called Hardened Null magic, after all. And in all honesty, the so-called Heretic Magics are called that only because they were firstly sighted and used by monsters. I honestly see no problem in learning some Heretic magic. They can be useful in a not so limited number of times."

"I agree. Actually, some Kobolds that were born today can use Restriction Magic."

"Oh, that's a rare one. It's a type of magic that can restrict a lot of phenomena. I remember fighting one monster that restricted water movement. It was a real pain, if Laina wasn't with me, I couldn't do much back then."

That sounds really overpowered, limiting water movement can be harsh…

"Okay, how does tomorrow sound?"

"I can't. I will be teaching some of my employees about our alcohol that's going on sale."

"Oh? Are you opening the Liquor shop already?"

"I discussed it with Hugh, and found it a good opportunity. Alcohol lovers tend to flock to the shop, making it hard to advertise other items," I smiled faintly at Henry.

"Hahah-hahahah… sorry about that."

"It's okay, it got our name out, after all."

***

The next day I went to the shop's upper rooms, where I prepared a pult for receiving cash. The bottles of alcohol were displayed above it with prices, but most of the wares were in the back rooms. Thanks to the size of the farms and the amount we can produce every day thanks to the fertilizer, there are no problems with the production anymore.

"Manager!" Jamie waved at me as she led the group through the doors.

"We will be in your care today, manager," Quida bowed lightly.

"I wonder what kinds of alcohol you have prepared," Miya, who was at the tail of the group, wondered.

"Good morning everyone. Have you eaten your fill?"

"Yes!" the three girls responded to my question with serious nods.

"Alright. First we have the fruit liquors. The greenish one is made from Appo fruit. The orange one is from Peench and the dark blue is Plun fruit one. The clear liquid is vodka, which we were selling downstairs."

"Hmm… don't you have wine, sir?"

"I'm still experimenting with that one. However, I can't really get the production started. It feels like something is missing…"

"Wine is really widespread, so I think that while we sell only liquors, the other alcohol specialists will stay out of our hair," Quida nodded her head and smiled brightly.

I would love to get some beer, though…

"I will stay here with you today, so let's get used to things together, shall we?"

"Yes sir!"

Once we opened the shop we got swarmed. Merchants, servants of nobles and even nobles themselves were stopping by in the morning and almost bought out all Vodka. There were some sales of the fruit liquors, but not as much as the Vodka. In the afternoon, adventurers and people going from day jobs stopped by too. We haven't sold out everything —except for the vodka— but the sales were still solid.

"I guess I will go and talk to some bars about delivering them some alcohol… I might go to the Adventurers guild's bar first."

"Please wait sir! It would be dangerous to go alone, please go with Mr. Hugh with you," Miya tried to stop me right away.

"Oh, don't worry about it. I'm well self-aware, I know I look like a kid even though I sell alcohol. I will take him with me."

I went downstairs, took Hugh with me and after putting our money into the bank of the Merchant's guild, we headed out to the Adventurers guild, where our first stop would be..

"The guild here is really big. No surprise they got the entire floor dedicated to a bar."

"Some smaller guilds operate from bars, I heard."

"Yes, that is true for smaller towns, though most villages that have adventurers live in them, usually go to the adventurer in question without going through the guild," Hugh added to my words before adding a little more quietly. "Though that makes it harder to gouge said adventurers’ rank."

"Yo! This ain't a place for kids! Ya better get yer ass outta here!" Some slightly more drunk adventurer yelled at us.

"Oh, shut it you drunk-ass! Long time no see, Arito!" A weretiger man bobbed the drunk man, who tried to shoo me away, on the head and waved me over.

"Oh, Mr. Loo. I haven't seen you since the Goblin den raid. Have you come here on a quest?"

"Yep. We came for the Murder Ants, since they tend to sell for a lot. Oh! Let me buy you a drink! I need to thank you for those arm guards. Barkeep! Two mugs brimming with ale for these guys!"

"Shut it Loo! I ain't sellin' to kids! And you, shouldn't you be going home already?"

"I came here after finishing work in my shop. My name is Arito Aruze, an Adventurer and owner of MonsterWork company."

"…"

The bar fell silent, all eyes on me. Did I… say something wrong?

"Wait, you are the guy sellin' all those antidotes?"

"Yes, that's me. Is there some problem?"

