Chapter 5
I headed to the Commercial Guild to register, since I needed that registration to go into business. If I didn't start earning money quickly, my funds would run dry.
According to Azalea at the inn, I could earn money doing manual labor, but after spending so many years hunched over a PC doing desk work, there was no way I could handle that kind of physical work.
At most, I could till the soil in a vegetable garden.
I arrived at the place I'd been told about. In front of me stood a three-story building made of white stone. Patterns were carved into the stone, giving it a rather luxurious appearance, and every window was fitted with glass.
"Is this it...?"
I opened the impressive door and stepped inside. Perhaps because of the glass windows, the interior felt bright and spacious, too.
There was a counter directly ahead with a receptionist sitting behind it, but there were counters everywhere, so they seemed to be divided by department.
As I stood there observing the place, it seemed they also handled business consultations and loans. For now, I went to the counter directly ahead.
The receptionist wore white and looked almost like a nurse, but perhaps that was the uniform here――she also wore a long, rectangular hat, which made her look even more like a nurse.
"Um..."
"Yes, how may I help you today?"
"I'd like to register with the guild."
"Certainly. The registration fee is one silver coin. Also, please fill out this form."
What she handed me was a handwritten document. They probably didn't have printing technology yet. It asked for my name, age, and other information――there was also a space for my place of origin, but Dalia would do.
I didn't know any other place names, after all. On the right side were some math problems――this was probably the test.
There were three three-digit addition problems and two two-digit multiplication problems――I was taken aback that this counted as a test.
It had only been a day since I arrived, so I was still a little shaky on the written language. I opened the Item Box and displayed my cheat sheet to copy the answers, but naturally, no one else could see it.
I filled everything out and handed it to the receptionist. I got the all-clear.
I sat in a chair and waited for a while... What the receptionist brought me was a slender metal rod with a hole near the top. Was this the same thing that young merchant had been wearing around his neck?
So this was the guild badge. Apparently, when doing business, I had to display it somewhere visible, which was why ordinary merchants wore theirs around their necks.
My registration was complete, so I could now do business without any problems. I'd heard that the neighboring country called the Empire had a sort of tax requiring people to pay a percentage of their sales every month, but there was nothing like that here.
――Next, market research.
I asked the guild where the market was and went outside. According to the guild employee, I just had to go out to the street and follow the flow of people to reach it, but――
I really did arrive there by following those instructions. It was a disorderly, crowded, bustling place――most of the shops were stalls, some with roofs and some without.
The goods for sale weren't sorted into categories, either. Knives, stones, fruit, vegetables, and other fresh foods were all crammed together and displayed for sale.
The merchants were pretty casual with their customers, too, speaking to them without honorifics. Apparently, they only used polite language with people of higher status.
I found paper, too. A slightly brown sheet cost one copper coin (1,000 yen). I might be able to make money selling paper. What else...? Tableware, perhaps? I noticed plain white plates like the ones sold by Shangri-La going for at least one small square silver coin (5,000 yen).
Plates with patterns were much more expensive, but they didn't seem to sell very well. The people who came to this market were all ordinary townsfolk, and perhaps they couldn't afford expensive goods.
After checking several places, I found that knives were fairly expensive, too. Even a crude knife cost one silver coin (50,000 yen) or more. Shangri-La sold quite decent ones for around 5,000 to 6,000 yen.
I might be able to sell one of those for two silver coins (100,000 yen).
But would stainless steel that didn't rust cause problems? Knives made with blue steel or carbon steel were insanely expensive.
Even if I sold them, no one would notice right away, but if things got dangerous, I'd have no choice but to flee to another city.
Besides, as long as I had money, I could use Shangri-La to live anywhere.
I also found the kerosene Azalea had mentioned. It was very thin and fluid, much like the kerosene from my original world. But the smell was different――it smelled somewhat fishy.
When I asked the shopkeeper selling it, he said it was fat from sea beasts. Huh, so that's what they meant by different places, different products.
Since this place was near the sea, they could obtain sea-beast fat, but apparently, in more inland countries, they used oil extracted from plants as kerosene.
"They say the sea is nearby, but there isn't any seafood, of course..."
There wasn't even any fresh fish, let alone seafood――well, it wouldn't keep. With an Item Box, though, I could probably bring fish straight from the sea.
"I feel like eating some fruit."
Shangri-La sold assortments of vegetables and fruit for around 2,500 to 3,000 yen. But unusual fruit found only in this world could naturally be obtained only here.
"Mister~ Want to buy some?"
A woman selling fruit called out to me. Apparently, the fruit piled in her basket cost one copper coin (1,000 yen) for ten pieces.
There was also a smaller denomination beneath the copper coin, the small square copper coin, worth about 100 yen each. Perhaps because calculating with them was troublesome, most small items were sold in bundles.
"Hmm... I want to try several kinds. How about three kinds, three of each, for one copper coin?"
"Sure."
So she'd agreed just like that. I guess it never hurts to ask. I bought red, green, and yellow fruit, leaving one red fruit that looked like an apple out and putting the rest into my Item Box.
