As Long as You Have the [Shop] Skill, the Dungeonized World Is a Breeze ~The Bullied Youth’s Payback

Chapter 39 – Sudden Deaths

“Tanaka-san, you shouldn’t do that in front of your kids.” (Torimoto)
Besides, I had no intention to give in to emotional pleas.

See? Now the children know that something’s up and are looking over here.

“B-But!” (Yaichi)
“It’s fine, so please stand up. We won’t be able to talk otherwise.” (Torimoto)
Yaichi complied, reluctantly getting to his feet and sitting back in his seat.

“Listen, it’s true that I have a medicine that can heal your wife’s wounds. But as I told Akito-san, this medicine can’t be made for free. It requires a certain amount of time, effort, and money.” (Torimoto)
“I know, Akito told me that. I have money! I may not look the part, but as an author, I’ve published quite a few books!” (Yaichi)
“I’ve read some of your books before. I had no idea you were the mystery author, Keigo Higashio.” (Torimoto)
He was a best-selling author whose novels had been adapted into movies and serialized TV shows. Although he was still a young author, he had been attracting a lot of attention because of the way he always managed to pull a refreshing plot twist at the end of the novel that betrayed his readers’ expectations.

He was probably making a fortune in royalties. In fact, he might even have more money than the Fukuzawa family.

“I’m really grateful that you are familiar with my works. Then that makes the discussion quicker! I can provide you with as much money as you need! So please! I’m begging you, please save my wife!” (Yaichi)
Hearing her husband pleading desperately, his wife also spoke up.

“I would also appreciate it if you could heal me.” (Sayuri)
The couple bowed their heads. If these two were people who had no merit to me, I would have refused them without question. Even if their children begged me, I wouldn’t bend myself backwards for their sake. Not even if they called me a fiend or an inhumane bastard.

However, they had economic strength. It would be my loss if I didn’t take advantage of it.

“….I understand. But this medicine costs over ¥100,000,000. Knowing that, would you still be willing?” (Torimoto)
The wife was instantly startled and shocked into silence, but Yaichi spoke up, seemingly prepared for this from the start.

“That’s nothing! I’ll definitely pay that amount!” (Yaichi)
As expected from a successful author… No, a best-selling author, ¥100,000,000 was nothing to him.

I mean… Was being an author really that profitable in the first place?

I’d heard before that book royalties were only 10% of the book sales, but… If I recalled correctly, his most recent book, “Famous Murderers”, had sold over 1.2 million copies.

Assuming one book cost about ¥600, 10% of that was ¥60. Then 1,200,000 × 60 was… ¥72,000,000? ….Eh? Seriously?

This person made ¥72,000,000 from writing just one book…! And every time he released a new title, it had always been a bestseller, which meant at least 100,000 copies sold each time. Among those, there were some that had reached over a million copies sold.

Haha… Then this guy can make ¥100,000,000 left and right like it’s nothing…

These were the prospects of a top writer… What a ridiculous profession. I was a little envious. I thought it was wonderful being able to earn a huge amount of money without having to leave the house to work.

For people whose personalities were inclined towards being shut-ins, this job was the number one dream job, as long as they had the talent for it.

“Then let’s get right to it… That said, it’s not difficult. Here, this is the item you’re looking for.” (Torimoto)
“Ooh, so this is the rumored…!”
It wasn’t Yaichi or his wife that said that, but Akito. It was his first time actually seeing it after all. I placed the glass bottle containing the shimmering aurora-colored liquid in front of Sayuri.

“W-What would you like me to do with this?” (Sayuri)
“Well, it’s just a medicine. Just swallow it down in one go.” (Torimoto)
“I-I see… Dear.” (Sayuri)
Sayuri cast an anxious look at her husband.

“…Torimoto-san is the person who healed Kanna’s legs. You can trust him, Sayuri!” (Yaichi)
Yaichi tightly squeezed his wife’s hand in a reassuring manner. With that, his wife seemed to muster her courage, picking up the bottle. She opened it with trepidation and took a sniff.

For some reason, many creatures would always take a sniff like this before trying something. Foods with strong smells could be tasty, but the opposite could also be true. Despite that, they still judged the taste of something by its smell. I felt that it was a rather interesting habit. Well, I didn’t really care about such a thing right now.

Yaichi’s wife hardened her resolve and took a deep breath before bringing to her lips and draining it in one go. Then, the same exact glowing phenomenon that happened to Kanna occurred. Eventually, the luminescent phenomenon surrounding her faded.

With a light clink… his wife slowly put down the glass bottle.

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Silence enveloped the room as everyone held their breath. And then, it was Yaichi who was first to interrupt the stillness.

“W-Well? How is it, Sayuri?” (Yaichi)
“….The pain is… gone…?!” (Sayuri)
“….Huh? T-The pain is gone? You said the pain is gone!? W-Wait, let’s bring you over to the sink first!” (Yaichi)
As expected, he couldn’t unbandage his wife here, so he took his wife with him and left the room.

After a while―

“Whhoooooaaaa!?”
Suddenly, Yaichi’s shouting echoed throughout the house. The children also ran over, and soon after, they all began to celebrate loudly.

A few moments later, Yaichi vigorously rushed back to the living room, grabbing my hands and bowing his head to me in gratitude.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you so, so much!” (Yaichi)
By the look on his face, I could tell that everything had gone as planned. His wife quietly entered the room after him, tears streaming from both of her eyes.

Wow, she really is beautiful.

His wife was so beautiful that she could have been an actress. Under such circumstances, it was probably even more painful for her face to become ugly and disfigured.

Anyway, I was glad that the drug had worked for her.

In fact, what I had given her wasn’t the [Elixir・Mini]. It was the [Aurora Potion], which was a high-level potion that was effective for all injuries.

Compared to the [Elixir・Mini] which cost ¥15,000,000, the [Aurora Potion] was dirt cheap, costing only ¥1,000,000. I desperately tried to hold down the smile that threatened to rise to my face from being able to reap such a fat profit.

After that, it played out similarly to how it had gone with the Fukuzawa family. They all thanked me profusely, and a cheerful mood spread throughout the Tanaka household. Infected by the atmosphere, the children were also crying tears of happiness in their mother’s arms.

After they were finished with their celebrations, I spoke to Yaichi and asked him if there was a place we could discuss in private. He led me to his study, and I asked him to show me his bankbook, just like I had with Jouichirou.

In a great mood, he brought his bankbook over without any hint of suspicion whatsoever. It was a bit anticlimactic, but as expected, when ¥150,000,000 disappeared from his bankbook, he asked me how I did it. Just like with Jouichirou, I was forced to convince him that it was a secret of the Torimoto family.

At any rate, I’d managed to consecutively pull off great business deals with the Apostles of Peace and now this. It was really going along nicely. Ah, no. Wait. It’s at times like these that I need to be careful to not get carried away.

In situations like these, it was common to get swept up in the flow and end up going too far with a bad decision, resulting in failure. If anything, continuously earning huge benefits like this could actually end up being a drawback for me, for this very reason.

It was precisely because things were going well that I needed to focus and be careful.

After that, he asked me if he could treat me to a meal as a way of showing his thanks, but I declined, saying that I had some personal business to attend to. Afterwards, I asked Akito to drop me off back to the Fukuzawa residence. I had another important business negotiation coming up tomorrow, so I couldn’t afford to loosen up just yet.

The next day, however, Akito visited the Fukuzawa residence again. His face was deathly pale, and Jouichirou, who happened to be taking the day off at home, asked him what was wrong.

When I heard the reason, I was stunned into silence.

And that was because―Akito told us that the Tanaka family had been attacked, the entire family murdered.