Making Money With Foresight
Spring is the season for work. It’s a happy time for guild members too.
The groups that had been holed up deep in the Baroa Forest expand their active range outwards, allowing them to go hunting.
While there are some minor downsides like the fur of the Charge Deer losing value due to it regrowing, you can also pick up shed antlers from the regrowth, and there are plenty of herbs and medicinal plants around, making it an enjoyable season for walking around.
However, spring is also a season where you can’t just stick to the Baroa Forest.
It’s the Awakening of Halpherias – spring is the season when bugs appear.
It’s also the time when the Pike Hoppers start buzzing everywhere.
In Halpheria, the Pike Hopper, a relatively rare Halpheria-type monster, is a dog-sized grasshopper.
Its pointed head is sturdy, and the headbutts it delivers with powerful jumps can kill a child.
However, due to its large body, it can’t turn quickly, so as long as you don’t stand right in front of it, it’s not too difficult to avoid. Even an Iron-class guild member can easily defeat this monster.
But the Pike Hopper’s problem isn’t its combat ability. The big issue is that its main food is wheat.
Not only does it have an absurdly large body, but it’s a herbivore that primarily targets humans’ wheat crops. It’s so despised in this country that regular annoying pests pale in comparison.
Fortunately, the Pike Hopper doesn’t swarm crops in groups when targeting wheat. And since it can’t fly, simple fences can restrict its movement to some extent.
Even so, as an agricultural nation, it’s not a monster they can tolerate existing.
That’s why guilds carry out large-scale Pike Hopper extermination in the spring.
“Here comes the bouncing contribution value.”
As soon as I entered the woods near the farm, I heard the inorganic sound of grass being trampled from the bushes over there.
Pike Hoppers. Despite being grasshoppers that grow in the soil like cicadas before becoming adults, once they emerge above ground, they’re totally grasshoppers.
Exterminating them doesn’t pay much, but the contribution value isn’t bad.
It’s just a shame the materials don’t really sell. You can technically disassemble them for edible meat-like parts, but Halpheria-eating isn’t very common in Halpheria since they basically reject Sangrell culture. Personally, I’m not that enthusiastic about going through the trouble of butchering them to eat.
Still, monsters like this are convenient for me.
“Mediocre attack power. No intelligence to flee. Little blood splatter. I kinda like you guys.”
A Pike Hopper came charging out of the bushes with vigor.
I smoothly dodged to the side, and the Pike Hopper continued its charge for a bit before slowly starting to turn around. Its movements were kind of like a tank.
“It’s nice when you expose that broad side to make it easy.”
The biggest opening is when it tries changing direction after a charge.
If I just slash that exposed side with my bastard sword, that’s enough to finish it off. Though its body isn’t really soft enough for blades to pass through normally, for me it’s easy since I can do that.
Plus even if I take a charge head-on, I barely take any damage. A charge of this level can’t penetrate my enhanced light armor. In that sense too, they’re a stress-free opponent.
“Come on, keep coming. I’m a little short on cash, so feel free to come at me a hundred at a time.”
That day, I kept slashing Pike Hoppers until close to sunset, but the most I defeated was around 20.
It’s an amount that would take a few days solo, but since it’s an extermination I could handle alone, it’s not that great pay for me.
Apparently you can process the hind legs into short weapon hafts, but that’s unpopular too.
“Maybe I should ask the guild for some better jobs.”
I stuffed a whole bag full of the Pike Hoppers’ sharp carapace horns and decided to head back.
However, the guild is busy this season too.
Not just the receptionists Elena and Milene, but even Florence who usually works behind the scenes has been called in and is overwhelmed with handling things.
Especially with the constant private meetings with clients, there are many staff members coming and going inside the building.
It would be a hassle to line up and vaguely ask “Any good jobs?” here. I’ll wait until the line clears out a bit before getting in line.
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“Working hard, Elena. Lot of customers, huh?”
“Hah…it’s really tough. So Mongrel, what about you today?”
