Prologue
"Yikes, it’s so expensive!"
People who occasionally visited a certain spellbook shop at the entrance to the slum next to the red-light district of the royal capital would say this and walk away.
"If I sell them cheaply, I'd be too busy with customers."
Muttered the shop owner, Margine, as he idly passed the time.
"I guess no sales again today. Maybe I'll go drinking."
Despite the continuous days without sales, Margine didn’t worry about it and closed the shop early to go drinking.
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"You are out drinking at this hour again? You should work harder!"
Rikka, a waitress, greeted Margine with an exasperated look as he arrived. Her red ponytail suited her well. She was the poster girl of a diner named after her; Rikka's Diner.
"I'm contributing to the sales, so don't complain!"
"You only ordered cheap booze every time. You can't really call it a contribution. You should order some food once in a while."
"Why would I pay for bad food?"
"Who the hell dares to say that my husband's cooking tastes bad?"
While saying this, the portly proprietress emerged from the kitchen. Her name was Millie, Rikka's mother.
"I-I'm just kidding. The food Boss made looks delicious."
"Not LOOKS delicious, IT IS delicious!"
Millie snapped. Then, while Margine was trying to gloss over it, the owner, Dadd, stepped out. He was a former Hunter with a burly body covered in scars.
"Boss, don't make such a scary face. You know I can't order food because business is slow and I'm broke."
"Tch! Here, don't just drink without eating anything."
"Dad, don't spoil him!"
Despite his intimidating build, Boss was a kind guy. When there were no other customers, he would give Margine a complimentary meal like this even if he didn't order any food.
"Hehehe. Boss has a scary face, but his heart is kind."
"That 'scary face' is unnecessary. The usual drink, right?"
"Yes, this is good enough for me."
After serving offal stew and red wine to Margine, Boss retreated to the kitchen.
"Hey, if you came here for free meal, at least help with the dishes."
"Alright, alright...."
Margine replied to Rikka and secretly cast a spell on the cheap red wine. It was one of his original spells, a spell to make alcohol taste better. There was also a spell to make the food taste better, but Boss's cooking was already delicious even without any magic.
"You always spun your finger over the glass before drinking. Is that some kind of charm?"
Sitting across with her elbows resting on the table, Rikka watched Margine's behavior with curiosity.
"I’m thanking the gods for the sustenance I receive every day."
"Oh, so that's what they do in your hometown...."
Margine was not a native of this country. He was a drifter who had come from somewhere and settled down. In this country, even foreigners were allowed to live and do business if they paid the relatively high taxes.
"Yeah, something like that.... Hey, a customer just entered. Get back to work."
"I don't want to hear that from you!"
Rikka turned away from Margine in annoyance and went to take the order from a customer who had just entered. Then, after finishing his meal and drink, Margine headed to the kitchen.
"Boss, don't let the dirty dishes pile up like this."
The dirty dishes from last night and today were piled up in the sink.
"You are going to wash them anyway. Just hurry up and get to it."
"Alright, alright....."
Margine used dishwashing spell to wash the piled up dirty dishes and put them away.
"It's still impressive, no matter how many times I watch it."
"Right? 3,000,000 G for this impressive spell is a bargain. How about buying it for yourself, Boss?"
"You fool! Do you know how much we earn from each costumer? There's no way I could spend 3,000,000 G just to buy a dishwashing spellbook."
"It's a lifetime purchase and a good investment."
"Shut up! I'll buy it for 300 G if you insist."
The currency value in this country was almost the same as Japanese yen. In other words, the dishwashing spellbook is sold at Margine’s shop for 3 million yen.
"All done. Thanks for the meal. It was delicious."
Having said that, Margine waved his hand lightly and left the kitchen.
"Thanks as always...."
Boss muttered softly. Washing dishes was quite a hard work. Drawing water from the well and washing each dish clean took a lot of time. But with Margine’s magic, it was done in about five minutes. In addition, the dishes became as clean as new.
"Are you coming again tomorrow?"
The proprietress called out to Margine as he came out of the kitchen.
"Probably."
"Then, we will be counting on you to wash the dishes again."
"Alright, alright...."
The place, which was empty until just a moment ago, was now teeming with customers. It was a cheap diner, so there were no rich customers, but it was popular among middle class customers.
"I can't believe it. Is he going to the red-light district again? If he's got that much money, he should have ordered something expensive, too."
Rikka said as she watched Margine leave the diner.
"He is in his prime, so it can't be helped."
"He’s such a hopeless guy."
Kicking a customer who tried to touch her butt, Rikka looked exasperated at Margine heading to the red-light district almost every day.