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Published at 19th of October 2020 10:32:28 AM


Chapter 31

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Toa ignored the market as she stared into the material bag at the yowastein meat.

“Can you stop? You’re scaring Nem.”

“I-it’s fine though isn’t it? Besides Nem isn’t even scared, look.”

“It’s beautiful”

Nem had stopped moving as she said this.

“What is it Nem?”

Nem was admiring a necklace adorned with a transparent blue rock.

“Excuse me, how much is this?”

I had to ask.

“3000 Rion, do you like it little girl?”

The shopkeeper ignored me and was talking to Nem.

“Yes! It’s very pretty.”

“You have expensive taste, this is a crystal taken from Pulse Terra.”

“Pulse Terra?”

“Yeah, but unfortunately the country has disappeared. I don’t know how long it could be before I had another in stocks. If you want to buy it you should do so now.”

“Crystals taken from the Pulse Terra canyon are very famous. It’s a transparent blue now but over several years the color of the stone will change to match the color of the owners magic power.”

” You’ll have fun as you wait to see what color it will become. Depending on the quality of the magic power the purity will change. In the past all the great mages had one. ”

” Alright… I’ll take three. ”

This much is fine right? It’s an interesting stone and Nem looked like she wanted one. It should make for a good souvenir.

” Thank you master! I’ll be extra careful with it! ”

As I put the necklace around her neck Nem’s cheeks turned red, she seemed happy.

“You even bought me one… thank you.”

Sierra spoke as if trying to hide her shyness.

“Masamune, do me too.”

Toa’s head was tilted down in an attempt to hide her blushing cheeks, with her eyes turned up to look at me.

“Uuuh, sure.”

I had a feeling that Toa was doing this on purpose which caused my face to turn red as well. While thinking this I put my arms around Toa’s neck and gave an embarrassed smile as our eyes met.

“Thanks.”

“Y-yeah uh…. Should I do yours for you as well Sierra?”

“Wha- No! I’m OK!”

It seems I blindsided Sierra and ended up embarrassing her. After that we continued sightseeing on down the road.

Further down was a building that had a sign with a wine glass painted on it. Looking through the window it appeared to be a liquor store.

“Masamune-dono, this is a liquor store; did you want to go in?”

Sierra guessed correctly and with her in the lead we went inside.

“Welcome!”

As we entered the owner’s voice floated over.

“Why does it stink like alcohol in here?”

“Nem, this is a liquor store.”

“Are you adventurers? Something you’re looking for?”

“We aren’t looking for anything in particular but is there something you can recommend?”

“Hmm, what about something like this or this here?”

The owner showed us various wines and whiskeys but it was hard to afford anything on a budget. I turned my eyes toward the wall as a bitter smile floated across my face, there I found a poster.

On the poster was a colorized old man and a wine logo.

“We’re out of Old Gert, we had some yesterday but.”

As the owner said that for some reason a grin floated up onto my face.

“Old Gert, is that what this wine is called?”

At the question a bitter smile floated onto the shop owners face.

“Well… Yes… Have you by chance not heard of Old Gert?”

“First time I’ve heard of it.”

“That’s quite rare. It’s now called the phantom wine as it’s no longer in production. The stuff about having some only yesterday is just a joke. When I was a kid my father would secretly drink it I his study.”

At that I remembered something. Since before I had a feeling that I had seen this logo from somewhere. I unexpectedly remembered where from.

” Ah! It’s this! ”

I opened my storage space and pulled out a bottle of the wine I’d brought with me.

” N-N-no way! You, that, can I see it!?”

It the excited shopkeep I replied sure and handed the bottle over.

“That’s, the stuff you gave me before right?”

“Yeah, I found it in the dungeon.”

The shopkeep pulled out a magnifying glass like object and inspected the sides and bottom of the bottle. After that he confirmed the cork and logo.

“You…. This isn’t fake is it?”

“I don’t know, you want to taste it?”

“Taste? Can I?!”

He grabbed a glass and poured. While rotating the class over a lamp he checked the taste and the smell of the wine.

“You joking…. It’s real. There’s no mistake, this is Old Gert, where did you get this!?”

“Dungeon.”

“……….. I see.. A dungeon huh.”

At the mention of a dungeon the shopkeeper got a mysterious air about him as if he was thinking about something.

“Hey I have a favor to ask. Will you give this to me?”

“Give?”

“I’m not saying for free, if you want money I’ll give you as much as you want. That’s right…. How does 10 million Rion sound? If thats not enough you can take all the wine in this shop.”

“10 million Rion!?”

Beside me Sierra was astonished.

“W-wait a minute. I understand wanting to thank me for the wine but isnt taking everything kind of bad?”

“I’m a small business. So I’ll be honest with you, as I said before this wine doesn’t exist anymore. You can’t put a price on this. If you like wine this is the one you want, aristocrats will pay a lot for this. 100million or even a billion Rion… it’s worth enough that you could play for the rest of your life. ”

No way. I drank such a high quality wine straight from the bottle? Although I still have over 100 bottles not to mention the barrels.

