Translated by: Rinkage
Edited by: The Blacksmith, Azurea, Anonymous_Neko & Ranock Pliskin (The potatic Draturtle)
Chapter 46 – The smell of a memorable day from the other world"s marketplace
Even when I asked Marina if she had any place that she wanted to go, all she said was, “Marina is just a slave. So wherever that my liege wishes to go is fine with me.”
Eventually, I ended up bringing her to the weapons shops and the second-hand shops. It was certainly not a sweet date one might have in mind, but seeing that Marina seemed to be happy regardless, I just let it be.
As I thought, a smile really is the best makeup a girl can wear. It would be satisfying enough just to see an elf-chan, or to be more precise, a dark elf-chan, smiling. Just looking at her smile would literally make my food taste good. Even 5 cups would be of no problem to me!
In the afternoon, we went to a food stall opened by a known eatery at the corner of the market to have their yakiniku-like speciality dish. It was kind of salty, but the beef ribs look alike, and the meat was thick and soft, so it was tasty. Not to mention, being able to see Marina"s smile also added to the flavouring, further enhancing the taste to me. After the meal, I brought up the question from earlier as we had tea while we relaxed.
“This morning Diana had mentioned something about "today being a special day". Does Marina know what she meant by that?” [Jirou]
“Eh!? Y-Yes. …..I knew what she meant.” [Marina]
I guess she hadn"t expected me to ask her that. She looked surprised at my question initially, but she replied in a seemingly serious manner.
Erm, is it a super important special day that mustn"t be forgotten? I had first thought that it might be the other world"s national day, but that couldn"t be it since they should know that I don"t know anything about this world. To begin with, I had already told them that I am not from this world, so they should understand that my ignorance about this world is something that couldn"t be helped.
In other words, it must be something else. What is it…?
“Hmm. If Marina also knows it then…. Ah….is it your birthday or something? Come to think of it, I haven"t enquired you two about it before. This won"t do. Alright, I"ll buy you a present immediately.” [Jirou]
“Ah, no, it"s not my birthday.” [Marina]
“Is that so?….Then, what is it?” [Jirou]
Umm? If it is not birthday then…nothing else came to mind at all.
Well, there are many things about this world that I am not yet familiarized with. It was certain that it was a special day for Marina, but did it have anything to do with the fact that she was in such a good mood today?
“Well sorry. As I thought, I don"t know. I give up.” [Jirou]
“Ah no. Please don"t apologize about it. It was actually….thanks to my liege that, today has become an important day for Marina. It"s because of the encounter with my liege…. It"s because, my liege has chosen Marina that I…..sniff.” [Marina]
For some reason, Marina suddenly teared up. I didn"t really understand what was happening, but it seemed to have something to do with our encounter with each other. I became fl.u.s.tered when I came to that conclusion myself.
“It has become a special day because of me…? No, does that mean that it has become a memorable day because I had chosen Marina? …Though, if it"s hard for you to say it out, then you don"t have to.” [Jirou]
“….No, Marina would like my liege to hear it. Okasan had always told Marina this when Marina was young. The Great Spirit-sama is certainly watching over you. One day, He will definitely show you the way. S-So, I believed that I have to live positively… But I, it"s not for a long time, but I kept believing in it. I kept believing in it, but I"m losing confidence at the same time. T-That"s because, I"m worthless. I-It"s because I"m from the Turk tribe, that the Great Spirit-sama has deserted me…but…” [Marina]
She started stuttering at each sentence as she tearfully explained. The Great Spirit-sama…could it be Le Baraka? It seemed that I had forgotten about that existence lately…
Come to think of it, I did recall them saying that those from the Turk tribe are not loved by the spirits.
“So how is this memorable day related to the Great Spirit then?” [Jirou]
“Sniff, I…. I-I received two guidance at once for the first time~~!” [Marina]
Marina suddenly burst into tears, although it seemed that they were tears of joy. It was the first time I had seen someone crying joyously.
Even Sh.e.l.lo-san was literally dancing for joy when he accomplished his guidance the last time. It would seem that the spirit guidance is something that is really important for the people in this world. This was especially true for Marina. Considering that it was her very first guidance, her heart must have been filled with even deeper emotion than most people.
I don"t know when Marina received her blessing, but for her to have not acquired even a single guidance till now just shows how rare the guidance is. Well, taking the spirit stone"s unusual price into account, I guess it"s a given; The cheapest spirit stone would cost 20 gold coins, so a single one should be approximately 3 million yen. The fact that I have been receiving guidance frequently was probably an abnormality here.
