The Hero’s Repatriation
After reporting to the guild, he decided to sell all of the magic swords through the guild to pay off his debt.
“—Because of that, I appear to have left from [Flame Cavern]. Well, here are some magic swords. There are nineteen of them, I had one more of them at the same quality, but I gifted it to Kantra-san. I would like to sell the rest through the guild.”
“… Yes, certainly.”
With the magic swords lined up, the contents of Wataru’s report were exhilarating.
That he had went through the unexplored area, that [Cave of Desires] was connected to [Flame Cavern]—a dungeon also in Tsuia Mountain—at an unknown location, and that he had retrieved as many as twenty magic swords.
They were all wonderful results.
“Well, how much will you purchase the information for?”
“The market price for that is twenty silver coins. Would you like to auction off the magic swords?”
“… Twenty all at once sounds like it would collapse the price doesn’t it. Let’s go with ten. I’ll sell nine to the guild for two gold coins each, so please sell them later. Ah, could I get it in cash if possible?”
That would be eighteen gold, and adding the auction’s sales to that it would probably become close to forty gold.
… It was probably a small amount relative to his twenty-three hundred gold debt, but it could be thought of as an income of forty million yen. From Wataru’s viewpoint, it wasn’t too bad thinking about it like that.
For that night he would be having a drinking bout with Kantra and the others, so he decided to return to the empire the next day.
The details of the drinking bout will be omitted. It was good alcohol, none was left over by the end.
“Alright, now to greet Rokuko-san and them.”
He headed to the inn’s reception… Sitting there was the mage girl that he’d gotten on good terms with, Nerune.
“Whaaaa~, you’re already returning~!? Uuu, I wanted to ask more about magic~”
Hahaha, I’ll come again. Is Rokuko-san here?”
“Ah, yes~. I’ll get her~”
Nerune went to go get Rokuko, so he waited for a while. And then Rokuko arrived in high spirits.
“You’re going back? Say hi to Ane-sama for me.”
“Alright, well, was I able to help?”
“Nn, yeah! Thanks to you I’ll get a ring from my partner!”
There was a certain pact between Wataru and Rokuko.
That is, when Wataru wanted Rokuko to become his partner, some things were said.
～～～
[… Would you be my partner?] [Eh, no way. I already have a partner.]
From Rokuko’s reaction, Wataru noticed that his question could have been taken as a confession.
He quickly corrected that.
[… Ah! No, sorry. I meant as in a study partner. Not the meaning as in a couple or lover or anything.] [… Un? That so? Well okay.] [Please become my cooperator in researching returning to Japan! Those clothes, I just noticed them now, but they have nylon in them right!?] [Nayon? What’s that?] [It’s synthetic material made from petroleum! … This world hasn’t ever seen the combination of nylon with cloth, so why…!?] [Ah, this dress? My partner obtained it from the dungeon you know. Fufun, isn’t it wonderful?]
Right, the Hero Wataru saw through the looks of the material as something that existed in Japan with his insight. His eyes moved instinctively, but his reaction was only towards the nylon cloth. It definitely wasn’t like he wanted to look at Rokuko’s bottom. He just only looked at her bottom since her hair was blocking the rest.
[Yeah, it suits you well… Hmmm, I wonder if I could get some nylon cloth too? I heard the rumors, but it’s amazing… I’d also like Rokuko-san’s Partner-san to become my research companion. Is he an excellent adventurer after all?] [… Yeah, he is, he’s the person to have gone the deepest into the dungeon after all. He got a massage chair from the dungeon too.] [Ooh, that’s…!]
He wanted to take it apart and look inside. When he saw it—
[No way. It’s valuable.]
Rokuko stopped it. He seemed to have voiced his desire.
[Mumu, then maybe your Partner-san could teach me about the dungeon… maybe I could hear something about it?] [Nnn, right. I’m fine preparing a place to talk, but there needs to be an advantage for me!] [Hmm, then how about I treat you to a meal? The five gold coin one.] [It’s my goods, I could eat it whenever I want even if I weren’t treated to it.]
‘Oh right~,’ Wataru thought. He wondered if there wasn’t some kind of bargaining chip he could use against this person he’d just met. He couldn’t think of anything.
[… Then, maybe there are some of Rokuko-san’s worries I could deal with?] [Worries? Hmm, I can’t think of any…] [Umm, maybe some problem with your daily life with your partner?]
Wataru spoke in desperation, but Rokuko happened to think of something.
[Right, then I want to get on better terms with my partner so be my stalking horse!] [1]
[It’ll definitely lure him out for a meal if I say that Hero-sama confessed to me!] [Eh, w-what!?] [I’ll go tell him then!]
～～～
… And that is what was said.
As a result of Wataru confessing to Rokuko, a few days ago he’d told them about his unrequited love story. He ended by futilely trying to indirectly appeal with, [Because I distrust women, I really can’t confess to women], but in the end he was cautious of him and wasn’t able to hear anything satisfactory.
“… But now I have a twenty-three hundred gold coin debt.”
“Eh? That has nothing to do with me you know?”
“… Yeah.”
Rokuko was definitely unrelated to it. Even if Narikin zeroing in on him was due to confessing to Rokuko, Kehma was another person so it was something else entirely.
“Ah, It’s fine if you pay your debt through Haku Ane-sama you know?”
“I want to see Nerune-san and Gozoh-san and them, so I’ll come back. I can’t trouble Haku-sama with that.”
‘Even though it’s good if you don’t really come back,’ Rokuko muttered.
“Well then, see you.”
“Say hello to Haku Ane-sama.”
And thus, Hero Wataru left for the imperial capital.
Furthermore, he honestly reported the details to Haku, so she decided that he would be sent to work practically till the point of death despite being an S-Rank adventurer, but that was another story.
Footnotes:
This is… not something I’ve heard of before. In short, a person who pretends to do something in order to incite a desired outcome.