Just the move Shimada Yousuke had revealed was enough to leave Yoru Machi utterly shocked. Ten days ago, when he had first met Shimada Yousuke, the guy had still been a pathetic loser getting screwed while sticking his ass up.
Yet only around ten days had passed. Not only had he undergone a drastic change in appearance, but even his strength had been completely transformed?
"Yousuke, what exactly happened to you over these past ten days? Why do I feel like you seem a little different from before...?"
The previous Shimada Yousuke had looked ordinary, but at least he had still seemed like a spirited young man. But the current Shimada Yousuke looked, to Yoru Machi, like a middle-aged man who had weathered countless hardships.
Yoru Machi was quite curious what sort of experience could have changed someone's temperament so drastically in just ten days.
When the subject came up, Shimada Yousuke actually curled his lips into a confident smile and looked at Yoru Machi. "Yoru Machi, I've finally managed to get off to a successful start too!
"The process was a little complicated, but overall, it was still a pretty good start."
Seeing the nostalgic look on Shimada Yousuke's face, Yoru Machi put on an attentive expression as well.
At first, Yoru Machi's expression was normal. But as Shimada Yousuke kept recounting what he had gone through after they separated, Yoru Machi's face gradually became more and more strange, and he kept complaining inwardly. This fucking counts as a "pretty good start"?
After parting ways with Yoru Machi, Yoru Machi had gone to the Adventurer's Guild, while Shimada Yousuke had headed to a tavern in town.
Unlike Yoru Machi, who had possessed a certain degree of strength upon arriving in this world and could fill his stomach by hunting magical beasts, Shimada Yousuke had clearly gone hungry in the Forest for quite some time.
So after receiving half a bag of Copper Coins from Yoru Machi, Shimada Yousuke's first thought had been to fill his stomach.
There was a reason he chose a tavern. In games, places like taverns were usually where one could hear important gossip and gather information.
They had just arrived in this New World, so gathering intelligence was extremely important in the early stages.
Thanks to Yoru Machi's reminder, Shimada Yousuke had also concealed his appearance to some extent before coming to the tavern.
When he entered the tavern, the others were curious about why he had covered himself so thoroughly, but they were not overly surprised or inclined to question him.
Since he did not know this world's exchange rates or cost of living, Shimada Yousuke had initially assumed, just like Yoru Machi, that the large bag of Copper Coins was quite a substantial fortune.
With that in mind, he generously ordered a whole table of fine food. After all, the more he spent, the more politely the tavern owner would treat him, and the more information he could get from him.
Up to that point, Shimada Yousuke's actions and reasoning had been correct. With his extensive gaming experience, he had been quite pleased with how he had handled this opening.
However, there was one flaw: during his casual conversation with the tavern owner, Shimada Yousuke finally learned about this world's cost of living.
When he realized that the money he had on him was nowhere near enough to pay for the fine food and drink before him, Shimada Yousuke considered negotiating to buy on credit...
Skipping out on the bill was out of the question. He had already experienced the combat strength of this world's residents firsthand.
Although the tavern owner before him was not an adventurer, he had a face full of flesh, and his arms alone were thicker than thighs. As a shut-in, useless young man, Shimada Yousuke was obviously no match for him.
However, when Shimada Yousuke said he might not have brought enough money and wanted to put the meal on credit first, the tavern owner's face, which had been blooming like a chrysanthemum, instantly twisted.
"You fucking broke bastard, who are you trying to impress? I've never accepted credit here! Even adventurers have to pay properly once they've eaten!"
The tavern owner had chatted with Shimada Yousuke so much earlier because he saw how generously he spent and thought the tavern might gain another wealthy regular customer.
But who would have thought that the other party was just a poor bastard pretending to be rich? Naturally, the tavern owner's attitude changed.
Looking at Shimada Yousuke, who looked like a weakling and truly was one, the tavern owner directly grabbed him and lifted him up, then searched him from head to toe. In the end, he found all of Shimada Yousuke's possessions: a grand total of twenty-seven Copper Coins...
When he saw the twenty-seven coins that had fallen onto the floor, the tavern owner's face turned green with anger. He had thought that since Shimada Yousuke had the nerve to order so much food, even if he did not have enough money, the shortfall would not be too great.
But now, what the hell? The guy had dared to order a table of food worth at least one Gold Coin while carrying only twenty-seven lousy coins!
And after stuffing himself with food and drink, this bastard had the nerve to shamelessly claim he was only a little short on money. This was what he called a little short?
According to Gran Bahamar's currency exchange rate, one Gold Coin was equivalent to ten thousand Silver Coins, or one million Copper Coins. The twenty-seven lousy coins on Shimada Yousuke were probably nowhere near enough even to cover the cost of washing dishes.
If he had the guts to dine and dash, getting beaten up was only inevitable. And once the tavern owner began hitting him, Shimada Yousuke's homemade wooden mask, which had been covering his face, was soon accidentally knocked off.
The tavern owner had already been extremely displeased with Shimada Yousuke for trying to eat without paying. When he saw the mask fall from Shimada Yousuke's face and discovered he was a "Half-beastman," he became even more enraged.
No matter the race in this world, none were particularly friendly toward mixed-blood demi-humans. Especially Half-beastmen, who were savage and possessed little intelligence. Though they were technically demi-humans, they were not much different from ordinary magical beasts and monsters.
However, while angry, the tavern owner soon realized that Shimada Yousuke, a "Half-beastman," could actually speak the human language, and his intelligence seemed much higher than that of an ordinary Half-beastman.
Thus, an idea identical to the one Rex and the others had previously had quickly surfaced in the tavern owner's mind.
"Kid, don't blame me. Whether you're a Half-beastman or not, if you come out to eat, you have to pay. That's only right. Since you don't have money to settle the bill, I can only sell you to the merchant guild as a slave.
"Talking Half-beastmen are rare. The money from selling you should be enough to cover this meal."
Although Shimada Yousuke kept insisting that he was not a "Half-beastman," it was clearly completely useless.
Poor Shimada Yousuke had only just escaped disaster at the hands of adventurers, yet he unexpectedly still ended up being sold to a slave merchant. The only difference was whether he was sold by adventurers or by a tavern owner.
Talking Half-beastmen truly were rare, but what surprised the tavern owner was that the slave merchant offered a price of only three Copper Coins for Shimada Yousuke.
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