“I see. So it"s like that. Congratulations. I"m happy for you, Marina. But, I don"t really have anything to do with it though.” [Jirou]
“No, it"s thanks to my liege for finding me. It"s due to my liege that I acquired these guidance, so receiving these guidance is no difference than receiving them from my liege as well.” [Marina]
Marina looked me in the face with her pure eyes.
“Uhhiyo~! Dark Elf-chan discovered! There"s no other choice than to take care of her. Hahahaha!”
This was the one of the feelings I had when I chose Marina the last time. I simply couldn"t say it out loud now…
That"s right….! I am not really a good master, alright!? I"m just a trash who became a NEET, in spite of my age…
“….So, what are the contents of the guidance?” [Jirou]
When I raised that question, in a seemingly unsettled mood, there was a perplexed look on Marina"s face for an instant before she replied.
“….It"s ?Try defeating a monster?. Marina has a weapon now, so if we were to encounter any weak monsters, I should be able to defeat one. And….there is another one, but if I manage to achieve it—-I"d like to keep it a secret. This is Marina"s selfishness, but if my liege really wants to know, then Marina will let you know…” [Marina]
“Mmm, if you really want to keep it a secret then I don"t mind it. Considering that they are your first two guidance. ?Try defeating a monster? is the same one that I had received as my guidance too. I wonder if we are supposed to defeat one together. Well, let"s just do our best to accomplish our guidance, Marina.” [Jirou]
“Y-Yes! Marina will do her best!!” [Marina]
—– Marina might be my slave, but regardless of what she says, I still don"t know how far her loyalty really extends. I do think that Marina is cute, and I would even like to protect her for the rest of my life. However, those are after all just my….just my one sided feelings.
In the end, Marina is merely a slave that I had purchased for my own interest….it might be that her feelings come from a feeling of grat.i.tude, even though that kind of behavior is usually not displayed.
What it could be due to, with all of these different thoughts swirling in my mind, that I had taken Marina"s loyalty and feelings lightly.
It was only quite some time after that, that I came to regret it.
If you are reading this on a place other than rinkagetranslation.com, this chapter has been stolen and is neither the most recent or complete chapter.
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If you are reading this on a place other than rinkagetranslation.com, this chapter has been stolen and is neither the most recent or complete chapter.
We decided to stroll around the market after lunch.
Even among the Hanouku Empire territories, Erishe is one of the three places that are permitted to carry out international trade. I wasn"t sure if that was the reason, but with the exception of the Imperial Capital and other free cities, the state of the markets in other towns appears to be incomparable to the thriving business of the marketplace here.
—Yeah. This market was certainly huge.
I had initially thought of taking a look at all the shops—that being said, they were actually mostly stalls— but it might be hard to go through the whole place in just one day. That was how wide Erishe"s market was. If you were to use the area of the Tokyo Dome as an estimate, it might even be equivalent to two Tokyo Domes put together.
At the area where many of the eateries were located, there were many variations even among shops that specialized in meat, from places that specialized in processed meat to places that only dealt with poultry. There were even shops that specialized in demon beast meat (expensive too). Since they were selling the beast as a whole, other types of meat were naturally sold the same way, too. Needless to say, there is no refrigerator here, so the products were lined-up as is, at normal temperature. In contrast, there were not as many fish stalls around as compared to meat stalls, and there were fewer varieties as well. As I expected, fish isn"t sold that much here. Although, I was occasionally surprised by the size of the fish that were spread out on the table, since they were as big as tuna.
There were many vegetable stalls as well, with an a.s.sortment of selections, ranging from those that look like the vegetables seen before in j.a.pan (in truth, they are totally different kinds of vegetables), to unknown plants, resembling corns and tomatoes. There were also specialty stalls that sold nuts, potatoes, cheese, as well as fruits.
Aside from that, there was a rice shop, bakery, dried goods shop, herbs shop, delicacy shop (some thingy that looked like preserved food boiled in soy were inserted into pots and sold), teahouse, and so forth could also be seen there.
Nonetheless, what interested me the most was the fruit stall. The sweet scent that drifted from the stall, and the sight of the strange, never-seen-before fruits, lined up in the narrow s.p.a.ce on that cart. Well, it really tickled my curiosity.
Furthermore, …it might be natural since this is a market, but the prices were extremely cheap.
