Chapter 2: Trying to learn from kidsThe capital is a city like medieval Europe.
I first started by calling out to the street children that were gathering at the place.
“Do you have some time to spare? I just came from the countryside and I am quite unfamiliar with this country. I’ll treat you to that meat skewer from the food stand if you could teach me.”
At first they were a bit doubtful, but they eventually gave in to their appet.i.tes and gave me an OK.
I gave the kids 2 skewers each and listened to the information they provided.
First and foremost is the value of currency which is very very v-very important. And no, this is not an overstatement.
1 piece of iron coin = 10 Yen
1 piece of copper coin = 100 Yen
1 piece of silver coin = 1,000 Yen
1 piece of gold coin = 10,000 Yen
1 piece of big gold coin = 100,000 Yen
1 piece of platinum coin = 1,000,000 Yen
After listening for a while, I deduced that the currency value is something like that.
The skewers that I treated the kids with cost 5 iron coins per stick.
It seems that a family of 4 would spend a minimum of 6 gold coins per month.
Also, there are adventurer guilds and merchant guilds that are independent of the country (this is a staple of the fantasy genre in light novels right?). By being affiliated to either one, travelling between country to country and city to city will be smoother.
The main point is that it seems that it’s not expensive to join them.
Excluding people with identification papers such as guild cards from either merchant or adventurer guilds, people without identification papers (ruralites or the street children, like me, do not have identification papers) would need to pay taxes while entering the country or cities.
This place here is an example.
And then, I heard more about this country.
It appears that the conflict with the demon race is true, but it seems that this country was the one trying to pick a fight.
It was said that the reason for destroying the demon race was for revenge. Still, at the end of the day, it looks like the real aim is to conquer the demon race’s territory.
The neighbouring states that are governed by the human race are expected to go to war (TN: Raws says キナ臭いことになっていて = “expected to have burning smell”, which to me means “expected to burn”, and after inferring means “go to war”), and people are slowly starting to escape from this country, so I heard.
They said they were orphans that lost their parents from the war.
These kids are surprisingly well-informed.
They said they have been taking up odd jobs, earning money to survive, and in the process, gained experience.
These children have strong wills.
Anyways, I would be staying at this inn tonight and by tomorrow, I will leave the capital.
Hearing from the kids, there is a stagecoach (TN: horse-driven carriage) operating daily from the capital all the way to Kiers (TN: Kiirusu; raws: キールス), a neighbouring state near the borders, and I could ride on it to reach the borders.
After that, I would walk to the neighbouring country, and decide what to do next when I’m there.
In any case, leaving the Reijseger capital is the number 1 priority.
In order to do so, I require some cash. Therefore, I need to consider how to obtain it.
Hmm, but I was supplied with 20 gold coins. (TN: 200,000 Yen worth)
For one person, it may seem quite generous, but considering that we were sort of abducted through the summoning and the cash is for the apology, this is to some extent reasonable.
In my opinion, it is a good start for me to have received that much from such a dubious country.
Anyways, let’s try to survive for the time being.
I went to a clothing shop that the kids recommended for its reasonable prices.
Right now, I am still wearing the suit that I had on before the summoning and it cannot be helped that I stand out too much.
I bought a dull-coloured shirt and a light brown pants that resemble what people walking around the streets wear.
The clothes cost 7 silver coins in total, much more than I expected, but the shopkeeper also bought my suit, business shirt and business bag for 3 gold coins, so I gained a net total of 2 gold coins and 3 silver coins.
I was thinking of putting the small and portable objects like my smart phone, writing stationery and doc.u.ments, which were originally in my business bag, in the item box but I do not know how the item box is treated in this world, (TN: the MC does not know how rare item boxes are) so it is better if I do not go around showing it too easily.
Well, it is a common trend in light novels for item boxes to be considered as precious skills.
Thankfully, the shopkeeper gave me a cloth-made shoulder bag as a freebie, so I am able to put my stuff in there.
As for my leather shoes, it should be fine to leave it as it is.
Before leaving the clothing shop, I asked if there is an affordable inn nearby.
The shopkeeper recommended the inn 3 houses away, and so I headed towards the inn.
One night at the inn including meals would cost 4 silver coins.
After dinner, I retreated back to my room and verified what I had to do.
