Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for my Retirement Vol. 2

“I’ll take a look around, then.” The girl smiled and ventured further into the store.

As Mitsuha watched her customer, her mind drifted to the degenerate dressmaker. If she could see this girl, her blood pressure would skyrocket till she had blood shooting out of her nose. Not enough to pass out, though, since she would still need to take a mental snapshot. That lady operates on a whole different level, and it’s not exactly inspirational.

After Adelaide’s debutante ball, the seamstress had given Mitsuha an edited Blu-ray and a set of photos from the event; their quality was exquisite. Mitsuha was planning to sell them to Viscount Ryner, but she still hadn’t decided on the price. She had briefly considered charging one gold per picture, but such a rate would have made her a swindler exploiting his fatherly affections. Simply put, it wasn’t her style.

Mitsuha’s present customer seemed to delight in her shopping trip. The basket she carried was stuffed full of items, and their total value was already impressive. As Mitsuha wondered if she would be able to afford them, the girl approached her.

“I would like to buy this and some shampoo, please!”

“Certainly.” Mitsuha placed her items in a bag decorated with a cute animal mascot—a rare thing around these parts. “You can keep the bag, by the way,” she added, and the girl brightened. As her customer took out some gold coins, Mitsuha wondered if she would be safe walking around without a bodyguard.

“That was fun! I’ll be sure to come again,” the girl said, full of enthusiasm.

“Thank you very much!” Mitsuha replied, seeing her off at the door. There was no retail fakery in her words. The girl had been a great customer, one Mitsuha would always appreciate.

As Mitsuha watched her leave, she noticed something unnerving on the other side of the road. There was a filthy, suspicious-looking man who seemed to fit the classic stalker archetype. If Mitsuha could have called the police, they would likely have arrested him without question. The man was lurking in the alley between buildings, not doing anything of note. Was he after Mitsuha or her shop? She couldn’t tell.

Before Mitsuha could write him off as insignificant, however, he abruptly began walking in the direction of the girl who had just left.

A noble girl goes missing right after visiting my store? Now that rumor would be bad for business!

Mitsuha rushed back into the store and pulled out her “counterattack bag” from behind the counter—a pun that may or may not have been intended. She threw it over her shoulder and left the building, locking the door behind her.

The girl still hadn’t gotten far. Mitsuha could see her a short distance away, completely defenseless. The man from the alley approached her from behind while Mitsuha swiftly and silently closed in on them. Just as they passed an entrance to a back alley, the man jumped on the girl, clamped a hand over her mouth, and dragged her into it.

Bingo, Mitsuha thought. She darted into the alley, then chased after them as fast as her feet could manage. They vanished at an intersection, and by the time she caught up, the girl was already gagged and surrounded by four men tying her up.

Aren’t you a well-prepared bunch of scumbags?

“What are you doing?!” she shouted.

The thugs panicked for a moment before they noticed their opponent was merely another little girl. They breathed a collective sigh of relief.

“Heheh. Brave, ain’t ya? You showin’ up just means another payout fer us, though. Thanks fer makin’ it easy.”

The man who had spoken stepped closer to Mitsuha. She quickly took a sheathed knife from her bag and slipped it into her belt.

“Oh? So, yer gonna put up a fight. Ya got guts, I’ll give ya that. But a li’l sweetie like you can’t kill nobody. Killin’ a man is—”

Before he could finish, Mitsuha reached into her bag again, grabbed one of the things inside, and pointed it at him.

Bang!

A sound cracked through the air. The bandit collapsed to the ground and began to convulse.

“I can kill you,” she said. “If there’s a reason to let scum like you live, I’d like to hear it.”

“HUH?!”

The three men still standing were dumbfounded. Despite Mitsuha’s words, however, their partner in crime was still alive; the item she’d used on him was a pistol-shaped stun gun. It fired electrodes that attached to the target and applied high voltage through thin cords. To prevent nefarious use of this weapon, firing it would scatter a burst of paper confetti, with each piece containing the weapon’s unique serial number. Of course, this function had little significance if the stun gun was acquired illegally or used in a different world altogether.

Though the sale and possession of this weapon was banned in Japan soon after its release, it was readily available in a number of foreign countries. Mitsuha had acquired this one through her mercenary connections.

