“...Shall I strip?”
“Thou shalt not strip!” I quickly stayed Cesca’s hand.
So the long and short of it was, Doctor Babylon had been peeking in on us from the past, so she knew all about us. But if she really could see the future, then why was the teleportation circle for the garden located at the bottom of the sea off the coast of Eashen? For that matter, why bother splitting Babylon into several pieces if she knew it was going to me, anyway? It made it all very hard to believe she was seeing the future perfectly.
No, wait. She said she could only take fragmentary glances into the future, so maybe she couldn’t zoom in on the finer details or something. I really hope that’s the case, because if it’s not, then I’ll never be able to rest easy again knowing that someone’s peeking in on everything I’m doing all the time.
Another thing that caught my attention was the Phrase. From how she spoke, it seemed like the Doctor wasn’t aware that the Phrase still existed in this world line.
Maybe that cricket-type Phrase we met at the old capital had actually just been sealed there this entire time. If so, it would mean that the Phrase invaded one thousand years ago, too... That would explain why the old capital came to ruin so suddenly, and why it had to be relocated in the first place. It all makes sense if I consider all these events to be related.
So if the one that we ran into was probably a survivor from when the old capital was invaded, then... I’d bet it was originally caught so that people could research it to try and find some kind of weak point.
But hang on... If that were the case for the cricket-shaped one, then what about the snake-shaped one that Leen saw? Shouldn’t we take this as a sign that the events that happened five-thousand years ago, and then more recently one-thousand years ago, are about to happen all over again?
Five-thousand years ago, the world was on the brink of destruction. One-thousand years ago, the old capital fell. Following that pattern, the events appeared to be reducing in scale. Even if it were to happen again, things likely wouldn’t turn out as disastrous as the last couple of times... Still, it would’ve been foolish to make that assumption.
“Is something the matter?”
“Nah, it’s nothing...”
This is all just “what if” right now. If my fears turn out to be unfounded, then I couldn’t ask for anything more, but on the off-chance that my guess is right...
“Won’t do me any good to keep dwelling on it, I suppose. I’m sure it’d just make everyone feel uneasy, so I’ll keep quiet about it.”
“About my making love to you?”
“You’ll do no such thing, and that is not what I meant!”
“Understood, Master.” This train of events could have easily spiraled out of control. The last thing I wanted to deal with immediately after getting engaged was being accused of cheating. I chased Cesca away, since I’d already made sure that she’d been given her own room, and crawled into bed.
◇ ◇ ◇
The next day, I paid a visit to the shopping district in the southern part of the capital.
My destination was a jewelers. I figured I should, you know, buy engagement rings for everyone.
I could’ve easily made the rings myself using [Modeling], but cheaping out on an important gift to one’s fiancee just felt wrong to me, so I wanted to buy them from the store instead. That said, I had no idea what the going price for engagement rings even was. I’d heard before that an engagement ring was normally “three months’ wages,” but I’d also heard that that was just a rumor spread by jewelers to make people spend more on them. Not that it mattered either way, since I wasn’t even being paid in “wages” in this world...
From what I’d read online, an engagement ring was something a guy gave to a girl upon getting engaged. This was the one that was supposed to cost “three months’ wages.” And then separate from that, there was the pair of rings exchanged during a wedding and then worn all the time by a husband and wife. Because these rings were left on all the time, they didn’t have to be overly expensive, apparently. It also seemed to be the norm for wedding rings to come without jewels attached.
For a normal wedding, I’d only need to buy three rings. One engagement ring, a wedding ring for my wife, and a wedding ring for me, but in my case I had four wives, so I’d ultimately need four engagement rings for the girls, four wedding rings for the girls, and a wedding ring for myself, for a total of nine rings...
Hang on, is that even how weddings work over here? I only just noticed, but that’s just a custom from my world. I don’t even know if things work that way over here. I mean, wedding rings are probably the norm at least, but...