The Item Box display read――【Linker】【Rinyo】【Rinz】. I see, so this red one was the linker Azalea had mentioned.
I took a bite――it was sweet and sour, and delicious. It looked like an apple, but the flavor was like a combination of a peach and an apple.
I could only eat something like this in this world.
"Hey, mister. Did you just put what you bought into your Item Box?"
The woman selling the fruit seemed to have keenly noticed what I'd done.
"Yeah, I did."
"Nice, isn't it? Pretty convenient, right?"
"It's small, but it's incredibly convenient."
Perhaps he'd been listening to my conversation with the woman――a muscular man with a crew cut came over and spoke to me.
"Mister, I hear you've got an Item Box?"
"Yeah, though it's small."
"I made a fairly large purchase. Could you help me carry it?"
"You look like you could handle it yourself. Still, that depends on the pay."
"How about one copper coin?"
1,000 yen an hour――that was a little low.
"That's a bit much to ask. If you hired someone, you'd have to pay them more than that, wouldn't you?"
"Please, I'm broke. How about two copper coins?"
"You could ask someone you know and buy them a drink. They'd be happy to help you."
"If I had money for drinks, I'd drink it myself! Fine, three copper coins!"
He seemed awfully desperate. What had he bought, anyway? If a guy built like him couldn't carry it... 3,000 yen an hour was decent money for a little side job.
"All right. I'll carry it for three copper coins, but――I don't know what you bought, so if it won't fit in my Item Box, you'll have to give up on it."
"All right! That's more like it."
I didn't sense any malice from him, and he didn't seem suspicious. He probably really just wanted someone to carry something for him.
I followed the man to the place where his purchase was supposedly waiting. As I walked beside him and chatted, another man called out to me from behind.
"Hey there, mister. I hear you've got an Item Box. I've got a lucrative proposition for you. Want to hear it?"
The man who spoke to me had a sickly complexion and a servile-looking face, along with a slight stoop. Hmm, he looked suspicious at first glance.
But lucrative propositions were never anything good. Beautiful flowers had thorns, and lucrative offers had traps.
Even in my own work, I'd jumped at lucrative offers only to have payments delayed, clients disappear, or promissory notes bounce... Nothing good ever came of it, even in retrospect.
According to him, the job involved transporting seafood from the ocean and ice from mountains or ice caves.
"It'll pay well."
"It would certainly fetch a high price. But is there anyone who'd buy such things?"
"Heh heh. Nobles."
"Ah, sorry, but I don't want anything to do with nobles."
The muscular man who had been listening cut into the conversation.
"Don't do it, mister. Nobles are nothing but trouble. They'll work you to the bone, then, once they don't need you anymore, they'll nitpick some trivial matter and do this to you."
The man held the edge of his hand against his own neck. He obviously meant having his head chopped off――no thanks.
"Yeah, I figured as much."
"Besides, anyone with a large Item Box gets dragged off to the battlefield and worked to death, or so I've heard."
"The battlefield? To carry weapons?"
"That too, but they also haul food for the nobles. That way, the nobles can enjoy lavish meals even on the battlefield."
"They really are awful."
"See?"
The man spread his hands and shook his head.
"That's how it is. I don't want anything to do with nobles, so I'll pass."
"D-don't come crying to me when you regret it!"
After leaving that parting shot, the stooped man hurried away. Apparently, having a convenient thing like an Item Box could get you forcibly detained.
In a world like this, royalty and nobility were absolute authorities. Going against them would be dangerous.
"Leave sleeping gods alone, a wise man stays away from danger, and only a fool goes sniffing around something he knows stinks."
"Mister, you're an educated fellow."
"Not really. I've only picked up a little here and there."
As we walked, I asked the man about the forest.
"There was a black beast in the forest... Do you know what it was?"
"Black? A cat?"
"No, it looked more like a dog――or a wolf."
"That would be a Black Wolf. I've never heard of them appearing along the main road, though."
So they really were wolves. Apparently, some regions called them Demon Wolves.
"No, it was inside the forest."
"Why on earth were you in the forest...? Ah, you must have been trying to take a shortcut, right?"
"Something like that. After getting lost, I was nearly attacked and eaten."
"You'd best not go into the forest. The same scenery goes on forever, so people lose track of where they're headed."
That had certainly been my experience. No matter how far I went, all that stood there were endless conifers... Fortunately, I had a compass, so I didn't get lost.
Even back home, people sometimes got lost while gathering wild mountain greens. Once you entered the mountains, there were no landmarks, and you could lose all sense of where you were.
Someone I knew had even kept walking until he came out in the neighboring town on the other side of the mountain. It was a funny story in retrospect.
We arrived at the man's destination. Judging by the look of the place, it was a tool shop.
"This is what I bought."
The man pointed to a large bed――a double bed, in other words. Since this world had no plywood, it was made entirely of solid wood.
I tried lifting one end, but it was extremely heavy. It probably weighed more than fifty kilograms. No wonder he couldn't manage it alone.
"If you bought such a huge bed, does that mean you're married, or are you about to get married?"