“Who the hell’re you?!” one of the men cried out in panic.

I thought you’d never ask! Time to put on a real show. Come back out of the darkness, cringey Mitsuha from middle school!

“Me? I am... the Archpriestess.”

She spoke in a low tone in an attempt to mimic one of her heroes, Asahi Kurizuka. He had starred in a historical Japanese drama from the 1960’s called I am a Bodyguard. To suit her personal tastes, however, she chose to replace the titular “bodyguard” with “archpriestess”.

“Whazzat?” The bandits had no idea what she meant, and frankly, neither did she. Mitsuha was simply itching to cross off yet another entry on the list of things she had always wanted to say.

“I am the Lightning Archpriestess!” she repeated. “Those in my way deserve no mercy!”

This time, she whipped out her Beretta 93R and fired a three-round burst at some pots nearby.

It won’t look cool if I stop to change the setting, so let’s just roll with this.

Ba-Ba-Bang!

Gunshots echoed around them as the bullets shattered the pots, sending ceramic fragments flying everywhere.

“EEEEEK!”

The bandits screamed and tried to escape, but just as they did, a group of unnaturally imposing soldiers popped out from the other end of the alley.

“Princess! Are you all right?!” one of them called out.

Oh, so she really is a princess? Mitsuha thought.

While the soldiers were busy capturing the men and retrieving the princess, Mitsuha slowly backed away from the scene. She ducked into the first side-alley in an attempt to flee, but luck wasn’t on her side.

“Please wait, Miss Archpriestess.” Upon hearing the address from behind her, Mitsuha let out an internal scream of frustration.

There were soldiers at both ends of the alley, but this one in particular seemed somehow more important than the rest. He was an older man, and his face gave Mitsuha the impression that he had been through many an ordeal.

“Umm, how long have you been listening, if I may ask?”

The man’s answer crushed her. “Everything from ‘What are you doing?!’ onward.”

Oh, so all of it. Great. Thanks, Mitsuha thought, moments before she collapsed. Her splayed hands quickly stopped her from falling face-first into the cobblestone.

“Archpriestess?”

I’m begging you, stop calling me that. I got carried away, I’m sorry!

“Come with us to the castle,” said the soldier.

Mitsuha had somehow known things would come to this the moment she found out the girl was a princess. She had seen her face, so there was no way out of it now.

Please don’t look at me with those sparkling eyes, princess, she thought as she met the girl’s gaze.

“Let me at least close up shop.”

She still hadn’t checked her finances, closed the curtains, or switched the security systems to their “after-hours” settings. There was still a lot for her to do.

The princess and most of the soldiers returned to the castle, while Mitsuha returned to her store, accompanied by the aged soldier and two others.

They don’t have to be so on edge; it’s not like I’m gonna run.

◇ ◇ ◇

She finished closing relatively quickly, and her thoughts moved on to how she would prepare for the castle visit.

A dress, maybe? Nah, too early for that. I already have a good ruse going on with the count, so this time I’ll be nothing more than a humble merchant. What about guns? Hmm, they already saw me shoot. Assuming I keep the Walther PPS at my side, would I need the 93R? I can’t picture myself using it.

Mitsuha briefly entertained a scenario where she escaped the castle while clearing a path with gunfire, but she figured she could world-jump out of any real danger. In that case, her efforts toward setting up the store and her network with the nobles would go down the drain.

In the end, she tucked her Walther in the holster at her side and put the 93R in her bag. She had fired it off in front of the kidnappers and hadn’t had time to reload.

As for knives, she left them behind. While she could claim her guns were something akin to religious tools to explain away their existence, wielding a knife in front of the royal family was completely off-limits.

Opportunist that she was, Mitsuha also stuffed her bag with various items from the store’s shelves. They were as full as ever, since she made sure to continually restock. Additionally, her business model prioritized quality over quantity—one item for ten silver over ten items for a silver apiece. Of course, she was willing to make sacrifices if it meant spreading happiness to girls around the world.

Ah, I should sell stuff for that time of the month, too.

It dawned on her that many of her wares didn’t sell not only because of their prices, but because the people of this world simply didn’t understand how to use them. In order to increase an item’s popularity, she would need walking advertisements; it had worked for shampoo. But she imagined she would become far too busy if she upped her advertising, and so she dismissed the idea.

