Helping with Adventurer Party Management - Chapter 47

Left alone, I continued diligently counting the wagons by type. Around lunchtime, Sara returned with a beaming smile.

“For lunch, let’s have meat soup with ale! And can we get three thick slices of ham?”

“You’re confident.”

“Hehe, I found out so much!” she said and started talking rapidly like a machine gun.

“First, Mr. Doanz at the entrance handles skin cutting. He showed me some humanoid skins, which were super creepy! It’s such bad taste! That’s why his wife rarely comes to the workplace! But their daughter is getting older now…

“And lately, business has been bad. There are fewer wagons, but there’s a rumor about a big job from a top-tier clan in the second-class district, so they’re trying hard to keep their craftsmen…

“Then there’s Mr. Carlan on the second street, who uses chemicals to remove fat and meat from the hides. The amount and soaking time differ depending on the monster, so it’s really tough. One of the craftsmen accidentally spilled chemicals on his hand, causing a huge commotion…

“There’s an old man named Mr. Ralph, who does salt washing. He said salt has been getting stolen, and even though it’s really bad for your health, people think it’s edible and steal it…

“Mr. Carlsson, who does leather dyeing, said red is the current trend. Apparently, they found some mineral that produces a cheap but vibrant color…”

Sara went on and on about the inner workings of Leather Street, and I kept taking notes on all the information, which was a mix of valuable and trivial information. If you try to encourage someone like Sara to speak in an organized way, there is a risk that the information will lose its freshness. In any case, it’s best to let her talk freely. Organizing the information can come later.

After about an hour, when Sara’s words had calmed down a bit, I said in amazement, “Sara, you’re incredible.”

“Right?” she replied, puffing out her chest proudly with a smug look on her face.

But I had to admit, she had done a great job. Old men have a weakness for young women. In a place like Leather Street, where it’s smelly and uninviting to city people, having a young, energetic girl show interest in their work must have made the old craftsmen eager to explain everything. If I had done the same, I would have been met with suspicion and likely thrown out.

I’m glad I brought Sara. Thanks to her efforts, we were able to gather crucial information in a short time without much struggle. We learned the names of the main workshops and craftsmen on Leather Street, the most commonly used monster materials, the economic trends, popular dyes, and even personal gossip like daughters’ birthdays and wives’ infidelities.

Though it might be frustrating, the fact that old men are weak against young women is a natural law. Even back in the modern world, I was told to bring new female employees to difficult business meetings. Often, acting boldly yields better results than overthinking.

For lunch, I treated Sara to meat soup, three slices of ham, and ale. I also took her to a sauna to remove the smell and paid her three copper coins for her cooperation.