Chapter 5

The priest led us to a dimly lit room.

It was a simple room of about twenty tatami mats, completely paneled, with only a tiny ventilation window for the oil lamp, as there were no windows.

The room was spacious enough for four people to live in, but it certainly didn’t look like a room that should be assigned to a hero.

It looked more like a storage room, or at best, a servant's room.

This is really bad.

The priest, after leading us to this room, simply said, "Live here," and left without another word.

He didn’t even tell us where the bath or toilet was, or explain meal times or bedtime.

Is this a world where you take a bath in a tub and use a pot for a toilet?

I really don’t want that! But then, I noticed a door right when you enter the room, which turned out to be the toilet.

It was a flush toilet, but there was no exhaust fan, so the smell leaked out even with the door closed, which was a bit...

There was also a sink, so I guess we’re supposed to use it to wipe our bodies instead of taking a bath.

This room is completely different from the white palace I lived in when I was a hero in the past.

With no windows and only one oil lamp for lighting, the room was extremely dark.

Imagine a dimly lit storage room, and you’ll get the idea.

Moreover, the room was sparsely furnished.

The only things in the room were one dim oil lamp on the wall, four beds, and a small table.

The beds were narrow, less than a meter wide, with straw mattresses and dirty, hole-ridden linen sheets, which were barely better than a pile of straw in a barn.

The only blankets provided were made of the same rough linen fabric.

I guess this is the level of living for servants in this world, but considering we’re supposed to be heroes, this treatment is really unfair.

The most assertive of us, Ishikawa, started taking charge and assigning beds.

"I’ll take the one at the back. Takayama, you’re a guy, so you take the one by the entrance. Got it? The rest of you can choose any bed you like."

"Why do I have to take the one by the entrance?"

"Well, we’re girls, and we don’t want to be next to the toilet! Plus, I don’t want you to see us changing!"

"I don’t want to see you naked, either."

Actually, I do, but I lied.

Sorry.

But in a verbal spat, you can’t just say what you really think.

When Ishikawa heard this, she was really angry.

She walked up to my bed with a stomp.

Is she going to hit me?

But she didn’t hit me.

"Fine, fine. If that’s the case, I’ll take your sheets and blanket."

"What are you doing!"

Ishikawa stripped my bed of the sheets and left the straw exposed.

"Hey, what are you doing! The straw is completely exposed! Do I have to sleep on this straw? I’m not a cow or a horse! I can’t sleep on this! It will poke me and I won’t be able to sleep! What are you going to do with those sheets?"

Ishikawa ignored my desperate protests and continued her work.

She hung the sheets I had stripped from my bed on the ceiling beams to block the view of the girls’ beds.

I was completely physically isolated from the girls, like a hospital ward with beds separated by curtains.

It was quite oppressive, but I guess it’s fine.

Thinking positively, I have my own private space, so my privacy is maintained.

The girls, Kagawa and Nagano, started chatting at the back of the room, and I tried to join in, but Ishikawa glared at me as if I were her worst enemy.

Her aura was telling me not to come near.

"What’s the matter?"

"Well, everyone seems to be having a good time, so I thought I’d join in..."

"You, you’re an E-rank. Why are you coming over here? Your territory is only the area separated by the curtain! You’re an E-rank, so it’s not unusual for you to stay in a stable! You should be grateful just to be in a corner of this room!"

"Stop talking about ranks. If I weren’t here, you’d be at the bottom of the class. Show a little gratitude!"

And what’s this about territory...

Are we children?

It’s like we’re sharing a room with our siblings in elementary school!

Nagano and Kagawa didn’t look at me with displeasure, but they were too afraid of the assertive Ishikawa to say anything.

Well, it’s fine.

I’m not stupid enough to cause trouble here.

I’ll play with System-chan alone.

I returned to my bed, which was now just a pile of straw.

"System!"

"Yes, what can I do for you, hero?"

"Can I use the shop?"

"Yes, you can."

The shop refers to the [Item Shop] skill, which allows you to buy items from this world and from my home world, Japan. You can buy items by saying their names, and System-chan will sell them to you.

However, the items available depend on the skill level, so if the skill level is low, the selection is poor.

"What items are available?"

"Up to level 1."

"Level 1 means only basic items like water, vegetables, underwear, and a wooden stick as a weapon."

"That’s right."

"I wanted a bed, but I guess that’s not possible. This bed looks really uncomfortable, and I don’t think I can sleep on it."

"Why don’t you buy one from the shop? You have enough money."

"Really? That’s a good idea."

I smiled.

I haven’t used money in a while because I’ve been getting everything I needed for free.

I think I’ve saved up quite a bit, but how much do I have?

"How much money do I have left?"

"10 zillion gold."

"Zillion? What’s that? I’ve never heard of it."

"A zillion is 10 to the 40th power, so it’s 10 followed by 40 zeros..."

"Ah, I get it. So I have more money than I can spend, right?"

"Yes, that’s right."

"But, wait. I haven’t done anything to earn money since I came to this world. If I go to a furniture store and buy a comfortable bed, it will definitely draw attention. I need to make do with what I can buy from the shop now."

Alright!

I’ll use my skills to fix this!

First, I need to do something about this straw bed.

It’s definitely too prickly to sleep on as it is.

Maybe I can make a tatami mat from the straw.

"Please set the [Sewing] skill in the first skill slot, [Woodworking] in the second, and [Tool Making] in the third."

"Sure, they’re set."

