It had been two months since I came to the ancient dungeon city. Ever since then, I started eating the [Seed of Magic] every day and hit the land dragon on the 20th floor with lightning to defeat it and gaining my mana to cross over the 18,000 mark. The days of getting materials from the land dragon and selling them at the guild went on as always.
“Eight small gold coins every day. I’m glad the price hasn’t dropped.”
The land dragon that guarded the 20th floor wasn't the best prey for adventurers. A D-rank hunter could never hunt this type of monster, however not the same could be said if it was a party of C-rank adventurers. They don’t have the skills but if they could prepare themselves and win then they could be considered lucky.
A party of B-rank and higher are better adventurers as they could hunt like us, but their profit per person would be less because they would have to divide the money for the rest of themselves. In that case, it would be better to kill the small monsters on the 21st floor and above than to fight a stronger enemy. Also, the A-rank party of Arsus-san’s, which could hunt as well as we do, seemed to put the 24th level capture at the top of their list.
“Chise-san, Teto-san. Please take the exam next time!”
“Exam? What’s that?”
"The test to become an adventurer of rank B! It's strange that only two C-rank adventurers could hunt land dragons every day! The guild master has also given permission!”
“Ah, yes, yes. Maybe another time. We’re a bit busy right now.”
The receptionist at the guild told me I could take the test to move up to B-rank at any time.
I suddenly remembered a similar situation when Teto and I had beaten a group of ogres in the town of Daryl before, and there was a rumor that we could be given a special promotion to be a C-rank adventurer, but with Teto’s selfishness we still settled down as a rank D adventurers. (T/N: volume 1 chapter 19 if you need a refresher)
Still, before I reached this town, we had received various requests and the guild master of Daryl took care of it and automatically raised us to C-rank. This time, I am also being told to take the B-rank promotion exam, which would be my first exam as an adventurer.
However, we’re…really busy right now—
… "Today, we're going to practice making potions!"
“““Yes!”””
About half as many children were learning concoction as were here at the beginning. The half of the orphans who aren't here haven't given up, and since I showed that I could focus mana into my eyes to become an expert at collecting herbs, the other kids are helping Teto collect herbs.
“Then, let’s go.”
I took the kids out of the orphanage and took them to the building next door. After selling the materials that we got from the land dragon, we used the money we got to buy the building next to the orphanage and set it up as a place to make potions.
Furthermore—
“Chise-nee! I got sawdust and tree branches from the carpentry shop!”
“Thank you. Well then, let’s get started for today’s lesson.”
Most of the wood in this dungeon city came from trees that were cut down in the forest on the 11th floor and above. Since there was so much wood, a lot of branches and sawdust had to be thrown away inside the dungeon. These ‘garbage’ would then be absorbed by the dungeon, so it was a fairly eco-friendly, recycling-oriented city, but I decided to use the material that was thrown away for the orphanage.
“Well then, let’s get started making paper over there!”
“““Yes!”””
I thought that if I collect the thrown-away waste wood inside the dungeon, boil it in a pot, and dissolve it, I could then use it to make paper. Usually, back when I was living my past life on Earth, it had to be boiled down with chemicals and dissolve it into a pulp however, this was a different world.
Using green slime core as a base and a magic potion that would dissolve only the plant fibers into pulp. I had the children who learned the formula make it and used that potion to dissolve the fibers.
Green slime was especially easy to collect because it often showed up in the plains where the kids went to gather herbs.
I then washed the unravelled wood fibers with water, take the solution and mix it with seaweed that has been heated, pour it evenly into a wooden frame with a mesh, and lay it on a wooden board to dry.
(T/N: Pretty sure the author messed up the second part, because it suddenly switched from wood fibers to wheat……)
Hundreds of paper sheets had already been made and sent as samples to the church’s headquarters, the adventurer guild, and the lord.
The priest was able to get full support from the church’s headquarters, especially because the paper-making business was doing well. Since the Bible, which was expensive to make before, could now be made for less money, it made it easier to spread the word of God by this paper-making business. Also, by having the kids copy the Bible on this paper, it would help them learn and understand the characters and increase the proficiency of producing the Bible(s) at the same time.
There were also talks from the commerce guild about wanting to market the produced paper.
