The Circ.u.mstances with an Other World Bank
We chose an appropriate place to have our lunch. There were lots of stylish restaurants alongside the main street on the southern part of the capital after all.
So, when we entered the restaurant, maybe because she had gotten used to it, Melissa naturally sat in a chair on the opposite side of the table from me.
And just as naturally, the waitress who came to take our order also gave us a strange look.
Since this place offered a lunch special I ordered two of them.
And to that ‘Eh? Will it be Two orders?’ she asked as if maybe she heard it wrong. But to that I answered ‘This is how I do things’ and used my eyes to say ‘Don’t question it any further’.
Perhaps Buddha finally heard my prayers, the girl simply wore a smile on her face as she went back into the kitchen.
「Goshujin-sama is truly amazing」(Melissa)
「Hmm? Why is that?」(Hitto)
「Well……」(Melissa)
With that, Melissa gave a fleeting glance towards the other tables.
Ahh, I see. Looks like we’ve attracted some curious gazes.
Is it amazing that they didn’t bother me at all?
「There’s no point in being bothered by their stares each and every time. Does it bother you, Melissa?」(Hitto)
「No. Rather, I glad that I am so blessed」(Melissa)
Melissa wore a smile that was like a blooming flower. Yeah~ if she had to show me that smile while sitting down on the floor… Since I consider her a comrade there’s no way I’d let her be like that.
Afterwards, while sipping on the water the waitress brought, I had a Q&A session with Melissa.
Apparently she was very interested in how she did in our fight versus that adventurer bunch from earlier.
But from my point of view there wasn’t anything special to comment on. She did exactly what I told her to, after all.
I even had her stop right before delivering the finishing blow.
I don’t want Melissa getting used to murdering so I told her such beforehand.
I said it would be good enough as long as she could stop their movements.
Well, nonetheless she still kept asked me about a bunch of things and I painstakingly answered them. Eventually I fired back and asked ‘Instead of talking about combat, is Melissa knowledgeable about medicinal herbs and such?”
So then she told me that her previous owner had ordered her to read books about herbs.
Apparently it was to expand his business to include things like compounding herbs into medications.
But since he felt that learning all that himself would be troublesome, it seems that he figured that it would work out somehow if he had Melissa learn them instead.
In the end he never fulfilled that dream and ended up dying, but maybe that Tornelo guy also thought that Melissa might make a good Drugger.
Well, rather than a Drugger I think she would be more well-suited as a Checker or maybe even a Smith. Although, Melissa doesn’t seem to have an atmosphere befitting of blacksmiths.
Well in that case I guess we should see if she’s fit to be a Drugger.
We have a little bit of Nankou Gra.s.s leftover anyways.
If we find any other herbs then I should hold onto them and have Melissa test them later after I finish purchasing her.
In addition, making medicine from herbs was a very important duty. In the game, herbs were treated as simple items so they were pretty low in effectiveness.
Medicines also had a wide variety of types. Although, despite other RPGs having them, there were no convenient potions in the game that instantly healed all injuries after drinking them.
After all, the game did not have any indication whatsoever of numerical health values so you had to a.s.sess injuries based on appearance alone.
Moreover it was common practice to bandage up injured areas after applying ointment to it.
As such, healing magic was seen as an all-purpose fix, but even still the long healing time left a lot to be desired.
In short, healing was never instant.
If you suffered a grave injury then you would be immobilized while healing magic is being cast on you. That’s why Supports were considered absolutely essential.
You could also receive healing at the Church but it costed quite the large amount of Gold.
But in this game you not only had to look out for injuries but you also had to be aware of poison.
Although they’re called poisons they include poisons that slowly drain your health and poisons that applied status effects.
From giving you a simple stomachache, to other poisons that caused you to bleed nonstop or paralyzed you. There were even peculiar poisons like a petrifying poison.
Poison even included trivial things such as colds and other illnesses, and in order to cure them you had to rely on the use of medicines to a certain extent.
There were also antidote-like healing magics but you had to match the spell and the illness or else it won’t be very effective. There were only a few spells that could cure all poisons and likewise there were few basic cla.s.ses that could deal with poisons.
But if you were a Drugger, even though it was a basic Job, if you raised your proficiency high enough then you could make a wide array of medicines.
It was already plenty convenient that Druggers could create medicines on the spot as long as they had the raw materials for it.
「Sorry to keep you waiting」
Oh, looks like the food came while I was busy thinking about these things huh.
I guess we should eat for now――
「Thank you for the meal, Goshujin-sama」(Melissa)
Since Melissa turned to me and deeply bowed her head, I waved my right hand to show that she didn’t need to do that.
It seems that since slaves pretty much never get to eat fresh meals that aren’t just sc.r.a.ps, she looked really overjoyed.
Well, I’m honored that you feel so delighted.
But as for the taste, well, I would say it was neither great nor terrible though.
I guess you can say it had no faults. To me it was on the level of family restaurants from my world.
Although, it might be amazing that we’re able to eat a meal on level of a family restaurant in the first place.
During our meal Melissa and I continued to talk about a few things, but it seems that the seasonings of this world have a strange relationship to the ones in my original world.
For instance, they did have miso, but they didn’t use soybeans and koji-mold to make it. Instead they use parts of a monster’s brain to produce it.
