Translated by: Rinkage
Edited by: Anonymous_Neko
Chapter 47 – The smell of cologne from the inland merchant
That said, I wasn"t sure how I should go about opening a shop in that market, so I decided to enquire about it at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (guild).
It seemed that all the vendors needed to do was to set up the stalls themselves. It wasn"t clear to me as to whether the market is under the jurisdiction of the guild, but I suppose I should still be paying a certain amount of fee to them.
I arrived at the guild after travelling for about 1 km from the market. What with one thing and another, I had been under this place"s care many times…
Upon entering the place, I thought of asking any of the staff members around, but an unknown guy suddenly called out to me at that moment.
“Hey, that"s your slave….am I right?” [???]
The guy who asked that was wearing all sorts of jingling accessories like necklaces and rings, possibly made of spirit stones. He was clad in blue pants with vertical stripes, a white dress shirt, and a gaudy gold embroidered vest. The aura he emitted was figuratively screaming, “I am a merchant!” to anyone who lay their eyes on his attire. He appeared to be a plump young man (his age is probably close to mine) whose body exuded a strong scent of cologne.
All in all, his ensemble resembled the Shakespearean clothing that I first wore, found in the room with the mirror. Was that what Sh.e.l.lo-san had referred to before as an ‘inland clothing"? In other words, is he possibly an inland merchant? Considering that there were seven slaves accompanying behind him, he might be an influential merchant.
The slaves that were on standby behind the plump merchant were probably his guards, but even without being told so, they seemed strong to me, at a glance. Their equipment look good, and they have the right aura as well. Are all of them Caucasian? There were no Turk tribes or elves among the members.
When I purchased Marina the last time, I overheard the prices of other slaves at the trading house, but the price of a male slave with a combat-related vocation is no less than 100 gold coins. That would be 15 million j.a.panese yen each if I were to convert it, and there was a total of seven slaves at that price with him. He"s rich, isn"t he?
….No, most importantly, what business could this chubby possibly have with Marina?
“Yes…but what about it?” [Jirou]
I ended up responding with an obvious wariness in my tone.
“Since you have something that you need to do here, you must be a merchant as well, am I right? If you"re a merchant, then it would be advisable for you not to have someone from the Turk tribe as your escort.” [wealthy merchant]
“Eh? Why is that?” [Jirou]
"That"s because you will give yourself a bad image. There is a possibility that you might displease your business partner when you"re negotiating with them too. You must have purchased her because she"s cheap, right? And most of all, you must have been belittled when you could only afford to buy a slave from the Turk tribe, right? As merchants, that is fatal to them.” [wealthy merchant]
A charming, smug grin spread across his chubby face.
Hmm….. I see…..
Certainly, when I was accompanied by only Marina today, the strange looks that people had been giving me did make me feel anxious. That would probably mean that there are quite a lot of people who discriminate against the Turk tribes…..
Well, if I were to put aside the questionable fact that he had suddenly said something like this to someone whom he had just met, this guy was probably saying all these things with good intentions. No, even if that might be true, I couldn"t just stay silent when Marina became depressed due to his words. I had yet to comprehend how the people in this world treat their slaves, but I would not be an adult if I were to keep quiet even after he ridiculed our member.
“I see. Your opinion is well justified, but I had purchased her while being fully aware of it. You see, this is exactly how I could discover a cowardly racist in this condition." [Jirou]
“Wh!?” [wealthy merchant]
“Besides, unfortunately it isn"t what you think. It wasn"t that I could only afford a slave from the Turk tribe. I could actually purchase any slave I wanted, but I chose this girl here because she is cute. So, mind your own business. Also, from my point of view, when you"re walking with a group of slaves like this, I had a feeling that you"re like birds of a feather." [Jirou]
And, I wounded up blurting out something preposterous.
From the chubby"s point of view, he was merely giving me common sense advice, so there wasn"t any need for him to be told off this way……
I became annoyed without realizing it…..
Chubby wouldn"t have dreamt that I would say something like this. There was a look of annoyance on his face for an instant before he breathed out.
