Vol 1 Chapter 2.3 (2/2)

Is it a gold coin? Copper coin? Uuuun, what should I do? It looks like gold, but it also looks like copper. I remember that the value is usually copper coin →silver coin → gold coin, but which one is this? Hey, which one? Is money not an item? I also couldn’t see its status.

Would it be alright for me to say my grat.i.tude and take it?

If these are gold coins, then the amount would be very high and very unlikely for a subjugation reward. They might find out that I didn’t know this. Then, wouldn’t it be better if I say that I don’t need it?

Furthermore, if these are copper coins, then wouldn’t it be too few? Three coins of the lowest value wouldn’t even be enough to pay for a stay at an inn, right? They might have been just trying to test me. Or perhaps, there are other coins with lower values?

Sparkly is really a con artist. This is just like a trick question. I need to answer it properly. Is it gold? Or copper?

What to do? What to do, me?

「Reene?」(Leon)

「Umm. Could I just not take these?」(Reene)

For now, let’s wager that these are gold coins. But, I unconsciously made an upward glance.

*insert picture*

「Why are thou asking?」(Leon)

「Err, um, ah…」(Reene)

Oh no…

「……This is the first time thou have seen this metal?」(Leon)

Gulp.

「I see. As expected.」(Leon)

「To be unaware of this much is…」(Luke)

Whoa, did it show on my face? Even the commander-san on the side made a comment.

「Reene, what day is today?」(Leon)

Gyaa. The Prince Sparkly exchanged looks with commander-san. I got found out. Has the fact that I don’t even know the common knowledge been found out?

Even so, you Prince, even though you are Sparkly, why are you interrogating me.

「Does thou live with thy parents?」(Leon)

「Yes.」(Reene)

「What about thy siblings?」(Leon)

「One older brother.」(Reene)

「Do thy family treat your well?」(Leon)

Are?[14] Did they think that I lacked common knowledge due to being confined and mistreated by my family?

That’s wrong! Father, mother and onii-chan. Everyone treasured me. Even though this is a grand misunderstanding, I couldn’t make any explanations. Even though they are my precious family, I don’t have any means to correct their understanding.

「They are really kind to me.」(Reene)

Ah, no good. Tears. Falling down. No. Now I couldn’t say anything about my family except for praise.

「Important… they ….have been to me.」(Reene)

「It is enough, it was inconsiderate of me to ask such a question……  Van, Cyan.」(Leon)

The door opened, then Van-san and Cyan-san entered the room. Eh? What is this? Did they hear? Are they really testing me?

「I am sorry for testing thee. Reene, thou doesn’t know too many things. If thou remains like this, then thou wouldn’t be able to continue by thyself.」(Leon)

The Prince Sparkly spoke these words to me, while Van-san and Cyan-san, sat on both of my sides. Van-san put his hand on top of my head and patted me roughly. Oniichan, Sparkly is bullying me. He easily found my lie out.

It’s my complete defeat. The fact that I don’t have the common knowledge of this world was easily found out. Or rather, it seems to have been found out from the beginning?

I, who have been continuously nervous since they asked about my family yesterday, was crumbling apart in tears. However, thanks to this, my mood was a bit better. I had been under so much pressure by the Prince Sparkly’s scheming just now.

Un, after I calmed down and tried to think about it, the situation wasn’t actually that bad, right? I can still perform a conversation’s...o...b..tal trajectory correction.

About being a person from another world, about my ability to see Status, about the Item Box. As long as these three didn’t get mentioned, then it would be alright.

For now, I need to make an explanation about why I was lacking in common knowledge.

「I-I… I was raised in a very small village. Perhaps, because my parents really treasured me, they didn’t teach me much about the outer world. They said that I should never leave the village since it is dangerous. Because of this, I don’t know where is the village located and how to return to it from this place. I want to find a way to return home. I want to go back home.」(Reene)

The first half is a lie, but the last half is the truth. Don’t know how to return home is 100% pure and want to return home is my unadulterated, most important wish.

Even if my 「Want to go home」 was mixed with a lie, since this was the truth, it was filled with genuine emotions. So, it seems that everyone believed it.

「Even though thou doesn’t know where thy village is located, then how will thou find it? Do thou have some means for it?」(Leon)

Means, hmm, even I want to know about this. That’s why I want to go to a place like a library to research summoning magic…… Ah, magic! Light bulb flas.h.!.+ Today, my head is so bright!

「Actually, my magic spells are activated by using a special language. It is a language that is only used in my village. I thought that if I could find a book that had the same spells as my own spells written in it, then I might find a clue about the village’s location. Since Coltea is a big town, then there should be a library, right? I want to find it there. If there is no library in Coltea, then I want to go to another town with a library. I want to become an adventurer to obtain money for this.」(Reene)

I don’t think there are any books with spells in the j.a.panese language written on them, but this is an excuse so that I can search the magic books to examine things related to summoning magic.

