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We Reached A Town (2)
Summary of the previous chapter:
The group of 3 got into the town safely thanks to Haruka.
They were astounded by how bad the isekai food can be.
Just as the cart’s owner had mentioned, ‘Napping Bear’ was located at a place which was somewhat hard to find.
After asking several people for directions, we had reached an alleyway a bit far from the town’s center.
Although the outward appearance of the building looked slightly old, it wasn’t dirty and gave off a favorable impression.
“Well then, let’s enter. Leave this one to me as well.”
Haruka told us before entering, to which we just silently nodded to show our consent.
While it is a bit pathetic, having general knowledge and not having it can make a big difference.
Haruka opened the door and went in first. We followed after.
The first thing which came to sight after entering was the dining hall. This may be pretty obvious here but there was no lobby like there usually are in hotels.
The dining was quite spacious with about 10 round tables, each large enough for 4-5 people.
On one side of the room, there was a long counter and a macho mustached old man behind it.
There was a staircase just beside the counter which probably leads to the customer rooms.
“Hello. I wanted to know about renting a room here, would you happen to have a 3-person room?”
“500 Rheas a night for 1 room. 80 more rheas if you add morning and evening meals. Use the well in the rear garden for water. If you want hot water, it will be 15 rheas per bucket.”
What an unsociable old man.
Although, he did properly mention everything necessary.
“I understand. Then I will go for 1 night, with the meals.”
“740 rheas.”
“–Yes, here you go.”
Haruka didn’t really seem bothered by any of this as she nodded, took one big silver coin from my pocket without asking, added some more from her pocket and paid up.
That reminds me, Haruka paid the tax for entering the city, huh?
That means she currently has next to no rheas. That’s quite rough.
“Customer rooms are up this staircase, at the very back, right side.”
The old man handed over the key in exchange for the money and bluntly gave the directions.
Really, how unsociable can this man get? I mean, it’s better this way than him asking unnecessary things, though.
“Got it. You two, let’s go.”
“Yeah.”
We followed after Haruka who quickly climbed the stairs.
After advancing through a somewhat dim hallway, we entered the designated room to find that it was surprisingly bright inside.
There were 4 beds, a small desk with a container on top, and a somewhat big window facing the road.
“Ho? This is pretty good, isn’t it? Better than the cheap lodging houses on the outskirts of Japan, huh?”
Tomoya nodded, checking the bed sheets and the room’s interior.
But… Cheap lodging house in Japan?
“Tomoya, you stayed at a place like that?”
“Yeah. A few times, when we went on trips. There were no proper windows and a single futon would take up all the space… Considering that, this place has a much better feel. Although there are no air conditioners.”
I didn’t even stay at a capsule hotel once.
Haruka also looked at Tomoya with surprise.
“I’ve only stayed at ryokans (Japanese-style inn) and hotels outside. What kind of places did you go to?”
“Mm, a place just to sleep, I guess? Even when there were air conditioners or TV, the shower space would be shared. But because of that, it’s really cheap so it can be quite convenient depending on your objective. Although I wouldn’t really recommend it to girls… Whew, but really, I am more exhausted than I thought~~”
Tomoya fell to the bed saying that and let out a big sigh.
His tail kept swaying…
“H-hey, Tomoya, is it OK if I touch your tail?”
“Eh, having a guy touch it is a bit weird but… Well, I do understand your feeling so I guess it’s fine.”
“Thanks!”
Although he does look a bit reluctant, he did give permission so I went and tried touching it right away.
Oooh! It’s much softer and fluffy than I had thought. I assumed the fur would be rougher.
I continued by stroking it.
“—Uuhyouuwaaa!!”
And just then, Tomoya jumped off the bed.
“Wh-what is it?! Don’t shout all of a sudden!”
“No, it’s just that, you went and touched it all weirdly and what not! No more! No touching!”
“Eeehhh~~~!”
I waved my fingers expressing how reluctant I was to part but Tomoya firmly denied by shaking his head.
“It’s kinda unpleasant! How do I describe this — it’s like your back is being slightly touched, giving you a weird feeling, which I don’t like.”
“—Ah, that certainly sounds unpleasant.”
Tomoya was puzzled for a little while there deciding on how to express it.
However, if that’s the case, then I won’t be able to touch other kemonos anytime soon and probably won’t get the opportunity to touch their ears or tails in the future either. Even though we’re in a different world… unfortunate.
Seeing my regretful look at Tomoya’s tail, Haruka let out a sigh.
“Hey, you two, stop playing around — we’re going out to buy stuff.”
