People brought all kinds of goods─mostly milk─to Tetramine’s branch of the Swallow’s Returned Favor. Products and adventurers alike filled the shop.
“Here you go. Your total sale is 20,000 piros.”
One employee handed money to an adventurer and accepted a weapon in return.
“What’s going on there?” I asked Dungeon Association chief Dale, who watched the scene alongside me.
“We’ve decided to only rent out your weapons for now. They’re still few in number; if they were sold outright, such valuable resources could go unused for days at a time if the owners decided not to work that day.”
“I see. So you lend them out and have them returned when people sell loot, huh?”
Dale nodded.
“At first, it was only a temporary measure to make up for the lack of numbers. But this also functions as a licensing system, so we’re considering maintaining this posture.”
“That’s a good idea.” I nodded back. It was nice to know that things were working in a positive direction.
A group of adventurers slipped by us and left the shop.
“Phew. We made a big haul today!”
“Let’s go drink.”
“Hell yeah! Let’s go to a nicer place today.”
“Agreed!”
Their conversation was awfully lively.
“Goodness… I never could’ve imagined this just weeks ago.” Dale was getting emotional.
“I’m glad things are getting better,” I replied.
“Me, too! By the way, I heard incredible news yesterday.”
“What news?”
“The bank is planning to open a branch in this town.”
“Wow, that’s great.” I was genuinely impressed.
Merchants are already keen to the smell of money, but they don’t hold a candle to bankers. If bankers were looking at this town, then that must mean they expected further development of it. At the least, it was certain that the flow of money would increase.
That was enough for me to be satisfied.
“Mr. Ryota.”
“Yeah?”
“I must repeat! Thank you so much!” Dale took my hand, grasped it tightly, and bowed his head over and over.
It wasn’t what he’d asked me to do, but I was sure that Tetramine would be just fine now.
☆
I went through the warp room to Plumbum’s chamber.
As usual, she was drawing something intently, but she stopped and welcomed me with a smile. “Ooh! Good timing.”
“I’m surprised you knew I was here.”
“Heheh, but of course.”
Of course what?
Before, I would greet her, and she’d look up to greet me then. That was our usual process. But after a few days, she’d see me before I said a word.
Could she hear my footsteps, or something?
“I’d never overlook your presence, not even if heaven and earth turned upside down.”
“That sounds a bit hyperbolic.”
“Not at all!” Plumbum insisted. “When I feel your presence, it sort of…warms my heart, you see. Never would I miss such a sweet sensation.”
“Okay, then. Anyway… What are you drawing today?”
“Well, you said you were an adventurer, yes?”
“Yes,” I affirmed.
“I hear you’ve gone to many different dungeons and solved just as many difficult problems.”
“I’ve fixed my fair share of issues, I guess.”
“Well, I’m drawing those. I don’t know about other dungeons, though, so I fill in the gaps with my imagination.”
“Let’s see here… Oh, wow. You’re drawing a manga, huh?”
“Oh ho. Do humans call this manga?”
“And you’re good, too! I’ve never seen someone self-taught who can draw this well.”
Plumbum’s manuscript was of a quality that rivaled professional manga artists. And it was big, too─far from just one or two pages. The pile of manuscripts, satisfactory in both quality and quantity, could definitely be published as a manga if printed and bound.
“Oh,” I sighed. “I see you’re drawing me as handsomely as ever.” The version of me on the pages was still that shoujo-style man.
“As I’ve said many times now, I’m only drawing what I see.”
“I-I see… Oh? Is that…you?”
She blushed and quietly confirmed, “Y-Yes.” The heroine of this manga was Plumbum herself. Unlike me, it looked just like her, unadulterated.
But she was already very pretty, so she had much more presence than Prince Ryo without being prettified.
“Let’s see… Oh, is this the one about Emily?”
“I-Indeed. I wanted to draw one of the stories you told me.”
“Very interesting.”
It was kind of funny. The manga was the story of how Emily and I had met. It began from the part where I was transported into this world in the form of being dropped by a slime, borrowing the bamboo spear from Emily, desperately trying to make money, and renting our first apartment.
It was funny because I’d never seen my own life being put to paper like this.
“Hmm?”
The manga went up to the point where Emily had suggested we live together. The story ended here. After all, that was where I’d ended the story when I told Plumbum.
Yet there was another page after this.
“What’s this─?”
“Waaaaaagh!” she screamed and snatched the manuscript out of my hand.
“Wh-What’s wrong?”
“Nothing!”
“Okay? Then let me read the rest─”
“Absolutely not.”
“Huh?”
“Absolutely. Not.” She glared at me terrifyingly. That was the face I’d seen when we first met─the hateful death to all who would intrude upon me glare.
“O-Oh. Okay.” I backed off.
If she was that against it, I wasn’t about to force her. Not getting to see what happens next in a manga always leaves me feeling antsy, but oh well.
She started muttering something to herself. “I cannot let him see such things. If he knew my fantasies, my vulgarity, he would hate me…”
“What’s up? You okay?”
“I-I am fine! Anyway, I’d like to hear more stories.”
“Hmm? Oh, okay.” I sat across from her. Making a conscious effort not to look at her manga, I gazed only at her.
“What story do you have for me today?”
“Hmm… If we’re going chronologically, I guess the next one is where I meet Aurum.”
“Aurum… Another spirit like myself?”
“Yep.”
“What did you do? Tell me, tell me!” she pressed me. Sparkly eyes, an excited look on her face─I’d never have expected her to look this lively on the day we met.
“I’m glad things turned out this way,” I said to myself.
It was thanks to Dale that I’d come here, but I was happy that I had.
Satisfied with this chain of events, I spent time with one very happy Plumbum.