5 Episode 5: Another world city has a Mediterranean scent.txt (2/2)

As an ”amnesiac” person, I asked Shero-san for advice on what I should do.

I had a lot of ideas on what I wanted to do, but it wasn't natural for me, who was supposed to have amnesia, to suddenly start working energetically.

At that time, I was told that I was doing something like a merchant. I think I was doing something like a merchant.　Maybe?

When I said this in a distant and vague way, he said he would first receive the blessing at the temple, and then depending on his vocation there, he would successfully introduce me to the corresponding guild.

I'm afraid I'm too nice a person to be afraid of this, but Chéreau says that meeting someone in need is a sign of Le Baraka's guidance, and the ones who receive the blessing are just following that guidance.

I guess that's the religious view, but I can't help but feel that Mr. Chéreau is just an exceptionally nice person.

At first glance, he looks like a bandit-like old man - you can't judge a person by appearances, though!

So, we're walking towards the city of Elishe with Mr. Shero, Rebecca and I, and one pack horse loaded with yesterday's wild boar meat and hides. We get to the city road before the village and arrive at the town of Elishe in about two hours from Mr. Shero's house.

Elishe is a city surrounded by a fortified city of about two meters (easily climbed if you're so inclined), and besides the stone houses, you can also see some brick houses scattered around, with a beautiful row of red roofs.

There is a gatekeeper at the entrance, but you can go in and out as much as you like.

It was much more lax than I had imagined.

◇◆◆◆◆◇.

It is indeed a vibrant city.

Rather than a city of another world, it gives me the feeling that I'm in Italy or some other foreign country. But if you look closely at the people on the street, you can see a wizard-like man in a robe, a beastly girl with cat ears and a tail (a bit hairy), a full plate mail carrying a spear, and a short, stubby, bearded dwarf father (a dwarf?). I was reminded every single time that we are in another world.　In terms of numbers, humans seemed to be the most numerous, but there are quite a few sub-humans, or otherworldly species, or non-human species as well.

They're going to wholesale meat and furs before going to the temple, so I'm going to accompany them first. I watched as Shero carried the meat and furs into a building that looked like a wholesale store, and I asked Rebecca, who stayed with me, what was on her mind.

How much money do you get for all that meat and fur?

Hmm... At most, it would be enough for three silver coins. Even so, it's not a bad amount of money, since it's enough for half a month of our food expenses. The number of hunters has been decreasing lately, so the purchase price has gone up a little bit.

...... 3 silver coins for half a month's worth of food for 3 silver coins = about $10,000 per silver coin?　No, that's too much in relation to the value of Japanese money or .......

'Wasn't a gold coin the equivalent of 10 silver coins?　Ten coppers is the equivalent of one silver coin?

That's true for the gold, but it's not the same for the coppers, where ten pieces makes one silver for a white copper. And a bronze, that's ten to a white copper.

Rebecca said, showing me a white copper and a bronze coin. The white copper coin looked like a worn-out 500-yen coin, and the bronze coin was a small coin, similar to a one-cent coin.

Hmmm, I was relieved with the decimal system for now. I'm still not quite sure though.

I'm sorry Rebecca, but I have a lot of questions for you.

'Come to think of it, I didn't know the unit of money. If it's something like one silver coin, four white copper coins and seven bronze coins, it counts as 147 something, right?

Oh, Jirou, you can calculate money. I wonder if he was an apprentice merchant or something, because people don't usually use that kind of calculation.

Yeah, so how do you do it?

So stay tuned. I'm counting one silver coin, four pieces of white copper and seven pieces of bronze, okay?

Hmm?　It's not that hard to calculate, is it?　I was taught that the unit of money is ”El”, but if you taught that 1 silver coin = 100 El, a kindergartner could understand that, right?

I'm not very good at math, or maybe my math skills aren't developed at all. Are you alright, aliens? You're going to fall for that scam easily!

'But you understand, Rebecca, you know the math.

''I did a little bit of calculating bounties for members in the mercenary corps and so on. I can only do simple things, but I'm good at calculating the money -?

I see, that makes sense.

Well, I'm also a high school graduate with a high school diploma, so I'm not very good at arithmetic. Moreover, of the ”reading and writing abacus”, reading and writing are completely out of the other world's ”Chikujin”!

In the meantime, Shero-san, clutching three silver coins, came back from the purchase station. He said he would buy what I needed with the money, but before that, he would take me to the temple.

Then let's go to the temple and get blessed! And Mr. Shero.

That's very light.