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Chapter 6: I hired an elf-eared girl as a cas.h.i.+er
*Chirp chirp chirp*
It’s probably not a sparrow, but I woke up by the sound of some small bird.
I had put out a sleeping bag on the open floor in the shop and had been sleeping.
“Fuwa~”
I crawled out of the sleeping bag, and the first thing I did was a big stretch.
I put water from a plastic bottle into a pot, then put the pot on the portable gas stove, and for the time being boiled some water.
While I was waiting for the water to boil, I grabbed my toothbrush and headed outside.
*Brush brush* I brushed my teeth while thinking of today’s plans.
Alright, I’ve decided.
Same as yesterday. Done.
Today’s plans, decided!
This is the epitome of immersion in slow life.
I had become completely dyed by this other world slow life.
All day I tend the store, without a care, waiting for the customers whose arrival can’t be predicted. When I get hungry, I just go to that nearby cafeteria to eat.
It’s that kind of lifestyle.
Thanks to that single bag of salt, it seems I can go eat for free for the rest of my life. Whenever I go, oba-chan always welcomes me in with a smile.
When I leave the shop, I leave a note that says “I’m in the cafeteria.” If a customer comes by and has a request, they can call me back to the shop.
On a side note, I can’t read or write the letters of this world, so oba-chan wrote the note for me. She really doesn’t give off the feeling of an oba-chan though.
Looking at her appearance, she looks like a loli. Appearance of a thirteen year old, personality of a woman in her thirties, a legal loli*.
Today’s plans are completely the same as yesterday. In other words, taking it easy. Waiting for the customers whose arrival can’t be predicted is the job of C-mart’s owner, me.
On a side note, I didn’t realize it at the time since I wrote it with such a confident expression, but… the people of this world, they can’t read it can they? Since to them it’s letters from a different world. Oh well. Ah, I forgot about today’s plans… same as usual… wouldn’t work I guess. I rethought my plans as I brushed my teeth. My stock is reaching its limit. For now, I need to go to modern-day j.a.pan. The sleeping bag, toothbrush, gas stove, and bottles of water – I ended up using it all myself. If I want to sell items like those, I need to acquire them again. By the way, it was a feeling of “going there then returning.” Not “returning” to j.a.pan. I, who had lived here in this world for many days now, had completely lost the feeling of “returning.” When I go to the other side, it’s just to replenish stock. In that case, is it better if I canceled the lease on my room? Well, if I don’t have an address on that side, it might become troublesome. I decided it would be best to keep paying rent and think about what to do later. Oh, I know. I can just put everything off until later. Let’s do that. If I can do something tomorrow, I won’t do it today. This is the foundation of my current lifestyle. What a wonderful idea. It’s perfect. This is the true essence of slow life. As I thought that, I had finished brus.h.i.+ng my teeth. “*gargle gargle* *spit*” Right at the spot where I spit, there was a person sleeping. By the entrance of the shop, there was someone lying on their side, collapsed. “Huh!? Uwah!? Sorry! Sorry! I didn’t notice!” I panicked and said in apology. I had spit a mixture of toothpaste, saliva, and water on them. In other words, I had spit on them. However, I swear it wasn’t on purpose. I didn’t notice them. Someone sleeping in such a place is… In the first place, why is someone sleeping by the store entrance? Why is this person sleeping? In any case, why aren’t they waking up? Why don’t they notice the mixture of toothpaste, water, and saliva and wake up? “…umm?” I eventually called out.
Rolled up in a worn out mantle, the person was still curled up lying on their side. “O, oi… are they dead?” I murmured in astonishment. The collapsed person moved their shoulder slightly. Thank goodness. For the time being, it appears that they are alive. “I’m… hungry…” I heard a soft, weak voice. Now that I knew the reason they had collapsed, I was relieved.
After the tension faded, I felt weak at the knees. “I’m back to life! I hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday you see!” They wiped their face with a towel and ate my canned food. Having finally become comfortable, the person had said something. I looked at her face closely. The person who had collapsed was a girl. She was wearing a worn out mantle, and her face had dust and dirt on it, but now that I look closely she’s quite a cute girl. However… she’s really covered in dust. Only the part of her face that she had wiped the mixture of toothpaste, water, and saliva off of was clean, but… how is that? Is that OK? I looked closely at her face. “W-what is it? Ah… i-if it’s about money I don’t have any. If I had money there’s no way I would be collapsed like that right?”
My eyes s.h.i.+fted towards her ears which were showing slightly from under the hood. She was properly wearing the hood, but from the small part of her ears that was visible, I could tell that they were long. “Ah, so you noticed? That’s right. That’s right… You see, I’m an e-elf.” “Elf?”
