Chapter 3 - I came to the city
While I was grilling in the forest, I was attacked by several huge black wolf-like creatures - I was so terrified that I kept pedaling my mountain bike to get out of the forest as fast as possible and finally reached a break in the forest.
I finally reached a break in the forest, where I fell asleep, feeling relieved and relaxed.
I woke up.
I kind of regretted falling asleep, but fortunately, the sun was still high in the sky. I had been asleep for about three hours.
I had to quickly head right from here and aim for the road… But I wonder how this world treats other-worlders.
Is it possible to be suddenly captured and made into a slave? It is possible. But there’s nothing I can do about it.
In the meantime, while biting into a piece of bread, I pulled up the Shangri-La screen to check the remaining balance.
「 A little over 76,000 yen... I have already spent half of the money. 」
This is not good. About half of the money I have charged is already gone. I’ve got to do something to earn money, but I am spending it.
I’m tired and want to eat something sweet. I searched for chocolates at Shangri-La and found some broken chocolates for 2,000 yen per kilogram.
It might be a good idea to sell these chocolates and other sweets, but selling something that does not exist in this world might be a bad idea…
As I ate the chocolate, I contemplated what to do. The sweet taste of chocolate cheers me up - sugar is the best when you are tired.
Hmmm. I think I will go with the standard pepper here. It seems to be the safest. Knives and blades would be fine, but pepper seems to have the highest cash value.
Shangri-La sells refillable pepper for 400 yen per 100 grams, and if it can be converted into gold or silver coins, I can make a lot of money.
However, I feel that nylon bags and glass bottles are also a bad idea. In a world without glass, there could be trouble.
Where did you get this stuff? Or something like that. I do not want to get arrested and tortured.
I will look for a container at Shangri-La.
「I wonder if there's a leather drawstring bag or something? Oh! They have those. 」
They cost 3,000 yen each. Much more expensive than pepper. I bought a drawstring bag and put the refill pepper inside.
When I tied it to my waist belt, it looked like something out of an RPG! I have seen something like this in a game before.
If this doesn’t work, I'll have to go to the city and then to the market to decide what to sell.
Since I left the stepladder out, I stored it in the item box. I straddled my mountain bike and started pedaling in the direction of three o'clock on my right, from the direction I had come from.
「I'd love to get an electric mountain bike, but they're so expensive. 」
Even if you search in Shangri-La, it costs about 10 million yen. Of course, it cannot be used in public, but...
I was hungry, so I ate some more chocolate.
After about an hour of paddling, I saw what looked like a path through a break in the forest.
「 Mountain biking would be a bad idea from here. I will have to walk...」
I put my mountain bike in the item box and started walking, and soon found myself on the road. Of course, there was no pavement, no gravel. It was just a dirt road.
If it rains, it is going to be muddy and slippery. ...But it was easier to walk than in the forest. And thanks to the item box, I did not have any luggage.
After walking for a while, I noticed that there was a lot of traffic. Horse-drawn carriages loaded with luggage pass by all the time.
Covered and uncovered carriages of all kinds pass by. They all have different shapes, so I guess they are all handmade and custom-made.
As I walked along the edge of the road, trying not to get in the way of the carriages, someone suddenly called out at me, “Are you walking?”
“Ha?”
When I turned around at the sudden voice, I saw a one-horse carriage stopped beside me. The horse was black, large, and quite robust.
“You going to Dahlia?”
A young man dressed in khaki was looking at me. No, that is not the problem - the problem is that I can speak this language.
“Are you talking to me?”
“Who else would it be but you? You're going to the Dahlia down the road, aren't you?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
The city I could see from the forest was called Dahlia. And now I knew I could speak the language. Lucky me~.
“Do you need a ride?”
“I'd love that, but I don't have any money.”
“Dahlia is just down the road. It's free.”
Really, that is a great idea. If I could use my mountain bike, I would be there in no time. I looked into the man's face, but he didn't seem to have anything to hide, so I decided to take his offer.
He introduced himself, “My name's Fuyou, nice to meet you. I am a merchant.”
“I'm Kenichi,” I greeted
“Haha, that's an unusual name.”
He seemed like a nice guy, so I took the opportunity to ask him a few questions - it seems that my dark hair was not unusual.
