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Chapter : 4 The Giant Slave of a Small Village (4)
“Back already?”
“Yes. Did you eat lunch?”
“Yeah, I had a simple meal earlier with someone from the Xian Merchant Group.”
The office of Valentine, the chief of Florin Village, was far too small compared to Rotem’s massive size.
Because of that, just like always, Rotem had to stay extremely careful not to break anything.
“Here. The mushrooms.”
“Hmm.”
Rotem skillfully took the truffles out of his herb bag.
At the beginning of their business, Valentine carefully inspected the condition and quality every single time. But now, he completely trusted Rotem and his mushrooms, so the inspection was brief.
“They’re good again today. Just asking to be safe—you’re not having trouble securing supply, right?”
“No problem. Unless I suddenly get greedy, I think the colony can keep producing around this amount.”
What made Rotem’s explanation believable was the fact that he never delivered huge amounts at once. If anything, his deliveries were smaller than average.
“That’s good news. Thanks to this, I think we’ll be able to extend the contract with Xian.”
An unexpected word came from the village chief’s mouth, making Rotem’s thick eyebrows twitch.
“Huh? Extend it? I guess the demand for elixirs in Calpheon keeps increasing?”
“It’s not just elixirs. Herbs, potions… And according to what I heard from Keplan, they’re buying up ingots too. Makes you wonder if they’re preparing for war or something…”
A small village like Florin had little influence over political matters anyway.
For the chief, it was enough to simply make the greatest profit possible according to the situation.
And Rotem decided that now was the perfect time to bring up his idea.
“Chief.”
“Hm?”
“There’s something I want to ask.”
“What is it?”
After putting the mushrooms into a bag, Valentine adjusted his large glasses and looked up at the giant.
Rotem met the small face in front of him without the slightest hesitation.
“I want to buy one of the alchemy workshops in the village.”
“…A workshop?”
A rare emotion appeared on Chief Valentine’s face.
Pure surprise.
“Yes. I came here as a worker, but lately, ever since I started gathering these mushrooms, I honestly haven’t really been doing much as a contracted laborer anymore.
But my contract period still remains, and I can’t stop gathering herbs and mushrooms either. So I thought maybe I could try doing some alchemy inside the village.”
“Hmm.”
“Ah, well, if it’s uncomfortable giving a workshop to an outsider, I understand—”
Seeing Valentine hesitate, Rotem assumed he understood the reason.
But the chief quickly waved his hand and shook his head.
“No, no, it’s not that. There are empty workshops anyway, and it’s better for someone to use them than leave them abandoned.”
“Then…”
Rotem trailed off and waited for the chief’s response.
Feeling Rotem’s gaze, Valentine rubbed the herb bag and thought deeply for a while.
Rotem couldn’t guess what exactly he was hesitating about, but the answer came surprisingly fast.
“Well, it should be fine. Alright. Workshops number 4 and 6 are empty. Which one do you want?”
“Thank you. Since I’m big, I think number 6 would be better.”
“Fine. What about the terms? Renting or buying?”
“I’ll buy it.”
Rotem answered without hesitation, and a smile appeared on the chief’s lips.
“Wow. Looks like you’ve made quite a bit of money. Though technically it’s all village money anyway.”
“Haha.”
While Rotem laughed awkwardly, Valentine opened a drawer under the desk and searched through it before taking out a large key and placing it on the table.
Of course, it was only large compared to a Shai’s hand size. In Rotem’s hand, it looked completely ordinary.
“I’ll organize the contract papers and send them to the workshop this afternoon.
A former adventurer used that place, so the alchemy and experiment tools shouldn’t be too small for you.
Still, if you need tools suited to your size, tell me. I’ll throw that in as a bonus.”
“Thank you, Chief.”
Rotem stood up quickly to express his gratitude—
And immediately hit his head against the ceiling and a shelf.
After hurriedly cleaning up the mess he caused, he finally bowed properly and finished his greeting.
As the giant rushed out of the room, the chief of Florin Village watched his back with a strange smile.
“Whew…”
The workshop had not been abandoned for very long, so the dust wasn’t impossible to deal with.
But alchemy was extremely sensitive even to small environmental changes, so Rotem spent the entire afternoon cleaning.
Only around evening did he finally achieve a level of cleanliness he found acceptable.
[Alchemy, huh. Can you actually do it?]
Sitting on a chair in the corner of the workshop, cooling himself with beer, Rotem looked toward the Black Spirit that appeared with its white teeth showing.
There was no mockery in its question, so Rotem lightly nodded and answered.
