The Tale of A Man Who Believed That His Reincarnation Had Granted Him A Japanese Sword And The Greatest Battle Sense, Only To Have The God Finally Inform Him "Huh, I Didn't Give You Any Combat Sense… That's Scary…" - Episode 8

Guided by Utsuho, the maid of the Grosvenor family, I managed to get through the six-hour intensive lecture and arrived at Crown Street, the most popular place in the merchant city of Lainchester, where cheerful voices are always heard.

By the way, I have the Japanese sword from my reincarnation bonus hanging at my waist. I didn’t actually intend to bring a weapon, but for some reason, I feel uncomfortable if this sword isn’t within reach. When I mentioned that it didn’t quite feel right, Utsuho-san lent me a long, thin cloth, so I wrapped it around my waist and sheathed the sword in it.

Crown Street was indeed the place where the term “Chinatown” felt most fitting. On both sides of the cobblestone street, which was about six to eight meters wide, stalls were crammed closely together, and all around the street, taverns and shops unlike any I had ever seen before stood packed closely together.

On Crown Street, lanterns that emit a mysterious, faint light are installed at regular intervals as streetlights, and near these lanterns, wooden signs with a crown entwined with plants are hanging.

The people walking down this street are truly diverse, a salad bowl of races and species. Just when you think you see drunken humans, you spot beings with slightly flushed white skin and pointed ears, presumably elves, or creatures with rugged faces and hearty laughter, likely orcs, walking arm in arm.

“Whoa… amazing… there are actually elves and orcs…”

“Hehehe, Lord Enri, you were truly living in a place far from human settlements, isolated from the secular world. I never would have imagined you would be so amazed by seeing elves and orcs.”

Utsuho-san, looking down at my astonished face, chuckled softly and with a hint of amusement. I don’t know why, but it’s embarrassing. It’s like being seen by someone as if I were a country bumpkin excitedly visiting Tokyo for the first time.

“Then, so that you, Enri-sama, who are still not familiar with this town, do not get lost, I, Utsuho, will guide you.”

Utsuho, with her green hair gently swaying, greeted me with a nod and then took my hand with a smile. As I held her hand through the silk gloves meant for going out, I felt my heart race and a wave of nervousness wash over me.

Even if the other person has no such intentions at all, for someone like me who has almost no experience with women, holding a woman’s hand is quite surprising and makes me nervous…! I feel my face getting hot, as if it were on fire, and I instinctively turn my face away from Utsuho-san.

Utsuho lifted the hem of her maid dress slightly with one hand and began walking down Crown Street with a familiar demeanor.

“Crown Street is lined with stalls selling goods and light meals for adventurers during the day, but this place becomes most lively after sunset, in other words, during the night, Enri-sama.”

Utsuho, holding my hand, lifts her long skirt and walks gracefully through the crowd, moving like a wave among the people. Being pulled along, I bump into a few people but somehow manage to keep up with Utsuho.

“The easy-to-enter tavern where people from various professions gather is called ‘Lake of Sake.’ The tavern that serves as a gathering place for adventurers is called ‘Enges’ Beard.’ And the high-end restaurant where Lady Lyra often dines, specializing in meat, is called ‘Rotel.'”

“Yikes… Utsuho-san, wait for me…”

“Furthermore, the shops on Crown Street are basically allowed to set their prices freely without any regulations from the city, so―――”

The waves of people, the mountains of people, the walls of people—after continuously weaving through the crowds in the bustling shopping district, I was hit with a fatigue that felt as if I had just fought a battle. As I collapsed on the spot after crossing the waves of people on Crown Street, it was as if on cue that I heard angry shouts coming from a nearby store.

“Hey! What’s going on with this price?!!”

“If you’re not careful, you’ll get ripped off. So, shall we take a little tour as part of our social study, Enri-sama?”

With a cat-like grin, Utsuho-san, still holding my hand, dragged me towards a building that seemed to be a nearby tavern. Ahhh, my back is being scraped by the cobblestones, and the scabbard of the katana hanging at my waist is making a grinding noise.

When I entered the store where I heard the shouting, the interior felt quite ordinary. I could see people enjoying their meals inside, and the smell of alcohol wafted from that direction. It was probably a tavern where one could also enjoy regular meals.

There are wooden tables and wooden chairs lined up, and towards the back from the entrance, there is a wooden bar table. The interior is not particularly extravagant, but it feels well-organized as a proper tavern.

When I entered the store with Utsuho, it seemed that several men and women were arguing at the counter where payments are made.

“Meow, how many times do I have to tell you! Customer! You ate and drank for two whole hours and now you don’t want to pay? That’s just not right! You need to pay the full amount!”

“Are you kidding me?! Cat beastman! Why does it cost as much as completing a high-difficulty quest just for two hours of eating and drinking?! Three million three hundred thousand gold, what the hell is going on?!”

“It’s clearly written at the bottom of the menu, meow!! *If we serve food to adventurers who are not approved by our establishment, we charge twenty times the regular price per dish. It’s written there, meow!!”

“It’s written properly, but it’s so small at the very back of the menu that you can’t see it without a magnifying glass!”

“Shut up, nya! It’s your fault for even going to a tavern on Crown Street that caters to tourists with such a soft-hearted business model, nya!!”

It was a scam. No matter how you look at it, it was a conversation between a scammed customer and the scammer. Twenty times the price? That’s just terrifying.

In front of the checkout counter, a girl with cat ears dressed as a waitress is proudly puffing out her flat chest, hands on her hips, and glaring at the person she’s overcharging, as if she won’t budge an inch.

