kscans

Chapter 105 - The Great? Inheritance - 1. At the Commerce Guild

"So this is the Commerce Guild…"

"That’s right. The interior is not much different from the Adventurer’s Guild, is it?"

"But the people here… and the atmosphere are completely different. …There’s no tavern, either."

"Hahaha, I’d imagine the Adventurer’s Guild is the only guild in the whole wide world with a tavern attached. I hear the idea is to let them drink where they can be supervised, rather than have them cause trouble elsewhere."

As you can tell from this conversation, Yuri was currently inside the Commerce Guild building. He had come to see Laurenzen’s Commerce Guild at Adon’s suggestion that he should see it for his own education. Yuri was looking around, intrigued by the differences from the Adventurer’s Guild, when he noticed that something was posted where the request forms would be at the Adventurer’s Guild.

"Adon-san, what’s that posted over there…?"

"Hmm? …Oh, that’s the bulletin board. It’s where they post things they want to inform the guild members about."

"May I have a look?"

"I don’t see why not. Plenty of non-merchants stop by the guild, and they shouldn’t have anything posted that they wouldn’t want people to see."

After receiving this answer from Adon, Yuri approached the bulletin board. He was looking at the notices for staff recruitment and drinking parties with amusement when his eyes fell on one particular notice, and he froze, catching his breath.

"...Is something wrong, Yuri-kun?"

"Adon-san… this is…?"

Adon looked at the paper Yuri was pointing at…

"Hmm? …I see, a bid for the settlement of an estate. This is for when someone with no relatives dies, and they need to sort out their belongings. Before they go to auction, a notice like this is sent to the Commerce Guild. It’s so people can bid if there’s anything they want."

"...Is the bidding already over?"

"No, the fact that it’s posted here means there haven’t been any bidders yet. …The belongings of a low-class alchemist who was mouldering away in a village this far in the countryside probably aren’t worth much."

Yes. That was precisely the reason that had captivated Yuri. The opportunity to obtain an entire set of an alchemist’s belongings, his tools, was lying right before his eyes. To pass this up would be a disgrace to his name as a light novel reader, and besides, Yuri had reasons he could not ignore.

"...Adon-san… about this, is it possible for me, a non-guild member, to place a bid? Preferably for the entire lot at once."

"You, Yuri-kun? That… I don’t think it would be a problem, but… do you have any knowledge of alchemy?"

Adon looked as if he wanted to say that on top of hunting skills, magic, and agricultural techniques, alchemy was being a bit too greedy…

"No, I don’t have the skill. But I can still do the work without the skill, right? Even just dabbling like that, there’s a world of difference between being able to do it and not being able to."

An answer came back that was somehow both convincing and not.

"Opportunities to get a whole set of an alchemist’s belongings don’t come along very often, you know. For me, I can’t let a once-in-a-lifetime chance slip by."

"But… it’s a nameless alchemist from a small village."

Yuri, however, forcefully refuted Adon, who looked as if he wanted to say he would understand if it were the belongings of a famous alchemist.

"No, that’s precisely why."

"???"

Yuri presented his theory to the bewildered Adon.

"Being an alchemist in a small village means he was probably approached by the villagers with all sorts of odd jobs."

"Well… I suppose so."

"To handle all those various odd jobs, an alchemist who was likely not very well-off would have had to come up with all sorts of clever solutions. Those solutions are incredibly precious to me."

For Yuri, he had no intention whatsoever of becoming a master craftsman. His ideal was to be a jack-of-all-trades, like a village blacksmith, who could handle a wide range of tasks well enough. And a low-ranking alchemist who had scraped by on odd jobs should be rich in that kind of know-how. He would not have had the luxury of picking and choosing his requests, after all.

"Of course, it would be best if I could study under a living alchemist, but that doesn’t mean I can let this opportunity pass."

Adon looked at the impassioned Yuri with an expression that said, "I see." The surrounding merchants, who had been secretly listening in around the part about him "wanting it so badly," also looked convinced.

"Well, I’ll write a note for you, so obtaining it should be fine… however, you don’t know the location of this village, do you, Yuri-kun? It would be good if I could accompany you, but unfortunately, I can’t leave this town right now."

One of the reasons he could not leave town was to deal with the goods Yuri had brought. Yuri, knowing this, appeared to think for a moment…

"What about posting a request at the Adventurer’s Guild for an escort and guide?"

And so, to obtain the belongings of a nameless alchemist, it was decided that Yuri would head to that small village.