CH 16

After the second bell rang, Sebastian and Cohen-san came to the inn Hungry Bear.

Their purpose was to receive the cosmetics.

Ginjiro gave them a set of basic cosmetics he had prepared, as well as shampoo and conditioner in the famous red bottle.

The head maid, Cohen-san’s hair looks silky smooth, but Ginjiro knows that it’s a bush snake, so he ignore it.

“I’m thinking of paying for Hungry Bear’s lodging myself from now on.”

Ginjiro receives a lot of money from the Mainz family.

I suggested this to Sebastian, but he refused, saying that it was Sophia’s order.

Now I remember that the Mainz family does not pay for lodging, but Sophia does.

I should give something back to Sophia.

===

I have been working non-stop in my life, so I feel anxious when I don’t have anything to do.

After coming to this world, I have made more acquaintances, and thanks to the net store of my skills, I have been able to get some money, but I cannot erase the anxiety that has been born in my heart.

Unable to stay still in his room any longer, Ginjiro decided to go for a walk.

But he had nowhere to go and no familiarity with the area.

Eventually, he walked along the usual main street to Elvis’s store in Fountain Square.

The store seemed busy, but Elvis gave him a signal to take him out.

Ginjiro did not want to be alone, so he gave his mother a high quality yokan (a sweet bean jelly) from a long-established shop and took Elvis out.

“Hey Elvis. I’m worried you’re skipping works.”

I told Elvis about my concerns.

“Such anxiety will blow over when I meet a girl I like.”

Maybe I’m asking the wrong person for advice.

“Is Elvis not worried about anything?”

“Actually, there are so many women I like, I can’t narrow it down to just one.”

Yeah, I knew I was talking to the wrong person.

===

“Then I guess I’ll be setting up a food stand at the upcoming summer festival.”

While walking around town with Elvis, we talked about the upcoming summer festival.

It seems that this town has been holding a summer festival under the leadership of Count Mainz’s family since long ago.

Apparently, many people suffer from summer fatigue during this time of the year, so the summer festival is held on their days off from work.

This is a world where there is little entertainment to begin with.

The enthusiasm for festivals is so great. People cannot enjoy summer festivals if they are suffering from summer fatigue, so they have started to take care of their physical condition.

If they are in good physical condition, they can make progress in their work, and they can enjoy themselves to the fullest at festivals and make the most of their time to live for the future.

It seems that this good cycle has made this city grow.

It has become such a big summer festival that it now attracts many tourists from other cities.

Many people set up food stalls on the day of the summer festival, and since it looked interesting, Ginjiro decided to try a food stall as well.

“This is the square in front of the cathedral, where the best morning market in Mainz is held.”

The square Elvis showed me is lined with many food stalls.

It was already late afternoon, so many of the stalls seemed to have cleared out, but the food stalls were still open.

I was thirsty, so I stopped by a stall selling fruit water.

I accepted a cup of fruit water from the unfriendly owner and paid him a copper coin.

The fruit water had a faint citrus aroma, but it was warm and almost entirely just a cup of water.

“It didn’t taste very good.”

I told Elvis what I thought.

“That’s because that stall is for tourists.”

Elvis laughs out loud.

He said that place was a tourist rip-off stall.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

I complained to Elvis.

“Sorry~. But if you could learn something for a copper coin, it’s a small price to pay.”

Maybe he was right, but I was angry that I had been ripped off.

Elvis laughed again when he saw how angry I was, but in the end Elvis offered to introduce me to a good fruit water place.

After leaving the square and walking for a while, we came to a street lined with stores or wholesale stores.

“Elvis, wait a minute. There are so many interesting shops that I want to see.”

“No problem. The good fruit water place is right behind this street, so let’s visit when you are done.”

After receiving an OK from Elvis, we first went into a tableware shop.

Many of the wooden plates and cups were inexpensive, starting at one copper coin, but the ceramic tableware was a bit more expensive, starting at one silver coin.

By the way, there were no glassware.

Although I was interested in the tableware of other worlds, I would rather buy tableware from the net store.

Next, we entered a butcher shop.

The interior of the store, lined with large chunks of meat, looked like a strange world to Ginjiro.

There were familiar meats such as birds, pigs, and cows, but they also sold meat from strange magical beasts that he had never seen before.

It was grotesque to see an ogre’s head for sale, but it made him realize once again that it’s another world.

“Excuse me. How much is this beef?”

The owner of the butcher store told me that this large chunk of meat costs one small gold coin and five silver coins.

He said that they are a trading company that mainly distributes to restaurants and butcher shops, so they do not sell to individuals by the piece.

Normally, one would not be able to buy such a large quantity of meat, but now Ginjiro has an item box.

“Please give me this meat. And is this beef tongue?”

“Ah? I don’t know what beef tongue is, but this is the tongue of the cow. It’s not very popular, but if you buy it, I’ll give you a discount.”

I was shocked, but it seems that beef tongue is not popular in this world.

A fine piece of beef tongue was very cheap, five copper coins a piece.

“Then I’ll have it all, please.”

Japanese people would buy beef tongue at this price.

By the way, I did not want to buy the tongue of a magical beast, because I was afraid of it.

After that, we went to a couple of merchant stores, and then went to one recommended by Elvis.

“The fruit water here is delicious.”

The restaurant Elvis showed me was like a coffee shop in another world.

It was a standing style bar, with a counter and stand-up tables.

“Elvis, it’s been a long time. What’s up?”

For some reason, this woman had a suspicious relationship with Elvis.

But it’s not the right time to ask about that.

“Oh, I just wanted to treat my friend to some good fruit water.”

“Oh, really? I’m Verrine. What’s your name?”

I tell Verine, who seems a little older than me, that my name is ginjiro.

She is very close to Elvis, but says nothing there.

After Elvis lightly flirts with Verine, he orders two glasses of fruit water.

It is one copper per glass, the same as at the stall, but this fruit water smells sweeter.

“Today’s fruit water has peaches in it. It’s sweet and delicious.”

This store’s fruit water was slightly sweet and refreshing, perfect for the hot summer.

The fruit water is made by boiling well water and then letting all kinds of fruits soak until cool.

“This fruit water is very tasty. What else do you have on the menu?”

Ginjiro is interested in another world’s coffee shop.

“In addition to fruit water, we have wine and tea, but most of our customers are fruit drinkers. We sell a little wine at night, and tea maybe once every six months.　We only serve tea once every six months or when the local merchants have business meetings at their store.”

Even so, Ginjiro is still interested and orders a cup of tea.

It was expensive at one silver coin per cup, but he had no choice.

He ordered one cup of tea for Elvis as well.

After a short wait, the tea came out in a ceramic cup.

It looked like black tea, but it was lighter in color than the tea served at the Mainz house.

The aroma was weak, and to be honest, it was not what I would call tasty.

Elvis says it’s delicious, but the tea from another world is still unsatisfactory.

“Verine-san. I will give you tea from my hometown, so please try using it if you like.”

Saying so, I handed her tea leaves and sugar sticks from the item box, which I had used in the coffee shop.

Verrine said she couldn’t accept such expensive things, but Ginjiro genuinely wanted to support her.

I force her to accept it, tell her I’ll be back for more delicious fruit water, and leave the store with Elvis.

I want to open a coffee shop again someday.

At the end of the day, I ended up having drinks with Elvis at Hungry Bear while thinking about such things.