「I see. There is a library in Coltea. It also has a large selection of books related to magic. Perhaps, by some chance there are books that are written in the language used in thy spells. However, it would surely take quite a while to find it. So I see that thou wants to become an adventure to earn thy daily bread while searching for the book」(Leon)

One way or another, they could comprehend my situation. I’ve been told that to enter the library I would need an identification paper, furthermore, to browse the magic books I would need a letter of introduction, these two will be prepared by Sparkly.

Just like Sparkly’s proposal, I will work as Healer for two days and work as adventurer on the other days or go to the library when it’s open.

Then ——— Prince Sparkly began his lecture about the common knowledge.

「Thou will need to learn many things about the history and the culture. It would take four days of travel from this place to Coltea. Inside the carriage, thou might ask the Knights, but when thou arrives, then thou could study by thyself. First, let us talk about the basic knowledge.」(Leon)

So Prince Sparkly began to teach me the common basic knowledge.

「First, today is the 6th day of the 8th month of the 823rd Year of the Purple Spirit Era[15]. One day has twelve stounds[16], seven days make one week, 30 days make one month, twelve months make one year…… One year is 360 days, do thee understand up until this point? The day of the week are named after the attributes of spirits, Lightday, Darkday, Fireday, Waterday, Earthday, Winday and s.p.a.ceday[17]. Today is Darkday.」(Leon)

Un, even if you said it one at the time, I couldn’t remember it even for a bit. For the time being, the calendar seems to resemble Earth’s standard. Though, since every month is 30 days, the length of the year is different. Since I couldn’t memorize the names of the days, let’s write it on the memo when I go to the library next time. I also couldn’t memorize the names of the era, but I know that today is the 6th day of the 8th month.

「Our country, Fantasma Kingdom, accounts for one third of Humanity’s land on the continent.」(Leon)

While saying this, Prince drew a simple map on a piece of paper. The rectangular paper now had a sunny side up egg like picture. Well, an oblong that closely resemble that of an to oval sunny side up egg that is. The egg yolk part is the Magic Race’s[18] country. The Human countries are the white yolk part.

Since there is a strong barrier surrounding the Magic Race’s country, one couldn’t enter. That’s why, on this slightly oblong donut shaped land, Humans battle and struggle with each other.

Centered on the western part, one third of the white yolk, is Fantasma. On the lower eastern region of Fantasma is Güselbahn, the rest are one third from the north side to the east side and are governed by six countries of various sizes.

“This is the Camiazure, where we are right now”, Prince pointed at a place located on eastern Fantasma, close to Güselbahn. Then, Coltea, which we will headed to next, is located a bit northwest.

Un, now I know a gist of the location where I am currently. When I arrive at Coltea, I would like to see the real map at the library.

Ah! I haven’t seen any letters of this world. What will I do if I can’t read them?

「This is the outline of the countries. Next is about money.」(Leon)

After saying this, the Prince pointed at the money that he showed to me before.

「It is because I had heard the story from Van’s group about thy lack of knowledge, I tried to bring this out to test thy money sense. Who could imagine that thou lacked any knowledge of the money. These golden coins are called『Orona Gold Coins』. It is a gold coin that was circulated in the Gold Dew Era[19] more than 2000 years ago, its properties is completely different from gold. Although it is called a gold coin, it was actually minted from a metal called Orona. Orona is a metal that have a magic amplification effect and especially used in magic tools. At the present time, it is difficult to acquire it, so it has a very high price on the market. These three coins alone could have bought a mansion in a middle cla.s.s area.」(Leon)

So it really did have a very high value, right? Rather than being called money, perhaps this is more like a raw material or antique goods? However, this is not an item. I couldn’t see their status after all.

How vexing, as expected it was a loaded question. I should have said, 「I couldn’t take it」 with confidence.

Well, it couldn’t be helped, the acting skill level was different. It is my complete defeat, you Sparkly. Even though you are a Template Prince, you are too scheming. Is it perhaps the matter of difference in age? Must be the age, right?

Sparkly then took out a round 500 Yen-sized gold (this time, it really was a gold one) and round 100-yen sized[20] gold coin, silver coin and copper coin one after another. He then lined up the copper coin, silver coin, 100-yen sized gold coin and 500-yen sized gold coin in this order.

「100 of this copper coin are equal to 1 silver coin, 100 silver coins become 1 gold coin. This is a smaller gold coin called a pieceling coin[21]. Four pieceling coins become one gold coin. Reene, do you know how much silver coin will be for a pieceling coin?」(Leon)

「Isn’t it 25?」(Reene)

A quarter of 100 right? This level is a piece of cake. Don’t underestimate j.a.pan’s compulsory education.