The carriage rattled and shook as I continued my conversation with the man. At the man's chest, there is a glowing accessory made of metal in the form of a stick that hangs from his neck.
There is a stone on the end of it.
“So, where you lived it was normal to have black hair?” he asked.
This guy's hair is reddish-brown, not dyed, and it seemed to be its natural color.
I replied, “Yes, that's right, I'm ashamed to admit that I've never been out of the village much until I reached this age.”
“Well, unless you're a merchant, a lot of people are like that. Did you come out of the village to do business?”
“Yeah, something like that.”
「That's what I'm going to say for now. I used to work in the fields at home, and since I lived in the countryside, I had a certain amount of agricultural knowledge. 」
“You're quite empty-handed for someone like that… do you happen to have an item box?”
“You know what an item box is?”
This surprised me. I was amazed that there was already a word for item box... the status screen indeed says item box.
But the status screen is written in Japanese.
“I know what everyone says, about people rarely having them, but I've never met anyone with an item box before.”
“Oh, really?”
“You have an item box, but you've never done any business with it?”
“Yeah, I used to store vegetables from the farm. I put them in there so they wouldn't sprout or rot.”
Of course, this is a lie.
“I've heard that before. That would be very convenient. You can make a lot of money transporting all kinds of valuables,” he commended.
“Yeah, well. I'm going to try some things out.”
He was a merchant, so I asked him a few questions about his business practices. I heard that in order to do business, you have to register with a commercial guild.
He said that the registration fee was one silver coin, but I did not know how much a silver coin was worth.
On the way, we crossed a stone bridge over a small river. From the bridge, it looked like children were catching fish on the riverbank. I think it is a good city if the children are energetic.
While I was talking with him, we arrived at the city. I walked through the thick walls and saw the city spread out before me.
I do not see any tall buildings - three stories high at most and made of stone. The streets were crowded with people, giving me the impression of an active city.
A sentry was standing at the entrance, but he did not seem to make us do any kind of inspection, and we did not have to go through him at all.
The other people were coming and going freely. We continued our way through the city on the horse-drawn carriage.
“Are there any inspections or taxes to enter the city?” I asked.
The merchant answered, “No taxes. I have heard of towns that have such things but not around here. Sometimes the doors of the walls close when there is a thief or something, but it doesn't happen often.”
After about five minutes of walking, we reached our destination. He started to unload his luggage, so I decided to help him.
“Sorry,” he apologized.
I dismissed it, “No, I'm just thanking you for the ride.”
After the work was done, I asked him to show me the location of the commercial guild and the inn. It is best to ask the locals for directions. You don’t have to worry about being ripped off.
“You are a good man, and you've taught me a lot, so I'll give you this,” I said and held out the leather bag of pepper that I wore around my waist to him.
“What's this?” Fuyou queried.
The man opened the bag, smelled it, and was asked in surprise, “It's pepper, isn't it?”
“That is right,” I confirmed.
“Hey, hey, are you kidding me? How can I just accept something this expensive? I'll pay for it.”
“No, it’s…”
“Oh, wait a minute - we merchants love cheap stuff, but we don't take things for free. Do you know why?”
I thought for a moment and held up my index finger, “Nothing is more expensive than something for free.”
“You're right. You are a good merchant. The basic principle of business is barter. You don't trade anything without a price. That's the basic rule.”
With that, the man took out a bag of money from his pocket and gave me two silver coins.
“That's pretty much it. And this is a nice leather bag. The price for this is about six coppers.”
He gave me some copper coins as well.
“That's pretty hard.”
“You can't do business if you're not tough. Hahaha.”
But I did get some cash. I am not sure what it's worth, though. But since he said it was expensive and gave me a price, I guess it was worth it.
I had to know something, hesitantly, I asked, “This is going to sound a little strange, but how many silver coins does it take to make a gold coin?”
“Well, here it's four silver coins for one gold coin. Some countries have different exchange rates, so I guess it's not a strange thing to ask.”
“I see, thank you.”
“Hahaha, you're weird.”
Well, when you are from another world, it’s only natural that you're strange.
Fuyou stopped me, “But you. You're not going to start a pepper business, are you?”
“You can’t?”
“The spices here are controlled by “The Spice Union” (Bacopa). If they get wind of us, we're in trouble.”
“Do they have price agreements, distribution restrictions, price controls?”
