Re: it's edo if you return from another world - Chapter 1
Edo’s morning is faintly murky due to the smoke of cooking food. Most row houses and the like prepare all of their rice or soup for the day in the morning. Particularly in this era, by decree of Kyoho general Tokugawa Yoshimune, there was an act of austerity enforced among the Edo townsfolk. This was due in part to the repeated natural disasters of earthquakes and eruptions during the Genroku and Hoei eras and also because the shogun Tsunayoshi’s expenses on repairs and construction of shrines and temples far exceeded the shogunate’s income, resulting in continued financial hardship. It is said that when Yoshimune took office, the gold in Edo’s treasury was less than a third of that from the first three Tokugawa generations. Through the Kyoho Reforms, he would rebuild the treasury, and the austerity act was part of that. Through concentrating cooking times to the morning, they also intended to limit the time in which fires could break out, making it easier to put them out. The Great Fire of Meireki, which occurred during the era of the fourth general Ietsuna and burned down most of central Edo including Edo Castle, and the earthquake that occurred earlier, are said to have killed between ten and twenty thousand people in Edo. Fire brigades, which would become famous and remain so until the dismantling of the new Meiji government, were also organized and became active during this era. Thus, shops using stoves in the day, such as restaurants and bathhouses, had to register.
On that day, before the fifth hour of the morning (around seven AM), Sano Fusa, who was nine years old, was making the Sano residence’s breakfast. While she had not been allowed to hold a kitchen knife unsupervised, she had been taught the basics of cooking by a cousin who lived nearby. However, the Sano residence was not wealthy, so their breakfast was simple. For her father, who had an upset stomach, she made soft rice and a deep-flavored soup with lots of chopped green onions. There were also pickled plums. Kyuurou slurped the steaming miso soup. To him, who hadn’t tasted rice miso in another world, the flavor along with the sharp pungency of the onion was a wonderful stimulus, and having eaten this Japanese dish again after such a long time, he found himself saying,
“Delicious…”
He sighed, filled with emotion, and then dug into his rice, crushing the surface of the salted pickled plum and popping it into his mouth. His face broke into a smile, a clear indication that he found it “irresistible.” Ofusa, who watched him suspiciously, was more struck by the fact that he appeared to be enjoying the food she had prepared than the fact that he was eating it. She even asked her father,
“Has he not eaten anything good?”
Rokunosuke, who was eating his soup with rice mixed in, replied solemnly,
“Hmm, if I recall, I heard that immortals eat clouds. Perhaps he finds the rich flavors moving.”
“I wouldn’t be happy if I were compared to clouds and told that I tasted good… Also, Father, you still believe that story?”
Ofusa looked at her father, taken aback. Rokunosuke did not seem to notice, and sat up straight, continuing to wolf down his rice. He seemed to have recovered from his upset stomach from yesterday. It was a plain meal, but both Kyuurou and Rokunosuke had three helpings of rice. Ofusa usually ate only one helping, so their rice consumption had almost doubled. She could not help but feel a sense of annoyance at Kyuurou, who was helping himself to his third bowl without so much as a glance at her. After finishing their meal, Rokunosuke gathered the dishes on a tray and went into the kitchen. He would open the soba restaurant that day at noon, so he had to hurry and get ready. Kyuurou, who had been left alone, said,
“Well, then,”
“The weather looks good, so I’ll go for a walk…”
But he paused in his words at Ofusa’s glare. He was surprised by her pointed look, despite the fact that she was still only nine years old. It was not a good idea to ignore her growing sense of suspicion. Kyuurou realized this and held out his hands in a gesture of reassurance.
“Now, now, Fusako. I, who was also a chef for the legendary cannibalistic warrior group, the Jigen Knights, will go and fix up this failing soba shop.”
“Don’t say ‘failing.’ And more importantly, can you even cook?”
“…Well a little bit──at least I cooked up until around fifteen years ago.”
“Don’t just talk big… How old are you? You don’t look like you’ve had your coming-of-age ceremony yet.
“Hmm. I’ll have you know I’m older than Rokunosuke.”
