Starting Today, I’ll Work as a City Lord - Chapter 123: The Commoners That Ran Away

The group of merchants lined up, but as soon as they did, the commoners all ran away.

“Oh ya? These commoners are quite good. They actually know they let us go first.”

“Indeed. The commoners in the kingdom needed us to make them go away.”

The merchants originally didn’t want to line up, but unfortunately for them, Buff was staring at them, and they didn’t dare to be arrogant in someone else’s territory. Besides, they weren’t nobles, just merchants. If they provoke the noble in this territory, they might not have to die with their connections, but they would still have to pay a large amount of money, which was something that they didn’t want.

How could Buff not keep an eye on them? Not only did the merchants not know what to do, some of them even intended to spit, which wasn’t something that he could tolerate.

Buff had spat just the previous day, but his grandson saw it and lectured him, saying that educated people should be able to control themselves and that Weya had taught them that spitting was unhygienic.

After being lectured by his grandson, Buff needed to lecture someone else and be an educated, self-controlling person.

Unfortunately for him, the merchants were all quick-witted. Before doing anything, they would glance around first to see if there were hints that they weren’t allowed to do certain things. They saw the sign saying that spitting on the ground was not allowed, so they swallowed their saliva. They even grinned at Buff. Buff froze because of his preconceived notion that the merchants would do something unacceptable.

After all, the citizens of West Sun City just spat whenever they wanted- they just restrained themselves slightly after being lectured by their children.

Trying to change people’s habits within a dozen days wasn’t easy. That was why Liu Feng had started with the children first and planned to influence the adults later.

“Ugh… so stinky. Forget it, let’s go, I don’t have any appetite left to eat.”

“So stinky. They must not have bathed for at least a month, just like I did previously.”

“Yeah! I don’t even know how we used to live was that.”

The merchants heard those words constantly. This made them stunned. So these commoners left because they lost their appetites from how smelly we are?

The merchants looked at the commoners walk away with their noses covered. The commoners that were closest to them would walk the fastest. It was as if they were human-shaped, stinky, rotten eggs.

“Hey hey! Since when do commoners despise us?”

“Is it really that stinky? Why can’t I smell it? Isn’t it just not bathing for a month? There were times when I went for three months without a bath.”

Solo, who had also wanted to try the buns, heard the words and suddenly smelled a bad stench. He had bathed four days ago because he had been soaked by the rain. In this way, he really had to thank the rain that happened four days ago.

“Lord Father, they stink so much, just like Lord Father did previously,” Gale said.

“Ugh… shut up!” Solo became angry from embarrassment. He had no idea that the commoners here had such good noses. Or maybe they bathed every day?

Nah, no way. Who would waste time on baths? Besides, didn’t those witch healers always say that it was bad to bathe all the time?

Solo could remember the time when he had gone to see a famous witch healer. The witch healer had introduced himself as someone who had looked at the king’s disease. He said that water would weaken the body’s protective layer, especially when taking hot baths. It would make people more relaxed and allow demons, devils, and diseases to enter the body through the mist.

As such, the more someone bathed, the more likely that they were going to get sick. As such, only not bathing would along someone to live a long and healthy life. And if the body had a thick layer of oil and dirt, then they could resist the attacks of demons, devils, and diseases!

Solo had thought that the explanation was quite reasonable. It was like knights being protected by their armor. He had even been worried about getting sick after bathing four days ago.

These types of magical theories were popular in this world. There were only a few girls that loved to be clean and would take baths every few days, and they even had to do it sneakily.

The merchants still had to stay in line, but the merchants all had embarrassed expressions. No one would want to be called stinky.

“Hey hey! How much does the perfume in the capital cost? I’ll go back and buy the last bottle.”

“I don’t think you can afford it. I heard that they cost 12 gold coins right now and would be snatched away by the high nobles as soon as they appeared. We don’t even have a chance.”

“Hiss… that expensive? I wouldn’t even be able to afford them even after saving up for a year.”

Tory forcibly endured the stench coming from behind him. It was almost his turn, and he was unwilling to leave right now after having been in line for so long.

Tory had also not bathed in half a month, but it was still better than the merchants behind him that had not bathed in a few months. The worst part was that the fragrance of the buns was mixed with a stinky smell.

“What do you want, customer? We have meat buns, vegetable buns that are filled with cabbage, and steamed buns…” the bun store clerk asked.

“Five meat buns,” Tory hurriedly said.

“Okay, that would be a total of two copper coins and five steel coins.” The clerk quickly bagged five meat buns, got three copper coins from Tory, and gave Tory five steel coins.

Tory took the meat buns and ran away with his wife and son. He felt that the meat buns would stink if he stayed any longer.

There hadn’t been a problem before, but after the commoners had mentioned it, everything was stinky to him- even his own wife.

The bun store clerk looked at the merchant in front of him, blinked his eyes, and forced himself to not breathe too much. “Customer, what do you need… how many meat buns?”

“…” The merchant was speechless. I heard that there were multiple buns just a few seconds ago when I was in line. So how come I can only buy meat buns and don’t get any other option?

“Two meat buns,” the merchant said. He felt that the world was targeting him. Isn’t it just not bathing for a few months? That’s how everyone is.

“One copper coin!” the clerk quickly bagged the buns and handed them to the merchant and took the copper coin.

I’m not a beast. I kind of want to go find a place to take a bath, the merchant thought as he took the buns.

“Um, customer, there’s a public bathhouse on the other street. You can go and take a bath there,” the clerk said out of kindness.

“…” The merchant nodded silently, deciding to go take a bath.

Tory also heard that and decided to go and take a bath in the public bathhouse right after he visited Liu Feng.

This must be what makes West Sun City different!

Author’s Notes:

(￣▽￣). I’ve researched about bathing in the middle ages. It was a stinky era. It had a lot of titles, including “Not Washing For Thousand Years”. Readers that are interested can go and search it up. Cough cough… I’ll go and take a shower first and calm down.

Translator’s Notes:

Tsk. I was going to go to bed but my dad started clapping while running on the treadmill, and I knew that I wouldn’t be able to fall asleep so I decided to stay awake and translate. I can finally go to sleep now.