Chapter 305
(305) Church merchant and Haru’s skill
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Translator: Tseirp
We started preparations for the trip to Mount Landau .
Today, I’ll buy whatever we need as we browse through the city .
“First would be —”
“Ichino-sama . I wish to go to the Church, may I have permission?”
“Church? If you wish to change jobs — can’t you do it yourself?”
I asked Carol after checking that there was nobody nearby .
In fact, Carol’s job has been changed back from Succubus Queen to Peddler .
“I require proof of job as Herbalist before I can purchase tools to create medicine . ”
Job certificates huh? We certainly have to visit the church for that .
Miri probably has tools to make medicine too but we might as well purchase new ones .
“All right, let’s go to the Church — Here, Carol . You can use this . ”
I said and passed Carol some notes .
“These are?”
“Oh, so even Carol doesn’t know . These are money . Called Goats bills and they are used in place of coins in this country . ”
“Paper can be used as money — ”
Haru stared at the Goats bill curiously .
Coming from Japan, I have the impression that paper bills have a higher value than coins but naturally in this world the residents don’t truly trust that paper can be used as money .
” … Ichino-sama, how much is this?”
“There are twenty 10,000 Goats bills so 200,000 Goats . About 2,000 Sense . ”
When Carol changed her job in Belasra, it cost 100 Sense but the job change fee we paid was for a job change from Commoner to another job .
I heard that it cost 1,000 Sense when changing jobs apart from Commoner and Jobless so I assumed it was more than enough .
“2,000 Sense … erm, Ichino-sama . Carol is no longer Ichino-sama’s slave . ”
“Hn? Yeah, that’s right . Eh, but you are still wearing the slave collar?”
“Carol is only wearing this as an accessory … erm, so about this money …”
” … Hn?”
What was she trying to say?
Was 200,000 Goats insufficient?
“With this, all the money Carol possess comes from Ichino-sama . ”
“Yeah, that’s correct . But that money can’t be used in this country . ”
” — Carol currently has nothing to give Ichino-sama in exchange for this 200,000 Goats . ”
” … Hm?”
What was Carol trying to say?
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Carol has nothing to give me?
” ………… Ah, that’s what you mean . ”
I finally understood .
I see .
I paid for Carol’s meals and job change fee until now because Carol was my slave . In other words, as Carol was no longer my slave, she should be paying for her own job change fee . That was probably what she wanted to say .
” … Carol, I didn’t pay for your meals and job change fee just because I was Carol’s master . ”
” … Eh? That — ”
“It was because you are a companion on this journey . Putting that aside, I have no intention of changing my relationship with Carol . ”
In fact, she was still calling me Ichino-sama . She still affixed -sama even though she was no longer a slave .
The Home Return spell as well .
Haru and Carol’s Home Return point was still registered as My World .
To them, the home they return to is my world, the exact same home .
“You mean you will treat Carol as a slave even without the slave collar?”
“I mean even when there was a slave collar, I thought of Haru and Carol as my family, my kin . We lived in the same home, ate the same delicious food and laughed at the same things . That’s family no matter how you put it . ”
” … Family … In other words, you mean to marry Carol?”
“Marriage!?”
The unexpected confession rattled my heart .
“It’s a joke, Ichino-sama . Thank you very much, that made me very happy . ”
Carol said and smiled sweetly to me .
Joke — a joke huh .
I was really surprised because of how unexpected it was .
“Master, it seems like Carol has changed a little . ”
Haru whispered to me .
“That’s right — Carol may appear that way but she says quite amazing things with a natural tone . ”
Among the girls around me, perhaps Carol was the most carnivorous .
“Let’s head for the Church for now . The location is —”
“Ichino-sama, the Church is that way . ”
Carol pointed west .
… Why was Carol more familiar with the town than I was even though she just arrived here .
The Church was a lot smaller than expected . Apparently, this country has three Churches and this was the smallest Church . The prices were the cheapest accordingly .
We entered the Church but unfortunately, the priest was occupied .
A well-dressed merchant-like man was offering a deal to the priest .
When we entered the Church, the priest said ‘Please wait a moment’ . It was a small church that didn’t even have a reception so there was no helping it .
“I wish to buy this pure gold Goddess Statue for 50 million Goats . ”
There was a golden Librsama Goddess Statue placed in the Church . It was a 1:16 scale of the actual Goddess so it actually looked more like a figurine .
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Buying a Goddess Statue for money … I can’t tell if that is piety or a sin .
“Carol, 50 million is —”
“Unprecedentedly expensive . Even after considering the artistic value, that Goddess Statue should only fetch half of that, around 25 million Goats . In the first place, a Church selling a Goddess Statue is frowned upon so the priest is probably at a loss . ”
I see, so it was expensive after all .
“But a Church is not allowed to sell Goddess Statues —”
“That is not true, priest-sama . Using this money, you could hire a goldsmith to create a new Goddess Statue and it will be fine . An even more splendid Goddess Statue . The believers will be even happier if you do so . You could even use the remaining money for Church repairs . ”
” … Bu-but . ”
“It doesn’t matter if you refuse, I —”
The merchant said and took out bundles of 50 million Goats and arranged them on the table .
I could see that the priest’s eyes were nailed to the 50 million Goats .
Ah, it looks like he will be able to buy it . But —
Immediately after I had that thought .
Haru moved and twisted the merchant’s arm .
“Ouch-chhhhhh! What are you doing, this beast!”
“Priest-sama, do not be fooled! Those bills are all fake . ”
“Fake!? Fake bills!?”
I inadvertently raised my voice .
