Raoul was checking the materials sent from a shop on one of the Tower’s floors.
The documents detailed the types and quantities of materials procured from each purchasing counter.
As the person in charge of material procurement, Raoul had to compile these documents and report them at the monthly overall manager meeting.
Materials obtained from Crown’s purchasing counters, whether within the Tower or elsewhere on the Central Continent, were processed or sold as is, forming a significant portion of Crown’s sales.
The status of material procurement supported Crown’s income, so he had been entrusted with this considerably important department.
In the first place, before Crown was established, Raoul was a merchant who had been doing business throughout the Central Continent.
It wasn’t just Raoul; many of the responsible individuals in Crown’s Merchant Division had backgrounds as traveling merchants.
This was natural, considering that even the head of the Merchant Division, the second-highest position, was a former traveling merchant.
After all, in the early days of Crown’s establishment, it could be said that Division Head Schmidt gathered talent through his connections and greatly expanded the Merchant Division.
Raoul, too, joined Crown through that very process.
He had not met Schmidt directly but was introduced through a senior merchant whom they both trusted.
Originally, Schmidt had been trying to recruit that senior merchant, but the merchant was apparently considering retirement. Therefore, Raoul was introduced instead.
However, that was Schmidt, who would later become known as an extraordinary merchant.
He did not immediately place the first-time-meeting Raoul in a crucial position.
Initially, Raoul was put in charge of Crown’s purchasing counters.
Since he was confident in his knowledge of materials from his traveling merchant days, Raoul had no complaints about the work.
On the contrary, he began to handle materials that were difficult to obtain during his traveling days one after another, becoming increasingly engrossed.
Raoul himself was not aware of it, but this earned him Schmidt’s trust.
Around the same time, a safety point was established within the Tower, and as purchasing counters increased, Raoul was appointed as the person in charge of consolidating the purchasing counters.
As Crown continued to grow, Raoul also steadily advanced his career.
However, Raoul was not the only one who followed such a career path within Crown; his colleagues who joined around the same time also progressed similarly.
Of course, the most successful among them was Schmidt.
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Looking at the reports from various locations, Raoul frowned as he saw a report from a particular floor.
It indicated the purchase count of materials that were not part of adventurer requests from the Adventurer Division.
One specific material from that floor had been drastically increasing in quantity for several days.
“…Is the monster activity intensifying?”
He frowned and pondered, but he couldn’t make a judgment with just this information.
There were no other unusual signs, so it might simply be that they had reached their breeding season.
However, in the past few years, there had been no instances of reaching their breeding season at this particular time.
“There’s no point in thinking about it here.”
Raoul shook his head to stop his contemplation and called out to a subordinate who was working on documents nearby.
“Excuse me, could you request a meeting with the Division Head? Please add, ‘There are some unsettling figures from a certain floor.'”
“Understood.”
The female subordinate bowed to Raoul and left the room.
She was a former slave who had been his subordinate since Raoul was in charge of a single counter.
She was highly capable, so he still relied on her.
Although her slave status had been freed, she wished to continue working under Raoul, so she remained employed.
Now, she had completely settled into a position akin to Raoul’s secretary.
By the way, there were quite a number of people within Crown who were formerly slaves.
This was because the slaves hired in Crown’s early days, by demonstrating their abilities, had succeeded in buying their freedom.
Some of them even held positions similar to Raoul’s, being former slaves.
Normally, such a background might lead to slander, but because they had risen entirely based on their abilities, there was no clear opposition.
On the contrary, those who engaged in such slander would find themselves unable to advance their careers.
At least outwardly, there were no individuals within Crown who slandered slaves.
While initially, some people were hesitant about how to treat these former slaves, it had now become completely normalized.
While Raoul was contemplating such matters, the subordinate returned, looking slightly flustered.
“Raoul-sama.”
“What is it?”
“Well, when I went to make a reservation, they said he was available to meet immediately, if you would like?”
“I’ll go right away.”
Despite the sudden information, Raoul answered immediately without hesitation.
Anyone belonging to the Merchant Division knew that Schmidt was a busy person.
If he missed this opportunity, there was a possibility he wouldn’t be able to meet him for an entire day.
Given the nature of the matter, Raoul couldn’t judge whether it was appropriate to wait that long.
If he could meet him immediately, it would be for the best.
“Let me see the documents.”
Upon arriving at Schmidt’s room, Raoul was immediately asked to present the documents.
This was a familiar exchange, so unnecessary pleasantries were omitted.
Raoul, accustomed to this, handed over the documents from earlier.
“…I see.”
After examining the documents for a few minutes, Schmidt nodded once and looked at Raoul.
“This is it?”
“Yes, that’s right. I just hope it’s simply an abnormal breeding pattern…”
“Indeed. …Please wait a moment.”
With that, Schmidt reached out to a corner of his desk.
There lay a magic tool for communication.
It was an emergency communication device provided to all division heads, an extremely expensive magic tool.
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If Schmidt was the head of Crown’s Merchant Division, then Gazelan was the head of the Adventurer Division.
Having received contact from Schmidt, Gazelan immediately promised to investigate and the meeting was adjourned.
Since the figures only indicated an increase in material collection, there was still a possibility that it was merely a temporary increase in breeding.
Therefore, adventurers would be dispatched to the relevant floor for a more thorough investigation.
The results report would take several days, so they would have to wait for the outcome.
In conclusion, there were no signs of an overpopulation, and it was determined to be merely a temporary increase in monsters.
If an overpopulation were to occur, it would be a concern for Crown as well, so a detailed investigation was conducted, but the report stated, “as usual.”
Since this was the result of the investigation by adventurers actively working on-site, Raoul had no intention of pursuing the matter further.
Merely knowing that the numbers could increase at certain times would be valuable data for the future.
The accumulation of such data would become an important asset for Crown operating within the Tower.
With that in mind, Raoul continued to organize his data.
This chapter will focus on Crown’s Merchant Division.
Since I introduced a new character, Raoul, I plan for him to be the protagonist for this chapter (?).
