Meikyuu Toshi no Antique Shop

Michelangelo tried to take the napkin off his neck and dropped it on the floor.

He looked panicked, bending under the table...

He doesn't show up as he is for some reason.

"Here."

Voice from behind.

My neck tightened.

Soon Michelangelo, who was coming around right behind me, was poking at the tip of the fork he was using in his meal.

……

Absolute sentence.

It just disappeared a little out of sight. It didn't look like I dived under the round table and moved.

Shortly after Soara pulls herself out and tries to avoid it, she gets a foot payment.

The vision is inverted.

I get up as I roll over and take a passive, holding it that was falling on the floor with my hands on it.

It's a dirty table knife.

"Omae was a seeker who was denied boarding at the station carriage. Ah?

Michelangelo stretches his arm straight as if dealing with a fine sword, and sets up a sharp poke with a fork.

Soara dares to take that blow at the tip of the table knife.

The tip of the knife hit the valley of the fork, rubbing, chiseling and making an unpleasant metal noise.

"What's wrong with that!

Soara tried to shake off the fork and threw it away.

Swordsmanship doesn't mean I'm going to lose.

Michelangelo releases more poking.

Soara judged accurately with a knife as she identified its orbit.

I was going to bounce him back again and again.

But...

Michelangelo's arms gradually speed up that movement as if he didn't know the limits, as he showed a stretchy, spontaneous snake-like movement.

"Besides, open the door... they said no to the inn in this tavern?

That's what Michelangelo asks with a disgusting laugh. He also witnessed an earlier interaction with the store owner at the counter.

Soara felt a sweat seep through her forehead.

The continuous thrust of the fork, which gradually becomes less and less judgmental, still hits the table knife without plundering Soara herself. Soara found Michelangelo intentionally designed it that way.

And finally, I can't take it. The table knife bounces off Soara's hand. It flies.

"... Shit"

Soara was ready to get hurt and tried to grab it in her hand with Michelangelo's fork.

"Foolishness."

But they turn away lightly and take their own arms instead.

He rolled up his sleeve for some reason while his arm was twisted up. I knew the cat tribe (Kitkania) was good at physical abilities, but I couldn't get my hands or feet out.

"By the way, we could have ridden the carriage and stayed here full. Ah."

When I looked up, there was Michelangelo's derisive expression there.

I get angry with you two.

I didn't say anything. What the hell difference does this cat tribe (Kitkania) guy make with the Soaras?

I wondered how unfair the world is.

And open your mouth as if Michelangelo had read this one's mind.

"What do you think this difference is?

……

Only for a moment, seriously consider the difference between this seemingly ill-personalized cat tribe (Kitkania) man.

Then I stopped being stupid.

Gender. Age. The clothes you're wearing. race. We do not know in what respects you and your store owner distinguished you. I wonder what it would be like to just know that.

"Do you have meatballs or not..."

On Soara's twisted arm, force is applied.

I heard the noise lifting the smudges. No matter how you resist, you're unlikely to get out.

"'Strength' is different between us and Omae."

"Geez."

Lynne makes a small scream.

Michelangelo tailed her as she tried to sneak a wand behind her back. Point the table knife exactly where she is, flipped over without even looking back.

I didn't restrain myself two to one, it was like I wasn't dealing with him.

"The public judges people only by their appearance. Age, gender, origin, race, appearance, good or bad, that determines attitude."

Michelangelo squeaks his jaw to point around him.

The other guests continue their meals and conversations disguised as indifferent. I'm not sure if you see it as worthless to help the Soaras that are being intercepted, or if you decide you shouldn't go against Michelangelo. But it also seemed that the sight represented his words.

"But in this labyrinth city, strength is above all appreciated."

"... Gu"

Mishi, Mishi, Mishi. My arm bends to its limit and squeezes.

With just a little more force, your shoulders will come off or your bones will break.

If that happens, I won't be able to wave my sword for a while, and I won't be able to go to the dungeon with Lynne.

Failed. I acted without thinking, and Soara thought now.

