Chapter 429 S-so, You Want That?
Since Kishar-sama wanted to browse the site, I tapped on the tab on a famous cosmetic brand and let her look to her heart’s content.
After some time, Kishar-sama’s fascinated voice said, “Here I thought I had studied a lot on the subject of Earth’s beauty products. However, it looks like the topic of beauty is even deeper than I had thought.”
“Ah, huh,” I said. Not really paying attention but knowing that she wanted a response of some sort.
“We could see into other worlds through our divine powers. I have been looking at beauty products that could be found in a typical Japanese drugstore. I have also listened in on the people there talking about skincare and learned a lot.”
“… I see,”
“Your world even has books on beauty. With pages dedicated to many beauty-related skin care and make-up. Unfortunately, I cannot take these books, but I have looked through them and found them really helpful~”
“Uh huh,” I said again.
“My goodness~ the number of things, the choices! Hmm, hmm, after much thought, I believe I would like to look at them again~”
Finally.
“This one, I have seen this one featured in the beauty books. It has many good remarks. The oil is good for the skin, firms up the flesh and reduces noticeable wrinkles. What a great wonder!”
The product indicated by Kishar-sama came in a pink bottle.
“Naturally, the price is very attractive too!”
That… is a matter of opinion, but I digress. Anyway, since she had done her research, who am I to comment?
“Oh, but then there’s this cream too. Rich with nutrients and effective against sagging skin, increases firmness and elasticity!”
I can totally tell when she’s reciting from a product description.
“Why not buy both?” I suggested. The first product cost 6 silver and 5 copper coins, while the cream was 1 gold coin. It’s all within the budget of 4 gold coins. [8] It should be 2 gold coins since I have already given them half of the stuff earlier, but I decided to reset the 4 weeks and give them offerings according to the 4 gold budget instead. This way, I’ll buy myself another four weeks before the next offering
“I supposed… but I want to look at other things too. Hmm, but I supposed the things we could get at drugstores are pretty limited.”
Limited? Didn’t you just say that the number of beauty products at the drugstore is overwhelming?
[9]
“Oh, according to the beauty books, there are incredible beauty products from countries like France and Switzerland…”
Ah, overseas products.
“I read that it could only be bought from DepaCosu…”
Wait, DepaCosu? As in, Department Store Cosmetics?
Woah, I only know about stuff like this because my sister insisted on getting something from the DepaCosu for her birthday each year. These upmarket products are way above drugstore goods.
“Way above? Then, is it possible…”
“Ahem, unfortunately, we only have Matsumura Kiyomi and the Net Super…” there is no way I’m telling her that I saw a few DepaCosu brand names on the list. There was this branded lotion that cost me 10,000 yen, which my sister made me buy for her. Kishar-sama’s 4 gold budget would barely cover even one item from those brands.
I don’t know what I’d do if she finds out about that page. [5c]
Instead, I just humoured her and kept opening pages on things she wanted to look at. [5a]
We looked at a lot of skincare products, but in fact, the drugstore has things like cosmetics too. After a while, I decided to ask her.
“What about things like foundations and lipsticks?”
My sister not only has a huge collection of creams, lotions and serums, but she also has loads of eyeshadow, foundation, blush, lip colour, eyebrow pencils etc.
“Hmm, it’s not that I’m not interested in those. It’s best to have beautiful skin first. If I look at those, I’d probably run out of budget. Perhaps I’ll look at some lipstick and nail polish later. I really enjoy looking at the many ways the ladies in your world paint their nails. The designs are so intricate and fascinating.”
Personally, I see no reason why anyone would want to do their nails so nicely. I mean, it’s nice to look at but it does get in the way of cooking. [5]
“So, what else would you like to see next?”
“Fufufu, show me the ST-III! [10] [5b] Thank you for telling me about them.”
“Oh, er, okay.” that’s right. These gods and goddesses could read minds. What was I thinking?
“Don’t worry too much about it, I already know about this brand from the beauty books~ [5c]”
Ah well, I guess the game is up.
“Hm, these prices are certainly…”
I know exactly how you feel. A single 230ml bottle cost 22,000 yen plus tax. The price is etched forever into my mind because my sister begged me to buy one for her. The one at Matsumura Kiyomi is slightly cheaper at 2 gold 1 silver coins, about 21,000 yen. Also, there was no need to pay tax. Ah, I still remember that time when I clutched the little pricey bag close to my chest, desperately afraid that I would drop the stupid thing and lose 22,000 yen in one go…
“Right! This one! I must have it!”
