Day 491-500/Day 494

Day 494 / 24th day
I bought some basic knowledge about living here from a good informant I came in contact with, as well as information about good restaurants, good liquor, and information about the underworld in and around "La Depardos".
　The price of the information was very high.
　But for the price, the information was supplemented with a lot of details.
　Since we didn't have enough on hand, we decided to sell some of the gems we had mined, but there was a bit of hassle about how to pay for them, which led to some useful information being given to us for free, so it was worth the price.
　In a little while, the fact that we bought information will be passed on to the underworld through the informant, but it was still great to know about the enemy before things got out of hand.
　For now, we would make plans to attack a reasonable stronghold, but we had a lot of work to do before that.
　The first thing we did was to go to the Merchant's Bank run by the Merchant's Union in the center of the "Free Merchant's City of Sectriad".
　It's a fairly large building, and there we improvised to create a bank account and a special magic card for our new business association, the Drunken Lance Chamber of Commerce.
　The procedure was surprisingly easy.
　Since anyone can easily create a card, the procedure was so streamlined that it probably took less than five minutes.
　However, even though it was a short process, the personal authentication information such as blood samples, fingerprints, and magic power tests were registered in a huge storage media type magic item, and if the physical information did not match, the magic card could not be used by others, so it was said that the security was perfect.
　Even if you lose your magic card, which you can think of as a credit card, it can be reissued, so it is safe from unauthorized use.
　Once you have an account, you can go to a large jeweler on the main street, Lignadro Jewelers, and sell off the products you have made by processing gems into artificial flowers.
　The jewels that I processed were leftovers from a large harvest, but I was confident that each flower was so thin that it was transparent, yet it was lively and delicate.
　The flowers were so thin that you could see through them one by one, and yet they were so lively and delicate. I could have gotten more out of it, but since I had the money for the time being, I decided not to get too greedy. The payment was made instantly through the magic card.
　After confirming the amount displayed on the other person's card, I held up my own card for approval. Then there was a pitter-patter sound. I looked at the amount of money I had saved on my Magic Card and saw that it had indeed increased. Now I'll be rich at once.
　Incidentally, the magic card can only be used in the "Free Commercial City of Securiad" where the bank is located.
　You can't use it outside, but it seems to be common practice to use magic cards here where large amounts of money are constantly exchanged to prevent cash theft and to simplify procedures.
　He told me that he didn't like the fact that he had to carry the jewels with him when he paid the informant. He was a good informant, but not a good fighter, so he probably didn't want to carry the actual jewels around to avoid being attacked by thugs.
　Or maybe it was simply too heavy, or maybe he didn't want to damage it and lower its value. Anyway, I guess he was thinking about our future relationship, so he suggested that I make magic cards.
　So, after I got the money, I dropped by the Karari no Yu bathhouse to wash my dirty body.
　We spent about an hour there to wash off the dirt and fatigue that had accumulated. There were several large bathtubs, some of which were ordinary baths and some of which were medicinal baths with medicinal herbs, which I found surprisingly enjoyable.
　After I was refreshed, I went outside and changed into clean clothes using the paid service at the bathhouse.
　After I had cleaned myself up in this way, I came to a high-end clothing store on the main street called "Leray Mondeux".
　It was a very long-established shop and seemed to have a good reputation. Many of the customers seemed to be wealthy, and even though we had washed our clothes, we looked a bit worn out.
　I knew what I was doing, so I ignored the stares of the people around me and ordered an express, expensive but fast-finishing course of formal wear for me and the anthropoid boy, using the best materials in the world.
　They said they had a very skilled craftsman and that it would only take a few hours to make and it would be finished in the evening. I used the time until it was finished to go to a certain place to complete some formalities, and when I came back, I tried on the finished clothes.
　I wasn't expecting so much, but the formal wear fit well. There seemed to be no need to fix it. I heard that the craftsmanship was even better than they said. Thinking this was a good idea, I handed over the cloth-type magic item and ordered new underwear and clothes. They would be ready tomorrow.
　When I placed the order, the craftsman offered to buy the cloth magic item at a very high price, but I decided not to sell it to him because he looked so determined. It must be a very valuable item. It made sense when I thought of its properties such as regeneration.
　A lot happened, but today I stayed at the inn, ate some food, and went to bed.
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PLACE TRANSLATIONS ABOVE THE BAR. THESE ARE THE RAWS, LEAVE THEM HERE. CLICK EXPAND TO VIEW THEM.
