Ch.45Chapter 45 – New Ventures Always Face Crises

“Did you enjoy your conversation time with the Great Goddess?”

As I exited the prayer room, Archbishop Bertrand greeted me with a benevolent smile.

“Ah, yes. Thanks to you, I was able to finish our conversation without any interruptions. Thank you.”

“You’re too kind.”

Archbishop Bertrand dismissed my thanks as if it were nothing and burst into hearty laughter.

“Anyway, I’m glad you seem to have gained something from it. I pray that the Great Goddess’s blessing remains with you, Pathos, until we meet again.”

“Ah, I also pray that the Great Goddess’s blessing remains with you, Archbishop.”

After this warm exchange with the Archbishop, I was able to return to the Academy with a light step.

◈◇◈◇◈◇◈◇◈◇◈

After returning to the Academy, no major changes occurred in my life.

“Pathos. There’s an exam next week. Could you check my magic wand for me?”

Occasionally, Mina, my favorite heroine, would come to me and entrust me with her equipment.

There were craftsmen at the Academy who inspected students’ equipment.

However, since the Academy’s facilities were used by many people, there tended to be a long waiting list.

Mina had experienced my abilities before, so she had no fear about entrusting her equipment to me.

“Excuse me, could we also get our equipment checked?”

“We’ll pay the proper fee.”

Perhaps thanks to Mina, who had made many friends at the Academy with her unique sociability, the number of students requesting equipment inspections from me gradually increased.

“The inspection fee is one silver coin, so if you think that’s expensive, I recommend going to an Academy-certified craftsman.”

The inspection fee was one silver coin. It was about 25% more expensive than having equipment checked by Academy-certified craftsmen.

“That’s perfectly affordable. Here’s my equipment and the inspection fee.”

However, students who were pressed for time wanted me to check their equipment despite the 25% higher cost.

This created a somewhat peculiar dynamic: students without money got inspections from Academy craftsmen, while those with financial means came to me.

In particular, students with financial means were mainly from well-known noble families or commoner children from wealthy merchant families.

I later learned that ordinary commoners attending the Academy would work part-time jobs or engage in adventurer activities on weekends to earn money.

Apparently, the stipend for maintaining one’s status wasn’t enough to cover all the necessities of Academy life, making such work unavoidable.

“So Mina, do you also go outside the Academy on weekends to work?”

“Me? I work as a research assistant in a professor’s laboratory. It’s about twice a month, but I earn much more than working outside.”

When I asked Mina about this once, she readily answered my question.

“How much do you earn?”

“About 20 silver coins a month? Most people earn just over 10 silver coins a month, so I’m earning quite a lot.”

Working for a month to earn 10 silver coins. Since staying at a small inn costs about 10 copper coins per day, that’s enough money to stay for about 100 days.

And I’m charging a whole silver coin for equipment inspections.

Compared to before when I charged one copper coin for making bread, I’m earning an enormous amount.

Of course, not every student got their equipment checked by me, so I wasn’t becoming filthy rich.

“Wow! Amazing. The equipment check is super fast! Do you have some special secret?”

“It’s a trade secret. Would anyone reveal that?”

“Hehe, that’s true. Thanks for the inspection. I’ll come again next time.”

Recently, with the end-of-term exams approaching, there’s been a sharp increase in students requesting equipment inspections.

The Academy is reportedly looking for additional craftsmen to reduce inspection times…

But compared to my ability to repair equipment to almost-new condition in less than a minute, their process takes an extremely long time.

Still, I asked Mina, Reina, Elena, and the Chancellor to find out if there were any negative rumors circulating about this at the Academy.

“I checked, and since you charge more than the Academy does, no one has any complaints.”

“I also asked friends around me, and they all seemed to understand.”

Mina and Elena investigated through their friends, and it seemed that the people they knew didn’t have any complaints.

“According to what I found out using my family’s connections, there’s some dissatisfaction spreading among students who have neither money nor time.”

Reina, who owed me greatly after the previous incident, used her family’s influence to find out what I had asked.

“I’m sorry, Pathos. I’ve only now realized how wrong it was to lie to escape that situation. I’ll compensate you for any harm my actions caused. Not with my family’s abilities, but with my own—I promise to repay you.”

The day I returned from Epitrina’s temple, she realized her mistake and sincerely apologized to me.

I had no intention of making enemies with her family for the sake of a peaceful life, so I accepted her apology.

Being too extreme in distinguishing between enemies and allies makes life difficult.

And since I wanted to live a long, untroubled life, I didn’t want to deliberately make enemies.

Anyway, with Reina’s help, I was able to identify who had complaints against me.

As I expected, dissatisfaction was gradually growing among students who had neither money nor time.

“Is there a possibility that those with complaints will organize?”

“Almost none, I’d say. Since they’re people with neither money nor time, they don’t tend to have good grades at the Academy either, so it’s difficult for them to spare time to organize. However…”

Reina trailed off, as if something was bothering her.

“Why are you suddenly trailing off?”

“Even if they can’t take direct action, they could spread malicious rumors and such.”

“Hmm.”

Reina had a point.

“But why are they dissatisfied?”

“Previously, only the Academy checked students’ equipment, so complaints were directed solely at the Academy. But since you started checking some of the equipment that would have gone to the Academy, their burden has relatively decreased.”

“And?”

“So they thought they could now request equipment inspections with a bit more ease. However, contrary to expectations, people whose equipment was repaired through your inspections engaged in more duels, resulting in additional equipment damage. As a result, there’s little difference from before you arrived, or the inspection time has even increased.”

In other words, they became dissatisfied because things didn’t go as expected.

The solution to this problem is surprisingly simple. I could just stop repairing equipment.

But what would I gain from that?

“What do you think they want?”

“They want you to either stop repairing equipment or fix their equipment for free.”

“What about at a lower price?”

“Some would welcome a lower price with open arms, but due to what they’ve experienced so far, they might demand free repairs out of resentment and a desire for compensation, or even ask you to prioritize their equipment.”

Hmm. Listening to Reina, I’m getting a bit of a headache.

I just started this to earn a little money, but in the end, someone is being harmed because of it.

I could ignore the complaints of some people, but it bothers me a little.

If I were a powerhouse who could crumble mountains with one punch, it might be different, but right now, I’m just someone who’s good at fixing things but not so good at fighting.

“I understand. Thanks for your help.”

“It’s nothing. I should at least do this much.”

Reina bowed to me and left.

After she left, I sent a message to the Chancellor saying I had something to consult about and would like to visit her office.

[The Chancellor’s office is always open.]

The reply came surprisingly quickly.

I immediately headed to the Chancellor’s office and explained to her what was happening at the Academy.

The Chancellor seemed to be thinking about something after hearing my story.

“Pathos, how about trying this?”

The Chancellor suggested a method as if she had come up with a good idea, and I also thought her proposal seemed reasonable, so I accepted it.

And the next morning.

“Argh! A dud! A dud!”

“Yes! I got a free repair voucher!”

In front of the stall set up in front of the dormitory, there was chaos with students crying out in frustration and others shouting in joy.

This was due to the new business model adopted based on the Chancellor’s suggestion.

“Please! Give me one more chance!”

“I’m sorry, but free draws are limited to once per day.”

It was the introduction of what was considered the most vicious system in my previous life—the “random gacha.”