Chapter 10
Chapter 10
Translator: Nefarian Editor: JackOFallTrades
I woke up and sat up on my bed.
The morning sunshine comes into the room from the window curtain gap. Reflecting the light, motes of dust can be seen floating away from my futon.
It was like a sword of light piercing into the room. My heart beat is slow and peaceful.
Last night, I was falling apart due to my intense battle experience.
How can I become stronger? How was I supposed to fight against that? No matter how hard I tried to think of the solution, it just wouldn’t come to me.
But right now, I felt that I could compartmentalise and absorb the information. I could observe the scene from a bird’s eye perspective and have a good understanding of it.
To paint a clearer picture, it’s like I was suddenly able to see the city from a viewpoint of 100 m in the sky and say to myself “Ahh, so that’s what the city I lived in looks like from above”.
「What in the world just happened…?」
I look at both my palms. Nothing really changed from the norm. However, I had this feeling that I became stronger without any real reason behind it.
I think I’ve heard of this type of thing before.
When someone crams so much knowledge into their head that smoke starts coming out of their ears. And when that person falls asleep, they can somehow get the answer to a question that they could not answer until they wake up.
Perhaps the disjointed amount of information which had been so hard to process is somehow consolidated while you sleep and the restraints which were holding you back in the past are released.
Ultimately, the information is combined in its optimal form and understanding eventuates which gives rise to the answers.
At least this is the phenomenon I think occurred.
「Alright! …… This is awesome!」
I go out of the inn and head towards the merchant’s guild.
It’s for work.
Even if I call it a job, all I’m doing is just selling potions.
I sell all the F rank and E rank potions in my bag.
The price is nearly the same as when I sold it at the Land Barn merchant guild.
I’m not dissatisfied at all.
I can eat as much as I want, I can stay in a relatively good place and I can go to the brothel as much as I wanted to. Even my travel expenses were being covered.
From the viewpoint of a local towns person, this would be an extremely luxurious life.
Not only that, I could still have some savings. Even though I live like this, I can still gather money. As one would expect, it’s because I don’t need any capital.
From the information I collected, it seems that materials, tools and time are absolutely necessary in order to create potions. This is in addition to the pharmacist’s knowledge, skill and magical power that is required to make the potions.
Without needing to buy expensive tools or purchase the materials, I can offset the cost with my own magical power.
It normally takes a few weeks to make an E rank potion and it takes even longer for a D rank, almost at the realm of sake brewing.
As a matter of fact, this type of process is definitely not something that is supposed to be accomplished instantaneously. It seems that such magic is not supposed to exist.
Sooner or later, I do want to repay my gratitude.
If that stone statue is built at some shrine temple, I may even go to pray to it.
I am now at the lobby of Elsailles.
Merchants guild, going sightseeing in Awoke, eating a meal and then the brothel. It’s business as per usual for me.
In the tiered platform, the speed fighter girl from yesterday saw me enter.
「Oh, you’ve come back?」
After staring at me in amazement, she gave me a daring smile, inviting me.
Alright then. I’m going to take that invitation.
I nominated her and headed towards the battlefield.
She is staggered.
I managed to strike back against her aggressive moves and even go on the counter offensive.
As one would expect, she warded off my counter attacks, but it was more than enough to blow her composure away.
Her expression changed. It would seem she’s gotten serious.
From here on out, it’s a completely fair fight. The situation can be portrayed just like a fencing match. Both parties thrusted, repelled and made counterattacks.
With each thrust, both of our sweat scatter about. Both of us were already covered in sweat. Due to her feint yesterday, I lost my initiative and she took control of the situation but… Today is different. I would seize the initiative at times and when she threw her feint, I would fight back with a sharp blow.
In the end, we couldn’t determine who won or who lost the fight, but I was plenty satisfied with the result. She seemed to be the same, she smiled when we parted and was keen for a rematch.
I returned from the battlefield to the lobby. I sat down on the chair and drank something similar to grapefruit juice.
Ice floated on top of the glass and the cold feeling of the beverage going down my throat felt really nice. It has a slightly bitter taste but it seems to heal my weary body and mind. Chugging down the drink in one go, I stand up and head towards the tiered platform for another round.
I came here to fight and with me not down for the count then of course I shouldn’t back down from another one.
On the tiered platform, I spotted a haughty looking girl.
She had blonde hair made up as ringlet curls.
Her eyes met with mine.
She tilted her jaws upwards and looks down while covering her mouth slightly, showing off a scornful smile.
I felt chills down my spine. We need to have a bout. I need to discipline this bad girl.
I immediately nominated her.
Let me say the results first off.
The haughty girl was weak. Her delicate and soft defence was easy to break through and I took her down in a single blow. But as one would expect from a prideful girl like her, she only acknowledges it as a slip up not a “down”.
