Chapter 179: The Bear's Merchant Rank Goes Up

Chapter 179:
The Bear’s Merchant Rank Goes Up

 

I’D ABANDONED FINA, and here I was now poring over the same thing she probably was: what to get for Misa’s birthday. I mean, if I was struggling with this, I doubted Fina wouldn’t be. I could imagine it. “What should we get her as a present?” she’d say, looking distressed. Or “Oh no, I don’t have anything to give her…”

Maybe we could just get her a joint gift. The other standard present was cake, right? I could knock a cake out easy these days, so I was sure I could handle a birthday one. Maybe I could make a two-tier cake and use whipped cream colored with strawberries to write “Happy Birthday.” I was sure Misa would like that. I could even put it in my bear storage so it’d be nice and fresh.

If I was doing cake, Fina could make it with me. Maybe after she finished picking out her dress, I’d give her a call…

Until then, I had time to kill.

I was mulling over what to do when someone called over to me. “Miss Yuna?”

It was Lianna from the Merchant Guild. She helped me out when I was buying a plot for Anz’s shop.

“Hello, Lianna.”

“You’re not heading to the Merchant Guild by any chance, are you?”

“The Merchant Guild? I hadn’t planned to.” I’d entrusted anything businessy to Tiermina, so I didn’t have a reason to go to the Merchant Guild.

“Really? I would have thought you’d come after Tiermina told you.”

“Told me what? I saw Tiermina earlier, but she didn’t say anything.” Then again, it was a couple days ago…

“Oh, sorry. I talked to her about it yesterday.”

Ah, made sense. “What’s up? Something you need?”

“Your Merchant Guild rank went up, so I asked Tiermina to tell you to come to the Merchant Guild.”

“My guild rank went up?” I didn’t remember doing anything in particular to cause that. There were Morin and Anz’s shops, I guess? And maybe the egg-selling operation at the orphanage...

“Normally it takes a whole year to go from F-Rank to E-Rank,” Lianna continued.

“Really?”

“It requires steady work and slowly bringing your sales up. After about a year of being on that track, we raise merchants’ ranks. A lot of people give up on being merchants because they can’t increase their sales.”

Unlike the Adventurers’ Guild, apparently it was hard to get to even E-Rank in the Merchant Guild.

“I’d like to go through some of the procedures with you,” she said, “so could you come to the guild if you have time?”

Well, I had been looking for something to kill time…

 

Lianna and I walked together toward the Merchant Guild.

“Come to think of it, why are you around here, Lianna?” I would’ve thought she’d be at work in the guild around now.

“I had some work to do outside.”

“It’s not just reception desk work?”

“I visit shops. Some people will come by the Merchant Guild, but there are others who never drop by.”

I made small talk with Lianna on her way to the Merchant Guild.

“Can you wait a moment?” she asked finally. “I’ll come right back after I make my report.”

Lianna went into a back room. I moved to a seat along the wall and waited for Lianna. I’d normally see Milaine sitting at the reception desk, but she was missing today. Was she actually doing her guild master work for once?

Looking around inside the Merchant Guild, I noticed several people looking in my direction. I pulled my bear hood low over my face…and heard a couple merchants talking about me.

“Can I ask you something?”

“What do you wanna know?”

“It’s about that little kid in the bear outfit.”

“Don’t point. And don’t stare either.”

“Wh-why not?”

“Do you not know about the bear girl?” The guy sounded exasperated.

“I just know the rumors. I heard that the shop with the big bear decorations was run by a girl dressed as a bear. I was wondering if that kid was her.”

A kid? Uh, I was fifteen, thanks.

“Are you new in town, mister?”

“Yeah. Got here two days ago. On my way to Mileela, ya see.”

“Figured, yep. How much do you really know about the bear?”

“Just that she runs the shop with the bear ornaments. I asked for recommendations for a good meal at the guild and got a ton of recommendations for that bear shop.”

“They got good food there, eh?”

“Yeah, they do. So then I looked into who was running the place, and everyone said it was a girl in a bear outfit.”

“That bear girl is the shop’s owner for sure, but don’t you get any funny ideas.”

“Why not? If I got that recipe, I could make a killing in another town.”

“Drop it. You’ll lose your merchant’s registration.”

“Why’s that?”

“That shop has the backing of both the feudal lord, Fochrosé, and this town’s Merchant Guild.”

“Seriously?!”

“Yeah, the merchants in this town don’t mess with that shop for exactly that reason. I don’t know what you had in mind, but you best not pick any fights.”

“Hm. Quite a thing, if it’s the truth.”

“Believe what you want.”

“You’re a fellow merchant, so I’m not about to throw out your advice. I don’t want to get into anything dangerous.”

The merchant nodded amicably. I always assumed that merchants didn’t get along, but I guess that wasn’t true?

“Wise of you,” one of the merchants continued. “There’s a certain charm to those recipes she’s using at her shop, but there isn’t a single idiot in this town who’d pick a fight with that bear girl.”

“Makes sense, if she got the lord and guild backing her.”

The merchant looked exasperated. “You really think that’s why?”

“What, is there more?!”

“That bear girl is also an adventurer. On top of all that, she’s a big shot who’s killed wolf packs, goblin hordes, and even a black viper all on her own.”

“Okay, I may not be from around these parts, but are you trying to pull one over on me?!”

“Why would I? If you don’t believe me, you can ask someone else. Any merchant in this town knows about the bear girl.”

“You’ve gotta be joking.”

Yeah, he had to be joking—there was no way everyone in town knew about that.

“Do what ya will, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

The man left. The other guy shot a look at me for a second, but also went his merry way. I guess that’s how the rumors about me were making the rounds. Thanks to them, I was left in peace, at least? Having the backing of a noble definitely made a difference; I made a mental note to be more grateful to Cliff and all that he’d done for me.

Lianna came back while I was in the middle of my thoughts.

“Miss Yuna, sorry for the wait.” Lianna brought me over to the reception desk, sat down, and started processing my rise in rank. “There we are, then: now you’re at merchant Rank E.”

“Thank you,” I said as I took my guild card.

“Normally I’d congratulate you for coming into your own, but that doesn’t seem appropriate for you, Yuna.”

“Rank E is when you, uh. ‘Come into your own’?”

“As I said before, it’s difficult for rookies to pay the first-year tax. In addition to that tax, you need to accumulate a certain amount of money to even rise in rank in the first place.”

I guess that made sense. If you started a business from scratch, it’d take time to get it on track…especially without a knack for business. Without Morin’s help or my knowledge from the old world, no way would I have made it this far.

Lianna drove the point in: “Going up to Rank E after only a few months from joining the guild is a big deal.”

“But I’m not the only one working at the shop…”

Everyone was working earnestly—I hadn’t done it all on my own.