CH 24

Since most of the chapter title is straight spoiler, I decided to remove it.

Episode 4-6.

After leaving the restaurant, Chloe and I were walking along the stone-paved boulevard.

It was past three o’clock in the afternoon, so we decided to call it a day and head back to the Aion Mall Otherworld Store.

My first time in an otherworldly city gave me a number of impacts.

I’ve talked to and observed customers and employees who live in other worlds, but they were all in the Aion Mall.

To me, they were just people from another world that I didn’t fully understand. But to the people of this world, I was from another world, and the Aion Mall was “something different”.

Our lives are different. The norm, the common sense, and the culture are different.

Naturally, the things people in this world want are different, and the things they buy are also different.

If I had not come to the city after living in the Aion Mall store, it would have taken me much longer to realize such a simple fact.

“Naoya, then I will give you a ride home!　Because I hear Naoya can’t fight! This holy knight Chloe!”

“Thanks. I appreciate it, but please stop that smug look on your face.”

You might not have noticed that Chloe, the former manager and elf, is a holy knight and uses ‘purification’ magic to prevent insects, and that the pouch on her waist is a magic tool for storage.

…… Somehow, there’s something about Barbera and Anna-san that I don’t know yet.

“Ha! Naoya is a “sentinel wolf”! On the way to send him back with me, Naoya turned into an animal like a wolf and dragged me to the edge of the road! Kuh, How despicable!”

“A [sentinel wolf] is when the sender attacks the sender, right? Also, if I were to do that, I wouldn’t be able to beat Chloe.”

“You can’t win, you say ……? If you are a human being, and actually you are a beast!  I knew the human race were beasts!”

“No, it’s just a figure of speech. I wonder if you really listen to what I say.”

On the way home, I stomped on the stone pavement of the main street and exchanged some uninteresting conversation.

Of course, I’m observing the people going through the city.

There were not many people on the street in the early afternoon, but at this time of the day, the number of passersby is increasing.

I guess some people finish their work at this time of the day because work in this world starts early in the morning.

Even the farmer’s auntie sometimes shows up at the Aion Mall Otherworld Store around 3:00 to 4:00 in the afternoon.

I also pass by a few merchants’ wagons.

They must be carriages that have arrived in town, since they have little luggage and the merchant, who doubles as the escort, looks somewhat tired.

The merchant and the escorting adventurers have been seen many times shopping at the Aion Mall’s Otherworldly Store at this time of the day, taking a last break or just using the restroom. There are only a few of them, and the peak is much later.

“Right! Naoya, are you still hungry for some food?”

“Eh, we just had a light meal. Well, something light is fine.”

“I haven’t been in town this time of the day for a long time myself! If things haven’t changed, there’s that vendor around here …… Oh, there they are!”

“Sir Knight! It’s been a while!”

It was a girl in her early teens who approached Chloe. I am not sure if she is really in her early teens or not.

After all, there are cases like Chloe, who looks like an elf but is 18 years old, Barbera who looks like 10 years old but is 140 years old, and Anna who is 21 years old but whose age is unknown. All of them are my employees …….

“Looks like they were still selling them! Are the prices the same? Two for me and one for Naoya, please!”

The girl moves the cloth away from the wooden tray she was holding.

It was a crepe with the edges folded and squared off on the wooden tray.

No, I think I know a food that looks more like a crepe.

“Is this a galette? It’s a buckwheat crepe, the crunchy kind.”

“Oh, you know a lot, Naoya! Do they have the same food in Japan?”

“Oh, we have it in Japan, but this type of galette, not crepe, is more famous in other countries.”

It seems that the girl is selling galette on the street.

The wooden tray is stacked with crispy galettes and a small ceramic jar on the side.

“Two for you, sir! Thank you for the purchase!”

Accepting Chloe’s order, the girl frees her hands by supporting the wooden tray with the string around her neck and her stomach. Like a beer or ekiben vendor.

With her free hand, the girl opened the ceramic jar.

There is a nice aroma.

With a smile and a happy face, she plunged a wooden spoon into the jar and scooped out the contents, which were then splashed onto the galette. The liquid was a bluish-purple sloppy liquid.