He said, but her expression suggested that she did not believe him at all. In fact, her sense of suspicion seemed to have increased. He had not cooked anything recently. He could easily make the sort of thing he’d stewed for survival, but he had essentially forgotten all recipes. He had still taken part in some cooking during his time as a mercenary and as a knight, but since joining up with the witch and after he arrived at the demon lord’s castle, she had done the cooking and the handmaiden had prepared perfect meals. Sometimes the demon lord also cooked, manga about cooking in hand. Midori no Mujina-tei was a soba shop. Had Kyuurou ever rolled soba? The answer was──no. He had also never made the broth. Having never worked with it, you could say he was practically a novice when it came to soba. In modern Japan, few people had actually experienced making real soba, so this was hardly unusual. But the quality of the food is not the only thing that makes a store a success. If it isn’t popular there must be a reason for that, and the key to fixing it is by offering a comprehensive “overhaul”──that’s what he thought as he pushed his ignorance aside and considered the problem.
“First things first, I should check out the appearance of the store. Even if the food is good, if the customers don’t know about it, the store won’t get any business.”
“…Fine by me, but don’t wander around in front of the store like that in such strange clothes.”
“Hmm? Indeed, it may be out of place in Edo.”
He nodded as he reconsidered his getup of shorts and jacket. If it stood out too much, he was thinking it wouldn’t be good. So he pulled over his backpack and went rummaging through it. There were meant to be a few changes of clothes in there. That being said, it was the Demon Lord and the witch that had provided these, so he had no idea what clothes he had on hand.
He retrieved a cloth bundle and unfurled it.
A maid outfit. A bunny suit. A full-body latex suit.
Kyuurou said nothing and burned them all with a fire-attribute magic spell.
“Agh…?! Why are you suddenly starting a fire, big idiot?!”
The complaint came at an outrageous volume, and Kyuurou tried to retort while covering his ears, but then he heard:
“Didn’t you know that arson is a crime punishable by death?! Are you crazy?!”
“Hmm?”
Being told that, he had no choice but to clam up.
Compared to the modern era or another world, the precautions and punishments for fires in Edo were extremely strict. There were more stone houses than wooden ones, and it was also common for fire-attribute mages to suddenly start fires if you went by the standards of another world.
Ofusa shook out the fire from his clothes, putting it out and confiscating the spell. Kyuurou fixed the talisman—an incantation spell in the shape of a short thin strip of paper—called [Flame Incantation] with a look of regret.
“By the way, what is that? Burning paper?”
“This? It’s a simple magical tool made with imbuement magic, one of the witch who can use the polar incantation spells specializes in. Within the enchanted runes inscribed on this enchanted paper are flames of magical power that are sealed…”
“Excuse me, what are you even saying?”
“… it’s an a high monk. fudō myōō. it’s good for throwing at mountain witches.”
With a displayased look on his face, he was forced to give some blatantly appropriate explanation.
Unexpectedly, when he said that, she suddenly started beaming.
“I want it!”
He ended up humoring Ofusa like a cat, wondering if she was being chased by a mountain witch.
“No no, it’s no good, it’s a little early for a child to be playing with fire.”
“Booo.”
“Don’t go making such a pouty face.”
he came out to the main street of Edo, which was between the great river and its tributaries. The area was home to more houses than shops, but there was still a fair number of people passing through. Just looking around, he could see the signs of inns as well as teahouses that had set up parasols and tables.
Kyuurou was wearing nothing more than Rokunosuke’s sleeveless haori jacket over his half-spats, which was much too small for him.
He had left the illustrious sword ‘Akaschic Muramasa Caliber III’ that he had been carrying on his back. Wearing a large sword like that was forbidden for townspeople, and Rokunosuke had warned him that he would appear like a kabuki-mono from long ago.
When Kyuurou, a modern man, heard the term kabuki-mono, it had an exciting ring to it, but it actually referred to ruffians who did not fit into Edo’s culture, and who would often resort to acts of violence and arson to vent their frustrations.
In anedict issued at the start of the Hobao era, it states:
[1. Any townspeople caught wearing a long sword or large wakizashi and imitating the ways of a samurai or acting in a flamboyant manner or causing a disturbance will immediately be arrested by the Ometsuke-shu group on patrol and…]
Wearing a large sword like that was enough for a townsperson to be arrested—such was the rule in Edo.
In fact, from the Keicho era onward, several hundred kabuki-mono had been punished, including being paraded through the streets. Naturally, Kyuurou decided that he needed to take care with his appearance.
