Episode 18: A Small Rendezvous
A shopping date with Mirei.
First things first, I returned the thin wooden sheet that was used as a pie container to Gramps Sam.
The old man tossed it into the firewood under the large pot where he was frying pies. Truly ecological.
Now then, about the shopping…
“What do you want, Mirei?”
“Hmm, there’s nothing in particular that I want, nyaa. But, maybe we need some Southern Wine, nya?”
“Huh? Is there anyone besides me who drinks the Guild’s wine?”
“It’s for guests, nya.”
So, you’re recommending expensive booze for guests to me?
It’s funny, so I’ll allow it!
Alright… the market.
There were bazaar-like stalls everywhere, with goods spread out on mats made of plant fibers.
Besides those, there were also timber-framed stalls.
Compared to modern Japan, none of it was anything special.
The jewelry was low-grade and misshapen, and the food was often rough.
Some of it was even outright fraudulent.
Even so, people seemed to be enjoying themselves, and there was vitality, the energy of living people, there.
Being able to go on a date with a cute girl like this in the spring weather, it doesn’t really matter where we go.
What’s important isn’t where you go, but who you go with, right? Work is pretty much the same way.
“Nya?! Dru-san! There are honey cookies, nya!”
“Alright, alright, I’ll buy them for you.”
Even so, Mirei is only sixteen.
You can still catch glimpses of her childishness.
Even in this world, she’s old enough to be married, though.
Well, some people never settle down, no matter how old they get… I’m one of them.
“Yay! I love you, Dru-san!”
“Could you say things like that in bed?”
“Nya? Don’t I always say it when we do it, nyaa?”
Well, yeah, you do.
I internally think she’s childish, but I still lay my hands on her. But that’s just how it is.
Of course, it would be a big problem if a noble lady was a total bitch, but Mirei’s chastity has no value.
It’s true that she’s the daughter of the Strider’s Guild leader, but she’s just a commoner after all.
Besides, both of Mirei’s older sisters are already married, and her three older brothers each have decent jobs, so Mirei herself doesn’t have any particular value.
Of course, she’s told to be chaste in principle by religion and morality, but the real question is, can commoners resist the entertainment of “pleasurable sex”?
By the way, Mirei wasn’t a virgin even before she started dating me, you know?
Apparently, she did it with a Strider boy she was in love with when she was little.
But well, that boy went on a reckless adventure and died easily, and Mirei was shocked by it…
She started to admire men who had money, were refined, and had skills, rather than Striders who were stupid, crude, and died easily. That’s me, I guess.
That’s why she doesn’t really have a strong sense of chastity.
And also, this world is polytheistic.
There are also teachings that encourage fornication, or “be fruitful and multiply.”
That’s how it is.
“Ah, there’s wine, nya!”
“Oh, is there? How many bottles are left? I want some too.”
“There are still about ten bottles, nyaa… Do you like wine, nya?”
“Not really. It’s for guests too.”
“Ooh! As expected, a skilled Apothecary like you must have important people coming to your house, nya?!”
“It’s about the soap business…”
“Ah, Maximilian-san…”
“That’s right.”
So, we each bought two bottles of wine.
We put them in a shopping basket and walked around the market.
“Ah! Redberry!”
Redberry.
It’s like a wild strawberry.
It’s quite sour on its own and hard to eat, but it becomes edible when mixed with honey and simmered.
The pie made with jam like that is a standard “slightly fancy snack” around here.
As for honey, they don’t really do any farming, but there are bee-type monsters that store quite a bit of honey.
If you defeat them and cut open their bellies, they’re filled with about a wine bottle’s worth of honey. I feel a sense of harshness in the fact that when you defeat them, a drop item doesn’t just pop out…
However, monsters, unlike normal creatures, grow quickly and large with little food and in a short period of time, so the resource problem in this world isn’t actually that serious.
At least, it’s richer than medieval Europe on Earth, isn’t it?
Even if we put aside technology, when it comes to wealth, or the richness of the land, it might not be in the European sphere.
Well, that’s why, even though there are clear hostile species like monsters, they have the余裕 to do stupid things like humans fighting each other! If you’re told that’s a good thing, I’m like, hmm?
“When Redberry comes out, it feels like spring, nyaa.”
“Yeah, that’s right. I’m relieved that we were able to welcome spring again this year without any problems.”
“Nyahaha… There were a lot of epidemics this winter, nyaa…”
“Seriously. The lord orders us to make medicine for epidemics, so there’s almost no profit even if we sell it.”
“B-but, you’ll be in good graces with the lord, nya!”
“…Well, it’s true that I can have a store inside the castle walls because I’m in good graces with the lord, but still.”
“A-and! You’re on good terms with the lord’s daughter, too~? Are you going to marry up, nya?!”
“That frail, tomboyish girl? I don’t want to be a caregiver…”
“Ahaha, won’t you be killed if she hears you?”
“Well, that’s true.”
While saying bad things about the lord and his daughter like that, we headed home…
After holding Mirei at my house, I gave her some souvenirs and sent her home.
Thus, the date ended, and we returned to our daily lives…