“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 . Paulsan, welcome . ”
Mina appeared and waved her hand at Paula .
“I came over- . Minchan’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 .
“Min, Noel? 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 . Minchan would be great, n?”
“You can’t have Mina . ”
“Then Noelchan? 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 .
H .
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 . ”
“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 .