Winter in the year 1877 of the Queen’s reign.
Fairy Kingdom, Oxford.
A gourmet city in the Fairy Kingdom, centered on the enormous restaurant run by Woodworth, the current chieftain of the Fang clan, with eateries scattered everywhere.
From cheap, tasty back-alley food to the lavish dishes served in glittering, elegant restaurants. The structure of this city, designed by Woodworth for the reformation of the Fang clan, is extremely developed in one area only: the restaurant business.
"...That’s what the brief description said, anyway. And sure enough, it really is like that."
The sight of Oxford before me felt similar to Gloucester, yet somehow different.
If Gloucester had the atmosphere of a place where the upper class gathered around luxury casinos, auction houses, and the like, then this Oxford was a city-sized dining district.
Every shop in sight was either a restaurant or a store selling cooking equipment, and food stalls lined the streets.
The fragrant smell of food tickling my nose. The sound of oil sizzling in pans. The bustle of the crowd.
Yes, if you judged it by food alone, everything here was great, but...
"Why the hell is there no meat here?!"
Vegetables here, vegetables there! No matter where I looked, there was no meat to be found. At best, there were things using bread or eggs!
Damn it, even if the lord of Oxford was a vegetarian, isn’t this weird? Why is there no meat?
And yet, even without a single meat dish, it was delicious. Incredibly delicious...!!
"What, you ask? Isn’t that obvious, customer? Lord Woodworth’s restaurant has reached the pinnacle of the Fairy Kingdom with vegetable dishes, after all. And Lord Woodworth himself eats vegetarian meals. Who’d be crazy enough to go against that? If it weren’t for that, I’d have been tearing into pork to my heart’s content..."
"I see... so that’s how it is. Then meat dishes are more developed over in Gloucester?"
"That’d be right, wouldn’t it? Here you go, customer."
"Oh, thank you."
I took the hot dog handed to me by a member of the Fang clan and immediately stuffed it into my mouth.
...Mm. It really was good. It was a shame that the only things inside the bun were potatoes and vegetables, but I couldn’t deny that it was tasty.
"If I’m being honest, I’d like to eat something hot and hearty with it too, but..."
Unfortunately, my mors pounds were not in a situation that allowed for such luxuries.
It had been a week since I arrived in Oxford from the river Drakea. I’d tried to save as much money as possible by eating the bread and drinking the water I had packed in my bag, but thinking about the journey ahead made spending any more here feel a little risky.
No, to be precise...
"It’s the last bit of capital I’ve got for doing business. This is all the money I have left."
I took my wallet out from inside my pocket and looked inside. There was quite a thick stack of bills, but this was the precious sum that would decide my future path.
Whether I set up a food stall here in Oxford, or bought iron and rented a place to make cooking equipment, or did anything else at all, this was the final line.
In other words, if I fell even a little short of this money, I’d have to start working part-time in a kitchen right away.
"Well, if I ignore the business side of things, I could spend it all without worrying..."
No, that was an exception from the start.
My goal wasn’t just to stay in Oxford. I was going to travel all around the Fairy Kingdom. If I thought about that, I needed a source of money, stable or unstable.
"Hsss... then..."
Yes. The time for a decision had come. If it worked, I’d make a killing. If it failed, I’d be ruined. Were I prepared? I was. I already had a business idea in mind.
In other words, the time had come for business, and I was about to open for trade...
"I’m sorry! I’ll just borrow this for a second!! I’ll definitely pay it back!!"
"...Huh? Ah? Eh? ...My money?!"
Suddenly, the stack of bills in my hand vanished somewhere, and some blond fairy took off running with it...
...That’s just a thief, isn’t it!!!
"You little shit?! Hey!! Stop right there!!"
Damn it, the difference between fairies and humans was pretty big to begin with. If I didn’t catch him now, I’d lose him...!! My money!!
"Eh?! N-no, I really will give it back!!"
"Like hell you will! That’s my entire net worth!!"
The blond thief hadn’t gotten far. Run with everything you’ve got, damn it, me...!! If I lose him, I’m screwed....!!!!