"Our Savior!!!!" The adventurers broke into happy cheers and smiles. Later, I found out that thanks to my fast acting medicine a lot of adventurers were saved in battles with the Murder Ants just earlier that day.

"So, what can I do for our Savior?" the barkeep asked me with a smile.

"No, not as a Savior. Please consider my offer as a business deal."

"Hm?"

"I came to offer you my alcohol for sale."

"Oh? You mean that clear liquor the guildmaster is so hooked on drinking the last few days?"

"…Yes, that one too. Do you want to taste it?"

"Sure. Hit me up," the Barkeep nodded resolutely and I took out the alcohol, pouring it into prepared glasses.

"…"

The adventurers were watching with bated breath as the barkeep tasted the alcohol with closed eyes.

"Hmm… yes, this is good. It’s strong, but doesn’t burn the throat like those jerks from Booze and Snack make. Let's do it. We have a deal."

"Woo-hoo!!!" the adventurers broke into cheers. Apparently, the guildmaster was spreading good word for us and some adventurers came to taste it too, only to get hooked in the process.

"Hugh, I will leave you to the rest, you know what price you can't go under, yes?"

"Yessir! Leave the negotiations to me," Hugh had stars shining in his eyes as he took the Barkeep to the back.

I used the opportunity to strengthen my relationship with the adventurers. From them I found out that Blanche and Lena took on the Leaf-winged locust quest today, so I was sure what I would hear about, in the evening.

"Manager, I'm back!" Hugh came back with a glowing smile, while the barkeep looked like his soul left his body.

"Good work out there," I took a look over the contract and found it agreeable so I sign it right away. I would deliver 25 liters of all kinds of alcohol on a weekly basis and the barkeep would pay me an appropriate amount. By the way, the amount he would pay me for three kinds of fruit liquors and vodka was 1,6 million, which was little less than the amount we were selling it in the shop. You might think that adventurers would only drink cheap ale and whatnot, but surprisingly a lot of them have refined tastes. Many of the high ranked adventurers travel a lot, and get exposed to drinks and foods all over the continent, which makes them appreciate good drinks that much more. It’s not all cute, nice and sunny in the world of adventurers, but a good drink and good company can bring out smiles no matter how hard the day is. That’s something I learned first hand, at least.

Hmm… I'm really getting a lot of revenue from selling alcohol… maybe I should think of a way to return the money into circulation again… There was that orphanage that wanted me to take over for them, too.

The exoskeletons didn't put much of a dent to my savings as well… Well, once I get better at crafting monster weapons, I might be able to sell them. My kids come first, though… I’m starting to sound like a father, don’t I?

"Well then. Take the evening off, Hugh. I won't be around tomorrow, but it's fine, right?"

"You can leave the shops to me, sir. I should go home before Emma starts to worry, though" Hugh bowed politely with a warm smile and returned to the dorms.

"Right then, I should take a look at the orphanage as well," I smiled too and started walking the road on my lonesome.

I went to the orphanage and took a look at everything that needed my attention. I filled the tank with water and took away newborn Filter Sponges, leaving only five behind. I also checked the pipes leading rainwater from the roof to the tank.

The reason for checking them was that due to not raining recently, I was worried birds would take refuge in them, making nests in the process. There was a great number of pigeon-like bird monsters called Peabirds. They weren't dangerous at all, so the only problem with them was that they were breeding too quickly. I already had five pairs in my care. I might as well compare them to Peabirds from other lands, like Mr. Darwin.

After this I went to the underground and tamed the Grime Slimes that split in the sewage tank. I also checked in the atelier and found out that all tools were in place, so I could hire some artisans to teach the kids crafts. Alma and Blanche were going together to the clothing plus jewelry shop across from my shop once every two days. For those who wished to become adventurers, I helped with training. The guild allowed adventurers to become adventurers for anyone who was ten years or older, but up until adulthood at fifteen years, the guild had the authority to oversee taken quests. Well, thanks to our special card for higher ranked quests taking same rank quests was easy-peasy, little to no overseeing needed.

"Aaaaaah, what a beautiful night… Rifa and the others are getting stronger every day. Maybe I could allow them to become adventurers… hmm… I should give them a test of some sorts first, though…"

With renewed determination, I headed out to the inn, getting ready for my training in Force magic with Lena and the others the next day.