Unsure of the local customs, I decided to ask the person who worked in the jewelry shop when I got there.
As I walked through the shopping district with my head full of such thoughts, I happened to overhear an argument going on. Curious to see what kind of trouble was brewing, I went over toward the food stall that the voices were coming from. When I got there, I found the stall manager standing with his arms crossed, angrily eyeing the customer in front.
“Look, kid. I don’t know where ya got them coins or what they’re worth, and I don’t really care. Ya can’t pay with them here. We don’t take ’em. Capisce?”
“That’s troublesome. I’m afraid these are all I have, you see...” The customer was a boy around the same age as me. He wore a black top over a white shirt, black pants, and had a long white scarf around his neck. His color scheme was perfectly monotone. He stood there scratching his head, clearly troubled. Even the hair he was scratching at on his head was pure white. In his hands he held two crepes, one half-eaten.
“Eeehh, can’t I just pay with this, though? This is money too, you know?”
“If you don’t got any money, then that’s the same as stealing my food. Don’t make me hand you over to the guards, kid. I’m tellin’ ya, we don’t got no weird coins like that in this country!”
“Uhh, excuse me...” I couldn’t help but stick my nose in. From what I could gather, it seemed the boy didn’t have any of this country’s currency, but he went and accidentally took a bite out of some food without realizing that he wouldn’t be able to pay for it.
“Yeah? Whaddya want?” The shopkeeper barked at me angrily.
“I’m just passing through, but if it’s just about the money, then I can pay for his share. Would that be alright?”
“I ain’t complainin’, just so long as yer payin’.” I handed the man one copper coin, and he gave me two more crepes. Four crepes for one copper seemed a reasonably decent price. With that matter sorted, the boy and I left the stand with food in hand.
“Thanks. You really helped me out of a bind there.”
“Don’t worry about it, really. But I’ve gotta ask, do you really not have any money you can use around these parts? Like, none at all?” The boy thanked me, and I had to check with him just to make sure. I couldn’t help but wonder where in the world he’d come from. After all, even Eashen used the same common currency as Belfast, and those places were almost on the opposite sides of the world.
“See, I was able to buy stuff with this money before, though...” The scarf-clad boy took a handful of silver coins out of his pocket.
“They’ve got a pretty weird shape to them.” The common currency in this world was chiefly round as far as I understood it. This was true for gold, silver, and all other types of coin. In comparison, the coins the boy was holding were 8-sided. They were octagonal-shaped coins. I’d never seen their kind before. I picked one up out of his hand so that I could examine both sides properly.
“If they’ve caught your eye, then I’ll give you a few as thanks for earlier. It doesn’t seem like I’ll be able to use them here, anyway.”
“You sure? Alright, I guess I’ll take just enough to cover the cost of the crepes, then.” Honestly I didn’t really want them that much, but I figured accepting his offer would keep him from getting hung up over it, so I to
ok a few of the coins from him.
“My name’s Touya. Mochizuki Touya. What’s yours?”
“Ende. It’s a pleasure, Touya.” He extended his hand, and I gripped it in a firm handshake. I remembered thinking at the time how unnaturally cold his skin felt. That was a fateful day, the event that served as the first meeting between myself and the boy named Ende.
◇ ◇ ◇
“Hmm, what should I do? It’s gonna be tough not having any money.” Ende tilted his head while eating his crepe. I bit into mine, too, and we gazed on at the crowds of people coming and going in front of the water fountain.
“Yeah, no kidding. You’re probably just gonna have to get a job for now.”
“What’s your job, Touya?”
“Mine?” My job... My job, huh? I’ve never thought about it much before, but what is my job, exactly? Adventurer, I guess? I mean, technically most of my work is done through the guild and all.
“I do odd jobs here and there as an adventurer with the guild. You know, stuff like hunting monsters or guarding caravans.”