(T/N: Do note that while this seems like a standard isekai development that “for some reason no one’s thought of before”, it requires a potion which requires alchemy skills, so not actually easy to mass-produce. Course, there’s probably an easier way…)
In addition, the children were also doing really well learning on how to make potions. They could now make potions that were commonly sold in town, and I had them sold at the adventurer's guild for one silver coin and five large bronze coins each.
Originally, the price of such a potion was two silver coins. However, that price was set as a brokerage fee so that the guild could protect the children when there was a problem. Still, just delivering the herbs they gathered would earn them two big bronze coins, so the kids were very happy because it had increased nearly seven times.
“Chise-nee! Yesterday, I got level 2 in [Concoction]!.”
Dan, who talked to me, had put in a lot of effort to learn about compounding and he reported his effort that appeared in the form of a skill.
“Congratulations. It’s about time for you to leave my care.”
“Chise-nee?”
“Then, everyone involved in the concoction, gather!”
Calling out like that, the children assembled.
“This is a book I made from the paper you all made. Sorry if it’s bad.”
I took out ten books from the magic bag.
It was an awkward book with just an open hole and a thread that I compiled and Teto copied.
“This is the basics of [Concoction] that I taught you and its applications. The general recipe is also written inside.”
“Eh, ehhh? This is……”
"I've done what I set out to do, which was to help you gain skills for your independence. Later, you can make most of the medicines by reading the book and trying things out. If you use the book as a textbook and teach other kids how to make medicines, I think you'll be able to learn how to make medicines in no time. So, do what you can. I'll be going back to being an adventurer."
That said, the children started crying loudly.
“Hngg… Chise-nee, I want to learn more, don’t go~!”
I got the feeling that these children had gotten awfully attached with me in the past two months.
Children who were smaller than me and children who were bigger than me tightly hugged me. I could have used physical strengthening to stop them but instead I just made a troubled expression under my hood.
"Hey, hey, it's not a good idea to bother Chise-sama."
“““Father……”””
"Chise-sama is just going back to being an adventurer, but that doesn't mean she won't visit the orphanage anymore."
"Yes, I'll be back every now and then until I move on to the next place."
After I said that, I stroked the head of each child to calm them down.
Well, I couldn't reach the heads of some tall children in the middle of their growth spurts, but I could touch their shoulders and arms gently.
"Chise-sama and I need to talk about something important, so I'm going to borrow her for a second." That being said, the priest took me out for a walk and guided me to the room in the church where he previously removed the curse of the ornaments and sat facing me.
“Then, let’s finish this matter.”
“Right, let’s get started.”
I took the deed to the building next to the orphanage that was used to make potions and paper out of my magic bag, and the priest took out a book with a fancy binding and a one-page contract.
Although it was rather lengthily written, the details were something like——I transferred the potion production and papermaking facilities that I made with my own money to the church, and rather than being paid for helping the orphans become independent, the church would give me the spellbook they owned as thank you——was the content.
I quickly looked over it, took out my pen, and signed my name on it.
And the priest, whose name was Paul, either a noble name or a baptismal name, also filled in a long name, and the contract was done.
Both the adventurer's guild and the lord did everything they could to help the orphanage stay independent for these two months.
More than anything else, Teto and I made the initial investment that made it possible for the system to help with independence that hadn't been possible before. That, or I used magic to force it to work.
The building I bought was then given to the church, and as a thank you, I was given a sacred spell book that was mostly used by the church.
“This spellbook is said to be an imitation of the magic that the goddess, who descended onto the world, used. Well, I can use about half of it.”
“Thank you. I will read it seriously.”
"Even in the Church of the Five Goddesses, only people with a certain status are allowed to have this book. In this case, Chise-sama is, without a doubt, fully qualified. If you had been a member of the Church, you could have gotten the title 'Saint.'"
(T/N: Priest finally providing some context. I translated it as Goddesses as in a that’s what we were told. Will change it if something else proves me wrong, though)
The suspicious witch wearing such a hood showed a bitter smile at hearing the word “Saint”.
“I’m a witch though.”
“No, you’re unmistakably a saint in another way.”
The priest smiled gently, but that was the end of the matter.
“Well, then, I’ll be going back to Teto. It’s just about time for lunch.”
“Lunch time, huh. I’m looking forward to it.”
Having said that, I made lunch for the kids.
Spending time with these lovely children would always be a precious memory to me.
