Slave Harem in the Labyrinth of the Other World (LN)

Volume 3 - Ch 5.03

As expected, the counter was located at the far end of the shop, straight ahead from the main entrance. I assume that this is where we will have to go in order to get right down to business with selling the furs in our possession.

Welcome. Since you have used the side entrance, then I assume you are here to sell Rabbit Furs, correct?

Yes, that is correct. That is what we have come here to do.

And old male clerk came up to us and offered us a polite greeting. When I used Identify on him, I saw that his Job was that of a Merchant, so if I will play things right, we might be able to get even more money from the selling of those Furs than we have originally intended. Sweet.

In that case, can I ask you to follow me to the counter?

Of course. Please, lead the way.

The man bowed his head to us, turned around and walked towards the counter, and we followed after him. To be honest, I was quite surprised at how polite and professional this guy was towards someone who just came to the store from the street. I thought that we will be taken to some kinda staff room, but apparently no, everything is going to be handled in the main part of the store like with any other client.

As we approached the counter, two other female clerks appeared seemingly out of nowhere and rushed towards the male clerk, lining up at both of his sides behind the counter. As expected of the personnel working at such a luxury store (or perhaps it would be more accurate to call this place a boutique?), they all look like they were so skilled in what they were doing that there was not even one wasted motion in their movements, and even when they were standing still they had this aura of gracefulness around them, especially the two onee-sans. They might have not quite been on Roxannes level when it came to beauty, but if I saw them out on the city during the day I definitely would have turned over my shoulder when they would be passing by me.

Since all three of them were Merchants and not Explorers or Adventurers, I mumbled silently to myself, pretending that I was casting the spell for the Item Box to appear, and when it materialized, I took out all of the Rabbit Furs and placed them neatly on the counter one right next to another. As soon as I was done, all three of them began taking and arranging them on their side of the counter. Wow, just look at them go, its almost like they were machines programmed to do this kind of thing perfectly oh, wait. They are NPCs in a game, so I guess that makes them not all that different from machines, right? Anyway, the were taking my randomly placed Rabbit Furs and organized them in a few piles there they stacked them on top of each other by taking not one, but several of them at a time. In no time flat, they made as much as thirty piles of ten Rabbit Furs each. Seeing all of that unfold right before my very eyes, I could not help it but to feel impressed, so much so that I applauded them in my mind.

We have finished counting. Overall, there are three hundred Rabbit Furs here. Do you wish to sell all of them?

The male clerk counted the number of fur hills on the counter and confirmed the exact amount.

Yes, I do.

As you wish. Please, if you could wait just a moment.

He bowed politely and left the counter, presumably to get the money I was going to receive for selling all of those furs, which should be quite a lot.

We will be taking this then.

One of the female clerks said to me as she took the piles of furs and followed after the male clerk.

Yes, thank you for your hard work.

The other female clerk, the one who stayed behind at the counter with us. I wonder why did she stay behind when the other went with the male clerk? Maybe that is her programmed behavior, to stay at the counter if there is no one else behind it in case that any other customers came to the shop? She also bowed her head to us and smiled. Even if she is only meant to be staying there like a mannequin, it is still amazing that the creators of this game implemented her with such courtesy gestures. It might not be all that much, but it really makes me feel appreciated as a customer. Though I cannot help but to wonder, do they behave like that towards all the customers, or just towards the ones who come in here in order to sell Rabbit Furs?

I dont think that just about any Explorer, Adventurer, mercenary or a person doing odd jobs would even come to such a high-class clothing store in the first place, but if they did, would they be treated the same way as anyone else based on their appearance alone? After all, Roxanne told me that the coats made from Rabbit Furs are very popular mainly among aristocratic women, so maybe it would be more reasonable to expect such ladies of noble birth to be frequenting stores like this one, even more so since this is the Imperial City, so the percentage of the people of noble and aristocratic birth is bound to be much higher here than in any other city in the empire. What I am trying to say is that even though we have any reason to feel inferior to all the other usual customers of this shop, a part of me still feels very out of place here, instinctively knowing that commoners should not try to forcefully involve themselves with the nobility and the establishments they are visiting, but this is only a small voice sounding in the back of my head, so I do my best to ignore it and continue to lift my head proudly.

In order to clear my head of such concerns, I tried to take a look around the store, however, there was not all that many actual clothes placed on display. There are mostly rolls and sheets of various types of fabric, so it is quite possible that instead of selling regular clothes, this store specializes more in selling made-to-order goods.

As I continued my surveillance, the male clerk finally came back to the counter, carrying a tray filled with coins with him. Indeed, there was a lot of them crammed in there, so much so that I was afraid that they might start spilling from the trays sides at any moment now.

Im sorry to have kept you waiting, dear customers. Our usual price for one Rabbit Fur is twenty Nars, but since you have brought quite a lot of them with you, we are willing to offer you a special price of twenty Nars plus a bonus of additional six Nars for each of the rabbit Furs you have sold us.

So that is why there are so many silver coins in that tray. He said that it was a special price, but I know that this is thanks to my thirty percent increase Bonus Skill. Taking all of that money from the tray which has been placed on the counter, I am putting them into my string bag rather casually and then off to the backpack it goes after the string has been tied tightly enough. Normally I would have taken my time to count every single coin to see whether they tried to scam me or not, but in this case it would be too much of a pain in the ass to do so, and this man has been so polite with me ever since I walked through the door to the store that I think I can give him a little benefit of the doubt. Besides, the math for this particular transaction is rather easy.

Normally, I would have gotten six thousand Nars for selling three hundred Rabbit Furs worth twenty Nars each, but with my thirty percent bonus, I sold three hundred Rabbit Furs for twenty-six Nars each, which gives me seven thousand eight hundred Nars, paid with seventy-eight silver coins. See, no reason for me to count them at all when it is all so transparent.

Very well then, we gladly accept it.

Pardon me for asking this, Mr. Customer, but since you brought so many Rabbit Furs with you during a single visit, I feel inclined to ask: are you and your companion Adventurers, by any chance?

The male clerk asked that of me when I finished putting the money in the backpack.