Chapter 5: A Visitor opens a store
“Hmm?”
Returning to the other world, I looked around my surroundings.
Perhaps it was because it was my fifth time moving to the other world, but this time I suddenly appeared at my destination.
By the time I realized it, I was already standing outside of the town. I could see buildings from where I stood.
I headed towards the central part of town, intending to go to the marketplace I went to last time.
I planned on going to the far end of the marketplace, lining up my goods on the ground, then having the pa.s.sersby take a look at them.
However, when I pa.s.sed by a certain building on the way, I realized that it was an unoccupied house. The windows were left open, and the inside was deserted. The floor seemed a bit dusty, but the interior of the unoccupied house was s.p.a.cious and had a good feeling to it.
“Um, excuse me.” I called out to stop a pa.s.serby.
“Is this place unoccupied?”
“Aah, this house is unoccupied. Some years ago there was a shop here but… what kind of shop was it again…?
“Do you know the owner? Do you think I’ll be able to rent it?”
“Ah, yes I do. Follow me.”
Going into the place they showed me, I explained my situation to the old lady who owned the property.
When I offered her the four gold coins I had on hand, the old lady was astonished, saying “I can’t accept that much, just one is enough.”
As usual, it turned into a small quarrel, and in the end I handed over 2 gold coins to cover 2 murugu of rent.
However, one murugu… how many days is that?
Well, whatever.
The first thing that I, now with a shop, did was to clean the floor.
If I remember correctly, I stuffed a broom and dustpan in here… I dumped the contents of my backpack and searched. Ah, like I expected it was here.
I pulled one rag out of a set of five, wet it using water from a water bottle, then pushed it along the floor.*
After finishing that task, with the shop clean and my work inside finished, without resting I went outside to the front.
“Mmmm.”
I crossed my arms and gazed at my shop.
This is my store. My shop.
It’s kind of touching, a fullness in my heart that’s hard to put into words.
What did they call this kind of thing again? Feudal lordship?
This fantasy world is amazing though, no registration, no co-signers, none of that troublesome stuff at all. Without even being asked “Who are you?” I explained my circ.u.mstances to the old lady who owned the property and everything was settled within several minutes. This speediness is amazing.
Looking at my shop from the outside, I realized there was something missing. A signboard.
Hanging above the entrance was a signboard-like object. Something appeared to have been written on it long ago, but it had completely weathered away and is difficult to make out.
I can reuse the signboard… I have to write the shop’s name.
But before that, I have to decide on the shop’s name.
As the feudal lord, this was the first duty bestowed on me.
It is a sacred rite.
I contemplated, and contemplations piled up.
To be specific, around three seconds pa.s.sed while I thought.
“Mm! Let’s go with ‘C-mart’!”
I pulled out a felt pen from my belongings, then as I wrote in big letters “C-Mart” on the store’s signboard…
“Is this a store?”
Someone from the neighborhood had become interested and peeked inside of the shop.
“Of course. If you’d like, please step inside,” I said.
Since I had just finished cleaning the inside of the store, it was still barren and nothing had been put on display. However, I invited that person in without delay.
It’s an event to be celebrated, my very first customer.
I pulled out my products and started explaining what they were.
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This chapter has translator’s notes available.