Chapter 568 – Royal Capital Market Place – Fruit Shopping Spree
Author: Eguchi Ren
Translated by Gumihou
Edited by Gumihou >_<
After we were done with the unexpectedly delicious skewered meat stall, our group left Maria Square.
The Gluttonous Quartet consisting of Fer, Sui, Dora-chan and Grandpa Gon were still saying things like ‘We’re still hungry’ and ‘More food’. However, since we have already made a big impact here, I made a split-second decision and said, “Let’s go to the marketplace.”
“Do they have stalls there?” asked Grandpa Gon.
“Umu, some do,” said Fer knowledgeably.
“”Ou! They have fewer stalls but the food tends to be better!””
“”Market~ market~~””
Thus, the consensus was ‘Let us go to the market~~’
My secret intention was to go fruit shopping at the market, so this works out well for me~
I heard from Royal Capital cooks and stall owners that the Royal Capital Marketplace was an incredible place. Their exact words were ‘You can find anything there…’
Which was quite an incredible claim.
[1] We smelled the place first.
[1] It was the incredible smell of cooking food that drew us all in.
“Oho, this place is incredible!” said Grandpa Gon.
“Umumu, that one! Let’s go to that stall first!”
““Everything smells great! I want to try that one!!””
Sui was vibrating so much that she could barely send out telepathic messages, “”…m..meat~””
“Hold it!”
I quickly stepped in front of the Gluttonous Quartet who looked like they wanted to charge forward to the stalls.
“Mu, why are you stopping us?” Fer grumbled at me.
In fact, the rest of my familiars were all looking a little grumpy.
“What do you mean ‘why’? Even before going, to Maria Square, you guys were already eating.”
“That’s not enough, Master,” said Grandpa Gon.
“Right, right,” Fer, Sui and Dora-chan chimed up.
“Enough! You’ve already eaten enough! It’s my turn now and I want to go shopping! Shopping! If you still want to go to the stalls after that, we’ll go!”
I glared at them fiercely. That’s right, I can’t let these Gluttonous Four intimidate me. I can just see them dragging me through different stalls and eating and eating until I can’t do any of the shopping I wanted.
“U-umu…”
“V-very well,”
“”Oh… um…””
“”Aruji~ scary~””
Sui, why do you say that?
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I strolled through the marketplace, looking through their various products, when something caught my eye.
“Th-this is-!”
It was twice the size of the thing I was familiar with. A brown oval fruit covered in fuzzy hair.
“A kiwi!”
“Oh, this brother knows it well. That’s a Gold Kiwi from one of that small group of small countries…”
A Gold Kiwi…
It exuded a faintly sweet scent. I wonder… is this one of those rare yellow-fleshed kiwi? I like yellow kiwis because they are sweeter than regular green kiwis.
While I could buy fruits from [Net Super], I was reluctant to feed Fer and the others fruits that may negatively affect them, or worse, have overly positive effects that would make them super strong. That’s why I would rather buy local fruits as much as possible.
Apart from that, there was an issue of fruits or vegetables not tasting like the ones from back earth, which could cause an issue if someone starts to notice.
“Sir, we have another type of kiwi. This is the Green Kiwi, as the name suggested, the flesh is green and tastes a little sour but refreshing. Although both are a little expensive, both are delicious!”
That seems to match up with the kiwis I know.
“So, these aren’t cultivated, right?”
“Indeed! These are collected by Adventurers. I heard that most low-rank Adventurers go for these types of gathering jobs, so all things considered, it’s not that expensive.”
“I see…” I wonder if, like meat, fruits are something that’s ‘gathered’ rather than ‘cultivated’.
I guess that’s due to the unique influence of the ‘magic’ element in this world.
Thus far, the fruits collected by everyone in the dungeons were more delicious than anything that could be bought from [Net Super].
I wonder, just how delicious this kiwi could be?
“I’ll take both types, please.”
“Thank you for your purchase! May I know how many you would like?”
“Hmm, I’d like to take everything you have, but I guess it would be bad if you ran out of stock…”
“Eh? You want everything?!”
“Only if you’re alright with it,” I said slightly apologetically.
