Chapter 8 (1/2)

Volume 1

Atelier Tanaka Chapter 7

Ex-Homeless pt.1

The next day, I headed back to the adventurer’s guild.

I walked through the Western movie style wooden double doors, and headed straight to the counter. Once again, the same buff bald guy was there.

(It’s kind of scary how he works energetically every day like that.)

“Oh, I was waiting for you.”

“Hello, sorry to keep you waiting.”

“You don’t need to apologize for everything, it’s annoying, ya know.”

“Oh, sorry.”

“…whatever, anyway, here’s the payment.”

He put a leather bag on the counter, and a metallic “charin” sound came from inside it.

“With the payment for the original request, the compensation for the bad information, and the reward for a high orc subjugation, the total is 16 gold. By the way, most of that is the reward for the high orc, which is 10 gold. The original request was one gold, and the compensation is 5 gold. The rule for the compensation is that it’s half the reward for the subjugation, you see.”

“…the high orcs are worth a lot.”

“Pretty much. Normally a party would follow and surround one. That would be a rank B party, and the payment would be 1 or 2 gold per person. They rarely appear near human settlements, so it takes time to get to them. With the necessary expenses, that’s about how much it costs to get rid of one.”

“I see.”

“Getting there and back is usually a 10-day trip for a 5-member party. Out of the 2 gold per person, they’ll need to spend 50 silver to 1 gold on supplies. If you add in the time to find it, it takes about half a month for one job. Whether 1 gold in half a month for that kind of work is a lot of money or too little, that depends on the person.”

“It sounds like rank B parties can make a lot of money.”

“Yeah, because there aren’t many of them. There are only 10-some rank B people around here. Rank C is a lot more common, but going up from there isn’t ordinary no matter where you go.”

“I see.”

(That’s what, $25,000 that rank B adventurers can make in a month? I can see why it’s an attractive occupation. But yesterday I saw all too well that risking your life to make a living is no joke. Surviving until retirement would be tough. I don’t want to deal with something like that again. That high orc’s fist was haunting my dreams last night.)

“A good hide from the high orc would have been worth a bit more, though. They have magic resistance, so they’re worth a good bit of money. A perfect one would be worth about 20 gold, but it’s hard to defeat a high orc without damaging its hide. It’s hard to get the hide off a dead one, too.”

“I see, thank you very much for telling me about that.”

“You, can you do something about the way you talk? I feel like yer making fun of me here. And I still can’t believe you brought down a high orc by yourself.”

“No, um, that’s because you have a scary face…”

“…yeah?”

(Shit, I can’t help it! I should try to talk more like the other adventurers. Or at least get used to this guy’s face.)

“Ah, whatever, just hurry up and count it.”

“OK.”

(So this is gold? I think this is the first time I’ve handled solid gold. It really is heavy.)

I started thinking about how much those coins were worth.

“I’ve confirmed the amount.”

“Take it with ya, then. Don’t get taken by some scam artist.”

“Right. Thank you very much.”

“Also, from today on you’re rank D. Don’t forget that.”

“I went up two ranks?”

“That’s because there was a high orc. If this was just a fluke, your rank will fall if you fail a request, so don’t worry about that. By the way, if you fail 5 requests in a row, you get permanently expelled.”

“OK, I understand. Thank you.”

“Bye then.”

(Now what do I do?)

I was worried about having so much cash on me. After thinking about it, I headed towards a place handling real estate. Being a typical Japanese person, with a large amount of money on hand, I started thinking about homes.

(I’d like to go to a Soapland too, but I can do that after getting a house.)

For some years, I’d barely been able to afford rent. Actually owning a home was some kind of legend.

Using my Google Maps substitute called “asking a random little girl” I located a real estate office, and a few minutes later I arrived. I entered the building, with a bell ringing as I opened the door.

“Excuse me, I’m looking to purchase a house…”

“Ah, welcome.”

The employee there was a human, a European man about my age. He had short light-brown hair, and he was tall, about 190 cm, which made me jealous.

“I’m looking for a single-unit house, something around 15 gold.”

“15 gold, you say? Well, that’s tough…”

“Is that so…”

(The town is surrounded by tall walls, so the area available for houses is limited. Maybe that makes for high prices? But I was hoping to have my own house, and a big dog…)

“Ah, hold on. There is one house that might work.”

“Really?”

“The floor plan is a bit unusual, does that bother you?”

“No, that’s fine.”

(Lucky!)

I jumped at the opportunity.

I was led to a detached building on the corner of a busy street, and we went inside.

“That’s a big dirt floor, huh.”

Weird items were tightly packed along the walls of a large open floor. There were Fresco-style glass bottles, wooden stands, and metal lockers.

(What the heck…)

The total floor area was around 100 square meters. On one side of the dirt floor, there was a long counter like I’d seen in the shops I’d visited.

“Ah, everything here comes with the place. Until the year before last, an alchemist was living here. The 1st floor was a shop and atelier, and there’s living space on the 2nd and 3rd floors. It’s a well-made building.”

“I see. By the way, how much would a typical house normally be in this town? Everyone I’ve asked seems to tell me something a little different.”

“Let’s see. For a detached house, even if it’s small or in bad shape you’d need at least 20 gold. And by the way, in this area here, a house would normally be 50 to 100 gold.”

