Mushoku Tensei (LN) - Volume SS - Chapter 21

Short Story:

How the Swordsman and the Thief Use Their Money

AT PAUL’S FUNERAL, everyone brought something that carried a memory of him to the feast. Geese brought several medals.

“There was a time he got right into collecting these, y’know.” Geese began a story from after Zenith joined Fangs of the Black Wolf.

At the time, with the addition of Zenith as healer to the party, all was going well for Fangs of the Black Wolf. After traversing a number of labyrinths, their finances were looking good too. Perhaps because of this, Paul got into collecting odd medals. As he said it, they were medals that had been awarded to knights in countries that had fallen into ruin before the Laplace War. Geese couldn’t see why things like that should be sold for such high prices. But as part of his profession, he frequented the places where such things were traded, and so Paul often made him come with him on his medal hunts.

“A hundred!”

“Ugh, a hundred and ten!”

“A hundred and ten, I’ve got a hundred and ten, can I get another offer?”

That day, Geese and Paul were at the auction house. Paul’s hand was clenched around the bag of fifty Millis silver coins he had saved up for this day. It was a veritable fortune for the likes of an adventurer.

“Oi, Paul. It’s time.”

“Y-yeah…I’m a bit nervous…” Up for auction today was the final type of medal in Paul’s collection. Upon catching wind of this, the two of them had come to the auction house, which they did not usually visit. He had never bid on an auction before. Feeling like a fish out of water, Paul broke out in a cold sweat. 

“All right then, our next item is an Anchor Kingdom knight captain’s medal, starting at ten silver.” 

“Ah.” At last, the item he was after appeared.

“Ten!” Paul quickly raised his card and said the price. Anchor Kingdom knights’ medals weren’t all that popular among collectors, to say nothing of ordinary people. Only serious medal fanatics would want it. Paul thought that with a bit of luck, he could get it for around twenty silver.

“Twenty-five!” But just like that, someone raised the bid. Apparently, there was a serious medal fanatic here.

“Thirty!”

“Thirty-five!” 

Paul and the other voice began shouting over each other.

“F-forty…”

“Forty-five!” the other voice called out confidently, perhaps hearing the reluctance in Paul’s voice and smelling victory. 

“Ngh…” Paul’s voice caught in his throat. His budget was fifty silver coins. But this was, in fact, the entirety of his current assets. He’d assumed he could get the medal for forty coins at the most because, according to his research, that was about the market rate. He had brought fifty coins just in case, but if he spent them all, he’d go hungry until they earned another bounty. 

“Forty-five, I hear forty-five, can I get a higher offer?!”

Paul looked at the auctioneer in anguish. Did he choose the medal, or not…?

“Haaah…” An hour later, Paul staggered down the street. In the end, he hadn’t bought the medal. That is to say, he’d tried. He’d shouted out, “Fifty!” But his opponent had outbid him straight away with “Fifty-five,” and Paul had been silenced.

“Ya shoulda borrowed a bit from me if it meant so much to ya,” Geese said. In the end, Geese had thrown him a lifeline, saying, “How ’bout I lend ya ten silver?”

Paul had considered it for a second, but decided not to borrow the money. And so, the auction concluded.

“Just ten wouldn’t have been enough,” he said.

“Ya can’t know that without tryin’ it.”

“Nah, I could tell. That type doesn’t fold. Swordsman’s instincts.” Paul spoke like a man who’d accepted defeat, but he still hadn’t quite let go.

So Geese asked, “How come you’re collecting them medals anyway?” He knew a guy didn’t need a reason for collecting things, so he hadn’t questioned it until now. But he found himself wanting to ask.

“That’s, I mean, you know…” Paul looked away, his face flushing a little as he explained. “It’s…it’s Zenith. The other day, we were at an antique dealer’s and she was all, ‘Look at this medal, it’s so cool.’”

So it was a present for Zenith. Geese let out a heartfelt sigh.

“Well, in the end he took my advice and bought a pretty chain, then got the medals he’d bought up ’til then remade into one pendant. And he got Zenith to like him better, so good for Paul, eh? And that was that.” Geese had heard that the medal pendant had been lost in the displacement incident. But antique dealers were always hawking them.

He thought it could be a bit of fun, collecting medals, once things settled down.

Paul hadn’t been able to complete his collection the day they had visited the auction house together, so Geese would do it for him. As Geese finished his story, he thought that might not be a bad idea.