But as expected, a fairy was still a fairy. His slightly youthful appearance was not to be trusted, and he quickly began widening the distance I’d closed. No, no. Like hell I’m letting you get away...!! My lifeline...!!!
"No, really, please believe me! I can give it back! I can, I swear!!"
"Who in their right mind would believe that?!"
The blond one ducked into a back alley where other people would have a hard time following, and his speed dropped. He’d managed to get in there, but it didn’t seem like he was very familiar with the route either...! But this path was insanely complicated!
...Come to think of it, what the hell is a pickpocket doing if he doesn’t even know the streets?
*
"Hah... hah... This is definitely the right way...! Why is it so rough...? But if I get past this...!!"
"Damn... huff... you’re a pickpocket... and you don’t even know the streets properly?!"
"Kyaaa!! Why are you chasing me so well?!"
"You think I’d let you get away?!"
After wandering and weaving through the back alleys, damn it. Because the route was so bizarre and so rough, both I and the other guy were on the verge of running out of stamina.
No, seriously, Mors was lost in a back alley and collapsing, apparently. That Mors?
"Anywaaaay!!"
I grabbed the pickpocket’s shoulder just as he tried to leap over a stack of crates. It had been long. A damnably long journey...!!
"W-wait, if you grab me like that, I’ll lose my balance...?!"
"...Huh?"
Before either of us could finish speaking, the stacked wooden crates began to sway dangerously. Faster than either of us could react, they came crashing down,
Crash!!
"Geh?!"
"Kuh?!"
The two of us, thrown from the crates, ended up rolling together across the stone pavement.
"Ugh, damn it, what the hell was that...!!"
"Haa... haa... Thank goodness... I’m not late...!"
I shook my slightly dazed head a few times and got up, then looked to the side. The pickpocket who had fallen with me was staring blankly ahead and muttering something.
What the hell was in front of him that had him acting like tha...
"Now then!! Citizens of the Fairy Kingdom!!! Residents of Oxford!!! This is your last chance, your very last chance!!! With just fifty of these Hyper-Flip Boards, you too can start at Silver rank!!!"
"That’s not all!! Behold! Our proud Diamond members!! If you sell just one hundred Ultra-Cutting Boards like this, you too can become a proper high-ranking fairy!!!"
.............................What the hell.
"That’s just a scam...!! Why is a pyramid scheme here?!"
"Y-yes?! This is a pyramid scheme?!"
Damn it, now I could see it clearly...!! The ones stirring up the crowd were right over there. I didn’t know there’d be something like this here too, but this pickpocket had fallen for their pitch and stolen my money!
By the way, this is illegal, right? I’m sure there’s some kind of regulation on this, so that’s why they’re doing it deep in a back alley like this!!!
"Ahem!! A pyramid scheme, you say! We are nothing like such a lowly thing!!"
"We are a Hyper-Cooking Network Service! You don’t understand our grand big picture! In that case, we’ll need our instructors to give you a proper lecture!!"
...Uh, wait. This atmosphere is kind of...
"We’re definitely not trying to silence you because it would be a problem if we got exposed!"
"Rest assured! No harm will come to you!! Instructors! Please escort those two to the lecture room!"
When one of the two con artists finished speaking and clapped, several fairies standing behind him approached. Fang clan, wing clan, and even some I didn’t recognize at all...!!
"Damn it! Hey, run!!"
"Huh?! Y-yes!!"
In other words, we ran like hell...!! And took that crazy pickpocket with us too! Damn it, if he hadn’t stolen my money, I might have hesitated a little! But even in that situation, he’d been holding on to it tight!
The way in was a back alley turned into a disaster by collapsed crates...!! At the very least, that pickpocket should know the way out!! That said, the fact that he seemed to know it too made me a little uneasy, but there was nothing for it...!!
"Catch them!! Don’t let them reach the main street! We can’t let them get away!!"
"Stop!! If you stop now, I’ll let you off with buying one hundred Ultra-Cutting Boards!!!"
"Like hell we would stop?!"
Damn it, how did this end up happening...?
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