Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyusoukyoku (LN) - Volume 23 - Chapter Pr

Prologue

“Mashter, a customer.”

“Mashter is here.”

“Mashter, hurry.”

I was preparing a potion in the kitchen inside the store when the three young shop assistants, who were hamsterfolk and were all around waist-height, called for me.

“All right. I’ll come right away.”

I put the half-made potion into Storage and headed toward the front of the store, with the hamsterfolk children tugging on the hem of my pants.

“Where’s Roro?”

“Roro went out.”

“Roro supplies.”

“Roro said earlier.”

Roro owned this general store named Hero’s Rest.

“Oh, there you are.”

“Sorry for the wait, Ms. Nona. Are you getting ready to leave on an adventure?”

“That should be obvious from the way I look.”

The female adventurer, Ms. Nona, was dressed in leather armor, almost bursting at the seams trying to hold her well-toned body. She was a regular at the store here.

“I’d like five stamina recovery potions, ten Candles of Direction, and around thirty meals’ worth of preserved foods—and make those the expensive ones! I can’t stand the dried meat that has the toughness of the bottom of a sandal, nor the hard bread.”

“Buying a lot today, I see. Are you going on a long trip?”

“Yeah, I’m participatin’ in a long trip led by one of the top adventurer clans.”

When I first met her, she was traveling alone. I was worried about her being on her own, but I was relieved she had managed to make some friends. I turned around to get the items she asked for out of a cupboard behind the counter, then lined them all up on top of the counter.

The hamsterfolk went over to the pantry to get the bulky rations. The rations that Lulu and I came up with as a result of research were a smash hit and one of the most popular products at the store.

“Mashter, the rations.”

“Mashter, we brought them.”

“Mashter, compliment us.”

“Excellent job, girls.”

I patted the hamsterfolk, who brought over the rations on their heads. They made cute little noises as they wiggled their hands and small tails with joy. Ms. Nona looked as if she wanted to pat them on the head, too. They’ll love it, so don’t hesitate to pat them on the head!

“All together that will be three copper pieces and twelve… Never mind the smaller amounts; three coppers will do.”

“Oh, thanks!”

Ms. Nona took out three bundles of one hundred copper coins with a hole in the center, all grouped with a piece of thread through the holes, and placed them on the table.

Ordinary folk weren’t allowed to use silver or gold currency to pay for things, so paying with copper for everything like this was convenient.

“Shall I sharpen the swords on your waist?”

“You know I’ve been doing that myself?”

Ms. Nona spoke as she detached the one-handed sword from the belt on her waist, placing it on top of the table. It showed signs of being looked after, but it wasn’t in the best condition. The climate here was extremely hot, so if swords weren’t cared for well enough, they’d soon become unusable.

As a result, there weren’t many people here who used metal swords like Ms. Nona’s; a large majority instead opted for equipment made from bone that had been strengthened by mages or a necromancer.

“Let me borrow your sword for a moment.”

I took out a special whetting stone that had recently been smelted and at once got to work on sharpening the sword.

“Now you can cut with it.”

Ms. Nona didn’t look convinced, so I showed how easy it was to cut with a piece of paper.

“Wow, that’s awesome! That Roro did a good job finding you. It’s only a matter of time until this store is one of the best in Arcatia!”

Ms. Nona spoke as she sheathed her sword back on her waist and left the store with a big smile.

In her place, a young girl walked in with a paper bag filled with so many items, it was practically covering her face.

“Roro, welcome back.”

“Roro, are you hurt?”

“Roro, compliment us.”

The three hamsterfolk children sprang through the flap door on the counter, excitedly jumping up at the young girl.

The young girl was Roro, the owner of Hero’s Rest.

“Welcome back, Roro. You just missed a customer,” I said.

“Hello, Mr. Satou. If it was Ms. Nona, I just saw her,” Roro replied.

I took the paper bag she was holding from her, revealing her beauty that could even make castles kneel in awe. If I were to compare her beauty to Lulu’s, that should be enough to help one imagine how transcendent Roro’s beauty was—which was not surprising. Her great-grandfather was the hero Watari—she had similar roots to Lulu, and if you disregarded the fact that her hair was blond, she looked almost the same as Lulu.

I’d met her about a week ago.

The rumor that both Karion and Urion were traveling together had reached the Garleon Alliance, so we were all taking it easy and decided to visit the western regions. The reason for visiting here specifically was the Jungle Labyrinth that Arcatia was located in the center of.