Chapter 23
――I woke up.
Primula-san was sleeping beside me, her breathing soft and adorable, but I got up first and sat on the edge of the bed with a small sigh.
"Why would she like an old geezer like me...?"
While I was setting up the table I'd taken out of my Item Box, Primula-san woke up, so we decided to have breakfast.
She said granola was fine, so I gave her milk and had only coffee myself.
"What's that black drink?"
"This is a drink called coffee."
Since Primula-san wanted to try it, I let her have a sip.
Well, it was technically an indirect kiss, but a grown man like me wasn't going to get flustered over something like that.
She didn't seem particularly bothered by it either.
"...Um, it's bitter."
"Ha-ha. Once you get used to it, the flavor grows on you."
While we ate, we got to talking about Item Boxes.
Marlow-san seemed to have noticed how large the capacity of my Item Box was. As expected, someone else with an Item Box had seen through me.
Apparently, Marlow-san's Item Box also had a fairly large capacity. However, he had kept it hidden all this time because many people would approach him with ulterior motives if they found out.
That was why he had somehow guessed that I was hiding my capacity too, and had kept quiet about it.
I was glad my business partner, Marlow-san, was a good person. I had simply been incredibly lucky.
After breakfast, I escorted Primula-san as far as the river and returned home.
According to her, she would be leaving on a buying trip for about a month, so the Marlow residence would be empty during that time.
Apparently, Primula-san would be going along as well; even after becoming a major merchant, Marlow-san apparently still handled his own purchasing.
"Well, I suppose I'll check the garden..."
But when I looked at the garden, every single tomato seedling that had begun bearing fruit had been knocked over. They had been toppled with astonishing thoroughness.
"What the hell happened?! Could this be cutworms?"
Cutworm damage occurs when moth or beetle larvae burrow into the stems of crops, eat through them at the base, and cause the plants to fall over.
They really did topple neatly. Since it was the stem rather than the leaves, the plants simply withered once they fell. They could be wiped out so easily it was almost laughable.
In the vegetable garden back in my original world, this had once wiped out an entire section and left me at my wits' end.
"Seriously?! Cutworms exist in another world too...? Didn't the marigolds work?"
Feeling utterly deflated, I searched Shangri-La. There was indeed pesticide for cutworms, but it would be better to buy another insect-repelling magic stone from the old man at the tool shop.
Magic stones were expensive, but that was better than using pesticide. When people talked about a slow-paced life, they usually imagined growing things without pesticides.
But I had used pesticides normally in the vegetable garden back in my original world. If you didn't use them, everything really would be wiped out.
As long as you didn't overuse them, you should use convenient things. But since this world had the convenient magic stones, I would use one of those.
I was deeply disappointed, but I couldn't simply leave things as they were.
I cleared away the ruined plants, carried them to the compost pile, and tilled the garden with the cultivator.
After storing the cultivator in my Item Box, I was making ridges with a hoe when someone suddenly called out to me from behind.
"Excuse me."
"Yes?"
When I turned around, I saw a familiar face. It was the knight who often came to my stall.
However, unlike usual, he was wearing impressive plate armor. He was fully equipped for battle.
"You are... I heard that a suspicious man was living in the forest, so I came to investigate."
"Well, Sir, fancy meeting you here."
"So you were the one living in the forest."
"Yes... well. But there isn't any rule saying I can't live in the forest, is there?"
"That is true, but you built quite a house in a place like this."
He was looking over the house I had built, but he also seemed a little dumbfounded.
"It was quite difficult."
I gave a wry smile, but the knight seemed to notice the solar panels lined up outside.
"What are those?"
"Um, well... I'm sorry, but they're related to magic, so I can't discuss them."
Damn! As I thought, they really stood out. But electricity was essential for a comfortable life.
Besides, living in such a remote place made getting to the city troublesome...
"Magic? You use such strange, uncanny devices...? Are you a mage?"
"Yes, more or less... I'm sorry, but please keep this confidential."
I took a gold coin out of my Item Box and tried to hand it to him, but he stopped me with one hand.
"Indeed――if people learned that you were a powerful mage, it could become rather troublesome."
"That's why I've been living here, away from prying eyes..."
Of course, that was a complete lie. I really had been avoiding people's eyes, though.
"I am a nobleman myself, though only a minor one――and I certainly cannot overlook the arrogance of the nobility. I can understand your desire to conceal your identity."
A knight like him was a noble for a single generation. He couldn't pass his title on to his children, and he had neither an official position nor any territory to govern.
"In that case..."
"If it is possible, I would like to ask one favor of you."
"What would that be? If it is within my power, I will do whatever I can."
He drew the short sword hanging at his waist.
