**Chapter 30: Mushroom Withdrawal Symptoms? Mushroom Addiction? Maybe Some Bad Shrooms Got Mixed In?**
**Day 22 – Morning – Inn – White Weirdo**
Ahhh, what have I done? I never even considered it. My thinking was too shallow. I underestimated this isekai world. I thought, "Eh, it's just another isekai, nothing special." I looked down on it like it was beneath me, so I didn't even try to think about it properly. I didn't even attempt to consider the possibility. What a foolish thing to do. Utterly idiotic. The height of stupidity. I never imagined I'd be hit with this level of shock, this level of jaw-dropping astonishment, this mind-blowing, staggering, thunderstruck awe. To think that breakfast in an isekai world could bring me to such utter dismay, such trembling, such chills… Wait, no—I already experienced it. It's soy sauce. There is soy sauce in this isekai world. I am shocked. I'm going to buy some. Obviously.
I interrogated. I cross-examined. I pressed hard. I denounced. I questioned relentlessly. I extracted a confession. I dragged her to the edge of the cliff and got the truth without even needing to push. The signboard girl was in tears.
It was that general store from before. I was deceived. Betrayed. Trampled. You never said there was soy sauce!
"Come on! I know you're hiding it! Hand it over! Hand it over right now! Put it out here! It's useless to hide anymore—I already know! If you confess honestly, I'll forgive you—even though it's a lie!"
"Wh-what? What's going on? What happened? …Wait, that boy from before? Did your character just completely change? What's wrong with you?!"
She's still playing dumb, huh.
"It's soy sauce! Soy sauce! Soy sauce! Soy sauce! Soy sauce! Soy sauce! Soy sauce! Soy sauce! Soy sauce! Soy sauce! It's obviously soy sauce! Where's the soy sauce?! Soy sauce! Hurry up with the soy sauce! Quick soy sauce! Fast soy sauce! Right now soy sauce! Soy sauce please! Come on soy sauce! Soy sauce!!"
"…Soy sauce?"
"Hiding it is pointless! The white weirdo confessed yesterday while crying that he bought some here!"
"Ahhh, you mean soy? The black, salty, super-salty one…? Wait—why are you making the signboard girl cry?!"
I got scolded.
Hey, come on—they were all hiding it from me! This world has soy sauce! The truth of this world! The providence of this world! The fundamental reality of this world! It's soy sauce!
"Last time when I asked to see the seasonings, you hid it! You said there wasn't any! You concealed it, you withheld it, you refused to sell it!"
"Soy only came in yesterday! We weren't hiding it! It hardly ever comes in stock, it's super rare, and it doesn't sell that well anyway! Why are you making such a huge fuss?!"
It doesn't sell well? Soy sauce doesn't sell well? Soy sauce?! Hah… so this really is just an isekai after all. They don't understand the greatness of soy sauce. A mere backwater isekai like this could never comprehend the majesty of soy sauce. This rural isekai, this minnow isekai, this pathetic little isekai—soy sauce is wasted here. It's unforgivable that soy sauce isn't popular…
But wait.
If it doesn't sell well, then there should be leftovers. Unsold stock. Which means… there's still more.
"Give me all of it. All of it. Sell it to me right now. Hurry up and sell it. Sell it fast."
"W-w-w-wait, calm down! Your character has completely flipped! Last time you were a polite, normal high-school-boy type!"
"But it's soy sauce. Soy sauce."
What are you even saying?
"Look, I'm happy to sell it—actually thrilled someone wants to buy—but 'all of it' means the barrels. The big ones. Two nearly full barrels. You really want that much?"
"I'm buying everything! Mushroom payment!"
We still have tons of mushrooms left. Even after stuffing the girls' simple item bags full, there's a mountain remaining.
"Mushrooms! Where are the mushrooms?! Hurry mushrooms! Quick, mushrooms! What are you doing?! Mushrooms mushrooms! Still no mushrooms?! Where are the mushrooms?! Mushrooms! Mushrooms! Mushrooms! Mushrooms! Mushrooms! Mushrooms! Mushrooms!!"
My character has completely broken. Is this mushroom withdrawal? Mushroom dependency? Did some dangerous mushroom get mixed in? I'm way too restless. A calm, still mind—being as you are—is important. "Daily life as it is," and yet here I am losing myself over this. Pathetic.
・
The general store lady… big sis… apparently used all the shop's cash to buy my mushrooms last time, stayed up all night sorting and processing them, put them on sale the next day—and sold out completely in a single day. She made half a year's profit in one go.
Profit, huh. Money really blinds people. Apparently merchants keep asking about the next shipment every single day now. A true merchant should live simply and steadfastly, embrace humble poverty, focus on increasing income while cutting expenses, and work diligently with frugality… what a troublesome world.
"Try some?"
The soy sauce ↔ mushroom trade is done. I bought out the whole stock… I take one mushroom stalk, dry it with "Temperature Magic," brush it repeatedly with soy sauce, and grill it lightly with "Fire Magic." Kuuuh—this burning soy sauce aroma is irresistible! So I hand one to big sis to try…
She's eating it like it's the most delicious thing ever. Isekai food really is bland, huh.
"Please sell me soy sauce too!"
Another soy sauce believer has been born in this town. First one in the isekai, but she's fully awakened to soy sauce now.
I poured a small bottle's worth into a tiny vial and sold it to her at double price. She was teary-eyed.
I also gave big sis the intel on rice—if she finds any, I'll buy it with mushrooms. Her eyes went dead serious.