The customer who was overcharged and is being glared at by the girl with cat ears seems to be a man with the wonderful and exciting profession of an adventurer, which has come up several times in Mr. Utsuho’s stories. He is wearing armor made by combining thin metal plates and a sword that looks sharp, and on his short, neatly trimmed blonde hair, there is a circlet set with a yellow gemstone.

The man, who appears to be an adventurer, is arguing with the waitress and trembling with anger. Behind him, there are two women who seem to have been dining with him. The two women are wearing robes and what are commonly known as witch hats, and they are trying to somehow mediate the dispute, but it seems unlikely to succeed.

“R-Roga-san… It’s our fault for not properly looking at the menu. Let’s just pay for it honestly, okay?”

“That’s right, Roga! You’ll be bothering the other customers too~”

“Shut up! There’s no way we’re going to let this kind of tyranny slide! Our clan’s younger members come around here too, so we can’t just let a stupid place like this get away with it!”

Oh, that’s right. The blond adventurer man called Roga is looking at the cat-girl waitress on the other side of the counter with eyes like he’s seeing his parents’ killer. By the way, Utsuho-san, who is standing next to me, is watching this exchange with a cheerful expression as if enjoying a fun play.

“Lord Enri, as you can see, Crown Street is a place where you can enjoy delightful food and drinks. However, if you enter without doing your research and enjoy your meal with a distracted mind, you might end up with such results.”

“This is a total rip-off, isn’t it?”

“It’s the result of a distracted meal. …Well, how should I put it, the one currently attending to you, Pluk, is also desperately trying to survive.”

As I was talking with the maid who was speaking earnestly, I noticed some movement at the counter. I heard a sound like something bursting in the air, and at the same time, a flash of light appeared. When I looked in the direction of the sound, something was flying out from the body of the man called Roga.

“Roga! No, you can’t use the power of the gift from the gods here!”

“To try to unjustly extort money from this [Raijin] Roga, you have some nerve, you little villain…”

“Ahhh! Meena, this is bad! Roga has completely lost it! Let’s get out of here before we get burned!”

“Hey, Anna! … Roga! You must never harm the civilian beastmen!”

Electricity crackles from the man called Roga. The smell of burning air wafts through the air, and the terrifying sound of the discharge makes my body instinctively shrink back.

The two companions, upon seeing the electric shock, fled the store at an incredible speed, and the other customers who were dining in the store also screamed and ran outside.

“When they can’t get their way, they resort to violence. These so-called adventurers are truly despicable! Even if they threaten with lightning, I’ll still stand my ground and not back down!”

The waitress girl stands her ground, not flinching even when shown the electricity. The adventurer called Roga seems to find this quite displeasing, grimacing. The atmosphere is so tense that it wouldn’t be surprising if the waitress girl were to get electrocuted in a second.

Uh, why do I have to run into such a chaotic scene just by going out into the city…? Should I just run away? Or should I mediate between the two? Me, a complete stranger? While I was pondering these thoughts, I glanced at Ms. Utsuho standing next to me, and our eyes met.

Utsuho’s eyes are fixed on me. As if she has no interest whatsoever in the thunderous battlefield before her, she simply stares at me.

Could this be a test? How will I act in this situation?

I was picked up by Lyra, and to Utsuho, I must seem like an unknown drifter from outside. Well, if you think about it that way, it’s understandable that Utsuho, the maid who doesn’t know the circumstances of how I ended up here, would be concerned about whether I’m really someone who should be staying at the Grosvenor household.

I place my left hand on the katana sheath. I slowly approach the adventurer who is emitting electricity. For now, I should call out and mediate. At this rate, the waitress girl will end up charred, and the shop might catch fire from some random spark.

“Um, excuse me, the guy with the electric sparks, can I have a word with you?”

In an instant. The lightning that had been emitted from the adventurer’s body became directional, forming multiple lines as it was unleashed towards me. The scene slowly came into view. The adventurer’s face, realizing something was wrong, and the face of the cat-eared waitress girl, who couldn’t grasp the situation.

“Could you please stop the static electricity a bit?”

My action of drawing my sword faster than the movement of the lightning and cutting the line of lightning in the air left the two of them with expressions of shock on their faces. …That was close; if I hadn’t imagined in advance that the electricity might come towards me and stayed away, I might have ended up like an anime character, with the current running through my body and my bones visible.

“Huh, huh!? What did you just do…!? The goddess’s blessing gift of [Discharge]…!?”

“Meow!? Meow… Huh!?!? This kid, he just cut through lightning!?”

“Hey now, it’s dangerous, adventurer brother. Of course, overcharging is wrong, but…”

“Puhuhuhu… Ahahaha! Enri-sama, Enri-sama! It’s not good for outsiders to interfere in disputes that seem like they can be resolved between the parties involved.”

The adventurer man, who stopped the discharge and was left dumbfounded, the waitress girl who added a zero to the adventurer’s bill while gaping with her mouth wide open as if her jaw was about to unhinge, and Utsuho-san, who opened her mouth as if she couldn’t hold it any longer.

In the end, this overcharging tavern incident was resolved thanks to Ms. Utsuho’s brilliant negotiation skills, resulting in the adventurers paying half of the amount they were initially charged and the tavern agreeing to enlarge the warning text on the menu.

The adventurer who mentioned the word “gift” made several attempts to talk to me, but in the end, they disappeared into the crowd on Crown Street with the two companions who had returned without saying anything. After chatting a bit with the waitress girl, Utsuho-san returned to my side and said this on the way back to the mansion.

“Lord Enri, please forgive me for the extremely rude words I am about to say. Lord Enri, what on earth are you and what kind of being are you?”

Without attributing any particular meaning to Mr. Utsuho’s words.

“I’m just a human, a regular human who happened to meet Miss Lyra in the forest by chance.”

I simply replied, and my first visit to the bustling district in this other world came to an end.