<A Message from the translator:> Back from hiatus (sort of). I know I said that I would work on Ashes and Kingdoms, but I’ve been burnt out of sorts from everything that happened last year that I just wanted to start on something new. And this is that! I hope you enjoy~
1: Conspicuous
Author’s note: I look forward to your comments, impressions, and questions.
“H~m, I do stand out, huh…”
A man stood in the back alley. He calmly removed his coat, but he was actually in a completely different place only a few seconds ago.
In less than a blink of the eye, he went from inside the king’s castle to this back alley.
He would have undoubtedly been shaken if he was a normal person, but this man was wholly composed.
He wasn’t emotionless, but at the same time, he was sturdy and wasn’t overly concerned. That was how nonchalant he looked.
He―Lizel (his real name was much longer) was in his office a few seconds ago.
His position was duke, his occupation was prime minister, and furthermore, he was once in charge of the king’s education. According to the monarchial system, he was said to be the closest to the king, both physically and mentally.
Incidentally, his occupation as prime minister was the ultimate form of nepotism as the youngest king in history, at the age of twenty, simply wanted to keep Lizel by his side.
Lizel immediately declined, but the king pushed even harder. If Lizel could only obtain this position through favors, then the country’s stocks would plummet immediately after the king assumed the throne.
Under that king who was unaware of such a fear, Lizel worked diligently since the morning, but for some reason, he was in an absolutely unfamiliar-looking city.
For the time being, Lizel also acted unaware of fear as he decided to leave this dark alley and step out into the streets.
(A shared language but different coinage. So, firstly, the currency value would be… Ah, I really do stand out.)
He wasn’t showy as he didn’t prefer gaudy things, but even with his coat removed, he still looked plenty high-class and naturally stood out. He slung his coat over his arm, and without taking a pause in his thoughts, he gathered information from his surroundings.
Lizel was described by his former student as being terrifyingly calm, but he still managed to demonstrate such even in this irrational situation. He was truthfully baffled, but he could suppress the emotion as he judged that it wasn’t necessary to grasp the situation.
Extraordinary, to the level of inhumane, self-control was a requirement in nobility, but Lizel went beyond that.
He casually surveyed his surroundings—children tightly gripping copper coins in hopes of buying something, housewives holding out silver coins after purchasing something from the market, and all the loose change from those exchanges.
These scenes randomly entered his mind one after another, and through this, he calculated the conversion rate of lower-valued coins to higher-valued ones and compared and predicted the price of goods here compared to the ones he knew.
Lizel knew how to handle money naturally, given his peculiar sense as a nobleman, but he also knew the market price of goods when he occasionally snuck out to the castle town.
“(Coinage that didn’t exist even in the past… Well, it doesn’t seem that the currency value differs that much.)”
Nitre coins, copper coins, and silver coins—the shape of the coinage differed from the ones he knew, but their value shouldn’t be much different based on the mineral. Regardless of his current whereabouts, there didn’t seem to be any dramatic change in currency values.
At this point, Lizel was convinced that his current whereabouts were in a world different from the one he was just in. Lizel certainly did have a pragmatic way of thinking, but he also wasn’t inflexible enough to deny the existence of the unrealistic.
The most applicable explanation to his current predicament was that he was in another world, and even if that thinking was wrong, only he would be troubled.
At any rate, it didn’t change what he needed to do. He consented and promptly headed off to his destination with resolute feet.
“(I wanted to see some higher-valued coins in circulation though.)”
He had already grasped the values of the coins used commonly in stalls and markets.
If his expectations weren’t wrong, gold and crystal coins should also exist, hence his determined pace as he chose a store that would use those coins and his path along a less populated side street.
“(The structure is the same regardless of country, huh. Well, it makes things easier for me.)”
This time, Lizel wasn’t heading to a highly-prestigious store. A purveyor dealing with the highest echelons of society would never be stationed next to ordinary stores. The center of the city, the location of the castle, was the hardest place for a store to plant its roots. Encircling the castle were the surrounding homes of nobles. And, only a few ways out would be commercially excellent places where the high-class stores could line up.
The reason Lizel didn’t choose those stores this time was that practically all prestigious stores were familiar with their customers from a young age, so it would be strange to see someone as old as him appearing for the first time.
“(It’s probably around here.)”
The stores lined here were slightly better than those in the main street.
To procure funds this time, he would be using his sword, a beautiful ornament used by nobles.
It wasn’t entirely useless, but it was worthless as a weapon. Lizel himself had no plans of using it, but he carried it on his waist as etiquette inside the castle.
He continued to walk past a weapons store that skilled swordsmen would enter and headed inside the neighboring curio store. A tiny signboard with “I’m confident in my appraisal” written without confidence hung below the shop’s main signboard.
