Read A Merchant With Zero Combat Power Who Was A Baggage Handler In A Hero Party (Me), Was Finally Banished And Wants To Be A Steady Merchant.

67 - 04 Clarice's Ambition

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It was the night of the first relic sale.

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The five of us were sitting around the table in the dining room of Mitra's orphanage.

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Me, Loloi, Clarice, Burgess, and Mitra.

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Clarice, by the way, is dressed as a man, with a cloth bandana lifting up her hair to hide it.

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I could only see her as a girl, but Burgess did not seem to notice at all.

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Dinner that night consisted of salt-baked codfish that I had prepared, and porridge made with cereals that had been cooked in a pot with vegetables.

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Codfish has a bland taste, but once you get used to it, it's not so bad.

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However, it was difficult to adjust the seasoning because the original meat tasted light and I always put too much salt on it.

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After dinner, beside Loloi, who was repeating the same story to Mitra and Burgess, I handed Clarice 66 mana.

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It was one-third of the 200 mana I had paid for the relics I had sold today.

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Since Burgess had waived his share, it was to be split three ways between me, Loloi, and Clarice.

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The fractional one mana will be considered a sales commission.

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Thank you."

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Clarice accepted the mana and put it in the mana bag on her waist.

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But relics are hard to sell, aren't they?

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What is it? The mana is not only for the purpose of the mana, but also for the purpose of the mana.

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There is a certain amount of preparation and order to these things.

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Don't be offended. I simply thought so.

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Saying that, Clarice fell silent.

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I remember Clarice saying that she wanted a lot of mana just before entering the basement to explore the ruins.

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Is there something you want to buy, Chris?"

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It's not really something I'd want to get into. I simply asked as a matter of small talk.

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I asked him simply as a matter of small talk. I want to buy this house.

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When Clarice said this, Mitra flinched and turned her head toward Clarice.

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Mitra had been blinded in an accident when she was a child.

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She was wearing a blindfold from her eyes to her forehead to hide the scars from that accident. Because of this, it was almost impossible to read her expression.

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Before I knew it, Leroy and Burgess had also stopped talking and were listening to us.

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According to Clarice, this orphanage is not really an orphanage. Clarice told us that this orphanage was not really an orphanage, but a detached house of a certain noble family.

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I'm sure you guys won't have a problem with me telling you now, so I'll tell you.... My sister's mother and I were the wives of a certain noble family in Kilket. I don't think she was his official wife.

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The mother was apparently a slave.

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But when she was bought, she was discovered by a nobleman and taken into his custody, where she gave birth to Mitra and Clarice.

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In this country, slaves are considered outside the marriage system.

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This is probably why Clarice and her children's mother was not officially married to that nobleman.

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So, by nature.

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Clarice and Mitra, born of slave mothers, would be slaves, even if their own fathers were nobles...

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They say that through the power of their father, who is a great noble, the two were freed from their slave status and made to say that they are 'orphans.

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And the mansion where the two orphans lived was called an 'orphanage'.

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Because it is not really an institution to gather orphans and take care of them. Even now, only two people, Clarice and Mitra, were said to live in this large building.

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This house is a detached compound that the aristocrat had set aside for my mother. I don't remember much about it anymore, but it used to have servants and so on.

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But when Clarice and her mother became ill and died, the aristocrat's house was suddenly abandoned.

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The aristocrats stopped coming to the house immediately.

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Eventually, the servants moved back to the main house, leaving only Mitra, who was blind, and the young Clarice.

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Even so, the family continued to receive a small amount of support every month through a messenger, and although they were poor, they were able to make a decent living.

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But six months ago, that assistance ran out.

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Clarice, who was having trouble making ends meet, was struggling to earn a little mana by accepting guild quests. She said she ran into me as I was arriving in Kirket with an escort.

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I have no idea what happened over there, like why I lost my money. I don't know why they stopped sending money to me or what's going on over there. But it doesn't change the fact that this mansion still belongs to that aristocrat.

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So the day may come when we have to surrender it to that aristocrat.

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Clarice wanted to save up her mana by then and buy the house from the nobleman.

