After factoring in all the material, labor, and transportation costs, it only cost me about 55000 doviti to produce what the commander requested. And yet the commander was willing to pay up to 250000 per day after I requested to receive a lower payment. Seems like I'll have to request another pay cut again, otherwise my conscience would feel bad… That, and I don't want traveling salesmen and burglars at my shop.

The giant zombie came into my shop shortly after I finished filling and packing all the potion bottles and supplies into the twelve crates.

"Good morning. I left the supplies in the back."

He waved at me while letting off a slight groaning sound, then headed towards the workshop area in the back side of the shop. Must be hard not being able to speak full words. Or any comprehensible word for that matter.

I tried asking him a couple questions to get to know him more, but I couldn't understand whether his groans meant yes or no. His arms and legs could move just fine, yet his neck couldn't seem to shake or nod, so I gave up on asking him questions and just watched him carry crate after crate out from the back.

After loading the last crate onto a carriage waiting outside, the giant zombie came back in and dropped a sack of money on the counter.

"Could you please take that sack back to the commander? The production cost ended up being really low, so I still have plenty of money left over even after the half payment yesterday."

Groan.

"Please tell him to give me only 100000 or something. 250000 is too much…"

Groan.

I can't tell whether he understands what I'm saying or not. He's not trying to leave, at least.

"Could you wait here for a minute or two?"

Groan.

I'll just assume he said yes, since he continued standing still.

I quickly took out all my money and counted out 100000 doviti, then threw the remainder into the sack and added a written note to explain why the zombie would have come back with more money than when he came in.

"Please pass the message inside the sack to the commander."

The giant picked the bag up, waved at me, then took off on the carriage.

"I think he likes you."

I think Amber said something slightly disturbing just now.

"He rarely ever groans more than twice."

"Why is that?"

"Because of the damaged lungs and vocal cords."

"Is that so… It must have taken him a lot of effort just to groan like that."

I really can't tell if the fact that a zombie likes me is a good thing or not.

"By the way, please don't make me heavy-lift again today."

"That's fine, I have a brilliant idea. Feel free to stay here and keep an eye on the shop."

* * * * *

In a long dark alley somewhere in town.

"Oi."

The two people in the alley immediately got up and ran away as soon as I called them.

"Flame Pillar."

I had expected this to happen, so I cast the spell that I chanted in advance to create an impassable wall of fire in front of the two.

"Please spare us! We've learned our lesson!"

"We don't want any accidents here! Please!"

The reptilian and harpy girl were trembling in front of me.

"Calm down, calm down. I just want to talk, so stop trying to run away."

"Is it about the debts? Did the merchants send you over? Please let us go!"

"We'll get them the money somehow! Just give us a bit of time!"

"No, I'm not here on behalf of anyone. Besides, it would have been more efficient for a gang of armed merchants to come after you if debt collection was the goal."

"That's what you want us to think, isn't it!"

"Yeah, you're trying to trick us, aren't you!"

These two would probably ever calm down, so I took out 3000 doviti and gave half to each of them.

"Huh? What's this?"

"Given your history, I doubt any other shopkeeper in this town would ever want to hire you, so I'm giving you a job. Consider that an advance payment for today's work. I'll give you two another 1000 each as a bonus if you take on another task I have in mind."

"A job?"

"Yes, a job. It won't be too difficult for you two."

The two were still seemingly wary of me, but they at least calmed down after being given some money. I ignored the reptilian, who was smelling the money to make sure nothing was wrong.

"It's quite obvious that as a mage, my strength is very low. Because of that, I'm offering to pay each of you 1500 a day if you two run a delivery service for the merchants in the market district. I get priority service, of course, since I'm paying your daily salary."

"And the other task?"

"Tell me your names, and apologize to every merchant you encounter along the way when you help deliver items around. I'll explain everything to them to make sure they won't take out a club to beat you two up."

There was a long pause after I brought up that extra task. Seems like they were still somewhat doubtful. The harpy finally spoke up after thinking for a while,

"…You're not trying to trick us, right?"

"I'm serious. I'll even let you hold onto my wallet as insurance, if you think I'll run away just so you two would be helplessly ganged up on. There should be a little 50000 doviti inside."

There was no more reason for the two to doubt me after the harpy took my wallet and confirmed the amount of money inside.

The reptilian introduced himself as Casath, and the harpy introduced herself as Hanung. With their reputation as the strongest and fastest residents of the town, respectively, I have no doubts that they would be able to quickly deliver items in bulk. They might even be able to gain reputation as the most reliable couriers in town if they ran an honest service.

As long as I'm responsible for them, I don't think they'll ever try to cause trouble for anyone again, especially when I offered them an actual job with decent pay that didn't require them to work too hard. The merchants would probably also stop giving them trouble if they know I'm involved, too, so I'd say it's a win-win situation where their misdoings get forgiven and I don't get daily back pain.

"Now come with me. First stop is the plants shop."

The two reluctantly followed me through the streets with their heads dropped low. Some merchants in the district drew mean looks at the two, but they were quite happy to hear about the new delivery service after I explained everything to them and had the two apologize. Thankfully, nobody tried to beat the two up, and the shopkeepers even stopped bringing up debt collection after knowing that the two now had some stable income and would therefore be able to pay them back eventually.

* * * * *

"You're back already?"

"I told you I had a brilliant idea."

Thanks to Casath and Hanung taking care of all the item transportation, I was able to make my way around the whole district and finish placing all my orders before noon. I didn't give specific instructions to the two, so they just dropped some of the crates in front of the shop's door rather than inside the workshop area. This was probably why Amber didn't know about the delivery service.

Come to think of it, the fact that Amber knew nothing about the deliverers probably meant she wasn't looking after the shop seriously. It's hard not to notice a big reptilian carrying a large crate in front of your store window, after all. I'll probably have to lecture Amber or something…

"You secretly taught people your trade secrets?"

"What? Orcs and goblins aren't capable of understanding or using magic, so I can't teach them that."

"What was your brilliant idea, then?"

"I just started a delivery service, with those two delinquents from yesterday as the workers. They looked like they repented their misdeeds."

I promised the two that I would buy them lunch if they finished delivering everything before I finished lunch, so they had already brought over half of the supplies. I'm not exactly sure whether or not they actually consumed food waste yesterday, but they were readily motivated by my promise.

"By the way, did any customers come while I was gone?"

"Just three lecherous goblins."

"Lecherous goblins? How do you even know they were lecherous?"

"They wanted vitality potions for bed. Had perverted looks on their faces, too."

"Oh. I never thought people here would be that open about what they wanted to do at night…"

Now that I think about it, there was no reason to stock a large quantity of health and mana potions. Most residents in this town are unable to cast magic, so they wouldn't need mana potions in the first place. Also, since there were no monster farms nearby, and also because disputes (and thus fights) were infrequent, it was unlikely that the anyone would ever get injured so badly that they would require a health potion.

I should really study what the citizens here regularly do and adjust my stock of items accordingly.

"Let's go get lunch."

"Sure!"

…But I'll study the townsfolk later. I have plenty of time for that.