Alternate Reality Mukouda (Part 6)
The Mukoudas
“That said, I hope we get to go back soon,” I said. “I have a date in a couple of days.”
“WHAT?!”
“Eh? What? What?” I was confused by the sudden shout from the other two isekai-ed Mukoudas.
Salaryman Mukouda looked similary shocked, and maybe a little nervous. Heck, I was nervous too. Especially since those two looked like they were about to jump and beat us up or something…
“What the heck? What the heck? I mean, what in the freaking heck?!” Adventurer Mukouda shouted.
“A date…” Tired Mukouda muttered.
“A freaking date!”
“Maybe it’s a dried fruit?”
“You think? Seriously?”
“…not really…”
As the conversation between the two devolved, preservation instinct honed from my time as a merchant kicked in, and I quickly said, “Er, I mean, I have a date with the local, ah, tea dealer. That’s right, I met the tea dealer’s wife at an auction, and she invited me to their shop for a tea sampling. Goodness, now that you mention it, calling it a date is rather strange. Ha ha ha.”
“Oh, oh! She must be the kind who flirts with customers for business,” Salaryman Mukouda chimed in. “That’s a valid business strategy after all. One that women often used.”
I nodded quickly, grateful for Salaryman Mukouda’s help.
What I will never reveal to these people was the fact that the tea merchant’s daughter was at the auction too…
Fortunately, the gloomy aura around Adventurer Mukouda and Tired Mukouda subsided. The looks on their faces were less ‘enraged’ and more ‘dejected’.
“…yeah, I thought so,” Tired Mukouda muttered.
“…there’s no way those gods and goddesses would ever allow it,” Adventurer Mukouda said bitterly.
“Haha…” I said that for the lack of any response that won’t get me into trouble.
Salaryman Mukouda looked between us in confusion and nervousness. Honestly, I can’t blame him. I really don’t know what happened to these two, but they must have completely different isekai experiences than myself.
The best way to describe my experience in the other world thus far was ‘idyllic’. I mean, there were times when I was burned by scams, like that time I paid too much for a map but, I have since treated that as a learning experience. In fact, most of the people in the other world were pretty nice.
Everything’s fine so long as I don’t stand out too much. All I wanted was a nice, peaceful life with a bit of extra money for nice things and maybe a cute girlfriend…
The two other isekai-ed Mukoudas continue to mutter between themselves, but I had already checked out of the conversation. It’s not like I can do anything about their feelings of inferiority-
Suddenly, a pair of hands dropped heavily on my shoulders.
“Hiii!!!”
It was Adventurer Mukouda.
“Hey, merchant. Talk us through how you came to be a merchant,” he said ominously.
“Um…”
“And leave no detail out,” Tired Mukouda intoned. His exhausted, dead fish eyes bore into mine like drills.
What’s up with the attitude? These two looked like they could really do some damage to me, especially Adventurer Mukouda with his sword. Although, for some reason, I felt more afraid of the tired-looking one…
“Uh, sure? So, I was summoned into this world along with three teenagers and…” I quickly summarised my journey to that place.
“… and then, I visited the Merchant’s Guild at Kiels and registered as a merchant-”
“Wait,” Adventurer Mukouda interrupted. “There’s something wrong with your story.”
“Eh?”
“That’s right,” said Tired Mukouda. “Where’s Fer?”
“Uh, what fur…?” Are they talking about some pelt dealers…?
“Fer! You know Fer the Fenrir!”
“A- a Fenrir?” I looked at them confusedly, “Aren’t those really rare?”
Adventurer Mukouda and Tired Mukouda, who did not look quite as tired now, exchanged a look.
“Continue with your story,” said Tired Mukouda sternly.
“Um, so, I sold a bit of salt and pepper at Kiels, but since the reaction I got there was kind of strong, I used the money to move to a bigger town and sold cheap, coarse salt there instead. Th-then, I used the seed money to open a small stall selling local fruits as well as some [Net Super] honey decanted into plain local jars…”
“That’s it?”
“Uh, I used the money to buy a small orchard…”
“… …”
“… …”
“I started selling fruits and jams, and bread made with yeast,” I continued, racking my brain for more details since they seemed to be expecting more from me.
“…I see.”
“Indeed, I see it too.”
See what?! What is it that you two see?!
“It had to be that fellow.”
“Yes, that had to be when everything diverted.”
What fellow?! What diverted?
“Kuuhhh, if I hadn’t met that furball, I could have had a normal life,” Tired Mukouda growled.
“Well, for you maybe, but I guess not having a love life is a reasonable price to pay for a danger-free life. War isn’t fun at all.”
Woah, what did I just hear?
I was not alone. We all stared in shock at Adventurer Mukouda. The man sighed as he fiddled with his sword handle.
“I guess I should share my story. Anyway, I was summoned by accident along with a bunch of teens just like you. However, when the kingdom threw me out, they only gave me 10 silver coins as compensation…”
“Woah!”
“Stingy!”
“H-how evil!!”
We were all outraged by this injustice. How dare the irresponsible kingdom skimp on paying compensation? The nerve!
“After that, life was really terrible. I couldn’t even afford the ride out of Reiseger…”
“Wait,” I said. “Don’t tell me…”
“That shitty country was on the verge of war. Did you…”
“Yup, I got caught up in the war. It was a damned hard life. Haahh…”
There was a faraway look on the man’s face. We all fell silent, weighed down by the sudden gloom in the room.
After a while, Salaryman Mukouda said, “So, uh, how long do you think we have to stay here?”
[Gumihou: Ah, sometimes, it’s better to live in the real world. Hohoho~]
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