Chapter 343

(343) Suzuki’s Home

Translator: Tseirp

The address that Suzuki gave us and the nameplate that read ‘Suzuki’ (Naturally it was written with Otherworld letters) .

Relying on that information, we arrived at a j.a.panese house surrounded by a bamboo fence .

It was so ma.s.sive that I wanted to ask just what kind of high-cla.s.s hotel was it .

“Is this truly Suzuki’s home? Hopefully it’s not a mistake like another person having the exact same name . ”

“But Master . I don’t think that’s possible with a unique name such as Suzuki . ”

“ … Ah, I guess you’re right . ”

Even though names such as Satou, Suzuki, and Yamada were very common names in j.a.pan .

I wondered if a house that size was common for a Baron?

I was a Quasi-baron but I still didn’t own a house of my own in this world .

Was it because of the ‘Quasi’ prefix? Or was it because of Jobless?

Well, it doesn’t matter .

I may not have a home in this world but I had a home called My World .

I had an entire star as a home . Rather than losing out, I believe I won instead .

After regaining my self-esteem, I pa.s.sed through the door .

I heard the sound of water-filled bamboo tubes serenely tapping against a stone in the distance .

There was no doorbell so I knocked on the sliding door of the entrance .

“Excuse me, is anyone home?”

The sliding door opened when I called out .

A beautiful woman dressing in a kimono appeared from inside . She had red hair and blue eyes so she was probably from this world .

Her job was an ordinary Cook: Lv3 .

“Here, I received this from Suzuki . ”

“Let me see – – Kusunoki-kun, I believe? You have traveled a long distance . Welcome . ”

“Thank you very much . ”

I thanked her and followed her .

I took off my shoes at the entranceway and changed into slippers .

“ – – ?”

“Ah, Haru . You must take off your shoes in this house . Jofre and Elize and Centaur too – -“

The kimono beauty’s face twitched when she saw Centaur enter the house as though it was natural .

“Eh … erm, I was told to lead the horses to the stables beside the house but what should I do with donkeys? Stables? Even though it’s a donkey? In the first place, it shouldn’t be possible to bring a restricted monster into town – – eh?”

The kimono beauty suddenly started acting strange .

“This can’t be found in the manual ─ ─ this is an emergency, what should I do? Right, I recall asking master before . In master’s hometown, horse meat was called sakura meat . Donkeys are similar to horses so it is an ingredient souvenir . Yup, in that case, it can be found in the manual . In the event of receiving food ingredients ─ ─”

She wrinkled her eyebrows and muttered some strange words before saying with a bright smile .

“Jofre-sama, Elize-sama . How well done would you like your meat? Or do you prefer it stewed? According to master, the recommended method is to eat it raw . ”

“Meat!? Grilling is the best when it comes to meat . ”

“Yup, over a flame until the insides turn brown . ”

Jofre and Elize gave their request for how well done they would like their meat .

Should I ask what meat was she referring to?

Just as I had that thought, Suzuki came back .

“Wait, Lana-san! This donkey is not food! Treat this Centaur like a horse . Please escort it to the stables . ”

“Master, welcome back . Understood, I will treat it as a horse . ”

The girl called Lana led Centaur to the stables with a bright smile .

“Suzuki, who was that?”

“Sorry, it’s been a long time so I forgot about Lana-san’s personality . She’s the caretaker for this house but, how do I put it, she’s an instruction manual person . Because everything she does has to follow the manual, sometimes she causes weird problems . ”

I see ─ ─ in her manual, there were no instructions for when a donkey visits so she recognized Centaur as a food ingredient souvenir and wanted to prepare it for dinner . When there is fresh meat souvenir and guests, serve the meat during dinner ─ ─ the manual probably stated something like that .

“I’ll have to add into the manual that if guests bring a donkey along, bring it to the stables . ”

Suzuki sighed .

I’m pretty sure the manual was considerably thick by now .

“Can’t you just state in the manual to contact a supervisor if emergencies outside the manual occur?”

“In a world with no mobile phones, contacting me is not that easy . Furthermore, wouldn’t it be troublesome to be contacted when firm tofu is sold out and if silken tofu can be used instead?”

“That would certainly be a ha.s.sle . ”

I smiled wryly and thought to myself – so this town sells tofu .

We changed into slippers and were led into Suzuki’s home .

“This is a beautiful hallway . It looks just like a mirror . ”

“So the hallway has nightingale flooring that makes noise when people walk across it?”

