Translated by: Rinkage
Edited by: The Blacksmith

Special thanks to Blacksmith for rushing this chapter in time for today.

Chapter 45 – The smell of platinum blonde on New Year"s

The next day, I woke up earlier than normal. That said, it was only 6am… Since I used to be a NEET, there was no need for me to wake up early the last time. After giving my parents the New Year"s greetings, I went back through the mirror to the other world.
Both Diana and Marina had already woken up in the mansion. Marina was drawing water from the well, and transferred it to the jug in the kitchen with a seemingly good mood. She appeared to be quite a hard worker, working so early in the morning.

When she noticed me, she gave me a morning greeting with her best smile. It would seem that she woke up in a splendid mood on the first day of the new year….

Diana, on the other hand, had indeed woken up. However, she was still in the bedroom, looking groggy as she laid in bed. Her hair was surprisingly neat for someone who had just gotten up, making her overall appearance still look elegant.

…N-No. I shouldn"t! No matter what, she"s still a princess!

“Morning Diana. Did you sleep well last night?” [Jirou]

The moment I called out to her, she trembled, looking shocked, as if she had not noticed my presence until now. She was probably half-asleep earlier. Well, it was true that I didn"t knock before entering just now.
A faint blush seemed to sweep across her face. (It was hard to tell due to the tattoo)

“Ah….Goshujin-sama. Good morning….I-I just got up a little while ago.” [Diana]

“Then you must have slept well. Did you share the same bed with Marina in the end?” [Jirou]

“Yes. I had a hard time persuading Marina though. She was pretty insistent in trying to sleep on the floor.” [Diana]

I did instruct them to sleep together, but as expected she was still adamant about it.
If she does not get accustomed to it soon, it would be hard to execute the "super-play" plan of having their master joining in as well in future. No, I just thought of that plan last night. I mean, I"m fine with handling them one by one, but how should I put it….it wouldn"t seem fair?
As I thought, if you are a man, then you should aim for “Elves Donburi” instead.

When I asked her how she managed to persuade Marina…”I"m also a slave the same as you. So you don"t need to feel reserved.”

That was what I thought, but….

“I had first told her that she didn"t need to feel reserved, since we"re both slaves, but she was still quite stubborn about it. So I tried changing the strategy a bit, and told her, ?Then this bed would be exclusively for Goshujin-sama and me only. We will prepare another room for Marina.? As soon as I said that, she obediently replied, ?I-I changed my mind. I will sleep with Hime.? Hmph, she became so docile, all of a sudden, even though she was so tense when she was asked to sleep with Goshujin-sama in the inn the last time.” [Diana]

“I was also really nervous though…. Rather, aren"t you the one who was being too direct?” That was what I thought, though I didn"t say it out loud.

Well, anyway, are you two getting along? They did sleep together, so let"s have them deepen their friendship like this for a while.

While she was having the conversation with me, Diana was slowly combing her waist-length platinum-blonde hair.

In the olden days….or rather, even now, women"s hair can be sold for money depending on the region.

There wouldn"t be much profit in selling black hair, seeing that it is a common colour for j.a.panese, but there would certainly be demands for Diana"s long beautiful hair.
They could be made into wigs, or hair extensions. Even if I were to disregard those, there are still other usages that would make it worth it.
Marina"s purple hair is also pretty, in my opinion, but it is still incomparable to Diana"s waist-length hair.

Her platinum-blonde hair appeared to be as delicate as silk. Whenever the light shone in through the window to hit her hair, it made her hair shine brilliantly, and despite that, they still looked soft and glossy. Under different conditions of lighting, the colours occasionally appeared to be in a smooth gradation of gold, ivory, and flaxen coloured.

To be honest, blonde hair was a rare sight, and even if there were people with blonde hair, the colours usually looked bleached or dyed. Hence, Diana"s beautiful hair is absolutely one of a kind.
Her hair might fetch a good price if I were to sell them in this world, or sell them as real hair for the wigs of dolls in j.a.pan.

While I was thinking of such things, I was still staring blankly at Diana. This made her throw glances here several times, and she spoke up apologetically in the end.

“E-Erm, Goshujin-sama, if you were to stare at me so intently when I"m in this state….don"t you think it might be embarra.s.sing? Though, I know that it"s not my place as a slave to say something like this.” [Diana]

“Ah sorry. I ended up getting fascinated when I watched you.” [Jirou]

“Eh?” [Diana]

When I expressed my thoughts honestly, Diana seemed surprised at my unexpected answer.
Although, I never knew that she would also feel embarra.s.sed when she was seen in that state, just like a normal girl. I had always thought that she was someone who remained imperturbable….
If you are reading this on a place other than rinkagetranslation.com, this chapter has been stolen and is neither the most recent or complete chapter.
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??*? ?? ????*? ??(?•?•)??*? ?? ????*? ?? Merry Christmas from RinkageTranslation~
This is a sudden digression, but my mother is someone who tends to make a huge portion of food when she cooks.
There was one time when she made enough curry to last 2 to 3 days. It was also a common occurrence for the miso soup made in the morning to last till dinner. We siblings are not fat, but this is relatively the amount of food that we consume, so it might be something that became natural for us.

