Chapter 21.
"I want kitchen utensils and a hooded cloak. I also want a dagger. Also, do you have any mats?"
"A mat? I have one, but are you going on an adventure or a picnic?"
"Well, it’s always nice to have one. I would also like to have a raincoat, chains for my shoe, a rope, bandages, threads, and a needle—"
"Wait a minute, let me write it down."
The shopkeeper brought out a little blackboard and started writing on it with a small chalk.
"I also need a tent."
"For the tent, do you only need the sheet, support rods, and support pins?"
"I also want a small hammer and a thin rope if you have one."
"Okay."
"A saw and shovel as well. Oh, make that two shovels please."
In my previous life, Officer Milduk had said, “An extra shovel is an extra life.” A shovel was certainly useful.
When I was in the military in my previous life, I once cut down a tree with a shovel to make room for a tent. It was a thin tree, but it was still as thick as a human wrist. I also used a shovel to break rocks when I was digging encampments.
There were various situations in which I had to break rocks using shovels such as when an encampment was being built on a cliff, there wasn’t enough space to swing a pickaxe, there was no pickaxe available, or when there wasn’t enough time to swing the pickaxe. The shovel was literally the ultimate tool.
"Well, I think that’s it."
"Wait a minute. There’s a lot I have to take out."
He went to the warehouse and after a long time, returned with a box.
"Take a look. I brought everything you asked for."
I rummaged through the box to check all the items I had requested. There were no signs of wear or defects on the items.
"Yes, everything is here. How much in total?"
"Wait, let me see... 34 refined bronze coins, 2 bronze coins, and 2 iron coins."
"How about you just accept the refined bronze coins? I won’t haggle on the price anymore after that."
I had cut the price down on the maps since they were full of errors and not selling well, but it hurt my conscience to haggle on items that were free of defects.
"Okay, let’s do that." The shopkeeper was delighted.
It made me wonder if he had raised the price after anticipating another bargaining. Still, the items were quite cheap since they only cost as much as a third of the monthly budget of a family of four, especially since a mass production system hadn’t been established in this world yet. Besides, I had estimated the total to be over 50 refined bronze coins, so this was unexpected.
I paid the shopkeeper and picked the box up.
"Huh, you’re pretty strong for your looks."
"Yeah, I’m kind of like that. Have a good day."
After leaving the store, I went to a deserted side of the street to put all the items into my pocket space. Thereafter, I headed towards a clothing store to buy some clothes to change into.
-o-
In the middle of a room surrounded in darkness, a quintet in black was seated around a large table; the five candles burning in front of them being the only sources of light. Seven extra chairs and seven candles that weren’t lit around the large table indicated that this space was originally meant for twelve.
"Are the people gathered Pisces, Scorpio, Taurus, Libra, and Grand Leo?" said an old man whose hair had turned white from age as he breathed heavily.
The old man’s voice was mixed with overwhelming pressure, but none of those gathered was affected by it.
"Excuse me, Leo. Aren’t you going overboard to self-proclaim yourself as grand?"
The woman had the most coveted red hair. Her long fringe cascaded to the left of her face as she provocatively eyed the old man’s blue orbs behind his golden mask.
"Hmm? Scorpio, this is an unnecessary provocation."
The old man called Leo glared at the violet gaze coming from within the red mask.
Leo and Scorpio started raising their momentum and started fighting for non-existent superiority.
A man with short brown hair and a brown mask struck hard at the table and said, "Stop it! How can you emit such hideous energy in this sacred place?"
The energy emitted by the man in the brown mask collided and balanced out the three forces in the dark room. Thanks to this, nobody ended with a loss in this fight.
"Hmm? Scorpio, you should be thankful to Taurus."
Of the trio, Leo was the first to withdraw his energy. Scorpio wasn’t particularly hostile to Taurus, so she withdrew hers once the old man had backed down.
"Who are you to say that, Leo?" Scorpio gritted her teeth and made an unsightly smile.
Although Scorpio’s behaviour didn’t sit well with Leo, it was self-evident that Taurus would intervene if he were to attack her.
Once the fiery fight had been quelled, a person with a half white and half black mask spoke. It was unknown whether this person was a man or a woman, young or old.
"We are not gathered here to fight."
"Libra is right." Taurus stepped in and nodded.
Libra ignored him and continued. "We are someone who have nothing in common with one other. So what is the purpose of this gathering?"
"It is for my honor," Leo replied.
"It is for my greed," said Scorpio.
