CH 21

Episode 4-3 It was more fantasy than I imagined, thinking it was just an ordinary store. What’s this? It’s going to be hard to grasp daily life in another world.

The goal is to achieve monthly sales of 100 million yen by the end of the next five months.

If we don’t achieve this goal, Aion Mall’s otherworldly store may be confiscated by the government, or the merchants’ guild, which had opposed the construction and operation of the store, may come after us in any way they can.

The [Transfer Gate] that will lead to the store six months from now will be located near the loading dock of the Aion Mall.

What if I can’t get there, or they break it down?

“I won’t be able to go back to Japan, huh?”

“Thanks for the work. I am a knight of the Order of the Knights, Chloe-Dhupowa-Christophe-Claudine-Vertu-Ondine! And this is the manager of the Aion Mall!”

“Ah, I know you. There you go.”

“Mhm! Come on, Naoya, let’s go in! This is the nearest town to the Aion Mall!”

I was so shocked that I was in a daze, and before I knew it, I was in the town.

The town is about an hour’s walk away from the Aion Mall.

It was surrounded by stone walls, as if to protect it from monsters.

We passed through a gate guarded by soldiers.

Beyond that, there was a square.

The soldiers seemed to be checking who was coming in and out, so I guessed it was a space for people to wait for their turn.

It was past noon, and no one seemed to be leaving the city.

“No way I could get through there that easily! Chloe just said her name! I didn’t even say my name!”

“Oh, you’re back, Naoya! We are already in town!”

Chloe smiles at my retort. Although she didn’t go through the contents of my retort.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Chloe. I can’t help thinking about it now. Besides, I’m here to see the city to make some sales!”

“Mm-hmm, that’s why Naoya is here! I will show you around the town!”

“I don’t know if I have that image. What’s more, she’s a local, but Chloe is an elf, right? She’s from the village of something, right?”

“Y- you are not wrong! I’ll show you around, but I’m not taking you to my room! If a man is allowed to enter the knighthood’s women’s dormitory, Naoya will surely lose control of himself and, like an animal, will not care who he meets.”

“No, I’m not. Isn’t your image of me really that crazy?”

However, as Chloe said, I think I’m getting back on track a little bit.

I looked up and began to observe my surroundings to fulfil the purpose of my visit to the town.

A town of another world.

The largest street extending from the gate square is paved with cobblestones, but the rest of the street consists of bare earth.

The buildings were two or three stories high, with no space between them or the neighbours.

There are wooden shutters on the windows, so glass must be non-existent or valuable.

The outer walls seem to be made of plaster.

“How can I say …… it looks like mediaeval European architecture? If someone told me it was an old town in France, I would believe it.”

“Come on, Naoya, let’s go!”

“Where are we going? I’d like to look around.”

“First, the butcher shop! Let’s go to the butcher’s and get this one-horned rabbit taken care of!”

“Ah, now you mentioned it. That’s right, I want to look around there as well.”

“Hmm! Then this way!”

Carrying the cub she had killed along the way on her shoulder, Chloe started walking down the biggest street, the cobblestone-lined street.

The sound of her shoes clacking.

Although it was the main street leading from the gate, there were few people walking along it.

It’s just after noon, and they must be working.

At this time of the day, the Aion Mall Otherworldly Store doesn’t get many visitors. Or rather, there are hardly any customers coming in.

Still, I see a few people here and there.

An old man who had a stall in the square in front of the gate, a boy who seemed to be calling for innkeepers, and a man walking quickly with his luggage in his hand.

They are all wearing simple, similarly designed clothes, and the colors are dull.

Maybe subdued colors are in vogue, or maybe it is a matter of dyeing technology.

Apart from the soldiers at the gate, there were also armed men.

There were men in leather armor walking beside a horse-drawn carriage that looked like it belonged to a merchant. They must be adventurers.

A group of men with half-plate mail rattling the same matching half-plate mail as the soldiers at the gate were probably patrolling guards.

“It’s not like in Japan, after all. Most of the time, we walk. I’m not sure what the point of the parking lot at Aion Mall’s Otherworldly Store is, given how large it is.”

“Look, Naoya, you are behind! …… or is it a necessary part of the inspection and I should fit in?”

“Oops, sorry Chloe. There’s not much time left until the evening, so let’s get going. I want to see the city, but I’m still interested in the stores and the market.”

I don’t know anything about this town or the people who live here.

What kind of stores are there, what they sell, how much they cost, and who buys them.

Without knowing that, there is no way for me to decide what to sell at the Aion Mall’s Otherworldly Store.

I’m planning to come back many times, but not only for today’s visit.

“Here we are, Naoya! This is my favorite butcher shop!　Hey, auntie!”

Apparently, a short walk down the main street from the gate square had brought us to our first destination.

Chloe said “butcher shop,” but it didn’t look like it sold meat.

It was a normal building like any other, the only difference being the counter next to the entrance facing the street.

There was a rather large space in the back, but there was no meat there either.

“Oh my, Chloe-chan, you’re early today, aren’t you? Oh, and what’s that?”

“It’s a one-horned rabbit I hunted on my way here!”

“My dear Chloe-chan, that’s just a little rabbit!”

She puts the rabbit on the counter from her shoulder.

The lady at the butcher shop was surprised that it was a cub rabbit, and wondered if she meant that she felt sorry for it.

“You did it, Chloe-chan! Rabbits are tender and delicious! Are you going to sell it to me?”

“What a compliment! That’s right, she’s a butcher! She can’t say they’re cute!”

“Auntie, as usual, carves only what I’ll eat! I’ll sell the rest!”

“On it! …… Chloe-chan, how is this guy a good man for you?”

“Ah, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Naoya. I’m the manager of the Aion Mall Otherworld Store, where Chloe has been sent, and she is giving me a tour of the town.”

“Ah, that big building outside the city!”

Apparently, the Aion Mall Otherworldly Store is known to the butcher’s auntie.

Oh well, maybe Chloe told her.

While Chloe and I are talking, the lady is at the counter right in front of us, slicing up the rabbit.

She was looking at me and talking, but her hand was moving fast.

As I glanced at her, the rabbit became some piece of meat in no time at all.

Aren’t butchers in this other world amazing? Don’t the ladies here have a lot of experience?

“Here you go, Chloe-chan! This is your meat, and this is the money for the purchase, Chloe-chan!”

“A- Auntie, isn’t that a lot of meat and a lot of money?”

“What~, Chloe brought a very nice man here, this is a celebration! They say rabbit meat is good for your health, so I guess this will do for tonight.”

“Auntie! Naoya is just my boss, not my lover! Naoya, who ate meat, couldn’t control her lust, attacked me, and sexually ate me… Kuh, kill me!”

“She didn’t change in the town. I don’t think it’s the wooden sword’s fault they called her a clumsy knight.”

“Yes, yes. You two, please come back again!”

I grabbed Chloe’s arm and walked away from the waving auntie.

That reminds me.

“Hey Chloe, where did you put the rabbit meat that you sold to the butcher? Are the other meats sold in other places? Besides, it didn’t seem to smell as bad as I thought it did there.”

“Yeah, that butcher uses a magic tool for storage! And the smell remover is a magic tool, too! If they were butchering in the city, wouldn’t it be hard to process and make it smell?”

“What I thought was an ordinary store turned out to be even more of a fantasy than I had imagined. It’s going to be tough to grasp daily life in another world.”

I was puzzled by Chloe’s statement, as if it were a normal thing to say.

The normal butcher shops in town use magic tools for storage and also for removing odors.

I may have underestimated the fantasy of another world.