The shopkeeper most likely wrote it. There was no one more annoying than a pushy merchant, so Lizel saw this as modesty and decidedly opened the door.
“Welco…me.”
“Hello, good day.”
Inside, there was a young clerk diligently polishing the merchandise.
The ending of his greeting was suspicious because he was shaken by the arrival of a nobleman. Lizel’s outfit was still very well-tailored even with the coat removed, and his behavior couldn’t cover up his elegance.
Realizing it was still difficult to call him a nobleman upfront, he calmly smiled.
“I have something I want to sell. Is that fine?”
“Y-yes.”
Since Lizel didn’t see anyone else, he assumed the clerk in front of him was the shopkeeper. The man’s response to take care of Lizel’s appraisal request himself inspired confidence in Lizel.
The shopkeeper’s young face made him look to be in his twenties, and his tall posture was slightly slouched. His unruly, chestnut-colored hair was tied together and flowed down his back. Each time he moved, his long hair bounced and swayed.
Given that his monocle was for appraisal, he must be quite the expert. While thinking that, Lizel presented the sword, and the shopkeeper froze.
Nevertheless, the shopkeeper’s eyes restlessly surveyed the sword, so while he was surprised, he still properly appraised the item. Lizel looked on in satisfaction when he suddenly looked around the shop.
This shop was, most likely, for those adventurers he noticed around the city. This idea was also consistent with the adjacent weapons store. Adventuring was an occupation that didn’t exist in Lizel’s world, but from what he gathered from the surrounding conversations, he could imagine exactly what the job entailed.
“…This is a wonderful ornament. I’ve never seen this design before.”
The shopkeeper paused and muttered in earnest.
Immediately after, he looked surprised when he noticed Lizel looking over. His face turned pale, and he quickly lowered his head.
“I-I deeply apologize! I said something impolite…!”
“No, you admired it, so I’m not angry.”
Based on how the shopkeeper’s attitude displayed awe rather than fear, Lizel understood what kind of people nobles were in this world. Whether they were nobility or not, everything would be over once you underestimate them.
They were probably viewed negatively enough to elicit fear, but it also appeared that treating others as equals was similarly very problematic. In that respect, it appeared that the nobles in this world were hard at work.
“So, how much is this worth?”
“Ah, yes… It’ll be around…300 gold coins.”
Lizel smiled and slightly tilted his head.
Those who would unreasonably try to buy it for cheap would rush to raise the price, and if the shopkeeper lacked confidence in his appraisal skills, he would have looked back at the sword.
No merchant out there would ever try to pick a fight with a noble. If he was guilty of anything, it would be reflected in his actions.
“……?”
“It’s nothing. Can you buy this from me?”
“Y-yes!”
However, the shopkeeper only had a strange face and a tilted head in response to Lizel’s own tilted head.
He was confident in his appraisal that he felt no need to recheck, and this was proof that he didn’t have the slightest inkling to buy at a lower price. Lizel immediately decided to sell his sword to this shop.
“(I guess I found a good shop. The signboard didn’t lie. Additionally, he had the funds to appropriately handle an unprompted sale, and he could go further and act as an intermediary to a store to sell it even higher. This one might be the most reliable shop around here.)”
Lizel was actually a nobleman, but he didn’t possess his position and influence in this world. However, while he utilized the fact that he looked like a nobleman, he couldn’t exactly call himself one here, so he simply nodded in agreement.
Lizel watched the still-nervous shopkeeper holding the cloth bag as he thought it would be fine to leave things as is if the shopkeeper had misunderstood him.
“Here you are. Your three hundred gold coins.”
“Can I have this in a more composed manner?”
“Huh? Ah, do you not have a wallet on your body?”
In Lizel’s world, a hundred gold coins could be upgraded to one crystal coin. He asked indirectly, but it appeared that the shopkeeper thought that Lizel was referring to carrying that large number of gold coins.
Based on what Lizel saw from the reaction, crystal coins didn’t exist in this world. In that case, even with a wallet, the amount of coins wouldn’t change. As Lizel pondered what to do with the pile, the shopkeeper came back with several kinds of wallets from the shelves.
All of them were small enough to fit into a pocket, and thus, Lizel highly doubted that any of them could hold even one-tenth of the pile.
“Um, these are…the wallets I can sell you right now.”
By the way, the reason the shopkeeper doubted that Lizel had a wallet was simply due to the shopkeeper thinking that Lizel was a nobleman in disguise.
Nobles do not use a wallet whenever they go shopping. The bills from the stores will be collected in their house after the fact, and all the payments would be completed in one bundle.
This shop never had a face-to-face interaction with a noble like this, but they seemed to have the general gist of things. Lizel also presumed that the shopkeeper thought this way, so he did not attempt to hide his unfamiliarity with wallets.
“You have so many kinds… Which do you think is the best?”
