Isekai C-mart Hanjouki v1c3

Chapter 3: First Business Dealings

The market was extremely lively. Here and there were stalls lined up.

The items I had to sell were just 19 bags of salt. I don’t really need a large s.p.a.ce.

I picked an area at the end of the marketplace so I wouldn’t be in the way of the other merchants.

Sitting on the ground in the dirt is kind of iffy though…

I could display my products on a mat, or rather, carpet, that had been discarded and left here. “Products” refers just to these 19 plastic bags of white powder though.

Yup. It looks somewhat like a shop now.

And then I wait. And wait. And wait. And wait.

As I kept waiting and waiting, eventually someone walking along the road finally came by, pointed at the lined up bags, and asked.

“What are these?”

“Salt.”

“Ha.”

The man gave a short laugh and left.

It seems that he didn’t believe me. Come to think of it, oba-chan from the cafeteria also didn’t believe me at the beginning.

In oba-chan’s case, she believed me after I had her taste it. When the next person comes by, I’ll have them taste it, I decided.

And then I wait. And wait. And wait. And wait. And wait.

And wait. And wait. And wait. And wait. And wait. And wait.

I waited for quite a while.

It’s alright if customers come, but it’s also just fine if they don’t, so I didn’t really care that much.

After waiting about two or three times longer than before, finally the next person who came by showed some interest.

“Excuse me, but are the items lined up here for sale?”

“Of course.”

“What the heck is it?”

“It’s salt.”

“Such a thing… that must be a lie.”

There it is. The words I expected came from their mouth.

“Would you like to taste it?”

I ripped the edge of the bag a bit, and put a small amount on the man’s finger. He licked it off his finger, and then…

First, his eyes opened wide.

Why is he surprised this much? Well, I suppose it’s because it’s so unusual… Even though I logically understand why, I don’t really understand.

“… It’s salt.”

It took several tens of seconds before the man said that.

“Ri-right now I only have one gold on me. C-could you perhaps sell me some for that much?”

“Yes, I can”

“R-really!?”

The man was extremely happy. If the other person is happy, it makes me happy too.

“Well then…” I said while trying to give the man all of the salt, supermarket plastic bags included.

“N-nono! I can’t accept ALL of that! One bag, just one bag is enough!”

This man said the same thing as oba-chan.

I remember the quarrel where I tried to push the salt onto oba-chan. I knew the same thing would happen again, so I quickly decided to just give him one bag.

The man lowered his head over and over, carefully holding the bag while walking away.

I thought I had managed to sell them all, but… It’s a bit disappointing.

Eighteen bags remained. I continued to sit down.

About two hours had pa.s.sed, and I managed to sell 3 more bags. It was a pretty consistent pace.

I don’t really have a good feel for market values or this world’s currency, so when someone asks me for the price I just tell them one gold.

If keep going at this pace, I’ll sell out soon enough. And I already have several gold, if I sell out I’ll end up with 19 gold.

Gold. That is something which I actually don’t really know the value of. If I remember correctly, purity is related to the price. However, no matter how you think about it, there’s no way several gold coins would be worth less than 2000 yen. One gram should be worth several thousand yen, I at least know that much.

“Umm, excuse me, but you…”

Again, a different man was calling out to me. He’s young, but seems quite skilled and handsome. With a large bag slung over his shoulder and a fur hat, that style definitely made him look like a merchant.

“It’s genuine.” I quickly explain the circ.u.mstances. When a customer comes by, that’s the first thing I decided to say after all.

“Oh no, I am already aware of that. Actually I have been watching for a while but… you, have you been selling that much salt for just one gold?”

“Ah, yes. I have been selling at that price… is there a problem?”

“What a waste! That’s a huge loss!” The man says with a loud voice.

“Oh, is that so?”

“You can’t get salt in this area after all… You have to cross deserts and mountains, spending years to bring it from a faraway country.”

“Oh, is that so?”

“‘Oh’ you say… well I suppose most people don’t know about things outside of this country. If you’re involved in trade like me it’s different, but…” The merchant declared with confidence.

“In any case, one gold is way too cheap. Salt is said to be traded for its weight in gold after all.”

“No way!?” I couldn’t help but shout out.

I didn’t expect it to be valuable to that degree! Now that I think about it, oba-chan mentioned something about building a castle…

Eeeh!? Seriously!?

“Well as expected it’s not THAT valuable, it’s a well-repeated joke though.”

“Ahh, whew” I felt a bit relieved. This merchant is kind of mischievous.

“Even so, one gold is too little. If it was me, let’s see here…” The merchant put his hand to his chin and thought.

“What’s the purity?”

I looked at the bag.

“Ummm… 99.9 is written on the bag”

“99.9!?” The man seemed surprised.

“No… well… I suppose I should trust that claim as well… W-well, ignoring the purity, if it was that amount I would try selling it for 10 gold.”

“I see.” I was convinced.

“I’ve been selling it cheaply for one tenth of the value… sorry”

“No, no, what are you apologizing for?”

“Hm? You aren’t here to make a complaint? Nothing about unfair undercutting?”

“I just simply thought it was kind of a pity. I could say it was my merchant’s soul stirring.”

“Ah, I see.” I understood. This merchant is, in other words, a good person.

I suddenly had an idea.

With a kyupi~n, I realized a way to make this a win-win situation for both me and the merchant.

“Actually, I haven’t been able to sell much and it’s somewhat troubling me.”

“I would suppose so, there’s no way anyone would think someone would be selling salt in this kind of place.”

“In that case, I have a proposal. Would you be willing to buy this salt from me?”

“No, no! Even I don’t carry around enough money to buy this huge amount of salt.”

“How does 5 gold per bag sound? Earlier, you said you would sell each bag for 10 gold right? If you acquire one for 5 gold then sell it for 10, your profit would be 5 gold right? You and me both would end up with 5 gold in hand.”

“No, that’s true, but…”

“As you can see, I’m unskilled at selling. If I were to hand it off to you, I think it would make for good business.”

“No, that’s certainly true, but…”

If I push once more, it looks like I’ll be able to sell, I thought.

“75 gold for fifteen bags of salt. If you let this opportunity escape, wouldn’t your merchant’s character be bothered?”

“Mmm. Understood! If you say so. I am a merchant! This will cost me all of the funds I have at the moment, but I’ll buy it! And then I’ll sell it! And profit!”

“Thank goodness, negotiation successful.” I was relieved. I want this good person to gain from this trade.

The merchant pulled a bag from his chest pocket. I was handed fairly heavy bag.

“It’s gold dust. 75 gold’s worth is inside,” the merchant said.

“Oh, that’s right. Salt. Please taste the remaining salt, you should confirm that it’s genuine.”

“I trust you.” He said as he winked elegantly.

“Oh that’s right. Do you not have to confirm the gold dust in the bag? It could just be sand you know.”

Of course, I could only respond in this way.

“I trust you.”

← Chapter 2 Chapter 4 →

This chapter has translator’s notes available