Netooku Otoko no Tanoshii Isekai Boueki (LN) Chapter 51

Translated by: Rinkage & Mana
Edited by: Anonymous_Neko & Ranock Pliskin (The potatic Draturtle)
Sponsored by: Marcelino.C & sololim de limpiezas aljarafe. A huge thanks to them.

Character page:

Sponsored chapter~
Note: I'll be sticking with the name Aurica then.

Chapter 51 – The smell of the completion of the preparation after renting the place

We managed to acquire horse feed, straws for bedding, and so forth from Rebeccsan's connection. Hence, to make it simple, we decided to continue our purchases from them thereafter. Even the foods, such as vegetables and the like, could be acquired from that particular contact.
Although the prices offered were not "friend prices", they were still dirt cheap, so I was grateful for that. Strictly speaking, the total sum was so low that it even made me wonder if it would really cost only one silver coin a month to keep three horses. Could the cost be around the same as keeping dogs and cats in j.a.pan?
In truth, if one was to muse over the idea of purchasing a horse in j.a.pan, it would definitely not be cheap. The price was astronomical to the point that it would make one wonder if they were actually purchasing a cruiser or a horse. It would be a different story if one was to purchase a horse in places like Hokkaido as well.

It seemed that the villagers' favorability towards me increased after they found out that I had hired Aurica, who was jobless and also visually impaired.
They could converse with me easily, though the conversations were typically simple ones that revolved around the mansion, my business, or Diana (since she's an elf), so I was able to answer them accordingly.
I used to have the impression that 99% of the villagers were farmers but, considering that it is the only village close to Erishe, there are people who work there too.
Those are villagers who commute to the city. Although, the word ‘commute' doesn't seem to be a word that is suitable to be used in a fantasy world like this.

I decided to leave the task of procuring goods from the village entirely to Aurica. I was also planning to have Marina learn how to purchase items as well, to even out the workload after some time, but Aurica would have to bear this responsibility for the time being. After all, all she needed to do was to procure goods from her own village, so there shouldn't be any problem.
Although, if I were to buy a large quant.i.ty of straw and horse feed, would she be able to carry them all by herself?

For the time being, we returned to the mansion after purchasing the straw and horse feed. I also acquired vegetables and a bag of rice. Simple cooking utensils were prepared by Hetty-san in the mansion and tableware were also readied there already.
Not to mention, we could have all the water we could drink from the well, too.
I guess this should be sufficient concerning our food.

Aurica would start working tomorrow, but it seemed that she had not prepared anything even though she would be living with us from now on. It would indeed be too much for Aurica to share the same bed with Diana and Marina as well, so I would have to prepare another one for her.
Well, I would be able to make use of the bed in the future, so I will do something about it, one way or another. Futon should be fine too, I guess. The only problem was concerning the maid uniform, but it should be alright to get them from the second-hand stall in the market.
…In truth, I would like to get a cute custom-made one. A tailored uniform! But, considering that I had expended most of my funds already, it would be impossible for now.

Aurica's employment was done through verbal agreement since I did not plan to use the spirit contract every single time. If she were to run off after this, I would be the one to lose out since I lost one spirit stone. However, in my opinion, it wasn't necessary to strongly bind someone with something like a spirit contract.
One might say that it was naive of me, but I thought it would be better to ‘believe and be deceived than to be wary and doubt someone'. It was the saying of the protagonist from my favourite manga as well.

After Hetty-san carried the baggage into the mansion, she went back into the carriage after saying, “I'll come again.”

Following that, Rebeccsan taught us basic horse care before dusk.
While I was feeding the horses, a feeling sprouted inside me:
"Cute. Horses are cute. These otherworldly horses might be huge, but they're cute."
Marina and Diana seemed to feel the same way as me. They appeared so delighted that they ended up feeding the horses too many carrots, so Rebeccsan had to warn them against overfeeding the horses.

I should practice horse riding tomorrow since it would be embarra.s.sing not knowing how to ride one after purchasing them.
…Once I mastered horse riding, I should add ‘horse riding' into the list of skills in my resume…

After that, we tried cooking some dishes.

