A Smooth Start to Business

I started doing business at the very last moment, just before the money I'd charged to Shangri-La ran out.

But I still had four small square silver coins on hand, and if I had Shangri-La buy back the bed in my Item Box, I could keep going a little longer.

It had been appraised at 20,000 yen, after all.

Oh, right. I'd gone to the trouble of making a flyer for the bed, so I had to put it up.

I tied strings to wooden clothespins, hung them from the square lumber, and clipped up the flyer. I added a handkerchief to the display, too. Beside it, a knife hung from the lumber by a rope.

"Mister, those are for holding laundry, aren't they? Let me have a look."

The woman at the neighboring stall called out to me again, so I showed her the item.

"How much are these?"

"One copper coin (1,000 yen) for two."

"Then give me about six!"

"You're buying them?"

"There's no rule saying the neighboring shop can't buy something, is there?"

"Well... I can't exactly give you one free for buying six."

"What are you talking about? You use three or four of them for sheets and other large things."

That made sense. It was the opinion of a woman who did laundry. Speaking of laundry, I wanted to change clothes and wash them soon, too. I'd been wearing the same outfit this whole time.

Once I had some money, I'd get myself a proper wardrobe. Underwear could come from Shangri-La, but I wanted to get my outer clothes from this world.

Still, food came before clothing. No matter how dirty I got, it wouldn't kill me, but I could die if I went hungry.

I sold the woman at the neighboring stall seven clothespins and received three copper coins (3,000 yen)—thanks for your business!

Since it looked like the clothespins would sell, I decided to make a flyer for them, too.

'KATU^KITEKI SENTAKUBASAMI 2KO K//1 6KO DE 1KO OMAKE'—Revolutionary clothespins—two for one copper coin, or buy six and get one free.

I sat on the stool and waited for customers. I'd walked around the market, but there weren't many shops calling out to passersby.

Apparently, the custom in this world was to stay quiet and let customers examine the merchandise at their leisure.

Customers apparently haggled over prices, but supposedly they almost never did so with new goods.

When there were no customers, I brought up the Shangri-La screen and read e-books. For 1,000 yen a month, I could read as much as I wanted.

Reading other-world light novels in another world—what chaos.

"Oh! Aren't you the mister from yesterday? Did you open a shop here?"

At his words, I looked up—and saw the muscular man I'd carried a double bed for yesterday studying the frame of the shop I'd built.

"Did you make this shop yourself too, mister?"

"Yeah, more or less. I like making things."

"You're practically a professional. People who can do anything are sure lucky."

"Are you done cleaning up your room?"

"Yep, all done."

The man pumped his fist. Yet it was the middle of a weekday.

"What happened to work today?"

"I didn't get picked up for work."

The man, sounding disappointed, said he used his great strength to work day jobs in construction, public works, and the like.

"This plate is pretty nice."

"It's new. How about some new plates for your newlywed life?"

"That's true. A new life is beginning, so I suppose I'd like at least a few new plates."

Yet he was looking at the plate with blue lines around the rim. I was planning to put a higher price on that one.

"The patterned one is expensive, you know?"

"How much?"

"Two small square silver coins (10,000 yen) for one."

"Hmm..."

It felt a little expensive to me, but patterned plates cost about this much in this world—and this was a brand-new one at a bargain price.

"All right! I'll buy it!"

Had he made a momentous decision, or was he taking the plunge like someone leaping from the Kiyomizu-dera stage...? Of course, there was no Kiyomizu-dera stage in another world.

"Hey, are you sure? You said you didn't have any money."

"It's fine. I'll just stop drinking and work to make up the difference."

"In that case, I'll throw in two of these cheaper plates as well. And a handkerchief for your wife, on the house."

"Is that okay?"

"Here. I got the bed from you, after all."

I pointed to the bed flyer.

"Mister, I told you yesterday—you're far too kind."

"Ha ha. I'll make up the difference by charging people who can afford it."

The muscular man paid four small square silver coins (20,000 yen), clutched the plates, and happily headed home.

------◇◇◇------

――Then, after noon, I munched on the bread I'd brought for lunch.

Before noon, after the muscular man bought the plates, the clothespins sold pretty well. About thirty were sold, and I gave away four as bonuses—15,000 yen in sales.

I'd thought earning 10,000 yen a day would be enough, but it looked like I could live on clothespins alone. Still, once a product sold, someone would probably imitate it and start making something similar, so I'd need to think of various other products, too.

