While I was slightly pressured by Blossom-san’s increasing excitement, I tried to somehow clear up her misunderstanding.
[No, Blossom-san, I’m not some Samurai Master……]
[I see. By the way, Samurai Master, are there any improvements you would like to recommend for my room or my garden? I’d love to hear your recommendations for those too!!!]
……Where the heck did your earlier “I see” go!? Ahh, this girl just won’t do. Just as Camellia-san said, her excitement was so high that she didn’t listen to anything I said.
[Errr, I’ll give you some advice about your room and garden, so please stop calling me Samurai Master.][Understood! So, “Master”, from a genuine otherworlder’s point of view, what areas do you think I need to improve on?]
……She certainly did stop. As per my request, she did stop calling me Samurai Master…… however, only the samurai part disappeared though!?
This won’t do. Her excitement has already gone through the roof, so it might be hard to get her to stop calling me that now. I guess I’ll answer Blossom-san’s question first……
But to be honest, I feel like Neun-san would have been a better advisor when it came to Japanese-style related matters. As for the stuff regarding samurais, I feel like Neun-san would only feel troubled when one asked her about it…… but I’m sure she’ll be a reliable advisor when it comes to matters regarding gardens and rooms.
[Anyhow, my impression is that this room is a little over-decorated…… I understand that you wanted to decorate it with various things, but there’s this aesthetic sense we call “wabi-sabi”…… You recognize beauty through humble simplicity, so I think it would be better if there was less clutter around.]
[Fumu fumu, I see! I learned a lot!!!]
She was taking notes with a very earnest expression on her face. At heart, she really is very earnest and straightforward…… but I do feel like her brakes are broken……[Also…… What’s with the word written on that scroll?]
[That was written by me after investigating how otherworlders write the word “samurai”!]
[……You wrote it wrongly.]
[Is that so!?]
The word she had written on the scroll isn’t samurai (侍), but wait (待). It would have been possible to change the word samurai to wait just by adding one stroke, but it would be impossible to change it the other way around.
When I showed her the correct kanji for samurai, Blossom-san clenched her fists, looking disappointed.
[As I had expected, books aren’t written in a day! I wanted to display a cool hanging scroll with otherworld’s words on it, but I couldn’t find anything being sold like that, so I made my own…… but I didn’t realize what I wrote was wrong! What a blunder!!!]
[Well, kanji are complicated even back in my world…… I just want to ask, does the hanging scroll necessarily need to have the word “samurai” on it?]
[No, it’s just that the word I knew was unique to the other world. It was also easy for me to investigate the word samurai.]
After confirming that Blossom-san wasn’t too fixated on the word “samurai”, I pulled out a scroll from my magic box.
[……This was written by an acquaintance of mine, but do you want it?]
[A- A scroll with some otherworld’s writing on it…… May I ask what it says?]
[Errr, wait a moment. I’ve also got a note about this scroll…… Errr, “facing a wall for nine years in meditation, which means to work tenaciously and persistently toward a single goal.]
(T/N: 面壁九年 / Menpekikunen)
[……T- That’s cool……]
Blossom-san’s eyes sparkled like a child’s as she looked at the scroll. It seemed like she liked it.
Incidentally, the scroll I took out was written by Neun-san. As for why I received such a thing, the story goes back to a few months after the Six Kings Festival.
Neun-san invited me to her room in Kuro’s castle to drink tea with her because she had gotten some delicious teacakes, and there she asked me for some advice.
It was about Neun-san not having a job back then and how she basically earned her money from the allowance Kuro gave her and the rewards she got when she helped her family with their work.
However, Neun-san wanted to change this situation and somehow earn an income for herself…… The problem here was that Neun-san was the First Hero, someone famous throughout the world, having many theories centered about her, which included theories about her death and survival.
It was difficult for her to even join a trading company. Neun-san herself wasn’t very good at Recognition Inhibition Magic, so she was wondering what to do about the matter. The number of jobs she could do were limited.
At that time, I happened to learn that Neun-san enjoyed calligraphy, so I suggested that hanging scrolls and the like might sell well.
In fact, it seemed like there were many people like Blossom-san in this world who were interested in the culture of the other world, and sales have been pretty steady.
Incidentally, I bought this hanging scroll because I heard that a store in Symphonia Kingdom was also selling Neun-san’s scrolls. Well, I didn’t know the meaning of this four-character phrase written on it, so I asked Neun-san……
[W- W- W- Would it be alright for me to receive such an excellent item!?]
[Yes, I mean…… These are sold to the general public, and there are many other varieties of this scroll being sold as well.]
[Really!? W- Where in the world did you find such a wonderful product……]
[I’ll let you know when they sell these again.]
In fact, Blossom-san and Neun-san seemed to be a good match for each other, as they were both very interested in Japanese culture. I feel like they would become good tea-drinking companions.
I’ll talk to Neun-san about this when the opportunity arises and introduce them to one another some other time.
<Afterword>
Serious-senpai : [A shocking fact unveiled. Before one knew it, the First Hero stopped being a NEET……]