I have to apologize to Lynne later.

Then close your eyes, eat up your teeth, and endure the severe pain you will be visiting.

……

But no matter how long I waited at that time, I didn't visit.

On the contrary, my arms get lighter.

When I opened my eyes wondering what was going on, Michelangelo was there. He lay on his mid back and stared at this one with sharp eyes.

◆

……

I wonder what kind of blow it is.

I wasn't sure, but it didn't look like Michelangelo was going to do any more harm.

Instead, he wraps around the sleeves of his clothes and shows me the inside of his forearm.

"Look closely."

……

I couldn't read what Michelangelo was thinking.

Soara leans in as she is told and looks at his arms.

I could see that that skin, covered in white, thin hairs, had something like a bizarre shaped mole. One is ♣ and one is ♠.

"This is proof of strength."

"... testimony?

"It's like this left stick that my brother got when he cut through the basement fifth floor of the dungeon. It's like the sword on the right over here. I got it when I got over the 10th basement."

I don't know what that mole-like thing is.

But if the story is true, it must be a sign that Michelangelo broke more than ten floors underground in the dungeon.

Soara finally understood why he was terribly strong.

"With this proof to the left, we could have become 'people'."

Soara tilts her neck without knowing what he's talking about.

……

Lynne came over here in horror and sat next to him.

"As a sign of my right, the merchants who have seen my brother with white eyes have become melancholy and annoying in most stores."

It seems that Michelangelo's handling of the merchants changed because he got the proof and the dots.

Speaking of which, I've heard stories about good searchers being treated preferentially by shops, etc. They are very well paid customers and at the same time vendors who buy quality items from dungeons. That's why he's a lossless opponent.

Soara thinks.

Could it be that Michelangelo was able to get in that carriage or stay in the lodge even though it was full because he proved himself to be a good searcher by showing him the proof and the doings?

"... how do you get it?

Soara wanted proof of that.

Because with it, you may not be denied boarding by your master anymore. I can secure a place to stay, and I may not be plucked or made into harm's way in the store. If I didn't have to feel miserable any more, I would have liked to get it.

"You want to know?

Soara nodded. I almost broke my arm the other day, but I completely forgot that.

"All right, I'll lend you that ear."

Michelangelo looks around and then invites him.

The two looked at each other to be invited. And if you're swallowing a single missed sentence...

"GUEEEP!"

What jumped into his ear was the air he had accumulated in his stomach.

I turned back. I tear eyes at the smell of too much. Lynne is turning her eyes and flipping.

"Hmm. Chimi Ra is an explorer? Then I'll cut my own way."

Michelangelo tells him to throw up and then he gets up.

And without going back to the table, he leaves for the counter for some reason.

"It sucks."

"My nose is all over me"

Soara and Lynne whispered evil toward his back.

And at the same time, he was relieved that he was gone without a thing.

◆

A familiar guest - Michelangelo - comes to the counter.

While elbowing the disturbance until earlier, the shopkeeper, who was looking slightly at it, hastily fixed his residence and responded with a rubbing hand.

"Hey, what's up, Michele's husband?"

Michelangelo is a good customer of this store.

Thanks to him, the store owner was able to run the store without any major problems. Because if something goes wrong or you have a troublesome customer, most people stop complaining just by borrowing his name.

He was a well-known explorer in this neighborhood.

He is also a fierce man who has let him tread alone until the fourteenth basement of the dungeon. Not even a skinny body can be restrained, but if it's about the Great Ghost, it can be accomplished without difficulty with just a fine sword, and all the gorots around here can't lift their heads to him.

At this point, Michelangelo was upset inside, wondering if he had complained about something that might have bothered him even though he seemed bored with one of the guests' little daughters.

"Accounts."

They weren't.

"Yeah... is that enough?

What I asked was about the food left on his round table.

More than half of Michelangelo's favorite vanilla-grilled dishes remain untouched again. If it was him normally, he was supposed to flatten the pepper to that extent, but he was going to leave it.

