CH 42

“Alright, Naoya, we’re ready! It’s definitely going to sell like crazy!”

“You’re getting too excited, Chloe. It’s the first day of sales, and we haven’t even advertised. I don’t think it will sell that well.”

“Hehe, Naoya-san is cautious, huh?”

“Well, there aren’t many customers coming to the Aion Mall Otherworld Store to begin with. With an average of 40.3 people in the past seven days, even if everyone buys it, it won’t be ‘selling like crazy.'”

“…Can I eat it?”

“Sure, if it doesn’t sell, then sure. I’ll still get the money though.”

“What?! Are you saying that if it sells, I won’t be able to eat it?! Or maybe you’re suggesting something like ‘If you want to eat it, let me eat you’? Holding meat dishes hostage! You sneaky coward!”

“I don’t even know where to start with you, Elf. Don’t worry, we made a lot, so they’ll sell. Your imagination is running wild. Holding meat dishes hostage, that’s really cheap.”

It was the eighth day since I became the manager of the Aion Mall Otherworld Store.

Before the store opened at 8 o’clock, all the employees, which consisted of only four people—me, Chloe, Anna-san, and Barbera—set up a special booth in front of the store’s entrance, before the old ladies from the farms came to sell vegetables.

By the way, here are the results of the seventh day since I became the manager:

Number of customers: 43 people.

Sales: 28,000 yen.

The gardening supplies weren’t selling well, and the average spending per customer kept dropping. Well, you could say it went back to the time before we started selling gardening supplies.

“I wonder how many will sell! It’s so delicious, maybe 10? 20? Could it possibly sell 30?! What should we do, Naoya?!”

“Calm down, Chloe. For now, it’s clear that your ‘selling like crazy’ isn’t happening at all.”

“…Like crazy?”

“Stop it, Barbera. Even though I managed to cover it up earlier, if a rumor starts that a dragon appeared at the Aion Mall, it will scare customers away. Will it?”

“Most likely, the farmers and merchants won’t come near anymore. Perhaps some reckless adventurers might come to subdue the dragon. And fleetingly—”

“Why were you looking at the booth with skeletons, Anna-san? …Wait, are those skeleton troops the type that has an original body? Are they, by any chance, real corpses?”

“Hehe, Naoya-san, just kidding, kidding.”

“A long-awaited undead joke! Well, I can’t laugh at that.”

In the special booth we set up in front of the store’s entrance, we will start selling cutlets, hamburgers, and beef stew from today.

We arranged tables and chairs near the rotary and the fountain, so people can eat here.

Well, we just brought over the tables and chairs from the eat-in area inside the store.

The idea is that seeing people eating will entice others to buy more easily.

A new product is being introduced as a ready-to-eat side dish.

Chloe, Anna-san, and Barbera, who liked the taste when they tried it, were restless before the start of sales.

Even the apron-wearing skeletons and ghosts were restless, but we sent them all back inside the store.

If the store is full of undead, the items won’t sell well.

“Naoya, I see them! The old ladies from the farms!”

“Alright! Anna-san, please prepare! Entice them with the appearance, smell, and sound!”

“Yes, understood!”

“So, you mean… entice them…? Naoya, don’t tell me you have a thing for older women and you’re targeting the old ladies from the farms—”

“Shut up, Chloe. I was giving instructions to Anna-san just now, right?”

Ignoring Chloe, Anna-san ignites the magic stone stove.

We prepared three magic stone stoves.

One is for heating the beef stew in a large pot, another is a hot plate for grilling hamburgers, and the third is for frying cutlets, raising the oil temperature.

“Oh, Chloe-chan, another tasting today?”

“No, Grandma, it’s different! Today is the start of sales!”

“Oh, I see. Then let me see it later.”

“Alright, let’s quickly set up the vegetables then! This way, Grandma!”

“Yes, yes, you’re all fired up, Chloe-chan.”

The old ladies from the farms, pulling a cart, pass by the side of the special booth.

Their gazes are fixed on the cutlets and hamburgers.

However, their faces grimace at the beef stew that looks like vegetable-filled muddy water.

“We make them in bulk, so they’re cheap, you know! A cutlet is less than half the price of a fancy restaurant in town! But, you know, if they sell out, I won’t be able to eat.”

Chloe promotes the side dishes to the old ladies who brought vegetables for sale today.

The old ladies glance back at us from time to time.

Chloe’s true feelings slipped out a bit, but it seems they were interested, so let’s ignore it.

“Good, good. Anna-san, keep cooking and prepare some in ceramic containers for takeout.”

“Yes, Naoya-san.”

Barbera stares intently at Anna-san’s cooking. Drool is dripping from her mouth.

Not only the old ladies from the farms, but also traveling merchants and adventurers visit the Aion Mall in the morning. They use the road in front of the store.

To cater to those who want to hurry, it would be better to have pre-cooked dishes ready for purchase.

In front of the Aion Mall Otherworld Store in the morning, the smell of sizzling meat and oil fills the air.

Since we’re cooking outside, passersby should be able to smell it too.

Anna-san scoops the freshly cooked hamburgers into ceramic dishes.

She pours demi-glace sauce on top and covers it with a ceramic lid.

Valbera wipes her drool and secures the lid with a vine-made string.

This is the takeout set.

By the way, the ceramic containers are quite sturdy.

They won’t break with a little impact, although they would if dropped.

Despite being so simple, or rather, skipping the essential steps.

According to Anna-san, they were [cooked with Dragon’s Breath, so they have a bit of magical power.] The other world is dangerous. Magic is scary.

“Oh, Naoya-san, it’s time.”

“Yea, right, it’s 8 o’clock, opening time.”

While I was watching Anna-san to see if she was cooking as instructed, time seemed to have passed without me realizing.

Chloe, who is handling vegetable deliveries and stocking, hasn’t returned yet.

Since the old ladies from the farms haven’t returned either, there are still no customers.

To motivate myself, I take a deep breath.

“Now, the Aion Mall with the new product is ready for business!”

I declared.

Anna-san and Barbera applaud. The two of them… The Lich and Dragon, but their appearance looks human and are employees, so they are considered human!

It’s the eighth day since I became the store manager of the Aion Mall Otherworld Store.

The sale of the newly prepared product, aiming for a monthly sales target of 100 million yen, is starting.

Well, with the low unit price, this alone won’t reach the daily sales of 3.34 million yen.

Step by step, step by step… aiming for a monthly sales target of 100 million yen is too high!