As I chewed the dry bread, someone called out to me.

"I'd like to take a look at this knife."

When I looked up, a handsome young blond man was standing there. But he wore a sword at his waist, and the way he moved was clearly different from that of an ordinary townsman.

He wasn't wearing armor or anything, but he was probably a knight or someone similar. If so, he was likely of high status, so perhaps I should use more respectful language.

He was pointing to the 6,000-yen knife with the black grip.

"Here you are. It's brand-new."

When I handed him the knife, he examined it closely with great interest.

"A fine piece. How much does it cost?"

"This is two silver coins (100,000 yen), sir."

"Oh, that's expensive—but I've never seen such a beautiful blade, so I can understand the price. However..."

"Is there something you're dissatisfied with?"

"I want something a little larger, though..."

There had been a complicated Swords and Firearms Control Law in my original world, so large blades weren't all that common. The closest thing would be a sword hatchet, I suppose.

But laminated blades made with white steel or blue steel were incredibly expensive—even on Shangri-La, they ranged from 25,000 to 50,000 yen.

Custom-forged ones could cost 100,000 yen or so.

Still, this knight looked like he might actually buy one. I decided to show him a real example.

I charged the four small square silver coins (20,000 yen) from my sales into Shangri-La and bought a sword hatchet with a 30-centimeter blade for 25,000 yen.

"For something larger, it would be more like this. It was forged as a hatchet, but if you replaced the handle and guard, I think it could be used in combat as well."

When I showed it to him, the knight drew the sword hatchet from its leather sheath.

"Whoa! This is beautiful! How much is it?"

"One gold coin (200,000 yen)."

"Expensive... Very expensive, but something this beautiful... Hmm."

It was an expensive purchase, so he seemed to be agonizing over it. But I couldn't lower the price much, and I had to charge customers who looked able to pay.

As the knight groaned and pondered, another man called out to me.

"Is that hemp mat for sale?"

"Huh?"

I turned toward the voice and saw a tiger-like man covered from head to toe in fur—probably a man, anyway—standing there.

Triangular ears stuck out from the top of his head and twitched rapidly.

"Whoa! I-I apologize."

I was startled and let out a strange sound, so I apologized for it.

"Mister, is this your first time seeing a beastman?"

A beastman—a real beastman. He'd startled me badly. He looked almost like someone in a mascot costume, but he was a genuine living creature. I could only marvel at another world.

"Yeah, sorry. There weren't any beastmen in my village."

"You came from such a remote place that there weren't any beastmen?"

"That's right. It was the sort of place where there were only family and relatives."

"My hometown was like that too. Of course, my village had only beastmen. Ha ha ha!"

He said he wanted the hemp mat stretched across the roof of my booth.

"One this size is three copper coins."

"Then give me three of them."

"That would be nine copper coins, but since you're buying three, I'll give them to you for eight."

"I don't have eight copper coins..."

"Then give me one small square silver coin and three copper coins."

The man counted his money, but he seemed like he wasn't very good at arithmetic.

"I've only got two copper coins."

"Then if you give me two small square silver coins, I'll give you two copper coins in change."

"Huh? Wha—"

"The shopkeeper's calculation is correct."

Apparently, the knight couldn't bear to watch the beastman struggle, so he came to his rescue.

"I see, sorry about that. I'm a beastman, you see. We're bad at math. That's why people cheat us out of our money so often."

I bought three hemp mats from Shangri-La and handed them to the beastman along with his change.

"Here you go. Thanks for your business! Things are tough, huh? But don't worry—our shop doesn't cheat people."

I had no idea what he planned to use them for, but the beastman hoisted the mats onto his shoulder and happily headed home.

"All right, I'll buy it too. This shop seems trustworthy."

"Would you like to buy it? Then I'll include this as a bonus."

The bonus I bought from Shangri-La was a 2,000-yen whetstone with two different grits bonded together.

"Oh, this is a whetstone. It's unusual."

"The brown side is coarse, while the green side is fine, sir."

"I see, they put the two together. This looks convenient. All right! One gold coin, then."

"Thank you very much for your purchase."

The knight left happily with the sword hatchet. He said he had a weaponsmith he knew well and would ask them to replace the handle and guard.

I was worried the weaponsmith might be unhappy about maintaining a weapon bought elsewhere, but apparently that wasn't a problem.

Since I'd sold something valuable, I decided to call it a day. It would be nice if I could sell this much every day, but I shouldn't count my chickens before they hatched.

