The Novice Alchemist's Store

The next day, after some errands, I, along with Mr. Iris, made my debut as Cinzini, a mysterious masked rookie gatherer, headed to a cave inhabited by ice tooth bats.

The merchant finds out I'm doing it, because it's not funny.

A very ayacious newbie, covered with cloth, except at the eye area, among the gatherers who are tunneling in front of the cave.

I was wondering if it would get noticed... Outreach I didn't get noticed.

The reason for this is this place.

Yes, the smell.

I wasn't the only one with a cloth covering my face, and the robe I wore to hide who I was. Also, very normal here.

The majority of people chose to avoid falling objects seemed to be the way to cover their bodies with cloth, all around them. No one is giving me an umbrella.

If you dare, is the robe I'm wearing as beautiful and noticeable as the people around me?

"So, Ten..."

"Mmm! Gohon, Gohon!

I've been disguised because of this, but I block Mr. Iris' words from slipping and hanging my mouth with a deliberate cough.

"- Whoa, Cinzini. You want to come in quick?

"Uhm. Let's go in."

Hear my words that I said so severely, Mr. Kate hands on his face and hides his expression.

But you can clearly see your shoulders trembling, so you find out you're laughing.

I have no choice!

To hide who you are!

Totally. I want you to apprentice Mr. Andre and the others!

- And if you think.

Oh? They're laughing, too, aren't they?

I'm making it look like I'm laughing at something else while I hit my shoulders with Mr. Gill, but it's definitely not, is it?

"Come on. Let's go."

I'm not free to talk here.

As I stepped into the cave with a slightly quicker foot in an attempt to get to a less crowded place quickly, Mr. Iris and the others quickly followed me.

This time the destination is the deepest part of this cave.

Where the oldest ice tooth bats are supposed to live.

There are three reasons to go there.

The first is to have less impact on other gatherers.

Most collectors are talking about targeting critically priced ice tooth bats over five, so no one should compete if they get to the deepest end of the spectrum.

The second is resource protection.

If you hunt down a young ice tooth bat, it will affect your collection after next year.

And finally, to efficiently recover money from merchants.

As I said before, the older you are, the better the quality of your fangs and the higher the buying price.

There is no reason not to hunt because such ice tooth bats exist.

"But the manager. This cave is deeper than I thought."

"So it's Cinzini."

"It's better now, 'cause nobody's here."

"Well, yeah,"

If it had passed around the last time we hunted ice tooth bats, the other collectors would have already disappeared.

So I don't have to bother hiding who I am...

"But Mr. Iris is going to make a mistake, so keep going"

"Well, Iris is going to be wrong."

"Mm-hmm. I'm not that far-fetched, am I?

Mr. Iris with an out-of-heart look, but with which mouth would you say that?

"Before you cave in, suddenly someone's about to make a mistake saying something, Mr. Kate."

"Yep. I don't trust you at all."

Mr. Iris gets stuck in words at us nodding each other.

"Ugh! Yes, it did happen."

"Well, that's good. All of them, uh, Cinzini? Call it that. Trouble changing it on purpose, huh?

"Right. We could be wrong, too. See?"

"Oh, it's not like there's anyone out there, so I've never been cautious."

"Oh well.... Yeah, right"

Mr. Iris, who was also followed by Andre and nodded as he was convinced... because Andre and I have never made a mistake, have we?

I'm not old enough to say it's an old kung fu, but they can't escape a lot, because they're people with a sense of stability.

"But it's a deeper cave than I expected, this place to be"

"Right. Mr. Andre and the others, they haven't even gotten to the back, have they?

"I haven't been there. You know, Iris and I work a lot together, but even shallower, right?

"Yep. That's a shallower place than where Cinzini and I came from last time. Because there wasn't much benefit to going in the back."

"It takes a lot of work to take the body out."

That's the neck, isn't it?

of ice tooth bats, that there are more unnecessary parts than necessary.

"... Speaking of which, you haven't had a body dumped, have you? If you have bad manners, you might just break your fangs and leave the body behind."

"Oh, I coached you there, we old ginseng."

"Instruction......?

"I just taught the rules to a young man who doesn't know things."

Mr. Gray says that without a look on his face, but I'm a little concerned about the way it works.

