abcnovels
Chapter 28: They don’t come in the countryside
Chapter 28: They don’t come in the countryside
Chapter 28: They don’t come in the countryside
“Just saying, it’s not like they don’t come at all. Those kinds of people.”
“Really?”
Is her shop that free? Paula came over to our store, grumbling about this and that.
Pushing her glasses up, she released a sigh.
Those kinds of people would be adventurers.
“They do come, but see, the look inside the store, see the goods, and immediately leave, see-. The get looks on their faces like they’re thinking tool shops in the countryside are shabby, see-.”
Well, yeah, you’re a combination of a weapon store and an armor store, so it can’t be helped.
Compared to a more thriving city, you’re going to be at the disadvantage to no matter what.
“Ah. Paula-san, welcome.”
Mina appeared and waved her hand at Paula.
“I came over-. Mina-chan’s cute today too-”
“Paula, you’re kind of like an old man.”
Ahaha; Mina waved both hands.
“That’s not true~.”
“How about it? What to play with me?”
“Please stop hitting on our store employees.”
Mina gave a wry smile, troubled as to how to react.
“Um, Reiji-san, should I bring out tea?”
“It’s fine, she’s going to go home soon, after all.”
“Rei-kun, don’t be like that-”
Pursing her lips, Paula protested.
“You’re a comrade with a store. You’ve got stuff to talk about piled up, yeah?”
“I’m already out. You come every day, so of course I’ll have run out.”
With a little nod, Mina returned to the inner rooms.
“See, I’ve gathered good products, Rei-kun. And so -”
“So you’re continuing on. You sure are free…”
When I expressed my disgust, Paula talked without minding it.
“If you look properly, isn’t there decent equipment? They leave without giving things a good look.”
“Paula’s shop is cramped all throughout, has way too much stuff displayed, and is dark. Rather than a tool store, it has the feeling of an antique store.”
“Ueee? No way. I properly polish my shop’s products, see-?”
“That’s your level?”
Even if you polish them, the display doesn’t give off a good impression.
I’ve only seen it once, so I could be wrong, though.
“Come over? You’ll come? Come look?”
If she says it so much, I’m kind of curious.
I scratched my head and stood up.
“Mina-, Noela-? I’m going to Paula’s store for a bit, so I’ll leave the store to you-”
They acknowledged it with, “Ru-,” and “Okay,” and Paula and I left Kirio Drug behind, heading towards the tool store.
“Hey, is it okay to leave your store open? What are you going to do if customers come?”
“It’s fi-ne, it’s fi-ne. No one comes anyway.”
What are you going to do if someone steals your store’s products? I thought that, but this rural town’s public safety is pretty good.
Ever since the previous bandit case, there haven’t been a single such incident in this town.
The carefree Paula entered the store first.
Yeah. Just like I thought, there’s too much stuff put out and it obstructs the light from the windows.
“Like I thought, your store’s dark.”
“Re-ally-? This is how I think it should be, though.”
“You’re always here so you’re used to it. That’s why when adventurers who have business in town drop by and enter your store, they leave immediately.”
May-be, May-be; Paula said that over and over.
She doesn’t seem to agree.
Can’t be helped.
I removed the armor and such that had been placed in front of a window and the light came in.
“-Uhoooo? It got brighter, just a bit, Rei-kun!”
“Right?”
Look, it’s like I said. The store really is too dark.
“Just like that, please do that for everything!”
“Hang on.”
I grab the Onee-san feigning innocence who seemed like she was going to run away by the neck.
“You’re doing it too. Continuing on, you haven’t been arranging stock properly, right?”
“’You too’ means that Rei-kun’s going to help out, right-?”
“Tsk. I said something unnecessary.”
Heaving a sigh, I began to work.
Paula began cleaning up in a different location.
“As I thought-. I need a clerk-chan, yeah? A cute girl. Mina-chan would be great, na-?”
“You can’t have Mina.”
“Then Noela-chan? She seems like she’d say okay if I said I’d give her a cool sword.”
“Stop trying to use stuff to bribe her. Because you might just be able to.”
But that kind of free-spirited Noela; could she be a proper clerk in a store that looks like it’s full of treasure like this one…?
Nope, impossible.
When she came previously, she was constantly playing by herself.
“Or like, you can’t have Noela either. I depend on her when I go to the forest. And she’s also my ‘healing’ measure.”
“Then, at worst, I’ll take Rei-kun.”
Why are you giving a, “If I have to,” kind of a feeling?
“Rei-kun is a store owner. Don’t pull out the cornerstone of a drug store. Or like, do your scouting somewhere else.”
“Aren’t there any-? – – Cute girls.”
“That’s your basic critera. So why are you trying to scout me?”
Just like that, while having small talk between store owners (?), we arranged the products.
Leaving only the bare minimum of items, the rest was placed in the storeroom.
“There. Doesn’t the store seem just a little larger?”
“It does, it does-! It’s also kind of brighter! Al-right, let’s continue on and clean it up-! Let’s do it-!”
“Let’s do it-.”
Answering her randomly, I see Paula smirking at me.
Ha-.
I got dragged along again.
“Fufufu. Do your best cleaning, okay?”
Haa; Sighing, I sweep the floor with the broom in order to finish it fast.
