Part 1: Osaka’s Auntie Transformed into a Beautiful Girl
Chapter 03 – Distributing Candy & Bargaining with a Weapons Shop
The inn that the Guild Receptionist Loofa recommended was single-handedly run by a woman. The inn’s special feature was that it catered towards female lodgers, with a special emphasis on all things a woman could wish for when staying at an inn, including mundane reason like level of cleanliness.
“Hey, aren’t you a female Adventurer? Aren’t these kinds of jobs hard on girls?”
The innkeeper, Martha, was well known in town for having a very loud voice.
“That’s right. It’s especially hard for weak and cute maidens, ya wa~!”
On the other hand, Haruna’s voice was even louder.
“What are you talking about?! A person who wears lion heads as accessories can’t be maidens!”
Martha’s laughing voice escalated. Seeing her joke so well received by her audience, Haruna’s spirit lifted too. Though they both came from very different backgrounds, aunties were fundamentally the same everywhere.
“This lion, you see na~ It’s for scaring people, ya nen. Especially men with bad intentions towards maidens, na~”
“My! You’re a lively one~ That seems reasonable enough for me. Stay as long as you like!”
“Many thanks! Ah, I just remembered.”
Haruna reached into her bag and pulled out a candy.
“Here, it’s a ‘get to know each other’ candy. Think of it like a promotional item or an advertisement for enka [1] singers.
“Uwaah! This candy thing is delicious!”
Sweet things were rather uncommon in this world. Sugar was not well circulated amongst normal citizens. In other words, things that tasted sweet such as honey, were quite expensive. Therefore, Martha’s shock was quite unsurprising.
“Also, here’s a Black Candy [2].”
“Ah, I’m very happy, but aren’t these really expensive snacks? You’re just giving these to me for free, isn’t it a waste?”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. I worked hard saving every spare yen in order to buy these. Take it, take it, ya~”
“Since it’s rare to have such a fine and generous guest, I shall accept these happily!”
Due to her having distributed candy so freely, Haruna left quite a positive impression on the inn keeper’s memory.
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The next day, Haruna went to buy a sword.
Naturally, she bargained.
“Na~ na~. since a cute girl is buying, you should lower the price~”
“Understood! How about 1 gold coin and nothing, the rest is service [3] for you!”
No matter from what angle, Haruna looked like a pretty young girl. The owner of the weapons shop really could not fight against such beauty. No matter what world it is, a pretty girl’s power is quite formidable.
With long blonde hair floating in the breeze, a lean and tone body, slim arms and a bright, engaging smile. Adding all that to a face that could be compared to a forest or lake spirit, this mesmerizing beauty caused the common folk to sneak around just for a peek at this legendary beauty, hoping to catch a glimpse of her charming smile. As such, the weapon’s shop owner easily caved in under her overwhelming power.
“Hey you, what are you doing!”
It was the shop owner’s wife. His very angry wife.
“Thanks a lot, na~. Here’s the gold coin, and I’ll pay the rest in candies, wa~”
Haruna placed a handful of candies on the counter next to the gold coin.
“Uwa! You, where did you get these candies!?”
“Trade secret, so I’m not gonna say, but that’s how it is, ya. Ah, oh yes. Please tell me how to get to the nearest dungeon.”
“Ah, as expected, since you’re an Adventurer after all.”
The wife, who had been appeased by the candies, was the one to answer. As a pro in this line of work, she was also familiar with the common knowledge involved in Adventuring. She immediately settled down to tell Haruna everything she knew.
“But, please be careful, dear customer. In truth, although there aren’t any swords like your Beppin-san [4], but…”
Actually, once one ignored Haruna’s action and language, from appearance alone one would believe that she’s part of the aristocracy. Her pure white skin was the complete opposite of the normal dusty, mud-covered Adventurers. However, considering that she had not yet gotten into any battles yet, appearing clean was probably quite natural.
It looked like her amazing status was not limited to cheat level fighting powers alone, even her looks were outstandingly high. Thus, the villagers began to gossip about her presence in their humble little village.
The wife, a curious aunty herself, tried to probe for an answer to this mysterious girl’s presence. “Perhaps, is there some special reason that knights are being called to complete a mission?”
“Not that I know of. I’ve never left Osaka aside from short holidays, so I’m sort of looking forward to looking around a bit, wa.”
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Haruna made her way towards the outskirts of town where the dungeon was located. She came here because the Guild Receptionist Loofa informed her that this was how Adventurers make money.
