Chapter 9
The silver-coin laundering scheme had ended in failure. Well, I needed to think of my next move.
I returned to the inn and decided to have dinner, though it was a little early.
"Now that I have a little breathing room, I should get something else to eat... I feel like curry."
――That didn't mean I was going to make curry from scratch and simmer it. I meant instant curry in a pouch.
I searched Shangri-La. Now that I had some money, maybe I'd splurge a little――【Four Local Curry Varieties Set】. This looked good.
Four pouches cost 1,600 yen, so at 400 yen per pouch, it was pretty expensive for instant curry.
I took out the stove and boiled water to heat the pouch of curry and the packaged rice. Once they were hot, I put them on a plate, and that was it. The trash went in the trash can.
"Let's eat!"
As you'd expect for something so expensive, it was spicy and full-bodied. Pretty tasty. Compared to the 100-yen-per-pouch stuff, it was like night and day.
It hadn't been that long since I'd come here, but it felt like it had been ages since I'd last eaten curry.
After eating, I wiped the plate with tissues, sprayed it with alcohol, and wiped it again with tissues.
Alcohol removed the grease, and it should have disinfected it, so this ought to be fine. In any case, a germaphobe couldn't survive in another world.
With my stomach full, I searched Shangri-La――this time for silverwork.
As expected, for 2,000 to 3,000 yen, there were quite a few silver accessories. Some had stones set in them, but naturally they weren't diamonds or crystals; they were cubic zirconia and cut glass.
Even so, they should be worth a fair bit in this world. I bought about five items—necklaces, brooches, earrings, and so on—for 10,000 yen.
As I looked over the accessories I'd bought, someone knocked on the door――probably Azalea.
"It's open."
"How was your day? ――Ah! You've got lots of silverwork!"
"No touching. They're for sale."
"I know... Hey, can I pay with my body?"
"No."
"Hmph... Do you really have to say no?"
"Nooo."
She hugged me, pressed her breasts against me, and tried all sorts of things, but today was a no.
She looked dissatisfied, but I couldn't give in to every little thing.
She was surprisingly persistent, so I kicked her out before long. It would be troublesome if she got too attached to me. I didn't know what the future held, either...
If that buxom receptionist at the currency exchange came on to me seductively, though, my resolve might waver.
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――The next morning, I ate curry for breakfast. Morning curry.
It reminded me of how, when I was in elementary school, I used to eat leftover curry from dinner for breakfast before heading to school. But I didn't have time to wallow in nostalgia.
I still didn't have nearly enough money for my slow-life-in-another-world plan――I had to keep working.
I arrived at the market and set up shop――in the usual place, and there were no more shops than before. I greeted the woman next door, but apparently I was still the only newcomer.
As I'd been planning, I linked the clothespins together into a garland and decorated the front of my stall.
It was pretty flashy and looked good. In business, the most eye-catching shop wins. Since I couldn't call out to customers, I had to put effort into the display instead.
I might have attracted customers by spinning a red warning light, but that probably wouldn't fly.
Still, painting the clothespins different colors might be a good idea.
I hung silver necklaces, brooches, and the like from the crossbar. Hopefully, they'd sparkle and catch people's eyes.
About thirty minutes after opening, with no customers in sight, I sat on the stool and watched people passing through town.
Then a large-eared woman in a fur coat came walking by, wagging her tail.
Apparently beastmen were fine being naked, but since that would violate public decency, they wore the bare minimum of clothing.
She wore a simple cloth vest and a miniskirt with an opening for her tail. Ordinary women didn't wear underwear, so ankle-length skirts were the norm.
Huh. I hadn't noticed before, but there were quite a few beastmen around. But weren't they hot? Dogs and cats were supposed to be bad at handling heat.
As I watched the beastwoman, she came to a sudden stop.
Uh-oh. Had I been staring too much? The woman raised her tail and came straight toward me.
"Hey there, welcome!"
For the moment, I greeted her to play it off. But the woman said nothing, merely sniffing the air around her.