“Eh?! Er, well, that’s…”
“Which one do you think suits me the best?”
When Lizel teasingly asked the flustered shopkeeper, the shopkeeper began to frantically compare the wallets to Lizel. The shopkeeper probably didn’t inquire about the price range since Lizel possessed the hefty amount of 300 gold coins to pay.
In that case, there really was no need to ask. Lizel thought that he was quite like a noble in terms of his money sense.
“H-how about…this one?”
The one the shopkeeper presented was a white wallet made from a type of smooth skin. Silverwork lined its mouth, and the inside had a refined design.
“Then, please take the cost out from the pile, and put the rest of the gold coins inside… Ah, I would like to exchange two gold coins for their worth in silver coins.”
As long as it didn’t stray into some weird taste, anything was fine, but the wallet fit Lizel’s tastes more than he had expected.
Lizel nodded with a smile as the shopkeeper removed twenty-two gold coins out of the bag in relief. The wallet’s price was probably twenty gold coins.
The shopkeeper placed two of the gold coins on top of a tray for Lizel to see and then proceeded to prepare the equivalent two hundred silver coins as he looked at Lizel, hesitant to ask something.
“Um…”
“It’s fine. If I was suspicious, I wouldn’t have sold it to you in the first place.”
“Y-yes!”
Sensing that the shopkeeper had yet to confirm the equivalent exchange of gold and silver coins, Lizel prompted him.
The shopkeeper realized that his expectations weren’t off, so he couldn’t hold back the strange smile on his face from happiness as he began to move the coins from the bag into the wallet.
“(…It didn’t fill up. I wonder if I should ask indirectly.) I’m not familiar with this. It’s novel.”
“Eh? Ah, you mean the wallet? Items with spatial magic infused in it are especially costly and rare, so it’s a shame that they aren’t many varieties out there.”
Lizel wanted to know about this spatial magic, but it appeared that the shopkeeper thought that he was talking about the wallet being unusual.
Though, since Lizel learned the reason why money wasn’t overflowing out from the wallet, it was fine.
“(Magic… I thought it was similar to the ‘spellcrafting’ I heard about spoken on the main street in my world, but I guess it’s slightly different.)”
The phenomenon known as “spellcrafting” in Lizel’s world wasn’t vastly different from this world’s phenomenon of “magic.” Lizel had already confirmed right away that he could use his mana in this world and with no issue.
The mechanism behind them was probably the same, but naturally, they weren’t exactly the same.
As expected, there was a limit to gathering information by himself. As Lizel reflected on this, the shopkeeper had apparently finished moving all the money. Lizel also wanted to know the way to take items out if possible, so he called out before the wallet was given to him.
“I also want a bag that uses spatial magic, but do you have one?”
“Ah, yes, um…”
“Something suitable and not bulky.”
As expected when Lizel left the selection up to the shopkeeper again, the shopkeeper once again nervously looked at the bags lined on the shelves.
Due to spatial magic, the concern wasn’t size but design. There were all varieties in stock, from large ones like knapsacks and suitcases to smaller ones like handbags and pouches.
The shopkeeper said that items with spatial magic were rare, but this shop had quite the inventory. Considering that this wasn’t a high-class store but a rather fine curio shop, this was excessive.
Lizel chuckled to himself that he was able to find such a shop with rather good connections.
“Does… this one suit your taste…?”
“Thank you. Please take the money from the wallet.”
It was a black, leather waist pouch with a simple yet stylish, black belt that could pass through it.
There would be no problem with Lizel wearing it, even in his nobleman attire.
“That would be thirty gold coins.”
“Yes, here.”
Lizel nonchalantly yet properly watched the shopkeeper open the wallet. He inserted his hand into it like with a normal wallet and took out the gold coins normally. It appeared that gimmicks weren’t necessary.
Lizel accepted back the wallet that had the money safely extracted and promptly put it in the pouch on his waist. Because the sensation of the wallet falling to the bottom of the pouch was nonexistent, he would need to be vigilant not to drop it while he became accustomed to this feeling.
Additionally, when he folded the coat in his arms and put it near the pouch, the coat disappeared along with a sensation of being quickly sucked in. There didn’t seem to be any relation to the size of the pouch’s opening.
In any case, Lizel looked at the shopkeeper as he adjusted his belt for comfort and made sure he had all that he needed.
“Thank you. I’ll come again.”
“Y-yes. Thank you very mu—…”
Lizel smiled at the shopkeeper who froze momentarily and passed through the exit.
The moment he closed the door, he wondered what kind of reaction he would get the next time he came after hearing that voice from behind.
“‘Again,’ eh…? Again?!”
“(I really do want to get more proper info.)”
Like when Lizel thought at the curio shop, he knew there was a limit to how much information a single person could obtain. Anything was possible with time, but if an easier path was available, he would naturally want to take it.
