FFF-Tier System, SSS-Rank Wife-Chapter 34: Totally original business plan

"Wait, you are planning to sell the method right away?"

Finally, for the very first time since I’ve met her, I’ve managed to actually shock Selia!

And not with something I accidentally brought over from Earth but with just my words alone!

"That’s right," I nodded my head, perfectly happy to explain my intentions.

After all, I wouldn’t want her breathing down my neck, overenthusiastic to figure out my reasoning up until it was all sealed on paper and shaken on!

"You remember when you brought up the issue of me getting targeted over having too much money?" I suggested. "I did a lot of thinking about it, you see. And I think I’ve figured out the best way to get the most benefits while accepting the least risks."

I stretched out my hands up to the air before stopping my walk and then stretching to the back, all the way to the point where my spine started to crack.

Then, rather than picking up the speed, I reached out towards Saintess before locking my eyes on the shovel she was carrying on her shoulder.

"What?"

"Give it to me," I requested.

"What, you think I’m going to take it away from you or something?" Selia’s eyes widened. Not in shock but more in surprise mixed with a bit of weirded-out curiosity.

"Not at all," I shrugged my shoulders before shaking my extended arm as if to reaffirm my intentions. "I just can’t stand the idea of you carrying something you don’t have to while I have both of my hands free."

I shook my head.

"Consider this my pathetic pride, but you are already doing more than enough, tagging along with me. If I can lessen your burden even this tiniest little bit..."

Selia looked at my face for a moment. Then, the corners of her mouth twitched a little up before she brought the shovel off her shoulder and passed it over.

"Here," she said, her smile growing a bit further, "and thanks. As little of a problem it was, still, I appreciate it." 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

"That’s unfair..." I’ve muttered under my nose.

"What is?" Selia countered, this time genuinely puzzled.

"That smile of yours," I replied, more genuine than with any rizzing intention, "how can I think about it as me doing something for your sake, as little as it might be, if you are going to repay me with such a lovely smile?"

I shook my head and turned my face away, hurriedly picking up the pace in a bid to change the topic back to what it was before I allowed myself to get side-tracked like that.

"If I were to start selling charcoal to Greg and other smithies, it would take a day or two at most before the news would spread," I went right back to explaining my plan of action and the reasons behind it. "If lucky, three days?" I tried to guess before shaking my head. "Either way, soon the entire town would know I’m the only one with the recipe for making it and all the money I made from selling it. Either way, there would be a target on my back bigger than my actual back," I laughed a little before looking up. "And in all honesty, I’m not all that interested in doing it all by myself. I’m neither strong, patient, or all that suited for this line of work, so, I thought..."

I grinned.

"As soon as I confirm the method works, why not just sell it off to Greg?" I paused for a moment. "Not for a single-time payment, of course. That I will still do with the first batch, but when selling the method, I will ask for a small part of the profit from every boxload of charcoal he himself sells," I smiled as I looked back at the Saintess.

"Heck, I could even waive the rights to the profits off the charcoal he would make for the use in his own smithy, as long as he won’t try to monopolize it all to eliminate all the others from the town by dumping his prices. In this way, while I won’t get a big, fat payout once, I will be able to live off the dividends for as long as the fires burn in his smithy instead."

I turned my face away before locking my hands behind my back, my smile full of pride in the idea I came up with...

Or should I say, I aped from how most of the big corporations did their business back on Earth.

Either way, inspired or not, it was a method I came up with myself, giving me all the rights to brag about it!

"Most importantly though," I shook my head as I wiped off the smirk off my face, turning myself back to my usual, serious and cautious persona. "By avoiding the big payment and the handling of the process, I shouldn’t attract all that much attention. Instead of a rich merchant, I will become just another of Greg’s smithy patrons. And with that— Oh!"

I called out and reached out with my hand as I noticed a piece of land sufficiently far away from the road and with several natural features of the land that even further obstructed the land even further away from the view of anyone moving up and down the road.

"What would you say about that place?" I asked, turning my head to the Saintess while fixing the straps of my backpack to stop them from digging into my shoulders.

Given all the wood I was carrying in it, there was a limit to how far I could go before all of my energy would be exhausted on just trying to carry said wood around.

And I still needed enough energy to properly dig out the earthen kiln for the actual experiment, for there was no way I would allow Selia to do it for me!

"Yeah, I think it will suffice," Selia replied after shielding her eyes from the sun and taking a look herself. "It’s far enough to stop anyone from noticing the smoke," she paused as she gave me a weirdly intense glance, "especially if there won’t be all that much of it, as you claimed."

Hearing the confirmation, I breathed out a sigh of relief and then changed my direction, stepping off the beaten path and moving directly into the hilly fields covered with wild grass, small bushes and an occasional, thin tree.

Yet, before I’ve managed to make even three steps into the wilderness, Selia caught up to me while strangely averting her face.

"Hey, about last night..." she suddenly muttered, near instantly causing a spike of adrenaline in my blood, "did you—" she hesitated for a bit, "—feel anything?"