Chapter 36
――The day after making mimeograph prints with Anemone.
I woke up and ate breakfast. With Myaree joining us as a resident today, the house had suddenly become much noisier.
Anemone and I don't talk much, after all.
Myaree was eating granola with milk along with us, too.
"Did anyone in the city say anything after I left?"
"I don't know, nya. I noticed that Kenichi's house was gone and chased after you right away."
"You really came with nothing but the clothes on your back? That's way too impulsive."
"That's normal for beastfolk, nya."
Myaree answered with milk all around her mouth.
"You're saying that yourself?"
She could survive on her own, and with a bow, she could hunt as well.
So she could wander off on a whim without having to worry about anything. Her survival skills were reliable, though. She would be a powerful ally.
"If you'll hunt for us, I'll lend you the bow I used during the battle with Shaga."
"That amazing one, nya?"
"Yeah."
"With that, I can catch big game, nya."
"Don't do anything reckless."
According to her, people normally formed parties of several members to hunt large game.
Even if they managed to kill something large, they couldn't butcher or carry it without enough people. But I had an Item Box that could swallow any huge object.
All I had to do was go wherever she had made a kill, put it in my Item Box, and carry it to the city.
We had finished eating, so I decided to bind the picture books.
Now, how should I bind them? That was the question. I had twelve sheets, including the cover, and needed to fold them in half and bind them at the fold.
The illustrations and text would form facing pages—like a photocopied doujinshi. Maybe a stapler? No, a stapler would be a bad idea in this world.
I could sew them together with a needle and thread—but that sounded like a pain.
At times like this, I decided to search Shangri-La, where you could find just about anything.
"There it is!"
They sold something called a bookbinding machine. I decided to buy it—5,000 yen.
The mimeograph set had cost 7,000 yen, so my total expense was 12,000 yen, but this was an investment.
If I sold ten books for one small square silver coin each (5,000 yen), I'd make 50,000 yen and quickly recover the investment.
The machine needed 100 volts, so I took a mobile battery out of my Item Box, connected the power plug, and pressed the preheating button.
Once preheating was complete, I collated the pages, inserted them into the machine with the spine facing down, and let it work. Apparently, the glue melted by the heat would harden the spine.
I waited for a while—the book was apparently finished once the buzzer sounded.
Since the glue had been heated, it apparently needed to cool. Once it had cooled, I flipped through the book.
"Whoa! It's a book!"
"Let me see! Let me see!"
Anemone happily flipped through the book I'd handed her.
"I get the hang of it now. Let's make more and more."
"Next is mine, nya!"
The machine could handle them all at once, so I put all twelve books inside, heated them, and finished binding them.
But the edges of the books were a little uneven—I needed to trim them with a paper cutter.
"I guess I need a paper cutter, too."
I searched for one and found a paper cutter for 6,000 yen. That brought my initial investment to 18,000 yen, but I could recover it if the books sold.
"Click."
With a heavy thud, the paper cutter fell onto the wooden floor.
"I know that! It's the thing used to cut straw, nya!"
According to Myaree, it looked exactly like the blades used to cut straw. Come to think of it, I had seen a tool like that on TV or somewhere.
I pasted a strip of paper over the spine to hide it, then used the paper cutter to trim the spine and the top and bottom edges—and the book was complete.
"All right! It's done! Twelve books in all."
"Yaaay!"
"Nyaa!"
Anemone and Myaree were delighted with the books we had made ourselves.
"Anemone, what's this say, nya?"
"Once upon a time, deep in a forest, a beautiful elf lived..."
Naturally, the text was written in this world's script.
"Nyaa! Anemone can read! That's amazing, nya!"
"Hehe."
Anemone looked proud as Myaree praised her. It might be fun to collect the fables of this world or adapt stories from my original world to fit this one.
I had been so absorbed in binding books that it was already nearly noon.
I stored the ten finished books and the tools I'd used for binding in my Item Box, then went outside.
The weather was fine. Sunlight poured down brightly, and the sky was blue.
Now that the books were out of the way for the moment, should I do some work in the fields? The seedlings in the starter pots near the house had grown nicely.
"Maybe I'll plant the seedlings today."
Before eating lunch, I carried the starter pots to the field, made ridges, and laid down plastic mulch.
As I planted the seedlings through the slits in the mulch, I saw a boat coming from the lake.
It was a long, narrow boat propelled by oars, with three men aboard. One of them was a beastman with Siamese-patterned fur and black fur around his nose.
All three wore crude, short trousers and hemp shirts—they didn't appear to be carrying weapons, but...
I instinctively took the crossbow out of my Item Box.
"Who are you? What do you want?"
The bearded men reacted in surprise when I shouted at them.