“Even though I say elf though, I’m not from any tribe. Both of my parents were human, but for some reason I was born as an elf.” “Perhaps your parents picked up an abandoned child…?” I asked as such. “I also thought that, and asked them, but…” She said while heartily moving the contents of the can into her mouth. Those were not meant for her to eat, but were cans I had been saving for my own breakfast, but… Without losing composure, she ate as if it was meant for her. The food that had been intended for my breakfast was steadily disappearing into her stomach. My image of elves were that they had small appet.i.tes, only ate vegetables, and started their day with a cup of fruit juice for breakfast… that kind of feeling. Well, I suppose she was at the point of collapsing while walking. The girl displayed an astonis.h.i.+ngly large appet.i.te. “But they said I was really born from my mother. I’m often told that it’s likely I was a changeling. You know, in human towns there are often some people who are born as changelings. I had trouble living in the human village, so I figured I’d go to the elf village in the hopes that they’d welcome me. So I went on a journey, but this time the elf people said ‘Someone who eats meat can’t possibly be an elf!’ and kicked me out of the village.”
“Ah! This! This meat is delicious! What kind of meat is this? I’ve never eaten it before.”
“Those were… canned tuna, canned saury, and yakitori… this one is corned beef… err corned meat but… what kind of meat was corned meat again?” I look at the can. It says chicken and beef, but in this fantasy world are there chickens and cows? If I tell her, will she understand? “It was exquisite, thank you” she said after eating all of the corned meat. She arranged her hands on the floor and with a bob of her head, bowed. In that way only, she was polite. She must have been raised well. “…by the way, by any chance, about that previous… thing you didn’t want to say” The thing about being a changeling. Perhaps she had led a miserable life until now… I had become curious ever since hearing her story. “Why was that?” “Ah, you know… you said it was hard to live, so were you persecuted or anything?” “Ahh, so it sounded like that kind of thing to you. It’s not like that at all, I’m OK!” The elf girl smiled with a bright expression. “Why did you leave the human town?” She was smiling so brightly, I decided to pry a little bit more. “Both of my parents died, so” “Eh? Of illness?”
“No, of old age.”
“Huh?” The girl in front of my eyes appeared to be in her early teens, and a bit too young to go on a journey by herself. Well I suppose I don’t really know the common sense of this world. But her parents, dying of old age? Why? “I had been caring for my parents for a while, but my father went first, then my mother. After I had finished caring for them, I sold the house and, using that money for travel expenses, went on a journey to the elf village.”
“Ahhhh!”
I had finally realized. I pointed my finger at her face and said in a loud voice. “Legal loli!” “What?” “Err, you as well! You don’t look your age!? You’re not fifteen at all! In other words, the same as oba-chan!!” “I don’t really know what oba-chan means, but yes I suppose. Both of my parents were humans, but I am a pure-blooded elf… so even though I have this appearance…” “How old are you!?” I asked in excitement. “Do you want to know that badly?” “Somehow, I really want to know.”
“Ufufu, then it’s a secret.” “What do you mean ‘then’!? What the heck?”
“At the very least I’m older than you. By a few times.” “By a few times!?” To think that that failure of an elf that had collapsed while walking was actually far older than me… “Ummm, is there no meat left?”
“Unfortunately not, there aren’t really many cans left since so many of them were eaten.”
“Why are you suddenly speaking respectfully?”
“You ate all of them so there are none left!” “Why are you suddenly speaking rudely now?”
“I don’t know! How should I speak to you!?”
“Please speak to me normally.”
A little while later I had become calm and composed. I decided to stop worrying about her being older. I decided to treat her like the failure elf and dumb elf she is. My plans for today had been to go to over there and stock up anyways, but since this dumb elf ate all of it, my plans had to be pushed forward. “Aahh! Since you ate all the canned food I have to go and stock up!” “I’ll wait” she said while stretching her back. At that moment I had an idea. From the time I leave until I get back, I can have her tend the store, since she said she would wait. “Sorry, but could you tend to the store until I return?”
“Will I get to eat canned food?”
“I’m planning on feeding you plenty by lunchtime”
“I’ll wait!”
It had been decided. I returned to the real world, went to the same supermarket, and bought large amounts of items like I usually do. With the main focus being canned food today, I stocked up on water, portable gas stoves, and bottled “delicious water.” These are just to replenish what I had used myself, not to sell. What’s left… they don’t sell sleeping bags, so I’ll have to go to the home center afterwards…” Rather than taking the time to put these in my backpack, would it be better just to push the cart while transporting to the other world? Well, I’ll test it one day. If I used some method other than walking and took the cart to the other world, the amount I could take in one trip would increase by a large amount.
With various goods in my possession, I returned to the other world. “Ooi, I returned.”
The elf girl was collapsed on the floor. “I’m… hungry.”
“Collapsing again, huh. You.”
