Chapter 11 – Shopping in the Central District
“Haaah. I think that might be the best I’ve slept in a very long time…”
Hang on. This isn’t our house. That ceiling is much too far away and there is a canopy involved… Oh. Right. Yesterday I came to House Townsend and they put me up for the night. I haven’t overslept, have I? I climbed down off the bed with that worry in my head and went through to the front of the room, where Anne was already waiting.
“Good morning, Master Leon.”
“Good morning, Anne. I haven’t overslept, have I?”
“In the mornings the family takes breakfast in their own rooms and leaves for their work, so please be easy about it.”
Oh. Well, that’s a relief. I let the breath go out of me and asked her the next thing.
“Will I be given breakfast today?”
“Yes. Lord Frederick left instructions that you were to have your breakfast, and that word was to be sent to him the moment you were ready to go home.”
That is very kind of him. Though it does leave the question of whether I ought to be paying my respects to the rest of the family first.
“Should I not give my greetings to everyone before I go?”
“The mistress is at home, so if you would take your leave of her, that will serve.”
“Understood. Thank you very much.”
“Then we shall begin with your clothes. Please change into these.”
What Anne handed me was a good deal finer than what I’d arrived in. Not noble clothing, exactly, but the sort of thing you would expect on a commoner from the wealthier end of town.
“Um, these aren’t my clothes, are they?”
“No, sir. They are a gift from the master. He had clothes prepared that would not make you conspicuous among commoners.”
Not conspicuous among commoners! Among the rich ones, maybe. On my street these will have people coming out of doorways to look! Still, you don’t hand a gift back, not after somebody has gone to that much trouble…
“Thank you very much. Would you pass my thanks to Lord Richard as well?”
“Certainly, sir.”
So I changed and ate my breakfast, and then it was time to take my leave of the Townsend house. When I came out into the entrance hall, Lord Frederick and Lady Catherine had come down to see me off.
“Lady Catherine, thank you very much for having me.”
“We enjoyed it too. I hope we shall be seeing a great deal of you.”
“Yes. I hope so as well.”
“Then let’s be off.”
“Yes. Lord Frederick, I’ll be in your hands today.”
Then Lord Frederick prompted me along and I climbed into the carriage. It was the same one that had brought me, so the ride was as comfortable as I remembered. Anne came with us.
“Leon, is there anywhere in the central district you want to stop?”
“N-no, I’m quite all right.”
“There’s no need to hold back. Getting yourself out to the central district again would be no small undertaking, would it?”
There are places I want to stop. Whether I’m allowed to say so is another matter. Dragging a duke’s son around on my errands sounds a lot like disrespect from where I’m standing. Then again, getting out here and back takes half a day, and he did offer. Maybe I’m allowed to lean on this one.
“Are you certain?”
“Of course I am.”
In that case I want the bank, to see what my balance has done, and I want a clock. And sugar, for when Her Highness comes. I’ve already told them about every attribute, so there’s no reason left to hide the account.
“Um. The bank, and a clockmaker, and then I’d like to buy some sugar…”
“The bank? You have an account, Leon?”
“Yes. Marcel opened one for me. He said I would be needing it. And I’m paid for the work I do on magic tools with him.”
“Ah. Yes, every attribute would be uncommonly useful in making magic tools… Then we’ll go to all three. Anne.”
“Certainly, my lord.”
The moment Lord Frederick said her name, Anne was already giving the driver our destinations, as though she had understood the whole errand before I opened my mouth. W-wait, we have to do the bank first, I haven’t got any money on me!
“Excuse me, could we go to the bank before the rest? And, um, may I ask what a clock and sugar cost?”
“We are going to the bank first, sir, so please be easy. The price of sugar depends upon the quality, but a bag may be had for about one copper coin. As for a clock, the very simplest should be about one gold coin.”
So sugar is expensive, but not out of my reach. Clocks are expensive too, but that’s about what I’d guessed, and I was buying one regardless.
“Then I’d be really glad if we could go to all three.”
“Certainly, sir.”
Anne smiled and inclined her head.
The carriage rocked along for a little while, and then we were at the bank. When I got down Anne fell in a step behind me. I told her she was welcome to stay where she was, and she would not be moved: “Until Master Leon has been delivered to his own door, I am Master Leon’s maid.” Lord Frederick, meanwhile, would wait with the carriage. Which means a duke’s son is sitting outside on my account, so I had better be quick about this.