“Ah, I see. Sounds like something that’d work for me.” You make it sound so simple. Well, I guess there’s no massive risks of danger at the lower ranks, so it should be fine.
“You thinking about getting registered? What are you gonna do about getting a weapon? Well, you could always just do plant-gathering quests for the time being, I guess.”
“Why would I need a weapon? It’s not like I’m going to be off slaying dragons, right?” Is he planning on going at it barehanded? Is he a brawler like Elze? Then again, he could also be a mage. Something caught me about the way he had said that, though. Almost as if he was saying that even dragons would’ve been a piece of cake for him if he had a weapon.
“Well, alright. I can lead you to the guild office, then. I had some business there today, anyway.”
“Please do. Sorry for all the trouble.” I threw the empty crepe wrappers in the garbage and made my way over to the Guild. I needed to withdraw money to buy the rings for the girls, after all.
Ende was a little bit taller than me. Around 170 centimeters, give or take. His looks were fairly androgynous, too, like one of those pretty-boy characters. Damn it, I’m not jealous or anything, you hear me?!
My eyes couldn’t help but be drawn to his white scarf, how it trailed almost all the way to the ground. It wasn’t even winter, so I had no idea why he needed such a long scarf anyway.
“It was a gift from someone precious to me.” When I inquired about it, that was how he answered with a smile on his face. He kind of missed my point, though. Did he mean that his girlfriend gave it to him? His tone of voice sure made it seem so. The guild’s sign came into sight before too long. The hustle and bustle around the quest board was as lively as ever.
I took Ende up to the counter and had the receptionist run him through the registration process. While he was busy with that, I went to withdraw some money from the adjacent counter. This was a once-in-a-lifetime thing, or so I wanted to believe, so I wanted to splurge on the rings.
When we met back up, I had my money ready and Ende had his brand new Black Guild Card in hand.
“No troubles with your registration, then?”
“Went just fine. All that’s left now is to start doing quests. I didn’t know the guild had offices all around the world, though. That saves me a lot of trouble. I’m never in one place for very long.” That so, I thought. For a traveler, he sure was dressed rather lightly. Hell, I was impressed he’d been able to make it so far as a traveler with no usable money to his name. He had this sort of blissfully ignorant air about him, too. I thought for a moment that maybe he was some runaway prince from a distant land.
I had my suspicions about the guy, but I decided not to pry. Everyone had their own circumstances, after all.
“Well, I should really get going. Try and stick to the simpler quests at first, yeah? Don’t push yourself too hard now.”
“Got it. Thanks for everything, Touya. Hope we meet again somewhere.”
“Yeah, I’ll see you around.” I parted ways with Ende and left the guild office. He really was an odd one.
With that out of the way, I made for the jewelers.
Each of the four girls in front of me sat with their rings, and gazed at them with great big smiles on their faces. Their design was a fairly simple platinum band with a diamond on each, but they still cost me a pretty penny. Looking back on it, from the moment I told the lady that I didn’t know the standard price for these things, I should’ve expected that she’d try to overcharge me. I mean, once I’d decided on a design and heard the cost, I asked for four of them and the lady’s eyes went wide.
The rings I’d chosen were enchanted ones, with a spell that let them naturally adjust to the size of the wearer’s finger. In addition to that, I’d included some enchantments of my own.
“Each of those is enchanted with [Accel], [Transfer], and [Storage], by the way.” I figured [Accel] was a good battle choice, [Transfer] would let the rings work as spare magic batteries in case they ever ran out at a critical moment, and [Storage] would be a handy spell for any girl to have.
“Thank you so much, Touya.” Yumina held her left hand in her right, and smiled as she gazed down at the ring on her finger.
Next up, I took out a mithril chain necklace.
“Here, Elze. This is for you.”
“For me?” Elze took the chain, seemingly a little puzzled.
“Well you can’t really wear that ring under a gauntlet, right? I figured a necklace would let you keep it on even if we got into any fights.”