Therefore, it was natural that there was also a big quant.i.ty of zoni made in the kitchen, making it easier for me to ‘steal" some, and then sneak it back to the other world. Both Diana and Marina are also new to this food, so I"ll just hand them a portion of mochi each for now. I had baked the mochi using an oven toaster in advance before transferring them to the pot of zoni.

They seemed to have no problem with the soba last night, but I wonder what their response to mochi would be.

“This is what we call, mochi. It is made by pounding glutinous rice into paste. They don"t exist in this world….I think. Well, anyways, just try eating it!” [Jirou]

Thus I proceeded to introduce zoni, a food that they have no knowledge of, to them. At first, they were wary of the strange, soft, and sticky object, but they decided to give it a try eventually.

It was the same as what happened previously with the Christmas cake. At such times, Diana would casually make Marina a guinea pig, as if she was letting her be the one to taste the food for any poison first before trying it herself, which was quite cunning of her.
Well, she might not have any ill intention, as it was probably a unique personality that only a princess has. So it didn"t really matter.
??*? ?? ????*? ??(?•?•)??*? ?? ????*? ?? Merry Christmas from RinkageTranslation~
“Hafu! Hafu! It has an unusual texture. It"s chewy, sticky and tasty!” [Marina]

“Hahaha. You"ll choke if you eat them too fast.” [Jirou]

Seeing that Marina was happily scarfing down the food, Diana timidly lifted the mochi to her mouth.

“Ah, this….resembles mukkufu. But unlike mukkufu, it doesn"t have a dry texture. It"s tasty…” [Diana]

Diana seemed to like it too.
I"m glad that my zoni with light soy sauce as base suits their taste. It seemed that there is a food that is similar to mochi, called mukkufu in this world. As I thought, the food culture here is still developing.
Well, I would very much welcome it since it would provide me the opportunity to taste many different cuisines.
I didn"t really have the intention to be rich by going into the food business anyway.

“Well then…now that we"re full, I have something that I"d like to let you both know. Today is actually the New Year in my world. In short, it"s the beginning of the year.” [Jirou]

“Oooo, is it such an important day? Marina doesn"t know anything about it at all. I"m such a failure as a slave…” [Marina]

“You could"ve at least mentioned it before….” [Diana]

The two of them seemed to be really concerned about it, more so than I had expected. I wonder if New Year"s is an important event in this world. As for me, it was merely a day whereby I would enjoy zoni and visit the shrine when I am free. It wasn"t really a big deal to me.

“How do I put it. The feeling is slightly different than this world. A New Year is just like another day for me to relax. It wasn"t a day where I would do anything special, so you don"t need to worry about it. So, even when we celebrate New Year"s in this world, I would like to follow the style here properly… Wait, would it be confusing if I kept referring two different place with "here" or "there". What"s the name of this world?” [Jirou]

Come to think of it, I didn"t know the name. I wasn"t sure if it has the same concept as the stars, but this world should have a name somehow.

“What is ‘werld"? This is a territory within Hanoku Empire.” [Marina]

“Marina, that"s just the name of the current province which has claimed ownership of this land…” [Diana]

Marina had answered it wrongly while Diana cut into the conversation.

“Heh, so Diana knows it?” [Jirou]

“Emethpalette. That"s the name of this world, Goshujin-sama.” [Diana]

Diana answered it clearly with a smug look on her face.
Let"s try probing into it a bit.

“Is Emethpalette the name of this planet?” [Jirou]

“? ‘Pranet"?” [Diana]

“No, nevermind.” [Jirou]

The concept of planets doesn"t seem to exist here. They might have believed that the world is flat with water flowing over its edge, and it is being supported by a huge turtle from below.

Well, in any case, with this, I could stop referring to the two places as just "here" and "there".

“Alright. So from now on, I"ll call this world, Emethpalette. The other side would be j.a.pan. Remember them….Do you get it, Marina?” [Jirou]

“I fully comprehend it! ….By the way, what"s ‘werld"?” [Marina]

In the end, I still had to elucidate it again.

After that, I started explaining to them about our livelihood, and the objective of our activities to them from now on.

I relayed to them about the matter concerning my intention to employ a maid from the nearby village so she could manage this mansion. Although, even if I did hire a maid, it would be impossible for me to handle everything myself, so I had planned to make Marina and Diana help out as well. Since they should each have their own strong and weak points, I planned to have them try out various different things.

I also told them that I was planning to make them my escort when I run the business. If I were to give this a thought, Marina"s halberd might be slightly bulky. So it would actually be quite eye-catching of she was carrying something like that around the city.

