Profession, Merchant Volume 11 Chapter 6 (Patreon)

Chapter 6 – Penis Merchant VI

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With the turbulence over and my seatbelt fixed, it wasn’t until the following afternoon that the magic plane was able to take off from the coagulated cloud.


This time, at my request, the pilot eased up on the speed, and my newly reattached seatbelt didn’t snap any more.


After a few hours’ flight, it came into view.


“Look! It’s Hermes.”


The pilot pointed to a huge coagulated cloud visible just below the cockpit.


It was nothing compared to the tiny coagulated cloud we landed on yesterday.


A whole country was on top of it.


The cloud is made up of many layers, with a large castle and tall towers built on top of the highest ones, which can be seen from a great distance.


The area below the castle is even more spectacular.


Countless houses can be seen in detail, with carpet-like fields being cultivated on the outside.


“Amazing.”


Maybe because all this is being conducted above the clouds?


I felt a fluffy rise in my chest.


“We’re going to decrease in altitude, so hold on tight.”


The plane descends in altitude towards the runway set up in the lowest layer of clouds.


The magic ores inside the plane flickered, and the sounds even made a strange roar as it landed.


Landing successful.


“That was a good landing.”


“Of course it is. Who do you think I am?”


As she stepped out of the plane, the female pilot took off the top half of her jacket, which revealed her tank top again.


Sweat splashes as her necklace clinks, which reminded me of her ‘pampering’ yesterday.


But even though this was the case, there was indeed the appearance of a reliable pilot in her, looking at her confident stature alone.


The taut muscles in her arms, for example, were a sight to behold and a testament to the fiery passion she had for this machine.


“Hey, when should I pick you up?”


“I don’t know. Heck, maybe I won’t need a return trip.”


“What? You’re going to live here?”


“Well, it might happen, and even if it doesn’t, I can’t ask you to pick me up. The truth is, I’m short of money. So I might have to use this for the way back.”


I patted my backpack as I said this.


“What is it?”


“It’s a parachute.”


“Pa-…”


The female pilot’s eyes widened in anger.


“That’s too dangerous!”


“Really? It’s a parachute specially made by your granddad, you know?”


“You really don’t understand anything, do you?”


The female pilot shakes her head and sighs.


“Look. You’re right. The parachute he makes is very good. I bet you could jump out of Hermes and not fall to your death with that alone.”


“So? What’s the problem?”


“The problem is that if you jump from a place like this, the wind will carry you away, and you won’t know where you’re going to end up. The most likely place would be the sea.”


I see. Even if you don’t fall to your death, if you fall into the middle of the sea, you will drown or be eaten alive by sea monsters.


“So keep this with you.”


She handed me something like a whistle.


I tried blowing it with my breath.


But no sound came out.


“Hey! Too loud!”


“What happened?”


“That whistle is enchanted with sound magic, a sound magic that only I can hear. It’s like an exclusive dog whistle but only for me, which I can hear wherever I am. If there’s an emergency, just blow it. I’ll fly across the continent for you.”


“But I don’t have any money.”


“Then I’ll put it on your tab in the meantime. So that if you’re in danger, you won’t need to hesitate.”


She told me that, but honestly, there may not be any hope that I can pay it later.


Especially if I can’t get the Princess of Hermes as a wife.


After all, I can’t get in touch with my ships, and I’ve even borrowed money from silver-rimmed to get here.


To sum it up, I can’t rely on her at all, as it would be like scamming her straight up if I ask her to pay the bill for me when I have no chance of paying it.


But it looked like she wasn’t going to be convinced even if I explained such logic to her.


“Alright.”


So, instead of insisting, I gave her a kiss.


The female pilot almost lost her footing but quickly recovered, and before I knew it, she had regained her lively pilot’s appearance before climbing into the magic plane.


“Alright, I’m off. I’ll let you feel my boobs if we meet again, so don’t hesitate to call me, okay?”


“Yeah.”


The plane took off and got smaller in the distance.


The high altitude, cold wind blew against my saliva-covered lips, moistened by the kiss.


◇◆◇


Now, this Hermes above the clouds.


This country may seem spectacular from a distance, but once you land on its surface, it’s nothing special.


It is an ordinary country, through and through.


The fact that a normal country is above the clouds is impressive, but once I actually stood on its soil…err, land cloud, err surface, whatever the proper term is, and stopped being conscious of the view above, the amazement factor gradually dissipated.


But even though I am no longer amazed this time, I am impressed.


If you climb the stairs of the clouds from the lowest level, where the runway is, to the top, you will see a vast area… clouds spread out like plowed fields, with a main road running through them.


As I went along the road, I could see people tilling the cloud, doing civil construction work, laying roads, and and even people actively making a living in industry and commerce. When I called out to them, a couple of times they would respond in a cheerful manner.


Yes, this is it.


The prime example of Galapagosization. Or Galapagos Syndrome.


I heard it was a term coined in stories in another world, where a certain island named Galapagos was so isolated that they have undergone completely different evolutionary adaptations, and if they were introduced to other things foreign to them, like smoke or machines or something unnatural, they wouldn’t be able to adapt and will quickly die out and vice versa.


Nowadays, the term is used by merchants in my country to describe goods that are hyper-niche to our country and which you won’t be able to sell in other countries because they have characteristics that are completely adapted to the use and culture of our country – which people from different countries would find useless or unnecessary.


I said that the country is Galapagosized because it is literally separated from the rest of the world by the sky.


But the deciding factor is unlike people underneath, the people in this Galapagosized country are so honest and pleasant that you’ll either find them gullible or repulsive, depending on your preference.


They don’t feel awkward, and they open up intrinsically. Almost that if a bastard crooked merchant is introduced to them, he would undoubtedly have a field day scamming them.


Then again, if my homeland had been in the sky, it might have been a bit better.


Or rather, was this heaven in the literal sense, and the land below me is hell?


That’s what I thought at first, but as I moved closer to the center of the country, it became more and more urbanized, and it started to get noisy.


I see. Even if an island is Galapagosized, it is still an island of people, I guess.


And when there are people, there is a community, and if there is a community, there is an internal discord.


The internal discord here is, of course, the kingdom’s search for the princess’s bridegroom.


A castle towering over a huge tower. That’s where the princess lives.


And in front of its main gate, which was the only entrance, there was a long line of bastards standing and waiting, which appeared to be candidates to take the princess’s hand.


 

Author’s Notes:

The continuation of this story may be slow, but I want to say that I’m fully determined to finish “The Penis Merchant” volume, and I’m slowly working my way through it, so please stay tuned.

 

Translator’s Notes

There’s no continuation of this story, at least not at the moment, so don’t get your hopes up, especially since the novel hasn’t been updated for five(5) years since this note was written. The last update was on the 10th of October 2018, and even with the light novel adaptation coming out a year later, there’s still nothing. I even checked the light novels to see if he continued part 2 in the light novel version, but to my surprise, the entire volume 11 (the Penis Merchant chapters) was not included at all, as if it had been completely skipped entirely.


The next volume is the continuation of the extra stories (volume 10, where the merchant and the priestess are stranded on the island), though from other character’s perspectives this time.


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