I Got Relatives in Another World

A carriage arrived at my house.

I thought it looked familiar, but the people who got out were Marrow-san and the old man from Dalia's tool shop.

"Marrow-san! Old man!"

I ran over to them.

"Kenichi-san! It's been a long time."

"You look well too, Marrow-san."

"You heartless bastard!"

The old man suddenly began angrily waving the cane he held.

"Don't be angry, old man. I do feel bad about it."

"Honestly, I had intended to have you take on an important position in the Adventurers' Guild. Then you suddenly disappeared, completely ruining my reputation!"

"What? No way. I don't want a job like that. I want to live freely—working in the fields, researching magic and alchemy, and so on."

"Honestly, young people these days..."

"I'm not young, though."

"That makes it even worse!"

The old man lowered his head and muttered, but when I pricked up my ears, I could hear something about "mages being a collection of oddballs and eccentrics."

"You're one of those eccentric mages yourself, old man. And you're a stubborn old coot to boot."

"Urgh... Ngh..."

"I really must have a proper discussion with Marrow-san."

I brought them to the front of the house, then brought out a parasol, a table, and some chairs.

"What's this...?"

"It's for shade. If you sit outside in fine weather, you'll get sunburned, won't you?"

Incidentally, there were no umbrellas in this world. Since parasols didn't exist either, this might have been their first time seeing one.

"I see... Putting up a canopy is a nuisance, but this would..."

Marrow-san fell into thought. He was probably thinking about business; that gesture of his was exactly like Primula's.

Then he stood up and began opening and closing the parasol.

"No, no. Please sit down for now, Marrow-san."

Whenever business was involved, he lost sight of everything around him. That was just like Primula too.

"Ah, my apologies."

Once he had sat down and settled himself, we began talking.

"Marrow-san, please give me Primula—your daughter."

I never imagined that, despite having had absolutely no luck with women until this age, I would end up saying something like that—especially in another world.

How had things turned out like this?

"Ha-ha... There's no need for me to give her to you. My daughter has already forced her way into your home, hasn't she? I truly apologize for my selfish daughter."

Huh? I had expected him to make at least one sarcastic remark, but apparently not.

Still, what must it feel like to have the man taking his beloved daughter away be an old guy like me...?

"Even so, we're living together, so I need the permission of her father, Marrow-san. I hear she even turned down a marriage with Baron Northpole."

"She really is a troublesome daughter. However, as expected of my daughter, just when I thought she had lost her head over romance, I was relieved to see that she still had a keen nose for money."

"Is that related to the viscount of this territory?"

"Indeed it is. In the end, it seems my daughter's choice was not a mistake after all."

According to Marrow-san, who laughed with a weary shake of his head, he had come all the way to Astrantia to open a branch of his trading company.

He intended to send personnel into the heart of Viscount Eupatorium's territory and gain economic control over it.

The viscountess had also given up on the merchants of Astrantia who had been deceiving her and intended to welcome the Marrow Trading Company.

The power of the Marrow Trading Company would certainly be necessary to rebuild the administration of the viscount's territory.

"Then may I call you Father-in-Law?"

"To think I would gain a son at my age... My wife died more than ten years ago, and I raised my daughter alone, but I suppose I made that girl feel lonely as well."

"Father-in-Law!"

It was a little theatrical, but... well, it was fine once in a while.

We exchanged a firm handshake. Now that we had become family, I told him the secret behind my magic. I leaned close and whispered it to him.

That didn't mean I told him about Shangri-La. I merely gave him a simple explanation: I made goods using magic.

In any case, no one outside could tell the difference between Shangri-La and my Item Box.

"Huh? You make goods with magic?"

"That's right. I can exchange things for valuable goods or create them myself. I've already explained it to Primula."

"Hmm... If such magic became known to the royalty and nobility..."

"That's why I ran away..."

"I see."

Marrow-san folded his arms, but for the time being, he said he wanted some clothespins. After I disappeared, the supply of one of his best-selling products had dried up.

He had artisans making prototypes, but apparently it was quite difficult. Naturally, cottage industry could never compete with machine-made mass-produced goods.