“Truly! No way, I’d be happy if you could buy them! Ahh, it’s nice to see some rare things now and then, but if I can’t sell them, I’d be in trouble. The wife just scolded me, saying ‘why did you buy these things if you can’t sell them!!’ So, I’d be very happy if you could take them off my hands~”
Ah, the man looked a little shamefaced as he said this. He must have been badly scolded by his wife. Well, considering that one Green Kiwi costs 1 silver and 7 copper coins, while a Gold Kiwi costs 2 silver coins each, most ordinary people won’t be able to afford even one of them.
However, I can buy them~
A total of 29 Green Kiwis and 30 Gold Kiwis came up to 10 gold and 9 silver coins. Ah, he rounded down the copper coins for me.
“Thank you for the business~”
The seller was beaming widely and so was I. It was definitely a win-win relationship. I left the store in a good mood when a disgruntled voice said, “Oi, is it over yet?”
“My dear Fer~ it’s definitely not over yet~ I have only bought some fruit, so far~~”
“You’ve already spent a lot of money.”
“What are you saying, Grandpa Gon~? I’ve only bought Apur, Orangue and some Kiwis~~”
The Apur was a fairly sour type of fruit. Not the best fruit for plain eating, but it could be delicious when made into apple pie or jam. I found some people with sacks of them for sale and bought the lot. Then, there’s the Orangue, which was similar to the Minneola Orange with its unusually bright reddish orange colour.
Naturally, I bought these in bulk as well.
“”I think that’s plenty enough,”” Dora-chan muttered.
I flashed that little dragon a glare. “What was that? Enough? When was the last time you’ve seen these fruits in such quality?! And these Kiwis! I’m sure there are more rare and incredible fruits just waiting to be bought, there’s no way I’m going to stop now!”
““Aruji…””
Sui, who was riding on Fer’s back, flattened herself and moaned unhappily.
Goodness, are you getting tired Sui?
I reached into my [Item Box] and withdrew one of the Gold Kiwis. Hmm, I think Sui could just dissolve the skin, right? I also have friends that would eat kiwis like apples, skin and all.
“Here, Sui. Try one of these. The uncle I bought them from said that it’s really sweet and delicious.”
Sui reached out with a tentacle and began to dissolve it. After it was gone, she started to vibrate.
Brrrrr!!!
““It’s sweet~~””
“Right~? I’m looking for more delicious fruits like this, don’t you want to eat them, Sui?”
“”Sui wants to eat them~~””
“Right? Right? Then, let us continue~! Hohoho~!”
With that, I happily marched forward. Eventually, I found myself looking at a section of the shop where everything was a lot neater and brighter. Even the boxes containing the fruits looked fancier. I think I found the area where the more expensive fruits are sold.
My feet stepped forward as though I was mesmerised.
“Welcome~!”
The person who greeted me was a slim and neat person. He also looked a little nervous as he stared past me at my familiars.
“This… could this possibly be a… mango?”
I could not take my eyes off the red oval-shaped fruits that gave off a sweet, almost dizzyingly intoxicating scent.
They were about twice as large as a normal mango, but, these are still mangoes, right?
“Sir is really knowledgeable. These are fruits that could only be found at a small country and a part of the Geisler Empire. These are valuable fruits collected by B Rank Adventurers. They are some of the best tasting fruits in the world.
Yes, yes, I understand.
Mango is delicious.
“You will be immediately charmed by this fruit from the first bite. The mellow sweetness, the rich mouthfeel…”
Gulp.
“So, how much does it cost…?”
“It’s 7 gold each.”
Goodness…
That’s…
Well, if these fruits were gathered by B Rank Adventurers, it’s no wonder that it’s so expensive. Cost of paying the Adventurers aside, we must consider transportation fees to send these fruits back quickly so that they can be sold at their peak.
It’s not something that’s easily available.
But…
I really want to eat it!
“So, um, how many do you have right now?”
“We have 10 in stock beside this one.”
So, that would be 77 gold for 11 mangoes.
Ahhh, it can’t be help! It’s a necessary expense!
“C-could I take them all?”
The shop owner’s eyes widened for a moment. However, in the spirit of a great professional, he smiled gently and said, “But, of course!”
While the employees were packing up the mangoes for me, something else caught my eye.
“Is that a Lychee?”
