CH 17

Episode 3-7 …… Really, I’m the manager and I didn’t even know!

“Naoya-san, please leave it as it is. I’ll tidy them up.”

“Thank you, Anna-san.”

“No, no, no. It’s not me who will do it. It’s them.”

A skeleton had arrived at the food court before I knew it.

A skeleton in charge of cleaning, wearing an apron on her bones.

When the four of us, Anna-san, Barbera, and Chloe, stood up, she quickly approached us and cleared away the dishes.

Apparently, she goes straight into the kitchen to wash them.

“The skeleton is too convenient. I’m afraid I’m beginning to accept it naturally.”

Naoya, I’m going downstairs to wait for our customers!　See you later!”

“…… I’ll help.”

“I’m going to do my usual safety checks and maintenance.”

“Safety and security? Anna-san, may I come with you?”

“Yes, of course. Shall we go?”

After seeing Chloe and Barbera off, I followed Anna.

Safety checks and maintenance.

As the manager of Aion Mall’s Otherworldly Store and as the person in charge, I would have to make sure that Anna-san’s duties were in order.

“Oh yes, Naoya-san, please bring a light with you. Humans can’t see in the dark.”

“I understand……. ah, Anna-san can see, can’t you? You are indeed an undead.”

Along the way, I went to get a flashlight in the tenant space where I was staying.

That reminds me, this is the first time I’ve had a woman in my room.

I mean, it’s not really a room, it’s just an empty tenant space! Even with the shutters closed, I can see everything from the outside because of the grid! Also, Anna may be a woman, but she’s not human! I mean, is she a mortal, or is she just an undead?

During my confusion, Anna was looking at my personal belongings with great interest.

Especially my home appliances, books, manga, etc. She seemed to be interested in them.

She seems to be interested in them, but she doesn’t reach out to touch them, perhaps out of concern for me as the owner of the room. I guess that’s what being Lich is all about, being considerate of others.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, ……, I can lend you some things, you know? If you come in after business hours.”

“Is that okay? Thank you very much, Naoya-san!”

Anna-san smiles brightly.

My hand were sandwiched in front of her chest also, damn, as I expected they were quite big- that’s not it.

If it was Chloe, she would say [Y-you wrench, what are you planning by inviting me to your room! It must be that “Kuh, please kill me” kind of scenario and you plan to do some indecent thing to my body!]. 

There was no way something like that would happen with Anna-san, so we left the living space.

Without hesitation, Anna headed for the basement.

Our destination was the boiler room.

“Everything is still working!”

“It may seem like I have a faint idea of what you’re doing, but …… Um, Anna-san, what are you doing?”

“I just finished inspecting the magic circle and now I’m checking the fuel level!”

The conversation is loud enough to keep up with the sound of the turbine spinning.

After entering the boiler room, Anna-san approached the generator with an air of ease and comfort.

She also looked accustomed to checking the floor and the magic circle painted on the generator.

By looking at it, as expected, even I could tell.

IS-THIS-WHAT-SHE-MEANT-BY-SECURITY-CHECK-AND-MAINTENANCE?

“Don’t tell me you made this, Anna-san?”

“No, I couldn’t do that! I can only inspect, manage, and do simple repairs!”

“That’s more than enough! Anna-san is so competent! By the way, what fuel does this generator use?”

“The fuel is this!”

“Red powder? What is this?”

“Red dragon scales!”

“……Pardon? The name of this monster sounds familiar.”

“It’s the scales of Barbera, in dragon form, ground into powder.”

“E-eeeh…”

I can imagine.

-At midnight, when no one is around.

Barbera is lying on the roof of Aion Mall’s Otherworldly Store.

She is in dragon form, but has tears in her eyes.

Anna-san, with a smile on her face, puts her hand on Barbera’s trembling scales, whispers–

“I’m getting the scales that fell off during the transformation! It contains a lot of magic power, so just one or two scales a month is enough, and there’s always a few left over!”

“Oh, really?”

I patted my chest in relief.

But still.