Turning her gaze to the Kates, Ms. Iris shrugged her shoulders silently and Ms. Kate smiled bitterly.

"You don't have to worry, we surrounded the group that was dumping the body about three times as many people, to the point where we poked around lightly. I'm not hurt. I'm not hurt."

"Oh, really..."

Mmm...... well, is it different that I, the temporary gatherer, say something?

I know it's a little violent, because naturally there are rules for the collection of materials.

Mushrooms, for example.

Just because you find something to sell, you can't take all that's on the spot.

I'll think about what happens after next year and leave it to some extent.

Herbs, for example.

If what you need is leaves, be careful not to damage the roots.

Tree leaves, for example.

What a speechless way to cut down a tree to take a leaf.

Even when cutting branches, consider the location and be careful not to wither away.

I learned things around here at school, but I hear regular collectors learn from seniors.

In words if you're a gentle senior, and in fist "Kobushi" if you're a tough senior.

This time...... yeah, I'm sure he was a junior with no hearing.

If Andre and the others suddenly teach with their fists, I don't know... don't you?

◇ ◇ ◇

From the last place, keep walking for another hour or so.

The stench around him was soothing slightly and another smell was starting to drift instead.

Andre and the others seem to have felt it, and they squeal their noses and wrinkle around their foreheads.

"... what is this, subtly sweet smell?"

"Sounds like the deepest part is close. It smells like fruit stored by ice tooth bats."

Fruit brought back frozen by ice tooth bats.

They are usually stored in the deepest part of the cave.

As a conserved food from a time when there is no food.

It should be noted that the deepest part of what we refer to here is the deepest part of the area where ice tooth bats live, not necessarily the deepest part of the cave itself.

"Whoa, that one! That ice tooth bats freeze and store fruit!

"That's something that's traded for a good price, in part."

It was Mr Iris and Mr Kate who reacted to my story.

In contrast, Andre and the others twisted their necks with a strange look, as it seemed the first time that the fruit could be sold.

"I've heard stories about storing fruit, but can it sell?

"Yes, as far as I'm concerned, there are a lot of people who rarely store things like this..."

Polar theory, you're picking up and eating stuff rolling into the ground of a cave like this... yeah, you don't really want to eat it, do you?

"Nobility, if it's rare, is fine."

"No, but it's delicious, isn't it?

To Kate, who smiled bitterly, Iris seems rather intriguing... no, to be clear, it says on her face that she wants to try it too.

"It's just around the right time in season, so you might get it..."

Many fruits are available in the woods from the end of summer to autumn.

Ice tooth bats will be stockpiled by that time and consumed from winter to early summer, that is, hung by now.

Apparently this fruit is weighed rarely, not simply because it is frozen, but because the fruit has matured in this shelf life and is like alcohol.

So assuming you come and get it in the winter, it's hardly worth it.

"And that's when you're the most mature!

That's what I'm talking about.

"Alcohol... we're starting to get interested in choy too"

"Wow. I'd love to try it if it's possible."

"It's good to sell, but it's good to see how it tastes"

Men thrive when they hear of alcohol.

But the world, it's not that sweet.

I hit them with reality.

"Conversely, there must be a lot of rotten objects."

"... Really?

"Yes, because I eat ice tooth bats even if they are slightly rotten. In the meantime, things that are lucky to mature without rotting are rare."

"Is there a reason for Takeshi Gao?"

"That's the thing. - Oh, you see it. I think that's it."

Illuminated by the light I floated were piles of frozen fruit that were as long as a person's back length.

What drifts from it is a rotten odor that contains sweetness.

Without having to check nearby, the fruit on the surface is clearly rotten and not in a very edible condition.

Was this reality unexpected, and those who were interested would have a slightly pulled look.

"Ugh... this is just..."

"Right. But more than this, this is the deepest part of the habitat area, right? It looks like the cave is still out there."

It is this storage place that is made at the deepest part of the ice tooth bat habitat area.

In other words, the ice tooth bat around here is the oldest ice tooth bat in this cave.

"By the way, it seems that it's not the fruit on the surface that should be recovered, but the central part of that mountain. You think it's ripe there without rotting? It's just that when you get your hands on it badly..."

"Oh, really? Then let's dig it out!

In the middle of my explanation, it was Mr. Gill who suddenly began to crumble the mountain.

But that was clearly bad.