ch61-ch80 · 069-inter9

Interlude: The Old Man's Financial Affairs

It came abruptly, without warning. And yet, most certainly.

Something that tormented the middle-aged man who had returned from another world, utterly and completely.

He learned of it by pure coincidence.

"F-final... tax return...?"

It started when Sai's father told him, "Come to think of it, Saito. How did your first tax return go?"

These days, because of Hexaria, Sai didn't visit his parents at his sister's house as often.

Still, it wasn't like communication had stopped, and since they lived nearby, they talked now and then.

It was in the middle of one such conversation that this topic came up.

Come to think of it.

It wasn't that he'd been too busy — what with the Hexaria situation, and the Shadow-Eating Demon King subjugation, the days since the new year had been hectic. No, that wasn't it. The truth was, he hadn't even understood what a "tax return" was in the first place. He hadn't even known he was required to file one.

That said, was there really anyone he could consult about tax returns?

Sai's father was a former company employee. Even now, after retirement age, he still worked — but whether he could help with an adventurer's tax return was, honestly, a different story.

The other world's sage. The High Elf hailed as the "Great Mage" in the modern world — she only grinned as Sai floundered in panic. Probably, if he sincerely begged for help, she'd lend a hand. But the thought of a Japanese person being taught how to file taxes by someone from another world... how was that supposed to look?

The rookie adventurers Sai taught were all far too young. Some were still minors.

They'd surely help if he asked.

But honestly, that would be way too pathetic.

The moment they asked, "How have you been managing until now?" he'd be done for.

The fact that he'd spent thirty years in another world was something only a limited number of people knew about.

After much deliberation, he decided to consult the father of an adventurer who'd recently left the nest.

A man well-versed in these kinds of circumstances. Hiyori's father — Ichijō Hayato. Sai decided to talk to him.

"I understand the situation. I'll send a tax accountant I'm well acquainted with."

Hayato's response was swift.

For a man who was useless only when it came to direct combat and being a doting father, he was truly capable in everything else.

"Tax... accountant?"

Sai, who hadn't been in Japan for thirty years, found the word completely foreign to him.

Of course, there were beings similar to tax accountants in the other world.

But Sai had lived his whole life without ever knowing a word like "tax accountant" in Japanese.

◇

What tormented Sai the most came after that.

He was now sitting in front of a PC, opening Tower Tube, staring at his own stream.

A memo pad in hand.

Watching at double speed, he glared at the monitor.

"...One intermediate recovery potion used here. The date is..."

His eyes were glazed over. The sight of him endlessly muttering to himself left his partner, the High Elf, utterly exasperated.

"What are you doing?"

"...What am I doing, indeed."

A profoundly melancholy remark, dripping with the pathos of a middle-aged man in his forties, slipped out.

Now then. Everything obtainable in Shinjuku Tower is treated as a special resource, managed and registered by the government. Unreported trading is prohibited.

As such, buying and selling is conducted through the Adventurer's Guild as a rule.

That said, there's no way to track every single potion or magic stone obtained. Especially the low-grade recovery potions found on floors ten and below — it's simply impossible to manage them all. Apparently, some are traded under the table.

And Sai — this man — was a veteran adventurer who'd spent thirty years in another world.

In a certain sense, it was only natural that he had a general handle on what he'd obtained during a day's adventure, and he wrote reports as needed.

But "general" was the operative word. He didn't keep track in detail.

If he only wanted to know the quantities, he could just check the stock of potions he had on hand. But that's where a major problem arose.

To reiterate: Sai was a veteran adventurer from another world.

He also had potions he'd brought over from the other world.

Those made in the other world and those obtained in Shinjuku Tower somehow had the same effects. Thanks to his Item Box magic, he kept these recovery potions stocked by the case.

And when this man saw an adventurer in trouble, he'd use a recovery potion without hesitation.

Depending on the situation, he'd use high-grade or intermediate potions without a second thought.

This wasn't the time to be acting cool, saying things like, "Someday, when you find someone in trouble, use it on them."

The problem was, he'd never bothered to check whether the recovery potions he used that way were from Shinjuku Tower or the other world.

As a result, his current inventory wouldn't add up, and he was in anguish.

