Chapter 105

The Hero’s Repatriation

After reporting to the guild, he decided to sell all of the magic swords through the guild to pay off his debt .

“—Because of that, I appear to have left from [Flame Cavern] . Well, here are some magic swords . There are nineteen of them, I had one more of them at the same quality, but I gifted it to Kantra-san . I would like to sell the rest through the guild . ”

“… Yes, certainly . ”

With the magic swords lined up, the contents of Wataru’s report were exhilarating .

That he had went through the unexplored area, that [Cave of Desires] was connected to [Flame Cavern]—a dungeon also in Tsuia Mountain—at an unknown location, and that he had retrieved as many as twenty magic swords .

They were all wonderful results .

“Well, how much will you purchase the information for?”

“The market price for that is twenty silver coins . Would you like to auction off the magic swords?”

“… Twenty all at once sounds like it would collapse the price doesn’t it . Let’s go with ten . I’ll sell nine to the guild for two gold coins each, so please sell them later . Ah, could I get it in cash if possible?”

That would be eighteen gold, and adding the auction’s sales to that it would probably become close to forty gold .

… It was probably a small amount relative to his twenty-three hundred gold debt, but it could be thought of as an income of forty million yen . From Wataru’s viewpoint, it wasn’t too bad thinking about it like that .

For that night he would be having a drinking bout with Kantra and the others, so he decided to return to the empire the next day .

The details of the drinking bout will be omitted . It was good alcohol, none was left over by the end .

“Alright, now to greet Rokuko-san and them . ”

He headed to the inn’s reception… Sitting there was mage girl that he’d gotten on good terms with, Nerune .

“Whaaaa~, you’re already returning~!? Uuu, I wanted to ask more about magic~”

Hahaha, I’ll come again . Is Rokuko-san here?”

“Ah, yes~ . I’ll get her~”

Nerune went to go get Rokuko, so he waited for a while . And then Rokuko arrived in high spirits .

“You’re going back? Say hi to Ane-sama for me . ”

“Alright, well, was I able to help?”

“Nn, yeah! Thanks to you I’ll get a ring from my partner!”

There was a certain pact between Wataru and Rokuko .

That is, when Wataru wanted to Rokuko to become his partner, some things were said .

～～～

[… Would you be my partner?]

[Eh, no way . I already have a partner . ]

From Rokuko’s reaction, Wataru noticed that his question could have been taken as a confession .

He quickly corrected that .

[… Ah! No, sorry . I meant as in a study partner . Not the meaning as in a couple or lover or anything . ]

[… Un? That so? Well okay . ]

[Please become my cooperator in researching returning to Japan! Those clothes, I just noticed them now, but they have nylon in them right!?]

[Nayon? What’s that?]

[It’s synthetic material made with from petroleum! … This world hasn’t ever seen the combination of nylon with cloth, so why…!?]

[Ah, this dress? My partner obtained it from the dungeon you know . Fufun, isn’t it wonderful?]

Right, the Hero Wataru saw through the looks of the material as something that existed in Japan with his insight . His eyes moved instinctively, but his reaction was only towards the nylon cloth . He definitely wasn’t like he wanted to look at Rokuko’s bottom . He just only looked at her bottom since her hair was blocking the rest .

[Yeah, it suits you well… Hmmm, I wonder if I could get some nylon cloth too? I heard the rumors, but it’s amazing… I’d also like Rokuko-san’s Partner-san to become my research companion . Is he an excellent adventurer after all?]

[… Yeah, he is, he’s the person to have gone the deepest into the dungeon after all . He got a massage chair from the dungeon too . ]

[Ooh, that’s…!]

He wanted to take it apart and look inside . When he saw it—

[No way . It’s valuable . ]

Rokuko stopped it . He seemed to have voiced his desire .

[Mumu, then maybe your Partner-san could teach me about the dungeon… maybe I could hear something about it?]

[Nnn, right . I’m fine preparing a place to talk, but there needs to be an advantage for me!]

[Hmm, then how about I treat you to a meal? The five gold coin one . ]

[It’s my goods, I could eat it whenever I want even if I weren’t treated to it . ]

‘Oh right~,’ Wataru thought . He wondered if there wasn’t some kind of bargaining chip he could use against this person he’d just met . He couldn’t think of anything .

[… Then, maybe there are some of Rokuko-san’s worries I could deal with?]

[Worries? Hmm, I can’t think of any…]

[Umm, maybe some problem with your daily life with your partner?]

Wataru spoke in desperation, but Rokuko happened to think of something .

[Right, then I want to get on better terms with my partner so be my stalking horse!] [1]

[It’ll definitely lure him out for a meal if I say that Hero-sama confessed to me!]

[Eh, w-what!?]

[I’ll go tell him then!]

～～～

… And that is what was said .

As a result of Wataru confessing to Rokuko, a few days ago he’d told them about his unrequited love story . He ended by futilely trying to indirectly appeal with, [Because I distrust women, I really can’t confess to women], but in the end he was cautious of him and wasn’t able to hear anything satisfactory .

“… But now I have a twenty-three hundred gold coin debt . ”

“Eh? That has nothing to do with me you know?”

“… Yeah . ”

Rokuko was definitely unrelated to it . Even if Narikin zeroing in on him was due to confessing to Rokuko, Kehma was another person so it was something else entirely .

“Ah, It’s fine if you pay your debt through Haku Ane-sama you know?”

“I want to see Nerune-san and Gozoh-san and them, so I’ll come back . I can’t trouble Haku-sama with that . ”

‘Even though it’s good if you don’t really come back,’ Rokuko muttered .

“Well then, see you . ”

“Say hello to Haku Ane-sama . ”

And thus, Hero Wataru left for the imperial capital .

Furthermore, he honestly reported the details to Haku, so she decided that he would be sent to work practically till the point of death despite being an S-Rank adventurer, but that was another story .

Footnotes:

This is… not something I’ve heard of before . In short, a person who pretends to do something in order to incite a desired outcome .