Manowa

※ This story is the story of Tatsuyoshi Kenji, 600 years ago.

◎ Leysin city, Sesu Inn

「Master, wake up.」

Tatsuyoshi"s slave Mintia woke up early in the morning.

「Ah, is it already morning?」

Rather than saying already, it was quite late in the morning.

「I wish to eat.」

「There"s leftovers from yesterday in the refrigerator.」

「Can"t it only be opened by Master?」

「Ah, that"s right, I shut it. Sorry.」

Stifling a yawn, Tatsuyoshi got off the bed and opened the fridge.

「Un, there is some stew. Would you like me to microwave it with some cheese and rice?」

「Good, microwave is good, microwave is really good.」

「Please stop repeating that word.」 [TL note: チン is slang for microwave, so he"s telling her not to repeat it because チンチン = p.e.n.i.s.  Yes, it"s a d.i.c.k joke]

Mintia tilted her head in confusion at Tatsuyoshi"s words. Tatsuyoshi put the rice and stew together in a bowl and placed some cheese on top before putting it in the square microwave.  Mintia brought her face next to the box and smiled as she watched the contents spin round and round.

Several minutes later he opened the box; the cheese was melted and the steaming stew was ready to eat.

「It"s delicious, Master.」

「It is, isn"t it. It makes you understand the value of civilization.」

「It"s also so hot outside today.  The power of civilization truly is amazing.」

It seemed like Mintia was in high spirits because of the rumbling box installed overhead that was blowing cold air into the room.  At the end of the room was an item that appeared to be a ma.s.sage chair. A refrigerator with a freezer and an oven were also installed.

There was no TV, but he could open the MOD tool window and fiddle with the environment as much as he liked. It was an almost perfect s.p.a.ce for Tatsuyoshi.

By the way, half a year had pa.s.sed since Tatsuyoshi was dropped into this other world. Although Tatsuyoshi had a slave contract with Mintia he did not want to make her do anything as his slave, but rather wanted to help Mintia whose spirit had been crushed by various things, so he registered at the adventurer"s guild and started living and working in the city of Leysin located in the north of the Menshiana autonomous territory.

As for Mintia, it was apparent from the brightness of her face how much she had recovered. Various things happened during this half a year. They talked about many things which were not enjoyable to talk about, but due to Tatsuyoshi"s dedicated attendance, she had recovered to a level where she was not hindered in daily life. However, when Tatsuyoshi leaves, there is a tendency to become mentally unstable and she has trouble going outside by herself. And Tatsuyoshi was a person with a self-professed communication disorder, so he also didn"t want to go outside. Therefore, the two of them lived a shut-in life. The great adventure was not beginning at all.

「Mintia.  Unfortunately, we"re going to have to leave the house and do some work today.」

「Are we out of money?」

「We"re out of money. We have been staying home a lot recently.」

Tatsuyoshi does not want to go outside if he can help it. It"s cool in here, hot out there, he"s not good at being seen by people, and he just wants to relax and remodel items.

「We cannot live without money.  That is the sad truth.」

「That"s unfortunate. Perhaps if master didn"t eat so much food...」

「I have no regrets.」

「Why are you saying such unhealthy things in the morning?」

The door opened with a bang and a girl with red hair entered the room.

「You"re going to have to pay your rent soon.」

「Uwa, the air coming from outside is hard to breathe.」

Mintia took a pose as if to block the incoming hot air with both hands.

「I would say instead that it is too cold in here, Mintichan」

「Shara, don"t say such things while positioning yourself directly in front of the air conditioner」

「It"s fine, isn"t it? It"s hot. You"re being stingy.」

Shara made herself at home while saying things like 「Ah...cold air…」

The oven, air conditioner, ma.s.sage chair and so on appeared not long ago. These were created by Tatsuyoshi with MOD tool. He was just playing around when he made them, but they turned out to be quite useful. However, there were some restrictions on his creations.

「They will not activate unless I do it.」

Only the owner was capable of activating them. Although transfer was possible, it required the registration of a sufficiently high level quest, which had to be done by the other party. Frankly speaking, only a player that had achieved level 100 would be capable of completing the quest, so it was virtually impossible to transfer to an ordinary person like Shara.

「Is there some way I could have one?」

「It"s impossible, it"s a matter of specifications.」

「It is inconvenient that it will not work without Tatsuyoshi.」

To be precise, if Tatsuyoshi fills them with magical power the air conditioner will work for seven hours while the refrigerator will last a week, as long as it is closed. But if he"s going out to battle for work he cannot use his magical power so wastefully.

「I think it will last for about an hour more, after which you"ll just have to endure.」

「Ah, I have to go work anyway, so I can"t stay.」

By the way, he also created a fan with less magical power consumption.