“I haven’t… eaten anything since morning…”
“But you ate in the morning didn’t you?”
“Elves have poor fuel efficiency” “Don’t lie. It’s just you isn’t it? Here, it’s your favorite. You like meat right? I brought a lot of stuff.”
I laid out several different canned foods on the floor. “Garurururu”
The hand of dumb elf came flying, hit me, and pushed me off to the side. “What is this? Are you not giving these to me? When you said you were giving these to me, was that a lie?”
“Before that, I have something to ask you, dumb elf.”
“Did you just casually call me dumb?”
“You don’t have any particular destination do you? In that case, do you want to work here for a while? If there’s someone to tend the store, that would help me a lot.”
“While master was out, I sold about 10 products. I received the price written on the tag and put it in the box.”
“Ooh, what a useful person!”
“Praise me more. And give me more canned food. Also, I request nine every day as my wage.”
“By the way, did you just casually say ‘master’?” “Since you are employing me, you’re ‘master’ right? Or would you prefer if I called you ‘manager’?” “Ummmm, ‘master’ is good.” I said after deliberating. Being called “master” by a dumb but pretty and cute elf is unexpectedly not bad. My back feels kind of itchy. “On a side note, what does nine every day as your wage mean?” “Nine cans of food.” “Are you OK with accepting goods as payment? Not gold dust or coins?”
“Well, even if I receive coins, I can’t buy those delicious canned foods anywhere except this store.”
“That’s true, but… how about six?”
“Eight.”
Dumb elf’s hands were clenched and her eyes were locked on to the mountain of canned food on the floor. “How about seven?”
I took seven of the cans and placed them together. Faced by the power of the real thing, dumb elf was on the verge of conceding. “Seven and some hardtack” dumb elf said. Now that I recall, I also opened a can of hardtack, since there was only meat. “I didn’t bring any hardtack so… for today, how about seven cans of meat and one can of peaches?” I handed over today’s payment. “These ‘peaches’, what kind of meat are they!?” And thus, C-mart gained an employee. Dumb elf had become an employee. ← Chapter 5 This chapter has translator’s notes available.
On a side note, I didn’t realize it at the time since I wrote it with such a confident expression, but… the people of this world, they can’t read it can they? Since to them it’s letters from a different world. Oh well. Ah, I forgot about today’s plans… same as usual… wouldn’t work I guess. I rethought my plans as I brushed my teeth. My stock is reaching its limit. For now, I need to go to modern-day j.a.pan. The sleeping bag, toothbrush, gas stove, and bottles of water – I ended up using it all myself. If I want to sell items like those, I need to acquire them again. By the way, it was a feeling of “going there then returning.” Not “returning” to j.a.pan. I, who had lived here in this world for many days now, had completely lost the feeling of “returning.” When I go to the other side, it’s just to replenish stock. In that case, is it better if I canceled the lease on my room? Well, if I don’t have an address on that side, it might become troublesome. I decided it would be best to keep paying rent and think about what to do later. Oh, I know. I can just put everything off until later. Let’s do that. If I can do something tomorrow, I won’t do it today. This is the foundation of my current lifestyle. What a wonderful idea. It’s perfect. This is the true essence of slow life. As I thought that, I had finished brus.h.i.+ng my teeth. “*gargle gargle* *spit*” Right at the spot where I spit, there was a person sleeping. By the entrance of the shop, there was someone lying on their side, collapsed. “Huh!? Uwah!? Sorry! Sorry! I didn’t notice!” I panicked and said in apology. I had spit a mixture of toothpaste, saliva, and water on them. In other words, I had spit on them. However, I swear it wasn’t on purpose. I didn’t notice them. Someone sleeping in such a place is… In the first place, why is someone sleeping by the store entrance? Why is this person sleeping? In any case, why aren’t they waking up? Why don’t they notice the mixture of toothpaste, water, and saliva and wake up? “…umm?” I eventually called out.
Rolled up in a worn out mantle, the person was still curled up lying on their side. “O, oi… are they dead?” I murmured in astonishment. The collapsed person moved their shoulder slightly. Thank goodness. For the time being, it appears that they are alive. “I’m… hungry…” I heard a soft, weak voice. Now that I knew the reason they had collapsed, I was relieved.
After the tension faded, I felt weak at the knees. “I’m back to life! I hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday you see!” They wiped their face with a towel and ate my canned food. Having finally become comfortable, the person had said something. I looked at her face closely. The person who had collapsed was a girl. She was wearing a worn out mantle, and her face had dust and dirt on it, but now that I look closely she’s quite a cute girl. However… she’s really covered in dust. Only the part of her face that she had wiped the mixture of toothpaste, water, and saliva off of was clean, but… how is that? Is that OK? I looked closely at her face. “W-what is it? Ah… i-if it’s about money I don’t have any. If I had money there’s no way I would be collapsed like that right?”