"Is something wrong――?"
"I smell spices, nya!"
Spices? The beastwoman's face came closer, and I saw that she really had fur growing all the way across her face. It looked black, but up close, it was more of a tiger pattern.
She was more cat than human, all right. But spices... Could it have been the curry I'd eaten that morning?
If that was the case, her sense of smell was incredible.
"So what?"
"If you've got spices, please sell me some, nya!"
"Yeah, I have some, but they aren't for sale. Besides, I heard it'd be bad news to sell spices around here."
"That's right, sir. You don't want Bacopa taking an interest in you. That'd be a real headache."
The woman from the neighboring stall cut into our conversation.
"See?"
"Nyu..."
She drooped, even her tail hanging down. I felt sorry for her, but I didn't want the Spice Syndicate taking notice of me. The beastwoman lowered her shoulders and trudged away.
For the next hour, I sold only six clothespins. Well, some days were like that.
With nothing else to do, I opened Shangri-La and read an e-book when someone called out to me.
"I'd like some clothespins, please."
I looked up to see a maid with narrow eyes standing there. She wore a navy long dress and a white apron, and her black hair was gathered into two donut-shaped braids.
She was squeezing one of the sample clothespins between her fingers.
"How many do you need?"
"One hundred."
"A hundred?"
"You don't have that many in stock?"
"No, I have them. A hundred would be――let's see, one silver coin."
"I knew the price, so I brought the money."
From what I heard, she was a maid at a large mansion. Well, if there were dozens of servants, they might use a hundred clothespins.
Someone she knew had bought them and bragged about them, so she had seen them and approached her employer about buying some.
"One, two, three..."
I stacked ten clothespins on the table to make a tower. If I built another tower of the same height beside it, I wouldn't have to count each one――just like coins.
"There you go! One hundred. Since you get one free for every six, I'll throw in sixteen."
"Thank you."
The maid bowed her head and began putting the clothespins into the cloth bag she'd brought.
"Here, hold it open. I'll put them in for you."
I tossed the clothespins into the cloth bag with a clatter.
"Thank you."
She bowed again, but when she raised her head, she seemed to notice the necklace in front of her.
She picked it up and stared at it intently.
"C-could this be a diamond?"
"That's polished glass. The colored ones over here are glass too."
"Glass..."
It was actually cubic zirconia, of course. But since it wasn't a diamond, I couldn't call it one.
"How much is it?"
"Six small square silver coins (30,000 yen)."
"Even so, that's incredibly cheap..."
She kept staring at the silver necklace with the cubic zirconia. She was looking so intently it was practically boring a hole through it.
It sounded like she thought it was very cheap. Maybe I could sell it for more if I chose the right place.
"If you like it, I can hold it for you. Though I doubt it'll sell easily."
"Please do."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
She didn't seem to show much emotion, but she appeared to like the necklace, so I agreed to hold it for her.
The maid left carrying 116 clothespins.
I see. A big mansion would use clothespins by the truckload. I could walk around the larger mansions and sell them directly...
But walking around sounded like a pain, so this spot was fine.
By evening, the only thing I'd sold that day was clothespins. Even so, they'd brought in more than 50,000 yen.
And I had one necklace reserved for purchase, too. I might as well pack up for the day.
As I was cleaning up to close, I found myself surrounded by black shadows――four beastmen with well-groomed fur.
The men all wore cloth vests and shorts with rope belts.
One of them was the female beastman who'd sniffed me that morning, and another was――probably the beastman who'd bought a straw mat from me on my first day.
So fur came in all sorts of colors and patterns. It was kind of like cats in my original world...
"Sorry, but we're closed for the day."
"Boss, couldn't you sell us some spices?"
"Huh? No way. If the wrong people take an interest in me, I won't be able to do business here anymore."
"Please, we're begging you."
The beastmen bowed their heads, but that didn't make things any easier for me.
"Come on, you young beastmen. Don't ask for the impossible. The boss has a living to make, too."
"Aw..."
