Netooku Otoko no Tanoshii Isekai Boueki (LN) Chapter 22

So much things to do with so little time ;~;

Episode 22:  The smell of the steady plans from now on

Well with this, the match this time is settled so let's organize the things that we should do from now on.

To start with, the first problem is still money to say the least.
The maintenance for the house will be supported by the Solo house so that part was settled but I would still need to consider the cost of living from now on. Strictly speaking, if I do not earn enough to support the living expenses of two more slaves, my financial situation will gradually become worse.
However concerning this, I do have a tentative idea to earn money for the time being so it should be fine. But if push comes to shove, going to Jephthah to force a sale would be good too.

In addition, during the time when I was making the preparation for the match with Jephthah, I actually bought several items that is likely to sell well from the net auction and put them up for sale as well. I think they might sell for decent prices but I'm looking forward to it anyhow. The bidding time was set to end tomorrow night so I would need to go back at least once the day after tomorrow. Well, those items were bought with just one silver coin so the amount was not really a big deal.

Then the next problem would be distance. No matter how you look at it, the residence is way too far from the city.
The only solution available was to get a horse. If I am planning to transport a huge amount of goods from the other side, I might need a wagon too.
But,…….all these would be quite expensive aren't they. I might need to start with a small scale business first.

Although that means, I need to practice horse riding too….
Since there are three of use, we need at least two horses. Marina has knight as her vocation so she might not have a problem riding a horse but as expected it would be impossible for me to ride one without practising first. Diana can just ride behind Marina, possibly. To be honest I wanted to ride behind Marina too!

The other issue would be that Marina might possibly be useless as an escort.
She requires training.
Or rather, it might be a good idea to make everyone an apprentice to Rebeccsan and Sh.e.l.lo-san. Since I have a combat related vocation, I might be able to defeat a moderate low-level monster in just 3 months time. 3 months might be long but if I just work myself to the extent of being able to run my business smoothly then it should be fine. I should just do it patiently since I have all the time I want.

Come to think of it I have forgotten to enquire Diana on her vocation. It would be good if she has a combat related vocation too.

I might not be a similar match to the upper cla.s.s people but I would need to buy weapons too.
I do yearn for a weapon from the other world but after researching for several days, I came to the conclusion that the weapons here are [quite expensive]. Ah this looks cool! When I saw something that grab my interest and asked for the price, I was told that it cost 3500 El. It is approximately 520,000 yen………..So all in all I still need more money!

The next point is something really important. I wonder if I should let them know that I'm someone who comes from a different world.
Rebeccsan must have noticed my strange att.i.tude by now but she hasn't said anything at all. If I want my plan to proceed smoothly from now on, it might be easier if I were to tell her in advance.
Of course to the two slaves too.
Well it might be quite a gamble actually.

The last would be the matter related to the guidance.
The new guidance that I have obtained are, ?Make a transaction with the Imperial trader 2/3?, ?Try going to the Mining town 0/3? that was just newly received and ?Try going to the Lakeside town 0/3?.
(TL: In case you don't remember, “Lakeside town” refers to “Heripa Lake” mentioned by Rebecca and “Mining Town” refers to “Rukuraera” mentioned in the last chapter)

I will be making business transactions with Jephthah to some extent soon so I can put that aside first for now. That guy is one of the richest acquaintance that I know of currently so it might be a good idea to get as much money making idea from him too. With regards to the guidance, I could probably push through it with a somewhat unreasonably business deal. That is because the people in this world has a strong belief that ?Guidance = The right thing to do?.

The Mining town and Lakeside town are Rukuraera and Heripa Lake respectively. Rukuraera's location is not really too far and I was somewhat interested in that place too so I will be going there in near future. I might be planning to go Heripa only once my business has run smoothly after some time.

Did I trigger a flag and obtain these quests as soon as I received the information on those places? It's not like this is an RPG…..