“Eh? Then this place…”

“Well, it has what you might call an interesting history. The last owner sold it two days after they bought it.”

“Seriously?”

(Is it like those houses where somebody committed suicide and nobody wants to buy them?)

“What was their reason for selling it?”

“…ghosts, they said.”

“Eh? Ghosts?”

“The ghost of that alchemist, supposedly.”

“Ahh…was it a suicide?”

“I heard it was a natural death.”

“Hah…”

“They died suddenly, and some relative wanted to sell it in a few days, so we got a good price on it. At the time, it seemed like an easy profit. Well, if that kind of thing bothers you, you’d be better off not buying this one.”

“I see.”

(Getting a cheap house in Japan because of something like that is like finding buried treasure. This is some good luck. If a ghost actually appears, I’d just be happy to have some company. Not being homeless is far more important than that sort of thing.)

“How much is it?”

“16 gold.”

“I understand. I’ll buy it.”

(That’s perfect for me, I have just enough. The money from the herbs that goblin collected should be enough to live on until I can earn some more money. But now I can’t go to Soapland.)

“People always say that at first.”

“No, I’m not bothered by that sort of thing.”

“People always say that at first. But let’s head back to the office and draw up a contract.”

“OK.”

And so, I bought a house much faster than I’d expected.

(A house! My own address!)

I was very happy.

The paperwork for the purchase was finished quickly.

I carried my few belongings from my room at the inn over to my new home, and I was done moving in under an hour.

(From today on, I’m the owner of my own castle.)

It was a dream that hadn’t come true before I died.

(Now, I just need to get a big dog.)

(A golden retriever would be good. A golden retriever…)

I’d bought a 3-storey stone building with the ground level having a dirt floor and 80% of the space behind a long counter. It had been the atelier of an alchemist.

(It’s good that the situation was easy to understand for someone who didn’t grow up here. So far, everything’s followed the rules of fantasy settings.)

The ground floor made me think of a small pharmacy, with just enough space in front for people to buy things.

(But the products were made with a fantasy-style process.)

The floor size of the 2nd and 3rd floors was the same as the 1st floor, about 100 square meters each. It was more than enough for one person. The second floor had a restroom with a bath and toilet, a dining room/kitchen, and a living room or reception room. On the third floor, there were two bedrooms.

All the rooms still had furniture in them, so the house was already livable. There was dust, but not too much.

(It’s splendid, isn’t it?)

My heart was jumping with excitement. I started feeling tempted to try some alchemy the next day.

(First, I need to buy whatever I need to live here.)

As I headed out, I remembered when I first started living alone and bought lots of stuff at a 100-yen shop, most of which turned out to be unnecessary.

It was shortly before noon when I finished buying supplies.

I got lunch at a restaurant that was too mediocre to leave much impression when I was focused on something else.

After I returned, I spent several hours cleaning. According to the real estate agent, the previous buyers leaving in a hurry tended to leave some cleaning that needed to be done.

The sun was just starting to set when I’d finished cleaning and organizing my stuff.

(A fantasy house. An atelier. It looks great. I made a good decision buying this.)

The cleaning and moving was the most exercise I’d gotten in a while, so I was getting hungry.

(…I’ll go get some dinner, then.)

I decided to go back to that tavern with the hot waitress.

She was working there again that night. Her figure with an apron, plus the bouncing and swaying as she hurried back and forth, was a satisfactory amount of sexiness.

“Sophia-chan, another one for me too!”

“Right!”

(Ahh, she’s cute.)

The shaking of her blonde ponytail was another charm point.

“Ahh, I can’t get enough.”

Because of her, I kept ordering more drinks.

(Alcohol is humanity’s friend. How could I abandon a friend?)

The food was decent, too.

Sophia energetically answered each customer’s call, but it was so loud that I had to strain my ears to hear her cute voice.

(This was a good day. I’ll be able to sleep happily tonight.)

As I was sipping my drink and happily not thinking about anything at all, I heard someone shouting behind me, and the tavern grew quiet. I turned around, still smiling slightly.

“Didn’t you hear what I said?!”

“No, um, but that’s…”

Sophie was facing a man dressed extravagantly, with a bright cloak on his back. His shouting echoed in the tavern.

(Oh. A noble, right?)

He was a good-looking man for his age, with a short hair and a large handlebar mustache, both blond.

“Just because you’re pretty, don’t think you’re special!”

“I, I’m very sorry…”

Sophia-chan looked panicked, and bowed to the noble. Her long high ponytail flipped over and hit him in the face.

“Gah! My eyes!”

“I, I, I’m so sorry!”

(Ponytail Attack, critical hit.)

Some of the customers watching laughed unintentionally. Thanks to that, he was getting even angrier.

“You bitch! Maybe I need to take you into custody at my mansion!”

“I’m so sorry! Please forgive me!”

“Someone needs to teach you a lesson about what happens when you insult a noble!”

“That’s…”

Her face was completely white.

(This is bad. When a noble finds fault with a town girl, in the next chapter he’s fucking her. If she gets carried off by some aristocrat, it will be good-bye to her boobs and ass for all of us commoners. Bad End.)

He grabbed Sophia’s arm.

(Oh, there it is.)

Everyone in the tavern was watching.

(A noble is the same kind of absolute existence to commoners that a division chief is to ordinary employees, right?)