Firstly ……
[Status open]
[Name] Tsuyoshi Mukouda
[Age] 27
[Occupation] Person from other world who got involved
[Level] 1
[Phy. Power] 100
[Magic Power] 100
[Attack] 78
[Defence] 80
[Agility] 75
[Skill] Appraise Item Box
[Unique skills] Online Supermarket
From the explanation I heard at the castle, I understand that by shouting “Status open”, a semi-transparent status window would appear in front of my eyes.
It looks like a summoned hero (speaking of which, I am not a hero T.T) is able to freely appraise any skill by checking his own status.
It is said that normally, one would have to use the prepared magical equipment at the guild branches or temples to appraise one’s status.
Speaking of which, a person told me with pride that the status confirmation magical equipment was developed painstakingly by the craftsmen of this country.
Leaving that aside, the people of this world have an average status value of 70, so I guess I’m slightly stronger than average.
Regarding the skill appraisal and item box, all of the other three heroes have it too, so it seems that this is a special privilege of being summoned.
Back when I was at the castle, I heard by accident that the item boxes of summoned people have a large capacity and the legends also say that in the past, summoned heroes were able to kill more than 1000 demons.
Additionally, at the point of being summoned, people who are summoned are able to comprehend the language of this fantasy world.
I think this must be another specialty of summoned people.
This, too, is a norm for all other-world summoning stories, yeah.
The biggest issue here is that I have a unique skill called Online Supermarket.
Of course I know what an Online Supermarket is.
During the holidays, I, who like to slack at home have been greatly making use of it.
I don’t hate cooking so I would have my cooking ingredients delivered and after cooking my dishes, I would either eat while watching the drama shows that I have prerecorded, or drink beer while wolfing down light novels to pa.s.s time.
That’s my routine for a holiday.
Hmm, the question is how do I use this unique skill?
[Online Supermarket]
I chanted it to see if any transformation would occur.
What about touching it?
After touching the words “Online Supermarket”, a change occurred on the display. (TN: nice url)
[Isn’t this just like an online supermarket website?]
It was similar to the Aeon website which I often used.
Anyways, I tried putting a 500 ml water bottle that cost 8 iron coins and a sweet bun that cost 1 copper coin into the cart.
No matter how I see it, this reflects the same prices of those items in j.a.pan.
After going through the procedure of purchasing, the message “You have insufficient money. Please top-up” was displayed on a rectangular box beneath.
[So this is about topping up money? Insert into this box?]
I cautiously moved my silver coins near the box … The box quietly absorbed the silver coins inside it.
And then, after confirming the order, silver particles started to appear slowly in front of my eyes.
A cardboard box was delivered.
Opening the cardboard box, I found the water and the sweet bun that was ordered earlier.
[Ohhh, this will be quite useful!]
To the n.o.bles, they knew that the Online Supermarket is not a combat skill but do not understand anything else. The other 3 Heroes that were summoned along with me might have laughed at this skill, but make no mistake, this skill is extremely useful.
As long as I have money, I do not have to be worried about food; as for that money, I could possibly use this skill to earn income too.
This might not seem like a heroic cheat but, with this skill, maybe I can become super-duper rich in this world.
From young, I learned that salt was expensive in countries far from the oceans; things like pepper, spice-like things or even sweet foods can make you as rich as an aristocrat.
I could, with the online supermarket, buy salt, sweets, peppers, at j.a.pan’s price and, ~jyan~jyan, obtain it. (TN: this sound effect is supposed to mean something that happens non-stop)
However, I would be selling them at this world’s prices which are far more expensive.
Doing so would reap me huge profits.
Furthermore, I could search for other products that are profitable.
I wonder why, these days, the online supermarkets sell a huge range of products such as clothing or daily necessities other than just food products.
Just as I was pondering about this question and wanted to register with the merchant guild, I realised that it was unwise to register from this country.
If anything happens causing my unique skill or my money-making method to be found out, there is a chance that this country would interrupt my business.
If I am going to register, it will be from the neighbouring country.
In any case, that’s for tomorrow.
First, get out of this city and later go towards the neighbouring country.
From tomorrow, I probably won’t be able to rest since there are no beds on the journey.
I shall rest for the sake of tomorrow.