“Oh, gotcha. I never thought of that. Thanks, Touya.” Elze put the ring on the chain and wore it around her neck to see how it looked. I felt it really suited her. Since the chain was mithril, there was no chance of it breaking, and as long as the ring was somewhere on Elze’s person she’d be able to make use of the magic it’d been enchanted with.
With the rings handed over, I realized I still had something in my pockets. I reached in and took out the silver coins that Ende had given me, and placed them down on the table.
“What are these?”
“Earlier today I met this weird guy called Ende, and I got these from him. Apparently they’re some country’s currency. Recognize them at all?” Linze took one of the coins and began inspecting it with great interest.
“I’ve never seen anything like this before... They have a very elaborate design carved into them, so I can only imagine that they’re considerably valuable...” I sure hoped that wasn’t the case, because I’d basically taken them as payment for two whole crepes. I began to wonder if maybe taking Ende to get them converted into usable currency would have been the better idea. Thinking about it, even just taking him to a pawn shop would’ve gotten him at least the price of the silver they were made of.
I took one of the coins and gave it another good look over for myself. I heard a knock at the door, and Renne popped her head into the room. She held the door open for Cesca, who brought with her a teapot and some cups.
“I’ve come to serve you tea.” Cesca said, as she placed the cups onto the table and began to pour tea for us. As I was watching her do that, Renne came up beside me acting all fidgety. It looked like she had something to say. I wonder what’s up...
“Um, Touya... er, sir. Can I getcha to... Um, I mean, I do indeed have a request, sir...”
“You don’t have to force yourself to speak politely when Leim’s not around. What’s up?”
“Well, y’see, I wanna ride a bike, too...” A bike? I guess I don’t really see anything wrong with that. I dunno how I’d feel about her riding it around town, but it should be fine if she’s got someone with her at the time.
“I wanna practice, but my feet don’t reach the danged pedals! Sue said you made a littler bike for her before, and, uhhm...” Aha, now I get it. The only bike we have at home is an adult-sized one. Renne’s still too small to ride a bike like that. I should’ve no
ticed without her having to point it out to me.
“No problem, Renne! I’ll make one especially for you, then. What color would you like?”
“Really? Yer not havin’ a laugh?! Then... a red one!”
“Your wish is my command, little lady.”
“That’s spot-on! Thanks a bunch!” Renne leaned across the sofa and hugged me tight. C’mon now, if Leim were here he’d be furious, you know? Still, I’m just happy if you’re happy.
I wore an awkward little smile and just let Renne hug me, when my eyes met with Cesca’s.
“...So you’re a pedoph—”
“Hey there, nice weather we’re having today, am I right?!” I can’t let you finish that word, Tin Can! I’m already self-conscious enough about that kind of thing thanks to Yumina, so don’t make this any worse for me! Cesca gave me a suspicious stare for a while, but eventually went back to pouring tea like the little outburst had never happened. After she was done, she caught notice of the coins laying on the table and tilted her head slightly.
“I didn’t think this currency would still be in use after all this time.”
“What do you mean, after all this time? Cesca, you know where these came from?”
“Yes. These particular coins are Partheno Silver. They were first minted exactly five thousand two hundred and eighty four years ago, and were used commonly around this region, too. I’m amazed that they’re still in circulation.” That long ago?! Cesca’s words made me pick the coin up once more and examine it even more intently. It definitely didn’t look that old in the slightest. Hell, it looked almost brand new. Why would Ende have been carrying something like this around...? Hang on. What was it he said back then?
“See, I was able to buy stuff with this money before, though...”
Before? What did he mean by “before,” exactly? Is there really anywhere in the world that might still be using a currency from the days of old? I had an idea, but it was a ridiculous one. It almost seemed to me as though Ende were a human who had time traveled here from the past. Either that, or he could have been one of Doctor Babylon’s android creations like Cesca.
In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 3 Page 12
