Volume 2 Chapter 13 (1/2)

My next destination was the third of the five special buildings within my town: the store. It was placed in a spot that was easy to take notice of as soon as one entered the city.

It was a big shop that dealt with the selling of foodstuff and also the weapons made by the dwarves.

The foodstuff available were the raw apples; the alcohol made by Ancient Elf; the long-lasting, hard-baked, and salt-seasoned bread; water; and the dried meat bought from the human city. Other than the apples, each one was necessary in dungeon exploration. I had every reason to believe that each item would be popular since our city was situated right in the middle of the [Time] Demon Lord’s dungeon and the gigantic commercial city of Eclaba.

Once we’ve gained more than enough immigrants and merchants, we could feature a wider array of products but for now, so as to not pressure ourselves with the sales, we opted to limit our products to the necessities.

Apart from selling those items, we would also offer the service to repair equipment. Though I guess this task would primarily go to the Dwarf Smiths.

“Master, you came.”

Ancient Elf, carrying a barrel full of apples, greeted me so.

“Yeah, we’re finally opening tomorrow so I wanted to see how the store’s progressing.”

“The preparations are all in order.”

When she put the barrel down to ground, I heard the sound of water.

“What is that barrel?”

“I’m pickling the apples in the water of life I made. While the apples are submerged in the water, it will not go bad. Even if an apple is dipped in the water just once, it will still take a very long time for it to decay, all while retaining its deliciousness. This water will also increase the apples’ effects.”

“……keep it moderate, okay?.”

“Yes, of course!”

Even a simple apple could turn into an imbalanced item as long as my Ancient Elf was involved.

The words water of life came up casually but for the humans, they would undoubtedly regard it as a big deal if they heard it.

“How about Kuina and her group?”

“They’re in the interior of the store, practicing. The lovely salesgirls and their excited elder sister…”

Ancient Elf who was fond of cute things said so as she became mesmerized.

“Is that so? That makes me feel uneasy; let’s go take a look.”

Ancient Elf and I went to the inside of the store.

◇

We went in and found Kuina and the Mythological Foxes.

“Now then, use [Transform]!”

Kuina ordered so to her subordinates, the Mythological Foxes.

The fox-girls enhanced their magic power and clasped their hands together. They then shone with light. In the next moment, their fox ears and tails vanished which made them appear exactly like humans.

No matter how much the humans of this world were accustomed to demihumans, it was still better for the salesperson to be of the same race as them. It was especially more important if they were ones to call in the customers. Therefore, the beautiful Mythological Foxes who could use [Transform] to hide their ears and tails were perfect for the job.

“Ah, Oto-san, look, look! It’s so cute!”

Kuina puffed her chest with pride. They surely were cute.

They wore a shopkeeper’s clothes designed by Elder Dwarf to have lovely fluttering frills. The eyes of the person beside me, Ancient Elf, sparkled as she looked at the Mythological Foxes. It was, without doubt, within her preferences.

……The Mythological Foxes weren’t the only ones to wear the clothes, Kuina wore them too.

However, Kuina wore it without transforming, keeping her fox ears and tail. I guessed it was probably intentional since there was a hole through which her tail passed.

“You’re not going to transform?”

“Kuina’s job, no, Kuina’s highest priority is to safeguard the city. So I can’t attend to the store.”

Well, she was right.

She was after all this city’s strongest and therefore could not spare the time to be a salesgirl.

“You’ll be our last line of defense. We’re counting on you.”

“Yay! ♪”

I approached her and brushed her head.

As I did so, I heard footsteps.

“The additional bread are done so I’ve come to deliver it. Oh, you’re here, my lord.”

The one who came was Wight.

On the back of the Golems were boxes filled with bread.

In charge of baking the bread which shall be one of our products were the Skeletons led by Wight.

As one would expect, unlike the Golems, it was impossible for the Skeletons to wander about in the city and therefore had no other way to be helpful to the city when there were no battle happening other than to diligently bake bread and then have the Golems deliver it.

The scene of a group of Skeletons making bread was so boundlessly surreal, it simply could not be shown to the humans.

“Thanks for your work. Can I have one?”

“Yes, certainly. Please enjoy a bread we, the Undead army, put our all into making.”

The bread made by a Skeleton. If I imagined it normally, it could only turn out to be bad but…

The taste of the hard baked bread sprinkled with a lot of salt to preserve it wasn’t bad. It wasn’t revolutionary but not awful either. It was a normal bread. And if it was so, it could be one of our products.