“I know you’re busy, but if there are any Bronze 3 or higher jobs that pay decently, I’d like one. Anything taxing but lucrative would be good.”
“Short on cash again?”
“There’s just been a lot of interesting merchandise lately.”
“Isn’t it because you’re wasteful? Well, the markets have been lively, so I get it…Hmm…Oh, I know a good job actually. There’s a shared warehouse in a back alley that’s being sold to a trading company. They need help moving all the heavy equipment inside.”
Oh, a straightforward manual labor job, nice.
“Since it’s a shared warehouse, the items need to be delivered to each owner’s location. But it’s a cramped area so they can’t use tools to move things, so the work has stalled. There are really heavy items like iron forges mounted on wooden bases and such…They actually wanted three workers, but…”
“Perfect for me. I can handle it alone, no need for three people.”
“I thought you’d say that…There are some arrangements to make with the request, so could you give me about two days?”
“Sure, take your time. Taxing work worth multiple people’s pay – sounds like good money.”
“…It would probably pay more as a Silver-ranked job, though.”
“That’s a story for another time.”
Good jobs are out there if you look.
Two days later, I was able to get the job surprisingly quickly.
Apparently they needed to clear out the warehouse and hand it over to the trading company right away, so the owners were in quite a hurry.
“Our young folks just ain’t got the strength. If I was a bit younger I coulda handled it myself.”
Near the warehouse entrance was an array of heavy-looking equipment. Taking this through the narrow alleys would certainly be grueling work.
It’s not a place that would be manageable with more people either.
The new building constructed in front of the warehouse must be in the way. Nothing you can do about that, though…
“I’ll just haul each one out nice and efficient. You geezers just put some kinda marking on the owner’s items so I know where to take them. I’ll deliver them according to the markings.”
“Much obliged…Ah, if you could bring them down to the basement storage, that’d be a huge help.”
“Sure, no problem. But rather than going down and up each time, it’d be easier if I can just pile them up before that.”
“That works. Thanks a bunch.”
With that settled, it’s a quick job. I’ll just clear out this warehouse.
“Whoa!? You’re a real powerhouse…As expected of a guild member. I thought it might be too much to request, but I’m glad I did.”
“No big deal, no big deal. I’ll put in work worth my pay.”
There were four users of the shared warehouse. I had to transport the large cargo to four different locations, but some were in basements or deep in narrow alleys, so it was certainly a troublesome task. I can totally get not wanting to clear out the warehouse without physical enhancement.
But with my strength, it’s no big deal. Apart from the hassle of moving around, I steadily completed the hauling work and had the warehouse emptied by late morning.
The old man even treated me to lunch out of his generosity. In the afternoon, I spent about an hour taking the items I’d piled up to their respective storehouses.
The cargo was heavy but not overly numerous. If I could move it without issue, it was totally doable.
“Whew, got it all done in one day, thanks a bunch Mongrel.”
“Just doing my job. Don’t mention it. Let me know if you need anything else, through the guild or directly.”
“Hire you directly instead of through the guild to get a cheaper rate?”
“Yeah, if it’s ‘helping a friend’ type stuff the guild won’t get mad about.”
“I see…Well, we don’t wanna get on the guild’s bad side either, but…If a chance comes up, I might hit you up directly, Mongrel.”
Nufufu, dealing with reasonable people makes it easy.
Going through the guild incurs fees that smaller businesses really feel.
So in cases like that, it’s not bad for me to take jobs directly. There’s an issue if I try to squeeze in as a full party, but individually helping out likely won’t raise any major objections.
The only problem is they won’t mediate payment disputes, but if it’s within Legor it’ll probably be fine. If someone tries to stiff me, I can just take action on my end. In an underhanded way, if needed.
“Alright…that should replenish my spending money.”
I was running low thanks to those weird spices or kombu-like things last time, but I’ve managed to recover here.
I still have things like magic textbooks and new equipment to buy.
It might not be a bad idea to go on a little money-making spree for a while longer.
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