“Eehh, let’s rest for today. You two are tired too, right? Especially mentally, you know.”
Tomoya protested by rolling over in bed but Haruka just let out another sigh and smacked his head.
“I do understand how you feel but we don’t have such a leeway, do we? Tomoya, how much do you have on you right now?”
“Ummm… One, two……. 970 rheas?”
“Aaand, confiscated~~.”
“Aaah!”
Tomoya pulled out all his coins from his pocket and was counting them on top of his palm but Haruka swiftly seized them all.
She even extended her hand towards me.
“Come on, you bring out all you got too, Nao. We don’t have the flexibility to manage money individually now.”
“Yes.”
Nothing good would come from opposing her here so I obediently handed over all the coins in my pocket.
Haruka wouldn’t make off with it and it’s more convenient having them all in one place.
“In total…… 1870 rheas. We need to prepare everything needed to become an adventurer with this. What do you think?”
I don’t know any details about the pricing here but what I do understand is that we have literally no leeway here.
With the remaining amount of money we have, we can only stay here for two days at best so we definitely can’t be relaxing now.
“Umm, I’ve got a question first, our job will be ‘adventurer’? Although that is the standard, I guess.”
“Rather than ‘standard’, I would say it’s more ‘we do not have any other choice’, maybe?”
And according to the explanation Haruka gave afterwards, for what it matters, there’s the option of being a day laborer as well but this also falls into the adventurer category since you have to be introduced from the guild.
There are waiter jobs for females but it seems the pay is quite low.
If by luck you were to get a live-in job, even managing the normal necessities would be tough and you would have to sell your body to save up money.
Other than that, to become a craftsman, you need to be introduced by the apprentice system. You also need that referral to become a soldier and it will be hard without the general knowledge.
“And so, we can’t really be particular about this.”
Haruka shrugged her shoulders and let out yet another sigh.
I mean, it is true, you won’t even be hired part-time without a CV in Japan too.
Considering that, the adventurer guild is a very logical and realistic option since even we can sign up there.
“—Any other question? Yes, Tomoya.”
She said while pointing at Tomoya, who raised his fist while still in bed.
“I am not really opposed to being an adventurer but the money we currently have, umm… what is it, less than 20,000 yen? Isn’t this impossible? We can’t even buy spare clothes for all 3 of us, can we?”
If it was Japan, then you can maybe somehow manage by buying underwear from a hundred-yen store and clothes from ‘Shi_mura’? (Probably Shimamura, a famous second hand cloth store in Japan)
There’s probably no mass produced product here and it’s not like we will be set after just buying clothes.
“Yes, we’re in a pinch here. Sure, we won’t start working from today but at the very least, we need to make arrangements so that we can start work tomorrow morning. Otherwise we’ll have to sleep outdoors, you know?”
“Anything but that! —Even though I say that, what do we need… for now, I guess Haruka with the general knowledge can suggest stuff and then we can put them into consideration.”
Tomoya said after hurriedly getting up from the bed. After thinking a bit, Haruka began speaking.
“At the very least, we need a backpack to carry stuff first. A pouch for water, a cloth bag to carry stuff we pick up and a leather bag to carry meat or skin or fur. These are the miscellaneous goods. And then we need weapons and gear but…”
“Can we buy them?”
“….It would be quite tough.”
When we asked Haruka about the market price, she said even if we are able to buy the miscellaneous goods, we won’t be able to buy anything else.
3 pouches of water at the very least, one shared backpack and about 1 or 2 other bags.
Haruka would be the only one buying underwear and then we would invest in Tomoya’s weapon.
We would be putting Haruka and my weapon on hold as well as all our defensive gear.
“Even when we limit it this much, it would be tough to get a proper weapon.”
“We got no other choice. Even in Japan where machines can make blades, one kitchen knife costs a few thousand yen. Tomoya, if needed, you’re going with a club.”
“Alright. Starting out with a “Cypress Stick” sounds very adventurer-like!”
“No, no, more like a hero!”
“In fact, if you don’t pay attention to the surrounding gazes, a steel rod would be enough, I think. So, for now, let’s go out to buy.”
What a questionable start to this adventurer life.
Seeing us forcibly raise our spirits, Haruka just gave a strained smile.
We headed towards the general store first.
When we asked the taciturn old man of the inn about it, he bluntly told us everything we needed so we headed out without any hesitation in particular.
Haruka was in charge of buying stuff as well.
She was pulling hard bargains, buying stuff for less than half of their market price.
