Extra: Easy Money

Extra: Easy Money

Mitsuha was lost in thought.

Maybe I really should find a way to make some quick and easy money. Once or twice wouldn’t hurt, right?

Although she was getting a steady income from the (overpriced) products she sold as a store owner and the information (and overpriced ingredients) she provided as a consultant, Mitsuha wasn’t really satisfied with the speed at which her wealth was growing. It was for this reason she had started brainstorming some get-rich-quick schemes.

Cooking’s a no-no. I’d be so busy, I wouldn’t have time for anything else. Working all the way from morning till evening would be way too tiring for my liking. Besides that, I can’t do anything that’ll mess with this world’s natural progression, sell anything that could be used for war or crime, or anything else that would throw this world’s politics or economy into chaos.

These limitations didn’t leave her with many options.

There has to be something, though. Wait, I’ve got it! The four mercs got seven gold for the gravure mag I gave them! That means I can make a killing selling porn—I mean, romance magazines!

There were no scientific, distributional, or economic problems with those, so it wouldn’t mess up the world. Both buyer and seller would be satisfied, and no one would have a problem with it. It seemed like the perfect idea.

She decided to investigate her potential clients and find out what kind of prices to set. Needless to say, the best person to start with was Szep—the one who already had a high score of selling a gravure mag to a noble.

“So yeah, I’m thinking of selling these,” Mitsuha said, presenting one of the magazines. She was in the eatery Sven’s group frequented. Once there, she’d quickly located the mercenaries.

Upon seeing the porn—apologies, romance magazine, all four of them froze. Unlike the one she had shown them last time, this magazine was overtly erotic. Though not enough so to be “18 and up”.

“Think you can point me to somebody who’d buy—”

Before she could finish her sentence, Szep—who was standing behind her—clamped a hand over her mouth.

“Guh, mmgh! Grrrmgh...!”

An instant later, she shouted, “Why the hell’d you do that?!”

Sven was profusely apologizing, while Szep made a disheartened face. There was a five-fingered mark on his left cheek.

“I-I did it for your safety, you know?” Szep made the same excuse as always, but Mitsuha’d had enough of it.

I know he’s not lying; he really did do it for my sake. But there are limits! You don’t just grab a girl from behind and cover her mouth! Hmph!

According to Szep, the first gravure magazine had become such a hot topic among the nobles that it had actually reached the royal palace. Some wanted to know its source, others demanded more copies, others still offered to buy the one she’d brought. Eventually, things had escalated to the point that even the church got involved. They could now declare it heretical, take and use it themselves, or demand the rights to it. Regardless, getting involved with it wasn’t a smart move at this point.

Out of respect for Szep and a desire to monopolize, the guy he’d sold the magazine to hadn’t let anything slip, but it was possible he’d tell someone about Szep someday. If that were to happen, Szep planned to say that he’d gotten it off a wandering merchant and had no idea where the man had come from or where he’d gone. If Mitsuha were to put something similar on the market, Szep’s protective lie would be pointless. Thus, he’d done his best to silence her, even if it meant using force.

Man, this sucks, Mitsuha thought. I was planning to sell the mags through Szep. As in, without any official involvement from my store. I don’t mind selling p... romance mags in secret, but I don’t want my store to be known for that kind of stuff. My establishment is wholesome! I sell children’s toys, not adults’ toys!

In any case, it looked as though Mitsuha had no choice but to give up on this venture. It was such a great idea, too. What a shame. Oh well, it’s best if I just let it go and move on to something else!

Hmm... People in this world can’t read books from my world, and I can’t sell anything with pictures or photos depicting progress they haven’t made yet...

I guess I could copy and sell famous paintings from Earth, but even if this is another world, I’d feel bad for the original artists. Mechanical copies of true art are nothing but sacrilege. It’s nothing like making derivative works, like translations, adaptations, and so on.

Maybe I could try that? No. I don’t have the time or the talent for it. I can’t draw, carve, sculpt, or—HEY, THAT’S IT!

A few days later, Mitsuha wound up in a quarry during the night. She was focused on mining stone suitable for sculpting. If you’re wondering why she was in such a dangerous place alone, at such a late hour no with no tools in hand, don’t worry... You’ll find out soon enough.

“Hrmmm... Venus de Milo with arms, Venus de Milo with arms... C’mon!” Mitsuha repeated this strange mantra, touched the rock face, and jumped back home to Japan, bringing a chunk of it with her. Right away, she arrived in her garage. Filled with anticipation, she turned to the rock she’d brought along, expecting to see a complete Venus de Milo, but...

“WHAT THE HELL?!” What she saw was a vaguely feminine creature with arms at such disturbing angles that it’s better we don’t describe them here. Let’s just say that if you saw this thing at night, you’d immediately run.

“Nike with a head, Nike with a head... Come oooon!”

...Why’d she end up as a harpy? This has to be because I’m trying to imagine something that isn’t there and impose it on the result. That means I have to go for something that’s already complete! Aren’t I a clever girl?

“The Thinker, The Thinker... Come on!”

He was sitting on a toilet with an expression of pure ecstacy. This was no “Thinker”. In fact, it didn’t look like he was thinking anything at all.

“David! Come on!”

“The Little Mermaid! Come ooon!”

“The Statue of Libertyyyy!”

Mitsuha had completely forgotten how dreadful she was at drawing and, well, any other kind of art.

Weird, since I’m pretty good at die cutting... Anyway, I’ll have to think of something else. I can’t keep these freaky statues at home, though. If anyone sees them, they’re gonna think I’m in the cult of some evil god.

With that, Mitsuha brought them back to the general store.

“Excuse me, how much for this one?”

Yay! A customer! What’s he buying—Huh...?

“This evil-warding monster sculpture is so well-made. The ugliness, the eerieness... Most magnificent!”

Mitsuha sold it for quite a lot but didn’t feel happy in the least.

Whatever, I’ll just think of something else! Moving on!