by Funa
Hooray, non-food items!
“So, our story is that Layette, Belle, and I are sisters, and Emile is Belle’s lover, who just recently became a hunter. Roland and Francette are a knightly couple, and they watch over us because they made an oath to our late parents. Francette might get away with it, but Roland’s speech and mannerisms give him away as a noble, so he couldn’t pass as our commoner brother. And Francette’s a bit too young to be an elite common-born knight, so her backstory wouldn’t work unless she was a noble. Besides, her equipment’s a bit too nice for a commoner.”
I decided not to make her Emile’s sister because, well... If he and Belle started getting all lovey-dovey in public, people would think we’re a family of weirdos, which would hurt my chances of finding a romantic partner. And if Francette and Belle were already taken, the young bachelors’ attentions would naturally gravitate toward me.
Muahaha, it was the perfect plan!
...But if the men start paying attention to Layette instead of me, I’ll cry!
“Okay then, let’s do this!”
Nobody responded to my call, and they all moved their horses forward with their shoulders slumped.
Well, I wasn’t expecting them to shout together or anything. The guards probably would’ve come running if they did. And of course, I had put the chariot back into my Item Box and was riding Ed, with Layette sitting in front of me. We moved forward at a casual pace toward the city.
This city wasn’t the kind surrounded by walls, so everyone was free to enter and leave as they pleased. I wondered if they just weren’t worried about enemy attacks, but then I realized this place was located off in a distant corner of the country, in a completely different direction from the capital, so it was highly unlikely an opposing faction would send their armies here. You can take down an opposing nation by taking their capital, so no idiot would waste their time taking an out-of-the-way location that wouldn’t give them an advantage in battle.
Makes sense to me!
And since it was so far from the capital, I didn’t have to worry about kings and princes bothering me, either. So, as long as I was careful with whatever lord ruled this place, I’d be totally fine...
...There was a time when I believed that.
“Huh? The king in this country is just a diplomatic ornament, and it’s actually run by a council? It’s not a real monarchy?”
According to Roland, this kingdom had a king and nobility, but the high-ranking nobles conducted meetings where they made all the important decisions, rather than the king doing it himself. And although it wasn’t exactly a democracy or a republic, it was a bit different from other kingdoms and empires, since the voices of powerful commoners, especially the rich and important merchants, were quite influential.
“So I don’t have to worry about lords and nobles here?”
“Of course you do! Lords are still lords, and nobles are still nobles. The nobles of this land are properly greedy and entitled and consider commoners to be nothing more than livestock, so don’t worry.”
Thought sooo!
Death Crimson!
I mean, King Crimson!
We were currently at the house—no, the shop we had signed a contract to rent.
Fortunately, all I needed to rent it was an up-front payment, and it didn’t require any annoying certificates or guarantors. This wasn’t the capital, but some out-of-the-way location off in the corner of the country, so the rent wasn’t that high, despite it being a reasonably-sized town. The shop area of the building wasn’t very big, but the living area was a decent size. After all, not only was I living with Emile and the others, but Roland and Francette would be joining as well.
I was going to have Emile and Belle share a room, and have Roland and Francette take another, but Francette adamantly refused, her face as red as a tomato.
“Wh-Wh-Wh-Whaaat?! An unmarried man and woman in the same room? You can’t be serious!!!”
Huh? Whaaat?
“D-Don’t tell me...”
Shocked, I glanced in the direction of Roland, who averted his eyes.
Ohhh... I had figured everyone but royalty and nobles in this world were loose about that sort of thing... Wait, Francette is a noble now! And she did say she had never dated a man before. Wait... So have they been staying in different rooms at the inns we stopped at all this time?
“When it comes to inns, we had to keep traveling expenses low, and I had my duty to protect him. That was work! This is different!”
I see... So she didn’t mind staying in a camp or inn together, since it’s part of her job as a knight, but when it comes to living in the same room, it’s a different story...
What a pain!
On the other hand, Emile and Belle were acting as if being separated was out of the question, so I had them stay in the same room. I would be sharing my room with Layette, of course.
As for what this shop was going to be for...
“A utility shop?” everyone asked me.
Yes, it was going to be a ‘utility shop.’ The shop would be open from the first morning bell (6 a.m.) to the second morning bell (9 a.m.), then from the second daytime bell (3 p.m.) to the first evening bell (6 p.m.). It would only be open while everyone was leaving for work and coming back from work. I wasn’t in dire need of money, so I didn’t want to work more than was necessary. I’d rather use that time trying to find a marriage partner.
And for the product for our shop...
I pulled out the shelves and display stands we had used at Layette’s Atelier from the Item Box and put them out in the shop area. And there, I placed the products I had picked out personally. Hard bread, jerky, cubes of dehydrated soup, dried vegetables and dried fruits. I would only be selling food that wouldn’t spoil easily.
