Chapter 7
Chapter 7
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 7
Chapter Title: Total Disaster
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Convenience store owner (real). Or maybe I already am the owner. Anyway, to me, the convenience store was a space of dreams and hope.
Of course, I knew full well that criticism and backlash would come pouring in. Dealing with difficult customers is tough, and the real pains in the ass make you want to grab them by the collar regardless of whether they're paying guests or not. Especially that guy from a month ago who bought a triangle kimbap, then came back demanding a refund because it was past expiration—I could never forget him if I tried.
Even so, the convenience store was plenty appealing.
First off, discarded food is the best.
Ah, I can't hold back. No way I can.
Triangle kimbap and sandwiches marked for discard. Bentos and milk. Beverages. Those refrigerated breads with sausages. Rolled kimbap and hamburgers too.
The three convenience stores I frequented each discarded at 10 a.m., 2 p.m., and 3 a.m., so if you chatted up the owners nicely, you could get by the whole day on discards alone. Having multiple neighborhood regulars like that was secretly a huge jackpot.
And the distribution in Jefrin from the game D/Z SAGA was better than expected. Potions were cheap no matter where you went in town.
But a healing potion costs 10,000 rin per bottle.
Are you insane? Who the hell chugs healing potions at that price? This game had a technique where, without healers, you brute-force dungeons with potions. But that's when healing potions cost 100 rin each. At 10,000? Forget it.
The folks in Jefrin are growing up strong, huh.
Anyway, when I came to Jefrin, I reached for the convenience store idea after a bunch of calculations.
First, discarded food. And about 3 million rin a month in income.
If business picked up, I figured I could hire three part-timers at 800,000 rin a week, watch the store myself on weekends, live off 500,000 rin a month, and do side gigs on top.
But there's nothing to sell.
Midas's Hand keeps cranking out weapons and armor nonstop, but high-end gear doesn't seem to drop often.
Yggdrasil is like a seedling fan club. Are these guys nuts? Still, fruit seeds sell decently. That's nice.
Magic traders deal in good-words reproducers and healing potions. Mix healing potions with water and spray it on plants, raise them up, then play a good-words reproducer—does that make plants grow faster, science or magic?
Anyway, Jefrin's distribution network is total garbage. Beyond saving.
So.
In a medieval-level backwater world where even the central HQ just drops off scraps to survive, and the very concept of a convenience store doesn't exist, I'm going to be the one and only convenience store manager.
A convenience store where you can't order stock.
A convenience store where you have to handcraft everything for the shelves.
Wow. Wow, really...
"Isn't this a total jackpot?"
Hmm.
Feels like a jackpot.
"Well. Ehehe."
"Lady Eve?"
In the student council room, Eve von Loengrin leisurely flipped through documents before turning at her secretary's call. The secretary tilted her head, sniffing the air curiously.
"What's up?"
"Doesn't the student council room smell faintly sweet?"
"...No way."
"Really...? Smells like fruit."
"Hehe. You're imagining things. Or are you saying someone snuck snacks in here?"
"...Right? Yeah, no way."
"Exactly. You know how luxurious snacks are in Jefrin."
"True..."
The secretary stared at Eve, but Eve's mouth didn't twitch.
Eve had her own dilemmas. She could just let it melt slowly in her mouth, but this top-grade candy's aroma was too exquisite for that.
Swallowing it outright felt wrong too, so Eve squeezed her eyes shut and silently apologized to the candy in her mouth.
Crunch.
"?"
"What?"
"...Nothing. It's nothing."
She forced the definitively shattered candy down her throat and played innocent with the secretary, who tilted her head again before returning to work. Eve sighed in relief at not getting caught, then apologized to the candy that wouldn't reach its full lifespan.
But the secretary was a total sweets fiend too. Especially people who used their brains a lot went nuts for sugar.
Still, candy was a luxury ingredient and extravagance.
Eve mentally counted the remaining candies from Wolfram. Seven left. Plenty. One a day for a week.
No clue where Wolfram got them, but if he blew through them all, his finances would be toast.
"I'll let you live a little longer. Once you've eaten them all and wrecked your fortune—that's when you end. Wolfram."
Eve secretly popped another candy in her mouth.
"Hehe."
Now six left.
Doomsday was closing in.
"What seedling to prep next."
The convenience store in Sector 8 Magic Division had no sign yet, but it did have one thing: a vegetable garden.
Why a garden right at the entrance? Is this really a convenience store, or some heart-pounding rural life fantasy?
But Wolfram had no stamina for rural bliss. Anyway, I planted fruit seedlings from Yggdrasil, sprayed nutrient mix of water and healing potion on them, then played the good-words music box.
The good-words music box.
Embodiment of deranged pseudoscience.
Remember that experiment? "Talking nice to onions made them grow bigger!"
As a kid, I wondered if onions had Korean comprehension centers. Utterly idiotic.