“Wh-what are you saying . These are unmistakably real . ”
“I will not be fooled . Ichino-sama, please call the guards immediately . He might have accomplices outside so Carol please remain here . ”
“All right .
“Understood . ”
Carol and I nodded at the same time and I left the Church and ran to the nearby guard station .
The guards immediately came to the Church with a magic tool to see through counterfeit bills .
And after investigation, it turned out that just as Haru claimed, the bills were all counterfeit . The self-proclaimed merchant was taken away .
“But, Haru . I’m surprised you could tell that those were fake bills . ”
Was there a scent particular to the material they used to make it?
I thought to myself but I was wrong .
“Counterfeit Appraisal, right?”
Carol asked Haru to confirm .
I see .
“Yes . It was a skill I received from Torerul-sama . ”
Haru replied .
A skill that Haru received in the Belasra dungeon .
Haru said that she received it from Torerul-sama but in actual fact, Torerul-sama skipped her work and I selected that skill using a roulette .
“But why did you think of using that skill?”
“Didn’t Master notice? That the exchange was strange . So I used Counterfeit Appraisal . ”
Ah, I see .
Haru didn’t find the merchant strange but because I found him strange that spurred her to action .
“Ichino-sama found that merchant strange? Carol was wary but Carol did not see any evidence even if he was acting suspiciously . ”
“Hn, well . I have a skill called Thought Trace . A skill to channel the target’s emotions to me . That merchant’s emotions were far from sincere . He was laughing at the priest . His emotions were laden with deceit . ”
“That’s a convenient skill . Especially in negotiating and gambling . ”
Gambling huh .
It would be pointless in roulette or slot machines but this skill might be invincible in poker .
Even if the opponent is a master of poker face, it is quite difficult to suppress emotions .
“Well, since we were caught in Belasra’s gambling hall previously, we shouldn’t go there for now — Haru?”
Haru’s tail withered apologetically .
As though a dog that knew it had done something bad .
“Actually, I’ve been to there three times …”
“You went to the gambling hall?”
“I’m sorry . ”
“No, I’m okay with it . At any rate, I don’t think you would play recklessly —”
Her tail withered even more .
… Haru-san? What happened?
“Master . Haru-san won 50 times against Gorssama in 120 matches . ”
Ooh . It’s a little high for just leisure gambling but wasn’t her winning rate less than 50%?
In that case, there’s no problem — wait?
“Did you bet five numbers bet as before each time?”
It would be bad if her winning rate exceeded 40% against professional dealers .
“No . ”
Carol denied it . That’s a relief .
That’s to be expected . No matter what, betting five numbers bet against that Gorssan —
“It was one number bets . ”
“One number bets!? You won over 40% of the time with one number bets!?”
“I am sorry . I am terribly ashamed . Originally I had wanted to win at least 50% of the time . Even though Gorssama didn’t use any cheat . ”
“No no, that’s already beyond the human capabilities . ”
“Demon Lo — Miri-sama seemed to have won with certainty even with one number bets . ”
“She has long since exceeded the realm of humans so she’s not considered . ”
I warned Haru with a motherly tone .
Or rather, just what was Miri doing .
Of course, when she was with Norn-san, they would pass by Belasra if they were heading directly south of Florence but I didn’t expect her to mess up the gambling hall .
… Is Gorssan all right?
“Incidentally, how much did you earn?”
“I did not exchange it for prizes . Well, I have plenty of medals but we played with the condition that I will not exchange them for money . But Gorssama was not satisfied with that and I received all kinds of items from Gorssama’s personal collection . Gorssama seemed to have enjoyed it too so I don’t think we should worry . ”
Even if you tell me we don’t have to worry .
I guess I’ll apologize to him the next time we meet .
“Carol-dono, job change preparations are complete . Please step into the job change room . ”
“Okay! I’ll be going, Ichino-sama . ”
Carol lowered her head and entered the room at the back .
Only Haru and I remained .
“Koshmar-sama has a strong impact as always . ”
It may be a small church but it didn’t only have Librsama’s pure gold Goddess Statue . There were six stone-carved Goddess Statues as well .
I’ve seen most of the Goddess by now .
I first met Koshmar-sama and Torerul-sama . Librsama came visiting when I made My World, I received a divine blessing from Koshmar-sama at Dakyat . I’m still overwhelmed by meeting Minervsama with Miri .
The one I have not met yet .
“Tet-sama … huh?”
I muttered while looking at the statue of a young girl with a bob-cut about the same size as Torerul .
“Now that I think about it, she appears somewhat similar to Pioneer . ”
“Perhaps the manufacturing of homunculi such as Pionisan and Neete-san is related to Tet-sama?”
“Eh? Is that so?”
“It’s nothing more than a guess . But Tet-sama is the goddess of life . There’s a possibility that she is involved in the ability to give life to the homunculus . ”
“That sounds plausible —”
I didn’t even think of that .
Homunculus — the creation of new life .
Regardless of how much she wanted to do it, would Torerul-sama do something so troublesome?
“I wonder if Torerul-sama asked Tet-sama to make them . ”
Carol returned just as I reached that deduction .
Her job had been safely changed to 【Herbalist: Lv1】 .
“Thank you for waiting, Ichino-sama . ”
“We didn’t wait long . ”
“Also, as thanks for this time, the priest-sama reduced the job change fee to half . ”
“That’s lucky . ”
I thought he might as well make it free for us but considering that half of it has to be sent to the Church headquarters, I guess he couldn’t give such a discount .
“Next, we’ll look for medicine making tools … eh, where do we buy those — ?”
“We can purchase medicine making tools in the apothecary on the south street so let’s go there . ”
Just how does she know these things!?
When did she research that much?