Tomoya and I were just standing beside her most of the time. Sometimes gazing at the other products. We didn’t bother with the negotiations whatsoever.
“Hey, us two, we’re not really being useful, are we?”
As there was less things to buy, we didn’t even have to hold heavy luggage.
“….Don’t worry about it. Just assume we’re helping repel playboys. It was the same in Japan, right? Besides, they are more likely to give a discount if a pretty person does the negotiation, right?”
“I mean, that is true. But with your appearance now, wouldn’t it be quite effective against women?”
“My negotiation skills have not really increased but if you say so, I could try next time…?”
My appearance has gotten better, right?
I can’t confirm my own face. I want a mirror now.
“Rather than thinking of stupid things, how about you think about how to earn even more instead of getting discounts? Come on, we are going to the weapons shop next. We also need to go to the guild afterwards.”
While we were having such a conversation, Haruka had returned and told us with an exasperated expression.
We promptly followed after her but within a few minutes of walking, she entered a shop.
Judging from how there’s sword and shield written on the sign, it is probably a weapons shop.
And as expected, it was another old man inside. He just gave a glance at us, not even a ‘welcome’.
Are there no cute poster girls in this world?
The people we dealt with till now, except the one at the gate, were all old dudes.
And the person at the gate was also a guy — I mean, that is actually kinda realistic in a sense.
After all, there probably aren’t many cute girl soldiers.
“For what it matters, we still got about 1,300 left but a sword is probably still out of reach…”
On one wall, there were swords and spears decorated and on the other, there were weapons such as maces and shields.
There was no armor on display and the prices were notified by wooden boards next to the weapons.
“Umm, a cheap sword would be…… around 4,000, I guess?”
I took a hold of the cheapest one but…. A blunt weapon with the shape of a sword?
I mean, compared to this, aren’t steel clubs better? You wouldn’t have to worry about the edge.
Other than that there’s…. A spear, a wand and a knife, which are all kinda cheap.
“Haruka, what do we do? We could buy a spear. Although it would be cutting it really close.”
“Hmmm, now that I think about it, knives are pretty necessary. To disassemble the prey.”
That reminds me, you did take the ‘Disassemble’ skill, didn’t you, Haruka-san?
Are you gonna do it? Are you really gonna go on with it?
It will probably be impossible for me to dress mammalian meat.
I can process fish so—-maybe if I try hard, at most reptiles….?
“Besides, it seems we would also need to pay for registering to the guild.”
Oh. More money…
When I asked her about it, I found out we would need 900 rheas for 3 people……. Wait, then we don’t have any choice here, do we? We just gotta go with the cypress stick, don’t we?
“You two, you two! Found something cheap!”
While Haruka and I were worrying about the weapon, Tomoya came happily and showed us what he found.
This is…. A wooden sword? It seemed like a tough tree was somewhat curved into the shape of a sword and a cloth was tied to the handle to prevent slipping.
A bit more practical looking than the wooden swords lined up in Kyoto’s souvenir shops.
However, it’s still made of wood. Is this really viable?
“The price is…. 150? I guess we could barely buy the knife as well then. Alright, go with that, Tomoya. We also got our magic so there’s no problem there. Surely.”
We haven’t used magic at all yet so that’s her wishful thinking.
But, “you can’t make something out of nothing” they say.
We only bought those two things and quickly made our way out of the weapon shop.
It’s probably my persecution complex but I felt like the old man’s gaze was like “Geh, so broke”.
He probably wasn’t expecting much from visibly some group who weren’t even beginner adventurers.
“Well then, we will be going to the adventurer guild now but let’s decide on our registration name first. ‘Haruka’ is a bit rare but I think it will be alright. ‘Naofumi’ screams Japanese so let’s avoid that. Also, a surname is not needed for the registration.”
Seems like this is also ‘other-worldly knowledge’.
It’s not like we want to become famous or anything. There’s no need to stand out.
“Hmm, it would be best to reduce any factors for trouble, after all. Is ‘Nao’ OK?”
“Mm, that would be fine. We are also used to calling you that. What about you, Tomoya?”
“Hmm, how about ‘Touya’? Even if you guys were to mistakenly call me by my real name, with this, we can shove it off as mishearing, right? It would be easier for me to react to a similar name, too.”
“Right. Alright then, let’s call us by these names starting now.”
“Got it. Well, we called Naofumi ‘Nao’ anyway so the only one different is me, though.”
Yep, it’s a relief that the careless Tomoya–I mean, Touya, doesn’t have to worry about the names.
I won’t say it out loud, though.