"Kuroi, aren't you gonna go to the Adventurer's Guild, seriously?" Shirakawa asked, looking over at me.
"What would I even go there for?" I countered, raising an eyebrow.
"To register as an adventurer and take on quests and stuff, totally..." she pointed out.
"Too much hassle... Why do I gotta work? If I need money I can just steal from the castle. Food, clothes, a place to stay - we've already got all that," I grumbled, leaning back.
"Okay... but still, doesn't the Adventurer's Guild sound super exciting?" she pressed on.
"Well, I won't say it doesn't, but I don't have any combat skills, and my Item Box doesn't have unlimited storage... it's not some cheat-level thing, so taking on quests would be impossible, right?" I explained, shaking my head.
"That's true too... but but, don't you wanna check it out, honestly?" she urged, leaning in.
"I mean, sure... but wait, does an Adventurer's Guild even exist here?" I muttered, pausing.
Shirakawa was talking like it was a given that an Adventurer's Guild exists, but there's no guarantee that kind of organization is even a thing.
"Also, even if there is a guild, that doesn't mean we can just register," I added, crossing my arms.
"Huh? But if it's your first time registering, isn't it supposed to be super easy?" she tilted her head.
"That's how it works in manga and anime. Think about it - even getting a moped license in Japan requires a resident registration. They're not gonna let some stranger with no background just sign up," I pointed out.
"But hey, if we could register, wouldn't we get some kind of ID?" she noted.
"If we could register. But if we can't, and on top of that they find out we're not residents of this world..." I warned trailing off.
I chopped my hand against my neck like a blade, and Shirakawa shuddered, then shook her head.
It's easy to forget, but we are definitely wanted people.
If the castle soldiers find us, it wouldn't be weird for them to kill us on the spot.
Moving around inside the Item Box is fine, but going outside requires layers and layers of caution - otherwise it's dangerous.
"Maybe we should just go to a different town, honestly?" Shirakawa suggested.
"A different town, huh... It does seem safer than here, but then we'd end up stealing from people who have nothing to do with us," I mused.
"Ugh, I really don't like that at all..." she pouted.
Just like Shirakawa was making a sour face, I also don't feel great about stealing from people who aren't involved in any of this.
Even if someone says it's hypocritical after we already killed four soldiers, I still don't like it.
We walked around town looking for the Adventurer's Guild.
The currency seems to go: small copper coin, medium copper coin, large copper coin, small silver coin, large silver coin, small gold coin, large gold coin.
The unit is called a Marr. Small copper is 1 Marr, medium copper is 5 Marr, large copper is 10 Marr, small silver is 100 Marr, large silver is 500 Marr, small gold is 1000 Marr, and large gold is 5000 Marr.
Since the value of things is different from Japan, it's hard to do a simple conversion, but I decided to think of 1 Marr as roughly 10 yen.
We have money since we stole it from the castle, but without fixing our clothes and hair, buying stuff is gonna be tough.
"Hey, Kuroi... I wanna eat that so bad," Shirakawa said, pointing toward a street stall.
"Yeah, it does look pretty good..." I agreed, taking a look.
What Shirakawa was pointing at was a fruit that looked like a melon.
They were selling cut-up pieces on skewers at a street stall.
Watching the people eating it, it looked super juicy and crazy sweet.
"Hey... I seriously wanna eat it," she repeated, tugging my sleeve.
"I mean, yeah... Oh, let me take care of it and swipe one from the guy in the back," I whispered, checking our surroundings.
"Oh, that could totally work," she grinned.
Behind the stall owner, there was a pile of uncut fruit stacked up.
Luckily, the people walking by were all looking at the cut-up, ready-to-eat ones, and nobody seemed to be looking at the whole ones piled up.
After making sure nobody was watching, I picked a good-looking one from the back of the pile and swiped it.
I left two large copper coins - the price for one piece.
"Whoa, dang, it smells amazing even before cutting it," I murmured, taking a sniff.
"Hey hey, let me eat it already!" she urged, bouncing on her heels.
"Hold on, hold on - we don't have a knife or a cutting board, so we can't cut it. You're not gonna just bite into it whole, are you?" I stopped her.
"Then let's just swipe a knife too, obviously!" she suggested bright-eyed.
"You're gonna steal the merchandise AND the guy's business tools... Are you a demon?" I stared at her.
"Ehhh... We can just put it back after we cut it. And I already swiped a spoon from the kitchen, literally," she defended herself.
"Ugh, shut up. There was a hardware store back there, let's go back," I sighed.
Inside the hardware store, stacked with pots and iron pans of all shapes, there were all kinds of knives too - from tiny ones to long ones that looked more like swords.
Maybe not many customers come, because the shopkeeper was nodding off.
I opened a small window in the Item Box and swiped a chef's knife of a good size, leaving a large silver coin in its place.
"Here, the knife... wait, you're cutting it here?" I said, holding out the blade.
"It's fine, I'll Clean it later, totally," she dismissed easily.
"I mean, maybe... but, whatever," I muttered.
I handed the knife to Shirakawa, and she put the swiped fruit on the Item Box floor, which had gotten a bit wider, and started cutting.
When the knife sank in with a thunk, a sweet smell filled the inside of the Item Box.
It really was a melon-like fruit - the seeds were clumped together in the center.
Shirakawa cut the halved fruit into quarters and held a piece out to me.
"Here you go, it looks so good," she offered, handing over a slice.
"Let's see... mmph, it's crazy sweet!" I took a bite.
"For real... oh man, it's so sweet!" she beamed.
The clean, refreshing sweetness unique to fruit spread through my mouth, and the juice that burst out when I chewed might even beat a fancy melon.
She'd been talking about spoons, but both Shirakawa and I grabbed the cut pieces with our hands and devoured them.
Our faces got all sticky and juice splattered on our shirts, but who cares.
We can just have Shirakawa use Clean Magic later.
In the end, the two of us finished off a fruit about 20 centimeters across, and grabbed two more after leaving money for them.
Trivia:
- Kuroi's Item Box has limited storage capacity, not unlimited like typical isekai cheat abilities, making it a tactical limitation rather than an overpowered tool.
- The currency system uses a base unit called Marr with copper, silver, and gold denominations, suggesting a structured economy despite the medieval fantasy setting.
- Shirakawa's casual mention of swiping a spoon from the Kitchen implies they have access to some kind of communal cooking area, hinting at their hidden living situation.
Notes:
• Shirakawa - Family name of Shirakawa Kiyoka, the dark-skinned gyaru and classmate of the protagonist who was summoned alongside him to another world.
• Kuroi - First-person narrator and Item Box user. Male protagonist summoned to another world. Has killed three people. Pragmatic and self-preserving, prioritizing his own safety and return to Japan over helping strangers. Plans to loot the castle and escape. Possesses an Item Box skill that lets him hide and store things, and keeps it constantly active, which may be why his leveling is faster. Cynical and rational, with a forgettable presence that he uses to his advantage. He knows the people of this world are trash and plans to return to Japan. He is a virgin and gets flustered easily by Shirakawa's teasing, often struggling to stay calm when she presses against him.