A skill slot is a place to set the skills you want to use, and there are five of them.

So, a normal person can have up to five skills.

Newly acquired skills are set in the skill slots, but once set, they cannot be changed until you die.

However, this only applies to normal people.

In my case, I can use up to five skills at the same time, but I can freely rewrite the skills in the skill slots, so I effectively have an infinite number of skills.

The true power of a hero is amazing, right?

Do you respect me a little now?

I have most of the skills, but they are all at level 1 due to the re-summoning.

Compared to my peak, I’m quite inferior now.

But even at level 1, my stats significantly boost my skills, so I have the skills of a master craftsman, like a living national treasure in Japan.

So, making a tatami mat from straw should be no problem.

"Also, I want 100 wooden sticks and 30 shirts from the shop."

"Sure, here you go!"

Wooden sticks and shirts appeared in front of me.

I decided to start modifying the bed right away.

First, I took out a Swiss Army knife from my [Item Box].

It’s a tool I always keep in case I’m suddenly summoned to another world.

The [Item Box] is a skill that allows you to store anything in an extradimensional space, and time doesn’t pass inside it.

So, if you put food in it, it won’t rot, and if you put a hot dish in it, it will still be hot a week later.

Moreover, you can instantly retrieve items by picturing them in your mind, making it a very convenient skill.

A normal person’s [Item Box] has a capacity of about two buckets, which is not very practical, but mine has the capacity of thirty large warehouses of a major online shopping company, so it’s practically infinite.

However, to stop time, it requires a huge amount of magic power, which is difficult to supply in Japan, so I asked System-chan to automatically sell most of the contents and convert them into gold before I returned.

If I had stored the bed, I wouldn’t have to make it, but I regret not doing so.

By the way, I have a small amount of emergency food stored in the [Item Box], so I can survive for a few days if I’m suddenly summoned.

The [Item Box] skill is usually not usable unless it’s set in a skill slot, but since I’m a seasoned hero who has been summoned many times, my skill has evolved to [Item Box: Advanced].

Thanks to this, it’s a passive skill that is always active, so I don’t need to set it in a skill slot.

I made wooden needles and wooden scissors by whittling the wooden sticks.

With these, I can sew and cut the straw for the tatami mat.

I could have used the scissors from the Swiss Army knife, but they are too small and hard to use, so I made wooden scissors.

These are made with the skills of a living national treasure, so they are much sharper than scissors from a 100-yen store.

Alright!

First, I disassembled the shirts to make cotton thread.

The thread is as thick as kite string, which should be strong enough for the tatami mat.

Next, I made the tatami surface using straw.

Since I’m not using rush, the surface will be a bit rough, but it can’t be helped.

I carefully selected long straw and wove the surface to avoid any rough spots.

It turned out to be something like a mat.

When I touched it, it was smooth and not prickly at all.

Yeah, it’s good.

For my first try, it’s pretty good.

I’m doing a good job.

This should be much more comfortable to sleep on than the linen sheets on the bed.

Next, I wove the straw to make the core of the tatami.

I made it quite carefully, so it turned out to be a solid core.

Alright, now to combine these three parts... It’s done!

The straw tatami is complete!

I made a wooden frame and attached it to the bed, then placed the tatami on top.

The surface I made carefully is not prickly like the straw.

Yeah!

It’s a good sleeping surface!

This is much better than the bed with the linen sheets.

I also made a cotton blanket and a pillow from the shirts.

Now I can sleep soundly.

I left the bed to find cleaning tools to clean up the scattered straw.

As soon as Ishikawa saw me leave the bed, she glared at me.

"You! I told you not to leave your bed!"

Oh no!

I got glared at by Ishikawa again.

Ishikawa must be frustrated and anxious about being suddenly summoned to this world.

It’s best to avoid her until she calms down.

I don’t want to stick my face into a hornet’s nest.

Nagano looked apologetic and bowed her head.

She probably feels she has to go along with Ishikawa, who is the leader of the girls.

Nagano is the only one who provides some comfort.

I decided to bluff Ishikawa.

"There are cockroaches."

"Ah! What are you keeping in here!"

"I’m not keeping them. There are a lot of them in the straw of the bed."

"Ah!"

The girls who were sitting on the bed jumped up.

Ishikawa, who was taken in by my lie, was flustered.

Serves her right!

I feel so much better!

I feel a bit bad about it for Kagawa and Nagano, though.

By the way, there were no cockroaches in the straw.

It was just dry, new straw that smelled nice.

I searched the room but couldn’t find any cleaning tools.

When I went outside, I saw a soldier standing guard at the entrance.

This soldier’s job is not to protect us from intruders but to prevent us from going out.

How do I know?

When I tried to leave the room, the soldier, who was waiting in the hallway, suddenly blocked my way and stopped me.

"What’s the matter?"

The soldier, with his hand on his sword, gave me a suspicious look.

"I need cleaning tools because I dirtied the floor. Can I borrow some?"

"Sure, wait a moment."

The soldier ordered a maid, who was walking down the hallway, to bring cleaning tools.

It was a broom and a dustpan.

This was the first time I saw cleaning tools in this world, but they were not much different from those in Japan.

It seems that some things are similar in any world.

By the way, the maid didn’t clean for us.

Is this how heroes are treated when they are not expected to do anything?

After cleaning, I lay down on the bed.

Yeah, the tatami bed is great!

Lying around in the afternoon is the best!

Right now, the A-rank and B-rank heroes are