Chapter 87: We Joined Up With Bennyboy!

Sword resolutely declined an invitation to what would have become similar to a lavish reception, and we headed over to Bennyboy's location. Bennyboy had apparently rented out a house for us in the outskirts of the city.

When we arrived at our destination, Bennyboy was standing in front of what appeared to be a mansion.

"Oh, I've been waiting for you!" He waved his hand energetically.

"Yo, everything's alright on your end?"

"Thanks to you, somehow, is the feeling I get! Anyway, we were under attack throughout almost all of our journey! Man, it was really tough, but luckily we had Char with us. Thanks to him, it was no problem to repel all attackers!"

"I see. It sure sounds like you had lots of fun."

Uuhh, it makes me totally jelly! I also want to try to repel attackers with Char!

As I thought that, Bennyboy cast a cold glare at me, and said...

"Lady Indra, you might be a genius, but you've got way too many screws loose in your head."

...or something like that...

"Oh, yes! The theft prevention for Bronko is awesome! I leaped to my feet in the middle o' the night."

Yep, bikes are prone to get stolen. My otherworld self had hers stolen as well. That's why I added a theft prevention function to the Bronkos.

If a person, who's not registered for rental, tries to touch the handle and move the bike, an alarm will ring with a loud roar, and the thief will be stunned by electricity magic through the handle. That's no offensive magic, okay? It's prim and proper crime prevention magic!

It sounds like Bennyboy managed to catch several thieves with this function. Still, I wonder, why do I never experience such interesting fun events...?

Well, partly it might be because the Ryokus have been patrolling and guarding our vicinity, I suppose.

*

Before entering the mansion, cleaning came first.

"Holy smokes!" Ben cried out in surprise, but I just cast magic to sterilize, clean, and dry, as well as a spell to blow out all the dust. That was all.

Bennyboy was dumbstruck, "...The hell was that just now?"

"That's why I told you to not underestimate Indra's obsession with cleanliness. She's someone who'll start blabbin' 'bout campin' out in the wild being much better than stayin' at an inn. Just now she used her standard cleanin' magic for when we live in rented houses or inn rooms. The rooms become so shiny that it'd even shock nobles." Sword explained with a worn-out tone.

"I'm perfectly fine with camping out. But, Sword can't settle down in the wild, it seems. To be honest, I think it's a waste of money to pay for rooms, but..." I sighed deeply.

Bennyboy lined himself up next to me, declaring to Sword, "Only this time I'm on Lady Indra's side!"

Sword looked at Bennyboy full of surprise.

"To be frank, I've been staying over at inns for appearance's sake. Those guys have spent their nights in Char, always telling me that they want to save on the inn fees or some other plausible stories. For this reason, they've bought magic stones or gone out to hunt monsters for magic stones. I confronted them about it being cheaper to stay in an inn in such a case, but only got to hear that they had become unable to stay at cheap inns once they experienced the comfort of Char."

Makes sense. I mean, since it's no car, there's no worry about using up the battery by spending the night in the car, and I have set up the sofas inside with a bed function by pushing down the backrest.

There's something similar to Urethane foam among monster materials. I've used that for the seats, so it should be quite nice to sleep on them since it's a relatively soft material. If they squeeze together, sleeping inside with four should be possible, I think.

"Well, you've got a point there, but...I gotta keep face as well. An S-Rank adventurer always campin' out will be seen as bein' stingy on the inn expenses, right?"

So that's the reason, huh? That's why he's going for inns with excessively high prices.

*

After going inside, Bennyboy gave us a report on the auction.

"Really, you'll be totally shocked if you hear this! Rather, I was astonished myself as well!"

First the auction items were appraised. It looks like the standard template of any fantasy story, Appraisal, actually exists in this world as well.

Seriously, that totally screams fantasy!! I wanna learn it as well!!

...Anyway, as soon as they knew that the item was not fake, thanks to the appraisal, the item received an authentication certificate. They drew up a gorgeous certificate parchment with a few keywords, a stamp, and a sales pitch provided by Bennyboy.

At that time, they figured out from my name Indra and my attribute former noble that I used to be the daughter of Earl Springcoat. After also investigating the gossip (actually the truth) I spread back in a distant, distant past, my liquor was introduced as product of a 『The Tragic Genius Daughter of an Earl』. Even that alone was already plenty to bait lots of people, but once I was further introduced as a successful partner of the S-Rank adventurer [Thunderclap Whitefang], the auction hall went abuzz.

One bottle of wine went for 60 gold, one bottle of whiskey for 80 gold, and one bottle of brandy for 90 gold. A bundle of five liquors, which also included ale and cider, was sold on the last auction day and went for 320 gold per set.

All of the bottles were handed over in cooling boxes with handwritten cards from me, titled 『Ryo's Fantastic Way of Drinking!』

And then one of the buyers started a sampling event (apparently they took money for the participation), and popularity of my liquor went through the roof. Bennyboy immediately became a star merchant, and all kinds of people swooped down on him in droves, requesting to do business with him.

...And yet he's standing so nonchalantly in front of this house?

*

"The wheat honey was immediately sold out. The liquor inquiries were incredible, but after I explained that it required careful storing, time, and awesome, advanced magic to reach its taste, I got people to give up on it."

Nobles, who had heard of the liquor, tried to get information out of Bennyboy in all kinds of ways, claiming that it should be attempted with their breweries and wineries, but it's not like Bennyboy knows how to make my liquor.

"I boasted: I've only heard that storing the liquor is super difficult, and that the means of transportation is very simple and prompt... Oh, and Lady Indra is an amazing magician, and a great sorceress! So the liquor can't be made by anyone but her!"

Saying things that wouldn't even count as an answer, he brushed them off.

"I see. It must have been tough on you. I'm sure you're exhausted from all this. I guess we should have a celebration party today then."

"Yahooooo!"

Bennyboy was obviously all in favor.

Business as usual with you, I'd say. In a certain sense, you're truly a fine, young man.

"Is it okay for me to invite those guys over as well?"

"Of course. There's some dishes I'd like you guys to sample, so I look forward to your impressions."

Sword smiled wryly, but didn't say anything.

Yep, I've finally gotten Sword to understand that testers are indispensable for human experiments.