After Fresa grinned to herself, mumbled under her breath, and wandered around the room aimlessly, she finally went to bed. I could hear her steady breathing.
“So she finally fell asleep,” Grida said.
She was probably just restless. She did wander around quite a bit, what with opening the window and making that fizzling sound and all.
“All right, then. Apple-san, I have a request.” Datil sidled up to me, next to the sleeping Fresa.
From an outsider’s perspective, talking to an apple makes you look insane.
“I would like for you to keep this request a secret.”
I knew it. You pretended to be asleep until you confirmed Fresa actually was. I thought it was weird since you didn’t tell Fresa the whole story either. What I heard between you and Pastèque was not what you told her.
“We’re going on a journey, right? This is about our funds.”
Figured. Sorry, I overheard this already. You told Fresa that Pastèque would lend us money, but I heard that...
“Apple-san, I want you to gather the belongings that Holmer left behind.”
The guildmaster’s bonus was for you to collect your belongings.
“Hmmm. Why is Datil-san asking you to do this?” Grida said.
Good question. If he were to just take his own stuff out of his room, it wouldn’t be a problem.
“Exactly. He should just go get it himself.”
But that won’t work here, Grida.
“Huh? Why?”
If Datil—the man formerly known as Holmer—goes to his old room, it’ll be deemed a “robbery.” Datil and Holmer are functionally different people.
“Oh, I see!”
If Datil gets apprehended while getting his stuff, it’ll be a huge problem. But if I were to go, I could just freeze in place. I doubt anyone would suspect an apple. I still have one question though.
“I need you to keep this a secret from Fresa. It’ll be bad if she finds out,” Datil said.
That’s my question. Why do you need to keep this a secret from her?
“You seem puzzled by what I said, but you’ll find out in due time.”
So you say. Well, I guess I’ll go for you. Also, how did you know that I was puzzled?
“I’m sorry for making you act like a burglar here. But I just don’t have the money right now to be able to go on a long trip.”
No need to apologize there. I don’t either. Besides, it’s my fault that you’re out of money. You threw away your fame, fortune, and identity as a rich Rank A adventurer to protect me. And this is pure speculation on my part, but Fresa probably doesn’t have money either. Honestly, I get the feeling that she and money are soon parted.
“Also, I don’t think Fresa has any money either,” he added.
Yeah, called it.
“You guys are kinda mean,” Grida said.
The fact that we also couldn’t sell any items we found in the Chasm of Catastrophe was a miscalculation on my part.
“Apple-san, this city of Kalabuya, as well as its four neighboring cities, are all under strict surveillance regarding item sales,” Datil said. “If we were to sell items of unknown origin, we’d immediately get arrested. The guildmaster told me himself, so I think this is true.”
Since a lot of people died in the Chasm, there’s gonna be “looters” around. Those are people that steal items off of corpses, or even kill other people and blame it on the monsters.
“That’s horrible! How awful!” Grida cried.
Yeah. These people might be more evil than the monsters, in a sense. That’s probably why the cities are strictly checking sales of items to catch those kinds of guys. They’re making sure that stolen or looted items aren’t turning any profit.
“I hope those bad guys get punished! I’m rooting for the surveillance team!”
Yeah, but thanks to that, we can’t sell anything now.
“Ack! That’s no good either!”
It goes without saying, but going on a journey is very costly. Even in Japan, where monsters and bandits don’t exist, the roads are paved with asphalt, and effective public transportation exists, you need quite a bit of cash to go on a trip.
Datil continued, “We absolutely need Holmer’s belongings and inheritance. Dead people don’t need items, and I don’t have any family. At this rate, the guild will collect it all. Please, Apple-san, go in my stead.”
Well, I don’t have a reason to refuse. The guy asking me is the one who owns the stuff in the first place, and it’s not like I’m stealing. Besides, he’s doing this for my sake. I rolled around Datil.
“Really? Thank you! There’s a few things I want you to keep in mind though,” he said. “Pastèque said he’d pull some strings, so there shouldn’t be that many guards on the way there. The residents on either side of my room are off checking the situation at the Chasm, so they should be gone too, but the room itself has a pretty nasty safety mechanism.” He proceeded to explain the location of the traps in Holmer’s room, and how to deactivate them.
I don’t have any hands, so here’s hoping that shouldn’t matter.