Chapter 343
(343) Suzuki’s Home
Translator: Tseirp
The address that Suzuki gave us and the nameplate that read ‘Suzuki’ (Naturally it was written with Otherworld letters) .
Relying on that information, we arrived at a j.a.panese house surrounded by a bamboo fence .
It was so ma.s.sive that I wanted to ask just what kind of high-cla.s.s hotel was it .
“Is this truly Suzuki’s home? Hopefully it’s not a mistake like another person having the exact same name . ”
“But Master . I don’t think that’s possible with a unique name such as Suzuki . ”
“ … Ah, I guess you’re right . ”
Even though names such as Satou, Suzuki, and Yamada were very common names in j.a.pan .
I wondered if a house that size was common for a Baron?
I was a Quasi-baron but I still didn’t own a house of my own in this world .
Was it because of the ‘Quasi’ prefix? Or was it because of Jobless?
Well, it doesn’t matter .
I may not have a home in this world but I had a home called My World .
I had an entire star as a home . Rather than losing out, I believe I won instead .
After regaining my self-esteem, I pa.s.sed through the door .
I heard the sound of water-filled bamboo tubes serenely tapping against a stone in the distance .
There was no doorbell so I knocked on the sliding door of the entrance .
“Excuse me, is anyone home?”
The sliding door opened when I called out .
A beautiful woman dressing in a kimono appeared from inside . She had red hair and blue eyes so she was probably from this world .
Her job was an ordinary Cook: Lv3 .
“Here, I received this from Suzuki . ”
“Let me see – – Kusunoki-kun, I believe? You have traveled a long distance . Welcome . ”
“Thank you very much . ”
I thanked her and followed her .
I took off my shoes at the entranceway and changed into slippers .
“ – – ?”
“Ah, Haru . You must take off your shoes in this house . Jofre and Elize and Centaur too – -“
The kimono beauty’s face twitched when she saw Centaur enter the house as though it was natural .
“Eh … erm, I was told to lead the horses to the stables beside the house but what should I do with donkeys? Stables? Even though it’s a donkey? In the first place, it shouldn’t be possible to bring a restricted monster into town – – eh?”
The kimono beauty suddenly started acting strange .
“This can’t be found in the manual ─ ─ this is an emergency, what should I do? Right, I recall asking master before . In master’s hometown, horse meat was called sakura meat . Donkeys are similar to horses so it is an ingredient souvenir . Yup, in that case, it can be found in the manual . In the event of receiving food ingredients ─ ─”
She wrinkled her eyebrows and muttered some strange words before saying with a bright smile .
“Jofre-sama, Elize-sama . How well done would you like your meat? Or do you prefer it stewed? According to master, the recommended method is to eat it raw . ”
“Meat!? Grilling is the best when it comes to meat . ”
“Yup, over a flame until the insides turn brown . ”
Jofre and Elize gave their request for how well done they would like their meat .
Should I ask what meat was she referring to?
Just as I had that thought, Suzuki came back .
“Wait, Lana-san! This donkey is not food! Treat this Centaur like a horse . Please escort it to the stables . ”
“Master, welcome back . Understood, I will treat it as a horse . ”
The girl called Lana led Centaur to the stables with a bright smile .
“Suzuki, who was that?”
“Sorry, it’s been a long time so I forgot about Lana-san’s personality . She’s the caretaker for this house but, how do I put it, she’s an instruction manual person . Because everything she does has to follow the manual, sometimes she causes weird problems . ”
I see ─ ─ in her manual, there were no instructions for when a donkey visits so she recognized Centaur as a food ingredient souvenir and wanted to prepare it for dinner . When there is fresh meat souvenir and guests, serve the meat during dinner ─ ─ the manual probably stated something like that .
“I’ll have to add into the manual that if guests bring a donkey along, bring it to the stables . ”
Suzuki sighed .
I’m pretty sure the manual was considerably thick by now .
“Can’t you just state in the manual to contact a supervisor if emergencies outside the manual occur?”
“In a world with no mobile phones, contacting me is not that easy . Furthermore, wouldn’t it be troublesome to be contacted when firm tofu is sold out and if silken tofu can be used instead?”
“That would certainly be a ha.s.sle . ”
I smiled wryly and thought to myself – so this town sells tofu .
We changed into slippers and were led into Suzuki’s home .
“This is a beautiful hallway . It looks just like a mirror . ”
“So the hallway has nightingale flooring that makes noise when people walk across it?”
