Touring the Imperial Capital 1

  On the second day since Haku-san’s villa was connected with the gate, I decided to take a tour through the capital.

  The first candidate for being our dungeon is [Inside the Imperial Capital].

  If I had to have a reason why, I’d say there were a few, but the number one reason was that if it was still our dungeon after the Dungeon Battle, we’d be able to go to the imperial capital immediately through [Deployment].

  Eh? A reason why that’s an advantage for Dungeon Battle? Maybe I could call some local adventurers over on the day of the Dungeon Battle to defend it. It’s not something we couldn’t do at another place though.

  And now we’ve went in a circle, but well, to be blunt, there’s nothing else to do here. Ah, that’s my official reason at least.

  The real reason is that I wanted to take a look around.

  Haku-san’s base, the mecca of adventurers, the imperial capital. Developed as the capital of a large country, there are a lot of people.

  Even the street I’m going down right now is within the range of the dungeon, and there’s so many people in sight… not only are there a ton of people here, all of them are the sources that produce Haku-san’s DP.

  There aren’t any disadvantages to it for simple sightseeing or like with the final evolution of our village. My aspirations aren’t this high though.

  “There’s so many people, Haku Ane-sama! This is the first time I’ve seen so many humans.”


  “Fufufu, this is a daily thing.”


  Incidentally, Haku-san is accompanying us for the preliminary inspection.

  However, it would’ve been a pretty big issue if she just walked around, so she’s walking around in her DP-saving form… her loli mode.

  Rokuko wasn’t the only one to have a variable age feature. She looks like the just-barely-older sister to the loli Rokuko. Something like a mature young girl.

  Since Haku-san (small) was like that and was still being called [Ane-sama], Rokuko was obviously in her small form as well.

  Ah, Meat’s with us too.

  … Let’s name this formation the Loli Triangle. Well, it’s not like I’m actually going to name it though.

  “… Ah, Kehma-san—Onii-chan… should I call you that?”


  “No, please continue as you always have.”


  “Hmm. Well then, is there some place you want to go? There are no places in the capital that I don’t know about.”


  Looking over her shoulders while leading the way, Haku-san spoke with an innocent-looking smile.

  The emphasis feels a bit different coming from the person who controls this capital both in name and in reality.

  “Let’s see, I’d like to check out a few shops, as well as the adventurer guild… right, I’d like to take a look at an underground arena too.”


  “Oh? An underground arena… fufu, that is something for night. Well, shall I guide you to the commercial district first?”


  *

  Haku-san lead us to the commercial area. There were shops selling vegetables, fruit, clothes, as well as shops selling clothes and decorations. There were even butchers and fish dealers. Which reminds me, this place is pretty close to the sea. It’s even more prosperous than Sia.

  I didn’t see any shops that sold weapons or armor. Maybe they’re sold in another district?

  “This is the main street of the commercial district. There are some ornamental-type armor sold here, but arms are mostly sold on the adventurer street. This place also sells convenient magic tools for things like illumination.”


  Looks like that’s how it is. Haku-san immediately took hold of Rokuko and brought her into the clothes shop. It looks like a shop mainly for high spec stuff, like for royal purveyance, and also appears to know about her incognito loli mode. Maybe it’d better if I said it’s a shop for when she wants to drop in incognito?

  … She’s definitely shopping. I’ll follow them in for now.

  “There are a lot of designs, like ones brought by heroes as ones coming from clothing-type items from the dungeon. Like this bunny outfit, or this white angel outfit.”


  “Aren’t those just a bunny suit and a nurse outfit…? Those past heroes…”


  There was also a policewoman outfit, a maid outfit, and a school swimsuit. It looks like they somehow made them with this world’s materials, but they’re reproduced very nicely. There are even male-use outfits here too, I can feel a deep sense of commitment in them… One of the past heroes was probably a cosplayer.

  “The price… yep, ten gold. As expected, clothes are expensive…”


  “This is an ultra high class shop after all. Now, Rokuko-chan, shall we change?”


  “Y-yes!”


  She said that, but one of the things in Haku-san’s hands was the bunny suit from before. There was even a bikini armor. Are you sure about that, Rokuko?

  “Meat—err, Kuro, is there anything you want?”


  “Ummm… I-I want to look at the clothes over there.”


  Saying that, Meat pointed at the undergarment corner.

  … This is such a high difficulty level.

  Rokuko was changed into various different outfits, but she ended up in a safe dress.

  By the way, it was cheaper to buy things with DP and they’d even have a good quality, so I didn’t buy anything, but Haku-san bought a lot. On her tab.

  She’d even expressly had the castle pick up the tab, so it looks like gives this shop preferential treatment. That is, people nearby would know that the shop deals with the castle. So there’s something like that huh, troublesome.

  “It’s the obligation of those who stand at the top to disperse money into the economy. Ah, I’ll give this to Rokuko-chan as a present after the Dungeon Battle finishes.”


  “Yes! Thank you so much, Haku Ane-sama!”


  The clothing they bought was great, but is temporary clothing alright?

  “How about we go to the magic tool shop next?”


  *

  There were various tools placed here and there in the magic tool shop.

  There were magic tools that emitted fire, that gave water, as well as those that shed light. They look like they’re pretty popular and sell well. I’m told they’re also sold in the adventurer street’s shops.

  There’s an instrument magic took that looks like a keyboard harmonica as well as a magic tool meant for cooking that peels of potato skins. I don’t see why it needs to be a magic tool, but there’s a fountain pen magic tool… huh? It automatically refills its ink? So it doesn’t run out of ink huh? Heeeh, that’s amazing.

  In particular, I was surprised that magic tools like ones that could manufacture paper were being sold to the general public.

  “This [Papermaker-kun] is a magic tool that a previous hero invented. When you put fine bits of wood into it and turn it on, it turns it into paper. This [Permanent Fountain Pen-kun] is bought by a lot of merchants together with it.”


  It looks like [XX-kun] is the series naming convention for magic tools made by heroes. Taking a closer look, there are a lot of magic tools with [XX-kun] names.

  “I do think that something that makes paper is an important tool, but is it alright to just sell it?”


  “There’s no helping it as it was the inventor’s wishes. It can only be repaired in the imperial capital if it is broken though.”


  By the way, I’m told that it’s only able to make a single sheet of A3-sized paper every few hours, with the purchases being recorded in a name register for maintenance and after-sales services.

  While I was taking a look at those sorts of production-type magic tools, Rokuko came over holding a pan in her hand.

  “Kehma, isn’t this [No Wood Pan] amazing? It gets hot automatically!”


  “Like a hot plate? Can you adjust the temperature?”


  “It doesn’t look like you can.”


  “Oh, [Heating Pan-kun] can adjust its temperature and doesn’t need wood either. Low, medium, and hot… it’s a popular item for both adventurers and cooks.”


  The one that couldn’t adjust its temperature was five silver coins, while the one that could was five gold. For just being able to change the temperature to give this much difference…


  “Right. The same with [Papermaker-kun], they can only be made by the [Hero Studio]… Besides, the cheap ones are fragile.”


  So they’re like brand name goods huh.

  And if they’re too cheap they might even ignite inside your satchel… basically, by making inferior goods from a no-name brand, they make it seem like the better choice to pay for the brand’s name by raising its relative value.

  It’s something you could appeal to sue shops with in Japan, but it looks like all of the goods other than the brand name ones in this city are non-warranty junk items that you have to be responsible for yourself. They’re doing quite well.

  Ah. Were they made by Haku-san?