The Audience's Results

Afterward, Rokuko—flattered by being called "Madam"—was in high spirits and decided to gift them a whole kome-dawara.

Not just a bag of rice—a kome-dawara. A full rice barrel, weighing about 60 kilograms, was thudded down in the audience chamber.

"Th-th-this is the legendary… Kome-dawara! Ohhh, Madam Golen, Rokuko-sama, you must surely be a goddess…!"

"Heheh. You may begin your worship now."

"Hahaaaaaa!!"

Mikado-san bowed her head so hard it looked like she'd throw himself flat on the ground.

Rokuko raised her nose proudly, clearly basking in the moment.

"… Hey, if we'd just sold that, we could've gotten like 600 gold coins, right?"

"We don't really need money anymore, do we? It's not like we'll even use it once we go back to the village."

"That's true, yeah."

Gold coins aside, they already had plenty stored in the treasury.

Even DP wasn't getting much use lately, and they'd been stockpiling rewards from Haku-san. Things had definitely stabilized.

Which was exactly why they could afford to go on trips like this.

Trying to expand the village for no reason would just be a management nightmare. Things were probably best just as they were.

Then, Rokuko leaned in and whispered in his ear.

"Actually, wouldn't doing things like this be good for earning GP?"

"GP, huh… oh yeah, that was a thing."

GP—God Points. A rare currency that couldn't be bought with money or DP. If there were chances to earn them by giving things away, maybe it was worth it after all.

That said, he'd already been acknowledged by Haku-san after getting 100 GP, so there wasn't really a use for them… still, you never know what might come up in the future. Might as well save them if there was an opportunity to.

He opened the menu discreetly—and found he had 72 GP.

… He hadn't checked lately, but what the heck was that jump!?

No way to tell exactly how much of that came from the rice barrel, but hey, this might actually justify supplying rice to Wakoku wholesale.

"Listen well! Before eating this rice, give thanks to me before saying Itadakimasu, and thank me again after with a Gochisousama, understood!?"

"Yesss!! Thank you very much, Great Divine Golen-sama! I shall do exactly as you command! Thank you!"

What the heck is Great Divine Golen, anyway? Surely she's not meaning me, yeah?

"Heheh, feeling good, Kehma?"

"I'm not really into that kinda stuff… I mean, I'm just not used to it…"

"You're the founder of Beddhism and you say that now?"

Fair point, he thought, glancing over at Wataru.

"Look, Nerune-san. Kehma-san is being worshipped."

"As expected of Master~. It's Oyasuminasai~, right~?"

"Guess I should pay my respects, too. Could actually get some blessings out of it."

The couple started praying. Alright, Kehma decided—he'd bestow upon Wataru the eternal blessing of being completely under Nerune's thumb.

… He'd probably be totally happy with that, honestly.

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

Thus, our audience with the Mikado came to an end. After that, we did some souvenir shopping—mostly kimonos and such—and got ready to leave Wakoku.

Just like on the way there, we took a ship from the Wakoku Trading Company to sail across the sea back to Pavuera.

A kraken showed up along the way, so we had Wataru take care of it. Then we held a giant grilled squid party right on the deck. With no other issues, we made it back to the Empire safe and sound.

As we disembarked at the port of Pavuera, being thanked by various people, the familiar scent of the Empire hit my nose.

"… Haa, now that we're back this far, it really feels like we've come home."

"Yeah. It's like… the taste of the air? It just feels different, doesn't it?"

"Oh! You both can tell? Actually, those differences in the air between countries apparently come from the scents of spices and seasonings commonly used in each place."

Now that he mentioned it, I did kinda feel like I could smell worcestershire sauce faintly. Our village produces a ton of that and exports it around here.

Pavuera's accent is a bit Kansai-like, so I probably ended up pushing it out without thinking…

"Now that you say it, Wakoku had kind of a dried bonito smell to it."

"And kombu too. It was totally the aroma of dashi."

Thinking about it like that, I guess our village must smell like soy sauce or something. Maybe that's why Wataru liked it so much.

"Well, the trip's not over till we're back home. Let's get moving."

"Can you get the wagon out again, Kehma-san? I'll pull it for you!"

"… Nah, let's just rent a horse. I'll have the Dyne Trading Company pick it up later with a little bonus."

"In that case—why not just rent it from the Dyne Trading Company directly—?"

Apparently, our village's Dyne Trading Company has a branch in Pavuera… Wait, Dyne's from Pavuera, so maybe this is actually the main office?

We headed to the Dyne Trading Company to borrow a horse, and the place was absolutely booming.

Their main products are items harvested from our dungeon, the [Cave of Desires], and they also handle processed seafood products.

Now that I think about it, I remember Dyne saying some of the money I gave him was used to build a food processing factory.

"Welcome! … Oh! Proprietor! Welcome back, sir! Looking for anything in particular today?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I need a horse—heading back to Golen Village."

"Roger that! I'll get a wagon ready right away! Just a sec!"

"Just the horse is fine. I've got a wagon."

"Got it!"

As soon as the clerk saw my face, they responded immediately… Am I that recognizable now?

Well, I am the founder of a religion and I've held services, after all. Now that I take a closer look, I think I've seen this guy around the village too.

"Here's your horse!"

"Whoa, that was quick."

"Well, of course! Dyne told us to give you top priority no matter what! This store exists thanks to you, Proprietor!"

"Dyne said that, huh? Well, that helps me out. Alright, I'll borrow the horse. I'll return it through Dyne back at the village, yeah?"

"Yes! No problem at all! Man, thanks to how Golen Town's been recently, we're rolling in it!"

… Golen Town? Say what?