In addition….there was actually a reason why I declined Rebeccsan's offer to help me annul the contract with Diansan earlier. As soon as I formed the contract with Diana a while ago, one of my earlier guidance ?The Fate of the Giant Swing? was updated to 9/10.
In other words, this Fate of the Giant Swing must somehow be related to Diana's ?Special Guidance?. Probably.
If there is a possibility that it was just as I a.s.sumed then the next itinerary would be the end of the guidance. Once she completed the guidance, she might be able to use her spirit magic after so it might work out better than I thought.

Other than that……., I had not intentionally omitted it but, as I thought it's that, isn't it? It's about the slaves. I need to figure out how to overcome the sense of distance I have with them…….

The current relations.h.i.+p between the elves and I are of master and slaves. That was how I intended to treat them as well but other than the time working at the black company, I have only been employed as someone of lower ranks when I was working part time during high school……….
I don't think that I am able to make use of someone skilfully……
It might be good if I can show my dignity like a certain master from somewhere but as of now I can only show my majesty as a high school graduate neet……Actually no matter how you look at it, Diana looks more dignified than me……

But well, just because they are slaves, there is actually no need to set up a tier-based ranking among us. We should just go at our own pace! We are somewhat similar in terms of age too!
In the first place, Rebeccsan has already said that a slave is just someone who is bound by a lifetime employment contract. There is no need for me to think too deeply about it!

Although the determination to feel their b.r.e.a.s.t.s at the very least did cross my mind.

When we left the slave trading house, dusk has fallen so it was already considerably late.
I didn't really have the intention to go back at a time like this so I skilfully talked Jephthah into treating everyone to a night at the inn today.
I did it! The enjoyment of sharing a bed with the elf girls! De~yufuu.

On our way to the inn, I took a look at the elf girl walking beside me.

The girl with the long platinum blonde fluttering hair, Diana was walking in a calm demeanour.

Even as she walked, she was exuberated with an aura of poise and serenity. I wonder if it's because she's an elf royalty. Despite being the same elf as priestess-chan, the aura they gave out are completely different.
To be honest, Diana actually scored a perfect mark based on the original image of an elf that I have envisioned previously……. If only she is without her tattoo though.

The ?impact of the tattoo?, ?Jephthah's trick? and the ?alterations of the contract? incidences that happened in the slave trading house have left me stupefied. However none of them are personally Diana's fault…….
She was just following what the guidance pointed out and even though the person herself doesn't seem to have minded it, she was thrown into an incomprehensible circ.u.mstance that forced her to be a slave……….

Well, she might have been convinced that she wouldn't be put into an unfavourable situation even after becoming a slave due to the high elf's special traits but it doesn't appear as if she has any malicious intentions too. To be honest, I am not good at judging people with my eyes so I'm not really too sure about it…..
Anyway it is strange to be worrying if she is at fault or not for the time being so I should just act accordingly when the time comes.

Besides….., since Diana is an Elf princess, once her guidance is over she will probably return to her country? She should be going back possibly. I guess….I shouldn't let these feelings get the better of me.

So, I'll hold myself back to the extent of just biting those ears!

…..but, the combination of the colourful tattoo on Diana made her looked really conspicuous. Her complexion is fair to begin with actually. She would be a legit beauty if only the tattoo isn't present since the features beneath the tattoo are excellent.
……..Right now she might look slightly similar to a Pierrot though with charming features.
Well I guess that could be the reason why someone like me can speak comfortably with her.

Although I wonder what that tattoo really is.
Does it have something to do with their race? Or was it something that has to do with magic? A fas.h.i.+on maybe? …..or could it be just her hobby?
Well I think it would be faster if I were to ask the person herself.

“Diana. Does it…I mean does that tattoo have something to do with the high elf race?”  [Ayase]

“Goshujinsama, for you to question the external feature of your own slave who is also a girl with a straight face, you're unexpectedly an S aren't you?….”  [Diana]

“Enough with that already!”  [Ayase]

“Y-You're mean. Certainly it might look like one but it's not a tattoo. This is….to summarize it, this is something like my spirit stone. Anything further would be a s.e.c.r.e.t  ?”  [Diana]

Oh! So it's a spirit stone! Then I hope you could quickly use it to rid yourself of it soon. If it's not a tattoo then it might come off one day, isn't it? I wonder if I could ask her to use it as one of goshujinsama's privileges. Can I?