There was a risk of his own circumstances being exposed if he relied on others, but he had no issue with being exposed.
He should be wary in case his teleportation to this world was unnatural, but he was confident that it wasn’t. This was probably the feeling only those who had been actually teleported could understand.
Though saying that, he didn’t exactly want this fact to be easily exposed. As such, Lizel decided that he must choose the people he got information from properly as he continued down an alleyway that caught his attention.
“(Someone unaffiliated with any country would be nice, if possible. And, it would be wonderful if their thinking was unbiased.)”
Despite being immediately next to the main street, the alleyway was quiet.
The chilly atmosphere felt a little cold on the skin from the slightly damp air and surrounding stone bricks.
“(They shouldn’t have any strange insistences, but they should think for themselves. Even if they don’t hold a sense of justice, they need to uphold the minimum level of morality. Someone good at bargaining.)”
Someone good at bargaining wouldn’t come rushing at him. They would return information proportionally worth the clearly understood profit. That level of a person probably wouldn’t even touch Lizel unless there was something beneficial to them.
Expectedly, this would be mainly based on his own ability to bargain, but its possibility went without saying for Lizel who lived in nobility.
“(Ah, and if possible…)”
“Hey.”
Lizel was called out, so he turned around. With their back to the main street, the person was backlit and thus hard to see, but there was no doubt that they were a man.
After staring and confirming the man’s looks, Lizel thought for a moment this involved himself.
For some reason, his first impression of the person was boorish. Lizel knew on closer inspection that the man had a handsome face, but he was so boorish that the beauty was a waste.
He was a head taller than Lizel, and on his waist, he had a thin longsword that was as long as his leg. Given his appearance, he was either a mercenary or possibly an adventurer. Even if he wore a sword, he didn’t look at all like a knight.
When Lizel reflected on the low, hoarse, and unpleased voice he heard before, it certainly suited this man to a T. Without a doubt, this man was the complete opposite of Lizel, who had a calming appearance.
Lizel was the only other person in the alleyway, so the man had to be addressing him. Lizel met his gaze and smiled.
The eyes looking back and down on him were sharp and enough to make anyone weak of heart immediately faint.
“Is something the matter?”
Lizel responded with good manners and thus exactly like one would do if called by a neighbor, but this caused the man to slightly raise an eyebrow. A composed response to his scary face must have been unexpected to him, but Lizel didn’t think much of it and prompted the man to continue with a slight tilt of his head.
The man observed Lizel for some time, trying to search for something, but then he suddenly sighed and shot a sharp look at Lizel’s back.
“Thugs are there. You should stop.”
Lizel himself had no intention of going that far in and only entered the alleyway to have a quiet place to think, but it appeared that a group of “thugs” according to this man had unfortunately gathered in this location.
Well, while judging that this man hadn’t called out to him out of the goodness of his heart, Lizel showed an innocent smile.
“Thank you very much. You’re very kind.”
“…It’s ‘cause you caught my eye.”
The man affirmed with a troubled tone, but his actions truly weren’t done out of pure kindness. However, not everything was a lie. He most likely had some reason to pass by regardless of Lizel’s presence.
Afterward, the man turned around to head back to the main street as this was no longer his business. Lizel watched that back go and put his hand into his pouch. He grabbed his wallet, took out a gold coin, and threw it at the man’s back.
The moment the gold coin was about to make contact with the back of the man’s head, he turned around and caught it. He furrowed his brow and looked at Lizel with a displeased look. On the other side, Lizel showed his usual smile and held up another gold coin.
“Do you mind chatting for a bit?”
“If it’s somethin’ annoyin’, find someone else.”
“It’ll be enough to just listen to my story, perhaps. I will not force you.”
The man raised an eyebrow in suspicion, but after clicking his tongue, he accepted the coin Lizel offered. The first coin was a reward for saving Lizel while the second was payment for listening to his story.
The man deduced Lizel’s intentions and began walking while playing with the coin in his palm and telling Lizel to follow. He didn’t seem to need money, but it appeared that Lizel had piqued his interest.
“What kind of information did he want to the point of paying a gold coin?” was most likely the man’s thinking.
As Lizel watched the man’s back, he refreshed his thoughts from before.
—An adventurer without special affiliations with any country. Someone who possesses a mindset that can understand Lizel’s intentions. A person whose actions are contrary to their boorish looks and whose outlook is broad for their position.
Lizel had desired such a character. And if possible…
“(If they’re the type to look out for others, it’ll be easier for me.)”
Although the man’s actions weren’t out of goodwill, it was enough for Lizel as long as he could benefit from them.
Lizel never thought he would encounter someone with such favorable conditions. As he thanked his fortune, he followed behind the man.
Towards the Sky 
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