IWBTP 05

Chapter 5

Catalog Shopping Unlocked

When we arrived at Grandfather’s mansion, I froze with my mouth hanging open.

It was huge.

No, “huge” didn’t even begin to describe it.

Standing before us was a magnificent white mansion.

A vast garden. A fountain. Beautifully maintained flower beds.

More than anything, the building itself was enormous.

When the carriage stopped in front of the entrance, several people came out of the mansion.

Grandmother, Uncle, and Aunt Eleanor were waiting for us.

“Rainid!”

“Grandmother!”

Grandmother immediately hugged me.

“I-I can’t breathe.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I was just so happy that you finally came.”

“Uncle, too!”

“Ah, it’s been since the Skill Bestowal Ceremony, Rainid.”

“You came back ahead of us?”

“We had to prepare for your arrival. I returned a little before Father.”

“For me?”

“Of course. This is your home from today onward.”

“My home…”

“That’s right. So you don’t need to hold back.”

Beside him, Aunt Eleanor looked at me, and for just a moment, she seemed as though she might cry.

But she quickly smiled warmly.

“I’ve wanted to see you for so long, little Rainid.”

“Me?”

“Yes. Welcome home.”

“I’m home?”

Everyone welcomed us warmly.

But when I entered the mansion, I was even more surprised.

It was spacious.

Wasn’t this entrance hall alone bigger than the place we’d lived in?

The hall itself, you know? Do you understand?

“Hey, Mother?”

“What is it?”

Mother looked at me curiously as I tilted my head.

“Isn’t Grandfather’s mansion bigger than the royal palace we lived in?”

The moment I said that, both Mother and Grandfather fell silent.

Why?

“Huh? Did I say something strange?”

After a while, Mother sighed.

“Rainid, you’re only noticing now? That place was a warehouse. The caretaker’s quarters in that warehouse were our rooms.”

Mother shrugged as though she couldn’t believe me.

“…Huh?”

I froze.

A warehouse?

The caretaker’s quarters?

We were members of the royal family, right?

I was a prince, wasn’t I?

Uncle turned toward Mother with a frightening expression.

“Lillis. Did you really live there?”

“Yes.”

“What I heard wasn’t nearly as bad as the reality!”

Mother casually replied,

“It turned out fine because it was harder for them to harass us there.”

“That isn’t fine! You’re royalty! And yet!”

“Brother, when you say ‘harass,’ they could only interfere with things like our meals and ingredients.”

“That’s still terrible enough!”

Uncle was furious.

It made me happy that he was this angry on our behalf.

“But Rainid built a vegetable garden and a greenhouse, so it stopped mattering.”

That was true.

Back then, the vegetables we received were often wilted.

Sometimes I could even see a black haze around certain food and ingredients.

So that’s what Danger Prediction had been.

I couldn’t bring myself to eat anything surrounded by that black haze.

And I didn’t want to worry Mother, so I secretly threw those things away without telling her.

That was what finally convinced me to grow our own food.

I built a vegetable garden.

And I even built a greenhouse so we could grow vegetables during winter.

We didn’t have enough eggs, so I raised chickens too.

Looking back, that wasn’t exactly something a prince should have been doing.

“Father also brought us meat.”

“Thank you, Grandfather.”

“Hmm.”

Grandfather nodded with a complicated expression.

Apparently, we’d been treated even worse than I’d realized.

The royal palace was scary.

Being expelled really had been the right choice.

Once we were shown into the mansion’s drawing room, Mother immediately leaned forward.

“More importantly, Rainid.”

“More importantly? Yes?”

“Your skills.”

Here we go.

Everyone was intensely curious.

Grandfather.

Grandmother.

Uncle.

Aunt Eleanor.

Butler Evans.

And Commander Sieghart.

Every single one of them was looking at me.

“The High Priest couldn’t understand your skills either,” Mother said.

“Explain them to us.”

Heh heh heh.

Leave it to me.

I puffed out my chest.

“First, Catalog Shopping!”

I concentrated my mind.

Then, with a soft flutter, a thick book appeared before me.

“Oh!”

Everyone gasped.

“A book appeared.”

“Is it a magical tool?”

“No.”

I puffed out my chest.

“It’s a skill!”

The cover was labeled Food Products.

“It looks like a catalog for food.”

Apparently, there were catalogs for food, clothing, daily necessities, tools, and all sorts of other things.

I flipped through the pages of the food catalog.

It was exactly what you’d expect from catalog shopping.

Meat.

Fish.

Vegetables.

Fruit.

Seasonings.

Snacks…

“Oh!”

Snacks!

And then—

Ice cream!

There was ice cream!

I wanted some.

I wanted it desperately.

“I’ll buy this!”

But the balance displayed on the catalog was zero.

“…”

I couldn’t buy anything.

How sad.

This was truly a shobon moment.

“Mooother…”

“What is it?”

