Serpent Dragon Meat Is Expensive! The Hide Too! But the Fangs Are Not for Sale!
Serpent Dragon meat is expensive! The hide is expensive too! But the fangs? I'm not selling those!
The Lord treated me with the most extravagant hospitality imaginable.
It was so over-the-top that even the servants attending him nearby wore strained smiles—and I was the one receiving the treatment.
Want to know what surprised me the most?
The moment I moved to sit, the Lord himself stepped forward, pulled out my chair, and invited me to take a seat.
I wasn't common-born, so I understood the gesture well enough. It was the sort of basic courtesy a gentleman offered when escorting a lady.
What astonished me was that it was absolutely not the kind of escort a lord should be performing for a guest.
Just what was he after?
It didn't feel like simple gratitude for saving the ship and its passengers.
While that suspicion was still circling in my head...
The Lord pulled out the chair beside me and invited Erna to sit as well.
What? Was he just a soft-hearted uncle who was nice to every woman he met?
"My Lord is only ever this gentle with the ladies."
"When you put it that way, it makes me sound like a lord who isn't gentle with you at all."
Grinning, the Lord took his own seat.
At once, women who looked like maids stepped forward from behind him and set cool drinks filled with ice before us.
"You must be exhausted after coming all this way. Have a drink first."
Only after confirming the Lord had raised his glass did we lift ours as well.
"Thank you for the drink."
"Oh. Orange juice this time?"
"The grape juice I bought last time was rather disappointing, so I switched to orange."
"That stuff really was terrible. My Lord may have an eye for everything else, but when it comes to drinks, you're hopeless."
The bald adventurer uncle chuckled and drained his glass in one refreshing gulp.
A single sip was enough to send the ice clinking merrily against the glass.
"Isn't this portion a bit small?"
"I've prepared some excellent brandy, so stick to the soft drinks for now."
"Oh. Now that sounds good."
The two of them chatted as if they were old friends.
Clearly this was no ordinary relationship between an adventurer and a lord.
If they drank together, they were probably just friends, right?
Men tended to become friends in the simplest ways, after all.
Anyway, this juice was delicious.
I didn't think even Free Port City had orange juice this good.
"We've already exchanged greetings, so shall we get straight to business?"
"I'd prefer that as well."
"As direct as ever."
The Lord set his chilled glass on the table and lightly adjusted his glasses.
The aura rolling off him felt less like a territorial lord and more like a merchant who had just caught the scent of money.
How hard was he planning to haggle?
Then again, there was no such thing as a "fair market price" for this stuff, so did it even matter?
Whatever price I named would probably become the price.
"The Serpent Dragon you brought down this time is known as a Blue Blood Serpent Dragon."
"Huh. How did you know its blood was blue?"
"To a man who leads a trading company like mine, information is life itself."
Tsk... I'd thought I'd handled everything discreetly.
Someone must have been watching in secret and sold the information to the Lord.
Just as he said, the blood of the Serpent Dragon I'd killed was blue.
After flipping through a few books, I'd learned there were research findings suggesting Blue Blood Serpent Dragon blood could be used not only as a catalyst but also in the creation of precious potions.
Of course, nothing had been properly proven yet.
There were only studies hinting at the possibility.
"I assumed Lady Esilly might also be thinking of converting some of her spoils into cash."
"The meat and the hide, and..."
I'd intended to stop there, but the Lord's eyes suddenly sparkled with intense interest.
He'd just been talking about Blue Blood Serpent blood, and now his gaze was practically screaming, Why aren't you mentioning the blood?
Hmm...
Honestly, I had no idea how much I could get for it, so I'd planned to keep it. But maybe selling the equivalent of two potion bottles would be fine?
I had roughly five hundred liters of the stuff, after all.
"If you want, I can sell a little of the blood too."
"I'm grateful. Truth be told, I promised the Alchemists' Guild I'd procure a small amount for them. And, if I may..."
"Is there something else you need?"
Could he even afford it?
He was the master of a major trading company, so he probably could... and as long as he paid a proper price, I wasn't opposed to selling more.
I'd heard dragon scales were prized for making armor and ornaments...
Having armor like that would certainly be reassuring.
The Lord would value his own life highly, after all.
"And? What else do you need?"
"Would it be possible............."
He swallowed hard, then slowly forced the words out.
He looked as if he'd steeled himself for battle, sweat beading on his brow.
"Would it be possible to sell the fangs or the molars as well?"
"No."
The refusal came out colder and flatter than I'd intended.
Even so, the fangs and molars were absolutely off-limits.