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I'm done," Clarice said. Thanks to Burgess, I have confidence that I can make it as an adventurer. But you can't do the same. I want to continue to live in this house that we've all grown accustomed to.

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When he said "everyone," he might have included Burgess.

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I see. By the way, if you were to buy it, what would the asking price be?

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Six million mana.

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I see.

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I was scared to death inside.

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That is certainly not half a million mana.

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It was not the kind of amount that an adventurer could accumulate by doing ordinary quests.

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It would take several years of hard work and a lot of skill, as well as a lot of moderation, to accumulate that kind of money.

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The orphanage is relatively close to the inner gate of Kirket. Besides, the site here is considerably larger than the surrounding houses.

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So, its value may be estimated quite high.

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'Ah...that's why I took up Loloi's offer of a treasure hunt. I thought that even if my life was in danger, if I could get a big hit with it, I might be able to earn some mana in one fell swoop.'

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I see..."

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As it turned out, the bet turned out to be a jackpot.

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Incidentally, that 6 million mana is a lot of money.

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If I lived a simple life on my own, I could live for about 30 years without working.

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Albus. My share is one-third.

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I know.

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But I'm really not cut out to be a store keeper.

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That's true.

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I'm sure I'll have too much power.

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The most important thing to keep in mind is that you should not be afraid to ask for help when you need it.

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And yet, when the time comes for a customer to come in, she is not a very good one.

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I think it would be better to leave the relic sales to me and Loloi, while Clarice continues to work with Burgess on guild quests..."

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The food and water stored in my "warehouse" was to be paid out if needed as long as I was taken care of at the orphanage, and Loloi and I were allowed to have it at the end of the day.

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Burgess and Clarice, who had no warehousing skills, would have been annoyed if they had to share the food, as it would only make it rot.

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The only thing that would make it worthwhile would be if they had to watch the store for Clarice, considering that it was in exchange for "a lot of food" plus "the cost of lodging here.

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The relics will be sold one way or another.

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I'm sorry, but..." "It looks like Burgess' other business is settled once and for all. I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to start doing that tomorrow.

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Leave the relic sales to Loloi and the others!　Chris wants to be with Burgess!

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Clarice was a little flustered to hear that, and Burgess had a "? Burgess was a little flustered by this.

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In order for Clarice to save the target amount of 6 million mana, the three of them need to total 18 million mana together.

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But even if he could sell off all the relics taken from the underground city ruins, it would indeed be impossible for him to earn a total of 18 million mana.

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Depending on the skills assigned to the relics, there is still a possibility of earning a total of 6 million mana, but...

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So, in order for Clarice to buy this mansion, me and Loloi would have to give up our rights to the mana.

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As for the ownership of this mansion, it is a matter between Clarice and Mitra. It would be wrong for me and Loloi to give up our share.

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I have my own purpose.

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Clarice's purpose is hers and has nothing to do with me.

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Well, Loloi.

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Loloi's purpose, unlike mine, is not to earn mana but to sell relics.

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Perhaps he might even say that it's okay to give all the mana he earns to Clarice.

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At least I had no intention of giving up my share.

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If I need any more help with a project, I'll let you know.

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Yeah, okay."

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→→→→→

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I'll do what I can for Mitra.

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Burgess said this to Clarice as he took out his mana bag.

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Come to think of it, Burgess is very attached to Mitra, isn't he?

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No," Clarice said, "I'm not. I'm grateful to Burgess for everything he's done for me. But I'm afraid to borrow money from you.

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"Oh, no!　What does that mean?

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I mean it exactly as it is!

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As we watched the exchange, Leroy and I looked at each other.

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If I didn't know Clarice was a woman, it would be "a brother trying to protect his sister from the clutches of a pervert.

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The truth is, Clarice probably doesn't want to rely on Burgess.

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I don't want him to think that I approached Burgess for the manna.

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Or maybe he has that in mind.

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She must be torn between her need to earn mana for Mitra and her attraction to Burgess.

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He must be torn between his need to earn mana for Mitra and his attraction to Burgess. It's helping me and my sister a lot.

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I see."

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The conversation seemed to end with that exchange of words.

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