「So thou could do this level of calculation so easily. Thou are really interesting.」(Leon)

He was testing me again! It is a cliché standard that the ratio of gold, silver, and copper is 100. It’s good that it is simple. There are copper coins and silver coins and pieceling coins, then four pieceling coin become one gold coin. Un. Easy to remember.

「Orona gold coin is equal to 10 gold coins. Except for the n.o.bility, it is not usually used in everyday situations.」(Leon)

「What can be bought by one copper coin?」(Reene)

「Not much, perhaps a Kecha[22] from a stall.」(Leon)

What is Kecha? Is it some kind of drink? Or perhaps a light snack?

「Kecha is a drink made from squeezed Maca’s[23] juice. Since it is sweet and good for the body, it is a popular drink.」(Cyan)

Cyan-san gave an additional explanation to me. I don’t know any Macas, but perhaps it is something similar to a fruit juice. If we a.s.sume that a silver coin is 10,000 yen, then a pieceling coin is 250,000 yen, while one gold coin is 1 million yen and an Orona gold coin is 10 million yen?

「I understood the gist of things. Thank you very much.」(Reene)

Prince Sparkly then left the pieceling coin and put the rest of coins away.

「This is the reward for the current subjugation. Please use it for thy needs.」(Leon)

Eh? One round of subjugation is 250,000 yen?  This is too much!

「No, I can’t accept it, it’s too much.」(Reene)

This time I said it confidently. After all, it is implausible that every Knight who had risked themselves received 250,000 yen as their reward, right? It would be strange if I received more than they who had actually personally went to battle, right?

「Certainly this is an exceptional reward, however thou didn’t bring anything with thee, isn’t this correct? Even just to procure your daily necessities, that would be of a considerable cost. Thou had saved the lives of three Knights who would have normally die. The Blue Knight Corps is a group of handpicked elites. A Knight’s life is by no means inexpensive. Also, if we could speak honestly, we are waiting for thine help next time. So it would be alright to think of it as an investment.」(Leon)

Whoa, the words filled up with the intention to involve me. Even if he said that he was speaking honestly, I didn’t think that he was sincere.

Nevertheless, I need to speak out.

「I couldn’t hurt another human being. I will help if it’s monster subjugation, but a war is impossible for me. I wouldn’t be useful at all. That’s why, in case there is a war with the neighboring country, I couldn’t partic.i.p.ate, would this be fine for you? Also, if I know how to return home, then I will depart for home immediately. I want to go back home. I am thankful for this money, but if this brings forth some kind of obligation, then I couldn’t accept it.」(Reene)

I am happy the help people near me. I am thankful for this.

I like Van-san and Cyan-san. If it’s possible, I want to keep having a good relations.h.i.+p with them in the future.

However, I don’t want to see the sight of people killing each other. I also don’t want to see the sight of Van-san and Cyan-san killing other people. Killing each other, not because of a grudge or any wrongdoing, but just because they come from different countries is something that I am absolutely opposed against.

I understood that it couldn’t be helped if the people in this world did this. If they could expand their territory, then they could harvest a lot of resources and a larger population means that they can collect more tax.

This is why I couldn’t say something like: Please stop waging war. It would be strange if I forced my own opinions on others. However, I don’t have any confidence that I could stand in the middle of the battle.

A person in power like the Prince, would use any power in front of them, so surely he intended to ensnare me one way or another. But, I humbly want to excuse myself from being used as a tool for war. That’s why, before he gradually pushes his own way onto me, I need to speak out my own intentions.

「I understood. Thou has given a definite answer. What a shrewd girl. This money is a grat.i.tude gift from me. This isn’t to bind thee, so please be at ease. For the time being, even if there is a war, we wouldn’t do something like bringing thee to a campaign. However, I have an obligation to protect the citizens of this country. If the Güselbahn’s invasion is too fierce, then to protect Fantasma with minimal damage, I might want to utilize thy power. Until then, I want thou to see this country with thine eyes, grasp the citizens’ livelihood, be acquainted with the people, and judge it for yourself. 」(Leon)

This person is a good person. He seriously cherishes this country.

Then, even for a person without a clear background like me, he asked me to think for myself and then let me to tag along with them.

At any rate, he is a person who has such an awe inspiring t.i.tle like 『Golden War G.o.d』.On top of that, he is someone who was so clever and astute, he could talk me out more skillfully, but he proclaimed, 「I don’t want to be forceful as much as possible, but when the situation dictates, then I will use thou even if it is forceful.」

He might have the confidence to overcome me. But no, it’s not that. Perhaps this is his way of  being sincere. Maybe, statesmen are all like this. If a person like this is on the top, then the people of this country will be happy. I could understand why Van-san and Cyan-san devoted their swords. Sparkly-, no, that’s wrong, His Highness Leon, is a really great person.

