Chapter 9

This is a Different World

“Now that the risk of being sold away has disappeared, I think I should check up on the common sense of this world again.”

After dealing with Kevin and securing living expenses, Ellis has become interested in the fantasy world she has been blown into.

Three dishes of lightly boiled oatmeal with bovine milk is placed down for breakfast. This was all prepared by Frau. Apparently, Frau is good at cooking.

At the dining table, Reeve is set up in front of Ellis in the center of the three-seater. Frau decided to sit next to Ellis and set the dishes down accordingly.

Both Reeve and Frau ate their breakfasts silently, but the heavy atmosphere from yesterday had already disappeared.

So Ellis decided to make a proposition. “Reeve, Frau, Once we’re done eating breakfast, how about we explore the house?”

“That’s alright. I have to run over to the market and the guild later though.”

“I also have to arrange a variety of things for the dormitory.”

This is good. Some nice, friendly interactions. That reminds me. “Frau, what about your job with the adventurer guild?”

“There is a new receptionist in charge since yesterday.”

“So now you’re Winnie the Pooh?” Reeve mumbled under her breath. (TL Note: This fantasy world apparently knows who Winnie the Pooh is)

“How rude! I’m the manager of the adventurer guild’s female dormitory!”

Ah. An insult to Frau’s professional pride. Truly a low blow from Reeve.

“Who’s the genuine Mr. Pooh? How can the run-away girl laugh in this situation?”

Ah. Going right for Reeve’s weak point. Merciless.

“I didn’t run away. I became an adventurer!”

Reeve raises to Frau’s provocation.

Frau snorts. “Then how about you go make some money?”

Ouch.

“Alright, get up from the table!”

“Wherever you want it!”

And Reeve has brought it to physical violence. I guess this means Frau is better in a battle of words.

“Yes, let’s stop here.” Ellis decided to get between Reeve, who had stood up to throw a punch, and Frau, who had stood up to receive her punch. These two people just can’t help but to fight each other.

Well, my breakfast went well at least.

With two people accompanying me, we confirmed the construction of the house.

The building materials were mostly stone, brick, and plaster. Timber was used for the window frames and the like. There was no glass in the windows, but there were dishes and pottery. That fact that there are bricks and pottery must mean they have a culture of baking clay.

Copper work and ironwork are also seen here and there. This means that blacksmithing technology is advancing nicely. Heating is done mainly through burning firewood and charcoal. The only problem was the water supply and sewage.

Water is drawn from a well. Since that well was shared between Kevin and Angus until now, Ellis is able to monopolize it.

The biggest problem is that there is no toilet.

Or rather, there is no toilet.

That’s right. Toilets do not yet exist. It is so important, I cannot stress this fact enough.

“I have to do something about this.”

Also, I want to take an outdoor bath. To see the trees as I relax in the water. This world probably has four season. I want to bathe even after it gets cold.

“Hey Frau, do you know about public baths?”

Frau stared at Ellis clearly wondering, ‘what is this doll asking?’

“Does Ellis want to go to the public bath?”

Oh, so they do have something like that.

“But it’s not a very pleasant thing.”

“Why?”

Frau couldn’t help but frown. “The gazes of the men are annoying. In addition, the feeling of your clothes sticking to your body doesn’t feel good.”

According to Frau, public baths in this world all seem to be mixed. You also have to bathe in your clothes.

Ellis didn’t give up this chance, though, and kept asking questions.

“How do you boil the hot water for the bath?”

“Usually we just burn some fire wood.”

This means that the basic mechanisms of public baths exist in this world. Ellis stopped talking about it here and decided to return to the house and explain her abilities to Frau.

“Actually…”

Frau showed an unbelievable expression to Ellis’s explanation, so Ellis placed her shoulder bag in front of Frau.

“This is my Bag of Gluttony.”

“Seriously!?”

Ellis and Reeve jumped in surprise at Frau’s excitement.

“This-This is a super rare item!”

“How much is it worth?”

“Priceless!”

Frau’s excitement could not be stopped, and her words would only accelerate as it grew.

“You can carry anything in this bag! The Bag of Gluttony is a magic tool with the alias of ‘Merchant Killer.’ It can easily throw the market price of special items into disarray, and it could be used to turn an entire city’s economy into turmoil. In a sense, it’s actually a cursed tool!”

“If that is true, then what if you had two of them?” Ellis quietly asked the worked up Frau.

“Impossible!”

‘Don’t be stupid.’ Frau was worked up and blatantly denied such a possibility. To such a reaction, Reeve pulled out her pouch and sang the command word.

Frau’s face turned a pale blue. “I can’t believe it… I won’t believe it…”

“Frau, go get your favorite bag. I’ll turn it into a Bag of Gluttony.”

“Unbelievable.” Frau just kept muttering that word over and over again as she made her way up to her room and brought back a black leather tote bag.

“This is my favorite bag… …”

“Well then, give me one moment.”

Ellis took out all the items from the bags and held her Bag of Gluttony in her right hand, and Frau’s tote bag in her left before casting [Copy Item]. With that, the ability left Ellis’s bag and transferred to Frau’s tote bag. After that, she switched the bags in her hands and cast [Copy Item] again. With that, Ellis’s shoulder bag was now a first copy and Frau’s tote bag was a second copy.