Back when I was first brought to the market by Sh.e.l.lo-san and Rebeccsan to have a meal at the food cart, the Ririamu fruits we had at that time had a price of 10 El for three. If I am not mistaken; however, it was actually one for 4 El. So, I guess there was a price reduction for buying in bulk at that time.
However, the price was one for 3 El and five for 10 El here. I suppose it was possible that the fruits they sold here were cheaper than even the discounted price from that cart due to the acquisition costs being lower.
These are fruits from another world. It would indeed be impossible for me to bring them back to j.a.pan and sell them (no matter how you look at it, the fruits look too mysterious), but I think it might be fine to let my parents try them. Hence, I bought several pieces of Ririamu, along with other fruits that look like pseudo-peaches and pseudo-figs. I guess I could buy some as souvenirs for Diana as well.
Due to the size of the market, it was separated into several different zones: ?Food products?, ?Household and miscellaneous goods?, ?Second-hand clothing and used items?, and ?Dining Street?.
The items that I had been placing for auction so far were purchased from the regular flea market, but I have yet to buy anything from the thrift store in this market. The reason being that the distance between the inn and this market is much farther compared to the flea market, which is held in the center of the plaza. (The inn in which we stayed at previously is roughly 1 km away from here). Moreover, I was under the impression that the products sold by commoners at the flea market are likely to be cheaper.
Besides, the second-hand item zone seemed to be wrapped in a peculiar atmosphere, making it feel slightly too ‘advanced" in a way, or rather, frankly speaking, it was scary….
That was the reason why I had not stepped inside that area yet, but since I have Marina as my escort today (though not reliable), I decided to summon up my courage.
“Oooohh!? What the heck is this? Hahaha!” [Jirou]
I was, at that time, in the "Second-hand clothing and used items" zone. There were no less than 100 stalls here that were flooded with shoppers.
Most of the street stalls were set up in a simple manner by using tables to display the products under colourful looking sunshades made of cloth. Some of the other stalls were built in a wooden hut-style, and there were even those who exhibited their goods without tables by placing the items directly on a piece of cloth above the floor.
In a few words, it looked like a scene of chaos. In order to make their stalls colourful (probably so that their stalls would stand out), they beautified them to their heart"s desire, creating an indescribable chaotic s.p.a.ce. An ineffable smell that enveloped the area brought about an exotic atmosphere.
Unorganized merchandises, crude vendors, and sloppy display….
…..How should I say it, I like it very much.
And above all, the goods being sold were the best.
At a flea market, people would usually bring the items from their own house to be sold… that is how it was, generally. Thus, at times, even if there were any ‘bargains", there would fundamentally only be one of each item, and the items would be of different grades. However, the people who run this market are professionals, or rather, they had made it their profession and are specialized in selling the merchandise.
In other words, a huge selection of the same type of the pre-owned item is available for customer"s selection. As such, the price is higher than the ones at the flea market; but even so, there is also something to be glad about.
For instance, all the items that I had put up for auction until now are easily obtainable here.
A lamp shop is accessible here, if I need to find a lamp, and the selections ranged from a simple and portable lamp, to an excessively decorative and extravagant one. If I need to acquire dolls, then, as expected, there is a shop here that specializes in dolls (though the price might be high). A scary looking old man could be seen combing a doll"s hair, with a sour expression on his face, from the inside.
Aside from such items, the second-hand clothes shop had stocked up on plenty of shirts, dresses, tunics, robes, and even maid uniforms. The second-hand shop, on the other hand, had a selection of tableware, such as cutlery, plates, and cups. Besides those, there were also accessory shops with a range of items such as bracelets, rings, anklets and the like. Shops consisting of products made of animal skin (possibly demon beasts). Shops selling bedding like bed sheets and blankets made of cotton or linen (the seemingly used blanket seemed quite expensive). Weapon maintenance shops that help sharpen and oil short swords or daggers. Candle shops, second-hand bookstore, as well as, a weapon and armour shop.
The number of things for sale were literally innumerous, making the list seemingly endless. I wouldn"t get bored, even if I were to look through all the items for a long time. Even if I were to disregard the "Second-hand clothing and used items" zone, the ‘Dining Street" itself had countless stalls with an a.s.sortment of delicacies that I would have fun just trying out all the food there.
——It was as if every day was a festival.
“Marina, I have decided!” [Jirou]
“Y-Yes! ….What have you decided?” [Marina]
“I have decided to open up a shop here. This frustrating wait-and-see kind of approach I have, like the time at the flea market…..I"ll put an end to it!” [Jirou]
Footnotes 1.
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