“So you mean we have our own fuel for power generation! That means we can keep running costs down! The employees at Aion Mall’s Otherworldly Store are too excellent! I’ll check …… their wages……. I believe they’re being paid fairly, Aion.”

“Now Naoya-san, let’s go to the next one!”

Apparently, Anna-san also manages the water supply facilities.

The fuel, or rather the power, is still powered by powdered red dragon scales.

The generator used to burn them, but the water facility uses only magical power.

Yep, I’m not sure.

At least I understood that Anna-san and Barbera were amazing.

“Anna-san, which way to go next? Speaking of which, Anna-san, you’re undead, but you can go out in the daytime, right?”

“Yes, because Lich is a high-ranking undead. Our next destination is the entrance to the forest.”

After checking the electricity and water supply as well as replacing the magic stone on the stove in the food court, Anna-san headed outside.

Undead walking in the afternoon sun.

It’s strange to say, but Anna’s appearance is that of a normal woman.

She doesn’t look like she is struggling with the sunlight, nor does she look like she is suffering.

“The forest? If that’s the case, you don’t have to go to the other side of Aion Mall, there’s a forest spreading out on the side as well.”

“Naoya-san. It may not look any different to you, but these children are…..”

Outside the grounds of the Aion Mall’s Otherworldly Store.

I can hear rustling noises coming from the forest.

“Don’t tell me it’s a monster!? Anna-san, let’s run away!”

“Fufufu, It’s all right, Naoya-san. Look.”

Saying that, Anna-san pointed in the direction where the sound came from.

The skeleton squad appeared.

“Ah, the skeleton captain I saw in the morning. And the skeletons in armor.”

“Yes. They are in charge of guarding the forest during the daytime so that they are not seen. Barbera’s territory has few beasts and monsters, but every once in a while they wander in.”

A skeleton captain on a skeleton horse and skeletons in armor.

There is one captain in flashy armor and about 50 other skeletons.

That’s a lot more than before.

“There seems to be nothing unusual in the area.”

Anna-san told me, touching the dismounted skeleton captain.

Is she able to tell because they are under the command of the master and his subordinates, or because Lich is a high-ranking undead?

Also, Anna-san received wildflowers and mushrooms that the skeletons had apparently gathered in the forest.

“Hold on, there are obviously mushrooms with a toxic color! How could you even think of eating them?”

“Oh, these mushrooms are not for eating. They are for research.”

“Research? I don’t think that’s possible, but you’re Lich and you have skeletons and ghosts under your command, and there’s more?”

“Fufu, it’s a secret. But it is neither bad nor evil. You can rest assured.”

Anna-san chuckled.

For some reason, she looks a little sad.

…… I decided to believe Anna-san’s words.

Well, I wouldn’t understand it even if she explained it to me! I’ve had people explain to me the magic they use in both the generator and the water supply, but it just doesn’t make sense!

If she was planning to do something bad, Anna-san could have done whatever she wanted to do to keep the lifelines in check.

“…… Really, I’m the manager and yet I didn’t even know anything about all of this.”

“I think it’s okay to take your time. Everything about the store and about us.”

“That’s true, however. …… the store needs to increase sales as soon as possible!”

“Fufu, you’re right. Manager, please take care of us.”

Anna-san bowed her head with a smile.

The skeleton captain beside her and the skeleton troops behind her put their right hands on their chests. It looks like a salute.

“Ah, for the time being. The captain and everyone, thank you for the security.”

The skeleton captain tapped his chest once with his right hand as he labored in his role as captain. He flips down his cloak and gets on his skeleton horse.

He then walked back into the forest with his troops.

It’s been three days since I became the manager of the Aion Mall Otherworldly Store.

The first two days saw a total of 80 customers and 97,000 yen in sales.

That’s too far away from the monthly sales goal of 100 million yen, and I was thinking, what kind of store is this, and are the employees a bunch of punks?

Apparently everyone was better than expected.

…… If I can’t increase sales with this, maybe it means I’m incompetent as a store manager! Haha! No, it’s not a laughing matter!