Transition to Another World, Land Mines Included. 042

Transition to Another World, Land Mines Included.

ACT 2: UNION
042: Counseling? Consulting?

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The elf, whose name was Aera, had been working as a chef’s apprentice for a long time in a big city far away from here.

Her goal was to open her own restaurant, but even as her cooking skills improved, she could not save up much money. It also didn’t help that the price of land in the big city was high, so it was near impossible for her to buy land to build a shop.

Nonetheless, she continued saving up, and once she had enough money, she’d moved to Rafan, a comparatively rural city, and bought this place. Not that the building was a restaurant to begin with, so she had to hire a carpenter to refurbish the place. They’d arranged to meet at an eatery nearby to discuss their plans.

It was at the eatery where she’d met the source of all her troubles, a self-proclaimed ‘consultant’. He’d been seated at the table next to Aera’s, and had apparently been listening in on her conversation with the carpenter. After a while, he’d suddenly interrupted their discussion.

He’d then loudly suggested lots of ideas for Aera’s new shop. Usually, she wouldn’t have listened to the advice of someone who’d interrupted a conversation so rudely, but at that time, Aera had thought that his plans sounded amazing, and forgetting the fact that the estimate was now far surpassing her budget, she’d given in and followed the man’s advice.

The self-proclaimed consultant then charged Aera a hefty ‘consultant fee’ and disappeared.

Once Aera had time to think things through, she’d panicked at the thought of using up more of her savings than she’d planned. However, the orders had already been given to the carpenter, and nothing could be done.

Finally, the renovations were all done, and Aera opened her shop three days ago, yet business had been totally dead so far. Desperate at having zero customers, she’d almost given up hope when I, her very first customer, had dropped in.

“…I know I spent too much money, but I thought it’ll all be OK since I can cook well. But I haven’t had a single customer since opening this shop… W-What am I doing wrong?”

Aera had been speaking with her head lowered, and now I saw small drops of tears drip onto the counter before her. Her ears were also drooping down and trembling slightly. It stirred a strange feeling of protectiveness within me.

I would be a monster to abandon her after hearing her story. And since I was not a monster, I racked my brain to think of a solution.

Technically, Aera herself was partly to blame for believing that self-proclaimed consultant… But the whole thing just seemed a little fishy?

A shop front that didn’t really look like it belonged in this world. An interior design that wouldn’t seem out of place in Japan. How Aera had been strangely taken in by the guy’s words.

…Could the consultant be one of our classmates?

Someone with a Skill that made people listen to him, so much so that they would abandon all reasoning and logic of what was normal and blindly follow his ideas.

Aera could cook well, her food prices were cheap, and the shop looked beautiful overall. Besides, the shop was located near some government buildings, so it was in a great location with lots of foot traffic.

With all these points, there should be a large demand at her shop during lunchtime. At least back in our previous world, her cafe would be totally packed.

However, this was not our previous world. I shouldn’t assume that things worked the same way.

And honestly speaking, while we were not in any position to offer aid to others right now, the thought that it was one of our classmates who landed Aera in this state was making me feel super guilty. I knew I didn’t need to feel responsible, but she was a fellow elf.

It was the same apologetic feeling I’d had whenever I watched news of Japanese people making a nuisance of themselves when traveling overseas.

Well, if I couldn’t spare money, at least I could spare my time…

“Alright, Aera. If you don’t mind, I can help out a little.”

“Huh!!? But… I don’t have any more money… I can’t pay you for your help.”

Aera looked up in surprise at my offer, but averted her gaze again, seemingly troubled.

“Oh, no. I’m not going to charge you.”

“Really!!?”

Aera thrust her tearful face right up against mine. Slightly panicked, I nodded.

“Y-Yeah. No need to worry about repaying me. I can’t see a fellow elf in trouble and not help.”

Also because you’re a cute elf asking for my help. Nobody could be immune to that. I know Haruka’s a cute elf too… But she’s different, because she’s Haruka, right?

“But I need to talk to my comrades first. I’ll come by again tomorrow, OK?”

“O-Of course! I’ll be waiting! I-I’m counting on you!”

With that, Aera bowed deeply in thanks. After promising her that I would come again tomorrow, I left the shop.

~

“…And that’s what happened.”

By the time I got back to the inn, it was time for dinner. I related the day’s incident to everyone, and when I finished, Haruka spoke up.

“So you went out to pick up girls, Nao?”

“Of course not!! I told you, I was just trying to be helpful and offer aid to someone in trouble!?”

Was she even listening to me? How disappointing.

“So you truly have no ulterior motives?”