"You said you were researching magic, but what was that enormous flow of magical power earlier?"

Once my conversation with Marrow-san had reached a stopping point, the old man cut in.

So that's how it appeared to an ordinary mage who could use regular magic.

That meant he might have realized that summoning heavy machinery wasn't magic. At the very least, the old man was suspicious.

"I was experimenting with magic."

"Oh? What kind of magic?"

"High Protection."

"What?! High Protection? You?"

"No, she did."

I pointed toward Anemone, who was watching us from a short distance away while clutching the grimoire.

"That girl was the child you rescued from Shaga, wasn't she?"

"That's right, but she has incredible talent for magic. She can use Fireball and Explosion, and today she even activated High Protection."

"I can't believe it! A child like that...?"

I called Anemone over, and she handed him the grimoire.

"Here, old man. Would you like to take a look too?"

"This is... High Protection... It's my first time seeing it too. The old woman wrote me a letter saying she had found this grimoire, but..."

Hey! Was his customer's personal information just leaking everywhere? Well, apparently she hadn't written that I was the one who had it...

"The old woman means Snowflake, right?"

"Yes. I was astonished to hear that she knew you."

"I was surprised to hear that she knew you too. So... aren't you going to try it, old man?"

"Ha-ha, I doubt I could... At my age, I know my own abilities well enough."

As the old man flipped through the grimoire, he stopped at what appeared to be the final page.

"What is it, old man?"

"There's something written in the corner here... It's magic script, but goodness, I can't read it well."

The old man squinted, moving the book farther away and then closer again. He was probably suffering from presbyopia.

I searched Shangri-La for reading glasses. They cost around 1,000 to 2,000 yen. His eyesight seemed quite poor, so I bought a pair marked +3.

"Old man, try these on."

"What are these...? Glasses?"

Glasses existed in this world too, since I had seen them here before, but apparently the old man didn't own a pair.

"Oh! I can see perfectly with these!"

"I'll give them to you, so read the writing for me."

According to the old man, magic script was different from ordinary written characters and was apparently used by mages as a sort of cipher.

"What does it say?"

"Hmm... It's faded, so I can't read it very well, but... it seems to say, 'For my daughter Anemone. If fate allows, we shall meet again.'"

"Does 'Anemone' mean our Anemone?"

"Who knows?"

The old man closed the grimoire, placed it and the glasses on the table, and stroked his long beard.

"Apparently, a farming family took in and raised her after finding a woman who had collapsed on the road."

"What...? Then is it possible that the girl's parents were mages? No, if she possesses enough talent to use High Protection, it seems certain..."

"According to the old woman, it seems likely that her mother was a woman called Platinum Almeria."

"Oh, Almeria? That woman did visit this area more than ten years ago, and has been missing ever since... Surely not."

"Maybe. We don't have any proof, though..."

I called Anemone over and showed her the grimoire.

"What is it?"

"Apparently, it says here, 'For my daughter Anemone.'"

"..."

"In other words, if your real mother was a mage, this grimoire might have belonged to her."

"Really?"

"Well, we don't have any proof at all."

"...Okay. I understand."

Anemone wore an indescribable expression. Was she happy? Well, she had never met her mother even once, after all...

Marrow-san said he planned to stay in Astrantia for a while to buy property and prepare for the launch of his branch.

This carriage was the only one that had come here, but apparently five carriages carrying personnel and supplies were on their way to Astrantia.

Marrow-san was serious. For the time being, I gave him three large hemp sacks piled high with clothespins.

After that, we arranged for the new branch in Astrantia to send goods to us regularly.

The old man had come to see me and to look at the rumored grimoire of High Protection, but he apparently hadn't expected me to be the one who possessed it.

"Are you planning to stay in Astrantia with Marrow-san, old man?"

"Yes, I suppose so. I need to see the old woman too while I'm in the area, or this may be our last time seeing each other."

"You two both seem likely to live for many more years, though..."

"Life can turn dark just one step ahead, you know."

Well, Anemone's mother seemed to have died on the road too...