Once she had put her gun and some souvenirs in her bag, Mitsuha’s preparations were complete. She hadn’t even changed out of her shopkeeper clothes.

“Uh, Mister Soldier, you should be more careful where you step. The store’s closed, which means the security system is on. Don’t come crying to me if you’re struck by lightning.” The young man turned a bit pale.

“Atta boy. Now, walk straight ahead. That’s right... Don’t even think about touching the shelves.”

◇ ◇ ◇

I don’t recognize this ceiling, Mitsuha thought, fully aware of just how dead the horse she was beating really was.

She had just arrived at the castle and was feeling somewhat let down. Part of her had expected to be transported in a carriage drawn by an excessive amount of white horses—this world’s equivalent of a limousine, surely—so you could imagine her disappointment when she had to walk like the commoner she was.

The aged soldier remained at her side even in the waiting room. Mitsuha passed the time by reflecting on her personal fondness for “refined older gentleman” types like him.

There’s this guy, Count Bozes, Stefan the butler... In ten years or so, Viscount Ryner will probably make the list, too.

Her thoughts were interrupted as someone called for her.

“You are Mitsuha, I assume?”

Immediately upon seeing the man who had spoken, Mitsuha was compelled to curtsy. Yep, that’s the king, all right!

“Please, raise your head. Come here and take a seat,” said the king. “There is no need for my daughter’s savior to trouble herself with formalities. I myself won’t bother with a terribly ‘royal’ attitude. Treat me as you would an equal.”

Oh, so this isn’t his “king” voice, huh? Mitsuha understood that even kings behaved differently depending on the surrounding company. They had families, for example, and it wasn’t as though they all began life as kings. Some were even saddled with the title without expecting it.

The hall in which they met was far from a looming throne room full of ministers, and she wasn’t having an audience with him on some sort of official business. This was simply a casual meeting where a father aimed to thank her for saving his daughter.

Realizing she’d been nervous for nothing, Mitsuha took her first real look around the room. It was a relatively humble space housing a table and some chairs. Everything was luxurious, of course, but such was standard fare for a palace. Mitsuha would’ve been more surprised if the room had been decorated with a cheap folding table and chairs instead.

The king was with a mature, dignified lady—the queen, no doubt—as well as the princess from before and a princely-looking boy. He appeared to be younger than the princess; if Mitsuha had to fathom a guess, she would have put him at eight years old. He seemed particularly interested in her.

Was it something the princess told him? she wondered.

Behind them, there was an elderly man she assumed was the grand chamberlain; behind her stood the refined soldier who had accompanied her here.

I’m not gonna run away, damn it!

“Now, Mitsuha the Lightning Archpriestess...” the king began.

“Mitsuha the general store owner,” she corrected.

“Mitsuha the Lightning Archpriestess.”

“Mitsuha the general store owner.”

“Mitsuha the Lightning Archpriestess.”

“Mitsuha the general store owner.”

“Mitsuha the Lightning Archpriestess.”

“Mitsuha the general store owner.”

“Mitsuha the... general store owner.” He gave in at last.

Mitsuha was aware that this was a golden opportunity to turn her reputation around and insist that she was, in fact, the Lightning Archpriestess, but she ultimately decided against it. Once they had settled on her address, she explained what had happened earlier in the day.

“After the princess bought some items from my shop, I saw her off. It was then that I noticed a suspicious-looking man following her. It worried me, so I ran after them. You wouldn’t believe my surprise when I found a group of men trying to kidnap her! I gathered up my courage and called out to them, but since I’m just a little girl, there was really nothing I could do. That was when the soldiers came and saved us both.”

“Hmm. I’ve been told a different story,” the king said.

“After the princess bought some items from my shop, I saw her off. It was then—”

“I understand! No need for any more of that!”

Heehee. I win again!

Mitsuha continued to treat the “Archpriestess” affair like some sort of fairy tale or a figment of his imagination, so the king surrendered. Whatever had actually transpired was left unclear.

According to some reports that arrived during their conversation, the kidnapping hadn’t been politically motivated—the perpetrators were human traffickers who had merely wanted to abduct and sell a beautiful girl. The princess had heard of Mitsuha’s General Store from one of the maids; thereafter, she had escaped from the castle, shaken off the guards that chased her, and caught the eye of the traffickers, who had no clue that she was royalty.