“Kuhu, kuhuhu. I haven’t had this in a while, so I’m asking for a lot of it!”

“I can’t believe Chloe would respond to something other than meat.”

She handed over the money with a smirk and accepted the galette, which was covered with a blue-purple liquid.

She immediately bit into it.

There was a crunching sound.

With a big smile on her face, she exclaims, “Mmmm!” She seemed to be satisfied.

I swallowed my spit.

“Here you go, brother! Ah, I got the money from the knight!”

“Eh? Really? I think the amount Chloe gave you is not enough.”

“Yes, the knight paid for both of these!”

It seems that the galette is very cheap.

I thought it was only natural that it was cheap because it was a simple dish, and I bit into my galette.

“It’s delicious. Is this fruit jam? I heard that there are not many fruits around here and that it is a certain time of the year.”

“Yes! The jam will last for a long time!”

“A scoop of jam on a crispy dough. It’s a simple, natural sweetness, with a nice strong acidity. It should be less sweet if no sugar is used. …… Delicious. Better than anything I’ve had in my life in the city.”

“Really? Thank you!”

“Oh, you liked it too, Naoya It was as good as ever, and one more thing…”

“My my? What a surprise! What kind of outrageousness are you up to today?”

Her hand stopped as she was about to order a second galette, even though she had just had a light meal.

The girl selling the galette also stopped moving. Completely frozen.

It was a big, fat man who approached us.

He was dressed in a fluffy, luxurious outfit that made it clear at first glance that he was different from the others we had seen up to that point.

He was wearing jewelry on his fingers, wrists, and neck.

The carriage in which he seemed to be riding was luxurious, and it was accompanied by a fine-looking coachman.

The guards behind him had shiny metal armor.

“How dare you! This is why the merchants’ guild is such a bunch of pricks!”

“Hey, Chloe, you’re not so nice. Calm down.”

“Well, well, well, the new manager of Aion Mall seems to know how to be polite. It’s wonderful, isn’t it?”

The voice with a sly and sticky grin annoyed me.

It wasn’t that he said anything funny.

Rather.

“How did he know about me? It is true that I am the new manager of Aion Mall’s Otherworldly Store.”

I’ve never seen you before, but of course I’ve heard rumors about you from various sources. It’s nice to meet you, Naoya-san. I am the head of the Mer-chants’ Gu-ild.”

“Merchants’ Guild, Guild Leader ……. Nice to meet you, I am Naoya Taniguchi.”

When the Aion Mall Otherworld Store was opened, it faced opposition from the Merchants Guild.

If the store closes without reaching 100 million yen in monthly sales in five months, the merchant guild may come out and target the store and materials. According to Chloe, though.

Chloe had trouble with a man from the merchant guild in the past, and since then he said, “Oh, you disqualified elf who doesn’t follow the rules. What kind of outrageous behavior do you have in store for us today?”

Huh, that’s the same words that this guy just spoke to us.

…… Chloe’s past troubles were with the head of the Aion Mall’s business opponents? The head of the guild!

I exchanged greetings with the guild leader of the merchants guild while putting a friendly smile on my face.

I’m just a novice in my third year of business, but this is nothing to be ashamed of.

“As expected, unlike some disqualified elves, the new store manager seems to know etiquette. ……by the way”

The big old man’s greasy smile looks fishy.

Trying hard not to pull a face, the guild leader turned around.

I’m not talking about Chloe, who is standing next to me, who is about to let out a “gulp”, but the galette girl who is standing there.

“Young lady. You can’t do business without a permit. If you want to do business here, you have to pay the merchants’ guild for the place.”

“B-but! This is not a stall!”

“Well well? The regulations don’t specifically mention the type of business, do they? It doesn’t say anything about standing sales either.”

“No- no way. ……”

“Since your mother was running the business, you have been operating without a license for three years, right? Of course, you have to pay us for the past sales, right?”

“That’s …… not possible. We don’t have that kind of money. ……”

“Grrrr!”

“Well well! Relax, Chloe. Are you really going to do something about it? The oh so holy knight elf.”