Chapter 568 Royal Capital Market Place – Fruit Shopping Spree

After we were done with the unexpectedly delicious skewered meat stall, our group left Maria Square.

The Gluttonous Quartet consisting of Fer, Sui, Dora-chan and Grandpa Gon were still saying things like ‘We’re still hungry’ and ‘More food’. However, since we have already made a big impact here, I made a split-second decision and said, “Let’s go to the marketplace.”

“Do they have stalls there?” asked Grandpa Gon.

“Umu, some do,” said Fer knowledgeably.

“”Ou! They have fewer stalls but the food tends to be better!””

“”Market~ market~~””

Thus, the consensus was ‘Let us go to the market~~’

My secret intention was to go fruit shopping at the market, so this works out well for me~

I heard from Royal Capital cooks and stall owners that the Royal Capital Marketplace was an incredible place. Their exact words were ‘You can find anything there…’

Which was quite an incredible claim.

[1] We smelled the place first.

[1] It was the incredible smell of cooking food that drew us all in. 

“Oho, this place is incredible!” said Grandpa Gon.

“Umumu, that one! Let’s go to that stall first!”

““Everything smells great! I want to try that one!!””

Sui was vibrating so much that she could barely send out telepathic messages, “”…m..meat~””

“Hold it!”

I quickly stepped in front of the Gluttonous Quartet who looked like they wanted to charge forward to the stalls.

“Mu, why are you stopping us?” Fer grumbled at me.

In fact, the rest of my familiars were all looking a little grumpy.

“What do you mean ‘why’? Even before going, to Maria Square, you guys were already eating.”

“That’s not enough, Master,” said Grandpa Gon.

“Right, right,” Fer, Sui and Dora-chan chimed up.

“Enough! You’ve already eaten enough! It’s my turn now and I want to go shopping! Shopping! If you still want to go to the stalls after that, we’ll go!”

I glared at them fiercely. That’s right, I can’t let these Gluttonous Four intimidate me. I can just see them dragging me through different stalls and eating and eating until I can’t do any of the shopping I wanted.

“U-umu…”

“V-very well,”

“”Oh… um…””

“”Aruji~ scary~””

Sui, why do you say that?

I strolled through the marketplace, looking through their various products, when something caught my eye.

“Th-this is-!”

It was twice the size of the thing I was familiar with. A brown oval fruit covered in fuzzy hair.

“A kiwi!”

“Oh, this brother knows it well. That’s a Gold Kiwi from one of that small group of small countries…”

A Gold Kiwi…

It exuded a faintly sweet scent. I wonder… is this one of those rare yellow-fleshed kiwi? I like yellow kiwis because they are sweeter than regular green kiwis.

While I could buy fruits from [Net Super], I was reluctant to feed Fer and the others fruits that may negatively affect them, or worse, have overly positive effects that would make them super strong. That’s why I would rather buy local fruits as much as possible.

Apart from that, there was an issue of fruits or vegetables not tasting like the ones from back earth, which could cause an issue if someone starts to notice.

“Sir, we have another type of kiwi. This is the Green Kiwi, as the name suggested, the flesh is green and tastes a little sour but refres.h.i.+ng. Although both are a little expensive, both are delicious!”

That seems to match up with the kiwis I know.

“So, these aren’t cultivated, right?”

“Indeed! These are collected by Adventurers. I heard that most low-rank Adventurers go for these types of gathering jobs, so all things considered, it’s not that expensive.”

“I see…” I wonder if, like meat, fruits are something that’s ‘gathered’ rather than ‘cultivated’.

I guess that’s due to the unique influence of the ‘magic’ element in this world.

Thus far, the fruits collected by everyone in the dungeons were more delicious than anything that could be bought from [Net Super].

I wonder, just how delicious this kiwi could be?

“I’ll take both types, please.”

“Thank you for your purchase! May I know how many you would like?”

“Hmm, I’d like to take everything you have, but I guess it would be bad if you ran out of stock…”

“Eh? You want everything?!”

“Only if you’re alright with it,” I said slightly apologetically.

“Truly! No way, I’d be happy if you could buy them! Ahh, it’s nice to see some rare things now and then, but if I can’t sell them, I’d be in trouble. The wife just scolded me, saying ‘why did you buy these things if you can’t sell them!!’ So, I’d be very happy if you could take them off my hands~”

Ah, the man looked a little shamefaced as he said this. He must have been badly scolded by his wife. Well, considering that one Green Kiwi costs 1 silver and 7 copper coins, while a Gold Kiwi costs 2 silver coins each, most ordinary people won’t be able to afford even one of them.