“Sir has an excellent eye. Indeed, that is the Lychee that could only be found in the Northern part of the Kingdom of Khrassen. A fresh and refreshing tasting fruit that is said to be a great favourite of the Empress.”
Fresh and refreshing…
The size of a single fruit was just a little smaller than my fist…
“H-how much for one?”
“1 gold and 3 silver coins.”
Expensive!
But I want to eat it.
Ugh.
I ended up buying all of their stock. 32 pieces for 41 gold coins. At least they discounted the silver coins for me.
“Thank you very much for the purchase. We look forward to seeing you again.”
He was beaming from ear to ear.
Well, I did spend over 100 gold at this store alone.
To think that I’d spend so much money on just fruits…
But it’s worth it!
I have no regrets!
Really!
[Gumihou: Really?]
[1] Adjust the detail of the description of the market
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Hah, if you are shocked by the price of some fruits, then what about some mushrooms famous for their rarity and scent? Hint, hint, truffles?
Oh gosh, there’s matsutake too…
I still remember that shitty novel Kitchen Xiuzhen (which I had dropped) described a ‘garlic tasting herb called matsutake’, which I could still accept along with ‘curry powder is made from ground curry leaf’, but I drew the line at ‘grinding fennel to make cumin powder’ like what is this shit?
Glad to see him put his good down. He was smart not to bring up fruit – sweeets the quartet behind him would not leave him be if they knew and all that beautiful fruit down their gullet with them demanding you ho do this now. He is getting wiser
Why are people so shocked by the price? Makes total sense actually. Just google how much a pineapple costed, 150 years ago.
Rich people rented them for partys, just to see and smell (not eat!) them. The royal familys of Europe had feuds over them.
Who can grow the most/best inside their glass houses, which usually had to have floor heating. Austria had a little over 1000 a year, England around 3000.
One pineapple did cost more than a regular person could EVER afford and same was true for most other exotic fruits.
I guess for most of us, ‘expensive fruits’ means 10 times as much. USD3 instead of 30 cents. I was blown away by million yen fruit, because… USD6000 for a fruit fruit is insane to me… I mean, do you eat the skin and stem too? I’ll probably preserve the wrapping paper to show people in a prominent place…
Understandable, I too would rather stay hungry for a week than spend so much money on a melon.
I just wanted to make clear, that this was normal until quite recently. Our modern access to high quality is unprecedented.
Sometimes it’s good to remember that and to be thankful for it.
The comparison to medieval Europe is relatively logical compared to any other current world timeline but there’s one big big big difference. Magic.
There are fire runes or whatever for hot water. Cold runes or whatever for cold water. There are innate item box talents that are rare but not one in a million (I think it was 1/10 or something?). There are magic item bags. Their world has far more utility at their disposal than medieval Europe could dream of. Medieval Europe was literally the stone age compared to what this world has access to. I don’t think Logistics is a reasonable explanation for the price disparity.
Dangerous monsters guarding them isn’t reasonable either since those monsters should be relatively decent rank and provide decent materials themselves.
I mean, Gumi has a point that there are some crazy fruits out there now (I think Japan is responsible for most of them)… Still feels like a weak explanation.
Item Boxes are 1/1000 and most of them are small. Remember that boy (and his sister), that Mukouda found in the woods.
His item box was 1/2 ork in size and I remember that somewhere it was said that most item boxes aren’t bigger than a few bags/crates.
You also need to get this people from A to B alive, it’s not said that they are high ranking adventurers, so they are better mules mostly. All in all still expensive as hell.
Magic runes to cool are expensive too (remember how much money Mukouda makes selling the raw gems), seem to need the right element and are a bit inefficient, traveling needs ages.
Magic bags cost a fortune and are rare as hell, which is why Mukoudas slaves were afraid to be given one, it is said that only every few years one is found or up for sale.
Right, 1/1000. So that is rare. (I should have looked that up since it was just in ch1 xD)
Runes are cheap though. He bought them for his house for 2 gold a piece – from the guild. (ch318)
True it does seem like no one in this world knows horsemanship….