Of course it was pseudoscience. Like "water has memory."
But mix in magic, and it genuinely "works well."
Originally a mind-control tool for Magic Division grad students, this self-hypnosis happy-circuit music box, when played to plants, was a real easter egg making them grow "bigger and tastier."
I ordered them through the grad students and was putting them to excellent use.
Harvest fruit, mash it, strain, boil down, mix with edible slime.
Pour into molds to set, then wrap each in cut paper.
One of these sells for 10,000 rin, so factoring my labor, no better side gig. Tomorrow's candy stock prep done.
"Huuu... Hii... Fuuu."
Earning money's great. But I'm gonna die like this.
"Please hold on, you damn body."
Then, we can seize the world.
Collapsed on the convenience store floor, twitching, I prayed to the world.
If only my stamina stat were 20,000 or 30,000...!
"...What are you doing?"
That's when the door opened and someone slipped in.
A customer. Damn. Monster hunt day, and I have to greet them lying down.
"Don't know who you are, but I'm in no shape to do business. Sorry."
"No, I mean... Why are you like that?"
"Ran out of stamina."
"......Shall I help you up?"
That voice... sounds familiar.
...Aila?
I swallowed hard.
One Black Crystal like this, totally defenseless, and it's instant death, right?
Damn, the frustration of immobility has me shaking.
But soon, gripped by Aila's hands, I was gently lifted.
"You okay?"
"......Fine."
Baby Wolfram plopped onto the sofa like a ragdoll, and Aila sat facing me.
"Thanks for the help. So, what's up?"
"...Hehe. Came on impulse after admiring your plan."
"Oh, right. The plan. Yeah."
"Yes. Exactly. Brilliant plan."
"...Yeah, that."
"Yep."
"Right."
"Hehe."
We smiled at each other.
Yeah, the plan.
...What plan?
Luckily, before I could ask, Aila smiled gracefully and rattled off nonsense.
The Witch of Ambition Aila listed my actions one by one.
"Heard you made Magic Division grad students your first customers. Hehe. Impressive. Getting called 'decent guy' by them."
"Is that so."
"Yes. They're the type glued to profs' projects. Stuck at 2 million rin a month forever. No interest in society, only move at profs' call. Good rep from them? Huge boost for you."
"Is that so."
"Yeah. You've bonded with this nation's next-gen scholars."
"Is that so."
"Hehe. You've been so disinterested since earlier. Fine, I get it. Your ambitions... aren't this small-time?"
"Is that so... You see that. Impressive."
I nearly kept autopilot-answering. Would've gotten Black Crystal'd for real.
Anyway, I acknowledged it, and Aila nodded with a smile.
"Who do you think I am?"
"Lady of Ambition. Prodigy of dark magic."
"Hehe. Good. Wolfram. As long as you don't disappoint, this place is yours in name and truth. I guarantee it as landlord."
"Appreciate that."
Tenants love cozy landlord ties.
"But clear up one curiosity?"
"What?"
"How'd you win over the grad students? They only care about graduation, assignments, papers... Expensive question?"
Ah, that.
"Hm. Not hard."
I stood, handed her an individually wrapped candy.
"...This?"
"Crunch it and see."
Aila unwrapped and popped it in. Then...
"......Mngh!"
"You like it."
Eyes wide, she let out a weird cheer, staring at me.
"C-candy? This is imperial tribute level... No, beyond. How...?"
"That's my secret weapon."
"......Did you stockpile before leaving? No, limited supply wouldn't be 'secret.' So, candy-making connections? Or..."
As she muttered, I shook my head. No telling how far her misunderstanding would go. She'd say something like, "He knows the empire's underworld, bound to unfurl rebellion wings someday!" For real.
Ambition's a paper away from chuunibyou.
"Homemade."
"...What?"
"With ingredients, I can make endless."
"......Ha. Right. One of your 'techniques.'"
Don't accent "technique." Embarrassing me too. I stayed silent; Aila nodded and continued.
"Rin't ask the recipe. ...As long as you're my fiancé and ally. You'll be useful."
"Thanks."
"Hehe. I'm thrilled. Wolfram. You're slammed to hell's bottom, but you'll soar flashiest, unfurling rebellion wings."
No.
Really not.
Always thought that type, but hearing it up close is weird.
Aila's eyes sparkled as she spread her arms.
"Anything you want from me?"
"...Want?"
"You showed me something great. I want to reciprocate."
"...Hm."
I nodded. I did want something. Adventuring essential.
"Need a map of Academy Eastern Forest. Got stuff to gather there."
"...Even with that, your stamina... Want escorts?"
Touchingly grateful. Thanks.
"...Needs to be discreet."
"Got it. I'll watch what you do. Map by tomorrow."
She stood; I pictured Eastern Forest.
Sorry, Aila.
"Early Eastern Forest has a 'hidden' item."
Can't pass this up.
Gotta eat too, right?