"Kitty cat lost her appetite because she was so loud."

"Really?"

Michelangelo blurts out and says so, but instead he also seemed in a better mood than usual.

"What disrespect did those hungry ghosts do to Michele's husband?" I asked intrigued.

"Nothing. Just a little snooze because they're doing the Seeker for a minute."

"If we can get in the way, why don't we kick him out?

The shopkeeper let him roll his sleeve to get in the mood.

Before I became the head of the tavern, I was a searcher and climbed down to the fourth floor. It's not a big job to get rid of a little girl.

"My husband's probably gonna pay me back."

"Oh, really?"

Apparently, the little girls have quite an arm.

"Might as well be selling you a favor from now on, than that. Ah?

That's what Michelangelo said as he put his hand on his chin and stared at them from a distance to deserve them.

"Well, why not?

"Tiny, but not garbage. If you stretch it, you'll have to step up to that level."

"Hmm..."

The little girls are on the table, waiting to cook with their pungent faces.

The shopkeeper's eyes seemed no different than those of his little girl there, but if this Michelangelo is going to say so, it means a pretty promising talent for the future.

Then I want you to be a good customer.

The store owner decided to quickly figure out how to get in for them while tapping on the Abacus in his head.

"... oh yeah. Husband, if you're going to drink again in your room, you're going to have a nice drink.

"Ainya. I'm not coming back tonight."

"Do you..."

Apparently, he's willing to re-drink it somewhere else.

Then the store owner thought that the empty room for him would not be wasted.

"Yonya."

Receive a few gold coins that Michelangelo has offered.

When he tried to return the change, he said "take it" and decided to say "hey" and nostalgic, as usual.

Few Cat people (Kitkania) did not treat themselves properly as' people 'because their ancestors were cats or because they were a minority. Not only are those who scorn them human, but there are few in Dwarves and Elves as well.

So when it was a run out for Michelangelo, it seemed to be an era of misadventure.

He said that he was dying of hunger on a daily basis because he was not allowed to enter a restaurant without money.

The shopkeeper himself used to feed him the leftover soup he gave on a whim. That's just why he looked like an old cat, but Michelangelo seems to think that saved his life.

"I'll be back."

"Go and come back!

As for my husband, I'm grateful that he did that. I'm sorry, but don't bluff. I was glad that he felt something.

◆

After Soara and the others returned to the table, a plate appeared shortly before her with a salmon vanilla grill on it. It was the owner of the liquor store who brought it, and he said, "It's what the other guests left behind, so you don't need money, so eat it".

Soara tried to say no.

Because we knew that the dish was from Michelangelo. Even though he deserved it, he was badly hit by that bad-looking cat tribe (Kitkania) guy. Because I didn't want to get my hands on what he left behind.

- But.

"Soara, it's delicious, isn't it?" but at some point Lynne is starting to eat.

Guh, my stomach rattled.

Soara meditates her eyes and decides her will.

There is no sin in food.

The dishes lined up in front of me seem to be reheated and hot, with a fragrant aroma.

I didn't use the knife, stabbed it with a fork, and stuck it out of my mind.

In the mouth, the vanilla flavor spreads, and the fatty hot body melts. The first decent meal I've had in a few days was regrettable but very tasty. Accidentally, I thought it would be regrettable again, so much so that I was going to forget all the angry things that had happened.

My vision seeped only slightly as I chewed up the taste mixed with remorse and deliciousness.

Soara wanted to be stronger.

I thought I didn't want to lose anymore.

"Ha-ha-ha... Ha-ha-ha..."

I burned my tongue because I packed it in a hurry.

But I can't stop eating.

Lynne gave me a cup with water gently, grinning as she stifled.

By the time Soara and the others had finished eating, the shopkeeper came and told them, "Why not stay because the room is empty".

I suddenly felt better about it, but I didn't care about that anymore. All they have left is drowsiness for their bellies filled.

Then, after being guided to the upstairs room, he lay down to fall into a fuzzy bed and slept like mud.