“I see, I see. I just came from the Imperial Capital today too. Just a little—There might be just a little gap in the common sense of the people in the vicinity of this rural area…. Well, just keep at it as you are now, b.u.mpkin-kun.1" [wealthy merchant]
“True. Even if I become a wealthy merchant, I"ll be cautious so I would not end up being a vulgar upstart merchant who prances around while being accompanied by a large group of slaves. Hahaha.” [Jirou]
I gave him a t.i.t for tat response.
Although chubby pretended to maintain a calm presence, I could see that his face was turning red with anger.
He still looks young, so it might be possible that he is just a bonbon2 who appears like a wealthy merchant. Since he has the slaves his father bought to protect him, he could freely travel to the free cities around to trade…or something like that. Well, even if that is true, I am actually in no position to say this about someone else, considering that I was quite dependent on the house of Solo too.
“Hohou. Then that would mean that you"re travelling around with only a small number of slaves, right?” [wealthy merchant]
“Well, my ideal number would be around three to four slaves, I guess.” [Jirou]
On hearing my reply, a grin stretched across his face. What"s up with this guy?
“I see, I see. I"ve blurted those out based on my own hunch, but you look like the type who would only transact business within Erishe. If that"s the case, then you wouldn"t have any problem with only that number of slaves. Oh, please pardon me. I had spoken out of turn unintentionally based on my feelings as an imperial merchant who had been travelling to different places to conduct my trades. My bad, my bad." [wealthy merchant]
What the heck is with this guy!? Are you taking the p.i.s.s out of me!? We were not travelling to different cities, but we were travelling between two worlds, dammit!
“Sorry, but you"re wrong. I"m planning to travel to other cities to conduct my trades too." [Jirou]
"With only 3 to 4 people? Oh really? That"s quite a courage. Can you handle thieves or demon beasts with that number? ..…It would be different story if you have magician or elf though. Ah, or are you planning to hire hunters? The merchants-dono from the considerably prosperous Erishe city sure are doing well." [wealthy merchant]
“….I do have one. An elf.” [Jirou]
"Haa?" [wealthy merchant]
“I was saying that I have an elf slave. Also, we will have a magician soon too." [Jirou]
I am the magician though. Rather, I have just realized that magicians would be such great war potential. Although, the magic show performed by that geezer in the show booth previously, was terrible in every respect…
“……Ah. I see, I see. You have a.s.sociated the ones from the Turk tribe as elves too, I see. As expected of a rural area. You"re the same as those from the Country of Fire. As long as they have pointed ears, they"re all elves to you." [wealthy merchant]
"Nn?" [Jirou]
“It"s regrettable, but those from the Turk tribe are not elves. Elves are limited to having only blonde hair." [wealthy merchant]
“Oh really? So aside from blonde hair, there wouldn"t be any others?" [Jirou]
"No." [wealthy merchant]
“Our young woman here might not be an elf then. Well, what should I do, what should I do?" [Jirou]
As I thought, he wouldn"t believe it even if I were to say something like, “I have one! I do have an elf slave!”. Since the price of an elf slave is astronomical, only n.o.bilities and wealthy merchants could afford one.
“That misunderstanding is embarra.s.sing even in rural areas. You should correct it and keep it in mind, alright? Hahaha.” [wealthy merchant]
Then he left as he laughed.
If I were to ponder over it calmly, this bonbon merchant who just came from the Imperial City might be a good potential business partner.
He seemed to be unfamiliar with the circ.u.mstances in Erishe as well.
The moment the chubby left the place, Marina timidly asked.
“….Why didn"t you tell him about Hime? In that case, wouldn"t he still be making a fool of my liege? It doesn"t matter what he said about Marina, but Marina wouldn"t be able to endure it if he looks down on my liege.” [Marina]
“Nn? I don"t care about that. He would absolutely not believe it anyway, regardless of what I said….That aside, Marina, don"t say something like, 『It doesn"t matter what he said about Marina』.” [Jirou]
Having heard what I said, there was a mysterious look on Marina"s face.
“I understand.” However, she, tentatively gave me such reply after.
