Fanfiction 021 – Crossover – Single Aristocrat Enjoys a Different World (Part 2)
“This is my workshop,” said Dokuraba, no, I should call him Zilk while we’re in town. Fer and the rest had decided to go on a hunting spree on their own so it’s just the two of us.
Although this world has monsters, adventurers and other isekai fantasy world staples, the area where Zilk lived was populated mostly by the fairly rich. Somewhere between upper middle class to mid-level nobles or something.
“Isn’t it difficult to make magic tools?” I asked, remembering the old magic tool fridge I had ‘found’ way back.
“There’s a trick to it. When I got here, I asked for the gift of magic tool making, although…” he gave me an envious look. “It would have been better to ask for an Internet shopping skill instead.”
“Haha…” I laughed awkwardly.
“Still, I’m glad to have met you. Now, since we don’t know how long you’ll be here, there’s no point giving you money. You don’t want gold either, so the next best thing I could offer you are these.”
Zilk opened the door to his workshop and I entered the… surprisingly normal-looking room. There were two people there, a woman with short red hair and a man with shaggy blonde hair.
“These are…”
“My employees, this is Rouge and that one’s Tristan. Rouge is in charge of sales and Tristan processes magic stones for the magic tools.”
“Oh my, a customer?” said Rouge. “May I know what you’re looking to purchase?”
I laughed and said, “Um, Zilk said I could take a look at your stock. If possible, I-”
“Just give him one of everything,” said Zilk.
“Eh?”
“Huh?”
“Uh?”
All three of us stared incredulously at Zilk.
“Wait, Zilk, I can’t-” I started, but was cut off midway by Rouge.
“All? Even the prototypes?”
“Of course not, just one of the latest finished products we have,” Zilk looked at me, “They are all basic stuff, so just take it.”
“But-”
“Of course, I expect to be properly compensated,” he smirked.
I rolled my eyes, of course.
“Now, while you two get to that, Mukouda and I will be back later to inspect the goods.”
And then, we’re off.
Zilk led me to a cafe. An honest-to-goodness to goodness cafe. The place was quiet with an elegant feel to it.
And the smell…
“You have coffee here?”
“Yes, I was surprised to find that out too. I tried frying and grinding my own coffee, but it just wasn’t the same. There’s really nothing in the world like a coffee brewed by an expert,” said Zilk.
“I haven’t had any in forever,” I said. “Just the instant stuff.”
“Fufu, you’re in for a treat then,” he nodded at the person behind the counter. “Give us the full works, Rondelle.”
“Oh? You’ve brought a connoisseur?” Rondelled had the look of an expert in the service industry. Just the sight of him filled me with confidence about what would be served.
I held my hands up and said, “No, no, I’m no expert. Zilk’s exaggerating, haha…”
“He’s someone who had experience with coffee, so I would like him to have a taste of your skills,” said Zilk.
“Haha…
“Oh my, I look forward to hearing your opinion, hohoho.”
“Ah…”
The looks of expectations were a little heavy, but not too bad. Then, the man took out a contraption that I never thought I would ever see in this world. It was… um, I never learned what it was called, but I had seen these glass coffee brewing things in fancy coffee shops before. While I had seen coffee being made in these devices back on earth, I never had the guts to try it out myself. For one thing, the coffee brewed using these contraptions was always at least three to five times more expensive.
Hey, don’t judge me, I’m someone who thinks that drip coffee is fancy, so that kind of weird, steampunk-like contraption with a double pot and burner seemed all too extra for no good reason.
I mean, just how much better could the coffee be?
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“Th-this is…”
Zilk and Rondelle smiled indulgently at me after my first sip.
“Wh-what is this full-bodied experience, this taste…” I turned sharply to glare at Zilk. “You have this coffee just a couple of streets from your shop, and you still want drip coffee?!”
“Eh, you know, why do people like junk food or soda? It has its charms,” said Zilk carelessly.
“Drip coffee?” Rondelle looked interested.
“Ahah, this…” I glared at Zilk, wondering how I should explain things when Zilk answered for me.
“Mukouda has an artefact that produces coffee. In fact, I have some here,” he casually took one packet of instant drip coffee and handed it to Rondelle.
“This is…” Rondelle studied the packet. “Hmm, they even include pictures in the instructions. Let’s see, so I open the packet like so…”
A couple of minutes later, a cup of drip coffee was prepared and Rondelle studied it intently. “The aroma is not bad, and the taste…”
“Nothing like yours,” I said as I took another sip and sighed. “You may have spoilt my taste buds. Why did I never order one of these before?”
“Well, at that time, coffee was something one drinks to keep awake, yeah?” said Zilk ambiguously.
“Ah, right…” I said, suddenly realising that I really should not be talking about this in front of others.
Fortunately, Rondelle was busy at another part of the bar-like table. It was quite fun to have coffee at a bar experience where I could watch a master do his thing.
“I do believe my employees have gathered the necessary goods, shall we?”
“Sure, why not?”
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At a warehouse (the workshop turned out to be too small to contain one of each of Zilk’s magic tools), Zilk took me on a short tour of his goods. Some of the more prominent items were a fridge, a set of washing machine/drier, coffee grinders, a protective ring, a fan, a hair dryer, a panini toaster…
“I’ll take one of everything,” I said and proceeded to put all the things I wanted into my [Item Box], ignoring the look of envy on Zilk’s face as he stared at the way I make things disappear.
Thankfully, the look was gone by the time I had packed away the goods.
“Glad to do business with you,” Zilk smirked. “Now, for the payment…”
“Um, let’s see, I expect you’ll want rice, miso, soy sauce, the works, right?” I said as I looked through the list he had given to me.
“Indeed, though I can’t accept too many consumables since they can’t last forever…”
“Do you want wine or, you know, sake-”
“Absolutely! 20 cases of your best!” Zilk shouted before pausing and saying, “No, I changed my mind, give me a variety, but two of each at least!”
“Eep, uh, sure,” I said as I clicked open the tab for Tanaka’s liquor shop.
“Yes, I want this one, this one, and four of that one!”
“Uh, okay…” I was somehow experiencing some flashback of those two gods looking over my shoulder…
It took some time, but eventually, we stopped adding things to the cart and I pressed the checkout button.
A chime later and suddenly, the once half-empty warehouse was absolutely stuffed with things. Bags of rice stacked high along with cases of beer, sake, a case of soy sauce, a case of noodle sauce, a case of super expensive sesame oil and well, it was a lot of stuff.
There were tears in Zilk’s eyes as he hugged a bag of rice to his face. I think he was kissing it…
Anyway, while his back was turned, I took out one last item.
When Zilk turned around, everything in the room except for the bag of rice he was hugging had disappeared.
“Eh?”
I coughed.
“Um, so,” I held out a worn-looking little pouch. “This is a Magic Bag with a time-slow function. Time passed about a third of the time out here and-”
“I-is that… and a-artefact?” he stammered.
“Uh, I think so?”
I swear, I never heard anyone shriek with joy like that.
[Gumihou: Well, that was completely different from my original draft]
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