When I entered my room at the inn, I decided to check my money.
I put the cloth bag on the table and took out all the money inside with a bang.
All of them were identical, silver coins engraved with the profile of a great and noble king.
I counted 99 of them.
The inn keeper took one when we entered the inn, so that would be exactly one hundred pieces for that one mountain ox.
「That’s all very clear, but how much is one of these worth?」
I picked up a silver coin and stared at it, then looked around the room.
It’s just a normal inn where you can sleep in.
If this were modern Japan, it would be between 5,000 yen and 10,000 yen a night.
In other words, one silver coin is worth that much, and one mountain ox is worth about 500,000 to 1 , 000,000 yen.
「Assuming this calculation is correct, …… this is very good. No, even if I don’t do anything else, I could stay at the inn for a hundred days purely for the price of one ox, so that’ s still just plain delicious.
I remembered the time I hunted mountain ox.
If I can make so much money with that level of effort, I should probably do more of that.
I’ll go hunting again tomorrow.
I thought about that, and fell fast asleep.
The next day, I left the city in the same way and came to a meadow inhabited by mountain oxen.
The first animal I encountered had a group of people ahead of me. A group of mercenaries or some similar group, all with the same armor and weapons, were beating a mountain ox to a pulp.
I observed that a little …… well, I was thinking of leaving if the other side was not as bad as yesterday.
However, that didn’t happen.
It took about an hour and a couple of minor injuries, but the group was able to hunt the mountain ox.
As they carried the mountain ox, I watch their backs as they head back to the city.
If it’s a million a head, it’s 100,000 a person.
This was still a very nice part of the meal, but considering the risk of getting injured (it was only a minor injury, but it was at a level where I should have rested for a week or so)…
「It’s usually about making a reasonable living.」
I wandered through the meadow. I wandered around, praying that I would encounter a mountain ox.
After about thirty minutes, we finally met.
As soon as the mountain ox sees me, its eyes go bloodshot and it snorts
It rushes at me, as expected.
「Fuu!」
I didn’t dodge, but punched the mountain ox as it leaped toward me.
A counter punch, just right between the eyes, blew the mountain ox away.
It rolled on the ground, jerking, twitching.
After a few twitches, it stopped moving.
「Let’s get going.」
I carried a mountain ox and returned to the city to exchange it for cash.
Then I came back to the meadow and wandered around again.
Encounter a mountain ox, defeat it, return, and the money is redeemed.
I went back, wandered around, and looked for mountain oxen.
Beat it and cash in, beat it and cash in.
I tried to keep repeating that, but …… I only hunted five animals that day.
To be honest, it takes much more time to find and carry them around than it does to defeat them.
That’s the last thing I said to the person at the store where I was going to exchange the money.
「Most of them only hunt one a day, so I’ve never heard them complain.」
He said to me half-amused.
I was subtly satisfied.
You wouldn’t think about how long it would take you to encounter and carry them if there was a chance that you might get hurt or run away because you couldn’t defeat them in the first place.
Well, that’s none of my business, either.
At any rate, I earned 550 pieces of silver for the day.
The guy at the store paid me an extra 10% as promised, so here we are.
This and yesterday’s earnings add up to 649 pieces.
At the most convenient interpretation, that’s the equivalent of six million four hundred and ninety thousand yen.
「There you are.」
In the evening, I came to the store with a note in my hand.
I told the guy at the mountain ox store that I wanted to buy a house, and he introduced me to this store.
I opened the door and went inside.
In the surprisingly clean store, there was a middle-aged man with a big belly.
When the man saw me, he stood up and greeted me with a business smile.
「Welcome to the Salamus Trading Company. Is there anything I can help you with?」
「I want to buy a house.」
I cut straight to the chase.
「I can take care of that. Is it for residential use? Or is it to be used for business?」
「To live…」
At that moment, my housing situation in modern Japan flashed through my mind.
I put my dream on the request and said.
「I want it to be big, with a garden.」
「I see, sir. So, what’s your budget?」
「About this amount」
I placed a bag full of silver coins on the table.
「Six hundred and fifty pieces of silver.」
I’m missing a piece, though.
「I see.」
The man’s face clouded over.
I wonder if it was still too little. No, it’s probably not enough.
I thought it was worth six and a half million yen, but according to last night’s calculations, it could be worth half that.
That would be about three million yen.
If I were a salesman, I’d be like,「What the hell is he talking about?」
When I thought about it, the man’s expression was just a little cloudy, so he might be a fine businessman.
「Is that impossible?」
「It depends on the size of the house, but a typical house costs about two thousand silver coins.」
「Two thousand pieces …… twenty million ……, that’s what I thought.」
「If you want a bigger place with a garden, it’ll cost almost twice as much as that…… in this town.」
「Four Thousand ……」
40 mountain oxen,huh…… It’s not a problem, but it takes time, and more importantly, it’s a little depressing to see the number of oxen increase all at once.
If I hunt five cows a day, that’s over a week. No. If the encounter rate is bad, it could take more than a month.
That’s tedious, too time-consuming.
Just when I thought I had no choice but to relax the conditions a bit.
「Pardon me, sir, but are you confident in your skill?」
「Skill? You mean strength? Well……. to some degree. Why are you asking this?」
「This bag… Excuse me.」
The man spun the bag around and half-turned it over on the table.
There’s a familiar logo there.
「The coat of arms of the Andreu Trading Company, which deals in mountain oxen. I guessed that the customer was hunting mountain oxen if he used this.」
「I see.」
I saw the mark. It’s the same logo that was on the sign for that store – Andreu Trading Company, I think it’s called.
The man’s guess made sense to me, and I knew that I would probably be looking at this bag and the person holding it with that kind of eye from now on.
「If that’s the case, though I can’t recommend it……, but I do have an idea.」
「What do you mean?」
「It’s a mansion in the southeast part of town. …… If you’re a resident of this town, this alone should ring a bell. There is a mansion there that no one lives in. It’s also known as the haunted house.」
The man said with a bitter look on his face.
「Haunted House.」
「Yes, it used to be the home of a wealthy merchant, but now there are rumours that he has passed, and no one wants to live there. In fact, a couple of people actually moved in, but they were all …….」
「I see.」
「The house itself is very well furnished, and the space is perfect. If it weren’t for that, …… the property would normally cost over five thousand silver coins.」
「With such a shady history, no one wants to live there.」
「It’s more like uninhabitable.」
「Haunted house, huh? ……」
I thought to myself.
I’m not afraid of psychic phenomena. I’m the type of person who doesn’t feel anything when I watch horror movies.
To be honest, I don’t mind living in an trouble-prone house if I can live there cheaply.
What worries me is if it really 「comes out」.
This is not modern Japan. And it’s the way a man talks.
Maybe it’ll really come out.
If the ghosts appear, will they be able to be defeated ……?
I was troubled, but I asked him just the same.
「What’s the price, by the way?」
「Too much money has been spent, and we would be willing to part with it for a hundred …… silver pieces.」
「I’ll buy it!」
I answered immediately.
ne hundred pieces of more than 5,000.
98% off!
It’s so cheap, there’s no reason not to buy it at all.
「Are you sure you want to do this?」
「Aaa. If I see a ghost, I’ll kick its ass.」
I got excited and said something like that.
「Yes, sir.」
The man was momentarily confused, but his expression quickly turned into the face of a merchant.
That’s how I got my house, my mansion.
If I see a ghost, I’m going to kick its ass, that’s how I feel.