I went in at a good pace, made for the window where I’d opened the account, and spoke to the man behind it. I wanted somebody I’d dealt with before. It’s only my second time in here and the place makes me nervous.
“Welcome. How may I help you today?”
“I’d like to check my balance, and to withdraw some money.”
“Certainly. May I see your bank card?”
“Here it is.”
“Thank you. Now, if you would send a little mana into this crystal ball.”
His eyes went to my clothes, then to the maid standing behind me, and he checked for half a second. He must remember me from last time, when I stood out for entirely the opposite reason. Whatever he thought, he worked through it without a flicker and didn’t press me about any of it, and I was grateful for that.
“Master Leon. Confirmed, thank you. Your balance first. This is where it stands at present.”
He passed me a small slip of paper. They write the balance down for you, apparently. Ten platinum coins.
Isn’t that kind of a lot?! Next time I see Marcel I’m asking about this…
“Thank you. Could you take out one gold coin’s worth for me?”
“Certainly. In gold? Or would you like it broken into silver and copper?”
“Ten silver coins, please.”
“Certainly. One moment.”
Being able to draw it out in small coins is genuinely useful. Gold coins and up are next to useless among commoners, so the smaller the better. I waited a while, and the man came back with ten silver coins.
“Thank you for waiting. Please check them.”
I counted them properly, all ten, and put them away in my purse.
“They’re all here. Thank you very much.”
“Please come to us again whenever you need us. Thank you.”
“Thank you as well.”
Then Anne and I went back out to the carriage at a fair clip. The sheer formality of that place really does get to me.
“Then we go on to the clockmaker.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
We were there almost at once, so the clockmaker must sit very close to the bank.
“I’ll be waiting in the carriage. Take as long over it as you like.”
“Certainly. Thank you very much.”
I’m afraid taking my time is quite out of the question, sir! I kept that where it belonged and got down from the carriage.
“Master Leon, this shop admits only nobles, or those carrying a noble house’s introduction, so I shall go in ahead of you.”
“Understood. Thank you.”
So there are shops like that too. The gap between nobles and commoners is already real enough, and the idea of it opening any wider is frightening. All the more reason to work hard and be of some use to the Townsend camp.
I followed Anne in, and a mild-mannered man in late middle age came out to us. Anne produced something like a crest from inside her uniform and showed it to him, and after that we were let through without the smallest fuss. A noble house’s crest, I suppose.
“Good morning to you both. And what sort of clock are we looking for today?”
He put the question to me, not to Anne. It seems I have been certified as a customer.
“I’d like a clock I can carry with me. Something simple and hard-wearing.”
“Very good. In that case, might this suit you?”
What he showed me was a plain pocket watch, and the cheapest started at five silver coins. Fifty thousand yen for the simplest one in the shop; Anne had warned me a clock runs to a gold coin, so this is half what I had braced for. If you went looking for a pocket watch in modern Japan I suspect it would cost you a great deal more…
I worked my way along the case comparing them. Almost every lid was plain, with no design worked into it, but one of them had an acorn set into the lid. A bit of decoration does look sharper. It’s bound to cost more than the plain ones, though…
“How much is the one with the acorn on the lid?”
“That one is eight silver coins and two copper.”
Call it eighty-two thousand yen. Expensive, but it’s a thing I’ll be carrying for years, so I may as well.
“Then I’ll take that one, please.”
“Very good, sir.”
I have one at last. The bells give you a rough idea of the hour, but I’d been wanting something that would tell me the time exactly. I took the watch and tucked it into my inside pocket. I intend to have it on me from now on, wherever I go, which means every last piece of clothing I own is going to need an inside pocket sewn into it.
With the watch bought we went back to the carriage and on to a shop that sold sugar. I came out with about three bags of it, and after that the carriage took me the whole way home.
“Right, Leon. I’ll be here, so call me in when you’ve finished.”
“Yes. I’ll come for you as quickly as I can.”
“Don’t rush on my account.”
“Thank you.”
And with that I left Lord Frederick in the carriage and got down alone. I was a little tired, and the part that actually mattered hadn’t even started, so I braced myself and went inside.