Stranger's Handbook

Chapter 54: If I Could Only Get Used to It……..

Three days passed since I first drank this world’s coffee.

For me, it was a shocking fact, but for Bea…….no…

For this world’s inhabitants, it was only natural.

The spirits are the messengers of the gods, they are holy beings.

Thus, they bless people with their ‘Spirit Drops’ and ‘Spirit Pills’.

………..Or so it seems.

The books only talk about Spirit Drops and Spirit Pills, but since there were no spirits around in recent history, there weren’t many people who had an actual understanding about them.

Who would’ve thought that Spirit Drops and Spirit Pills were in fact spirit urine and feces…….

“Zest will leave soon…We won’t be able to drink Spirit Drops anymore…….”

The one complaining about this was the Emperor.

Since that time, he’s gotten completely addicted to it.

The legendary Spirit Drops.

He wanted to ask about them right after Toto’s birth, but he gave up, not wanting to ruin the spirit’s mood.

Having had no other option, the Emperor had to wait and see what was to happen, but he was unexpectedly made to drink those ‘Spirit Drops’.

‘Find that tea!’

That’s what he said after the so-called ‘pee in a cup’ incident. He instructed his people to look for it, but they couldn’t find ‘the tea’.

But then, the Emperor remembered that we were there at that time, so, reluctantly, he asked me about it.

‘Zest, what was the liquid in that cup?’

With a demonic expression on his face, the Emperor knelt down on the ground in front of me, making it for a great memory.

In reality, he wanted to drink it so badly that he grew desperate…..

“It’s truly regrettable, but we can’t restrain them any longer, can we?”

“Bea ane-sama, I will feel lonely…”

Empress Natasha and Tsubaki were already addicted too.

And because of that, our departure got postponed for a bit.

“Tsubaki, you’re such a spoiled child. But it’s all right, we’ll be able to meet again soon.”

Somehow, Princess Tsubaki got completely emotionally attached to Bea.

Even though Bea was brushing her hair gently, she had such a sorrowful expression on her face.

They’re just like mother and child.

But I can’t say that to Bea.

‘Do I really look that old?’

It’s been only yesterday when she started crying about this matter.

I would only end up prostrating myself in front of her again.

The woman’s heart is difficult to understand……

“For a short while, I’ll be in the care of the Frontier Count’s Household, so I won’t be able to visit too often, but I’ll make sure to come see you. You’re an important person after all.”

It was only a followup from my part, nothing more.

“It’s the first time I’m going shopping outside the castle!”

“You’re excited, right, Tsubaki? Look, you can see the water fountain from here!”

For some reason, we were inside the carriage on our way to the city.

I certainly told them I was about to go out to shop for presents, but it was too unexpected that the Princess will come along.

‘If she’s together with you and the black knights, she’s safer than inside the castle. No problems there!’

The much appreciated Emperor’s words.

…….But I actually wanted this to be a date….mine and Bea’s date.

But well, when I looked at how happy and excited Princess Tsubaki was about her first visit in the city, I decided I won’t give too much importance to the minor details.

I want to treat this child with great care as well.

We were shaken inside the carriage for about 30 minutes, when we finally arrived at the shop we wanted to visit.

This shop was recently opened in the imperial capital, but it already had a good reputation of offering a great customer service and an excellent variety of goods.

…….I read about this shop in the black knights’ ‘Date Spots Report’.

“Welcome to my shop, your Highness, Princess Tsubaki, your Excellency, Duke Zest, your Excellency, Duchess Beatrice.”

All the employees were standing in a line, and the one who greeted us was…

“It’s Tania! Was this your shop?”

The middle-aged woman was all smiles.

She was Tania, the shopkeeper who looked after us when we went to buy clothes for little Toto.

“Eh? So this was actually Tania’s shop. In that case I can really feel at ease.”

Princess Tsubaki was looking blackly, so we explained her the situation as we entered the shop.

“I used the connections I made with my clothing shop, so I opened this one too. I’m really sorry I was late in letting you know about it. What are you looking for today?”

She said and presented us the great variety of goods she was selling. As expected, ‘a great variety’ were the perfect words for it. There were a lot of things displayed in this shop, from alcohol and food to all sorts of magical tools.

Yes, it’s just like a department store; it has everything.

I was trying to look for the right souvenirs to buy, when my attention focused on the three girls, making a fuss over some very lovely ornaments.

Toto was there with them, you know? She was sitting on Princess Tsubaki’s shoulder.

She looked like Tsubaki’s cute little sister.

As for the souvenirs, I decided upon buying sake for the guys and clothing materials or cosmetics for the girls.

No one would complain if the guys get drunk.

However, if I offer odd things to women, it could turn into a really ugly situation.

I want to avoid that by all means.

As for myself, I’d really wanted a magical tool like an item box or something.

I bought a bracelet that lets me store inside it a large quantity of goods.

It doesn’t have an infinite storage space, but depending on someone’s magical powers the storage quantity grows; it was indeed a valuable item.

……..Since it was cheaper than I expected, I ended up buying more than one bracelet.

It only cost 1000 pieces of gold coins.

Was it actually cheap?

Since I received 50.000 pieces of gold coins from the Emperor, signifying my reserve found as a duke, it was actually pretty cheap.

I decided to buy about 10 storage bracelets.

They only had two storage increasing bracelets left in the shop, so it couldn’t be helped.

Still, it’s better to have an item with a fixed storage space, than having none.

Bea seemed to have found something good for herself too, so she was negotiating now.

Even though I said she was negotiating, she wasn’t actually trying to beat down the price, you know?

As a rule, the nobles always pay up the asked price.

Bargaining is the activity of commoners, so it is not appropriate for nobles.

Well, nobles do have more gold coins, so they must act resolutely.

I went off topic…

As I was saying, they were discussing about changing the design and fixing the day of delivery.

I was sitting on a chair, drinking black tea, while surveying the shop. There were no other customers inside, but us.

Not surprising.

The place was like reserved, since there ware a princess and two dukes inside.

In front of the shop was a carriage with the imperial household’s crest on it.

And the black knights were surrounding the entire place.

There’s no such idiot who would enter the shop at this time.

Bea seemed to have finished doing the arrangements and we were about to exit the shop when something happened.

“You fool! Who do you think you’re talking to?”

The angry voice of a man came from outside the shop.

……….It appears that an idiot just showed up………