“I didn’t waste my time here. But theory alone isn’t enough, so until Mr. Tulkas comes again, I need to practice as much as possible.”
The alchemy tools were so clean and organized that it was hard to believe someone had once used them.
Rotem carefully touched the large distiller beside him.
“No matter how high-quality the ingredients are, if the person making it is low-level, the result will also be low-level.”
[Well, alright. Let’s say you practice enough and become a master alchemist. Then what? You’re going to sell potions and elixirs directly to the merchant group instead of mushrooms?]
“It’s similar, but if I sell finished products through the merchant group, there are distribution fees, commissions, and all kinds of extra costs.
So no matter how high the final selling price is, the amount I actually receive gets smaller.
That’s why I’d rather sell at a lower final price but avoid the merchant group completely, and instead find a way to sell fixed amounts regularly on fixed dates.”
[Without going through the merchant group? Is there really a way to do that?]
The Xian Merchant Group practically controlled the surrounding markets, including the capital Calpheon.
So naturally, the Black Spirit doubted that there was a way to sell goods independently and consistently without their involvement.
But Rotem answered calmly.
“There is. Though it’s harder to get quality bonuses, and there’s competition through bidding.”
Just as Rotem finished speaking, someone knocked on the workshop door.
He quickly emptied his beer mug and opened it, revealing a familiar Shai girl looking up at him.
“The chief told me to bring you this.”
It was the same girl who once tried to dump the chief’s task onto Rotem and then got angry afterward.
“Ah, thank you.”
Rotem accepted the envelope and immediately checked inside.
It was the workshop purchase contract the chief mentioned earlier.
“Fill it out and bring it to me tomorrow. You know where I’ll be, right?”
“Yes.”
“……”
Even after finishing her task, the girl did not leave.
While Rotem read through the contract, her large eyes quickly scanned every corner of the workshop.
When their eyes met again, her gaze openly showed discomfort.
“Looks like you’re making a lot of money lately. You’re just a slave, but you bought a workshop after only working here a few months?”
“Well… I found a good truffle colony.”
“Yeah, I heard. Truffles, right? Funny, isn’t it?
I’ve lived here my whole life, searching everywhere for herbs and mushrooms, and I’ve never once seen or heard of a truffle colony around here.”
“Well, I guess I just got lucky.”
“Yeah. Really lucky. Right?”
At this point, Rotem could clearly feel the meaning hidden behind the girl’s tone.
So he decided there was no reason to continue the conversation.
“Yes. If you don’t have anything else to say, may I excuse myself? I still have work to finish.”
Unlike the girl, who was full of irritation and dissatisfaction, Rotem’s reaction remained calm and indifferent.
And just as she was about to snap at him again, Rotem shut the door without hesitation, cutting off her voice.
[Looks like they really hate you.]
When Rotem returned to his chair, the Black Spirit was already floating there with a deep grin.
“It can’t be helped. Even villagers born and raised here need to work for years before they can own a workshop under their own name.
But some giant nobody found a mushroom colony and suddenly bought one, so of course they hate the sight of me.”
[Hmm. The chief doesn’t complain because he’s desperate about the contracts and deliveries, but the other villagers are starting to get suspicious.]
“Suspicious?”
Rotem sat down, and the Black Spirit, having lost its seat, floated upward as it replied.
[Like that Shai girl said. The villagers spent their whole lives searching and never found a colony, but a worker who hasn’t even been here for a year suddenly finds one?
Of course they’d get suspicious.]
“Hmm…”
Honestly, it was only natural.
Florin Village had long been famous for high-quality potions and elixirs.
That meant the villagers were extremely strict about the quality and cultivation of herbs and mushrooms used as ingredients.
Because of that, whenever a naturally occurring resource—especially mushroom colonies—was discovered, the village would manage it directly to preserve quality over the long term.
In return, the discoverer would receive rewards such as borrowing a workshop or learning secret potion and elixir recipes passed down through the village.
But because Rotem was not officially a member of the village, he avoided the responsibility of sharing the colony while still receiving the benefit of a workshop.
So it was understandable why several villagers, including that girl, openly showed discomfort toward him.
[You already know this, but nobody else can see me. Which means if someone ever sees you and me “working” together in the cave—]
“I know. Some priest of Elion would come and call me a cultist.”
[I’m saying we should at least be careful and not attract attention. Workshop or not, we still need to continue our ‘work.’]
“Yeah, yeah. I know.”
Even while answering the Black Spirit, Rotem’s eyes continued wandering around the workshop.
The first workshop of his life.
But at the same time, he felt this place might become both his beginning—
and possibly his end.
With that thought, he let out a long sigh and slowly nodded.