In addition, I laid out canteens, knives, capes, and hats for those who had sudden travel needs and had to buy some equipment. There were also spices, herbs, underwear, and even some disposable cosmetics. I added those emergency items little by little, from a broad range of categories.
“...Why would underwear and cosmetics be considered emergency items, you ask? Let’s talk about that when Belle and Layette aren’t here, Francette.”
＊ ＊
As soon as we arrived in the city, the first thing we did was secure a room at an inn. After that, we began gathering information from bored-looking people at the inn and the other guests staying there. Information was incredibly valuable, after all.
From what we gathered, merchants had a lot of rights in this country, and there was a merchant’s association—in other words, a guild—that gathered taxes from other merchants and made payments to the government. So, in order to open a shop, we first needed to register with the Commerce Guild. I needed someone to introduce me to the right people if I was to rent out a shop anyway, so going to the guild and asking around was the fastest way to get what I wanted.
And so, I headed to the guild first thing in the morning, bringing Roland and Francette with me. After all, having adults with me would ensure that things went a lot smoother, rather than me going by myself, given that I looked like an underage child.
Francette looked to be 15 or 16 years old, so even though she was technically an adult, it wasn’t quite enough to get by. That was why I had Roland tag along too. Anyone who saw Roland would assume correctly that he was an upper-class rich boy. Moreover, while wearing his sword, he cut something of an imposing figure.
As such, people would assume that Roland would hold the rights to the shop and be the shop owner, both in name only, while leaving the actual work to me and Francette. That was fine by me.
If a rumor went around about a child shopkeeper, a bunch of unwelcome types might have decided to come bug me. There are those who try to take from the weak in every world, after all. If an argument broke out, something terrible could happen... to the other party, that is.
I doubted Roland would be conscious of the danger posed to me or Francette, since he could just reve
al his identity in a pinch and thus get out of trouble. And would Francette, Emile and Belle even think to go easy on someone who tried to cause me harm? I wouldn’t show mercy to anyone who laid hands on Layette, after all. Absolutely not!
In any case... the fewer sources of conflict, the better. That’s what it came down to.
“Excuse me, we’d like to open a new business...” I had asked for directions at the inn and, upon arrival at the Guild, spoke to the young reception girl at the desk.
“Oh... Y-Yes!” Yeah, she was looking right over my head and right at Roland’s face...
Well, Roland was an ex-prince, after all, and he had the appearance to match. If he dressed up and rode in on a white horse, it’d be quite the regal picture. It wasn’t so strange for a reception girl from a local city to swoon over him.
“...So, h-how may I help you?”
Th-This girl was too busy gawking at Roland to even listen to me! Wait, was Roland that popular with the ladies? Even without his royal title?
I looked over at Francette, who shrugged. Huh... So this happened pretty often.
“We! Would like! To open! A new business!!!”
“You don’t have to shout! I can hear you!”
Shut it!
When I was an office worker, there was a time when I had to cover for the receptionists when they all fell ill with the flu. Though, for some reason, I was released from my duties in the middle of my first day... Anyway, a receptionist is the face of the company! When they don’t put their all into their work...
Smack!
“Pardon me. I’d like to discuss your inquiry in detail, so please come right this way,” a woman who was a little older than the first receptionist said, smiling, and guided us toward a separate meeting room.
“How mean! I was helping that handso— customer! You can’t just come in and take... Hey, what are you doing?! Stop, I must help that handsome man...” The receptionist girl got her head smacked with rolled-up documents, then protested vigorously as her co-workers dragged her away.
Maybe this happened often, because they were pretty efficient in removing her. I was glad we didn’t end up being assigned to that weirdo. Seriously...
“Well then. I am Irene, and I will be taking care of you today. I understand you are looking to open a new business. Please turn in a written request with the location, shop name, products handled and/or business form, as well as the size of your business. Your taxes and membership fees will be based on this information... Please note that if you report false information in an attempt to reduce the taxes owed, there will be issues later on...”
She finished her explanation quickly enough, but I wasn’t even at that step yet.
“I’m sorry, but we still haven’t worked out a location for our store. We came here hoping you could give us some guidance...”
“Oh, I see. Not to worry, there are quite a few people who do the same thing. This gives us an opportunity to collect a favor later from the estate agents for having referred you, and they also happen to be members of our guild.”
I thought she would have gotten upset, but that wasn’t the case at all. We were introduced to an estate agent, then we secured a store location, all thanks to the help of the guild.
After officially completing the registration process, I asked her something that was on my mind.
“Um, that receptionist we first talked to...”
“Oh, she’s the granddaughter of our lord’s nursemaid, so she won’t get fired no matter what she does. She’s not a bad girl... I suppose you could say she’s honest, pure, true to her desires, or just unmannerly...”
That didn’t sound like a good girl to me!