When I randomly lifted my head, I saw an iron breastplate left on display.
It looks like it’s darkened a little.
Probably because it’s been unsold for a long time.
It’s quite a bit duller than the original color.
“Are you properly polishing this?”
“how rude. There’s no dust on it, right-? I properly polish it once a week with oil.”
“Once a week?”
“Ahahaha … There was a ton of it until just now, right? If I polish all of them, I wouldn’t be able to get around to all of them.”
It doesn’t seem like dust is the problem for this iron breastplate.
When I narrow my eyes and look closely, I can see that there are thin and light scratches.
Even though it wouldn’t be left unsold if it was a little better looking.
“It’s troublesome to maintain it to its initial mint state when it remains unsold, ne-.”
“If … you can make it better looking…?
“What is it, what is it?”
When I think with the Drug Discovery Skill, a medicine comes to mind.
If it’s this, it can make things pristine.
“I’m going to return to the store for a bit.”
“Eh? Why?”
“Medicine – I’m going to make a medicine that can make this armor pristine.”
“Eeeeeeeh!? Really!? You can make something for that!? Alchemists really are amazing-!”
I told the impressed Paula, “I’m not an alchemist,” and left the tool store, returning to Kirio Drug.
Just like the suspicious Mina and Noela expected, I closed myself up in the medicine room.
Some herbs, tree roots, and sap that I usually don’t use are going to be the basis of the medicine.
[Liquid Polish: A fluid that has the effect of buffing and polishing away small scratches.]
Alright, I made what I had been thinking of.
With the bottle in hand, I ran and returned to the tool shop.
“Huh, you made it already-?”
I handed the puzzled Paula a rag and dribble a few drops of the liquid polish onto it.
“What, whatwhatwhat-? Do I just wipe it with them?”
“Yup. Try it.”
“O,O-kay-.”
Wipe once. Wipe twice.
Squeak, squeak-.
The breastplate gave off a strange sound.
“Ah. —oOOOOOOOOO!? Amaziiiiiing!? It’s so cleaaaaan!? Wai, look. Rei-kun, I said, look!”
Paula pointed at the breastplate with just one portion that was a shiny light gray.
The rest of it was still a little darkened grey.
“You’re right. It’s completely different.”
“Right-? This is wicked. This, it’s innovative. It’s a wicked innovation, Rei-kun! This breastplate is way clean, ain’t it?!”
Looking closing, you can’t make out the fine scratches.
When Paula finished wiping it, twinkle; a breastplate that looked like it had been reborn appeared.
“Rei-kun, it looks like it can sell! With this, they can’t diss this store as a shabby countryside tool store!”
“Your lineup is like that, so it can’t be that it’s shabby…”
“What’d you say-!?”
“I’ll use the liquid polish and go polish things too-”
Acting like I can’t hear her, I also went to polish metal gauntlets that were on display.
It becomes prettier the more you wipe, so it’s quite fun to do.
Continuing on in that vein, we used the liquid polish to polish all of the products left in the store.
“So-ooo shiny! Rei-kun. The products are wickedly shiny!”
“I wonder about a woman saying ‘wicked’ … I let it slip previously, though.”
<t/n: she’s using the word for ‘vomit’ or ‘spew’>
“It’s fi-ne, don’t worry about the details!”
Stepping back a little to look at it, it looks completely different from the store interior from before.
The dramatic ‘After’ feeling is amazing.
It’s at the level where that song plays in your head for a second.
Without the inventory blocking the window, lots of sunlight comes in.
The products on display are sparkling.
It’s changed to the degree of being unrecognizable.
“Ru-ru-ru-. Master-. Master-, ermast-, ermast- master-, masterymaster-”
Looking out the window, there’s Noela singing a weird song as she comes this way.
It’s probably going slow over there as well.
Entering the store, she looked around and tilted her head.
“? …….. wrong store.”
Kchak; she shut the door and went out.
With Noela casually mistaking it, it seems this tool store has accomplished a transformation.
“Al-right! With this, the store is going to rake it in-!”
Dealing with the over-excited Paula, I returned to my own store.
—
One week after that.
“We gotta make it more like that, you know, for the adventurers to come to our town, see-?”
“Haa, that so…?”
In the end, Paula came over to Kirio Drug to complain.
“Like I thought -. I think it would be good to make a dungeon. Rei-kun, you can do something like that, right-?”
“I can’t. What do you think a pharmacist is?”
“The adventurers don’t come in the first place-! Of course the armor and weapons don’t sell!”
Tehee; Paula tapped her own forehead.
Good grief; I heaved a sigh.
“Ah-. Just now you thought ‘this person is a pain,’ didn’t you, Rei-kun-?”
“Yup-. Actually, it’s not just now but since a while ago?”
“Ahaha – eh….?”
Paula made a serious face. Pupils without life that looks like glass. Her mouth was also half open with no strength in her mouth.
Chuckle. It’s a little hilarious.
“I’m kidding, I’m kidding. To say that I thought you were troublesome. Well, if adventurers come, it’ll sell, so.”
“…. …. Yeah…. … . Right …. …”
This time I encouraged the glasses lady who looks like she’ll go flying off if you blow at her.
It took quite a while until she returned to her original energy level, so I thought I should restrain from teasing her like that from hereon.