Since a horse market will run in several days time, we could get Hetty-san to purchase the horses for us then. Even though she did promise us three horses last time, it was in reality hard to believe that I would be able to possess my own horses. In fact, I had yet to brush up on my horse riding skills; to be more precise, I had not practiced it at all. Hence, if I do not train myself further, it would be a waste of such great treasures.

Selling the goods bought from Emethpalette in j.a.pan, and selling the goods bought from j.a.pan in Emethpalette, is the basic way of how I operate my business.
I am still coming up with plans on the ways to sell the items here.
It wouldn"t be a bad idea to sell them at the flea market, but that is not an everyday solution. Thus, it would be more logical to open up a shop here so I have a permanent shop to sell the goods daily.
However, there is still the matter pertaining to the types of business that I should operate. I could either open up a small shop, or I could also quit the idea of retail business entirely and go for wholesale. While running a wholesale store might be easier, but if by chance, the scale of the business does grow, the number of enemies would increase too. Thus I would basically like to make it a business that is run only by ourselves.

Moving on, the battle training given by Sh.e.l.lo-san will be continued whenever we have the time. I didn"t have sufficient training on horseback riding as well, so I would need to go through that, too.

—–But well, seeing that it was New Year"s Eve today, let"s have fun in the city! After suggesting that, we headed into the city.

I went out with only my bag. Since I had bought a sword, I wanted to carry it around at my waist, but I had not prepared a sheath yet. As expected, I couldn"t just carry it around like that…
Diana had obviously gone out empty-handed as well, but Marina had tentatively brought the halberd with her since, basically, she is our guard.

After making our way there in a moderate pace, we arrived at the city after about an hour. I handed over the items prepared to the two of them.

“Here they are. Your "otoshidama". [Jirou]

Both of them looked equally puzzled, as they did not know what those were.

I had even properly prepared them in ‘pochi bukuro", and inserted 1 silver coin each inside them. It might not seem much but the worth of just a single silver coin would be more than 10,000 yen.

“In j.a.pan, there is a custom whereby the superiors would gift their subordinates "otoshidama" on the first day of the new year. You can use that and have fun as you like today. We"ll be getting busy tomorrow, so you should relax while you can.” [Jirou]

That said, the idea of giving them "otoshidama" had crossed my mind only a few days ago. On hearing what I had said, they exchanged looks.

…..Eh? Their reactions didn"t seem to be favourable again for some reason.

Diana appeared to be simply surprised as if she had not expected it, but it seemed to be a different case for Marina.

She slowly took out the content of the envelope and finally understood what I had said when the silver coin rolled out. She was shocked, then smiled, and looked as if she was going to cry; different emotions could be seen displayed on her face. In the end, tears streamed down her cheeks.

“Ah, my liege. M-Marina has not done any work to deserve this much yet. Besides, Marina"s job is to stay by my liege"s side, and to protect my liege… Since you"ve asked us to do as we like…T-then, Marina would like to stay by my liege"s side.” [Marina]

Marina had just said something that sounded like a confession. What"s up with her all of a sudden… You"re making me blush here!

“I-Is that so…? Then let"s take walk together around here. How about that, Marina?” [Jirou]

“I-Is that alright?…..I"m glad.” [Marina]

A faint blush rose on her cheek as she smiled.
It was probably something that was said out of loyalty, but any man would easily misunderstand it if they heard that. Marina…she"s one frightening child…

Diana had only been observing my interaction with Marina since a while ago. However she eventually said, “I"ll lend you Goshujin-sama only for today…since it"s a special day.”

Then she snubbed us and walked away.

A special day? Was it because it was New Year"s? It was really hard to understand what Diana was thinking of.

1. “Elves Donburi” is probably a word invented by the author, that derived from the word “Oyako Donburi”.
Oyako Donburi is the name of a traditional j.a.panese dish, but it can also be used very figuratively in a negative way.
The “Oyako” in “Oyakodon” means “parent and child”, which refers to the fact that you have both chicken (Oya) and egg (Ko) in your dish. Figuratively, it refers to a situation where a man had slept with both a mother and her daughter; (or it could also mean incest between mother and son, or father and daughter now). In this story, it could mean that Jirou would rather have both elves at the same time. (3P with the elves)
2. …..This guy is dangerous. He"s thinking of selling someone"s hair when he watches the person combing her hair.
3. Zoni is a j.a.panese soup containing mochi rice cakes. More about it .
4. To refresh your memories. Otoshidama (???) = New Year"s Gift. One of the j.a.panese traditions where the adults in the family give money to the children.
5. = Special envelopes used to present monetary gift or tip.
6. Abandon ship!

Editor"s note
ed1. elucidate = to make(something) clear; explain

Merry Christmas~

*dogeza* Blacksmith-sama actually wanted to edit more Netooku or Yuusha Party chapters as gifts for all of you readers, but I wasn"t able to translate them in time for him. m(_ _)m