"Wait, wait! Put that dangerous thing down. We're residents of that village over there."
The man who appeared to be their leader had black hair, a little long, tied back behind his head. He pointed toward the fishing village to his left.
They all looked to be in their thirties—though I had no idea how old beastfolk were.
"I'm a merchant, but there isn't any rule saying I can't live here, is there?"
"No, there isn't. But the village chief told us to come take a look because it would be a problem if bandits settled here. So that's what we came to do."
"Huh. Someone built a house out here. When did you make it?"
The man in the back muttered that.
"I'll say it again: I'm a merchant."
I showed them the metal rod hanging from my neck—my proof of being a merchant.
"Why would a merchant come to a place like this?"
"I got caught up in trouble in the city."
"Trouble?"
"Yeah. I was selling good products cheaply, so one of the big stores sent thugs to threaten me."
Of course, that was a huge lie.
"Ah, that's a common story."
"That sort of common story became too much of a hassle, so I decided to live here until things cooled down."
"I understand."
Myaree, who had been inside the house, must have noticed the disturbance outside. She came rushing out of the front door with her bow in hand.
"Wait, Myaree. They don't seem to be enemies."
"Really, nya?"
"There's a female beastman here, too?"
"Yeah."
Apparently worried, Anemone cautiously peeked out from the front door.
"It's dangerous, so get back inside!"
At my shout, the front door closed with a soft click.
"There's a child here, too?"
The man who appeared to be the leader looked surprised when he saw Anemone.
"Well, yeah."
――At that moment, Bell emerged from the forest and stepped between us. She must have noticed the disturbance and returned from her morning patrol.
"Why is there a Forest Cat here?!"
"She's our companion."
"A Forest Cat?"
"That's right."
As I said that, I stroked Bell's back, and she rubbed herself against me.
"Croton, I believe what this gentleman says. No human a Forest Cat has taken to could possibly be a bad person."
I heard the Siamese-patterned beastman, who had been standing behind the others, whispering to the man who appeared to be their leader. Beastfolk had such loud voices that it could hardly be called whispering.
"If you're saying so, it must be true—sorry for doubting you. I'm Croton from Santanka, over there."
The man named Croton bowed his head.
"I'm Kenichi, a merchant. Nice to meet you."
"Since you're a merchant, you must have something for sale, right? What are you selling?"
"I've sold most of my merchandise, so I don't have much left—what are you looking for?"
"Our blanket has become tattered. I want to buy a new one for my family."
"Wait here a moment. I'll bring one."
If I took it out of my Item Box in front of them, rumors would spread again. They might find out soon anyway, but I wanted to be careful just in case.
I ran to the house, immediately bought the cheapest blanket from Shangri-La for 2,000 yen, and returned to show it to him.
"Will this do? It's one silver coin (50,000 yen)."
That was expensive by the standards of my original world, but that was roughly the going price for a blanket. They were all handwoven, after all.
I had a general idea of prices from doing business in the city.
Even something as crude as a straw mat cost a respectable amount in this world.
"This is a very fine one—is it new?"
"Yes."
"Hmm..."
Fifty thousand yen was probably more than he could easily afford. After pondering for a while, the man named Croton spoke up.
"The blanket, yes—but my daughter's birthday is coming up, too. Do you have anything nice?"
"A birthday present, huh... That's important. It would be terrible to give her a bad present and have her say, 'I hate you, Dad!'"
"Exactly. She's at a difficult age..."
The man scratched his head helplessly. Being a father sure was hard.
"Hmm... That's it!"
I turned around and, keeping them from seeing what I was doing, took the freshly made book out of my Item Box.
"How about a book? It can help her study letters, too. It's a thin book, but it costs one small square silver coin (5,000 yen)."
"One small square silver coin? That's cheap—The Forest Elf."
The man took the book, read out its title, and flipped through the pages.
"You can read?"
"Yeah. I used to be a government official in Astrantia."
"Why would a government official be living in such a remote fishing village—sorry."
"It is pretty remote, that's true. My reason is the same as yours."
"I see—since we've both fallen out of the city, I'll throw in the book if you buy the blanket."
"Are you sure? Great! I'll take it. I'll bring the money tomorrow, and then you can give me the blanket."
The man slapped his palm as if he had just decided to make an expensive purchase.
"All right."
The deal was done. Perhaps because he had been a former government official, the conversation proceeded sensibly. I was glad it hadn't turned into a problem.
People who had never left the countryside could be strangely insular, or set in their own region's particular prejudices.
Though perhaps that thought of mine was prejudiced, too.
The Siamese-patterned beastman standing behind them was making eyes at Myaree, but she coldly waved him away with her hand.
After saying goodbye to the men and watching their boat depart, I went inside the house.