「And so the usual thing has arrived」

Shara handed an envelope to Tatsuyoshi.

「Thank you. I was looking forward to this.」

Tatsuyoshi opened the envelope and pulled out a book with a pleased looked on his face.

「I really like this. Even the rare item auction list itself is splendid, don"t you think?」

Truthfully, saying it"s splendid might be going a bit too far.  Although anti-theft worries also existed, buyers would need a list of the precious products to properly prepare the large sums necessary to purchase them.

「Well, such pure feelings will shortly pa.s.s away, won"t they? It will just go into his Strange Bag soon.」

Tatsuyoshi didn"t seem to hear Shara at all as he started turning the pages of the list while muttering to himself

「Mou, if you concentrate that hard you"ll completely miss what happens around you.  It"s awful Mintichan, your master"s like this.」

「There is no such thing. The life I"m living right now is the best that exists!」

Mintia spread her arms wide to convey her delight. Shara watched this with a smile and stroked Mintia"s head.

「Mufuu」

Mintia looked pleased.

(In the months before this just bringing my hand close was enough to frighten her)

Mintia coming so far was probably the result of Tatsuyoshi"s dedicated attendance. Although at first Shara thought this chubby guy accompanied by such a broken child slave was odd, nowadays they had become very familiar. But then, she would find convenient excuses to come to this chilly room, like a wild animal being tamed by being fed by humans. Shara"s old man would also jokingly say 「Marry him」, but if anything he was aiming for the air conditioner. The air conditioner was the one that was loved.

Tatsuyoshi picked out and marked the most notable items from the auction list with a red pen and put the list in an envelope. Then he opened the item window and threw in the envelope. As usual the envelope disappeared and the word 「envelope」 was now displayed in the item window list.

(It"s convenient as usual, isn"t it?)

Tatsuyoshi thinks. There was an item called a Strange Bag with similar functions in this world, but the item box clearly won in terms of convenience.

「Time to go?」

Tatsuyoshi answered 「Yes」 to Shara"s question and left the room along with Mintia, saying 「Please leave the key in the usual place.」

◎ City of Leysin Adventurer"s Guild

「Now then」

Tatsuyoshi examined the requests while Mintia clung to his shoulder.

「If possible I"d like a high paying job that can be finished quickly.」

「Short term high income is the dream, right?」

「That"s right, Mintia. It would be nice if it were easy as well.」

Ordinary adventurers would treat him with contempt if they heard him say such things, but fortunately there were none nearby.

「Ah, let"s do this one, Mintia.」

「Drago...n? Are you going kill a dragon again?」

「There are also five other requests in that direction, we can do them all at once and get a lot of money.」

「Let"s get rich!」

「Let"s make celebratory ice cream when we get a lot of money.」

Mintia spun around in excitement. Ice cream was popular everywhere.

「This one, please」

He said while handing over the Dragon Elimination at Mount Balamo request at the reception desk.

「Ou, white pig.」

Receiving it was a white bearded old man around his 50"s. A vein bulged on his forehead.

「You seem to be living a contemptible life as always.」

「Hey now, Jiro-jiisan.  I"ve properly come to work, haven"t I?」

Tatsuyoshi returned a small barb in response to the th.o.r.n.y words, but this old man was almost always like this. Jiro"s j.a.panese name was not a coincidence; Jiro"s ancestor was a player and the name Jiro had been pa.s.sed down to the eldest son for generations.

「A dragon extermination again? Your partner seems to be a truly skilled fellow.」

「Yes, well...」

Tatsuyoshi responded ambiguously. Tatsuyoshi pretended he did his jobs with a fict.i.tious partner.  The person himself would admit that he didn"t seem very reliable.

「We"d rather deduct his portion of the job fee and give it to him directly.  It"s better that way.」

The guild believed it was better to interact directly with that person rather than through an intermediary. Tatsuyoshi was not in a good position.

「It"s impossible to meet with him. He"s an extreme recluse.」

It seems that this was a trend seen in many experts. Oddb.a.l.l.s secluded themselves deep in the mountains and devoted themselves to polishing their skills. Tatsuyoshi thought that the kind of people who were drawn to such things (though he could be considered the same kind) were a troublesome, but still necessary, human resource.

「So are you taking the young lady again?」

Mintia squeezed Tatsuyoshi"s hand harder with the old man"s words.

「Well, that"s the way it is.」

Tatsuyoshi made it clear with his voice and face that there was no other choice.

「Ah, whatever.  She should be fine until you get closer to the dangerous areas with your partner.」

Jiro-ojiisan looked at Mintia.

「You should keep in mind that you"re going to have separate from him for a while anyway.」

「Still, I refuse.」

It was refused.

With a sigh, Jiro signed the request form.