She might not really understand it, but considering that she had been a victim of discrimination for a long time, it wouldn"t be possible for her to perceive my words immediately. But, I hoped that she would be able to lose that line of thought, if possible.
Well, as someone who had purchased her as a slave, I have no right to say something like this, though.
The market is indeed under the jurisdiction of the guild.
An unoccupied lot could be rented out for a certain period of time (a minimum period of 1 week (ring), although, in most cases, the lot would usually be rented out for one month). The rental will be one silver coin per month (100 El. In other words, 15k yen). Even though the rental might seem cheap, I would not actually be renting a shop. In actuality, I would only be borrowing a s.p.a.ce that is less than 1 tsubo, 3 so if you were to take that into account, it is actually quite expensive. I could afford to rent it, if I wanted to (financially), but there weren"t any good unoccupied s.p.a.ces.
Since I could do so anytime whenever a vacant lot is available, I decided to put it on hold for the time being. I would need to prepare the goods as well, so a prime location might be free by then.
After leaving the guild, I decided to stroll around, in hopes that I would stumble into Priestess-chan, but I ended up coming across another familiar acquaintance in the plaza instead.
“Hetty-san, it"s unexpected to see you at a place like this. Good afternoon. What are you doing here too, Diana?” [Jirou]
“Good day to you, Jirou-sama. Is today your day off? Diansama was lamenting to me that she was driven away." [Hetty]
“I didn"t say that! Even Hetty"s teasing me." [Diana]
A rather strange combination—–Hetty-san and Diana. It seemed that the two of them were in the midst of a conversation in the plaza.
“Has Diana been hanging out with Hetty-san the whole day today?" [Jirou]
“Hetty was handing me the item that I had requested from her. …I was actually planning to do this only after we got back, but… Here, Goshujin-sama.” [Diana]
Having said so, Diana handed me a cylinder-shaped bag.
“Nn? What is this? Are you giving this to me?” [Jirou]
“Yes. It"s a gift from me to commemorate the completion of the mansion.” [Diana]
Diana, why did she have to be mindful of such things even though she"s just a slave? No, even though I did say that she"s a slave, she"s actually a slave only in name.
What was inside the bag was a vermillion coloured leather sword sheath and a belt set.
It appeared that she had secretly taken the measurement of my sword and placed the order with Hetty-san, since I did not have a sheath for my magic sword.
I was honestly happy, since I was just thinking that it was high time for me to make my own sheath. To top it off, I was deeply moved because she had surprised me with the gift.
How many years has it been since I last received a present from a girl? Not to mention, it happened in another world like this…
At this rate, I had a feeling that j.a.pan would gradually be of no significance to me soon.
“….Thank you. I"m really happy, Diana. I"ll treasure it forever.” [Jirou]
When I grasped her hand as I conveyed my grat.i.tude, she was stunned for a moment. Her face then turned beet red as her body stiffened.
“Y-Y-You"ll treasure….forever? P-P-P-Please take care of me!” [Diana] 4
“? Ah, of course I"ll treasure it.” [Jirou]
I had a feeling that we were not on the same wavelength, but her overwhelming cuteness had unexpectedly made me feel embarra.s.sed as well, so I did not pursue it.
“Iyaa~ How innocent.” I could hear Hetty-san"s squealing while giving us a distant look in her eyes.
After thanking Hetty-san, we decided to leave for the day.
It seemed that the long-awaited horse market will be held tomorrow, so Hetty-san will be coming over to pick me up in the morning….
In other words, it would be bad if I don"t employ someone who could take care of the horses soon. Well, I will try consulting Rebeccsan about it tomorrow.
Footnotes 1. Country b.u.mpkin
2. = A posh man who can"t do anything by himself, or doesn"t know how the world works.
3. Tsubo 坪 = A j.a.panese unit of areal measure, roughly 3.3m2 or 35.5ft2, equivalent to the area of two tatami mats.
4. The dialogues between Diana and Jirou can be quite tricky since they are both referring to different things, but it"s easier to write it in j.a.panese than in English for that.
TL Note: Sorry for the delay. Was supposed to have this posted up last month but I was really busy lately and things were rather hectic for the editors too in RL.