Before discussing price, the Lord said he wanted to inspect the goods first, so I pulled the items from my Inventory.
I had plenty of bones and oil anyway, so I decided to throw in a few extras as a free service...
How much had I planned to sell again?
I started taking things out one by one as they came to mind.
"One hundred kilograms of meat... twenty hides... and two fifty-milliliter bottles of blood..."
The meat was mostly prime cuts. The hides were the cleanest, best-conditioned ones.
I hadn't separated the blood beforehand, so I simply poured a suitable amount into potion bottles and sealed them tightly with cork stoppers.
"And what else was it?"
"The molars and fangs."
"I already told you those are off-limits."
He was still trying to sneak a claim on the molars and fangs.
I planned to forge a sword from the fangs and a staff from the molars together with the Serpent Dragon's mana stone, so there was no way I was giving them up.
"A pity... a true pity..."
"You can feel as disappointed as you like. It won't change anything."
Who knew if I'd ever get my hands on another Serpent Dragon's teeth?
He should be grateful I was even willing to part with the meat and hide.
He seemed to understand that, sighing and nodding.
Still, I'd throw in two ordinary teeth so he wouldn't feel too bad.
"How much would this come to?"
"How about four hundred gold coins?"
"Four hundred..."
One gold coin was roughly a million won in Korean currency.
Simple math put the total at around four hundred million won.
Four hundred million...
That was definitely enough to live on for a good while without working.
Should I just settle for this?
"All right..."
"No."
"Hm?"
I was about to nod and reach out to shake on it when Erna blocked me, declaring it unacceptable.
I racked my brain wondering why she was suddenly interfering...
Right.
The whole reason I'd brought Erna along was so I wouldn't get stabbed in the back.
So what did that mean?
Was even that seemingly reasonable amount basically a backstab?!
Erna pulled a notebook and pen from her pocket and began scribbling rapidly.
Curious, I leaned over and saw a neat list of market prices for various goods.
"I know High Class wyvern hide trades at forty gold coins for ten sheets. And while wyvern meat isn't edible, it still sells for a high price."
"Wyverns are that expensive?"
"Wyvern hide is a premium material for magic catalysts, magic tools, and weapons, after all."
Erna stood abruptly, picked up one of the hides on the table, and rubbed it between her fingers.
"Even though this hide hasn't been processed yet, it's still Serpent Dragon hide. I believe the hides alone are worth at least three hundred gold coins."
"However... Serpent Dragon hide has never appeared on the market, so assigning a proper price is..."
"Which is exactly why you should pay more, My Lord. For a time, you'll hold a monopoly on the supply of Serpent Dragon hide."
Oh... so that was it.
As long as I didn't sell the hides elsewhere, the Lord who bought the first batch would be able to set the market price himself.
No matter what he paid me, he stood to make a huge profit.
Even if I tried selling outside, I could never get more than whatever price the buyer decided on, right?
"On top of that, wyvern parts are nothing compared to a Serpent Dragon. Selling goods of this quality for four hundred gold coins would be like throwing money away."
"I'm so glad I brought you along, Erna. Big sister will give you extra pocket money later."
I patted the head of Erna, who had sat back down.
Apparently the promise of pocket money delighted her, because she started grinning from ear to ear.
"Ahem... Lady Erna is correct. It seems I let my greed get the better of me."
"Not good enough. Since you tried to stab me in the back, I'm taking one of the teeth back."
I reached for one of the teeth on the table.
The moment I tried to slip it away, the Lord snatched it up, hid it behind his back, and laughed while sweating profusely.
"I—I was wrong! I'll buy this exact set for one thousand gold coins, so please forgive me!"
"One thousand..."
Was that a decent price?
I whipped my head around to check Erna's face. She nodded, confirming it was acceptable.
You really do need to know the right people.
If I'd been completely ignorant, I would have sold these precious goods for a third of their value.
"On top of that, I'll grant you the privilege of being my exclusive merchant!"
"What's that? I hate anything troublesome."
"Troublesome? It's something every merchant operating on the Central Continent or the West Continent desperately wants... the privilege of conducting all trade within the West Continent without paying any taxes."
"A tax exemption? That sounds nice!"
Trade and sales taxes were ten percent, right?
I would have paid a hundred gold coins in tax on a thousand, but becoming an exclusive merchant meant I wouldn't have to pay any.
And it was valid across the entire West Continent?
In that case, I could forgive him.
"It's a benefit a hero like yourself deserves by rights, so there's no need to thank me too much."
And yet this same man had tried to rip me off...
Hmm... I still had a few lingering doubts, but there was nothing for it.