Volume 1 - CH 10.1

Chapter 1-10 : Opening The Store (part 1)

「Finally, it’s time to open my store!」

Geberg-san and the village men were working really fast the other day.

It only took them a day and a half to finish the fences.

The next morning, Geberg-san came to install the signboard.

I thought he just repaired the old signboard, but he made a new one.

Moreover, it looks cute!

It changed the atmosphere of the store completely.

To be honest, I never thought Geberg-san could make a cute signboard.

Inside the store, some products were lined up on the shelves.

Well, there were still a lot of empty spaces, though.

The three windows in the store space were decorated with sky blue curtains.

Thanks to that, the atmosphere inside the store had become brighter.

I placed a handmade『Order Here』sign on the table and sat on the chair behind the counter.

Alright! I’m ready now!

Come on, customers!

Come anytime!

◇　　　　◇　　　　◇

「…….No one’s coming…」

An hour had passed since I opened the store.

Well, I had a feeling this was going to happen…

Because this would likely be a very slow day, I lined up the alchemy tools I got from Master behind the counter, and started making magic stones to kill time.

This work could be paused, so I could just leave it when a customer came.

「Gori gori~ gori gori~♪」

*/ roll roll~

I crushed the crystal shards, which was the raw material to make a magic stone, into debris with a hammer, and ground it with a druggist’s mortar to make it even smoother.

Natural magic stones were very rare and expensive, so generally, alchemists made artificial magic stones by themselves to be used as materials to make artifacts.

However, the bigger the size, the more difficult it was to make.

After it became fine enough, I put it in an alchemy pot, melted it to remove the impurities, and hardened it.

Because each process required magical power, it was quite difficult for people who only had little magical power in their body.

By the way, if you use a large alchemy pot, the amount of magical power required is also large, so normally people will use a palm-sized alchemy pot to make magic stones.

Right now, I’m using a single-handled pot I got from Master, but when I was at school, the alchemy pot I used was the size of a small teacup. It was about two times smaller than this.

Well, you don’t need a large pot to make magic stones.

「Smash~ smash~ crush~ crush~♪ it makes me want to craft an artifact~♪」

The crystal shards themselves are cheap, but the lower the purity is, the more you have to grind them down, and it’s kind of troublesome.

But of course… They’re not cheap…

And I don’t have one…

I have no choice but to do it manually.

Ganー ganー ganー ganー

*/ hammer sfx

When I focused on hammering the crystal shardー

「Good afternoー Eh!? Sarasa-san!?」(Lorea)

「Hm? Ah, Lorea-chan! Welcome!」(Sarasa)

The one who opened the door was Lorea-’chan’.

Yes! ‘Chan’!

After we made the mattress and had a ‘girls talk’ together, we became friends!

The way I called her had changed from ‘Lorea-san’ to ‘Lorea-chan’.

Intimacy level has increased!

I told her to call me with ‘chan’ too, but she said she would continue to call me with ‘san’ because I’m older.

I don’t think she has to worry about age, though.

「Un! Congratulations on opening the store! ……Geh, not that! What are you doing with that hammer, Sarasa-san!?」(Lorea)

「This? I’m making magic stones.」(Sarasa)

Lorea-chan curiously looked at the crystal shards on the counter.

Actually, hammering crystal shards could be considered an alchemist’s activity, but since it was just crushing something, anyone could do it even if they were not alchemists.

「Hee~ I thought alchemy is more like… ‘shooー’ and ‘shaaー’」(Lorea)

「Eh? What do you mean?」(Sarasa)

Maybe she wanted to say ‘more stylish’ or something?

I understood what she wanted to say somehow.

When I first entered the alchemy school, I was also surprised because there were so many things I had to learn.

「Well, we do a lot of things, you know? Because we craft so many things, we have to be able to do things like carpentry, glasswork, blacksmithing, cooking, and many other things. It doesn’t matter if you’re good at it or not, but at least you can do it.」(Sarasa)

Even the Royal Alchemist Training School, that was famous for its strictness, was unexpectedly soft in terms of skills that were not directly related to alchemy because you could just rely on the professionals who were good at it.

For example, if you’re not good at woodworking, you can just ask a carpenter.

However, if you can do it yourself, it will be a plus for you.

「I see. It must be tough to be an alchemist… Oh?」(Lorea)

Saying that, Lorea-chan looked around the store and found the cloths that were displayed.

「These cloths! They’re the same as the one you gave me, right? Ahh~ this color is also beautiful! ….. Uwa!? So expensive!」(Lorea)

「Aahー Actually, it’s cheaper than the normal price, you know? In the royal capital, they sell it for 20 – 30% more expensive.」(Sarasa)

Lorea-chan’s eyes were shining, looking at the green, light pink, and sky blue environment adjusting cloths that I lined up on a shelf as the featured product.

「Sarasa-san… about the cloth you gave me… are you sure?」(Lorea)

「This again? Geez. Lorea-chan, days have passed since I gave it to you, and we’re friends now, so don’t worry about it. Besides, I’m glad you came to help me the other day.」(Sarasa)

And today, she came to celebrate the opening of my store.

「Un! Thank you, Sarasa-san!」(Lorea)

「Well, if you have something you need here, please buy it next time.」(Sarasa)

「Yes, of course! ーーThe other products are….. only potions?」(Lorea)

「Yeah. I can only sell potions and those cloths for now. Lorea-chan, do you know what kind of items villagers need beside potions?」(Sarasa)

「U~mm… I don’t know… It’s difficult to tell what people need here.」(Lorea)

「Ah, I see…」(Sarasa)

People definitely need potions.

But for the artifacts, people wouldn’t want to buy them unless they knew the function.

In the royal capital, people knew the function of artifacts because many aristocrats and rich people bought them first.

However, I don’t think it will happen in this small village….

「Hmm… should I make sample products…?」(Sarasa)

「Well, it will give people the opportunity to know what kind of products you are selling, but to be frank, people in this village don’t have much money, you know? The only houses that have decent money are my family’s general store, Diral-san’s inn, and Village Mayor-san.」(Lorea)

I see… This is a village where self-sufficiency is possible after all.

A lot of Collectors were using Diral-san’s inn and cafeteria.

Lorea-chan’s father’s general store sold almost every necessity to the villagers.

The village mayor worked under the government.

If it’s true that only these three people have money in this village, it will be difficult for me to sell artifacts here.

Hmm… what should I do…?