Chapter 289

The Hot Season Has Arrived!
After returning from collecting Skill Crystals—and making another trip at the request of Marquis Vardmoi—the seasons had shifted, and summer was starting to set in.
Although I had restocked my shop when I returned last time, a significant portion of the inventory had already been sold.
It’s always a delight when sales are strong.
Well, except for the fact that those Skill Crystals required such an enormous effort to obtain.

"... Yes, I confirm receipt of this week’s batch of Spider Silk and Mana Spider Silk."

Today is the weekly silk delivery day.
Although the schedule has been irregular lately due to various other engagements, the basic arrangement is a weekly delivery of silk products to the Trade Guild through Alizée.
This week’s shipment was slightly larger than usual.

"That concludes this week’s tasks. Lady Lily, do you have any travel plans this week?"

"Not particularly. Unless Marquis Vardmoi calls for me, which I doubt will happen for a while."

"Ah, Marquis Vardmoi. Is this about the Skill Crystal vein?"

Ugh, how did Alizée figure that out?
I haven’t told her anything.
While I was caught off guard, Alizée mentioned that she and Priscilla, the Guildmaster of the Trade Guild, had heard about it directly from the marquis.
Apparently, it was to ensure the guild could back me up in case anything happened.
However, they didn’t seem to know the specific details about the types of Skill Crystals being mined.
Well, considering how sensitive the matter is, even the marquis himself had personally counted the crystals to avoid any leaks.

The Trade Guild didn’t seem eager to pry into risky matters, so they avoided delving further.
Instead, the conversation shifted to the designs for the clothes I planned to sell in my shop.

"Let’s see... I suppose short-sleeved shirts would be a good choice. Summer does get stifling, after all."

"That’s true. It can be uncomfortable. However, professions with uniforms, like those in the guild, don’t have the option to simply switch shirts."

Oh, I hadn’t thought of that.
Having never attended a school with uniforms, it hadn’t occurred to me.
In my previous life, schools typically had separate uniforms for summer and winter, but that kind of system doesn’t seem to exist here.

Hmm? Could this be a business opportunity?

"So, if we were to create summer-specific uniforms, they’d sell well, wouldn’t they?"

"That’s correct. However, when it comes to guild uniforms, such decisions aren’t solely up to the Guildmaster. They’d need to be approved by the Guild Staff Union."

The "Guild Staff Union" Alizée mentioned appears to be an organization that negotiates for guild employees’ welfare, similar to labor unions in my previous world.
I didn’t know such a thing existed here.
Apparently, only after gaining the union’s approval could negotiations with the guild proceed.
That sounds like a challenging yet rewarding project.

I’ll head home right away and discuss this with everyone!

What do you think about this chapter?