After Marrow-san's carriage left, evening arrived, and Nyamena was the only one who returned.

"Nyamena, where's Primula?"

"The young miss's father came by and said he was going to stay at the same inn as her."

"Ah, they're probably going to discuss the branch and the finances of the viscount's territory."

"Haaah... Boss, you're amazing, but so is the young miss. Things keep getting decided one after another, and it makes my head spin. Seeing all that makes you realize beastfolk could never handle business, doesn't it?"

"Are there no beastfolk who run businesses?"

"I've never heard of any. Everyone normally earns enough for the day and lives from one day to the next."

With Primula absent, I had Anemone make the soup and decided we'd eat bread from Shangri-La.

I would grill some meat and make a stir-fry.

I blanched the wild greens that Myaree had gathered with baking soda to remove their bitterness, then chopped them into easy-to-eat pieces.

I bought fried tofu and fish cakes from Shangri-La and cut them into strips as well. The fried tofu was better after removing the excess oil.

I stir-fried everything in a pan, added a little soup stock powder, and finished it with Me○mi.

Me○mi was something I often used in cooking. It was like the 'men-tsuyu' sauce commonly used for seasoning in my homeland.

The beastfolk had gradually grown accustomed to the taste of soy sauce, so it should be fine. They still seemed unable to tolerate straight soy sauce, though.

As usual, we brought the table outside and ate dinner.

"Ahh! Delicious!"

Nyamena drank shochu and used the stir-fry as a snack. Wine didn't go well with a soy-sauce-based stir-fry, after all.

"Today's food isn't exactly amazing, but it has a strangely comforting flavor."

"It's an ordinary side dish from my homeland."

"What's this brown thing? It kind of looks like fish..."

"It's fish paste that was molded, steamed, and then fried in oil."

"What about this yellow one?"

That would be the fried tofu, obviously.

"It's made by boiling beans, mashing them, squeezing out the liquid, solidifying it, and finally frying it in oil."

"Why do you have ingredients that require so much time and effort in your Item Box?"

"Why? Because they're delicious. Even the sauce made from fermented beans that you all dislike takes about six months to a year to make."

"Haaah..."

She set the glass of shochu down on the table and hung her head.

"You don't need to sigh, Nyamena."

"I'm exasperated."

"As long as it's tasty, that's all that matters, nya."

Myaree was the sort who thought anything was fine as long as it was delicious, but Nyamena seemed to be the sort who worried about all sorts of details.

Judging by her usual behavior, Nyamena seemed like the more careless one, but she was surprisingly particular.

"The soup Anemone made is good too."

"Hee-hee... I worked hard."

Anemone seemed her usual self, though.

"Anemone, are you curious about your real mother?"

"No. I don't remember her at all..."

Well, she had reacted the same way when the subject had come up before. If she wasn't concerned, perhaps it was better not to bring it up.

I wondered whether Primula was enjoying some private time with her father—or whether they were engaged in a heated, full-scale argument.

Apparently, Nyamena would go out alone tomorrow and meet Primula at the viscount's mansion.

------◇◇◇------

――About a week passed, and Marrow-san seemed to be working hard to establish his branch in Astrantia.

Primula was using the subordinates Marrow-san had brought with him to investigate the finances of the viscount's territory.

She was spending such busy days that she only came home once every three days.

Whenever she returned, she looked extremely tired. She insisted she was fine, but...

Then, one morning, while we were all preparing breakfast, Anemone was baking bread and Primula was making soup.

"Are you all right, Primula? You look terribly tired... Shall I take over?"

"I'm fine. The work itself isn't that difficult, but I had a fight with my father..."

"What? With your father-in-law? You wouldn't interfere in the Marrow Trading Company, and Marrow-san wouldn't meddle in matters concerning the viscount's territory, would he? —Then was it because of me?"

"..."

Seeing her remain silent, I realized I must have hit the mark.

For Primula's sake, I bought a bottle of Y○keru tonic from Shangri-La—the expensive kind that cost 2,000 yen each.

However, when I looked at the price, it was 2,000 yen on sale, but the regular price was over 4,000 yen.

