Sushi stood before the massive city gate. His body was barely covered by a tattered piece of cloth he'd scavenged from the roadside, yet his expression carried the confidence of a "Supreme Ambassador."
"Halt! Where are your identification papers?" the guard barked, eyeing Sushi's pathetic rags with pure suspicion.
With absolute calm, Sushi pulled out an old piece of parchment he had stained with herbal juice. On it, he had drawn strange symbols: [L1, R1, L2, R2, Left, Down, Right, Up...].
"I am on a top-secret mission from the (Order of the Primordial Sequence)," Sushi whispered in a mysterious, low tone. "These symbols are the Lost Language of the Founders... Can you even decipher them? Or should I summon your superior to explain why you are obstructing a mission of national security?"
The illiterate guard froze. He stared at the parchment, which looked like complex magical incantations. He swallowed hard, terrified that this "beggar" might actually be a powerful figure in disguise.
"Oh... no need for trouble, sir! Please, enter!"
Market Shock
The moment he stepped inside, Sushi's confidence evaporated. He stared at a shop sign: [Basic Linen Shirt: 100 Silver Coins].
'One hundred silver?! Are the threads made of dragon hair?!' he screamed internally. He didn't even have a single bronze coin to his name.
He stopped in front of an old tailor shop. The owner was an elderly man who looked kind—or more accurately, naive.
"Old man, do you need an assistant? I'll work just for clothes!"
After a long conversation where the old man tried to figure out Sushi's origins, Sushi dodged the questions like a fox. "I'm just a traveler whose caravan was lost... My name? Just call me Sushi."
The old man, surprisingly understanding, accepted the offer.
Polishing... and an Unexpected Collision
Sushi spent the afternoon sweeping, washing, and polishing the floor until it shone like a mirror. He flopped down in the hallway to rest, closing his eyes as he cursed his luck.
'Oh my God! Is this the life of a pathetic Isekai protagonist? Where's the harem? Where are the castles? I'm cleaning tiles!'
Suddenly, the door swung open. A teenage girl walked in, her brown hair swaying with her stride. She stopped, dazed by the brilliance of the shop.
"Dad! Did you hire a new maid? The place is sparkling!"
Her father pointed nonchalantly toward the end of the hallway where Sushi was sprawled out. The girl approached, looking down at him with a smirk. "Hehe, I didn't expect the 'maid' to be such a scrawny boy!"
Sushi opened his eyes slowly. He wasn't angry at her mockery. Instead, his smile widened for a completely different reason... From his angle on the floor, he was enjoying a panoramic view right up her skirt!
The girl noticed his gaze. Her blood ran cold with embarrassment, and then she shrieked in disgust, "You pervert!"
She raised her foot to stomp on his face, but— Squelch!
The floor Sushi had over-polished betrayed her. Her foot slipped, and she went airborne. But before she could hit the ground, Sushi sprang up with sudden, fluid grace and caught her, holding her gently to prevent the fall.
Time seemed to stop for a moment. The girl's face turned into a ripe tomato in his arms. She wanted to slap him, but he held her hand with exaggerated tenderness and whispered softly, "Are you hurt?"
"I-It's all your fault!" she yelled, pulling away and sprinting toward her room.
Sushi watched her disappear, a mischievous grin plastered on his face. He wasn't looking at her beauty; he was staring at the small coin pouch that was now tucked between his fingers with a magician's sleight of hand.
"You took my dignity with that smirk, so I took your wallet as a cleaning fee... I'd say we're even now, hehe."