Rising from the Slum City of Reincarnation in Another World ~ Gathering, Hunting, and Living a Slow Life by Eating

Chapter 26 Tea rights

Monday, lunchtime.

Having lunch together with Lania.

Today’s menu:

Stir-fried Ilk beans and dried meat.

Sautéed Crow’s peas, Swiss chard, and onions with Sansho pepper.

Boiled Butterbur (leftover).

Salted salad with raw onions, lettuce, and dandelion greens.

Herbal tea.

“This Sansho pepper adds a nice spicy kick to it. It’s delicious.”

Come to think of it, it might be the first time I’ve served Sansho pepper to Lania.

Let’s explore various flavors together and discover new deliciousness.

“Hey, Ed, you there, Ed.”

“What’s up?”

“Don’t try to play dumb. Mary said you had a sword. What’s going on?”

“Oh, I just had a lucrative job that earned me some money.”

“What? That’s not fair. It’s always you.”

By the way, he’s the leader of the kids. His name is Harris, eight years old.

“Well, there have been various things going on.”

“Hmph, keeping money matters a secret, huh?”

“My apologies.”

“No, well, I guess it can’t be helped.”

He’s not a bad person, per se. It’s just that he doesn’t leave a particularly good impression.

“Oh, by the way, would you like some herbal tea or dog barley tea?”

“Uh, yeah, I’ll have the dog barley tea. Herbal tea didn’t agree with me. I’m not familiar with dog barley tea.”

“I see.”

We had already boiled the water ourselves, intending to refill it as needed. I quickly brew the dog barley tea.

Thank goodness there were spare cups. We don’t have many of them at home.

“Thanks. Oh, wow, this is really good.”

Harris’s eyes widen in surprise.

“Well, the thing is, I’m the one selling this herbal tea and dog barley tea.”

“Huh?!”

“I source them from my supplier and distribute them to Dridon General Store.”

“Is that okay? You should have told me.”

“Yeah, I’m giving you the rights to it.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, really. In return, give me 20% of the sales.”

“20%? Well, I guess that’s fine. How much can I make from it?”

“It’s not a big profit. With two heaping cups each week, it adds up to a total of sixteen silver coins.”

“Sixteen silver coins? Hey, you’re getting close to gold coins.”

“The sales will drop from now on, though.”

“Y-yeah, that’s right, I guess.”

Harris’s mind drifts to the thought of gold coins.

On a regular day job, earning one silver coin a day is considered good for us. This would be almost double that.

To be honest, harvesting and drying spearmint and dog barley takes a whole day’s work if done daily. Of course, progress is made on crafting spoons while they dry, but right now, I want to explore the forest and such.

Even with the kids, there isn’t much difference in harvesting, and unlike mushrooms, appraisal isn’t necessary. It’s only a matter of time before competitors emerge.

Instead, it’s better to sell the rights as a whole and get even a 10% share. After all, rights mean passive income.

With Harris having a slightly better reputation than me, he might have more influence over fellow competitors. If they find out that poor kids like us have the rights, they might back off. It might not be that easy, though.

“You can quit anytime. It’ll just mean the store will run out of products.”

“Well, that’s true.”

“Anyway, if they sell, you’ll get 20% at that time.”

“Got it.”

There’s no contract or anything, we can easily cheat if we want to. As I mentioned before, it’s passive income. We’re not relying on profits that seem to come out of nowhere.

“Do you want me to give a herbal tea making workshop?”

“Sorry, I’ll gather some comrades.”

Harris left the room.

“Hey, is it okay? Giving up the rights to someone like Harris.”

Lania expresses a slight dissatisfaction.

Come to think of it, Lania disliked Harris. The reason being that Harris used to see me as a rival and got into a fight with me. She seems to hold a grudge against him for that.

Well, it was an exchange of heated words, and I was also at fault.

“I calmed them down when they said, ‘If Ed doesn’t fight back, I’ll keep hitting in his place until Harris apologizes.'”

Oh man, I thought I was going to die back then. It’s a good thing I was stopped.

“You can use enemies to your advantage. Besides, back then, I also retorted, so it was a draw.”

“Is that so? But…”

“Now we’re not enemies anymore. And I’m probably stronger. Letting someone else do the tiresome work and getting paid for it. It’s nothing but profit for me.”

“I see, I see.”

“While the hourly wage for tea is around sixteen silver coins per week, how much did the jam sell for? Next time, let’s look for higher-paying jobs.”

“Oh, I see. That’s how it works. Ed, you’re clever.”

Lania seems to have understood and her smile returns. Initially, when Harris entered, she seemed really scared.

Alright, this will reduce the low-cost jobs.

By the way, easygoing Minya doesn’t seem to fully understand. Well, she’s only six years old, like a first-grader. Lania is just exceptionally smart. As for me, I have past experiences, so it’s no problem. Also, since Minya is an Elf, her growth might naturally be slower.

After that, the group of us gathered in front of the grassland, and I explained which plants were spearmint and dog barley. None of the kids made a mistake.

Then we went to Harris’ house, pulled out the blankets, and explained the drying process. After that, we contacted the old man at Dridon’s shop to hand over the work.

“That’s why, Dridon-san, from now on, Harris will handle the tea deliveries.”

“Is that okay?”

“Yeah, sure. There are other items that need to be delivered too, like ‘that.'”

“Oh, ‘that’… I see. Understood. I’m counting on you, Harris. It’s an important job, so do it well.”

I already have jam, and there are more things planned to be added.

Harris, feeling proud, responded to Dridon’s handshake request. He’s easy to please.

Sorry, but I’ll be looking for more hourly efficient jobs.

Well, it’s just right for kids’ work.

When it comes to being scheming, that’s clearly my department. Ahahaha.