Even passersby began heckling them, and the beastmen drooped their tails, looking dejected.
"All right, all right..."
I gathered the beastmen into a circle and whispered among ourselves.
"I can't sell you spices, but I can treat you to a meal made with spices outside the city. No one can complain about that, right?"
"Really?"
"But only once. There was a river on the way into town, right? Let's eat on the riverbank there."
"Woohoo!" "Nyaa!"
The beastmen did a little dance, and at some point the woman from the neighboring stall had joined them, grinning.
"I suppose I could join you, too. Heh heh."
What an opportunistic old broad. Well, I supposed every encounter was fate. Apparently, the woman's name was Amana.
I put the stall into my Item Box, and the six of us—four beastmen, Amana, and me—set out for the riverbank outside the city.
The beastmen decided walking would waste too much time, then hoisted Amana and me onto their backs and started running.
"Whoa! They're fast!" "Aaaah!"
Carrying Amana and me, they reached the riverbank at a speed no human could match. What incredible speed. Apparently, they weren't even running at full strength.
The six of us went down to the riverbank, but the sky was already beginning to turn purple.
The beastmen said they would prepare a fire. In that case, I would start cooking――.
I took the table I'd used for the stall out of my Item Box and made a workspace. I brought out two portable gas stoves, then bought a large stockpot, a huge wok, and an assorted vegetable pack from Shangri-La.
We were short on plates and spoons, too. Now that I had a little extra money, I might as well stock up on various things...
I filled the stockpot with water and brought it to a boil. I decided on potage for the soup――and bought packets of instant potage soup.
"Huh? Boss, you had a fire-stone burner?"
This wasn't a fire-stone burner, but there was no need to explain that.
The beastmen prepared a campfire for cooking, but it got chilly after dark, so we needed a fire even if we weren't using it for cooking.
"Yeah."
"Was that an Item Box thing, the way you pulled it out of nowhere?"
"That's right."
"I've never seen one before. Have you?"
The beastmen stared curiously at the various tools that kept appearing.
"I'll help too."
Since Amana volunteered, I asked her to lend a hand.
"Then cut these vegetables into thin, small pieces. Don't worry about making them perfect."
"I've never seen most of these vegetables before..."
"They're all edible, so don't worry."
I heated the wok. The first time you use a wok, there's a little ritual involved. Once it heated up and began to change color, I swirled oil around it and poured it out.
I'd dispose of the used oil in the trash can later. You're supposed to spend more time on the ritual, but I was short on time.
"I'm done cutting the vegetables."
"All right! In go the vegetables!"
While they were stir-frying, I bought Chinese soup stock and oyster sauce from Shangri-La and added them to the wok. Then I seasoned it with salt and a whole lot of bird's-eye chiles.
"The water's boiling, nya!"
I dumped all sixteen packets of potage soup mix into the boiling water and turned the heat down low. These guys could probably eat that much.
The powder clumped almost immediately, growing yellow and viscous.
"Keep stirring it with the stick so the pot doesn't scorch."
"Got it, nya!"
I took out the thinly sliced pork I'd bought earlier from the Item Box and dumped it all into the wok. I had about 750 grams left, if I remembered correctly.
However, the wok was so huge that the heat wasn't strong enough. I added a portable butane burner to boost the heat.
"Amana, aim this flame at it from above."
"Like this?"
She looked a little intimidated by all the unfamiliar tools.
Once the ingredients were cooked through, I added curry powder from a can and stir-fried it for a while.
"All right! Curry-flavored stir-fried meat and vegetables are ready!"
"It smells great, nya!"
"Whoa! This is incredible!"
I bought enough plates for everyone and ladled out the curry-flavored stir-fry and potage.
I bought three bags of the assorted bread from my very first purchase, along with a large platter, piled the bread high on it, and set it out.
"Eat as much as you like."
"Whoa!"
The beastmen swarmed the food all at once.
Now, I wonder how this otherworldly curry-flavored stir-fried meat and vegetables will be received.