Although theoretically you don’t need an adventurer to have the item box skill, they can simply escort the person with the item box skill. Still feels outrageous to me lol
Not to mention how it seems no one has tried to start their own mango plantations in a safer location. The blonde bombshell goddess not doing her job
Ah you are right, the small ones were pretty cheap and it was said they last years. Well, still a long way.
Oh but they have horses, carriages aside, we know that the kings guard, who came to greet Mukouda after they landed at the Royal Capital, were all on horse. Just seems to be rare. I guess a single rider (messenger, courier, mango transporter etc.) would most likely just get eaten by some monsters along the road?
Carriages usually seem to have 3+ guards and it seems that they are attacked regularly.
But yeah, they really need to work more on their trade routes, agriculture and animal husbandy. Hell, they at least could herd some sheep or whatever.
It’d probably be the same transportation mechanic as they would use for other goods like the clothing, pottery, etc between towns. Some armed carriage or whatever. Just that the mangos would take up way less volume/weight so the transportation cost would be extremely low. (assuming they measure transportation costs like our world – through chargeable mass)
Now that you mention it… I’m shocked that world hasn’t developed “pickling” since all they eat is meat jerky and dry bread.
Smallest known item box skill is 3x the size of a full hiker’s backpack. Seems to be a volume limit but no weight limit according to mangach1
Lol, Japan is wonderful, but I still remember that one strawberry Paul Hollywood paid like 50,000 yen for.
That’s roughly USD 350 for a single strawberry.
He ate the whole strawberry including the stem.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ1HwqrQ-PM
smh >.<
I love food to a fault but I hate decadence.
A more recent story is how Dole corporation involved in a coup in Hawai’i in order to create their pineapple plantation.
7 gold for 1 mango?!! That’s a bit too much for ordinary people lol. Also, not sure why Mukouda is complaining. 100 gold is nothing to him.
Thanks!
Exactly!
And then he found out he’s being scamed
It would be funny if it is
Thanks for the treat.
Lured by tasty fruits. Maybe after all that meat meat meat meat short but intense history poor Mukoda is dying for something else. Also, fantasy world fruits are a must, plain and simple.
Thanks for the chapter! Awesome translation! May God bless you!
Well I have finally caught up, and on Thanksgiving (US) of all days. Well I am very thankful for all the hard work you do, and the joy it brings my day.
Oooh, a fruity finish is just perfect for Thanksgiving day~
Will you be having turkey?
I have a recipe for delicious and moist turkey with the stuffing on the INSIDE. I swear, why would people make stuffing on the outside and call it stuffing and not, you know, meatloaf?
Also, my stuffing starts out as raw meat and was perfectly cooked at the same time as the turkey~
Well, he was always troubled for having “too much money” (“suffering from success” at it finest), it’s probably good for money circulation for him to spend a lot of money
Glad to see him throw his weight around. Though, he should have convinced them, that these fruit can be made into tasty desserts.
Fruit feel that expensive in Japan…
Ah yes, especially in ginza.
I still remember reeling back from 720 yen banana. That’s 720 yen for 1 banana, not a bunch. Less said about the million yen melons the better.
Yeah I was really getting triggered by him not mentioning that all the fruits can be used for tasty desserts. These prices are a little ridiculous though – literally borderline retarded. Let’s put it into perspective, 1 mango = 7 gold. If memory serves correct, his SLAVE contract is about 1 gold each per month or whatever. 1 gold per peasant FAMILY or 1 gold per fighting slave.
Let’s also put it into perspective, Lambert’s leather goods and the clothing industries, most of those prices are nowhere near 7 gold. I thought Mukuoda was Japanese. He has 0 financial sense.
No he has it..it indicated in writing ..
‘Well, if these fruits were gathered by B Rank Adventurers, it’s no wonder that it’s so expensive. Cost of paying the Adventurers aside, we must consider transportation fees to send these fruits back quickly so that they can be sold at their peak.’
for B-rank to work only to bring mango…thats make sense
It’s labour charge and logistics. Yeah, a 5 dollar book ended up being 25 dollar because of shipping…
I think he’d probably eat it on its own. He’s pretty mediocre when it comes to making desserts, so it would be wasted when boiled down or covered in syrup.
As for his zero financial sense… well, you have to remember that he bargains to ‘drive UP’ the price, so that’s pretty crazy…