Well, it is the same story everywhere. When something is profitable, there is an interest in it, and people flock to it.
“That's right. You know, you got some nerve,” he tsked.
“I'll be careful.”
“See you later.”
I said goodbye to the young merchant and decided to go to the inn. I needed a base of operations for the time being.
But if I thought I was going to make a quick buck off pepper and spices, I'm afraid I got off on the wrong foot. Too bad… I’ll have to go around the market and think of something else.
------◇◇◇------
I walked along the street for a while and observed the city. It's pretty lively.
The windows of some of the better-looking buildings have transparent panels in them, so glass does exist, but it must be expensive.
It may not be glass, but some kind of material like tektite or some other fantasy material...
After about five minutes, I came across a building that looked like the inn I was told about. It was a two-story building made of stone, with white plaster-like material on the walls, but it was peeling off a considerable amount.
And above the wooden door was a sign with a picture of meat and a plate - a sign that said, "You’re welcome."
「 That’s exactly what I was told...」
I pushed the door open and walked in, and the door closed by itself behind me - looking at it, it seemed to close automatically with a device using weights and pulleys.
The outside is made of stone, but the inside is dimly lit with wood paneling and eight wooden tables with chairs lined up around them. It looks more like a diner than an inn.
I can see a counter in the back.
There are no customers - it is already past noon, probably around two o'clock now. There were no more lunch customers, so I guess it was empty.
“Welcome. Are you having dinner? Or are you staying?” someone greeted me.
“I am staying.”
The girl who came out had black hair pulled back in a bun and wore an apron, she was about 18 years old and quite cute.
“One small silver coin for a night's stay with food, three copper coins for a night's stay without food.”
I can buy food at Shangri-La. I must save the local currency.
“I will take just a room,” I replied.
“You must pay in advance.”
I gave her the three copper coins that the young merchant had given me.
“One person staying!” she yelled out.
“Haiyo!”
From the back of the building, I hear the voice of the man who seems to be the owner of this place.
“Are you the daughter of the owner?” I asked.
“No, I'm not. I live nearby and work here. What about you, Sir? Are you looking for a middleman to help you make money in the city? Working on a construction job?”
“No, I'm trying to get into business.”
“So, you can read, write and calculate?”
「Ugh! 」
I had forgotten all about it. While I was in shock, the girl brought me what looked like a homework book.
“How can you be a merchant if you can't read or write? You have to be able to read, write and calculate to register with a commercial guild,” she chided
“I can read and write... in other languages, though. And I can do math.”
“Then there were four bags containing twelve linkers (リンカー / rinkaa). How many linkers are there in total?”
I don’t know what a linker is, but I know the answer.
“Forty-eight, right?”
“Amazing! You really can do the math! What's your name, Sir?”
“Kenichi.”
“Hmm, that's a weird name. My name is Azalea. Nice to meet you.”
Azalea was writing what looked like my name in her homework book. This girl seems to be able to read and write.
However, the letters written in the book... looked like Roman characters.
“Azalea, I need a favor…”
“What is it?”
“I need you to teach me how to read and write.”
“Huh?”
She is a little confused by my sudden request - of course she is. But if I want to learn how to read and write quickly, I think the fastest way is to ask her.
“It’s that simple. To thank you, would you like some foreign candy?”
“Really? Are the candies sweet?”
Azalea's eyes sparkled like a child at the mention of candy.
“Yes, some are sweet.”
“Well, I can do it when I'm not working.”
“Okay, I'll take care of it then. It's easy.”
I was shown to a room on the second floor, a wooden room with only a bed. There were no ceiling panels, and the upper structure was bare.
Fortunately, it looked clean and neat, so I was relieved.
「I can finally sleep in a bed. 」
“But you have to take out the sheets in this basket every day. If you have more laundry to do, there will be an additional charge.”
“I see... I understand. If I have any more laundry to do, there will be an additional charge. I'm going to stay here for a few days.”
“Okay, don't forget the candy.”
“Don’t worry.”
When Azalea left the room, I collapsed onto the bed. From the feel of it, I would say the sheets are linen.
Anyway, there is too much going on. In this world that I assume is a different world, I am going to have to make my way through it.
However, I was relieved when I finally arrived at the bed.
I thought I was just going to lie down for a while, but I fell asleep.