Helping with Adventurer Party Management 61
I’m Not Secluding Myself
For the time being, I decided to walk with Sarah into the inn’s room as she wiped her tears.
With her face still red, but still ignoring the fact that she had misunderstood, Sarah opened the door.
The room was on the second floor. It was a big room furnished with a desk and two chairs, which were useful to me since I tend to have a lot of work.
After having Sarah sit on one of these chairs, I took a bundle of parchment and placed it on the table.
She must have misread the situation, since she asked me:
“Umm… What is this?”
“This is a record of my work.
I’ve been keeping records of everything ever since I started with this counseling service for novice adventurers.
Bread, cheese, biscuits, wheat, arrowheads, swords, armor… Whenever I purchased any of these, I recorded their price and the store here.
I want you to be able to keep records as well.”
“Umm… Can’t you manage without a record?”
“I’ve also made a record like this when I first became an adventurer myself.
When and where something was cheap. Anything that happened to cause the prices to rise.
Most novice adventurers are pretty clueless when it comes to these details, and they might end up spending more than what they need merely because they don’t know the prices of things. These precautions now come in handy for business.
That’s why I’d like you to be able to do this as well.”
“But I can’t read as well as you.”
“I know that. That’s why we need to think about how you can do it.
Do you know how to write the names of people and things?”
“I do. I can also write numbers.”
“That’s all you need to know. We’re not writing letters to the noblemen.
The names of items are written in vertical columns. First, write the name of the customers above, and then write the item’s price with a number next to it.
Do you think you can do this?”
What I showed Sarah was a list. Items were listed in a column, and customers were listed next to them.
Then the prices were written down in a box.
This was a format commonly used in the modern world.
But it wasn’t common at all for adventurers who do not know how to read or write.
In this world, writing was a privilege exclusive to educated people, such as the noblemen. For that reason, most written reports were a decorated mixture of greetings and facts that cannot be obtained from private letters or official documents.
Naturally, ordinary people wouldn’t be able to understand their contents even if they could read them.
Even I can read them, but I can’t understand their meaning.
So there was no reason for me to adapt to that format.
I’m using a simple format that anyone could read and use.
At first, Sarah was confused by the forms I had shown her, but as soon as she was able to understand them, her eyes gleamed with delight.
“I think I can do this!”
“Great! But there’s more information to record that doesn’t go into this list.
We can work on that together and I’ll do the writing for that.
By doing that, you will be able to remember the words I write and soon you’ll be writing them yourself, Sarah.”
“… I will be able to do it too?”
“Of course. I couldn’t have made those shoes without you.
If you practice enough, you’ll be writing in no time.”
There were other records I needed Sarah to be able to keep, such as a checklist for adventurers’ quest achievements, and an evaluation of adventurers’ attitude during time of negotiations.
But I was able to create a system that allowed me to keep these records without having to write difficult sentences.
Above all, I was happy we were making progress into this project, supporting secluded adventurers and helping them form teams and work together with one another.