Chapter 1 – Where am I? (part3)
The face of people gathered slowly became clear as the carriage getting closer to the huge gate.
“Yeah, I can’t deny it anymore….” (Yashiro)
I mean, the face of a soldier with spear is that of a lizard. There are also those with the appearance of cat but wore clothes and walking on two legs. He’s talking with someone with face similar to that of a sheep.
I’ve never heard about animal people lived in medieval Europe. There’s no doubt that I’m in another world right now.
“○ ▲ ☆ ◆ × @ &% $ #”
When my attention was drawn to the impossible scene before me, the cosplay guy hit my back with a smug expression.
“○ ▲ ☆ ◆ × @ &% $ #”
He seems to say: “How’s that? Isn’t it a great city?”.
“It’s not like you made it!!” or that’s what I wanted to say, but it’s just a waste of energy because he won’t understand it.
The horse-drawn carriage slowed down and eventually stopped. The coachman came down from his seat and approached me who was leaning out my body from the carriage platform to look outside. His face was that of a bird.
“Oh, it’s a bird…. Java Sparrow?” (Yashiro)
“I’m not Java Sparrow, Sir. I’m parrot subhuman.”
“Oh, please excuse me.” (Yashiro)
“No, don’t mind it!”
The parrot anthromorph answered me politely.
Hmmm………… wait, what the heck!?
“I can understand his words!? How can it be!? I can talk with a bird but not with the armor guy!?” (Yashiro)
“I’m not a bird, Sir. I’m parrot subhuman.”
“I did hear you!!” (Yashiro)
“Hahaha~ You look surprised!”
I heard a different voice from behind when I was talking to the parrot anthromorph. Looking back, I found the armor guy (formerly cosplay guy) was watching me with an amusing expression.
“Is this your first time coming to Olbrum? No, it seems that you’ve never even went on a journey to start with. Looking at your appearance, I wonder what kind of life you’ve been living up until now.”
The armor guy suddenly began to speak in Japanese. He nodded while admiring my clothes.
“Wait, why did you suddenly speak in Japanese?” (Yashiro)
“Well, it’s because this place is under the influence of Spirit Church”
I turned my line of sight. The parrot anthromorph cleared his throat and started explaining.
“There were wide variety of ethnic groups and races gathered in this city, so it was very difficult to communicate with each other. Therefore, our venerable god, Alvie-sama, bestowed 【Forced Translation Magic】 and the power of miracle to the entire city. Under Alvie-sama’s divine protection, Olbrum has made remarkable progress and became the biggest city in the entire Galeabrum.”
“Forced Translation Magic…?” (Yashiro)
I somehow could guess its meaning from that name alone.
“Yes. Under the influence of this magic, whatever the other party is, whatever language they speak in, it will be translated to the most familiar words for you and transmitted. Not just words and letters, you can also know the value of the currency and the price if you ask it.”
“Ask? To whom?” (Yashiro)
“Of course, to the Spirit God Alvie-sama.”
The parrot anthromorph put his hands together in front of his chest, a praying pose.
Hmm, ask…. the God!?
I imitated his pose while thinking of it.
Umm, I’d like to compare the currency here…. and the Japanese yen…. please?
Suddenly, a semi-transparent window appeared in front of me. I touched a monitor-like image that appeared from nothing with my finger.
Oh, I can touch it and…. scroll it…. it’s like a touchscreen!
I don’t know the principle behind this, but it floats in front of me and can be operated, too.
Hmm…. is this the power of Spirit God?
The characters shown on that window are as follow:
【Olbrum’s currency is Rb (Reuben).】
【100 yen = 10Rb.】
【The average price of wheat bread that ordinary citizens are eating as staple food is 20Rb.】
Yup, it’s an easy-to-use system.
“How is it? Convenient, right?”
The armor guy said those words proudly.
Why do you act so proudly? Well, even if we now can understand each other, I don’t want to protest to every single thing he said.
“There are a lot of people here, so naturally, the merchants also come flocking to this city. Various problems will occur if we can’t communicate to each other in such a place, right?”
Yeah, I understand what he meant. Negotiations won’t be established if the words can’t be communicated. Using an interpreter in negotiation, we won’t know when we’re put at a disadvantage. Our business partner could say: “there’s no such things written in contract”. It’s good and all if it’s just a miscommunication from the interpreter side, but it’s going to be really bad if it’s actually something intentional to trick us…. Thinking about it, there will be no end of the example of it.
However, if all words and letters are converted into a language familiar to themselves, such problems will be solved.
But, well…. fraud will be hard to put in work. Excuse like: “it’s your own fault for not understanding it” will be unusable.
“Oh right, I haven’t said my gratitude. I’m Oba…. Oba Yashiro. Thank you for saving me.” (Yashiro)
I think it’s fine to use my full name in this world.
“I’m Norbert, a personal merchant of Wishart House who governs 30th district.” (Norbert)
He mentioned Wishart name in his introduction as if boasting it…. Hmm, I guess that was a name of influential noble house here.
“Oh, you work for that Wishart House? It seems I was saved by an amazing person.” (Yashiro)
“Hahaha~ I’m but a merchant. Besides, helping someone in trouble is just a normal.” (Norbert)
Look at him! That’s the face of someone with an ulterior motive.
He works for a noble means lots of money involved. Considering his behavior so far, he must have been given considerable preferential treatment by them….
Fufufu~ it seems I’ve found a good catch. Ok, let’s keep the polite language from now.
“I’d like to give you something as thanks but…. Unfortunately, I’ve lost all my luggage…. If I could return home, I might be able to give something appropriate as token of gratitude, but….” (Yashiro)
“No, please don’t trouble yourself! I simply did the obvious thing.” (Norbert)
Though he said that, Norbert’s nostril was expanding greatly. It was the face of a hyena that caught a smell of prey.
He seems to be confident that I have a lot of money, but…. why is it!? I didn’t bring anything with me, and my appearance is like that of a normal high school student. I wonder where did he catch the smell of gold on me….
Oh, I see! It’s my clothes, the high school blazer. He seems to be convinced I’m rich because of my appearance.
Norbert’s armor is made quite carefully. If he’s really a merchant working for a noble, we can assume his armor is in a high class category. It’s the same with the clothes his attendant, the parrot athromorph.
Then again, they don’t look like the high class products in my eyes. To be frank, they’re poorly made. It’s clear that the level of sewing technology in this world is low. If these are the high class clothes, it seems that ordinary people are dressed more shabby.
On the contrary with my clothes, the sewing is solid and the fabric color is vivid above all. Light navy blue jacket, maroon necktie, light grey pants, and brilliant pure white shirt. He wouldn’t find someone wearing such clothes unless the rich.
In other words, Norbert thought I was a noble or someone related to nobility because of my appearance, and decided to help me.
He kindly nursed an unconscious stranger he found the road, sharing his food without hesitation, and even brought him to the city. For Norbert, that would have been selling a big favor. He must be thinking that he could convert the favor into lots of money later.
Yeah, I can see it now….
This world is not different from Japan.
No one will help the others without ulterior motives.
Everyone loves money after all.
Yup, this world is not that all bad. It seems I also can make a living here…. as a con artist, of course.
“Norbert-sama, I will go to pay the entry tax.”
“Umu, pay the tax for him too.” (Norbert)
Norbert winked as if saying: “You don’t have the money right now, are you?”, and I answered him with a nod.
Thanks for the chapter~!