CH 173

"Store Construction"

Translated by Dawn

“Store Construction”

“Um, Rolando-sama. What is this empty place?”

“We’re going to build the store here.”

“Huh? Whaaat!?”

We arrived at a vacant corner, which was not just any vacant land but one of the properties owned by the royal family or the management agency. To put it bluntly, it was prime real estate.

Surrounding the land were renowned shops in the capital city, and it was a highly competitive area with a constant flow of customers. It was because the location faced a main street, making it one of the busiest places in the capital city in terms of foot traffic.

With a store in such a location, customers would naturally come, and the surrounding shops were all thriving.

“This place is supposed to be land managed by the country, right? What do you mean by building my store here!?”

“Shouyuuko… No, it’s nothing. I mean exactly what I said. We’ll build your store here. This is the deed for the land. Do you want to hold onto it?”

“N-No, no, no! I don’t need it! Please handle it, Rolando-sama!”

I tried to hand the land deed received from the king to Machad, who would be the representative of the store to be built on the land, but he adamantly refused. I wondered what his dissatisfaction was…

“Why? It’s the land deed for the building that will be your store.”

“I can’t hold onto a land deed for land managed by the country! It’s too scary!”

“I see. In that case, I can’t help it. Let’s just build the store today…”

“Huh? What do you mean by ‘build’—-“

Before he could finish his sentence, I quickly erected a magical barrier that resembled a mirage around the area. It would make it appear as if no one outside the barrier could see the construction of the building.

Then, using magic, I rapidly constructed a stone building just like the other surrounding shops, making sure not to disrupt the overall appearance. The building seemed to come together as if the hands of a clock were moving at high speed. It was quite an extraordinary sight for others, and Machad, who was watching it, was dumbfounded and had his mouth wide open the whole time.

“Alright, this is the basic outline. Let’s work on the rough interior as well.”

“…”

Ignoring Machad, who still seemed to be not fully present in this world, I meticulously divided the interior of the completed building using magic. Since most of the surrounding buildings were two stories high, I decided to have a three-level structure consisting of a basement, ground floor, and second floor. The basement would be used as a warehouse.

On the ground floor, I planned to display the affordable products that had been sold by Greg Trading Company up until now, mainly targeting the common people. The second floor would be dedicated to newly produced products targeting the wealthy, such as nobles. Ah, I’ll need to come up with new products again…

After finalizing the interior of the basement, ground floor, and second floor in order, I used magic to create shelves for displaying the merchandise. It wasn’t particularly difficult, but considering the size of the store, a considerable number of shelves were required. I decided to leave some of them to be made by golem artisans.

“Hey, hey, Rolando-sama! Wh-What on earth is happening here!?”

“Can’t you see by looking? I’m building a store.”

“Well, yes, I can see that. But even if I see it, I can’t fully comprehend it! Who starts by constructing a store in this world!?”

“I do.”

“No, that’s not what I meant…”

I didn’t understand what Machad was trying to say, but let’s finish building the store quickly. Ignoring Machad, who seemed to be puzzled, I proceeded to complete the construction of the store.

And just two hours after starting the construction, a two-story building with a basement was completed. I secretly smirked at the surprisingly well-done result for something done hastily.

“Now, Machad, the construction of the store is complete…”

“But… I mean, you say it so casually, but it’s quite an extraordinary thing, you know!?”

“Well, for now, let’s sit down and enjoy tea time, shall we?”

Having finished the job, I began to prepare tea on the table to take a breather. To my surprise, Machad joined me and sat at the table.

I served black tea and sweet potatoes, which had recently become a popular combination, and Machad started eating them with a satisfied expression. I, too, enjoyed the tea under the pretext of replenishing the magical power and physical stamina consumed during the construction. Well, to be honest, both my magical power and physical stamina were not that depleted.

“Phew, the tea is delicious.”

“Yes, it is. It’s calming… Wait, this is not the time to relax! Please explain what’s going on! How is it possible for a store to be built in such a short amount of time!?”

“Because I worked hard.”

“That’s not what I meant by explanation!!”

Even if Machad complained, there was no lie in the fact that I had worked hard and accomplished what I could. I had no choice but to make him understand with that explanation. Besides, I wanted to test Machad’s skills as a merchant a little bit from now on.

“Anyway, Machad. For now, take a look at this.”

“This is…”

To distract Machad, who was persistently questioning me, I decided to show him some of the products sold by Greg Trading Company and have him assess them.

Although Machad had been whining a moment ago, once he saw the products in front of him, his expression instantly changed to that of a seasoned merchant. Well, he wasn’t just a spoiled brat, after all.

As I silently entertained such thoughts, Machad finished assessing the products and then exhaled with a “Phew.” He conveyed the results of his assessment.

“These are all excellent goods. There are a few whose purpose I can’t discern, but overall, they are valuable items.”

“I see. If we sell these goods in the capital city, do you think they will sell?”

“They will undoubtedly sell.”

“I see. Just to make sure, this is a list of the respective selling prices. Is there any issue with these?”

“I’ll take a look… These prices are too low. With this, there will be people who will buy up the products from our store and resell them at higher prices, you know?”

I see, so-called “resellers.” I remembered that there were such individuals in my previous world. However, such acts often hindered the consumer demand and supply, resulting in items originally available at low prices becoming unreasonably expensive.

Although there were attempts to regulate such activities through laws, it often turned into a cat-and-mouse game, and resellers managed to find loopholes in the new laws. Therefore, it was inevitable that there would be people considering such actions in this different world as well.

Naturally, to counter such behavior, it was necessary to sell the products at a fair price to prevent exorbitant reselling.

“I understand. Consider the prices as the market value in Orargrand, and I’ll leave the selling prices in the capital city to you, Machad.”

“Are you sure? Leaving such an important task to someone like me…”

“This will be your store. In fact, I would be troubled if you didn’t handle it.”

After discussing our plans for a while, we returned to the Commercial Guild to secure employees. However, even though I had requested it just a few hours ago, we were greeted with a yell of, “There’s no way we can assemble them that quickly!” by Liliere.