“With that, your tote bag is now a Bag of Gluttony. When you want to put something into your bag, you just have to say {Meal time}. When you want to take something out, say {Turn time}.

To demonstrate, Ellis picked up a chair that would ordinarily never fit into the tote bag. She held it over the tote bag and chanted “{Meal time}.” With that, the chair was sucked into the tote bag.

Frau’s eyes almost popped out of her skull. Ellis and Reeve had to work very hard to not laugh at Frau’s dumbfounded expression.

“Why not check the contents of your bag?”

As she was told, Frau looked into her tote bag. Inside was a curious sight. The inside of the bag looked the same as usual, but for some reason, she could see a chair inside it. When she put her hand inside the bag, she could certainly feel the chair on her hand.

“Why not try to take it out?”

As urged by Ellis, Frau repeated the command word. “{Turn time}.”

Surely, as she repeated the command word, the chair became bigger, as if it was a distance away and was now coming closer until the chair was neatly taken out.

“Well then, shall we continue our walk?”

Frau silently nodded her head.

Today, Ellis wore a small white hat and a pale-red, knee-length dress. Her favorite shoulder bag was hanging diagonally across her chest.

Reeve wore black leggings along with a tunic dress. Her shamshir was bound to her belt along with her pouch.

Frau wore a floral yellow long skirt with a fluffy white blouse. Her black tote bag was carried on her shoulder.

First of all, we three people will walk around the house. According to Frau, the mansion is on the edge of the eastern suburbs of the city. For Ellis, this landscape reminds her of a quiet, residential area.

Angus and Kevin’s houses were standing side by side, but on the opposite side of the street there were no buildings for about another 100 meters. The area around the two buildings was about 50 meters to the left and right. This was all land that belonged to Ellis. The land was on a gentle slope with the highway passing past Ellis’s house and going up the hill.  With her well placed to the side of the house on slightly higher elevation, Ellis came to a conclusion about the landscape.

When walking further north up the hill, Ellis found a stream about 100 meters away from the mansion. The stream had a width of about 10 meters and the flow was quite fast.

“Hey Frau, is this someone’s land here?”

“Well, I don’t see a building anywhere around here.”

Apparently, the concept of land ownership in this world is very sparse. Perhaps it is because the population density is not that high.

Next, turning to another direction, we crossed the road to the south side of the mansion and went down the hill. There, wet lands were spread out as far as the eye could see. As a matter of course, there were no buildings here and the scenery remained natural.

“There isn’t much we can build on wetlands,” Frau explained.

“Because of this, the city of Warren’s building area remains narrow.”

Nice job Reeve. I finally know what the city’s name is.

Frau continued. “Because Warren is just a relay point for trade and labyrinth exploration, the city doesn’t have any real enemies like the Magical City does.”

Now that I think about it, Reeve is a daughter of an aristocrat and Frau is the daughter of one of the city’s leaders, so I could probably ask them about whatever I want.

“Well, let’s finish our walk and get lunch in Warren. After that, we will have to clean up Frau’s room for the night.”

At the mention of ‘night,’ Frau’s face was dyed red. Ellis smirked at the shy reaction of Frau. She generally avoided mentioning night-time activities during the day, but every once in awhile she would bring it up abruptly just to see this reaction.

Walking for awhile towards the center of the city, the number of houses alongside the road gradually increased as did the traffic. The road they were on would eventually reach the center of Warren. Warren, a trading city, had a large shopping center at the city’s heart. Street stalls were lined up along the roads in all directions at the city’s center. Merchants were all over: buying, selling, and exchanging goods.

Furthermore, residential areas were spread out to the north, south, east, and west. The city did not have a wall surrounding it, so that means that the security of Warren and its surroundings must not be that bad.

“How about this store?”

The three decided to stop at an affordable restaurant that Frau suggested.

As they sat down at their table, waiters immediately brought out a thick menu.

“They serve all kinds of food here, so feel free to find your favorite.”

While listening to Frau’s explanation, Ellis looked over the menu.

“Oh, they have rice here as well,” Ellis murmured surprisingly. Apparently the food culture here isn’t that different from Eiji’s world. Ellis-Eiji sighed in relief. After all, unfamiliar meals are stressful.

Ellis, who was feeling slightly better, tried speaking up while she had the chance.

“From now on, we should make a rotation for cooking duty.”

With such a proposal, Reeve gave a troubling look. Frau, on the other hand, looked like she had just won a major contest.

“Uu…”

“I don’t mind making Ellis’s meals every night.”

It was two reactions on the complete opposite sides of the spectrum.

Ellis decided to send out a life boat. “I’m also not that good at cooking Reeve, so let’s all be sure to help each other if anyone needs it.”

“Miss…” Reeve had a few tears form in her eyes.

“If Ellis says so.” Meanwhile Frau looked slightly disappointed.

Ellis was relieved that the two had at least stopped fighting each other for the time being.

But wait. Why am I bothered if my two toys get along? Hmm. Oh well. It’s best to get along well with others anyway.