200-182 Unexpected encounter (2)

In the end, Haruka decided to stay here to teach Yasue her skills, while we went to find a place to stay.

This time, Haruka will teach her [Sewing] and [Cooking] skills, and if there is enough time before we leave the town, she will add Toya's [Swordsmanship].

As for the other skills, we agreed to teach them when we come to this town or when Yasue comes to Raffan, but it's not clear if we'll actually teach them since they're not really necessary for living in the town.

Furthermore, magic is not a subject that can be taught, because you need to be good at it to use it.

Yasue was a little disappointed about that, but she'll just have to live with it.

We were headed to Kel.

We went to the same inn we stayed at the last time we visited Kergu.

We chose this inn because we had no complaints when we stayed there before, and the lady at the inn was pleased to see that there were many vacancies, probably because the situation in the town was not so good.

I asked the lady, who seemed to be in a good mood and smiling, to reserve two rooms for me, and asked her where the bookstore was.

Going to the bookstore was one of the main purposes of my visit to this town.

I've asked Diora to order books on demons, but I've only gotten one book on dungeons, and there might be other useful books.

At the very least, she should have more books than Rafan, and there's no reason not to stop by when she's on the way.

So I asked the lady to tell me what she knew, but unfortunately she said that there was only one bookstore in Kergu.

I was a little disappointed, but I could say that I didn't have to get lost.

On the way to the bookstore, I collected Haruka from the diner.

It wasn't long before we returned, as we had just secured a place to stay, but unexpectedly, in that short time, Yasue had already mastered the skills of [cooking] and [sewing].

It was a very short time, considering her experience with Yuki, but perhaps this was due to the effort she had put in.

The cafeteria was open at night, so even if she hadn't been remembered, Haruka had planned to collect her, but she was lucky that it had gone so smoothly.

I told Yasue the location of the inn we had taken, and we headed straight for the bookstore.

On the way to the bookstore, which was a little outside of town, we could see the remains of some destroyed buildings and people sitting listlessly in the corner of the street.

We're not on the side of justice.

Trying not to look at them too much, we walked quickly past them, and our destination came into view.

"Oh, isn't that it?　Isn't that it?

Yuki, who was walking in the lead, pointed to a store and tilted her head when she found something.

"What is it?

Yuki ran up to the store and looked at the flyer on the entrance of the store.

On it was a large sign that read, "50% off!　On sale! on sale!

What the hell?　A discount sale at a bookstore?　And in this world?

It's no wonder Yuki raised her voice.

I've never heard of a sale in this world before, and I've never seen a flyer before because not many common people can read.

Moreover, most of the books are one-of-a-kind luxury items. They are not the kind of things that are usually sold on sale.

"But a bookstore can have flyers?

That's right. People who can't read don't come to buy.

I don't know why, but we're lucky.

In this world where books are expensive, a fifty percent discount is a huge deal.

We thanked our luck and opened the door to enter the bookstore.

The structure of the store was no different from other bookstores like Raffan's, but what caught our attention was the large number of books piled up on the counter.

The bookshelves at the back of the store and the towers of books piled high around them.

The towers were standing tall with some space between them, but the space was barely enough for one person to pass through.

In all likelihood, the number of books on display does not match the size of the store.

It is a little bigger than Laffan's, but the volume of books is far greater, reminding me of the long-established used bookstores I used to visit. Of course, this was in Japan.

Welcome!

A middle-aged man greeted us with a happy voice.

A middle-aged man greeted us with a happy voice and a smile that made me want to squeeze his hand.

Needless to say, he was obviously overstocked with books.

There are a lot of books here, aren't there?

"Yes. There has been a problem for some time now with the influence of the Order of the Sutomie Saints. ......

In the event that you're not sure what you're looking for, you'll be able to find a great deal of information on the web. I've heard that.

It's not so bad if they are pouring their living expenses into it, but they end up selling off their household goods, works of art, books, and other things that could be worth money, and use them to buy holy water.

Some people even gave away their houses.

