Chapter 56 – The smell of reunion at the other world’s guild

I promised Diana I’d talk to her at night, then headed for the blacksmith.

I had wanted to get Marina’s halberd cleaned and sharpened for a while now, but kept dragging my feet on it until now.

The expenses at the armoury totalled to six gold coins so I was a little tight on cash, but I figured I could at least afford a sharpening fee.

However, I wasn’t expecting Marina’s equipment to cost the exact price of the velvet I sold (though I did receive a knife sheath and sword belt as a bonus). It was quite the coincidence, in a way…

Maybe it would have been better if I bought some armour for myself, too. I decided to come back once I’ve saved up some more. Secondhand armour was good enough for me, so it shouldn’t cost as much.

Marina’s ‘Ruined Purple Halberd’ took a little under one hour to sharpen. The old man at the blacksmith was bewildered at the purple colour and said, “What is this? This isn’t rust, it’s the original colour.” But the sharpening itself proceeded without issue.

The sharpening cost was 30 el.

I also brought the ‘Rusted Sword -2’ that I purchased before with the intention of getting it sharpened, but was rejected with a “What the h.e.l.l! There’s nothing to sharpen if it’s this rusted!”

Was it because of the ‘minus two’ appraised by the Mirror of Truth? I still believed it just needed a little treatment to get back to a useable state, though. I didn’t really understand mechanics like this. Did that mean that the blacksmith could only deal with rust up to a ‘minus one’ level…?

Well, it wasn’t as if panicking over it would fix the problem, so I quietly took it back this time.

“I’ll get my knife sharpened too,” Rebeccsan said. She stayed back at the blacksmith with Hetty-san while I waited outside.

The cream-coloured stone paving weakly reflected the sunlight. Stone houses with ivory-painted walls. Roadside trees resembling olive trees swayed in the wind. Against that scenery, Marina was like a painting, gazing raptly at the s.h.i.+ning purple halberd, clad in her own s.h.i.+ning mythril blue armour. I quickly took out my camera and clicked the shutter many times. Marina noticed the camera and smiled shyly.

I should enlarge this and print it out as a wall decoration…

Rebeccsan and Hetty-san came out of the blacksmith, so we discussed where to go next.

Personally, I wanted to visit a few more item shops, but my funds were getting a little low for shopping. Then Rebeccsan suggested, “How about we go get you a disciple at the guild agency then?”

Hetty-san also jumped on board, saying, “Your sales are doing well now, it sounds like a good idea.”

Hmm… While I still thought it was a little early for me to get a disciple, it seemed like in this world, it was normal for merchants to have disciples. But was it really okay for an old stall owner like me to have a disciple? Wouldn’t the parents be disappointed?

“Jirou’s still young and the store will get bigger in the future, so it’s okay. Contrary to what you think, more kids want to become disciples of the ‘upcoming’ businesses rather than the established businesses.”

“So they’re betting on the future prospects?”

“If they help you expand the store together, they gain lots of experience that way. With large organisations, you can gain the know-how but you won’t have any experience.”

Is that so?

Even without being a large business, the armoury had two young men and the blacksmith had six disciples, I guess. Rather than worrying about disciple hierarchies, they preferred to work somewhere small and relaxed… is that how it went? Or was that kind of thinking limited to the NEETs of j.a.pan?

But it was true that having an employee-like disciple around would help. When in Rome, do as the Romans do!

Read the chapters at rinkagetranslation.com. The chapters for this series will NOT be posted anywhere else other than on that site itself. If you are reading this from somewhere else then this is chapter has been stolen.

◇ ◆◆◆ ◇

Read the chapters at rinkagetranslation.com. The chapters for this series will NOT be posted anywhere else other than on that site itself. If you are reading this from somewhere else then this is chapter has been stolen.

When I entered the guild, I saw a familiar face.

A well-dressed young man with silver hair. He was alone like usual, and was arguing with a worker about something. I wondered what to do for a moment, but then decided that it would be weird to ignore him in the end.

“If it isn’t Jephthah-san! Long time no see. Hetty-san has been so much help, thank you for sending us such a good person. Diana and I are very grateful.”

“Ah, Jirou-san! Good timing, I was just about to send someone out to search around.”

Hmm? What’s he so fl.u.s.tered for? Did he mean search for me?

“And is that person named Hetty nearby?”

“Eh? Seriously what’s wrong with you. Hetty-san is right there.”

When I turned back, there was a blank-faced Marina, the usual Diana, and an extremely curious Rebeccsan. And Hetty-san, who looked as though she was trying to conceal a smirking grin on her face.

“H-Hetty-san… what’s wrong? What’s with that evil look on your face…”

“No, nothing. It’s just that, he has arrived earlier than I had expected.”

(…? What did she mean?)

Jephthah kept silent. However, he was looking at Hetty-san with a pale expression.

