Market Price for Buybacks
"Please take a look at this fabric," I said, placing both the felt cloth and a stuffed doll of Luan made from it on the table.
Since there hadn’t been much time, I’d asked a maid—who had taken on the task of making plushies—to create one from the easiest of our familiars to replicate. That turned out to be Luan.
It makes sense—her body shape is like a penguin, and being entirely yellow makes her simple enough to craft.
The eyes and mouth were sewn with embroidery thread, and even the feet were made from felt.
The palm-sized, 10 cm diameter plush had a little looped string attached to the top of its head so it could be used as a bag charm as well.
"This is a fabric I’ve never seen before. Is this a plush of Pulchee made from it?"
The plush was cute and captured Pulchee’s features well.
"This fabric is made from specially processed Guush fur."
"You mean that Guush fur—the hard, useless stuff?"
"That’s right. I’d like to sell this as a souvenir from the new town. But I need to know how much we can secure annually, and also discuss a fair purchase price."
Guildmaster MacBerry, Vice Guildmaster Gavin, and receptionist Mebius each took turns picking up the fabric and plush to examine them.
"This fabric doesn’t seem very durable."
"You’re right, Mr. Mebius. If you try to spin Guush fur, once it’s placed in hot water it hardens, so it can’t be spun."
"Hey, hey—is it alright to reveal that? Isn’t that classified?" MacBerry interrupted in a panic.
"I haven’t explained the details of the special processing, so it’s fine."
"If it hardens in hot water, then won’t the plush harden too if someone washes it?"
"Once it’s processed into fabric, it won’t harden in hot water anymore. You can test it here if you like."
"I’ll fetch some hot water," Mebius said, and left the room.
"If it’s not durable as a fabric, then the buyback price won’t be very high. But since it used to be discarded, if it can fetch money, I expect people will bring more of it in."
"Is Guush rarely brought in?"
"That’s right. The meat is usually eaten by the hunters themselves, and the horns are often made into arrowheads for personal use. Only adventurers who don’t use bows bring them in, so the guild handles very little of it."
In that case, I may need to negotiate direct purchases with Helios and Luks villages.
Mebius returned with hot water, dipped both the felt and plush in a basin, then transferred them to an empty basin and touched them.
"It’s true. Neither the fabric nor the plush hardened."
"How much fur do you get from one Guush?"
"We’ll need to ask Jimmy, the dismantler. Want me to check?"
"Yes, please," said the Guildmaster.
According to what Mebius brought back, it was about 7–10 kg per Guush.
"To start, let’s say 1 kg for 3 copper coins. Gavin, what do you think?"
"That sounds right. Since it had no value before, buying it at that price works. If demand rises, we can raise it later."
One kilogram for 3 copper coins… in my previous world’s terms, that’s about 3,000 yen. Ten kilograms from one Guush would be 3 silver coins, or about 30,000 yen.
I normally don’t handle money, so I hadn’t really thought about currency value, but I studied before going to the market the other day.
In this kingdom there are iron, copper, silver, gold, and platinum coins.
1 iron coin ≈ 100 yen
1 copper coin ≈ 1,000 yen
1 silver coin ≈ 10,000 yen
1 gold coin ≈ 100,000 yen
1 platinum coin ≈ 1,000,000 yen
There are no 1-yen or 10-yen equivalents, so if something costs less than 1 iron coin, shops usually bundle items—like selling two or three together to even it out.
The average annual income for men in the capital or Eminira is about 3.5 platinum coins, roughly 3.5 million yen in my previous world. That’s plenty for a family of four or five. In villages, though, the average is about 2.5 platinum coins, and families live on much tighter margins.
Anyway—apparently Guush hides also had zero value until now.
Since the fur is so hard, attempts to strip it off often damaged the hide.
But if we can neatly separate the fur and skin in the future, the hides may find use as well. They asked me to report results, and I promised to bring in hides if clean separation becomes possible.
"Changing the subject—will you be registering the White Dragon as a familiar?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Because it’s wearing a nameplate. I thought maybe, like Lucia and Levin, you’d be doing a temporary registration."
Oh, right.
Since the auction of Lucas’s reincarnated scales isn’t finished yet, and the royals and high nobles of each country haven’t returned home, Father hasn’t reported anything to the Adventurers’ Guild.
Lucas’s nameplate was made like Atre’s—our family crest on the front, and on the back his name and mine. My eye color is tanzanite, while Lucas’s eyes are gold. But plain gold felt dull, so I searched for a gemstone close to it. I found yellow pearls, which came in small, irregular shapes unsuitable for jewelry, and used those instead.
Of course, it was the same budget as Atre’s.
White pearl, matching his scales, could’ve worked too, but I felt matching Atre’s design was better, so I went with yellow pearl.
"As for registration, my father will contact you once he returns. For now, please pretend you didn’t see anything today."
What do you think about this chapter?