Just as expected, Diana couldn't cook at all. It was at the point where it was clear that she had never been in a kitchen before (she had never even hold a kitchen knife before).
…Nevertheless, such a thing wouldn't be a problem for a high elf with cheat abilities like her.
She could simply use her spirit magic to light up the firewood, or transfer the water from a jar. Moreover, she could also easily summon the light spirit for illumination.
What the heck… What kind cheat abilities are those?
Didn't she say that she wasn't able to use her spirit magic while her guidance was still not fulfilled?

“I can use simple ones.” [Diana]

When I asked Diana about it, that was the reply given.

“I can use them here because this mansion is overflowing with spirit power.” [Diana]

Even though she said she could use 'simple spirit magic', I wouldn't know the actual limit of the spirit magic that she could use…

On the other hand, while Marina might not be as good as Rebeccsan, she was capable of cooking, at the very least. It gave me an unexpected feeling when I saw her humming while she was cooking the potatoes. It was surprising to me because I had initially expected her to be the clumsy type who would mistake sugar for salt.

Alternately, I was in charge of cooking the rice.
To be precise, I went back to my parents home and cooked it using a rice cooker. I could cook it using a pot, but… it would be easier with a rice cooker since I definitely could not mess it up…

All the dishes were delicious as usual and the rice that was cooked with the rice cooker seemed to be popular, too. The mushroom dish made by Marina was slightly salty though.

After our cooking, I went back to j.a.pan as I had to prepare the bed before night time.

Once I returned to my room, I started up my PC to check on the results of the auctions.
Even though the auctions had not ended yet, the bids were piling up gradually.
Well, it was to be expected since the starting bids were set at 1 yen. I wasn't sure if this would end up becoming a bidding war and inflate the bidding prices, but that was precisely the reason why I should test the waters first.

While I was at it, I checked the thread, too.
Could it be due to the winter break? The thread seemed to be turbulent. However, that was not something that was out of ordinary. Since I was busy, I went through just two to three responses. It seemed that some kind of site has been created and new residents have been flowing in this thread after reading what was summarized there.
In other words, I guess I should be more careful of what I post in the thread. That said, there shouldn't be people who would really believe that I could travel through the mirror to another world. Even I had a hard time believing it myself after I came back to this side.
Well, there shouldn't be any problem if they were to continue a.s.suming that what I had shown them so far were CG effects.

The bed frame that used to be my sister's was kept in the storeroom, so I brought it out, along with the futon that was kept in the closet in the guest room.

a.s.sembled, they made a perfect bed for Aurica.

◇◆◆◆◇

The next day, everyone, including Aurica, went to the temple. Naturally, the reason we were going there was to heal Aurica's eyes with the spirit stone.
I was told that one spirit stone would be sufficient for the job, but there were cases whereby they might not work depending on the types of spirit stone used, so I brought two of mine just in case. Since the lapis lazuli was the first spirit stone I acquired, I intended to keep it as a memento, hence I would be using the opal instead. Well, if the opal doesn't work, then I will use the lapis lazuli, since I wasn't that fixated on it.

Priestess-chan was cute as usual today. I managed to take pictures of her secretly, though Diana almost blew my camera to smithereens.
It might be rash of me to have taught Diana about camera previously…

Upon releasing the power of the spirit stone, Priestess-chan chanted the magic for eye recovery and the treatment was completed in an instant.
It seemed that the opal alone was adequate for the job. The lapis lazuli seems to be cla.s.sified as a high-grade spirit stone, called the ‘Azure Sky Gem' or something along that line. In short, it was probably a waste to use it due to its value. Rather, it surprised me that I was in possession of such a good spirit stone.

Apparently, the best spirit stone is one that has a solid colour, followed by one that has high transparency (The crystal used by the mayor to enchant the present previously was one of great quality). It seems that a multi-coloured spirit stone like the opal is not that highly valued.

“What about diamond?” I enquired, and received a simple, “What's that?” in reply.
However, I noticed Diana looking somewhat surprised about it, so I tried probing her.

“Do you know about it, Diana?!” [Jirou]

She evaded my question.
I didn't have much information about spirit stones since they were too rare in this world.