Considering that ordinary people do not own books, the influence of the Order of the Sutomie Saints must have spread to the wealthy and aristocracy.

It seems that the large number of books here were sold by such people.

Wow, ......, it's even worse than I imagined.

"Yes, it's a good thing that I was able to beat the price, but as you can see, it's a mess. ......

It looks like you're having a hard time finding a place to put it.

Yes. Moreover, there are still many people who come to sell them for different reasons. ......

When the Order of the Saints is gone and you come back to yourself, it doesn't mean that the money you invested in holy water will come back.

There are a lot of people who have not yet reached the critical point who are willing to sell off what they can in order to make money.

However, selling expensive furniture in the parlor would not look good when guests came, and if you were a nobleman or a big merchant, it would be a little bad for your appearance.

Books, on the other hand, are not a necessity of life, and it is difficult for others to know when the number of books has decreased.

Therefore, the amount of books brought in seems to be inevitably increasing.

"So, it's 'on sale'?

"Yes. We are running out of cash. If you buy a lot, we'll give you a discount.

Sure. ...... So, first, could you bring me a book on dungeons?

Okay!

The books stacked on top of each other seem to be categorized, and without hesitation the clerk piles them up on the counter, don, don, don.

The five of us just kept checking them.

The books we liked the least were piled up next to each other.

Next, check out books on magic at .......

So I checked out books on alchemy, demons, herbs, and other miscellaneous topics.

Most of the magic-related books are almost identical to the grimoires I have, and many of them have been dropped. Some of the books related to demons have been ordered by Diora, so all but a few have been dropped as well.

Even so, I ended up with a stack of more than 50 books.

"What kind of books can I find at ......?

"Entertainment, historical ...... and autobiographical novels - simply put, novels in which a nobleman embellishes his achievements.

The first two, but the last one is .......

Do they sell?

"It almost never sells. You can't say to a nobleman, 'I don't want your trash,' so I'll buy them, but most of them end up in your wagon. I also have a diary, but it's the same.

While smiling wryly, the clerk pointed to two waist-high towers, saying, "This area is almost like that.

It seems that even if you put them on the wagon, they are almost always unsold.

"Autobiography or diary? ......

Natsuki muttered thoughtfully, but even if they would be valuable as historical materials in the future, they would certainly be almost trash in the present.

In particular, diaries are either shame play or harassment for the person who wrote them, though the aristocrat who sells them is also an aristocrat.

There is a possibility that the diary is written on the assumption that it will be read by others, like the Sarakyu diary and other Japanese classics. .......

I'm sure you'll be able to find something that works for you.

It's a good idea.　We can't sell them, but they take up a lot of space, so we'd appreciate it.

The shopkeeper shouted happily at Natsuki, who had unexpectedly said something.

The shopkeeper shouted happily at Natsuki, who unexpectedly said, "It's hard to dispose of it if it's not in a place where the nobleman can't see it.

Certainly, the nobleman would not feel good if his ancestor's autobiography was thrown away as garbage or burned.

However, I wonder if it is worth our while to take it back.

(What are you going to do with the diary, Natsuki?)

(It's of some value to learn common sense. Besides, there aren't many books to read, so it's a good way to pass the time, isn't it?

(As entertainment, yes. Well, I'm not against it.

Natsuki is a book lover, but in this world, books are not so easy to get.

Or perhaps I should say that they are not easily affordable.

If you go to a bookstore, you can find a certain amount of books, but buying one will cost you a lot of gold coins, so even we can't afford to waste money on buying books that aren't worth much.

On the other hand, this is a good opportunity to get them at a very low price.

In the end, we added a number of books from the entertainment and historical genres, and also took in a bunch of books that were considered garbage.

Even excluding those "half-trash" books, the total number of books we bought was close to 100, but it seems that the shopkeeper was not lying when he said he would give us a service at the beginning, and the total amount we paid was just 500 gold coins.

It was a huge amount of money, but considering the value of the books, it was rather cheap, and the clerk seemed to be happy because he didn't lose anything.

