Chapter 65: The Torture of Being Dragged to a Sushi Restaurant When You Can’t Eat Fish

Conveyor belt sushi.

This is a kind of restaurant that’s become so pervasive that this is what commoners think of when they say say “let’s go eat sushi.” Then those who head towards one that doesn’t have a conveyor belt gets disparaged with “you damn bourgeois!”

Market value? What the heck is that, it sounds scary.

“But still, we are seriously bringing a former emperor and princess to conveyor sushi?”

“Calm down. Recently, even conveyor sushi has gotten to where you can’t look down on it just because it comes on a belt.”

The ones who’ve come to such a shop as a group is Adachi-kun and Yagira-kun. As well as some of the otherworlders.

As Adachi-kun says, whereas previously you can’t tell if the sushi on the belt has been sitting their for how many hours on end, nowadays there are barcodes and IC chips and whatnot to make it possible to maintain a high level of quality control.

Furthermore, there are even some newer stores where the only thing that is rotating are images, which you can order from and then a chef would make it immediately and send it to you via the belt.

…… Is there any point still to the conveyor belt?

“Umu. As Adachi says, this is also quite good. All the food in this country is delicious, but what’s great is that it is not only limited to the rich upper class, but that it is also this easily accessible to the commoners as well.”

“I agree. It’s to be expected for an extravagant place to offer delicious food, but even eateries in more rundown areas still offer proper food.”

The ones who are disregarding Yagira-kun’s concern and devouring sushi are the Fitzgald pair of Graios-san and Roman-san.

Despite looking like a foreigner from every which angle, that teacup suits Graios-san way too much. Exactly how much has he been assimilated into Japanese culture.

“Umm, can I ask the employees to not put wasabi in mine?”

“Ahh, you don’t have to ask, they put non-wasabi ones on the belt too. Which one would you like?”

In contrast, Shiina-san is apparently not so good with wasabi.

Incidentally, despite the general conception that foreigners are bad with wasabi, they are actually generally quite alright with it. There are even those who do the unbelievable act of spreading it inside sandwiches.

If you think of it as something like mustard then maybe you can see how it might be acceptable, but this author does not have the courage to try it personally.

If there is a hero who is willing to offer themselves as tribute, please report back how it went.

“So then. The reason why we’ve gathered with these members again is because there is something to report and discuss about in regards to the other world.”

“Hou. Has there been a significant change in the state of affairs over there?”

Yagira-kun dives into the conversation while grabbing a plate of ikura (salmon roe), which prompts Graios-san to respond with beer in hand.

“But before I begin, let me just say that this is information that Linbel-san told me she heard through Amaterasu-sama, so we don’t know how credible this is. So, for now, things in Fitzgald have settled down. The new emperor having proved himself reliable is definitely a factor, but it seems that part of the credit also goes the kid called Masato who got summoned. Apparently he’s going around the place and uncovering and taking down injustice. Well, he himself just thinks he’s being an adventurer, but for some reason he gets caught up in incidents pretty much wherever he goes.”

Apparently the summoned hero Masato-kun is completely protagonist-ing it up.

Getting caught up with incidents everywhere on his journey and taking down all the bad guys. Even Mito Koumon¹ would smile at that.

“Hou. So the hero that was summoned to subvert the Imperial family’s authority is actually helping to prop up my son’s reign. I’m sure the Church people are grinding their teeth in frustration.”

“In actuality, the influence of the Church within the court was indeed dropping. They tried to entrap the hero, but he was strangely sharp so all that did was to make him dislike them.”

Graios-san downs his beer with an amused face, while Roman-san dips his tamago (egg roll) in soy sauce as he nods in confirmation.

Come on, it’s fine to dip tamago in soy sauce. We’re Japanese (avatars of freedom) after all.

“Next, in regards to Galdeia in the south. The country has abruptly gotten much closer to Meldeia, which is making the other surrounding countries very nervous. But then again, as long as these two countries don’t initiate a war, then nothing major would be likely to happen.”

“Oh my. Onii-san was on such bad terms with Heinz-sama. I wonder what happened to prompt this change in attitude?”

Shiina-san expresses her surprise with a piece of hamachi (amberjack) in one hand, but the relationship between King Richard and Prince Heinz is actually one where they ‘get along so well that they can fight,’ so this development is only natural.

In the first place, the biggest reason why King Richard saw Prince Heinz as his archenemy was because the latter was going to take Shiina-san as his bride.

“And lastly, the west. The recently elected Maou is apparently also a Japanese.”

““…… Come again?””

The revelation from Yagira-kun causes all of the otherworlders to tilt their heads in bewilderment.

“New. Maou. Japanese.”

In turn, Yagira-kun for some reason repeats himself in single words. It did make it easier to understand, though.

“…… Did a Japanese slip into the ranks of the demon race?”

“No, that’s not it. Even I don’t know exactly what happened for things to become like this, but apparently the person got summoned as a member of the demon race and just became the Maou.”

“Isn’t that an issue on a level that makes all the accidents and kidnappings so far look like mere jokes in comparison?”

As Yagira-kun answers Shiina-san’s question while picking up a piece of kappa maki (cucumber sushi roll), Roman-san displays an unusually serious face.

But in contrast, Adachi-kun and Yagira-kun are optimistic about it.

“Well, it seems that the person in question has already come to terms with it. In fact, that person’s already got the entire demon race under an iron thumb and is reaching out to human countries to begin peace talks.”

“Why is it that so many who get summoned to that world turn out to be such capable people?”

Adachi-kun sounds impressed when he’s saying that, but for some reason it feels like those who got summoned are not so much capable as they are just eccentric.

But well, all Japanese are eccentric, so perhaps that couldn’t have been helped.

“Incidentally, that Maou has also recently become allied with Fitzgald.”

““HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?!””

Hearing their home country’s astonishing circumstance causes both the former emperor and ducal son to shout out in unison.

It’s mainly all Masato-kun’s fault.

“So, to sum it all up, the summoning of Japanese are generally going in a good (chaotic) direction.”

“It sure sounds like it. It’s heading towards a good (amusing) direction indeed.”

So the black(-bellied) fox and grey tanuki bring the report to a close while hiding their true thoughts.

Today, too, Japan is at peace.

¹Mito Koumon is the longest-running period drama on prime-time TV from 1969 to 2011, where the protagonist (a former vice-shogun) and his party travel around the lands. Each episode they discover a corrupt official/merchant/gangster, they investigate, which then erupts into a big fight before ending the arc by revealing his identity and passing judgment on the villain and setting things straight.