kscans

Chapter 134 - The Disassembly Shop and the Orphanage

The auction ended without a hitch, and I received my payment.

From the 24,980,000 yen, after fees, I ended up with about 23,731,000 yen.

On the way back, just as I expected, ten thugs surrounded me.

One of them sneered, "Yo, yo, bro. You're holding that attaché case pretty tight. Made a good haul, huh? It's dangerous, so we'll hold onto it for you. Of course, we'll take the full amount as our fee for taking it off your hands."

He let out a vile laugh.

How idiotic. It was basically him saying, 'I'm going to mug you.'

Another one added, licking his lips, "And we'll take care of that pretty lady over there, too. She looks like she'd be a lot of fun."

Tina sighed with an exasperated look on her face, while I, without any emotion, punched the thug in front of me. He went flying, landing on the ground about five meters away. He didn't get up, but his body was twitching. He was still alive.

Seeing this, another thug yelled, "You bastard! You messing with us?! Get him!"

As soon as he shouted, they all rushed me at once.

Tina and I fought them with our bare hands. The outcome was obvious.

Ten thugs with no skills, no magic, and no proper physical training were no match for us. We knocked them all unconscious and left them in a dumpster in a back alley.

As we were walking, Tina asked, "Are you sure this is okay? The police might come..."

Before she could finish, I replied, "It's fine. They're just local delinquents. The police will arrest them. Even if they knew about the auction, they'd cover it up. After all, it's being held in this area. They must be turning a blind eye."

It was unlikely that the police were unaware of an event being held in a luxury building. They were probably in on it, taking some bribes in exchange for looking the other way.

Absolute justice doesn't exist in any human organization.

We returned home.


The next morning.

I watched the morning news, and there was a report that ten thugs had been arrested on suspicion of extortion. Had they been caught because of a prior conviction or a recent crime, rather than having it covered up? I pondered this as I finished my meal.

Afterward, I went to the other world through the magic circle and then used another transfer circle to get to the Empire. I wanted to find out the details of the disassembly shop's arrest that I had heard about yesterday. When I arrived at the location, the small sign was gone, and it was just an empty building.

I thought about asking for information at the weapon shop across the street, but it was closed too. I was at a loss as to what was going on when a voice called out.

"Well now, if it ain't the young lad from the other day."

It was the dwarf, Lurud, with a bottle of sake in one hand.

Seeing him, I asked, "Drinking this early in the morning? Is it your day off?"

Lurud replied with an angry look, "What are you talkin' about?! This is barely enough to get a buzz on! Can't do good work without a drink, ya know?"

Tina whispered to me, "Dwarves basically only drink alcohol. They can drink a lot and not get drunk at all."

As we were talking, Lurud asked, "By the way, what are you two doin' here? The owner of this place skipped town in the middle of the night."

"Skipped town?! What did he do?" I asked.

"What, you don't know?" Lurud said. "The story is he was in cahoots with the disassembly shop across the street, taking out valuable magic stones and giving adventurers cheap ones instead. Apparently, the owner of the weapon shop would tell adventurers that the disassembly shop owner was 'difficult and a master craftsman,' making them think, 'His personality might be tough, but his skills must be good.' Adventurers are suckers for that kind of story."

He took a swig of his drink as he spoke.

I see. When I first came, he explained about that disassembly shop, so I thought he was being kind, but that was his real motive.

"Wait, does that mean that gatekeeper was an accomplice too?" I asked.

"A gatekeeper? Haven't heard anything about that," Lurud replied. "What, you know this shop?"

I explained the whole story to him.

After I finished, Lurud drained his bottle and said with a slight smile, "I see. So you used this place. Well, you were lucky it was a Flame Alligator you brought in. Its magic stone isn't that big."

I guess I should consider myself lucky. Tina asked, "But for the weapon shop owner to escape without being caught... how?"

"It was discovered at night," Lurud explained. "An adventurer heard that the magic stone from a monster he'd hunted was valuable and decided to keep it, but he drank too much at a tavern and ran out of money. He tried to sell the magic stone instead, but was told it was a cheap one. So he reported it to the guards. While the disassembly shop was being searched, the weapon shop owner escaped. Guess he's got some rotten luck."

His bottle was empty.

He was right. If the guards stormed the shop across the street in the middle of the night, it would be normal to think you'd been found out. But to escape so quickly... he must have thought it was only a matter of time before he was discovered.

He was too well-prepared.

Having learned the situation, we left the place.

We also went to the gate where the guard was stationed. The gate we entered this morning was a different one. When we got there, the guard from that time wasn't there.

When we asked, another guard answered with an exasperated look, "Oh, him? He was so shocked to hear that the disassembly shop he cared about was committing fraud that he took a three-day paid leave. He's probably lying in bed right now. The guy's got a weak mentality."

It seemed he was just a sensitive person. I had been too suspicious.

We left the gate and strolled through the city.

Our feet led us to the orphanage.

When we arrived to check on the progress of the katsuobushi, the children saw us and ran over.

"Hey, big brother! Pretty big sister! There's someone helping us make that katsuobushi you taught us about!" one of them said cheerfully.

Him helping with that? Something seemed suspicious. We headed to the workshop.

And there was the castle's Head Chef.

Seeing us, the Head Chef said with a smile, "Oh, it's you two. I heard they were making this katsuobushi here, so I'm lending a hand. Of course, I have no intention of stealing the recipe. I'm planning to buy it when it's done."

Well, that made sense. This place was run by Emperor Yorune, so he probably knew the situation.

But for the Head Chef himself to come all this way... did he like katsuobushi that much? It was a familiar food in Japan, but this was the first time I'd met someone so serious about it. Or maybe he wanted to help the orphanage in some small way.

"Shall I teach you a few recipes that use katsuobushi?" I offered.

"I'd like to refuse," the Head Chef replied with a serious expression, "but if you know a dish I don't, even just the basics would be fine. Please, teach me."

Since he was so earnest, I taught him a few things.

I taught him various dishes that used dashi stock, like udon and boiled vegetables with sauce. The recipes themselves were simple, and the ingredients were available in this world. There were also dishes where you sprinkle katsuobushi on top, but there was a problem.

The texture.

Shaved katsuobushi feels like eating paper, and if you're not careful, it can stick to the roof of your mouth. It's not a problem for me, but it would be for nobles and royalty. Opening your mouth wide in public to remove it would be utterly embarrassing.

Therefore, I had no intention of teaching him those.

After tasting the dishes, the Head Chef said, "Thank you. Thanks to you, I think I have some good ideas for new dishes."

He thanked us and returned to the castle.

Did he have something he wanted to try so badly that he had to rush back? I wondered as we spent a little more time at the orphanage. The time after that was spent living the life of a hunter, with nothing particularly noteworthy happening.

At that time, Tina and I had no idea we were about to be dragged into trouble.