「I understand. I will gratefully accept this money.」(Reene)

In the end, my acceptance or rejection of this money wouldn’t have any effect in the future. Then, I should accept it. I need the money, after all. While saying my grat.i.tude, I received the pieceling coin and at the moment it entered my skirt pocket, it stored away into the Item Box. One 100-yen sized coin is 250,000 yen, you know! I am afraid that it could be lost if I just took it out into the open.

By the way, afterwards, I tried to ask why the Prince brought something really valuable like the Orona gold coins.

「I am always at risk. If the neighboring country invades right now, then I might be forced to escape with just this many people. Until we return to the castle, there might be a need to buy the necessary supplies. That is why I am always bringing this much with me.」(Leon)

I see. He might be able to hide in a hidden stronghold or a few other places, but since there might be a need to run without any possessions, then he brought just the least things possible.

Then, when I asked, what would have happened if I had accepted the Orona gold coins just like that? He made an absolutely, truly charming smile. Wh-what was he planning to do with me!?

☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽

What will the Prince do to Reene indeed…

Next chapter. STILL A WALL OF TEXT OF INFO DUMP!

[1] Slow Life, read: /wiki/Slow_movement_(culture). Basically Reene is referring to her former really-pleasant-full-of-modern-convenience lifestyle in j.a.pan.

[2] Idiom: spread oneself too thin: Overextend oneself, overreach oneself,undertake too many different things / things above one’s ability. In j.a.panese: 手を広げすぎましたstretching/opening one’s hand too wide/far/much

[3] Reverse Harem if you don’t get it.

[4] Dekopin, you know, the things that Itachi does to Sasuke in Naruto.

[5] Mou = interjection used to strengthen expression of an emotion (often exasperation). There isn't a proper way to translate it into english. Really or Geez, is almost close to meaning though. Keeping it since Yukkuri is lazy.

[6] I didn’t translate this… Since I kinda like how Reene thought Van as “broooo”(Perhaps because I watch too much No Game No Life and Amagami SS)

[7] レオンハルト・フォン・デュッセル・ファンテスマReonharuto Fon Dyusseru Fantesuma. I tried to Germanize the name as best as I can. Feel free to correct me.

[8] 黄金の戦神 (Ougon no Sens.h.i.+n)

[9] 鋼鉄の鎧 (Kotetsu no Yoroi)

[10]鋼の疾風 (Hagane no s.h.i.+ppuu)

[11] Counter Stop: A j.a.panese term to refer to a situation when a Character’s stats has reached the max value that the stats’ counter stops increasing

[12] The Prince is using そなた (其方) to refer to Reene. This is an archaic lightly respectful second person p.r.o.noun. Hence: Thou, thee, thy and thine.

[13] About 26.5 mm in diameter.

[14] あれHas the meaning of being surprised when you found something contrary to your expectation. Like : “Are? Why Yukkuri didn’t release a chapter even when he said that he will?”

[15] 紫魂歴s.h.i.+konreki. s.h.i.+ = Violet, Kon = Spirit, Reki = History, Pa.s.sage of Time.

[16] Stound = Anglo-Saxon word for Hour. In j.a.panese RAW this is Koku刻, ancient time unit based on the Chinese Ke. The normal word for hour in modern j.a.panese is 時 (the 24 hours). In the story, 刻 is the local unit of time. Reene explain that 1 刻= 2  時. Hence, 1 Stound = 2 Hour.

[17]光の日、闇の日、火の日、水の日、地の日、風の日、空間の日. I actually want to go German (Lichttag) or Old English (lēohtdæg), but since the j.a.panese is already using simple terminology, so I use the most normal way for the names of the days, also s.p.a.ceday’s s.p.a.ce is the s.p.a.ce in the concept of “3D s.p.a.ce” not the “Outer s.p.a.ce”).

[18] 魔族Mazoku. Could also translated as Demon Race but in this case, I translate it as Magic Race, since the ma 魔in Mazoku also used in Mahou魔法magic.

[19]金露歴 Kinroreki

[20] About 22.6 mm in diameter

[21] Fun fact: These Piecelings is actually “小粒金” (small sized gold) that is based on “Bu” (ichibuban), an old j.a.panese currency denomination. 4 Bu areequal to 1 Ryo, the main princ.i.p.al currency denomination in Edo j.a.pan.

[22] ケチャ = Kecha. Cha is j.a.panese for Tea. By the way, if you type this into Wikipedia or Google, you will get Kecak… :D

[23] マカ = Maca. By the way, there is a real world plant that also called Maca, that is Lepidium meyenii a root vegetable from Andes of Peru. They say its good for your fertility (IYWIM)… :P Not proven scientifically though.

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