The basics of how Adventurers make money from this dungeon was simple. Killing a monster would produce a magic stone. It seemed that there was evidence that a former Maou created monsters in this area using magic stones. Because of that, the monsters that appeared in this dungeon would produce these unique stones when destroyed.
Magic stones also have value as precious stones and minerals and could be sold as such. It could be said that Adventurers hunt monsters for the sake of making a living.
Since the dungeon was built on old magic, enough of it lingered on, creating a soft light inside the dungeon, making it possible to walk around without the use of a lantern. The ceiling was high enough that one could even walk around without having to crouch.
“What the heck, there’s no explanation board in this underground shopping centre, yan.”
As she said that, she picked up a rock and began to carve [Exit is this way] along the walls as she walked deeper into the dungeon. As she explored, various monsters began to appear; slimes, skeletons and other typical dungeon monsters.
“Tei! Tei!” [5]
Haruna brandished her sword and killed off everything.
All the magic stones that appeared were carefully collected by Haruna and placed inside her bag.
“Free stuff should all be collected, na. Don’t waste, don’t waste.”
Haruna was weak against free stuff. In Osaka she would make several trips to pass by the people handing out free tissues [6] for promotional purposes. She collected quite a lot of tissues this way. Sometimes, she’d even skipped the niceties and put out her hand with a ‘One more please’ and directly ask for more tissues. Since the part time workers also wanted to go home early, they would happily give her all the tissue she wanted. It was a win-win situation for both sides.
Other Adventurers who saw her in action stood blankly with their mouths open.
“H-hey, this, she just crushed an Armoured Scorpion with her bare-hands, right…?”
“What kind of offensive ability is this? Even Martial Artists wouldn’t be able to do this easily…”
“Even life-long Adventurers would find this difficult…”
Right now, the thing that appeared in front of Haruna was a small, rock-like creature called a golem.
“What’s this thing, it’s blocking the way, ya. Tei!”
As half expected, the golem was not beaten despite the powerful hit. In a spirit of contrariness, the Adventurers who had been watching this felt relieved. Even fighting a small golem required quite a lot of effort, most Adventurers would never consider fighting a golem alone. Reinforcements were just about to arrive when-
A fine crack appeared in the golem’s main body
After a bit, it just… crumbled into pieces.
“What the heck, this boulder thing that looked like it belongs on Mount Rokko just broke to pieces, wa. Isn’t it kind of fragile, naa~?”
Mount Rokko is a mountain range that runs through Kobe City in Hyogo prefecture, Ashiya City, Nishinomiya City and Takarazuka City. It’s the origin of the ‘Rokko’ in [Rokko Oroshi]. The mountain range ran along the Northern part of the urban area, which was where the wind originated from.
There are no actual mountains within Osaka City proper, but the tall buildings within the city allow the people of Osaka regular view of the Rokko mountain ranges, which means that the people are quite familiar with Mount Rokko.
“Eh? That…boulder golem actually got broken up?”
“Did someone cast an illusion spell on us?”
“What just happened…?”
Several of the Adventurer parties lost their confidence today. The day’s work was also severely cut short. As usual, Haruna was unaware of how her actions influenced the people around her. At least, none of the party members dared to say anything to Haruna after witnessing her incredible power. It was simply too scary to contemplate.
[Gumihou: Nyahaha, Haruna-san is just too incredible]
[1] Enka – Old fashion style of singing. People over a certain age love to listen to it while drinking sake. Has been called ‘Japanese Blues’, contain pretty deep messages in the lyrics.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enka
[2] Kuro Ame, literally Black Candy (That’s what the large white words said) [3] Service in this case means free or no charge. If you ever go to Japan and the shopkeeper say ‘Service da yo’ (It’s Service) say yes! [4] “Beppin (Beppin san)” referred to beautiful ladies. However, it is used for someone who is also easy going and outgoing on top of being pretty; it is used to describe a girl next door, rather than gorgeous ladies at a beauty pageant, for instance. While Osaka culture is described as the Latina culture in Japan, Osaka people are known to be shy in expressing their feelings. That’s why instead of saying “You are beautiful,” “Beppin (Beppinsan)” is a softer and less direct way to express one’s feeling. [5] Not sure why it’s not ‘Tai!’ anymore. [6] Pocket Tissue MarketingPromotional items are usually name card size discount cards or just the actual name cards of companies.
Often, the tissues are half a normal pack you’d buy from the store.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tissue-pack_marketing
Idk, maybe “tai” is for for “bad boy/girl” and “tei” is like “ha!” When swinging a sword. Something like “tou!” In some animes.