It was the sword-machete I had sold at my stall, modified with a large crossguard and improved for combat, unlike the original.
"This short sword I bought from you is truly excellent. If possible, I would like a greatsword made like it."
"Hmm, I don't handle long blades myself..."
Because of Japan's sword-control laws and such, Shangri-La didn't sell swords.
I searched again, but there was nothing like that for sale. There was no way I could hand him a replica Excalibur sold as a cosplay prop, either.
However, while searching for knives, I found something good.
"In that case, how about this? I do not handle greatswords, but I have some steel stock on hand. I could give that steel to you, Sir, and have a blacksmith you trust forge it into a sword. What do you think?"
"I see――that is one option."
I ordered some knife steel from Shangri-La.
The sword-machete I had sold him used Blue Paper steel, but that wasn't available, so I ordered A○S-34 instead.
It was tough, resistant to rust, and an excellent material. I owned several knives made from it myself.
A sheet measuring 5 mm × 200 mm × 600 mm cost 70,000 yen. Four sheets should be enough to make a greatsword or practically anything else.
For now, I handed him one sheet.
"This is what I have."
The knight's eyes gleamed when he saw the steel.
"This is incredible! It's as though it had been cut out with a blade."
Ah, he was impressed by its precise rectangular shape, not the steel itself.
"I will give you about four sheets. With that, you should be able to have any greatsword made."
"Hmm... Very well! I accept your offer."
"Thank you. There is one thing you must be careful about――please do not mix this steel with other materials. Its performance will suffer."
"Understood."
I handed him the remaining three sheets. They were quite heavy; I hoped he would be all right. The steel had cost 280,000 yen in total... It was a painful expense, but unavoidable as hush money.
I bought a hemp drawstring pouch about forty centimeters long from Shangri-La and gave it to him――1,300 yen.
"Please put them in this and carry them."
"You have my thanks."
"Sir, please be absolutely certain to keep the source of this steel confidential as well."
"Understood."
I took a table and chairs out of my Item Box and invited him to sit down.
"If you are not in a hurry, perhaps you would care to talk and have a drink?"
"I see――then I shall accept your hospitality."
Now, what should I serve him...?
"Milk would not do for a knight, and it is not even noon yet, but would you care for a drink?"
After some hesitation, I selected a 350-milliliter bottle of Gl○nfiddich 12 Year from the single-malt whiskies――2,000 yen. The green bottle was beautiful.
I nearly pressed the 【Purchase】 button immediately, but the screw cap and label would be a problem.
I went inside, bought a cork stopper from Shangri-La to use as a replacement cap, and hurriedly peeled off the label after spraying it with alcohol.
I placed it on a wooden tray along with ceramic cups, water, and the bottle, then served it to the knight.
"It is strong, so please dilute it with water before drinking. The water has been purified."
"Oh! What a beautiful bottle."
The knight sat in his chair and peered into the green bottle. Perhaps he was looking at his own face reflected in it.
"It is liquor from a foreign country."
He poured the amber liquor and drank it in one gulp without diluting it with water.
"Ah! This really is strong! But it is delicious! I have never tasted liquor this good before."
"I am glad to hear that. If you like, please take the bottle with you as well."
"Are you certain?"
"Of course."
For 2,000 yen, buying his silence was cheap. The way to win over a man was money, alcohol, and women, or so they said.
Having a woman here too would have been ideal, but I didn't have one.
"After receiving liquor this delicious, I cannot simply take it for free. If there is anything you wish to know, I will answer you."
He topped off his glass with more liquor.
"Ha-ha, you saw right through me. In that case, what is the state of this country's relations with other nations?"
"As a merchant, are you concerned about other countries?"
I knew absolutely nothing about the countries around us. The city's residents didn't know anything about such matters either.
Information was valuable to merchants too, so they wouldn't tell you anything without compensation. At most, you could hear rumors for free.
Apparently, you needed to have a certain degree of status before accurate information would reach you.
"Of course I am. If war draws near, it becomes clear which goods will sell and which will not."
"That is true――there are still skirmishes with the Empire along the border, but until the Empire's internal conflict is resolved, I doubt there will be any trouble for a while."
"There is trouble within the Empire?"
His eyes gleamed as he raised the glass to his lips.
"Yes. The Emperor and the Crown Princess are in the middle of a power struggle."
"The Emperor and the Crown Princess――they are mother and daughter, are they not?"
"Exactly. They are unquestionably mother and daughter. However, the Emperor wants her beloved Second Princess to succeed her. She tried to have the Crown Princess assassinated and failed. After that, their rift became absolute."
Good grief, a mother and daughter trying to kill each other? That was horrifying. Though hadn't there been a story like that about Date Masamune too?
"Will the problem drag on, then?"