“Wait, what? What on earth is going on? Could you please explain it to me, Jephthah-san?”

At my question, Jephthah snapped out of his trance.

“W-Why are you in a place like this?! Henriettneesan!”

Henriettneesan?!

Hetty-san lightly waved her hand in acknowledgement.

“Oh, h.e.l.lo~ It’s been about 2 years, Takun.”

“D-Don’t call me Takun, please! Neesan, didn’t you get married to a wealthy merchant in the Country of Fire?!”

“That was just a lie by our s.h.i.+tty father. Though it’s true I was nearly married off.”

“And Mildas was supposed to come to Erishe… Were you also the one who had someone wrapped him up in a bamboo mat and locked him up in a storage warehouse?”

“That was me. But don’t worry, I haven’t used a single el from our family.”

“This isn’t about money… Why did you do this…”

“Hmm~? My reasons haven’t changed from 15 years ago, you know? I just want to interfere with that s.h.i.+tty father.”

…What exactly was this about?

Their conversation was so sudden, I couldn’t keep up at all…

Next to me, Rebeccsan was also speechless. “I didn’t know either…”

It’s true that the two of them both had silver hair and similar facial features, but to think they were siblings… Why was she dressed as a maid…

“Wait a second, Jephthah-san, Hetty-san! Can the two of you explain what’s going on here? First of all, are the two of you siblings?”

I interrupted their conversation, seeking an explanation.

It had apparently been two years since they last saw each other, so Jephthah looked strangely happy enough that he might keep talking forever.

“That’s right, Jirou-sama. Although, we’re actually half-siblings. Since this is a good opportunity, I’ll tell you—I came to Jirou-sama’s place because I found out about Diansama’s guidance, and wanted to interfere with it.”

“Eeeh?! Really?! You’ve always been so cooperative from the beginning, that’s hard to believe.”

“Do you remember the first time you met me?”

The first time I met Hetty-san…?

Ah… aaah. Was it the time when I ran off after Diana blurted out something about ‘everlasting love’? At that time, I thought she was some n.o.ble’s daughter, and started talking to her about the distance with slaves. Looking back on it now, my first impression that she was a n.o.ble’s daughter was basically right on the mark.

“Yes, I remember. I asked you some quite embarra.s.sing questions at that time.”

“Fufu, that left quite a good impression on me. After that—I can’t go into detail, but some things happened.”

Some things happened, huh. After that was… it was already around 1am at that time…

“Aah… so that’s why you said ‘I was going to get in your way, but I’ve changed my mind’ at that time?”

Diana, who had been listening to us in silence all this time, suddenly jumped into the conversation. At that time? When was that?

“Diansama… is it okay?”

“It’s fine. Goshujinsama is an oaf.”

“Why am I suddenly being dissed?!”

“…After what happened, I was secretly watching goshujinsama and Hetty talk. Then I asked Hetty what she had been talking to you about.”

Diana was saying some scary things without hesitation. The fact that Hetty-san had asked if it was okay meant she had been forbidden to speak about it before.

“So something like that happened… Then that was when the two of you met for the first time?”

“That’s right. I talked to Diana for a while—and had a change of heart.”

Hetty-san bowed her head. However, I still didn’t really get it.

“You wanted to interfere, erm… you wanted to interfere with Diana’s guidance, correct? Does that mean Hetty-san knows what Diana’s guidance is? Huh? Wait, am I the only one who’s clueless about it?”

The ones who had told me that the contents of guidance should be kept secret were only Jephthah and Diana, after all. There was a possibility that this information was actually not really a secret.

“I know it. But only after I’ve met Diana and spoken to her.”

“Eh?! T-That can’t be right. Guidance are absolute secrets, I haven’t told Hetty or anyone else!”

Diana became agitated at this revelation. From the state of her panic, it seemed that it really was a secret. I wonder what critical information she had let slipped, for it to be seen through so easily.

More like, if Hetty-san knew what it was, I wished she would let me in on it as well, secretly.

“It… might be an exaggeration to say that I knew it. It’s more like, I ‘have an idea’ of what it could be, to be precise… Though my intuition about things like this has never been wrong before.”

Hetty-san said it, nonchalantly.

Diana kept denying it for a while, but backed down after Hetty-san said, “Well, it’s just my own speculation.”

“So, at first, you didn’t know the details about her guidance, but came to Erishe to interfere with it anyway, then after you’ve found out what the guidance is about, you reconsidered and decided to cooperate with us… Is that how it is?”

When I summarised everything, Hetty-san affirmed that the general idea was correct. Which means that, in the end, it was all because of Diana.

“Though, thinking of the possibility that Hetty-san could have become our enemy sure gives me the chills.”

“It might have been pus.h.i.+ng it to say that I would have become your enemy. I was only thinking of eliminating every possible factor that could have contributed to the success of Diana’s guidance.”