“Give me some pocket money.”

Everyone burst out laughing.

“So that’s what you wanted first.”

Mother looked exasperated.

But what else could I do?

I had no balance.

“Do I put money into it?”

“Who knows?”

Then Mother took off her ring.

“Let’s try this.”

“Huh?”

“Something I don’t need.”

It was the wedding ring she’d received from the king.

“Mother?”

“It’s unnecessary.”

Without hesitation, Mother tossed it into the catalog.

The ring was sucked inside.

And then…

The balance on the catalog changed.

I froze.

“Huh?”

The number of digits was ridiculous.

The amount of money displayed was enormous.

“Mother, isn’t this ring extremely valuable?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“I never cared about it. And I have no attachment to it.”

Mother was strong.

Very strong.

“More importantly, can you buy things now?”

“Yes. I can buy plenty.”

“Then let’s buy some.”

Yes!

I could buy ice cream!

Everyone leaned forward.

It had completely turned into a home-shopping program.

I purchased the ice cream.

Pop.

It appeared on the table.

“Ooooooh!”

Everyone erupted in cheers.

“What is this?”

“Ice cream.”

“It’s food?”

“A cold sweet.”

“A cold sweet?”

Apparently, they couldn’t comprehend the concept.

I handed some to everyone.

First, Mother.

She took one bite.

Then froze.

“…”

“Mother?”

“Delicious.”

Next was Grandmother.

“My!”

Then Aunt Eleanor.

“What is this?!”

Grandfather.

“It’s cold!”

Uncle.

“It’s sweet!”

Everyone was making a huge commotion.

It was supposed to be my snack.

“Rainid.”

“Yes?”

“Buy them all.”

I couldn’t refuse.

In the end, they made me purchase every flavor of ice cream.

And after eating the ice cream, everyone started asking,

“What else is there?”

“There are other things too.”

I tried summoning the catalog again.

For women, it would probably be cosmetics.

Cosmetics.

Daily necessities.

Tools.

Gardening supplies.

Emergency supplies.

Camping equipment.

“So many things.”

And then, the next moment—

The Catalog War began.

There wasn’t just one catalog, so I handed everyone whichever catalog interested them.

“What is this clothing?”

“It says it’s skin lotion!”

“There are seeds too!”

“There are farming tools!”

“Preserved food?!”

“Could this be used as military rations?”

Useful items were discovered one after another.

It had completely turned into a festival.

I was exhausted.

After all, I’m five years old.

I’d gotten to eat ice cream in another world, so I was satisfied.

Very satisfied.

And I was sleepy.

Extremely sleepy.

“Mother.”

“What?”

“I’m sleepy.”

“We haven’t finished the explanation yet.”

“We’re only on the first page.”

Everyone froze.

That’s right.

We were still on the first page.

There were mountains of catalogs.

I collapsed onto the sofa.

“If there’s anything you want, write it down on this paper.”

“Can you buy it?”

“Probably.”

“What about money?”

“We still have quite a lot left from the ring. Can’t we just put in unwanted things to add more balance?”

Everyone’s eyes lit up.

Scary.

“Oh, right. I forgot to explain Hyakkin and Alchemy.”

“Tomorrow is fine.”

“Yaaay.”

I quietly closed my eyes.

◇◇◇

After Rainid fell asleep, the adults quietly examined the catalogs.

“This is incredible.”

Grandfather muttered.

“It’s a good thing the royal family didn’t find out about this.”

“Indeed.”

Lillis nodded.

“Even the Space attribute alone is beyond extraordinary.”

“And he possesses four attributes.”

“Not to mention that he can see his own status. I still can’t believe it.”

It was completely outside the realm of common sense.

Commander Sieghart also became serious.

“My lord.”

“What is it?”

“This skill might be able to solve our military-rations problem.”

Everyone’s expressions changed.

The most important thing on the frontier was supplies.

This skill could overturn that common sense entirely.

Butler Evans nodded as well.

“Please look at these.”

Preserved food.

Medicine.

Seeds.

Tools.

Daily necessities.

Even clothing.

“This is on the level of a state secret.”

No one disagreed.

Then Lillis grinned.

“And he has the Space attribute.”

“Indeed.”

“We have to teach him magic thoroughly.”

Rainid’s uncle, Keilrich, smiled wryly.

“Rainid won’t like that.”

“Don’t worry.”

“How exactly is that supposed to reassure me?”

“I’ll take him out to subjugate magical beasts eventually.”

“He’ll definitely run away.”

Everyone nodded.

Then their gazes turned toward the sofa.

There, Rainid was sleeping peacefully while hugging a strangely shaped cushion.

“Zzz…”

“When did he buy that?”

Rainid himself didn’t know yet.

He had no idea that his skills would go on to dramatically change this northern territory.

Unaware of any of that, Rainid hugged the cushion tightly and slept soundly.