"It is for my belief," answered Taurus.
Pisces offered no words.
"—"
However, being present here meant that they all agreed on the single goal they shared with everyone.
"What is our goal?"
Upon Libra’s question, the different answers all became one.
"The destruction of the empire."
Everyone got up from their seats, picked up the candles, and blew them out.
"Worship our God! Prosit!"
-o-
I changed my clothes with the ones I bought from a clothing store and then stopped by at a nearby restaurant to have a late lunch.
"Huh? Den?"
Surprised by the sudden call of my voice, I turned around to find the sucker I met yesterday waving at me. I was planning on leaving for the Archipelago after eating, but I got caught.
The handsome sucker said with a smile, "Den? I was sad to find that you had left without saying a word in the morning."
"At least he has some common sense. He decided not to trouble us anymore.” His sister, Alice, grumbled.
"Alice, you can’t say such things. Ahaha, I’m sorry. She’s just grumpy from not eating lunch yet.”
"Oppa?"
Alice glared at her brother, but Lisbon just smiled and said, "Ahaha, seeing how you’re entering the restaurant, it looks like you haven’t had lunch yet. Let’s eat together."
I looked around the restaurant after he made the suggestion. It was past lunchtime, so many of the seats were empty. I considered refusing and going to a different restaurant, but the sucker flashed me a faint look. The glance reminded me of the fact that he had provided me with a bed and dinner yesterday.
In other words, he was shooting me the gaze of sympathy. To be honest, it felt unpleasant. I didn’t have any money available at the time, but that wasn’t the case now.
Are you going to give me money if you are pitying me?
In contrast to the look of sympathy the sucker was giving me, his sister Alice was glaring at me as if to ask if I was going to take money from them again.
Her glare felt really unpleasant, but I had nothing to say since I had indeed received help from them yesterday. I was thinking of refusing, but then I suddenly remembered that the sucker and his sister were also heading to the capital.
Objectively speaking, my knowledge of the world was lacking due to living in a remote area. And this was despite the fact that I had read all the books on the history, politics, and philosophy of the empire back home. Still, books were written based on the culture and norms of the underlying society in the first place, so there were many parts that were hard to understand.
Was this not a great opportunity to learn about the culture and norms of the empire? If it were the sucker, it was certain he would kindly explain even if I asked him obvious questions.
I placed two refined bronze coins on the table and said, "Shall we?"
The sucker and his sister looked at me in amazement when I took out the money. It must have been surprising since they had assumed I was a poor beggar.
"Where is that money from?"
The sucker looked at me with confused eyes. Based on his expression, it seemed as if he was wondering where the money had come from. Perhaps he thought I had stolen it from somewhere.
"I brought it when I was home. Yesterday, I didn’t know much about prices, so I couldn’t readily take out the money."
I decided to take advantage of the fact that I asked Lisbon about the prices in the market yesterday. Fortunately, the sucker believed my words and let out a sigh of relief. He had said that he wanted to become a knight, but it seemed as if his head was really empty.
On the other hand, Alice looked at me suspiciously.
"Do you really believe what he said?"
"Of course! Den is a good kid."
How long had he known me to say that I was a good person? He was really a sucker that made people sigh. Still, it was true that I was a good person. I didn’t turn my back on him or run away with his money.
"It won’t be as good as yesterday’s meal and lodging, but I’ll buy lunch today."
Lisbon was quick to refuse my offer, but one slap from Alice on the side immediately quieted him.
"Then I’ll thank you for the food."
Although the brother was a sucker, there were a lot of things I could learn from the sister. If you wanted to learn about foreigners, the quickest way was definitely to become closer to the locals.
I looked at the menu and said, "I’ll have wheat bread, mushroom soup, and roasted chicken legs. Have you guys ordered yet?"
"No, not yet. I’ll have wheat bread and tomato soup with parmesan cheese and garlic steak."
Alice ordered expensive dishes without hesitation.
One garlic steak alone was 15 pelks. Her order came to 23 pelks; it was more than the meal Lisbon and I had yesterday.
"Alice?"
"What? This is still lesser than the amount of money it took to change the single room to a double room yesterday.”
"Well, that’s—"
"And with our original budget, it should have been possible to have meals like this between the two of us without a problem during our journey to the capital. Unfortunately, due to my brother, we’re now stuck with eating wheat bread smeared with jam."
"Sorry."
Lisbon bowed his head and apologized as if he was ashamed of himself. The apology was for Alice, but it was for me as well.
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