“I can't since I'm saving it for something important. This is the only thing that I am not able to do even if goshujinsama were the one who requested it.”  [Diana]

Yes, it's really unfortunate.
Well I'm not sure what she'll be using it for but I just hope that she'll use it as soon as possible.

Marina was listening in to our conversation silently as she walked.

Marina is from the Turk tribe. When I tried asking about it, apparently dark elves do not exist here. Although she still has the appearance of a dark elf to me.

Evidently, those from the Turk tribe have longer life span than humans and their physical ability is slightly higher too……these are the few features of them.
Naturally they are not able to use the spirit magic and their life span is not as long as the elf race.
They are discriminated for having similar ears as the elves similarly to how the other people hold the elves in such high regard at the same time. It's quite commendable. Well I guess it's a natural for this country that holds a really strong belief in spirits.

She has roughly trimmed beautiful amethyst coloured hair and a not really dark brown skin that looks vibrant. All in all, she has healthy features.
She became a slave due to her parents' debt. It's a so called ?Debt Slave?. I didn't manage to hear the story in detail but it's usually a really heavy story isn't it…….
Though from this world's point of view, this is not an unusual thing…..

Marina who has likely heard something from the conversation kept glancing here and finally asked me a question timidly.

“M-my liege, may I know why did you b-b-buy Marina? Will you be able to accomplish anything? From a good-for-nothing person like Marina……I seriously can't do anything.”  [Marina]

Unlike how she was confidently making the oath and so on earlier, she appeared really worn out now. Were you just forcing yourself a while ago?

If I were to reply to her, ?I bought Marina because Marina is the cutest? here, I should sound like an ikemen isn't it?…… I have a feeling that my arms will likely be broken this time round so I wasn't able to summon the courage to say it.

“I'm not from this neighbourhood nor do I have any prejudice against the Turk tribe. On top of that the price is also quite cheap.”  [Ayase]

“Don't you feel disgusted with Marina?”  [Marina]

“Disgusted? No, not at all. I don't have any unpleasant feelings towards you at all. I do find plenty of cute parts about you instead. I'm looking forward to boast about Marina to everyone in the country.”  [Ayase]

“Hue…..m-my liege, it's cruel of you t-to make fun of slaves. It's impossible for Marina to have any cute parts at all……”  [Marina]

“It's not true, Marina. Marina is really cute.”  [Ayase]

This is bad. In the end I have blurted it out at the spur of the moment.

The look of Marina blus.h.i.+ng with slight tears in her eyes was really cute to the degree of me wanting to shout with a voice loud enough to reverberate through the 5 continents…..

“Alright, that's enough.”  [Rebecca]

And my arm ended up being twisted by Rebeccsan again.
I-It's going to break! It's seriously breaking for real this time!

After recovering Sh.e.l.lo-san who was dead drunk from the party venue, we finally arrived at the inn. It appears to be Jephthah's favourite inn. It was a three storey tall expensive looking building. There was a huge fireplace in the lounge and customers as well as other visitors could be seen chatting leisurely there.

Considering that majority of the houses in this world were crudely built with stones, an inn that was built entirely from wood with carpet laid on the floor like this would be considered as a quite luxurious building.

Well I will not be the one paying so it's fine. I'll see how much it cost for one night just for future reference.
Come to think of it, will we be getting dinner soon? I'm quite famished now and since the food here in this world appears to be really high grade, I am looking forward to it.

Jephthah seemed to have gotten two rooms hence we were guided by the aunty to the rooms.

My heart was thumping excitedly in thinking of my first night with the elves but I should make myself get used to this soon!
In a sense, this is the first night!!

“Alright you guys will be in this room.”  [Rebecca]

Thus I was left alone with a drunk Sh.e.l.lo-san in the hallway.

Aa, so that was why he has gotten two rooms there…..The thought of distributing the rooms by gender has not come across my mind……..