"Heh heh heh."
The big man scratched his head, his face turning red.
"――So if I help you carry this, it'll cost more than three copper coins, won't it?"
"Exactly. That's why I was looking for someone I knew who would help me for free or cheap, but..."
"And then you happened to run into me. This is a happy occasion, so I'll do my best to help."
The bed should fit easily in my Item Box, but since I'd said it had a small capacity, I warned him that he'd have to give up if it didn't fit.
"Heave-ho."
The double bed was sucked into the Item Box, and 【Double Bed (Used)】 appeared on the display.
"Whoa, amazing. So this is an Item Box."
"I'm glad it worked. Now, let's go to your house."
The man's house stood on the outskirts of town, right beside the city wall――a small wooden house with weatherboard siding. Inside were a living room and bedroom, with a kitchen attached to the living room.
It reminded me of the cheap, old-fashioned rental homes that had once been popular in my original world.
"All right, let's get it into the room."
But there was already a bed in the bedroom. Unless we carried it out, there would be no way to get the double bed inside.
Before that――
"Hey, the front door and bedroom door are too narrow. There's no way we can bring the double bed inside, is there?"
"Oh..."
The man had noticed it, too. The bed could apparently be disassembled, but without tools such as a wooden mallet, it would be rather difficult.
"Well, leave it to me."
First, I took the double bed we'd brought outside. Then I put the bedroom bed into the Item Box and took it outside as well.
Then I put the double bed into the Item Box, took it out in the bedroom, and――installation complete.
The Item Box could easily hold two beds, but since I'd claimed its capacity was small, I had to go through this roundabout process.
"Thank you! I'm in your debt."
"What are you going to do with the bed you were using?"
"You can have it. Put it in your Item Box and take it with you."
"Really? You could sell it for money."
"I'd have to ask you to carry it again, though. Besides, I need to clear out the room."
Well, if his wife was coming, he had all sorts of things to prepare. The bed was probably the least of his concerns.
Besides, he must have figured out I was a merchant from the Commercial Guild badge around my neck...
"Are you sure it's all right for me to sell the bed?"
"Of course. If it weren't for you――I'd have asked someone else to carry the bed here, only to end up at my wit's end because I couldn't get it into the room."
The man gave a wry smile, but he was right. Apparently, he hadn't thought that far ahead.
"Then the bed will be my payment for carrying it."
"Are you sure that's enough?"
"Yeah."
As a test, I put the bed in front of me into the buyback window――and the result appeared immediately. 【Appraisal Result】【Single Bed (Used) Buyback Price: 20,000 yen】
So if things went well, I could make 30,000 or 40,000 yen. But that felt like a little too much.
I brought up the Shangri-La screen and searched for linen double sheets. An unbranded set was selling for 4,000 yen, so I bought it.
Cotton ones were available for around 2,000 yen, but the sheets at the inn were linen, so I decided to go with those. When I pressed the 【Purchase】 button, the double sheets fell in front of me.
"Here, take these sheets as a wedding gift. You haven't bought any yet, right?"
"Thank you so much! Mister, you're far too kind."
The muscular man looked as if he were about to cry――but I hadn't lost out, since I got the bed. Being thanked so profusely made my conscience hurt.
Still, the next time he wanted to move that double bed outside, he'd probably have to disassemble it first.
After saying goodbye to the man with the bed, I made a circuit of the market. I gave a little money to some merchants and asked them questions, too. Gathering information was important.
I returned to the inn before it got dark, but it was mealtime, and many customers had arrived, filling the dining hall with activity.
"Welcome back."
"Hey, I'm back. Here, I brought you a souvenir."
I took a linker out of the Item Box and handed it to Azalea.
"A linker! Thank you. I love these because they're so sweet. Did you register with the guild?"
"Yeah."
I showed her the thin metal rod――the guild badge.
"You did it!"
It was the dinner rush, and she looked busy, so I ended our conversation there and returned to my room. I didn't want to get in the way of her work.
I was hungry, so I decided to try the fruit I'd bought at the market. I'd already eaten a linker, so next I would try the green Rinyo.
I bought a fruit knife for 1,000 yen and peeled the green skin. It curled into a spiral as I went.
"Sour!"
It was crunchy and somewhat sweet, but incredibly sour. It might be delicious if I dried it and made something like pickled plums.
Next, I tried the yellow Rinz.
"Mmm, sweet."
There wasn't any sourness at all. It tasted like a firm-fleshed mango. This one was good, too. There were still plenty of fruits at the market I hadn't bought yet, so I was looking forward to trying them.
I bought some cord from Shangri-La――100 yen. I threaded it through the badge and hung it around my neck.
That was the most common style at the market, so I followed it――when in Rome, do as the Romans do.
Now that I had a feel for the market, I thought I'd start preparing to do a little business tomorrow. But I didn't need to make a fortune; earning a modest amount would be enough.
As long as I earned enough to eat, I could buy whatever I needed from Shangri-La.
For now, my goal was to invest 3,000 yen and make 10,000 yen in sales.
My aim was to live a slow life in another world. Would I succeed?