Volume 5, Chapter 18 – How Much Did We Make?

“Let’s see… today’s breakdown is: 50 Enchants, 1 treatment for a critically injured person equivalent to Level 4, 16 treatments for critically injured people equivalent to Level 3, 62 treatments for lightly injured people equivalent to Level 2, then 79 Level 1 Dispel Curses and 79 Level 2 Purifications.”

I am currently in a room provided for us at the residence of the Chi-Tien Governor.

Everyone is relaxing as they please, but I am summarizing the work I did today.

By the way, a Governor is a position similar to a mayor, but apparently, they are appointed by order of His Majesty the Emperor.

“Fiene-dono, what are you doing?”

“I’m writing down what work I did today so I don’t forget.”

“Is this perhaps like keeping a training journal, so to speak?”

“No, it’s been a while since my last request, so I thought I’d make sure I can bill for the fees properly.”

“I see. That makes sense, indeed.”

Yihua-san, who had been listening to my conversation with Shizuku-san, interrupted us with a look of surprise.

“Eh? Saint-sama, you’re charging money?”

“Eh?”

Yihua-san looked shocked, but as far as I’m concerned, I’m more shocked that she’s shocked.

“If I didn’t have money, we’d starve to death. I have Lu-chan at home, and she’s in her growth spurt and eating everything in sight, you know?”

Though Lu-chan is actually scarier after she’s passed her growth spurt!

Reacting to my voice, Lu-chan glanced over at me, so I shook my head to show it was nothing.

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Seeing this, Lu-chan’s interest returned to the fluffy white hairball in her hands, Mashiro-chan.

Meanwhile, Chris-san is in the middle of studying intently, reading the introductory book on Holy Magic I gave her as a present.

“That may be true, but…”

If I were a pure and virtuous Saint who devoted herself to others like the people in stories, perhaps I would help for free out of a sense of justice during a national crisis.

However, I’m only doing this because I ended up in this situation. I don’t really have that kind of sense of justice, nor do I possess a spirit of selfless service.

“If the client were an orphanage and poor children were suffering, that would be one thing, but this time the request came from this country’s Emperor. He’s the person with the most money and power in the land, so it would be a problem if I didn’t get paid properly for the work I did.”

“Ugh… I suppose so…”

Yihua-san seemed convinced, but she started muttering to herself things like, “The budget… the finances…”

“Oh, I’m not saying I’m going to charge them some outrageous price. I’m just asking for the appropriate price set by the Temple of the White Moon Kingdom, okay?”

“I-I didn’t know such a thing existed.”

“I was unaware of that as well. Is there a fixed price for a cleric’s services?”

I found it somewhat surprising that Shizuku-san jumped on the topic of pricing.

I wonder if she encountered some kind of trouble in the past?

Oh, but she has the Merchant Sub-Class, so she might just be simply interested.

As for Lu-chan, she remained completely uninterested, as usual, petting Mashiro-chan with a blissful expression.

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Must be nice, mofumofu. I want to pet it too.

While I was thinking that, Chris-san, who should have been reading her book, chimed in.

“A long time ago, there wasn’t a set price, but now there are uniform guideline prices. I’ve heard that relying on goodwill donations or letting individuals decide freely led to frequent disputes.”

Amazing. Even though she looks like she’s concentrating on her book, she’s still paying attention to her surroundings.

“Is that so? And what are those prices?”

“Here.”

I took the fee schedule out of my Storage and showed it to Shizuku-san.

“For this time, Healing Magic is 10 gold coins for Level 4, 1 gold coin for Level 3, 1 silver coin for Level 2, and 1 small silver coin for Level 1 Dispel Curse. However, Purification is listed as ‘consultation required,’ and Enchant isn’t on the price list. Something similar is Holy Water, which is 1 silver coin including the 180ml container. I wonder if that’s okay?”

Judging from how it felt, the purification power of Holy Water is equivalent to Level 1, so strictly speaking, I feel it’s not the same, but there’s no point worrying about that now.

“I see. In that case, would it not be acceptable for Purification to be the same amount as other Holy Attribute Magic of the same level?”

“True. In that case, Level 2 would be 1 silver coin. Let’s see, the total is, uh…”

“4 small silver coins. Then… silver coins… 6… and… 46 gold coins.”

“Eh?”

Isn’t Shizuku-san’s calculation speed too fast?

Both Chris-san and Yihua-san had looks of shock on their faces.

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“Oh? Is it wrong? I believe it should be correct… yes, it is correct.”

“No, it’s not that; we’re just surprised by how fast your calculation was, Shizuku-san.”

“Haha, this is due to training. Fiene-dono, you can do it too if you practice.”

“Hmm, I guess so.”

It would be so much easier if I had a smartphone.

“D-Does it really cost that much for just one day!?”

Beside us, while we were admiring Shizuku-san, Yihua-san’s face had turned pale.

“Yes. If you ask the Temple, it would cost about this much. Now, once we return, it’s time to negotiate with His Majesty the Emperor. Shizuku-san, since you’re also a Merchant, shall we have you negotiate with us?”

“Haha, leave it to me.”

“Hiee!”

Shizuku-san said it with a cheerful air, but upon hearing it, Yihua-san let out a scream and turned ghostly white.

Ah, could it be that Yihua-san’s original responsibility was handling things like money?

If so, I should probably stop this topic soon.

Thinking this, I changed the subject.

“By the way, Yihua-san, please tell the General that we cannot depart tomorrow. Also, I would like to meet the Governor here. Could you arrange it so I can hear about the situation and discuss how to proceed? If I consult the General, he’ll probably just launch a mountain sweep.”

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“!! Yes! Understood, Saint-sama. Leave it to me!”

Upon hearing my request, Yihua-san suddenly regained her energy and hurried out of our room looking quite happy. I wonder if she’s just happy to see the General?

By the way, since Yihua-san was muttering something to herself as she left, I strained my ears to listen.

“Ah, a message that might make Lu Fei-sama angry… ah, wonderful. I’m sure he’ll glare at me. He might even berate me.”

Ah, yeah, I wish I hadn’t listened.

Author Note

Regarding Shizuku-san’s mental arithmetic, nothing special was done.

79 small silver coins → Divided by 5, the remainder is 4, so 4 small silver coins. The rest is converted to 15 silver coins.

Silver coins: 79 + 62 + 50 + 15 = 206 coins → Divided by 10, the remainder is 6, so 6 silver coins. The rest is 20 gold coins.

Gold coins: 10 + 16 + 20 = 46 coins.

The author, of course, used a calculator.

By the way, converted to Japanese Yen, it’s approximately 2,334,000 yen.

I don’t know if that’s a rip-off, but it’s far cheaper than having appendix surgery in a certain country.

Translator Note

From what I know, 2,334,000 yen is around 14,430 USD.