Did people seriously drink this stuff? Then again, drugstores sold all sorts of varieties, so I suppose someone must have.

"Primula, drink this."

"What is it?"

"You look tired, so it's a nourishing tonic. One bottle costs about four small square silver coins (20,000 yen)."

After buying all sorts of things from Shangri-La and comparing them with prices in the city, I had found that city prices were at least ten times higher than online prices.

"What?!"

"Just drink it. It probably tastes awful, though."

I unscrewed the cap and handed her the little bottle. She accepted it and took a sip.

She wore a complicated expression, but then she drained the rest in one gulp.

"It's not undrinkable—in fact, it tastes perfectly normal. I've taken medicine that was even worse, like licking mud, so this is nothing!"

Primula clenched her fists and made little sounds of determination—'Hmph! Hmph!' Well, it couldn't possibly take effect that quickly.

"What did you and your father-in-law argue about?"

"My father seems to be trying to use you..."

"That's only natural. I'm his daughter's husband now, which makes me his son. It's only natural for him to rely on his son, isn't it?"

"But..."

She seemed distracted as she stirred the soup endlessly.

"Besides, you said that in the end, you would take me back to the Marrow Trading Company."

"That's true, but... after living with you, I started to think that perhaps you aren't that sort of person."

"Well, that's true. Being a merchant is only something I do on the side. If I had enough money, I wouldn't work—I want to research magic and alchemy, and paint as well."

"Amana-san said the same thing, but she wondered whether someone like that might suddenly disappear whenever things became troublesome..."

"I've already done that once, so I can't say it won't happen again."

Damn that Amana. She had analyzed me with unsettling accuracy.

"Even so, I will follow you."

"Ha-ha, all right, all right—I won't leave you behind this time."

"Hmm... You're too close!"

Anemone had somehow inserted herself between Primula and me and shoved us apart.

"I'm fine with being used, as long as it doesn't become a hassle. I'm a pathetic adult who simply grew older without ever growing up, but I understand that much about dealing with relatives."

"I don't think you're like that..."

"Ha-ha-ha—but leave the practical side of business to someone else. I'm basically terrible with money, and I'm not good at business in the first place. Tell your father-in-law that too."

"I understand—but ever since people realized that Kenichi is a Unique Mage, so many of them have started gathering around us..."

"Of course they have. Above all else, you're profitable."

People gathered around money. But once the money ran out, people like that disappeared at mach speed, like cockroaches.

"That's true, but..."

"The viscountess said that 'Unique Mages are a collection of oddballs and eccentrics,' but if people constantly summoned you whenever they wanted something and used you to make money, you'd naturally become distrustful or even outright hate people."

"I'm worried that might happen to you, Kenichi."

"Ha-ha, I'll be fine because I have you. Now, let's eat."

Primula's expression seemed a little brighter.

I sent Primula and Nyamena into the city, while Myaree and Anemone climbed to the top of the cliff.

I brought out another parasol and a deck chair by the lakeside and relaxed while reading an e-book.

The more people I got to know, the more entanglements I acquired—but I suppose it couldn't be helped.

Then again, when Primula was captured by Shaga, could I really have run away and left her there? Probably not.

If I had come to this world with no power at all and had truly remained just an ordinary old man, I would have hesitated.

------◇◇◇------

――Then, in the early afternoon.

After having a light meal with Anemone and Myaree, two carriages entered the lakeside area.

One was maroon and probably belonged to Marrow-san, but Nyamena was riding in the cargo bed—which meant Primula might have returned with her as well.

The other was a fairly luxurious white carriage drawn by two horses. It was probably designed for nobles—which meant it might belong to the viscountess.

The people who got out of the carriage were Marrow-san and the old man from the tool shop. Primula was with them too, just as I had expected.

The viscountess stepped out of the white carriage, along with a short, stocky man with brown hair and a blue outfit, just as I had predicted.

Even from here, he looked like an ordinary man. Could he really be the lord of this territory?

The viscountess was holding his hand and leaning close to him, so he probably was.