However, I can buy them~

A total of 29 Green Kiwis and 30 Gold Kiwis came up to 10 gold and 9 silver coins. Ah, he rounded down the copper coins for me.

“Thank you for the business~”

The seller was beaming widely and so was I. It was definitely a win-win relations.h.i.+p. I left the store in a good mood when a disgruntled voice said, “Oi, is it over yet?”

“My dear Fer~ it’s definitely not over yet~ I have only bought some fruit, so far~~”

“You’ve already spent a lot of money.”

“What are you saying, Grandpa Gon~? I’ve only bought Apur, Orangue and some Kiwis~~”

The Apur was a fairly sour type of fruit. Not the best fruit for plain eating, but it could be delicious when made into apple pie or jam. I found some people with sacks of them for sale and bought the lot. Then, there’s the Orangue, which was similar to the Minneola Orange with its unusually bright reddish orange colour.

Naturally, I bought these in bulk as well.

“”I think that’s plenty enough,”” Dora-chan muttered.

I flashed that little dragon a glare. “What was that? Enough? When was the last time you’ve seen these fruits in such quality?! And these Kiwis! I’m sure there are more rare and incredible fruits just waiting to be bought, there’s no way I’m going to stop now!”

““Aruji…””

Sui, who was riding on Fer’s back, flattened herself and moaned unhappily.

Goodness, are you getting tired Sui?

I reached into my [Item Box] and withdrew one of the Gold Kiwis. Hmm, I think Sui could just dissolve the skin, right? I also have friends that would eat kiwis like apples, skin and all.

“Here, Sui. Try one of these. The uncle I bought them from said that it’s really sweet and delicious.”

Sui reached out with a tentacle and began to dissolve it. After it was gone, she started to vibrate.

Brrrrr!!!

““It’s sweet~~””

“Right~? I’m looking for more delicious fruits like this, don’t you want to eat them, Sui?”

“”Sui wants to eat them~~””

“Right? Right? Then, let us continue~! Hohoho~!”

With that, I happily marched forward. Eventually, I found myself looking at a section of the shop where everything was a lot neater and brighter. Even the boxes containing the fruits looked fancier. I think I found the area where the more expensive fruits are sold.

My feet stepped forward as though I was mesmerised.

“Welcome~!”

The person who greeted me was a slim and neat person. He also looked a little nervous as he stared past me at my familiars.

“This… could this possibly be a… mango?”

I could not take my eyes off the red oval-shaped fruits that gave off a sweet, almost dizzyingly intoxicating scent.

They were about twice as large as a normal mango, but, these are still mangoes, right?

“Sir is really knowledgeable. These are fruits that could only be found at a small country and a part of the Geisler Empire. These are valuable fruits collected by B Rank Adventurers. They are some of the best tasting fruits in the world.

Yes, yes, I understand.

Mango is delicious.

“You will be immediately charmed by this fruit from the first bite. The mellow sweetness, the rich mouthfeel…”

Gulp.

“So, how much does it cost…?”

“It’s 7 gold each.”

Goodness…

That’s…

Well, if these fruits were gathered by B Rank Adventurers, it’s no wonder that it’s so expensive. Cost of paying the Adventurers aside, we must consider transportation fees to send these fruits back quickly so that they can be sold at their peak.

It’s not something that’s easily available.

But…

I really want to eat it!

“So, um, how many do you have right now?”

“We have 10 in stock beside this one.”

So, that would be 77 gold for 11 mangoes.

Ahhh, it can’t be help! It’s a necessary expense!

“C-could I take them all?”

The shop owner’s eyes widened for a moment. However, in the spirit of a great professional, he smiled gently and said, “But, of course!”

While the employees were packing up the mangoes for me, something else caught my eye.

“Is that a Lychee?”

“Sir has an excellent eye. Indeed, that is the Lychee that could only be found in the Northern part of the Kingdom of Khra.s.sen. A fresh and refres.h.i.+ng tasting fruit that is said to be a great favourite of the Empress.”

Fresh and refres.h.i.+ng…

The size of a single fruit was just a little smaller than my fist…

“H-how much for one?”

“1 gold and 3 silver coins.”

Expensive!

But I want to eat it.

Ugh.

I ended up buying all of their stock. 32 pieces for 41 gold coins. At least they discounted the silver coins for me.

“Thank you very much for the purchase. We look forward to seeing you again.”

He was beaming from ear to ear.

Well, I did spend over 100 gold at this store alone.

To think that I’d spend so much money on just fruits…

But it’s worth it!

I have no regrets!

Really!

[Gumihou: Really?]

[1] Adjust the detail of the description of the market

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