When I first heard that I wanted to gag, but thinking about it again I remembered that there were dishes from my world that used the brains of a sheep as ingredients.
Considering that, I guess it wasn’t too big of a deal.
Also it seems that salt and sugar go by their English names of “Salt” and “Sugar”. Melissa had no idea what I was talking about when I said it in kanji as “shio” and “satou”.
But their names were “Salt” and “Sugar” back in the game so I guess that’s to be expected.
There was no soy sauce but to make up for it there were a wide variety of other sauces, and among them was one pretty close to soy sauce.
Since the game used j.a.pan as a basis to begin with, leaving aside the small differences, most of the flavors fit the tastes of a j.a.panese person. Although I have to say “Rice” in English or else no one will understand me.
Well, by comparison the word “wheat” is said in j.a.panese as “mugi” for some reason.
It’s pointless to be caught up in the minor details though.
Anyways, we finished our meals and were sipping on the rich black tea that came as an after-meal service. As I was thinking about what our next plans should be-
「By the way, Goshujin-sama. Exactly how much was the reward for the request?」(Melissa)
Melissa suddenly asked that question. Now that I think about it we never talked about the details huh.
「Yea, we collected more than I thought. In total we got 162,850 Gold you know」(Hitto)
「That much!? That is amazing, Goshujin-sama」(Melissa)
Melissa’s eyes opened wide and she was thoroughly surprised. But, well, it’s to be expected.
「Thanks to that our funds now exceed 1 million. If we continue at this pace then we might not make it by tomorrow but we should get the 1.5 million needed to buy you relatively soon」(Hitto)
I turned to Melissa and gave her a warm smile as I said that. Sort of as a way to tell her that everything will be fine and not to worry.
「Goshujin-sama…… I am truly blessed to have Goshujin-sama go so far just to purchase me. I honestly believe that my meeting with Goshujin-sama is just like a miracle」(Melissa)
‘You’re over-exaggerating’, I replied with a laugh.
‘No, it’s true!’ her slightly annoyed reply was also pretty cute.
「But, in that case then we must do all we can to strictly guard this Magic Bag. It would be terrible if someone stole it」(Melissa)
「Ah, well about that, we should be prepared for the worst possible situations when it comes to the money. So that’s why I deposited it with the bank」(Hitto)
「Eh?」(Melissa)
Hmm? When I told Melissa about the bank she gave a short answer. Are you dumbfounded or something?
「Goshujin-sama, to the bank? Eh? When did you?」(Melissa)
「Yea. The Adventurer’s Guild and the Bank are cooperating with each other you see. They said that it could be deposited right away so I had them do it for me」(Hitto)
「……How much was deposited?」(Melissa)
「Hmm? I deposited 1 million Gold. The only thing left is enough for our necessities」(Hitto)
Wait, what? Why are your shoulders shaking and your eyes turning into circles?
「Uhh,mmm. With all due respect, Goshujin-sama. But, A-Are you familiar with how the Bank works?」(Melissa)
Why are you asking such a strange question. It should work the same as in the game right?
「Of course I know. It’s the place where you deposit money right? You leave it there for safekeeping and withdraw it when you like so that you don’t have to worry about it being stolen. As long as we have enough left over for necessities then we should be――」(Hitto)
「AAH,AAaAH,UAAAaaAH! I AM TERRIBLY SORRY, GOSHUJIN-SAMAAAA～～～～!」(Melissa)
EEEEEEH!? What’s going on! You don’t have to prostrate yourself on the table and apologize all of a sudden, you know!
「What’s wrong all of a sudden, Melissa! Why are you apologizing?」(Hitto)
「Uu,UuuUu, F-For not properly explaining it before to you, I-I AM TERRRRIBLY SORRRRRRY～～～～!」(Melissa)
「Wait! Like I said, Why is that!? Please explain it to me!」(Hitto)
What the h.e.l.l happened to make you cry like that!?
「*Ss-sniff* Uuu Goshujin-sama. Before the bank worked exactly as Goshujin-sama described, a place where you can freely deposit and withdraw your money …… But now, with the new feudal lord in control, the banking system has undergone a drastic change……」(Melissa)
Hmm, a change?
「So what of it? Can you explain what exactly changed about it?」(Hitto)
「Yes…… For example, the interest rate system was exchanged for a new one……」(Melissa)
Interest rates? In that case then there shouldn’t be any real problems right?
「You mean that? In that case it should be fine. Even if it’s just by a little bit, that still means that the interest would increase our bank balance」(Hitto)
「!? THAT’S NOT RIGHT AT ALL, GOSHUJIN-SAMA! Interest is the portion of your bank account that the Bank charges you for their services!」(Melissa)
……HUH!? What!
「What the h.e.l.l!? What are you saying? I’ve never heard of interest being money that’s taken out of your account!」(Hitto)
「Yes…… It’s true that I have heard that this system is not used in other territories. Since the Bank in taking care of your money, they charge this ‘interest’ as part of their services. That’s why it’s called ‘interest-rates’――」(Melissa)
「Fua!? Haa? W-WHAT THE h.e.l.l! That’s fking stupid! How much do they charge anyways?」(Hitto)
「Yes…… The interest rate is charged once every 6 months and is equal to 50% of your bank balance……」(Melissa)
……W-What?