That Time a Shut-in for 300 Years Continued to Make Antiques , but All of It Turned out to Be Cheat-Level Magic Tools - Chapter 52

Early in the morning, before heading to the Magic Guild, I went to a shop owned by a guard’s wife named Dress. I had permission to deal directly about the bags.

The store is called “Dress Shop.” The name could mean a couple of things, but I went in regardless.

“Welcome! Hehe, you’re as adorable as ever… Would you like some sweets?”

“No, thanks. And please, stop treating me like a child…”

Somehow, I found my head being patted, which was embarrassingly uncomfortable!

Dress’s shop also sold homemade clothing. It was a fairly large shop, and I could go all the way back to the workshop area.

There, tailors were busily continuing their work. However, it looked like they were sewing by hand. From the basic steps, everything being handmade meant it took time and was a lot of work.

“It looks busy here.”

“Hehe, thanks to you know who. Actually, that man Doyle was interfering even with how I run things. Paying the craftsmen too much, giving them too many days off, saying things like ‘keep them working from morning till night without rest, and if they oppose, I’ll turn them into slaves.’ It was ridiculous, really made me want to blow him off—oh, hehe, just kidding, forget I said that.”

She made a fist but quickly corrected herself. Well, I knew she had been an adventurer until recently.

And then the complaints kept coming. Predictably, he even arrogantly suggested lowering the quality of materials while making the products look somewhat decent and raising the prices.

So, Dress had been skeptical about Doyle from the start. Indeed, his influence seemed significant, but his methods were surely driving customers away. From what I heard, I agreed.

“Edson-kun, you’re planning to start your own brand, aren’t you? I’m definitely supporting your brand.”

“That helps a lot. Now, onto the main topic, take a look at this…”

Dress’s expression changed the moment she saw the material. What I showed her, of course, was the hide of a Heavy Bison I had hunted the day before.

“This is in great condition. But Heavy Bison, huh? They’re rank B, and usually require a party to hunt… Hiring adventurers must have cost a lot, right?”

“Indeed, I hired one sort of. Well, it was within expectations.”

“One? You managed this with one adventurer? An A-rank expert or something?”

“B-rank. Plus, our guild’s disappointing magician was also there. Mei and I supported a bit too.”

“I see. Just as your husband said, huh? Hehe, surely your help made a difference. Even if you don’t fight, having a competent commander can turn the tide of battle.”

That wasn’t quite what I had done as a commander, but well…

“Wow! Is this Heavy Bison hide?”

“I haven’t seen this in a while. Are you handling this?”

“Wait, are you the famous Edson-kun and the maid?”

“That Doyle has been driven away by you, right? He was also persistent with me. ‘I’ll take it first,’ he’d say, and it was so creepy and gross.”

It seemed like the craftsmen on their break had gathered around. It was mostly women. Some were interested in the material, while others expressed their gratitude towards Doyle.

The youngest girl among them showed a stern face as she put her arm around my shoulder. She must have really disliked him.

However, it was time to move the conversation forward.

“Can you make bags out of this hide?”

“Absolutely, this is exciting! Uh, yes, I think it’ll be fine, haha…”

Hmm, maybe she’s playing it coy? She seemed like a competent adventurer back in the day. Maybe she was more tomboyish then.

Considering it, many of the female craftsmen here were beauties, but they looked at materials with the eye of a warrior.

Perhaps many of them were former adventurers.

“With this amount, we can make about eight bags. This hide takes dye well, so it’s easy to adjust the color, what do you think?”

“Is the tanning done here too?”

“Yes, it’s not just sewing.”

True to her former adventurer spirit. And this material could undergo color changes during the tanning process. Dyes aren’t necessary for achieving a range of browns.

“The last batch was brown, so let’s stick with that for now. Depending on the orders, we might vary the colors later.”

“Understood! Leave it to me! Ooh, I can’t wait to get started…”

However, Dress occasionally let her true nature slip through. Well, we had pretty much wrapped up the discussion. The payment amount also fell within the range Mei had calculated.

“By the way, does doing everything by hand cause any inconveniences?”

“Eh? Well, yes. Sometimes we get rush orders that we can’t keep up with, and we reluctantly have to turn them down.”

“Hmm, so it would be a great help if the work could be made easier.”

“That would be… oh! Maybe there’s some magical tool that could help?”

“It’s possible. Well, we’ll need to finish setting up the guild and branding first.”

“Really? Oh, I mean, that sounds good. I’d love to see the magical tool when it’s ready.”

It seemed Dress was indeed interested. If things go well, this could lead to more work for the equipment here.

After wrapping up our discussions and requests, we left the shop.

“Edson-san! I’m glad you’re still here.”

I turned around at the sound of my name and saw Furenzu approaching. It seemed he had something important to discuss with me.

“The documents necessary for your brand registration are ready. All that’s left is for you to review the content and sign them. Do you have time now?”

“Ah, right. Yes, thank you. I have time.”

The visit to the Magic Guild could wait. We went to Furenzu’s shop, where Mei and I reviewed the documents. Seeing no issues, I signed them.

“Alright, the documents are in order. Once submitted to the Commerce Guild, the brand registration will be complete.”

“It’s surprisingly simple, isn’t it?”

The reason nobody else does it must be due to the overwhelming influence of the Adventurer’s Guild.

“What will you do? Shall we head to the Commerce Guild?”

“Yes, the sooner, the better.”

Leaving Furenzu’s shop, we headed directly to the Commerce Guild. Naturally, the Commerce Guild was located on a major street.

The building was far more impressive compared to the Magic Guild. Inside, similar to the Adventurer’s Guild, there were counters and several round tables, but notably, there were no rough-looking individuals like you might find in the Adventurer’s Guild.

The round tables seemed to be used for business discussions.

At this point, we let Furenzu take the lead, and we followed him to speak with a male receptionist.

We sat down and presented the documents.

“Edson… you’re registering a brand?”

“Yes, exactly. The products are magical tools, primarily overseen by Mr. Edson here—”

After Furenzu explained briefly, Mei and I went into more detail.

Once we finished, the documents were reviewed.

“There are no problems with the documents.”

“That’s good to hear. So, the brand registration is possible then?”

“About that, there has been a recent change to the regulations—”