“It doesn’t have such a feature . With Shin.o.bi and a.s.sa.s.sin skills, they won’t make a sound even when walking on nightingale flooring . ”

“I guess you’re right ─ ─ I can walk silently with Silent Room too . ”

After walking through the hallway, we reached a garden planted with pine trees . There was a pond in the garden and it appears that the sound of water-filled bamboo tubes serenely tapping against stone was coming from here .

“What a beautiful garden . ”

“Yeah, Lana did a really good job . She’s adept at this kind of precise work . And her cooking is amazing too . She’s especially good at making sweets . ”

Ah, she did seem like the kind to cook while following the recipe exactly .

She wouldn’t try to change the recipe in a strange way and fail .

“Elize, did you know? The Showa Street home gardens are called dry landscape gardens . ”

“Dry landscape gardens? What does that mean?”

“It means a garden with no water . They represent water with other features in the garden . ”

“I see! Eh? But Jofre, there’s water there . ”

“What! Umu ─ ─ right, that is a hot bath guise as water!”

“Using hot bath to represent water? Dry landscape garden is amazing . Then that is an open-air bath . ”

“Right, an open-air bath! So this is that j.a.pan wabi-sabi thing . ”

That Jofre and Elize, they probably heard that from Daijiro-san but they were having a great misunderstanding because of their incomplete j.a.pan knowledge .

Haru seemed to be convinced as she stood next to them . I’ll have to correct her properly later .

And then, we were led to the j.a.panese-style room .

Although it was a j.a.panese-style room, a sofa was prepared instead of cushions or chairs .

“I placed a sofa in the reception room . I can’t force the people of this world to seiza after all . ”

“That’s thoughtful of you . ”

I replied and sat on the sofa .

Lana brought Centaur to the stables so Suzuki prepared his own tea .

Incidentally, Jofre and Elize left to look around the mansion after drinking their tea .

They mentioned when Suzuki was not around that they wanted to find hidden doors and empty s.p.a.ces in the ceilings .

Did they mistake this for a shin.o.bi mansion?

“By the way, Suzuki . As a Magic Investigation Lab Member, you’re able to use Hair Examination, right?”

“Yup . What about it? I can help you study if you are interested . ”

“No – – ah, hmm . I am a little interested . It would help if I could borrow some materials to look at . ”

“Of course it’s fine . Wait a minute . ”

Suzuki replied and left to grab a book .

It seemed to be going well as planned .

“This is it . ”

“ – – That’s a huge number . ”

There were 50 textbooks .

There were 7 textbooks just on Hair Examination alone .

“Well, it’s because there’s a lot of information . ”

“Let me seem, here’s the list of results . ”

I opened the book and examined the section that I was interested in from the beginning .

That was the Risk Factor value . (TL: Danger level -> Risk Factor)

My Risk Factor value was 【Risk Factor: 0・3・4・0】

What did it mean?

Let me see – – The values for the risk factor are related to the four types of abnormal state resistance?

Danger level 0 meant the lowest resistance while 5 meant high resistance .

Incidentally, the four types were 【Confusion・Paralysis・Poison・Charm】 .

So I had completely no resistance toward mental attacks while I had high resistance to poison .

It’s great that it doesn’t mean risk factors for diseases or such .

Next, I opened my note and investigated the recorded values for Miri’s 【Desire】 .

The result for Miri’s 【Desire】was – –

“ … Ah, Kusunoki-kun . The Desire field is basically ‘Complex’ in English – – in other words . ”

“Yeah, I know even if you don’t say it . ”

But looking at the results, I was beginning to doubt if that hair was actually Miri’s hair .

After all, the desire value had this explanation to it .

【52: Brother complex】

No no, there’s no way Miri is a Bro-con .

Well, Miri’s name was listed in the Home Return spell too but – – no no no .

As I was seriously having a headache, Suzuki looked at the note and the color suddenly left his face .

“Kusunoki-kun! The results on that note, did you actually appraise somebody’s hair!?”

“Hn? Ah – – well, I thought it would help give a clue to where Miri was . But it can’t be used at all . ”

“Do you know who gave this result?”

“This result? Ah, it was quite strange . ”

Suzuki was interested in the 【Hair Lifespan: 0】 field .

Well, it was certainly a memorable entry .

“It’s not just strange . This is very dangerous . ”

“It’s dangerous but these kinds of things can’t be helped . ”

“No, we still can make it . We must investigate who this belongs to . ”

Hn? I can’t imagine this other world having hair tonics though?

Suzuki said with a serious expression .

“Curse value 42 … we must dispel it before the frenzy curse is activated . ” (TL: The hair with Curse: 42 is the same strand of hair as the Hair Lifespan: 0 hair