So, on the documents I submitted, I wrote:
Shop Location: Commercial Ward, 3rd Street
Products Handled: Anything
Business Size: 3 employees
Store Name: Belle
I didn’t want to use the same shop name as last time, so I changed it up. The employees of record would be me, Belle, and Francette. I was going to have Belle train as a hunter with Emile again, but she would be helping out every so often, and I was afraid of being penalized for under-reporting, so I added her, just in case. It wasn’t like I was hurting for money, and the difference in fees between two employees and three wasn’t too different anyway.
I was planning on putting “Convenience Store Belle” on the sign. I wasn’t going to call it a conbini. If I did, anyone who got transported here from Japan would immediately be able to tell some other Japanese person was already here. And what if that person made a move before me... Wait, what am I even fighting against?!
Anyway, preparations for shooting down UFOs—I mean, opening the shop—were complete! Now I just needed to order the sign! I had changed the shop name, so I couldn’t reuse the old one.
...But first, I had to lay out the products and tell everyone about the shop.
＊ ＊
And with the sign now complete, it was time to open the doors!
But it ended up being a quiet opening, since I hadn’t really advertised at all. I wasn’t planning on doing any heavy marketing. Honestly, I didn’t want too many people coming in, and I wasn’t selling anything particularly interesting anyway. Just a small shop where customers would occasionally stop by; that was what I wanted Convenience Store Belle to be.
This store was nothing more than a front to make it seem like my main source of income, after all. If word got out that I had a lot of money, enough to live comfortably on, it would attract the unsavory types and affect my search for a marriage partner. I wasn’t interested in men who were after my wallet.
Plus, I needed something that would give me an opportunity to meet people. My mistake last time was thinking that I had to make money through my business. That had led to the idea that I needed good medicine to sell at a profit. I didn’t need my business to be booming in order to find a man; I really only needed people to think I was just getting by with my shop.
Being in the red would be a bit much, though, so I would be satisfied with breaking even after living expenses, or making a slight profit. Big profits were completely unnecessary. Oh, maybe I could scrape up the costs for Ed’s care too, though I didn’t mind using my savings in the Item Box for that.
Emile and Belle were at the Hunter’s Guild. They would likely just be introducing themselves and gathering info for today. They planned on taking on real tasks starting tomorrow.
Francette and Roland were relaxing in their rooms upstairs. They would come down in seconds if I rang the call bell, shouted for them, or pulled the string under the counter. So, for now, Francette could rest as much as she liked.
It was a far cry from keeping watch all day from the alley like last time. I felt bad for that. Really... Sorry about that...
I’d have Francette swap in for my breaks, but I would do the majority of the shopkeeping. Otherwise, it would defeat the purpose of running a shop to find a marriage partner. Layette would be there too, of course. Three-hour shifts, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Six-hour work days, with free time during the day. No late night prep work or early mornings.
Sold goods could be easily replenished as long as I had a few days’ worth of stock stored in the Item Box. Ahh, this was a dream compared to the boxed meal shop or being a corporate slave like in my last life! I could even neglect my health and eat like crap and not worry about getting sick as long as I had my potions!
This is it! This is the life I’ve always wanteddd!!!
...Wait. If I got married, wouldn’t I lose this dream life and have to make meals for my husband every day? If I had to deal with that, I might as well... No! No, no, no, no! Don’t think about it! Don’t think, just feel!
＊ ＊
Even without any advertising on my part, people came to check out the new shop out of sheer curiosity.
No one came in on the morning of the first day, but there were a decent number of locals and people coming
home from work who stopped by in the evening. Ever since then, several people had started coming by, here and there, in the mornings and evenings alike.
“A ‘convenient’ store? You could find this stuff pretty much anywhere...”
When people pointed this out, I provided them with an explanation.
“It’s true that these items can be found at other shops. Canteens at item shops, knives at blade shops, nonperishables at food stores, capes at clothing stores... But if you suddenly needed to travel someplace far away, you would need to stop by multiple stores to get all of those things, wouldn’t you? And if you needed to leave first thing in the morning, you would have to wait until the second morning bell or first daytime bell to get them. But if you come here, you can get everything in one visit, and we open at the first morning bell! Wouldn’t you say that’s a convenient store?”
“Y-You’re right...”
After hearing my explanation, most customers seemed to agree.
The prices for my wares weren’t particularly cheap, but they weren’t too high either. We put out a few things we liked, like cookies baked by yours truly, Belle’s bamboo wares, and Emile’s wood-carved animals, all sold at a very low price. As such, our run-of-the-mill shop, a shop that wasn’t exactly thriving or in a horrible slump, quietly continued to do business.
＊ ＊
“Hey mister, do you have anything weird in stock?”
“Weird, you say...?”
The shop is closed from the second morning bell (9 a.m.) to the second daytime bell (3 p.m.) This means that we have free time between those hours, but... I was getting a full eight hours of sleep—from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.—so I couldn’t really take a midday nap.