"What, are you leaving already?"

As I began packing up, the woman at the neighboring stall spoke to me.

"I sold something big on my first day."

"Must be nice, doing such good business."

"Here, have two clothespins. Cheer up."

"Thanks. I'll take them."

Once I shoved the merchandise, wooden frame, and table into the Item Box, I was ready to go home. It was wonderfully easy.

Now that I had some money, I wanted to buy underwear and do some laundry. Apparently, there was a well behind the inn, and I planned to use it.

On the way home, I looked around at clothing and other things. There were some stylish leather jackets and jacket-like garments, but they were expensive—about two silver coins (100,000 yen).

Apparently, people treated such things as lifelong possessions and kept using them while having them repaired.

A leather jacket would be cheaper from Shangri-La, but they all used zippers. Zippers would be problematic in this world.

I returned to the inn.

"Welcome back~"

"I'll pay five days' lodging all at once."

I handed Azalea three small square silver coins (15,000 yen).

"Did you make a profit?"

"More or less."

I went back to my room and opened the Shangri-La screen. There, I bought three T-shirts.

"What should I do about underwear...? Hmm."

There didn't seem to be anything like underwear in this world. Nobles sometimes wore undergarments like drawers, though.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do—I decided to go without underwear from today onward. I tossed the underwear I'd taken off into the Item Box.

Now, what should I do about an outer shirt...? I searched Shangri-La and found a black, collarless button-up shirt. It might not look too out of place in this city.

Since I'd taken off my underwear, I wanted to do some laundry. I searched for a washbasin and washboard, but there weren't any wooden basins for sale. Plastic would be problematic, too.

I compromised and bought a tin basin. A slightly small one cost 3,000 yen, and the washboard cost 2,000 yen.

Rather than powdered soap for washing machines, I bought old-fashioned laundry soap for 300 yen. While I was at it, I bought some regular soap, too.

I wanted to wash my body and hair at the well, and shave my beard while I was at it. I bought a ten-pack of Kai○ T-shaped razors.

I carried the basin, washboard, and laundry soap to the well behind the inn. I drew water with the bucket and filled the basin. A bucket full of water was insanely heavy.

"This is definitely going to give me muscle soreness tomorrow."

But these days, the muscle soreness doesn't set in right away. How are you? I'm doing fine in another world—though I hate to admit it, I've started to feel my age a little lately.

Apparently, the inn also used water from this well for drinking, but they used a water stone—a stone that purified water—to make it safe to drink.

Still, I had ○○'s delicious bottled water for drinking, so I didn't need any water stone.

I scrubbed my underwear on the washboard with the laundry soap. I never imagined I'd be using something like this in the modern age.

Then again, I vaguely remembered using one at my grandmother's house when I was a kid. Or maybe I didn't.

When I checked Shangri-La, I found a spherical washing machine that you operated by turning it around by hand. I might be able to use it somewhere no one was around.

But the reviews in the product listings were terrible—"Washing it by hand is faster"—and things like that.

Well, it was probably more of a novelty item than anything else.

While I was doing laundry at the well, Azalea came by.

"Ah, you're doing laundry. If you'd brought it out, I'd have done it for you. Kenichi, there's foam coming out—is that soap you have?"

Soap existed in this world too, but it was apparently fairly expensive. Ordinary households seemed to use wood ash.

"I have some. Didn't you say laundry costs extra?"

"I did, but if you've made money, you can afford that much, can't you?"

"No, I cut costs wherever I can. Now go back to work; I need to wash myself too."

"I'll wash you."

"Wait! You'll have to get naked."

"I've already touched you, taken it in my mouth, and put it in me. Why are you acting coy now?"

"Don't say things like that in public. Here, I'll give you a bar of soap, so go back to work."

"Yay!"

Phew—her energy was exhausting.

Also, I'd been a little worried afterward, so I asked her about contraception. According to her, there was a special medicine for it.

Apparently, you just inserted it afterward. It was commonly used, had no side effects, and could even prevent sexually transmitted diseases—now that's another world for you.

After washing my hair and body and shaving my beard, I felt refreshed! But I really wanted a hot bath. Apparently, only royalty and nobles could take baths in this world.

While I was hanging up the laundry, I searched Shangri-La and found that they sold a drum bath for around 20,000 yen.

So I could fill it with river water and heat it over a bonfire? I could use a pump to draw up the water—this could work.

I'd have to make it happen eventually.