Anyway, he proceeded to observe the Mujina-tei storefront again.
It was a typical rented storefront for a rowhouse that had been converted into a shop. Aside from the green curtain hanging from the outside, there was nothing else.
“……Man, this is impossible. There’s no way anyone could tell this is a shop even if they came here in person.”
“Ah… Well… Actually, I’ve been noticing it for a while.”
“Airhead.”
He cut her off with a single word.
Edo may have had an edict promoting thriftiness and a simple lifestyle, but there was no way a shop like this was going to succeed.
Who in the world would enter the shop if all it had was a green curtain like this? It was surprising that they had been able to keep afloat for this long.
Kyuurou crossed his arms and thought about how he could decorate the shop.
“First off, we need to make it clear that this is some kind of shop. Do you have any paper and a brush?”
“Yes, my teacher gave me some.”
So saying, she returned to the shop, and Kyuurou followed.
Ofusa retrieved some ink, an inkstone, and some paper from her family’s calligraphy box. Kyuurou was curious about the paper from the Edo era, so he took it in hand. When he did, he realized that the quality wasn’t all that different from the kind he had used in the modern world, even though this paper was three hundred years old.
So he asked, puzzled.
“Hmm? Isn’t this pretty good paper?”
“I was told this is from Goka Papermaking Village in Echizen.”
“Oh?”
“Five sheets costs more than the soba at our shop…”
“……”
Her face was downcast, even though she had gotten it for free.
The only kind of paper she had was the kind that had been given to her by her teacher for practicing letters, since she didn’t use any paper other than toilet paper.
In the Edo era, from Genroku to Hotoku, large quantities of paper began to be produced in Kyushu and Shikoku, and Goka Village in Echizen, which had hitherto flourished as a papermaking village, experienced a temporary decline in paper prices. However, by promoting the brand of paper produced locally, it was possible to sell it at a higher price as high-quality Japanese paper rather than ordinary paper, and the industry has continued to the present day. Since this is practice, Ofusa thought that Asakusa paper, which is recycled paper collected and refined in Edo at that time, would be sufficient, but she had no choice but to follow her teacher’s teaching that she could not relax and improve unless she used good materials. In the first place, since she was not paying tuition and was also providing paper, there was no room for complaint.
“Rather than that, if you write ‘Soba’ on this and put it out in front of the store, even an idiot will know that this is a soba restaurant and it will help attract new customers.”
“I see.”
Saying this, Kyuurou ground the inkstone, attached it to the writing brush, and made a gesture of rolling up his sleeves before writing on the paper.
‘takashi mazuma’
“……”
“…well, for some reason, I feel like the characters are a little different…”
“You idiot.”
“Sh, shut up. There’s no way I’ll remember such characters after not writing them for decades!”
Moreover, it was not flattering to say that it was well-written and was clumsy. Ofusa took the brush from Kyuurou who was raising his voice as if to make excuses. She put the failed paper aside to use the back for practice and wrote characters on a new piece of paper.
‘soba’
Although it was kana, it was clearly a more solid typeface than Kyuurou’s. Even if she is shown off by her daughter, who is more like a great-granddaughter, she feels happy. No, I don’t feel a sense of defeat. Absolutely not.
“That’s fine and all. Hmm, next is that.”
“That?”
“mascot character.”
“…? You idiot.”
“If you say something that makes no sense, don’t do it to me! It hurts!”
“I apologize.”
Kyuurou forgave her because she apologized honestly. He was also quite a bit because he only used unfamiliar foreign characters that didn’t exist in this world.
“Anyway, the impression of soba alone is that this is just a ‘soba restaurant’ and not a soba restaurant ‘Green Mujina-tei’. That’s where I appeal… um, I have to emphasize.”
“How?”
“That’s right──a raccoon dog.”
He pointed his finger and spoke of the inspiration as if it were a great idea. According to the story, raccoons are auspicious for making business prosperous because they have the meaning of surpassing others. The green of the shop name is connected to blue in ancient times, so if you make it a blue raccoon dog, it has the character element that will be a big hit. Since Mujina can also be read as “unbranded,” a raccoon dog is more suitable as a character to be introduced. It was enough to deceive a nine-year-old girl. However, it is financially difficult to prepare a Shigaraki raccoon dog like a large merchant. However, Ofusa was studying not only characters but also paintings, so she had her draw it…
“…its done.”