“It doesn’t have such a feature . With Shin.o.bi and a.s.sa.s.sin skills, they won’t make a sound even when walking on nightingale flooring . ”
“I guess you’re right ─ ─ I can walk silently with Silent Room too . ”
After walking through the hallway, we reached a garden planted with pine trees . There was a pond in the garden and it appears that the sound of water-filled bamboo tubes serenely tapping against stone was coming from here .
“What a beautiful garden . ”
“Yeah, Lana did a really good job . She’s adept at this kind of precise work . And her cooking is amazing too . She’s especially good at making sweets . ”
Ah, she did seem like the kind to cook while following the recipe exactly .
She wouldn’t try to change the recipe in a strange way and fail .
“Elize, did you know? The Showa Street home gardens are called dry landscape gardens . ”
“Dry landscape gardens? What does that mean?”
“It means a garden with no water . They represent water with other features in the garden . ”
“I see! Eh? But Jofre, there’s water there . ”
“What! Umu ─ ─ right, that is a hot bath guise as water!”
“Using hot bath to represent water? Dry landscape garden is amazing . Then that is an open-air bath . ”
“Right, an open-air bath! So this is that j.a.pan wabi-sabi thing . ”
That Jofre and Elize, they probably heard that from Daijiro-san but they were having a great misunderstanding because of their incomplete j.a.pan knowledge .
Haru seemed to be convinced as she stood next to them . I’ll have to correct her properly later .
And then, we were led to the j.a.panese-style room .
Although it was a j.a.panese-style room, a sofa was prepared instead of cushions or chairs .
“I placed a sofa in the reception room . I can’t force the people of this world to seiza after all . ”
“That’s thoughtful of you . ”
I replied and sat on the sofa .
Lana brought Centaur to the stables so Suzuki prepared his own tea .
Incidentally, Jofre and Elize left to look around the mansion after drinking their tea .
They mentioned when Suzuki was not around that they wanted to find hidden doors and empty s.p.a.ces in the ceilings .
Did they mistake this for a shin.o.bi mansion?
“By the way, Suzuki . As a Magic Investigation Lab Member, you’re able to use Hair Examination, right?”
“Yup . What about it? I can help you study if you are interested . ”
“No – – ah, hmm . I am a little interested . It would help if I could borrow some materials to look at . ”
“Of course it’s fine . Wait a minute . ”
Suzuki replied and left to grab a book .
It seemed to be going well as planned .
“This is it . ”
“ – – That’s a huge number . ”
There were 50 textbooks .
There were 7 textbooks just on Hair Examination alone .
“Well, it’s because there’s a lot of information . ”
“Let me seem, here’s the list of results . ”
I opened the book and examined the section that I was interested in from the beginning .
That was the Risk Factor value . (TL: Danger level -> Risk Factor)
My Risk Factor value was 【Risk Factor: 0・3・4・0】
What did it mean?
Let me see – – The values for the risk factor are related to the four types of abnormal state resistance?
Danger level 0 meant the lowest resistance while 5 meant high resistance .
Incidentally, the four types were 【Confusion・Paralysis・Poison・Charm】 .
So I had completely no resistance toward mental attacks while I had high resistance to poison .
It’s great that it doesn’t mean risk factors for diseases or such .
Next, I opened my note and investigated the recorded values for Miri’s 【Desire】 .
The result for Miri’s 【Desire】was – –
“ … Ah, Kusunoki-kun . The Desire field is basically ‘Complex’ in English – – in other words . ”
“Yeah, I know even if you don’t say it . ”
But looking at the results, I was beginning to doubt if that hair was actually Miri’s hair .
After all, the desire value had this explanation to it .
【52: Brother complex】
No no, there’s no way Miri is a Bro-con .
Well, Miri’s name was listed in the Home Return spell too but – – no no no .
As I was seriously having a headache, Suzuki looked at the note and the color suddenly left his face .
“Kusunoki-kun! The results on that note, did you actually appraise somebody’s hair!?”
“Hn? Ah – – well, I thought it would help give a clue to where Miri was . But it can’t be used at all . ”
“Do you know who gave this result?”
“This result? Ah, it was quite strange . ”
Suzuki was interested in the 【Hair Lifespan: 0】 field .
Well, it was certainly a memorable entry .
“It’s not just strange . This is very dangerous . ”
“It’s dangerous but these kinds of things can’t be helped . ”
“No, we still can make it . We must investigate who this belongs to . ”
Hn? I can’t imagine this other world having hair tonics though?
Suzuki said with a serious expression .
“Curse value 42 … we must dispel it before the frenzy curse is activated . ” (TL: The hair with Curse: 42 is the same strand of hair as the Hair Lifespan: 0 hair