The amount he had, the amount he used, the amount he sold. No matter how he crunched the numbers, they didn't match.

In other words, there was an error somewhere.

If at least the bottles had looked different, it might've helped, but both Shinjuku Tower potions and other-world potions came in all sorts of shapes. They were indistinguishable.

The only way to tell them apart was by color and consistency.

He explained to his partner, while holding his head, that he was checking the streams to count how many he'd obtained. Upon hearing this, she looked at him with half-closed eyes.

"Hey. Don't tell me you're actually counting only what you got this year?"

"Ah... aaaaah!"

His reliable partner was the other world's sage.

...What a waste of a sage's talents.

◇

Let's talk a little about Sai's financial situation here.

His wallet was doing quite well.

No, more than well — it was overflowing.

Ever since coming to Japan.

First, he'd turned the gold coins he brought from the other world into ingots and cashed them in.

It was a considerable sum, but he'd used it to renovate his grandfather's former factory into his current home.

His adventurer work in Shinjuku Tower had been padding his wallet quite nicely.

Depending on the situation, he'd sell or stock various potions, but all the magic stones, equipment, and drops he obtained were sold to the Adventurer's Guild.

These added up to a pretty significant amount, keeping Sai's wallet comfortably warm.

Then there was his instruction of rookie adventurers.

Truth be told, he didn't charge much for that.

He took a token amount to keep up appearances, but it was negligible.

Back in the other world, Sai had learned all sorts of things from senior adventurers.

And he'd never been charged money for it.

Among adventurers in the other world, it was a give-and-take relationship.

Not about paying money — if you were taught, you were expected to fight alongside them on the front lines and complete quests.

Conversely, it was the spirit of "we don't teach those who don't fight."

In the other world, where monsters had to be taken down constantly, what was more sought after than money was having as many capable adventurer comrades as possible.

Since Sai himself had been taught that way for free, he felt he couldn't charge money to those who dreamed of becoming adventurers. That was his reasoning. But Hiyori and Mio, and later Soma and the others, pointed it out, and he eventually started accepting lesson fees.

The price was roughly the same as the standard rate for an average adventurer instructor.

Next up — demon-related income.

This was the craziest part.

The compensation from the previous Shinjuku Majin Frontline incident was an astronomical sum.

The Majin subjugation fee, the rental fees for the accessories he'd lent to Hiyori and Mio.

And the costs of the high-grade recovery potions he'd used, among other things.

The Exorcist Alliance and Hayato were very meticulous about these matters.

The compensation Hayato presented was an amount that had Sai flustered.

Even when Sai said, "I can't accept this much," they wouldn't listen, and he remembered feeling extremely awkward.

Rather, Hayato had explained at length exactly why the price was what it was.

And so, Sai received compensation on the level of building a modest mansion.

By Sai's standards, it was even more than the reward he'd received for slaying an evil dragon in the other world.

In contrast, his expenses were quite low.

It wasn't that he was frugal, but his daily living costs were trivial, and he didn't spend money on entertainment. He drank alcohol, but that was about it.

The expenses for his Shinjuku Tower adventures were also minimal.

At first, he'd bought equipment and recovery potions, but lately, he hadn't been purchasing much of anything. The only recurring expenses were probably his travel fare to Shinjuku Tower and food costs.

So, what was the result?

Through this tax return, a whole lot of money from Sai's wallet said goodbye.

The tax accountant sent from the Exorcist Alliance through Hayato's introduction provided thorough support — it was a huge help — but even so, there were limits. For starters, filing a tax return in April was already a loss.

Normally, it was supposed to be done by mid-March. Considering it was his first time and it wasn't intentional tax evasion, getting off with a light penalty was, in a sense, fortunate.

And so, Sai's — the veteran adventurer's — utterly miserable tax return came to an end.

Sai's subsequent remark said everything about his ordeal.

"I think this year I'm gonna buy a bunch of stuff I can write off. Oh, and hometown tax donations."

...How miserly.

Adventuring might be a job with dreams, but Japan has its own rules.

And since Sai was a modern Japanese person, he intended to follow those rules.

But for the time being, Sai just didn't want to think about taxes.

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Thank you for reading.