We left the store in a win-win situation.

We left the store in a win-win situation.

"Well, that was a good buy.

In fact, he sold it to me at a discount of more than 50%, so I saved more than 500 gold coins.

It's like getting two pieces of wood.

But that's a hell of a lot of money if you consider that I spent five million yen at one time to buy the book, in Japan.

You can't blame them, they're worth different things.

Five hundred gold coins. It's a big amount of money, but should I consider it a gain or a waste of money?

...... No, it should be considered a win-win.

It is true that I bought more books than I needed, including entertainment ones, but we don't usually waste money.

We don't drink, we don't smoke, we don't gamble, and of course we don't go out in the streets, nor can we.

Except for the necessities of adventure, we spend most of our money on groceries.

If you think about it, it's acceptable to spend money on entertainment books.

I think I'm going to need a bookshelf this time.

If you put them in a magic bag, they won't deteriorate, but they'll be hard to find.

It's hard to remember that many books.

The books I've bought so far are not more than 20 books, so I can quickly take out the ones I want, but this time, each of us has to share in the selection, and there are so many.

This time, however, each of us has chosen our own books, and there are many of them. As for the books that we have checked out ourselves, we probably don't know what others have chosen.

"By the way, was there any book that particularly caught your interest?

"I'm interested in alchemy. The book I have now is mainly about how to make things, but I found a book about more fundamental theories that could be used for some applications.

To make it easier to understand, if the "Alchemy Encyclopedia" I have now is a book of recipes, the book I found this time seems to be a book of explanations of why to add the seasonings.

Until now, Haruka and her friends have been making things that are not in the alchemy encyclopedia, but they have basically been making them by combining things in the encyclopedia.

However, if they read this book, they may be able to create magical tools from a more fundamental design.

I'm looking forward to it.

"I'm interested in books about cooking. It's not direct, but it might expand my repertoire.

The book that Natsuki mentioned is not a recipe, but a book that describes the origin and characteristics of ingredients.

So far, I've been buying ingredients from the market in town, but that's because I don't know the ingredients that exist in this world.

I can't look for something I don't know, nor can I order it.

However, if you read the book and understand the ingredients in this world, you can go to another town to get them.

This may seem like a waste of time for a mere foodstuff, but in this world where entertainment is scarce, it may be a good idea to go sightseeing.

"What do you recommend?

Toya stopped dead in her tracks.

When I looked at him, I saw two children lying on the ground in the corner of the street.

Their clothes were badly torn and dirty, and they were lying on the ground, not moving.

I've seen people sitting listlessly on the side of the road many times before, but this is the first time I've ever seen them fall over.

It's the first time I've seen a stranded person in this world, or even in my original world.

This is unusual in itself, but what caught my eye more than anything else were the ears on the heads of these two people that were different from those of normal humans.

The Beastman....... Victims of mayhem: ......

Yeah. The two children were beastmen.

Basically, there is no discrimination against sub-humans such as beastmen and elves in this area, but that doesn't mean that there are many sub-humans living here, and unfortunately there are few opportunities to see them.

Even in Rafan, where I've been living for almost a year now, I've only met a few.

As for elves, I've only seen Aella.

How is it possible that the first clear victim of this mayhem is such a rare beastman?

...... No, maybe it's because we're beastmen.

We've never been discriminated against, but we're not 'weak' by any stretch of the imagination. What if we were vulnerable and in a bad situation?

This is ...... terrible .......

As Toya approached the children, he let out a stern look.

If you look closely, you can see that the two children have severe burns on their bodies.

The smaller of the two children had burns on his right arm and shoulder, visible through his torn clothes. The larger child had burns on the left side of his face, neck, and possibly on his body.

There's no sign of medical attention, so that's probably the cause of death.

Could they have been in a fire?

d*mn it!　...... Let's at least bury him.

It is unclear if the reason for the lack of treatment has anything to do with the race, but as a beastman, he could not overlook it.

Just as the cloth was about to be covered, the child's ears twitched.