“Oh, what is this? It’s a creepy picture of Rokunosuke’s that looks like a real body chemical transformation. It’s unusually good for a nine-year-old, but it’s too creepy.”
“I want you to call it a Yokai picture.”
“Who told you to draw a Yokai picture, you idiot? Draw it cutely in a deformed way.”
He made her redraw it again, and somehow drew a raccoon dog standing upright with a length of about three and a half heads, with black eyes and sleepy half-opened eyes, wearing an apron.
“Umm, I suddenly feel like paying a lot of money for some reason.”
So said Kyuurou, who had it drawn.
He decorated the storefront with a piece of paper that said soba and an illustration of a raccoon dog with the shop name, and cleaned up the exterior. He looked around the house for spare cloth and found a piece of cloth of a suitable length that was somewhat dirty, and thought of making it a flag, but when he examined it carefully, it seemed to be a cloth diaper that Ofusa had used in the past. I thought it was a little bit of a problem to decorate it in the storefront. In addition, he went to the kitchen, blocked the window that was open for ventilation with a wooden board, and put it in. Rokunosuke looked at it with a suspicious look as to what was going on, but by doing so, the smell of soba soup flowed into the store, and it smelled from the open entrance and window of the store to the street. Even for customers who are not particularly thinking about eating soba, they will be attracted if they smell the aroma when they are hungry. By the time it was mealtime, Kyuurou had wiped the sweat from his face at the storefront where he had made as many improvements as possible in half a day with simple carpentry work and created a signboard that piled up the boards like a mountain and placed them on the ground. The menu and prices such as ‘Soba: 16 Mon, Sake: 25 Mon’ are also written there so that it is easy to understand. Still, the rice grains are directly attached to the board with ink, so it will have to be stored away if it rains. Anyway, he put up a makeshift mustache-marked banner with things like “Buy two and get one free” and “We also sell sake.”
There was a man staring suspiciously at him from the shadow of the street. He looked like a townsman who could be found anywhere, but he seemed to be watching Kyuurou. That’s because the man was a machikata doshin who witnessed the scene where a strange boy carrying a large tachi on his back was carrying an adult yesterday.
“That is a sword of considerable skill. There’s no way a soba shop boy could have it. In the first place, the only child in the soba shop should be Ofusa.”
He saw through it and was suspicious of Kyuurou. He was part of the famous twenty-four dozen or so in Edo’s doshin, and was a man called Sanyama Toshiro, nicknamed ‘Aotakari’.
He boasted that he knew all the children under the age of 13 among the million people living in Edo. His sexual tastes were perverted, but his skills were good, and he was so famous that the magistrate’s office had marked him.
Anyway, this man, who was genuinely concelled on the safety of edo’s children, was watching the strange little boy kyuurou with with with with with and a venomous stare .
“But what a strange thing to do, that guy. Is he planning to rebuild that super unpopular soba shop, the father of Ofusa’s, who is unknown in the store?”
He wondered with a gloomy face, “What’s the point?”
He had been to the green Mujina-tei several times. The point to him was that Ofusa served. He had pretty much covered all the stores where little boys and girls worked. He was rumored among merchants to be a well-paid childish hobbyist.
Despite such sexual tastes, he had twice been on the scene of a forced entry, had saved townspeople countless times from violent samurai, and had seriously performed his duties despite his low salary, so his reputation among the people was both good and bad…
On the other hand, Kyuurou, unaware of the gaze of the tsuge, muttered in front of the store with his arms crossed. “Well, I don’t have any paper to make a flyer. I’ll have to make an initial investment.” “Shall I negotiate with Rokunosuke…? No, Fusako will complain if I spend too much money from the store.”
There’s no point in watching. No, I love watching.
As an honorable and illustrious tsuge, Toshi proceeded calmly.
“Hey, boy.”
“Hmm.”
The boy who had been called and turned to Toshi looked dismayed for a moment, then smiled servilely with a business smile.
“What can I do for you?”
“I don’t know you, but are you an errand boy or something for Sano-ya?”
“Yes, I moved to Edo from the upper provinces. I came to live with my distant relative, Mr. Rokunosuke.”
“Did a boy like you come by yourself? That’s tough.”