The solar panels covered by the camouflage netting had drawn a few odd looks, but no one had asked any questions.
The camouflage seemed to be working reasonably well.
"Did everything go all right?"
Anemone asked me worriedly.
"Yeah. They were people from the nearby village. They came to look because it would be a problem if bad people moved in."
"How rude, nya! We have a Forest Cat here, nya!"
"Ordinary humans probably won't receive a Forest Cat's blessing. Still, you're being awfully cold to that beastman. He's the same kind of creature as you, isn't he?"
"I've had more than enough of beastfolk men, nya!"
Myaree pursed her lips, put her hands on her hips, and wagged her tail furiously.
Apparently, that was what her tail did when she was irritated—a little like bouncing your leg.
"Nyakero and the others didn't seem like such bad guys to me..."
"I can tolerate them when they don't drink, but there isn't a beastman male who doesn't drink, nya."
She must have grown sick of cleaning up the messes they made whenever they drank. Even when they had been drinking with me by the river, they had ended up falling into the water and nearly drowning.
"That does sound like them."
"It's nice that Kenichi doesn't drink, nya."
"I'm basically a nondrinker. If I drink at night, I can't study or do anything else."
"You still study even though you're an adult, Kenichi?"
Anemone's question was perfectly reasonable.
"Humans have to keep learning all their lives, right up until they die. Even someone without strength can stand up to the strong if they gain wisdom."
"Okay."
"Beastfolk are stupid, nya~"
"Beastfolk think about how to hunt and all sorts of other things, too, don't they? It's the same thing."
"Is that so, nya~"
Though the way beastfolk hunted seemed closer to instinct than learning.
"I wish they would build lots of schools so more people could study..."
"They believe that if the people become smart, the positions of the royalty and nobility will be in danger."
"That's true, nya. If there were lots of amazing people like Kenichi in the city, we wouldn't need nobles, nya."
"Well, I don't think we could say we don't need them at all..."
Since it was nearly noon, we decided to have a light lunch.
While we ate, I asked about the rumors in Dalia.
"Myaree, were there any unusual rumors going around in Dalia?"
Beastfolk had excellent hearing, after all. They were always swiveling their ears around to listen to the conversations nearby.
"Nya! There was a rumor that Marlow's daughter had received a proposal from the baron who had fought alongside us, nya."
"What?! That's wonderful news. Yeah, that's much better than an old geezer like me."
"And he was promoted from a knight to a baron, nya. She'd be marrying into money, nya."
"That's right. And if he formally proposed, that means she'll become his primary wife, doesn't it?"
Normally, a noble from a poor territory would marry the daughter of another lower-ranking noble or someone influential within the territory—for example, the daughter of a village headman.
"Probably, nya."
Why would such a rumor spread?—Because announcing it in advance made it harder for the other side to refuse.
In other words, they were trying to make it a fait accompli. Since this world had no mass media, apparently it was a commonly used tactic.
I would have liked to attend the wedding ceremony, but that was no longer possible.
After finishing lunch, I crossed the bridge with Myaree and entered the forest to search for plants.
I put on disposable rubber gloves and shoved every plant that caught my eye into my Item Box.
The rubber gloves were a precaution. There were surprisingly many plants that were dangerous to touch.
Urushi, nettles, and fire coral fungus, for example. If an entire plant was poisonous, even the sap released when you cut it could be dangerous.
I had heard that oleanders could poison even the soil around them. People planted things like that in their gardens as a matter of course, which was surprisingly frightening.
Belladonna, aconite, angel's trumpet—there were quite a lot of poisonous plants.
Even vegetables could be dangerous. Potato sprouts were poisonous enough to kill you if you ate them.
The plants I put into my Item Box displayed only 【Weed】 if they were ordinary weeds, but some had names, such as 【Blue Dewgrass】.
It was actually a little strange that, just as in my original world, even plants no one understood had been named and classified.
If something had a name in this world, there had to be some reason it had been given one.
I checked the plants that displayed names and collected them.
I could take them to the guild and have them appraised.
Once I asked, I would learn what each plant was useful for, or whether it was poisonous.
It would be nice if this world had a plant encyclopedia, but there was no printing technology here. Such a book would probably be extremely expensive even if one existed.
While I was gathering plants, Myaree hugged me from behind.
"Hey, I'm in the middle of collecting plants."
"Nyaa, there's no Anemone here, nya~"
When I reluctantly stroked her throat, she began purring.
She lowered her short skirt, placed her hands against a large tree, stuck out her round, appetizing rear, and curled her tail as she tried to entice me—
But having sex out in the open in the middle of a primeval forest, with sunlight filtering through the trees—was that really a slow life or not? That was the question.