Aurica, whose eyesight had recovered by the special power of the spirit stone, started leaping up and down like a foolish child as she shouted, “I can see! I can really see! It's amazing, it's amazing! Dannsama, thank you~~”

Although, my plan to have a 'gla.s.ses-wearing girl' was ruined, it would be fine as long as the person herself was satisfied…
However, I decided to start a new 'maid with fake gla.s.ses' plan instead, since it is what men dream of. No, I wasn't wrong in that.
I should buy fake gla.s.ses next time.

After we left the temple, we went straight to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in order to rent a s.p.a.ce in the market.
I had already acquired a mansion, horses, and I had also hired a maid. However, I would go broke if I didn't begin my business soon.

Thus, I decided to rent an area in the ‘Household and miscellaneous goods' zone. I was initially interested in starting out in the ‘Second-hand clothing and used items' zone, but since the merchandise that I would be selling is brand new, I had no choice but to set up my store in the new zone. Although, even if I said it was a store, it was actually just a stall.
When I asked the employees, it seemed that there were more s.p.a.ces available compared to the previous time (it was the day before yesterday, actually). It was understandable though, since there would be frequent changes to the reservations in the beginning of the month.
According to Hetty-san, I should apparently “Start throughout the island, establish my position, then make my way up…” which I didn't really understand, but there was no reason to fuss over exactly where to set up my first stall.

That said, I would still like to confirm what the neighbouring stalls would be selling, so I took the opportunity to go through several areas in the market when it was less crowded; in fact, I decided to carry out a preliminary inspection in the market before I begin my business.
For the time being, it seemed that there was only one section in the ‘Household and miscellaneous goods' zone where new items were sold (upon closer look, I noticed a few second-hand items mixed in as well). It appeared to be quite impressive in comparison to the ‘Second-hand clothing and used items' zone.

A youngster, who seemed like a disciple of a blacksmith, was tending a stall where knives were sold, looking as if he had too much time in his hand. The merchandise that were displayed for sale were Western knives made of iron. They seemed to be the typical type that were used in household. Although the ones up for sale came in different sizes, the longest one was almost 80 cm in length - one could easily use a knife of this length as a weapon. There were huge butcher knives for sale, too.

At the tableware stalls, there were bowls that were carved from wood, earthenware bowls, gla.s.s cups, and other kinds of bowls sold, but they didn't seem to have any porcelain bowl.

The kitchen appliance store was stocked with a huge amount of items, some never before seen—from iron frying pans, cooking chopsticks, spatulas, small seasoning jars, and tongs to measuring cups, ladles, wooden bowls, and bamboo strainers. The sales s.p.a.ce seemed to take up two blocks.
Everything else was like a general shop—wall ornaments and furniture shops, sewing shops, rug and carpet shops, clothing, bags, woodworking supplies, farm tools, hair ornaments and hats, parchments, paintings. In short, everything was on sale. There was an incredible number of stores, so I couldn't check all of them, but as long as I set up a shop here, I can eventually figure it out. And if there are good products, I can also import them to j.a.pan.

As I looked at the seasoning, I remembered. The value of salt in this world is surprisingly common, and basically free.

This is apparently because of the numerous salt lakes in this world. Among them there are essentially pools of salt formed over a long period of time through this cycle: “seawater puddle → evaporation → seawater inflow → evaporation → seawater inflow → evaporation", just one of which is enough to never lack salt again.
That's why everyone freely uses salt while cooking here. It's commonplace for meat and fish to be cooked with herbs and baked in a salted crust. There are also a lot of processed food preserved in salt.
Better yet, I should just bring the salt to j.a.pan and say, "Abundant amounts of unknown mineral! Salt from another world!" and sell it—but food products are a little risky, so never mind that.
Well, there's no guarantee something weird like that would even sell in the first place. Even through net auctions.

Going around the area I had my eye on, I decided on a corner between a tool maintenance shop and a shoe store that looked good. I didn't want to have overlapping products with the shops next door, so it was perfect.
Not to mention I could always get my items on hand fixed at the maintenance store if needed.

I returned to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and signed the contract. The contract fee is one silver coin for a month. They strangely did not have single week contracts, so I signed for a month.
The place is “Black No. 21”. It seems like it's named by colour, depending on the island.

Since there will be a flea market tomorrow, I should advertise my shop as I sell my items. Yup, I should do that. I will probably open my stall in the market three days from now. I'll have to re-purchase products for the market as well.

In any case, my merchant life in another world begins here! Let's work hard!