It was a lame excuse. With her mom coming home soon, I couldn’t have a lengthy conversation with her. Anyone who saw me—a middle-aged man who, at a glance, had no women in his life—would probably interpret the interaction as somebody trying to bait a minor. Actually, they definitely would. That was why I really had to insist on a sense of distance between us. I seriously didn’t want any rumors starting about me among the neighbors.
“We’ve got things to do, so good-bye.”
Ending the conversation, I placed the bread on her bag, which was sitting next to her. It felt like I was making an offering of a few coins to a shrine’s donation box—and wishing that, one day, the good deed would come back to me.
“…Thank you,” my neighbor called after us as we left the apartment.
Our destination was, as planned, the neighborhood superstore. They had food and everyday sundries in addition to books, bicycles, sports gear, and even home appliances. Basically, it was the kind of massive supermarket you find in the suburbs. We headed to the second floor to stock up for tonight’s business.
“This seems good.”
“Gotcha.”
Following Peeps’s instructions as he sat in the carrying case, I put one item after another into my shopping cart. I spoke softly and kept my mouth closed when passing people so nobody would overhear us. They would just think I was an eccentric owner who really loved his Java sparrow.
Oh, a frying pan. “Peeps, what about this?”
“How is it different from a normal pot?”
“It’s incredibly hard to burn.”
“This is good.”
“I’ll just throw it in, too, then.”
I tossed the Teflon frying pan into my cart. It didn’t feel like enough with just one, so I put in a few more. I also added several peelers—I had the feeling they were a more recent invention.
Thanks to my aggressive series of carefree purchasing decisions, the total price was significant. I was a little scared of next month’s credit card payment. I still hadn’t thought of any way to convert valuables from the otherworld into yen.
After quickly paying for everything, cart still fully loaded, we moved to a space that was empty of people next to the restrooms. It would be a pain to get all the way back to the apartment like this, so we’d devised a way to go straight to the otherworld.
“Let’s be off, then.”
“Okay.”
After making sure nobody was around and no surveillance cameras were on us, Peeps activated his magic. As the magic circle appeared under my feet, our surroundings shifted.
The destination was right next to the trading company I’d visited last night, in the middle of a small alley coming off the main one. It was only a little over a meter wide, so nobody ever came through here. Taking advantage, I exited the alley and headed for the trading company.
The sun was high in the sky, so if it wasn’t a holiday, stores would be open. Peeps returned to my shoulder from the carrying case as well.
It was a ton of fun walking a supermarket shopping cart down a fantasy road. Many other people were pushing their things along in a similar way, so nobody would pay much attention to me just for the cart. We were able to get right to our destination—the trading company.
The guard in front of the entrance was an acquaintance at this point. After I asked him for the store’s vice manager, he happily nodded. I was then shown back to the reception room I’d been in the day before.
“It’s been a while, Mr. Sasaki. It’s good to see you again.”
“And thank you for responding to such an abrupt request, Mr. Marc.”
It had only been a day for us, but for them, it had been almost a month. We took our seats on the sofas, which might have looked relaxed, but with the low table between us, I could feel a bit of a difference in enthusiasm. Apparently, he wasn’t as carefree as I was today.
“Forgive me, but would I be able to see the goods right away?”
“Yes, by all means.”
I didn’t want to put on airs, so I got straight down to business.
I’d brought sugar and chocolate again at the vice manager’s request. More, this time—twenty kilograms of each. The lower rack on the cart was filled with sugar and chocolate, as well as a few spices and seasonings, new this time.
The main part of the cart, however, was absolutely packed with new products. The one I particularly wanted to recommend was the calculator. They were cheap at a hundred yen a pop, but according to Peeps, the abacus was in its heyday over here, so they would likely be worth a lot. With their solar batteries, they could work for years without any maintenance, too—that would spice up the deal. It was a really good thing this world’s number system was base ten. Not to mention they already understood the concept of zero.
However, our characters were different, so they would need to convert from one to the other. Their digits were similar to our Arabic numerals but still not quite the same. Peeps had said, though, that they only had ten numeric symbols, so it shouldn’t prove that difficult for them. On our way here, the bird had been fiddling with one himself as we walked. Seeing a sparrow poke at the buttons with its feet and beak was the most adorable thing ever.
“How do these work?”
“I can’t explain in detail, but they use very complicated mechanisms. It would take several years just to understand the principles—and even more to develop similar ones. You would need decades, at least, and vast amounts of capital.”
“……”
The vice manager kept a stony silence as he looked at the calculator in his hand. By that, I could anticipate a high selling price. I had also only brought three. If I was told the abacus was more convenient and they had no use for the devices, I’d be in trouble, so I’d kept it to a minimum.
“How is it?”
“…Does two hundred gold coins sound fair to you?”
Whoa, I felt like the selling price just went way down. Last time, I’d gotten four hundred gold coins for my trouble.
“That is somewhat less than before, isn’t it?”
“Oh, excuse me—I meant just for one of these.”
“Ah, I see.”
That was far higher than I’d ever imagined. I stole a glance at Peeps, who was sitting on my shoulder. I made out a very subtle nod from him—the price must have sounded good. It was a godsend, having a local to help me out.
“Understood. Two hundred will do.”
“How many of these do you have with you, by the way?”
“I have three…”
“I will pay you in cash for all the goods you’ve brought today. In exchange, could I purchase all three calculators?”
“Yes, of course you can.”
Judging by his reaction, calculators would be my biggest earners for a while. I’d have to search for more solar battery–powered electronics on the internet later.
“May I ask how many of these you have in stock right now?”
“Let me see…”
It wouldn’t be good to stock so many of them that I crashed their market value. I wanted to assume as much of an air of importance about them as I could and maintain the price at two hundred gold coins apiece. I was thinking about one per house for nobles and leading merchants was a good standard. Probably best to limit my supply to ten per month in that case.
“I believe I can bring you ten more for our next trade.”
“Excellent! I would very much love to purchase those as well.”
“Understood, sir. I will be sure to prepare ten more.”
“Thank you very much.”
The vice manager’s face was a full smile. Praise the heavens for calculators. Industrial goods like these seemed to sell for higher prices more easily than food-related products. I could keep costs to a minimum buying them, too, and they weren’t bulky, making them effortless to deliver. Seemed to me like the direction for my future business had been decided.
Ultimately, this sale brought me a total of fifty large gold coins. Not only did the calculators add a ton of value, but I was also able to sell the sugar and chocolate at a stable price. On the other hand, the Teflon frying pans and peelers didn’t do quite as well. I supposed it was important to go for items the nobles would want.
The vice manager also gave me some advice: Apparently, hunting was becoming quite a major hobby among the upper classes. Hobbies were, in essence, trees that grew money. Maybe advanced, high-cost outdoor equipment would do significantly well with them. As we went over things like that, Mr. Marc’s reactions were so encouraging that it really got me thinking about everything. If only doing business at my actual workplace were this easy.
“By the way, about the eatery…”
With our deal concluded for now, the vice manager steered the conversation in another direction—one I was curious about, too.
“How is it doing?” I asked.