Otherworld Dagashi Shop Yahagi

When the academy went on holiday, Kurtz and the others came to the shop in the morning.

Today, the daily routine of collecting Amani Herbs is also on holiday.

The merchant introduced by Prime Minister Essel is coming to buy the Billiken statue.

[Good morning, everyone. How did your exams go?]

[It went perfectly! Look at this.]

What Kurtz and the others held out to me were plates with their Adventurer Academy’s proficiency assessment.

Previously, it used to say “D Rank: Up to 1st Underground Floor”, but it now says “D+ Rank: Up to 2nd Underground Floor”.

[Well, it doesn’t matter because we’ve already made 2nd Underground Floor our main hunting ground.]

Even though he says that, Kurtz and the others seem happy.

According to Merle and the others, Kurtz’ team should be able to handle up to the 3rd Underground Floor.

[Well then, time to return the golden statue you’ve entrusted to me then.]

I brought out my shoulder-pole stall and took out the Billiken statue and the parchment that I had stored in the inter-dimensional space.

[Now, make sure it was the same item.]

I hand the statue to Kikka, who acts as the representative of their group that discovered this statue.

[Unnn, it sure is heavy.]

[L- Let me carry it again.]

[Me too.]

Kurtz and Gort also held out their hands, and the three of them felt happy as they felt the weight of the gold.

[By the way, why don’t we open that parchment too?]

The parchment was rolled up and tied with what seemed to be a kite string.

[Right, there might be something important on it.]

Kikka pulls out a knife from her waist, cuts the string and unfolds the parchment.

[Errr……]

[What does it say? Could it be the location of more treasures?]

Kurtz peeks from behind Kikka.

[I don’t understand. It’s written in a script I don’t recognize.]

[Let’s see…… Uwahh, what are these letters? It’s totally unreadable. Gort, you understand what’s written here? You majored in Overview of Ancient Scripts, didn’t you?]

[Hmmm, this isn’t Ancient Script. I’ve never seen these letters before.]

The trio constantly twisted their heads.

[If Michelle was here, she might have been able to read that, but she’s out today.]

[Yahagi-san, can’t you read it?]

Kikka hands me the piece of parchment.

[There’s no way I could read that. I don’t even know how to read magic letters…… Eehhh!?]

[What’s the matter?]

[No, it’s just, I can read this. I mean, this is Japanese.]

[Is Japanese Hachioji’s letters?]

No, Hachioji City doesn’t have their own language.

It’s not a city with that much individuality.

However, what is written is modern Japanese characters.

Although the letters were somewhat jutting out, they were carefully written in a way that made them easy to read.

To you whose name I don’t know,

My name is Hasegawa Kenichi. I’m a Japanese born in Showa Era, year 1962. It’s not necessarily Japanese who will receive this message, so I’ll also write some part of my message in English just in case. However, I’m not good at English. I will limit myself to a simple self-introduction.

My name is Kenichi Hasegawa.

I am from Japan.

This is a present for you.

Introducing themselves with “My name is”, this guy definitely feels like someone from Showa era.

I think introducing themselves with something like “I am Kenichi” would have been more common these days.

That aside, let’s just continue reading.

I came to this world on December 8th of the Showa Era, year 1987. I was given the Job “Laundromat Owner”. It took some hard work, but I eventually ran a laundromat that was reputed to be able to remove stains that even magic couldn’t remove.

I will be 72 years old this year. Looking back, my life has been fulfilling, but my one regret is that I never got to meet my parents, who I left behind in Japan. I still miss my hometown.

And so, I would like to leave at least part of my fortune to you who came from the same place as I am. I won’t say you had to be from Japan. I give this Billiken statue to those who have come here from Earth. Please put it to good use.

Year Malm 472, Spring, Hasegawa Kenichi

[Year Malm 472?]

[The Era Name had changed 20 years ago. If that was written in year Malm 472, then it came from about 150 years ago.]

The timeline here seems to be a little different here than on Earth.

Perhaps the choice of which era you’d get teleported to is at the mercy of the Gods.

He must have remembered his homeland and made this statue look like a Billiken.

When she heard the contents of the letter, Kikka looked worried.

[By Billiken statue, you mean this golden statue, right? Is it okay for us to receive this? Isn’t this a property that Yahagi-san should receive then?]

That seemed to be Hasegawa-san’s intentions, but it was Kikka who solved the mystery of that gargoyle statue.

[I’m fine with that. I’m not strapped for cash and I don’t really have much interest in luxury. If someone from the same place as I am came here sometime in the future, and if I were to call it a legacy for them, I would create a new golden statue.]

Or rather, why don’t I just give them a Golden Gungalf?

It’d be like an Ancient Superalloy, and that’s kinda cool.

Well, it’s not really gonna be made by some superalloy, but with pure gold.

[However, I really just feel bad……] 𝒃𝒆𝒅𝒏𝒐𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝙘𝙤𝒎

The reserved Kikka seemed to be feeling self-conscious.

[I may look like this, but I’m a Count. I can make as much money as I want if I wanted to. Go on, don’t be shy and eat this.]

Product name: Golden Honey

Description: A golden candy with a crystal-like shape. Eating it brings a small amount of money luck.

Price: 10 rims

This is another old candy.

I heard that it has been made since Taisho Era.

It’s exported to Taiwan, various other Asian countries, and even to the US.

The ingredients are only sugar, syrup, and natural water.

It’s a traditional snack that I sometimes like to eat myself.

I took a piece out of the pot and handed them out to Kikka and her friends.

[It’s a good idea to eat that before the merchant buys the golden statue. This might help increase the purchase price a bit. However, don’t get your hopes up too much.]

[Really?]

[Merle got greedy and stuffed her mouth full of those in battle, but the money dropped was apparently the same as usual. Well, it doesn’t really have much effect.]

[Ahaha, that’s very much like Merle-san.]

[Seriously. However, Merle keeps buying them because they taste good.]

The three of them immediately broke the candy’s individual packaging and popped the candy into their mouths.

The Billiken statue sold for just over three million rims.

Split between the three of them, each of them got a little over one million rims.

The three of them will apparently invest their money for their future.

Though I say that, they aren’t buying bonds or shares.

[Good equipment costs money.]

If properly matched from top to bottom, even cheap equipment already used by ordinary adventurers apparently costs no more than 100,000 rims.

For advanced equipment, swords and armor alone apparently cost around 1.5 million rims.

And such differences in equipment have a big impact on the outcome of a battle.

[Now I won’t have to trouble Father.]

Kikka’s father is a soldier in the Royal Castle.

Their life is apparently easier than for ordinary people, but they don’t exactly have much surplus either.

The three were happy that they were able to show their filial piety.

<Afterword>

Golden Honey: I don’t know the source, but its name was apparently 黄金蜜糖. All I got was that it seemed to be one of those candies sold in jars, with each candy individually wrapped.