” I have a problem though. I told you I would give you as much as you wanted but, I don’t have enough to properly buy it from you. The most I have is 30million Rion, that’s my limit.”

He really must want this. He even offered to take all the money out of the bank to buy it.

” But I have a messenger. I could sell this wine directly to the aristocracy, I can promise at least a billion in profit. I don’t know anything concrete but I’ll split the profits with you. How’s that?”

“A billion Rion… Masamune-dono actually had Old Gert…”

“Sierra you knew about it too?”

“Of course. My father runs a vineyard, there’s no way I wouldn’t know about it.”

 

“Vinyard, around these parts? Are you part of House Ecarlate?”

“Yes, I’m the daughter of Brown Ecarlate.”

“I see.”

“I heard a lot about it when I was young, it’s said that in this world there is no wine like it, Old Gert reigns supreme. But to think the wine we drank at Tanya Village was actually Old Gert. I didn’t even notice.”

Sierra appeared to be very interested in Old Gert. Toa despite being a heavy drinker wasn’t looking around but was instead giggling at Nem who was pinching her nose saying” Alcohol stinks”.

More importantly though, what do I do about the wine? Even if he was to take it and run away I’d still have 30million Rion. I don’t know what that amount equates to but the fact that next to me Sierra is stunned is enough for me to understand.

“This talk isn’t bad, however I don’t really trust someone I’ve just met.”

At that the shopkeeper seemed so show a certain amount of understanding.

“Of course. Although what do you mean by the talk not being bad? Are you saying 1 billion is crap?”

He seemed confused but for whatever reason looked as if he didn’t intend to deceive me.

“30 million Rion. If you can pay that now I’ll give you the wine. I don’t expect it but, half of the selling price as well.”

“Seriously!? R-.. You’ll really sell this to me?”

“Yep.”

“No way, I didn’t think you would really sell it.”

For some reason the shopkeeper was rubbing his forehead with his right hand.

“I got it! Please wait here, I’ll go get the money from the bank.”

“Leaving those words behind the shopkeeper dashed out of the shop.”

After a few moments the shopkeeper returned with a bad on one hand short of breath.

“Sorry, here’s the first 5 million.”

Calming his breathing he emptied the contents on the counter before disappearing into the back of the store.

“Sorry for the wait, here is the other 2 and a half million Rion.”

When he returned the shopkeeper had a triumphant smile.

“Together that’s 30million Rion.”

There was now a pile of money on the counter. There was a total of 3000 10,000 Rion Banknotes. Apparently most of it had been hidden in the store.

But why was only 5million in the bank? More importantly I didn’t even know there was a bank in this world, I want to make an account as well.

“It seems to check out.”

I confirmed the bills then handed him a new bottle of wine, although probably not necessary. Although how important this bottle was to me couldn’t compare to how important it was to the shopkeeper. I have plenty of wine there’s no need to be cheap.

” I will absolutely repay this kindness, half the sell price is yours. And like I said before you can take whatever you like from the shop. Just like I promised you can take everything here if you like.”

The shopkeeper was persistent so I chose a few bottles of alcohol that looked good.

” You’re sure that’s all you want? You can take more if you like? ”

However it took a while to actually choose what I wanted.

” No this will do just fine. ”

” You should be a bit greedier.”

Who could have thought that Old Gert could be worth that much. Although it was easy to understand just by how the shopkeeper looked.

I decided to only bring half of the money back with me to Sierra’s house. It seems the Ecarlate house was quite famous.

For the shopkeeper who can make a deposit quickly it seems convenient however I don’t have an account myself.

“I go to Razhausen often so if you wouldn’t mind helping me open a bank account. I don’t want to walk around with all this money on me.”

“I understand.”

It was quite an unexpected windfall, I never thought the wine would lead to something like this. I don’t know how I’m going to use such a large sum of money.

“Sierra, your rapier got broken during Borris’ request right?”

Sierra was talking to the shopkeeper while tasting Old Gert.

“It’s embarrassing but it did yes.”

As she said this Sierra pulled the broken sword from the sheath at her waist.

The shopkeeper upon seeing it remarked “A splendid break.” I should probably stop the tasting.

” A swordsman’s shame.”

Sierra smiled bitterly as she said this.

“Is it that expensive?”

“You could say that. The white knights are supplied with weapons custom made for each knight. You could say it’s one of the most expensive items in Razhausen.”

“I see, so shall we go sword shopping?”

“Oh how generous.” The shopkeeper remarked.

“It’s something only someone with this kind of money can do.”

“But I don’t have anything to give you in return.”

“Don’t worry about it I’m going to buy Nem and Toa some clothes as well.”

“My clothes?”

“Nem’s clothes?”

As ever Nem was still pinching her nose.

“Yeah you can’t wear those clothes everyday. Let’s buy some clothes while we have a chance. It’s a reward for Nem doing her best. We can buy a rapier while we’re at it.”

For some reason Toa’s clothing wasn’t dirty at all. She’s probably doing something magical to it.

” In that case why don’t I show you to the number one shop in town. ”

The shopkeeper who had been listening until now seemed motivated by something.





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