"How may I help you, miss..."
"Mori, that's my name. Please remember it."
'Yes, miss Mori."
A middle-aged man said slightly lowering his head. His fat belly was barely covered by his clothes, and it seemed like the shirt button may burst out.
The mustache on his face suited his fat body, and being polite he hid his troubled face.
"I don't have any business with you. He has."
Mori pointed at Ren, a slime that looked at the scene innocently like a child watching his parents talk with a stranger.
"H-He..." The chief had a troubled expression.
He was troubled with the fact that a forest spirit came with a slime. A slime, who wouldn't know it, a weak monster.
A forest spirit is literally a god revered by a person while the slime is killed. Seeing two of them together would make anyone shocked.
"Hello, my name is Ren, your family-friendly slime." Ren cheerily greeted them while introducing himself. With a slime more creepy than that of a serial killer, he crawled in front.
"H-Hello. I am Shrind. The chief of this town. How may I help you?"
"May we talk inside, it's a business matter."
Hearing the word, business, the chief showed a little shocked expression but quickly nodded. His face was covered with a smile.
The chief led the Ren and Mori inside the village. As they walked the path, their gaze fell on many houses.
Made up of wood, and thatched roofs, the villagers seemed to have a...somewhat..moderate life. The villagers had smiles on their faces, so, they were at least a little happy it seems.
The cheerful voice of children drifted as they ran and played with each other. Many fields was covered with different crops. The field decorated with crops made Ren feel a little embarrassed.
While his field only grow little things, the village had a heck of variety. Not to mention, the farmer working hard, and the size of a single land being ten times larger than their combined ten fields.
The market they passed by sold vegetables, fish, or other household stuff. Some ornament or jewelry and rarely weapon shop came to view.
The bustling market may not be that huge, but the shout of people was energetic. The path they walked wasn't paved like in Ren's village, but it was still covered with soft soil.
As they pass by the market, many gazes fell on them. Be it curiosity or beauty of the Mori, or the weird slime, all the villagers that walked, worked or even sat staring at them.
Their gaze didn't distract Ren or Mori, while the chief was a little uncomfortable. After a walk of ten minutes, they reached a building.
Built with stones, the single-floored building stood differently from the village's house. The polished stone and paved roof add the charm, and the window in a variety of places nearly made Ren burst into laughter.
But he closed his mouth and mind his manner.
'I am here for business, so no messing up this time.'
He reminded himself, so he may not destroy this village accidentally.
"Please"
The chief gestured a go sign politely raising his two hands slightly. Mori didn't bat an eye before walking inside while Ren also didn't give a shit.
Seeing the unfazed face of two guests, the chief felt like his building lacked, but shaking his head he walked inside.
As they entered the building, an 'office' sign came into their view. They straightly walked there.
While there was a big desk like Ren's office there, the atmosphere was completely different. A stack of paper lay on the ground and some documents were still on the desk.
Nearly more than ten small desks were also placed there, where many humans read the document and sorted them.
Some ran here and there, from one desk to another, and some ran from one room to another room, the whole thing looked more chaotic than other things.
The chief ignored the workers and just nodded at them. Leading the duo over to his desk, he sat behind the desk while making them sit in front.
Ren nodding sat on the chair while Mori stare at the chair tilting her head. But she shook her head and sat, feeling a little uncomfortable.
"May I know your purpose?"
He asked.
"I want to do business here."
"What kind of business?"
"We need a blacksmith and some minerals."
"Blacksmith...I can't help in that one. But, minerals, what kind?"
"Iron, copper, silver, platinum..."
"Uh...We don't have much of those minerals, you see."
"100 gold per cart of silver."
"...I don't think we can do much..."
"500 gold."
"... ...Well, it is hard..."
"1000 gold, I can't increase more than this."
"Deal."
The chief brimmed with a smile and chatted more. After some discussion, they signed a contract. While signing a contract with a monster may sound weird but it was done in front of the forest spirit.
So, if the contract was breached, the forest spirit will have to take action.
After the contract, the chief was also introduced to a blacksmith.
"I am still a blacksmith trainee. My weapon may not be as good as my father."
Jack the blacksmith said with a grim expression. He didn't want to leave his village. Seeing the blacksmith expression, Ren blinked.
He felt like forcing him to do the work but didn't. He needed to maintain relations with the humans for now.
After that, he didn't bring any humans but learned little about farming seeing how the farmer worked.
He would make plans in the future.
While returning to the village, Ren asked Mori.
"Do you know...where can I find gold?"
...
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2 Chapter left, and the volume ends!