It was the 230ml 2g1s ST-III lotion.
“Y-you’re sure?”
“Yes!”
Right…
“This one too!”
“The ST-III Milky Lotion?”
[5c] “It’s in all the beauty books I had seen, so yes!” [5c]
“Well, that’s 3g7s out of your 4 gold budget.”
“Uuuh, nail polish!”
I let her choose from the slightly higher-end nail polish. In the end, she picked out pink, red and beige nail polish along with a bottle of polish remover.
That was it.
“Kyaa~! It’s here! I’ve always wanted to try this ST-III! Thank you so very much~ Let’s meet again soon~”
Well, at least someone’s happy.
When it was clear that she was gone, I switched the tabs to Tanaka’s liquor store.
Time to get Demiurgos-sama’s offering.
He always leaves it to me to get his offering, and I really like the feeling of choosing something like a gift for the God of Creation. It is more pleasant than feeling like the guy behind the counter at a convenience store.
Hmm, since I have received all sorts of treasures from the dungeon, I should give him something a little more luxurious in return.
Today, the recommendation section of Tanaka’s Liquor Store included a set of 6-bottle of Junmai Daiginjo, and a 5-bottle set of prize-winning sake.
I also picked out 3 bottles of plum wines. The first one was made with fully ripe plums, the second made with brown sugar sochu, and the third was a type of unrefined plum wine blended with ripe plum pulp.
What the heck, let’s also get a tasting set of 3 whisky-based plum wines.
All the liquor was locally produced in Japan.
To go with the drinks, I prepared a few sets of Gigantic Minotaur Sukiyaki as well, since Demiurgos-sama appeared to enjoy hotpot-based food.
As soon as everything was ready, I put my hands together and prayed, “Demiurgos-sama, please accept this.”
“Fuoh fuoh fuoh, thank you once again. Oh my, you’ve prepared a lot this time,”
“That’s because thanks to your oracle, I received many treasures from the 20th Floor.”
“Well, thank you for the offering. Still, Kishar was a bit of a troublemaker today, isn’t she? I have already forbidden them from troubling and yet… Perhaps I need to scold her once more?”
“No, no, no, it’s fine, Kishar-sama is just a little over-excited by the long-awaited drugstore. I totally get her feelings. Haha.”
“I see,”
“Ahem, well, if she does it again, please feel free to scold her. Otherwise, it would be quite problematic for me.”
“Fuoh fuoh fuoh, is that so? Very well, I shall keep a strict eye on that goddess!”
“Hehe, thank you~”
“Fuoh fuoh fuoh. Well, I shall be seeing you~”
Phew, well, that’s over for now.
As for Kishar-sama, she gets one pass in view of her usual restraint and totally understandable excitement over the drugstore. Demiurgos-sama already promised that he will rein her in if she makes trouble for me.
“Right, now that that’s over with, let’s go to bed.”
[Gumihou: Some details added were probably the author own experience with Department Store Cosmetics. Still, over 200 words were taken out of the overall chapter, not counting scenes that had been written over]
[1] Structural Change: Combine 2 paragraphs
[2] Structural Change: Combine 3 paragraphs
[3] Structural Change: Combine paragraph & dialogue
[4] Structural Change: Change passive sentence to dialogue
[5] Delete Repetitive or Pointless Information… starting to delete pointless scenes now
[a] Deleted excessive ‘xx product firms up skin’ whatever.
[b] Deleted scene where Mukouda was surprised about Kishar reading his mind the entire stammering scene that follows. I think it was meant to be funny? It’s mostly awkward.
[c] Deleted scenes re drugstore prices vs DepaCosu prices. Since one is in yen and the other is in coins etc
[6] Additional Information for Aesthetic Purpose
[7] Add Dialogue Tag
[8] Creative Licence – fix continuity error. Author appeared to have forgotten that they had already spent 2 gold for the 2 week thing earlier.
[9] デパコス – DepaCosu is a shortened term for ‘Department Store Cosmetics’. The original text went on to talk about his sister and having to purchase from the counter etc, which, dull. So, Gumi incorporated the DepaCosu explanation into the chapter instead.
[10] ST-III is clearly – SKII, lol
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