**Day 22 – Morning – Omui Guild**
Same old guild today, as always. I've been coming here for days now, yet somehow nobody ever makes eye contact with me. Impressive, right? I heard a rumor that adventurers have been waking up with stiff necks lately—maybe that's why they're all avoiding looking my way?
"Why is it always the same requests every day? I come here every single day, y'know."
"Why are you here every single dayyyyy? *sigh*"
A sigh-laced dead-fish glare. As expected from Receptionist Class Rep big-sis—her variety of jito-me is truly rich.
I was planning to go look for the otakus again today, but yesterday's incident apparently hit the girls pretty hard, so they're in self-restraint mode for now. Why though? I didn't get hurt or anything. The bandits just ran out of breath on their own, turned purple, and collapsed. I never do anything wrong, yet I always catch the fallout and get yelled at. Truly mysterious.
That said, even if I wanted to make money, there are no good jobs. Never are. Haven't seen a single one.
A daily allowance of 50,000 ele is straight-up cruel. Way too harsh.
At this rate my favorability with the opposite sex is gonna… favorability is gonna… Sensei, I want favorability. I need favorability. From a high-school-boy perspective.
"Like, not necessarily a request, but isn't there any kind of money-making talk or opportunity or something?"
"That's completely unrelated to the adventurer's guild now, isn't it? You're not even an adventurer to begin with, are you? Also, from what I've heard, not only the guild but the weapon shop and general store had all their cash taken too. Where did all that money go? Why does it disappear every day? Do you have to rob one shop's entire funds every single day to feel satisfied?"
This isekai is clearly suffering from a cash shortage. Currency isn't circulating properly because there's not enough of it, so shops keep running out of operating funds—and somehow it's my fault. Is this deflationary spiral what got summoned to the isekai instead of a classmate? I don't remember anyone like that in class.
No work outside town. No money inside town. They worry if I leave town. I want money if I stay in town. But then we loop back to no work.
I peek into this shop, browse that one, watch all my money vanish… Yeah, maybe I should just go hunt some goblins.
For some reason there are tons of soldiers patrolling the streets today. For some reason they chase me when they see me. Why though?
"Why are you running away? We said we'd send a messenger yesterday, didn't we? Why weren't you at the inn, and why run when we finally find you?"
While I was dodging the soldiers, a young, cute maid called out to me. I thought "reverse pickup?!" and got excited for a second—only to be dragged to the lord's mansion and yelled at by the young lady?
"Look, if strangers are chasing you, you run, right? The 'messenger' was soldiers. You never said 'later' meant how many days later."
"Then why do you let yourself get caught by a young, cute maid you don't know? You totally forgot, didn't you? The moment you saw me you had that 'who are you?' face. You have zero memory, right?"
I'm getting yelled at?
"Uh… long time no see? How've you been? You've… grown so much… I didn't recognize you?"
"We met yesterday! It hasn't even been half a day! How have I 'grown' already? Did I gain weight in one day? Wait—that's just you saying random stuff because you don't remember who I am, right? You've completely forgotten! Right?! I'm so nameless you can't even keep me in your head, huh? You've already erased my name and the town name from your memory forever, haven't you?!"
"No way, there's no chance I'd forget someone as unforgettable as you. Through spring, summer, autumn, winter—not even for a single moment have I forgotten you, Meri-Meri-san?"
"Why do you only remember *that* part?! You said it so coolly and then ended with a question mark! You haven't remembered even a single moment, let alone the seasons! We literally just met yesterday—for the first time!"
Yeah… definitely getting yelled at.
・ ・ ・
They let me inside the mansion and served me food. Was it hospitality?
"I invited you today to give proper thanks for yesterday, treat you to lunch, and offer a modest reward… so why exactly am I the one yelling right now?"
"Uh… weird, huh?"
Unlike yesterday's travel clothes, she's wearing a simple but beautifully tailored dress… and stomping her feet in frustration. Is foot-stomping some kind of trend among nobles? Like at balls? "My lady, would you care to join me for a hearty foot-stomp?" Noble life seems tough.
"Nnngh!… Ahem. This is a small token of our gratitude—please accept it. Also, since you mentioned yesterday that you don't have any identification, we prepared one for you. Feel free to use it. It doubles as a pass for this town, so you won't have to pay entry fees anymore. The pass has 'Omui' engraved on it, so please remember the name. Omui. The town's name is Omui. My family name is Omui. We do have a name. I wrote it right here. Please, I'm begging you—remember it. Merielle Sim Omui. I wrote the full name. Please forget 'Meri-Meri-san'."
The food was delicious. The conversation… something was said. Yeah, it's fine.
"Normally my father the lord would want to thank you in person, but unfortunately he had to leave this morning with Mother for the neighboring town. He asked me to apologize for his rudeness. They're also planning to make the welcome sign at the town entrance much bigger—so big you can read 'Omui' from far away. They're hanging 'Welcome to Omui Town' banners all over the place to really drive it home. And they're putting up a hundred 'This Way to Omui' signs outside town. The bureaucrats are even holding meetings about whether they should just commission an official Omui theme song and blast it 24/7 at full volume."
Seriously, bureaucrats in every world love wasting money. They're probably in cahoots with the banner makers and theme-song composers to expand their own little profit networks. No sense of public ethics, no common sense—pure corruption. They don't even realize they're corrupt. They probably don't even think of themselves as unreasonable. It's the ultimate failure of anyone who handles public redistribution of wealth. They probably think it's normal to use other people's money to build their own little empires. Utterly shameless. If I hadn't been isekai'd, I was planning to aim for a public library job, y'know? I wanted to spend public funds buying whatever books I wanted! Unlimited reading! I'd straight-up declare the library my personal bookshelf! If they've got money for banners, build a library instead! This is exactly why bureaucrats and government officials are…
"…Helllooo? Why do you never listen to what I'm saying? Are you ignoring me? Deaf composer? You can actually hear me, right? You're listening? Also, why can't you remember my name?"
Ah, the young lady was saying something.
"It's the exact same treatment as last time… I even dressed up, put on a nice dress…"
Got scolded by the butler. Bleh.
I would've preferred getting scolded by the maid, though…