He asked Kyuurou, who made a fuss like a cock, but Kyuurou began to talk about a setting he had made up as if it were natural.
When he had lost his way in a fantasy other world a few decades ago, he had a similar experience of hiding his origins from those around him, which he remembered, however faintly.
Kyuurou, who has experienced reality as stranger than fiction, knows that even if he tells the truth,
[Insane]
I realize that it is only thought to be.
“I see… my family was attacked by a raid, and I lost my family and drifted to Edo. You must have had a hard time.”
“Oh, no, Mr. Rokunosuke is a good man, and I’m glad I came.”
Toshi nodded as if he felt something for the made-up circumstances.
Thinking about it myself, I suddenly imagined the three men who had invaded the demon king’s castle, the barbarian warrior with millions of force, the summoner of the immortal bird killer, and the undead vampire with dark magic, breaking into the house, and it was so surreal that I almost burst out laughing. That group of people came in, or rather, they summoned a lot of birds that exploded for some reason, and the dark magic caused the material to collapse over a large area, and the 100-meter ghost club destroyed the ground facilities of the demon king’s castle instantly. I remembered how we were hiding in the underground facility, watching the footage, and shaking with the demon king, thinking, “What the hell is that…?”
“Hey, hey, boy, what’s wrong with you?”
“When it comes down to it, why is the anywhere door always broken when I need it the most…?”
“Did I remind you of something bad? Well”
Then, Ofusa, who had just opened the door of the store and was wearing a small sleeve, came out, so Toshi called out to her for the time being.
“Ofusa-chan, is the store open yet?”
“Hello, my little hobbyist.”
“Hahaha, when you say it so clearly, I suddenly want to commit suicide.”
“My teacher told me that the man is in the worst possible condition, so I wouldn’t talk to him as much as possible…well, that’s about it.”
“Well, I’ll have to talk to your teacher about it.”
He smiled grimly, chewing his rice.
Even the worst pedophiles are customers. He was also one of the few regulars, so he guided him into the store without a word.
The man who would now be called a prankster in modern times took Kyuurou’s hand, who was in a bad dream, and they sat down together.
“I’m buying. Eat some soba and cheer up, boy. Ofusa-chan, two soba.”
“Yes.”
He repeated the order in a loud voice and sent it to Rokunosuke in the kitchen. You don’t have to shout that loud, you can hear it in the store where there’s only one customer, but the freshness of a young girl doing her best at work,
“Unbearable…”
There was. I must call the police officer.
On the other hand, Kyuurou had a slightly brighter expression on his face because it had been a long time since he had eaten soba. Soba was not grown in another world, so the last time he ate it was before he went to another world… not exactly, but it was decades ago. For some reason, there were udon noodles. In another world, not only were they hand-made, but even noodle machines had been developed.
Mujina-tei’s green soba is a quick-to-eat noodle dish where boiled noodles are covered in warm sauce. However, since they also sell snacks and alcohol like a shop that sells uncut soba, the owner might not be that particular about it.
After a while, Ofusa arrived, unsteadily carrying a tray with two steaming bowls of soba. She rarely brings out two bowls at once, so she is a little clumsy with it.
Sano politely steps forward to offer help to assist Ofusa like a gentleman. However, when he slightly touches Ofusa’s hand, she quickly pulls out a letter (tissue paper used to blow her nose or wipe away dirt) and expressionlessly wipes where he touched. Although he maintains a smile, Kuyarou’s heart is hurting. Compared to when he was thrown into a guardhouse due to a misunderstanding and his former subordinate, a detective, yelled, “We’ll know if we investigate, you childish pervert,” this wound is shallow. Get pumped, Kuyarou.
Kuyarou puts aside his heart, which had become as dark as soba sauce, and looks at the bowl of soba placed before him. It was a light meal favored by the commoners of Edo, and the price is fixed at around 16 mon anywhere in Edo. In modern terms, it would cost around 200 to 300 yen, and it is a simple dish with green onions and fish cake.
He uses chopsticks to pick up the noodles. They are a bit soggy, but they have a strong buckwheat aroma. He smiles as he enjoys the scent that he hasn’t smelled in a long time.
Kuyarou slurps the noodles while coating them in the sauce. And then,
“Ugh, disgusting! What is this, it’s so gross!”
The corner of the tray that Ofusa swings with all her might hits Kuyarou’s head.