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“二十四日目”　／　“四■九■四■目”
　接触した優男の情報屋からここで生活する基礎的な知識を始め、美味い店や美味しい酒、それから≪イア・デパルドス≫及び周辺の裏組織の情報を買った。
　些細な情報は端金だが、裏組織関連の値段は非常に高い。
　だが値段の分だけ情報はかなり詳細まで補完されていた。
　手持ちでは足りないので、採掘した宝石を数点売る事にしたのだが、その支払い方法について多少手間があり、それが切っ掛けで有用な情報も無料でくれたので、金額分の価値はあっただろう。
　少しすれば俺達が情報を買った事は情報屋を介して裏組織に流れるだろうが、それでも事態が動く前に敵の情報を知れたのは大きい。
　取り敢えず手頃な拠点を襲う予定を立てるが、その前に色々とやる事がある。
　と言うわけで、俺達はまず≪自由商都セクトリアード≫の中心部にある【商会連合】運営の商都銀行に行った。
　かなり大きな建物であり、そこで即興で考えた新興商会≪商会≫の銀行口座と専用のマジックカードを作る。
　手続きは意外と簡単だった。
　誰でも簡単に作れるので、手順も効率化していて五分も経たなかっただろう。
　しかし短時間ながらも個人認証は血液採取や指紋認証、魔力検査などの情報が巨大な記録媒体型マジックアイテムに登録され、身体情報が一致しないとマジックカードは他人には使えなくなるのでセキュリティは万全らしい。
　クレジットカードと思って良いマジックカードを万が一紛失しても再発行できるので、不正利用されずに安全である。
　口座が出来た後は大通りにある大きな宝石商≪リグナドロー宝石店≫に行って、宝石を加工して造花にした商品を売り払う。
　加工した宝石は大量に採れた余り物だったが、花は一枚一枚が透けるように薄く、それでいて生き生きとした繊細な造りをしている自信作だ。
　次に持ち込む時もよろしくね、という意味もあるのかかなり高値で売れた。
　もっと引き出せそうだったが、当面の資金は手に入ったのであまり欲を出さない事にする。
　支払いはマジックカードを介して、その場で即座に行われた。
　相手のマジックカードに表示された金額を確認し、こちらのマジックカードを翳して承認する。
　するとピロリン、と音がした。
　マジックカードに表示された貯金額を見ると、確かに増えている。これで一気に小金持ちだ。
　ちなみに、マジックカードでやり取りができるのは銀行のある≪自由商都セクトリアード≫内限定だ。
　外では使えないが、多額のやり取りが常に起こるココでは現金盗難などの対策や、手続きの簡略化のためにマジックカードを使うのが常識らしい。
　情報屋との支払いの際、宝石を持ち運ぶ事になったのが嫌だったのか教えてくれたのだ。
　情報屋としては優秀だが戦闘向きではない優男だったので、暴漢に襲われない為に現物は持ち歩きたくないのだろう。
　あるいは単純に重いのか、あるいは傷つけて価値を下げたくないのか。
　ともあれ今後の付き合いも考えたのか、マジックカードを作る事を勧めてきたのだ。
　そんな訳で金が出来た後は、汚れた身体を洗うために大衆浴場≪からりの湯≫に寄った。
　そこで一時間ほどゆっくり過ごし、溜まった汚れと疲れを洗い流す。広い湯舟は幾つかあり、普通の湯から薬草をつけた薬湯などもあって意外と楽しめた。
　さっぱりして外に出ると、浴場の有料サービスを使って綺麗に洗濯された服に着替えた。
　そうして身綺麗にした後は、大通りにある高級服屋≪レレイ・モンドー≫にやって来た。
　かなりの老舗であり、評判も良いようだ。金持ちそうな客が多く、洗濯したとはいえ、やや草臥れた衣服の俺達は浮いて見える。
　分かっていた事なので周囲の視線が集まるのを無視し、特急料金で割高だが早く仕上がるコースで、上等な素材を使ったこの世界の礼服を俺と蟻人少年に合わせて注文した。
　凄腕の職人がいるらしく、制作時間は僅か数時間だそうだ。夕方には仕上がるらしい。
　出来上がるまでの時間を利用して、今度はとある場所で色々と手続きを済ませ、帰ってくると出来上がっていた服を試着する。
　そこまで期待していなかったが、礼服はよく馴染んだ。直しは必要なさそうだ。
　職人の腕は噂以上らしい。
　これは良いと思い、布型マジックアイテムを渡して新しい肌着やら服を注文する。出来上がるのは明日だそうだ。
　注文した際、職人が布型マジックアイテムを高値でぜひ買いたい、と言ってきたが、あまりにも鬼気迫る表情だったので売らない事にした。
　きっと余程の貴重品なのだろう。再生などの特性を思えば納得できる。
　色々あったが、今日は宿に泊まって飯を喰って寝た。
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Category:Novel
Category:Articles that needs cleaning
Category:Re:Monster ~ The Dark Continent ~ Vol. 2