Chapter 37: Shopping in the Royal Capital

“Wow, what a beautiful cityscape.”

“The buildings are so uniform in size and color—that’s probably why it looks so much nicer than other towns.”

“It’s a relief that this street is in the noble district and still relatively empty.”

We’d need to return to the royal castle tomorrow to pick up items to sell at a flea market in Japan, but for today, we were done. Since there was still time before sunset, Yuuka, Aoi, and I decided to walk around the streets of the royal capital.

This area near the royal castle seemed to be lined with shops frequented by nobles, and the streetscape was truly beautiful. The carriages passing by were adorned with flashy, luxurious decorations like the one we’d ridden in, and the people inside wore spotless clothes with jewels and necklaces.

As Aoi said, there were fewer people on the streets because of that. The regular markets in the royal capital were apparently much more crowded, so this street was probably more comfortable for Aoi. There were many carriages, so walking around in the Robe of Nothingness would be dangerous. We were walking normally now. Of course, Aoi’s elf ears were hidden under a hood.

“There are so many different shops. Tailors, accessory stores, restaurants… I’m kind of curious what kinds of ingredients they have at the high-end food shops.”

“Kakeru, can we look at a weapon and armor shop too?”

“Kakeru-sama, I would also like to visit a magical tool shop.”

“Yeah, of course. Let’s go around in order.”

Since we’d come all the way to the distant royal capital, it seemed both of them had shops they wanted to visit as well.

Of course, I was interested in both types of shops too. Let’s go around together in order.

“…Wyvern, Basilisk, Dynama Bear, Kraken. These are all ingredients I’ve never even heard of in other towns.”

“As expected of the royal capital—they have quite the selection of high-end ingredients. I believe what’s displayed here are samples, and the real items are kept in magic bags in the back of the shop.”

“To think that even a food shop can afford to use magic bags—magic tools seem to have become quite widespread while I was holed up inside.”

When we entered the high-end food shop, there were rows of delicious-looking meats and seafood displayed in glass cases. To my eyes they looked like real meat, but apparently they were something like food samples. I was a bit disappointed, but then I knew I had something to look forward to. It was exciting.

The shops in the first town I’d been to and in Berlia had displayed meat directly on plates or large leaves, but this shop seemed to properly store everything in magic bags. The ability to freeze time with magic for preservation was amazing technology.

…But because of that, magic bags were apparently quite expensive magic tools, so Aoi was surprised to see them being used at a food shop. It felt a little bit out of place there.

“Wow, the prices are insane… I feel like this is the first time I’ve ever seen ‘market price’ written anywhere…”

“Part of it’s that these are high-end ingredients, but prices in the royal capital are also higher than in other towns.”

The displayed prices were unlike anything I’d ever seen. Even in my previous life, I felt like this was the first time I’d seen the term “market price” written out. You don’t even see that at high-end sushi restaurants these days…

Come to think of it, I’d heard that prices in the royal capital were quite high. But even so, this seemed excessive.

“Since we’re here, let’s buy some ingredients we can’t get in Berlia. Kakeru, don’t hesitate to tell me if there’s anything that catches your interest.”

“Y-yeah…”

Saying this, Yuuka began ordering one ingredient after another from the shopkeeper.

Each one cost dozens of gold coins—meat that would be worth hundreds of thousands of yen in Japanese currency—and she bought them without hesitation. The final payment came to several large gold coins—the equivalent of 100 regular gold coins—yet Yuuka paid without batting an eye.

Of course, penniless me couldn’t exactly say “I want this and that.” I was supposed to receive a reward of about one large gold coin per person for the request that brought us to the royal capital this time, but it seemed I was still very much a kept man…

“Please allow me to show you around.”

“…………”

Next, we arrived at a magic tool shop at Aoi’s request.

The previous shop had seemed to have fairly tight security, but this one assigned a guide to each group of customers and had two fully armed guards at the entrance. I figured it was because they dealt in extremely expensive magical tools, but even accounting for that, it was impressive…

Furthermore, when entering, we were asked if we had a letter of introduction. Aoi showed her Sage’s Crest and they let us in, but apparently ordinary people couldn’t even enter in the first place…

“I’d like ten of these magic stones. And that magical tool over there, and that one too—one of each, please.”

“Th-thank you very much.”

Aoi purchased magic stones and magical tools that were an order of magnitude more expensive than the goods in the previous shop as casually as if she were buying candy. Normally, seeing so many unfamiliar magical tools would have excited me, but I was too stunned by how casually she bought such expensive items.

I was reminded once again that Yuuka and Aoi lived in a completely different world from me. The magical tools purchased here would be used to strengthen Yuuka’s mansion, and my progression toward becoming a full-time dependent had only accelerated since coming to the royal capital… What am I going to do, seriously…