"No, perhaps not. The Crown Princess has acquired a powerful mage who possesses Unique Magic. The balance of power may be about to reverse."
Unique Magic was apparently something entirely different from ordinary magic that used mana. It required no payment and could be used far more freely than ordinary magic, without any apparent limit.
Did that mean the Shangri-La I used was also Unique Magic? It didn't feel as though I was using magic myself, though.
"I have also heard that the ducal House of Einstürzende Neubauten, a great noble house in a regional commercial city, has sided with the Crown Princess."
"Einstürzende...? What did you say?"
"What sort of magic is this Unique Magic?"
"Apparently, it creates vast quantities of some yellow substance and buries the surrounding area in it."
"A yellow substance? What is it?"
"What was it called...? Mayo... Mayo..."
"Could it be mayonnaise?"
"Yes, that's it!"
What the hell?! An ability to make mayonnaise? Seriously?
"Apparently, it can also produce vast quantities of oil. There is even a tale of the mage drowning a huge swarm of monsters in a sea of oil and burning them to death."
"That sounds terrifying."
"Indeed. If that mage joins a war against our country, it will certainly cause trouble. They say the mage even defeated a dragon."
He drained the liquor from his glass.
"A dragon?!"
I had thought the mayonnaise was some kind of joke, but if the mage could produce it in huge quantities, it could be used as a weapon too.
But there was no doubt about it――that had to be the other transmigrator. I really wanted to avoid a war, though. All I could do was hope it wouldn't come to that...
Apparently, the Empire also prohibited mages from doing business. The reason was supposedly that it put merchants at a disadvantage.
This country didn't seem to prohibit mages from doing business, though.
"Um... You keep calling it the Empire, but what is its official name?"
"Hmm?"
"I lived in a remote rural area, you see..."
"Die Reich vom Mädchen (Maiden Empire)."
According to the knight, when an empress ascended the throne, she used a divine artifact to take the form of a young girl and rule the country. That was the nation's custom.
So that was why it was called the Maiden Empire. What kind of chuunibyou country was this?
After drinking about two glasses of whiskey, the knight left in high spirits.
Apparently, he had only come to confirm that the person living in the forest wasn't some kind of bandit, which would have been troublesome.
In that case, I could simply have him report that the person living in the forest was a quirky old man he knew.
It would probably be fine.
------◇◇◇------
――A month later.
The Marlow Trading Company's caravan should be returning soon.
Apparently, there were bandits around, so the caravan was traveling with fully armed guards.
If they had already returned, I should go show my face. I also wanted to see whether they had any interesting new products.
Before noon, I headed to the city as usual――but something was wrong. The people seemed to be buzzing about something.
When I asked someone heading toward the main street, I learned that the Marlow Trading Company's caravan had been attacked by bandits.
"What?!"
That was bad news! I heard that Marlow-san was at the Adventurers' Guild.
Thank goodness, Marlow-san was safe...
I hurried toward the Adventurers' Guild on the main street.
"My daughter! Please save my daughter! Anyone will do! I will pay whatever it takes!"
An older man was shouting desperately in front of the Adventurers' Guild. His grass-green clothes were torn and filthy, but――
It was Marlow-san.
"Marlow-san! Are you all right?"
"Oh! Kenichi-san! I am safe, but my daughter! My daughter!"
What?!
According to him, the Marlow Trading Company's caravan had been ambushed by bandits and scattered in every direction.
Marlow-san and Primula-san had escaped under the protection of the guards, but Primula-san had apparently fallen behind.
Even so, the guards had dragged him along and somehow helped him escape all the way to Dalia.
The only survivors were Marlow-san and two guards.
The attacker's name was Shaga, a notorious bandit. Amana had once mentioned that there were some dangerous bandits around. Were they the ones?
Apparently, Marlow-san had submitted a request for their subjugation to the Adventurers' Guild, but...
"Save my daughter! I will pay any amount of money!"
The people in the street showed little reaction to his desperate cries. People were coming out of the Adventurers' Guild too, but their response was lukewarm.
I heard that the bandits had a hideout in a forest about thirty leagues (50 km) away. Apparently, they had looted more than one or two villages.
If they were that dangerous, shouldn't the country have organized a force to deal with them?
But when I thought of Primula-san, who was being held by the bandits, I grabbed Marlow-san by the shoulder, turned him to face me, and shouted.
"Marlow-san! I'll do something!"
Before I knew it, I was shouting those words. It might have been reckless――no, it definitely was reckless.
Naturally, I was just an ordinary amateur. But I had Shangri-La.
I had never fought anyone before, but perhaps I could manage somehow with the things available through Shangri-La.
I placed what little hope I had in the ability called Shangri-La, though I didn't know who had given it to me or why.