Helping with Adventurer Party Management - Chapter 45

This is a district where leather specialists have their workshops. Usually, places called Leather Street are clustered together near the city walls, even in third-class districts.

“…It really stinks around here.”

“Hey, don’t say that out loud. There are a lot of touchy folks around here, so be careful.”

Smoke and the smell of chemicals rise from the workshops, and burly men are busy working with tubs filled with leather and other materials.

“It’s my first time here, but it looks really busy.”

Processing animal hides into leather involves complex procedures. These specialists are clustered together like a modern industrial complex, exchanging intermediate products with each other.

“Yeah, they’re not allowed to work at night. They’re probably processing the hides that were soaked in chemicals last night.”

As far as I know, after skinning an animal, the inner meat and fat are scraped off, then it’s boiled with salt, washed with chemicals, and tanned with tannin. This should turn it into what is called rawhide, which looks like a map of the animal.

I remember that the chemicals used in this process can be carcinogenic, which forced many businesses in Tokyo to shut down. The leather in circulation was predominantly pig, followed by cow. However, there are many points that don’t apply to this world.

“Wow, that hide has huge horns on it. Is it from a giant deer?”

The biggest difference is that the leather here comes from monster materials. The meat of defeated monsters is discarded on the spot, but the hides are different. Bringing them back earns a reward, so most animal-type monster hides are sold to the guild and end up on Leather Street.

I’ve heard that the skins of some humanoid monsters are also used in the same way, but I’ve never seen them. Rumor has it that there are specialists for each type of monster hide. The hide of a direwolf and an ogre, for instance, would differ in shape, thickness, and processing method. The chemicals used might also be different.

In short, if I want to make shoes for adventurers, I need to secure leather from these specialists here. At the very least, I need to establish connections to avoid being obstructed by the shoe guild. Even if I end up having to procure leather through the shoe guild, knowing the raw material prices will help me avoid being ripped off.