Scary… Hetty-san is scary…I must have been really close to being eliminated. Well, even I had considered the failure from that night awful beyond belief, so that result was probably for the best. All’s well that ends well.

“But the fact you changed your mind makes me even more curious about Diana’s guidance. Well, since Diana seems to want to keep it a secret, you don’t have to say anything.”

“That’s true. I didn’t know Hetty was a daughter of the Solo family, but I’ve heard so much about how she hated her father. Something really must have touched a nerve in Hetty, I guess? For a girl who hated her father enough to create a mercenary group to have a change of heart.”

It seemed like Rebeccsan was curious about that part too.

So that was the reason why Hetty-san created the mercenary group… What a woman of action…

“It wasn’t that I had a change of heart, Becky. It’s just that I decided to cooperate with Diansama and Jirou-sama. …Because the two of them were just so cute.”

Cu…te… you say… Was that because I was a virgin…?

Come to think of it, I was teased when we first at the guild too.

After saying that, Hetty-san turned back to Jephthah and made a declaration.

“—So, that Mildas guy, was it? There’s no need to bring that macho guy here anymore. I’ll support these two myself.”

Ooh, how dependable. So a macho guy was meant to come, huh. That was also a relief, in a way. If a bulky, macho man were the one to have appeared before me, I wouldn’t have been able to speak out as much, and it might be possible that I wouldn’t have been able to get the mansion renovated yet till now.

Upon hearing Hetty-san’s declaration, Jephthah held his head in his hands and sighed, before responding in an exasperated manner.

“But Neesan. You said you didn’t use the family’s money, so how did you make it until now? I believe Jirou-san’s mansion required repairs.”

“I could pay for that much with what I had on hand. Don’t look down on me.”

“You couldn’t have had more than 10 or 20 thousand on hand though… What are you doing, Neesan…”

“It’s fine. I’m doing it because I want to. I’m awful at managing my money anyway.”

“I’m more than familiar with Neesan’s sloppy budget management. …Well, that’s fine then, I’ll just repay you for all you’ve spent until now.”

“I don’t need you to.”

I was shocked by the conversation before me.

Even though I was being so selfish with my demands, she was paying them out of her own pocket…

“U-Umm… Hetty-san. I was very selfish in my requests, and had you buy three horses for me, on top of all the mansion repairs… umm…”

“Jirou-sama, you don’t have to feel sorry about it. This was something I wanted to do. You could call it a hobby, in a way.”

“Hobby…”

“That’s right. The hobby of a rich daughter. Besides, in the end, there’s no difference to it since those are still money from the Solo family.”

I felt like she was twisting her words to make me believe her, but was it really alright? If the person herself says it’s okay, then is it fine?

The president of my old black company had once said that those below should gracefully accept when those above offer to treat them to something. Well, I guess it was fine to pay her back slowly. If business continued to go well, it’d work out in the end. It also made me feel better to think of it as having a debt to Hetty-san herself, rather than the Solo family.

All’s well that ends well! …I’ve been saying that a lot recently. Was I dancing in the palm of Hetty-san’s hand?

“Henriettneesan.”

“What is it~? Takun.”

“Stop calling me Takun… Neesan, you said you’d continue to support Diansan’s guidance from now on, but—the situation has changed.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Mildas was meant to be brought here as a support personnel, but things happened… and Uncle Dida is replacing him.”

“Geh! Really? How did it end up like that? Does that mean that person will support the guidance? The commander-in-chief of the Balbacro Trading Company himself?”

“That is, he said to leave it to him and then forced his way… He should have arrived at Erishe before me, so we were meant to meet here today.”

I had a bad feeling. Although… the world was narrow yet wide, so no matter what, it would be too much of a coincidence…

At that moment, the guild doors opened and a familiar man entered, followed by his numerous groupies.

“Ah, just on time. Wh Neesan, where are you going?!”

“I’m running away! Jirou-sama, I’ll take my leave for today. I will visit the mansion again.”

As soon as she caught sight of the man, Hetty-san threw some parting words and escaped through the back door as if a switch was flipped.

“Hmm, I knew Henriettneesan hated father, but I guess she did say she was ‘instinctively incompatible’ with Uncle Dida in the past, too…”

Jephthah said while watching Hetty’s retreating figure. Meanwhile, my attention was drawn by the chubby young merchant who was making his way towards us with a huge grin plastered on his face.

The strong musky smell. It was the third time I’d smelt it…

“Oh my, oh my, oh my, this is a surprise. If it isn’t the cloth merchant with a penchant for the Turk tribe. Does it mean, as I think it does, that you’re together with that boy?”

“…Regretfully, yes.”

The chubby man swayed on his feet as he spoke, the grin never faltering in the slightest. He may have used an expression of surprise verbally, but there was no way he was surprised. That smug face!

Things that happen twice can happen three times. That was what the encounters with Chubby were like.