The local human trafficking industry was secretly backed by some influential nobles, so even the king could do little to stop it. Regardless of the circumstances, however, an attempt had been made to kidnap the princess. No matter how much power they held, any noble who would speak out against an official investigation of this incident would be labeled an ally of the traffickers and a traitor of the kingdom. Therefore, both the traffickers and those who supported them were in serious trouble.

Wow, the princess did something great for the country, Mitsuha thought.

She learned that the princess, Sabine, was ten years old, and the young prince, Leuhen, was eight. They were the youngest of five siblings, and the others—two sisters and a brother—were a fair bit older than them, so Sabine and Leuhen were closer to each other than the rest. The older siblings did love them, of course; they just chose not to join in the young ones’ childish games.

“I hope you get along with my children,” the king told her with Sabine at his side, both of them beaming.

“S-Same here,” Mitsuha replied awkwardly.

Hold on, “children”? Uh, you got plans for me or something? Wait, more importantly...

“Your Majesty, do you feel that you don’t see as well as you used to?” Mitsuha asked.

“Yes, actually. For a while now, I’ve found it difficult to read small letters, so I’ve started using a lens.”

Huh? You have those?! You’re more advanced than I expected!

She briefly wondered why she hadn’t seen anyone wearing glasses, but remembered that back on Earth, convex lenses used for presbyopia had spread long before the concave lenses used for myopia. The first lenses used to support eyesight were either like magnifying glasses or nose glasses—not of the Groucho variety, but rather pince-nez.

Unlike those with myopia, people with presbyopia didn’t need to use lenses all the time. Pince-nez glasses were flawed and could fall off easily, so they were mostly worn while reading—definitely not during walks around town.

I don’t know what seeing aid is popular right now, but there’s no point in thinking about it! Whatever they’ve got, it won’t hold a candle to Earth’s modern marvels!

“Could you give these a try for me, please?” Mitsuha asked, then presented the king with five sets of glasses from her bag. “Try putting them on like this. Each pair is slightly different, so find the one that helps you see best.”

“Hmm, like this?” he asked, donning the first pair. “Oh, my! They’re so light! And I can see so clearly! They help both of my eyes, and my hands are completely free. They don’t move when I look down or shake my head, so I don’t have to keep adjusting them!” He then went on to try the other glasses.

Huh, so they do have pince-nez glasses. Doesn’t sound like they’re the kind with a string, though.

“Saar! Come over here and try these!” the king called out to the old man behind him, who came and picked up a pair for himself.

“Oh? Ohhh!”

“Well? You said you didn’t like using a hand lens or your glasses. What do you think of this?”

“Everything is so clear... Why, these glasses are better than anything I’ve ever known! They’re light and sturdy, and I’m free to use both my hands. This would make working long hours much easier!”

The old man was even happier than the king. Mitsuha hadn’t anticipated this outcome, but saw no harm in getting on good terms with the grand chamberlain. Surely the king would appreciate it too.

“Now it will be a few more years until this old dog stops being chancellor,” the old man said proudly.

Oh, so he’s the chancellor, Mitsuha thought as she put the remaining pairs of glasses back into her bag. With these two as her walking advertisements, she would gain even more customers, especially among the country’s elites—a group she was planning to make a great deal of money from.

What? You think this is predatory salesmanship? How d’you mean? I’m just selling something for an outrageous price, that’s all!

“Do you have more wares of such quality?” asked the king. “Please, don’t hold back. Money is no object!”

“Well, I do this for a living. As long as you pay me, I can sell you anything. Except for girls, of course.”

“No girls, you say?”

“Nope.”

“I see. Hahaha!”

The chancellor and Mitsuha joined the king in his laughter. Though the joke may have seemed a bit dark considering the princess’ failed kidnapping, it was also Mitsuha’s way of saying, “You can’t control me no matter how much money you have”. The king understood this and so did the chancellor. The queen, on the other hand, likely did not.

Despite taking a liking to her, the king did not provide Mitsuha with a carriage home, so she had to go back the way she had come—on foot. She believed it was for the best, however. Being delivered to her back-alley store by a carriage bearing the royal family’s crest could have caused her unnecessary trouble.