“…Of course not.”

“Guilty!!” Everyone yelled in unison.

“Wait, wait! I mean, she’s a cute girl! I just thought we could become friends, instead of just ignoring her! Besides, she’s the first local elf we’ve met. Wanting to make friends with fellow elves isn’t an ulterior motive, right? Just friends, nothing more, OK?”

“Enough, Nao! No need to speak more! You’re just digging your own grave by this point…” Tohya placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder as I fumbled to explain myself.

But, digging my own grave? That was not my intention? I really just wanted to make friends with Aera?

“So?”

Huh? Haruka, why do you sound so cold all of a sudden? It’s all a misunderstanding, really!

But sensing her curt attitude, I refrained from any further excuses and explanations.

“My opinion may be biased, so maybe one of you girls should come with me tomorrow,” I settled with saying.

“…Yes, sounds like a good idea. I’ll be busy, though. How about Yuki or Natsuki?”

Oh, Haruka seemed slightly satisfied? I didn’t really understand why, but let it go.

With the backpacks almost finished, the girls should be able to complete them after dinner. After that, Haruka just had to finish up with the templates, then teach the techniques to Diola’s craftsmen, which meant Yuki and Natsuki would have some free time.

“I don’t mind going. Cafes and lolita elves? Count me in,” Yuki offered.

“I don’t mind as well. If it’s true that our classmate has caused some trouble, I’d like to help the elf out,” Natsuki continued.

“Thanks, girls. It’ll be great if you can help me with this,” I replied.

It was true. While I could come up with various points of concern and ideas to help Aera, having two more people (who were smarter than me) to help out would be amazing.

“I’ll be kept busy for the next 2-3 days, so you’ll have some time to help the elf out,” Haruka said.

“…We’ll try our best.”

While it would be difficult to solve Aera’s problems in such a short time, I would be satisfied if we could help her get back on track. Even if she couldn’t turn a profit immediately, just keeping the restaurant afloat would buy her time to slowly work on her business.

“Yep, we have our own jobs to do as well. How about you, Tohya? What did you do today?” Haruka changed the topic.

“Me? I was worried about Tomii, so I paid him a visit.”

“Oh, you mean Wakabayashi? He became a dwarf, right?” Yuki asked.

“Yeah. If he’s working hard, I don’t see why we can’t lend him a hand.”

Tohya had always been great at looking out for others. Tomii wasn’t a bad guy, so I didn’t mind helping him out too, but…

“How can we help him?”

“Remember he has Smithing Lv.3, Aptitude with Smithing, and Enhanced Physical Strength Lv.2? He’ll make a great blacksmith. Of course, he still needs to learn more about this world first. Now, the only problem is to get him an apprenticeship, but we’re close to Gantz-san, right?”

“Yeah, we always shop at his weapons store.”

Since our first purchase of Tohya’s wooden sword, we’d always bought our weapons and armor from Gantz. While he seemed gruff at first, he was quite a nice guy once we got to know him.

“If Tomii is willing to work hard, I was thinking of introducing him to Gantz-san.”

“How is Tomii, by the way?”

“He’s been working as a physical laborer. It’s a good job since he has the physical strength for it, but it’s only his third day. He told me he’d like to work one more day, just to see how things go.”

“Hmm… That doesn’t sound too promising. Maybe he’s ready to move on to something else?”

It sounded like Tomii was perfectly fitted to do some production and manufacturing job in an MMO. However, there were no smithies where he could work for free, nor were there any convenient tools like a portable smithing set… As far as I knew, anyway. Maybe those did exist, but were difficult to obtain.

More importantly, it was rare for professionals like Gantz to accept a random guy as an apprentice for no reason.

“I know we often buy things from Gantz-san, but is he looking for apprentices?”

“Maybe not, but I have an ace up my sleeve… Or a good idea, at least.”

“I see. So, what is your idea?”

“Well.. I’ll let you know if it works. If not, it’ll just be embarrassing for me.”

“I don’t mind not knowing, but just don’t make trouble for Tomii, OK? This may be his chance at establishing a career,” Haruka warned.

“Got it. I’ll be tactful.”

Haruka might not mind, but I was really curious about Tohya’s idea. Maybe I could ask him about it later?

“So, I’ll be working on the backpacks tomorrow, while Tohya helps Tomii and you three take care of the lolita elf?”

“I don’t think she’s a lolita, but whatever,” I murmured.

“Alright, dismissed. Let’s all work hard tomorrow. Good night.”

“Good night.”

Thankfully, I was finally let off the hook as dinnertime drew to a close.

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