I Was Trying to Stream a Slow Life, but It Seems My Golem Partner Started Warming Up. - Chapter 14

Three days after the katana-forging stream.

“So this was the dungeon…”

I had come to the dungeon.

A dungeon was an alternate dimension created by the power of the Demon Lord Yuggy. They often manifested as caves or ruins. The one before me then was a gaping hole suddenly appearing in the side of a mountain—a cave type, I’d say.

I was planning to go inside then to gather materials for my golems.

Golems were broadly divided into two types: general golems made from materials like metal or earth, and flesh golems made from organic matter like animal corpses. Up until now, Beta-chan and Delta-chan had been general golems, crafted from earth and metal. But this time, I thought I would try changing the base materials themselves, so my objective was to enter the dungeon.

Due to her construction, Delta-chan was guaranteed to be a hindrance inside a dungeon, which was an alternate dimension. That was why I was going in myself.

“Come! Let us enter, Master Susuria!”

And yet, for some reason, Tarata-chan had tagged along. Just as I was about to enter the dungeon, she casually positioned herself right next to me. I turned to her with a bright, smiling face.

“…Tarata-chan.”

“Yes! What is it, Master Susuria!”

She was carrying a magic bag, an alchemist’s essential item, capable of holding a large capacity. Yep, looked like she was perfectly prepared to enter.

Like a dog or something, she presented her head towards me, as if expecting a pat.

“Hiyah!”

I delivered a karate chop without hesitation.

“Agh!? That hurts, Master Susuria!”

“Hmph, silence! When did I ever become your master!”

This pushy apprentice-wannabe, Susuria—(wait, she called me Susuria, not Master Susuria)—had been given an assignment by me, an assignment she had yet to complete. Given that situation, I hadn’t acknowledged her as my disciple yet… So why was she acting like she had already completed the task? I had no idea!

“Tarata-san, I believe I gave you an assignment. The task of selling an item you made with your alchemy to the villagers here—had that not yet been achieved, I wondered?”

I did appreciate her spirit. Despite being an apprentice applicant, trying to sell a product to me, her supposed master, showed considerable guts. The sample she presented to my Delta-chan wasn’t badly made either.

However, in the end, Delta-chan didn’t buy that sample. She just received it. No monetary transaction occurred whatsoever.

“My assignment was a test that included the act of selling an alchemical product. Simply distributing it for free did not count as clearing the assignment.”

If free was okay, it would be no different from handing out tissues in front of the station. If that was all it took to become an apprentice, then becoming one would be incredibly easy, wouldn’t it?

Even one coin would do. Even if it was at a loss. But I could not recognize merely handing something out for free as an accomplishment.

“So, I haven’t become your master yet, Tarata-chan.”

“No, when I handed the sample to Delta-chan, my apprenticeship should have been established!!”

“No, listen. It wasn’t established as a business transaction.”

(I was pretty sure I explained it cleaaarly? That it was fine even if you took a loss, but you had to make it a proper business transaction.)

Therefore, the matter of this sample was invalid. And since the villagers hadn’t mentioned any transactions with her either, that was also invalid. The conditions were still unmet, so we shouldn’t have a master-disciple relationship.

“Fufufu! How naive you are, Master Susuria!”

“What did you just… say…”

(She was making such a smug face, so I played along, but even with that expression, the fact that she hadn’t completed the task remained unchanged.)

“Master Susuria, I gave Delta-chan a sample. That was a product I made with my alchemy.”

“I’m listening to this as her master, but…”

“At that time! I received collateral!”

Collateral was something an alchemist requested from the client when commissioned for an expensive alchemical product. To prevent the client from backing out after the item was made by saying “Oh, I didn’t know~”, alchemists had the right to demand a percentage of the product’s value as collateral. Of course, if the client didn’t back out, the collateral was returned.

“Collateral… for a sample?”

“Indeed. From Delta-chan, I received this seashell, a drop item from a monster that came out of the dungeon!”

Tarata-chan dramatically presented a seashell to me.

…Yep, it really was just a seashell. Being dungeon-produced, it had some value among seashells, but since it wasn’t metal, it couldn’t be used for advanced alchemy. It was what you would call junk material.

As I asked her what of it, she answered while touching one of her long, elven ears.

“In some elven settlements, they used a barter system instead of metal currency.”

“Look, I asked for a business transaction—”

“And! In some regions, transactions were completed using ‘seashells’ instead of gold or silver coins! In other words, the moment I received this seashell for the sample, the transaction was complete! My apprenticeship trial was cleared, it was!”

“No way, that wasn’t how it worked.”

(No matter how long elves lived, or how isolated their way of life was from other races, I couldn’t possibly accept the idea of seashells as money—)

Why not just accept it?

“Hm?”

Hearing a familiar sound, I slowly looked up. Hovering above her head, like a spirit, was a streaming device—

Seashells can be money too. Some settlements are like that.

I’ve done it with rare stones before.

Metal isn’t the only form of money. That’s the truth.

Besides, cuteness is justice, and Alkemy should accept her as a master!!

“Furthermore, this entire exchange was being live-streamed!”

(There was no way I could refuse in this situation, with the stream going, right?)

Succumbing to Tarata-chan’s silent pressure, which seemed to scream those words—

“Yes! Starting today, Tarata! Would become Ms. Alkemy’s disciple!!”

And as a result, I gained one more disciple.