In my opinion, it was definitely a clean knock down, but if I spend my time arguing this point with her, it will be exactly as she wanted.
It’s likely that she is using this time to recover.
I started my footwork again and toyed around with her to make sure that she does not recover from the damage I dealt.
And when the moment her body loses her defensive stance happened, I initiate a long sweeping stroke.
Knowing that she couldn’t avoid my attack, she closes her eyes and tightens up her muscles in order to defend herself. However, I didn’t complete my large thrust. It’s because I was making a feint.
（????）
She was confused as to why my blow hadn’t reached her yet. She opened her eyes slightly to confirm the situation.
Because she was tightening up her body in order to protect herself… I purposefully gave up on delivering my blow. The moment she loosens up and lets her guard down, that’s the time I will explode outwards in an unexpected angle and deliver my full blown uppercut.
Her body is pushed up into the air and falls back down. A perfect down.
It’s likely that her consciousness has also flown away, but to compare it to a boxing match, she took a fighting pose whilst being supported at the corner of the ring through instinct alone. Her knees were trembling.
In order to completely seal the match, I decided to use my special explosive movements.
The Dempsey Roll.
I roll my body around in the shape of a perpetual loop ∞ and I utilize the recoil to release intense blows continuously.
My rotation gets faster and faster, and she gets caught up in a storm of strokes coming from the left and right.
She may have already completely lost her consciousness. However, my successive hits do not allow her to go down. She’s nailed to the corner. After the storm passes, she collapses with a thud….
She never got back up during our allotted time.
I left the store and had dinner at a nearby stall.
It’s like an okonomiyaki with oysters enclosed with eggs. Frankly speaking, it tastes good. It makes me feel energetic.
Moreover, it’s rich in minerals such as zinc in which are necessary for me right now.
By the way, if you were to ask me why I am still eating at a stall even though I’m quite well off?
The reason is simple…. Because it’s delicious. It suits my taste.
I don’t eat at many places outside of small stall vendors and it could be that the proper looking stores taste even better… But the reality is that the food served in food stalls are delicious and I can’t help but to want to eat more of it! That’s honestly this driving desire in what makes me continue going to these stalls.
This world has the outward appearance of a Western European medieval style society, but the living environment is more comfortable due to the existence of magic.
The bathroom has running water, the shower has bountiful clean and hot water. If you turn the faucet to the bath, it will be immediately be filled with water.
Even at night, the red light district and inns are brightly lit.
There is no air conditioner, but for some reason, the room temperature is adjusted accordingly.
On the contrary to what one would expect, the advantages are quite apparent. There is no sound of blowing wind and nor the smell of mold that usually accompanies an uncleaned air conditioner. So this world is more pleasant in this aspect.
Cool beverages and cold snacks.
Perhaps there is some sort of preservation magic, but the food is always fresh. Even a city like Awoke, which is quite far from the ocean, has access to fresh seafood.
There are some horses and carriages running around the town, but almost all of them are golems.
They neither have the need to shit nor piss and all you can hear is the sound of hooves and wheels.
It’s quieter than the engine of my previous world, the air is cleaner and there is no smell of exhaust fumes.
Nevertheless, the gap between the rich and poor is really noticeable.
Ever since I came into this world, I’ve lived in relatively urban areas like a tourist, so I’m able to spend my time comfortably.
After finishing my meal, I move to the town plaza and sit on a bench.
While thinking deeply, I observe the traffic of people going about the plaza as the sun sets.
I suppose everyone has their own daily lives to attend to.
On the other hand, I’m living my life as a traveller. I’m essentially separated from the daily workings of this town.
「Somehow, this feeling is pretty good.」
I feel the gentle flow of time.
There is nothing for me to worry about at work. I have neither the need to worry about my health nor the need to be worried about my lifestyle and I can do what I like as much as I like.
The gratitude within me grows rapidly.
(…… Thank you so much. I wish to sincerely express my gratitude.)
I took a posture like I was praying to the Holy Mother and even though I didn’t know its name, I was devoting my gratitude towards the stone statue.
By praying, the feeling of pressure building up within me also gradually calmed down. With renewed vigour, I began to think again.
I enjoyed living in Land Barn. It’s also really fun here at Awoke. The Kingdom’s Capital would probably be even more fun.
(Should I head towards the Kingdom’s Capital tomorrow?)
Let’s go to the carriage terminal in the morning. If I am able to get a seat for the journey towards the Capital, I will take it.
I’ve made up my mind…
I stand up from the bench. Since I’ve decided that I will depart from Awoke tomorrow, I need to go… To Elsailles.
Elsailles is quite to my liking. This may well be my last night at Awoke and I would have liked to visit all the other stores as well…
But tonight, I will play at Elsailles to my heart’s content. I guess there will be more opportunities for me to come again to this town. I will try going to the other stores at that time.
After a few minutes passed, I arrived at the front door of Elsailles for the second time today.