My eyes s.h.i.+fted towards her ears which were showing slightly from under the hood. She was properly wearing the hood, but from the small part of her ears that was visible, I could tell that they were long. “Ah, so you noticed? That’s right. That’s right… You see, I’m an e-elf.” “Elf?”
“Even though I say elf though, I’m not from any tribe. Both of my parents were human, but for some reason I was born as an elf.” “Perhaps your parents picked up an abandoned child…?” I asked as such. “I also thought that, and asked them, but…” She said while heartily moving the contents of the can into her mouth. Those were not meant for her to eat, but were cans I had been saving for my own breakfast, but… Without losing composure, she ate as if it was meant for her. The food that had been intended for my breakfast was steadily disappearing into her stomach. My image of elves were that they had small appet.i.tes, only ate vegetables, and started their day with a cup of fruit juice for breakfast… that kind of feeling. Well, I suppose she was at the point of collapsing while walking. The girl displayed an astonis.h.i.+ngly large appet.i.te. “But they said I was really born from my mother. I’m often told that it’s likely I was a changeling. You know, in human towns there are often some people who are born as changelings. I had trouble living in the human village, so I figured I’d go to the elf village in the hopes that they’d welcome me. So I went on a journey, but this time the elf people said ‘Someone who eats meat can’t possibly be an elf!’ and kicked me out of the village.”
“Ah! This! This meat is delicious! What kind of meat is this? I’ve never eaten it before.”
“Those were… canned tuna, canned saury, and yakitori… this one is corned beef… err corned meat but… what kind of meat was corned meat again?” I look at the can. It says chicken and beef, but in this fantasy world are there chickens and cows? If I tell her, will she understand? “It was exquisite, thank you” she said after eating all of the corned meat. She arranged her hands on the floor and with a bob of her head, bowed. In that way only, she was polite. She must have been raised well. “…by the way, by any chance, about that previous… thing you didn’t want to say” The thing about being a changeling. Perhaps she had led a miserable life until now… I had become curious ever since hearing her story. “Why was that?” “Ah, you know… you said it was hard to live, so were you persecuted or anything?” “Ahh, so it sounded like that kind of thing to you. It’s not like that at all, I’m OK!” The elf girl smiled with a bright expression. “Why did you leave the human town?” She was smiling so brightly, I decided to pry a little bit more. “Both of my parents died, so” “Eh? Of illness?”
“No, of old age.”
“Huh?” The girl in front of my eyes appeared to be in her early teens, and a bit too young to go on a journey by herself. Well I suppose I don’t really know the common sense of this world. But her parents, dying of old age? Why? “I had been caring for my parents for a while, but my father went first, then my mother. After I had finished caring for them, I sold the house and, using that money for travel expenses, went on a journey to the elf village.”
“Ahhhh!”
I had finally realized. I pointed my finger at her face and said in a loud voice. “Legal loli!” “What?” “Err, you as well! You don’t look your age!? You’re not fifteen at all! In other words, the same as oba-chan!!” “I don’t really know what oba-chan means, but yes I suppose. Both of my parents were humans, but I am a pure-blooded elf… so even though I have this appearance…” “How old are you!?” I asked in excitement. “Do you want to know that badly?” “Somehow, I really want to know.”
“Ufufu, then it’s a secret.” “What do you mean ‘then’!? What the heck?”
“At the very least I’m older than you. By a few times.” “By a few times!?” To think that that failure of an elf that had collapsed while walking was actually far older than me… “Ummm, is there no meat left?”
“Unfortunately not, there aren’t really many cans left since so many of them were eaten.”
“Why are you suddenly speaking respectfully?”
“You ate all of them so there are none left!” “Why are you suddenly speaking rudely now?”
“I don’t know! How should I speak to you!?”
“Please speak to me normally.”
A little while later I had become calm and composed. I decided to stop worrying about her being older. I decided to treat her like the failure elf and dumb elf she is. My plans for today had been to go to over there and stock up anyways, but since this dumb elf ate all of it, my plans had to be pushed forward. “Aahh! Since you ate all the canned food I have to go and stock up!” “I’ll wait” she said while stretching her back. At that moment I had an idea. From the time I leave until I get back, I can have her tend the store, since she said she would wait. “Sorry, but could you tend to the store until I return?”
“Will I get to eat canned food?”
“I’m planning on feeding you plenty by lunchtime”
“I’ll wait!”
It had been decided. I returned to the real world, went to the same supermarket, and bought large amounts of items like I usually do. With the main focus being canned food today, I stocked up on water, portable gas stoves, and bottled “delicious water.” These are just to replenish what I had used myself, not to sell. What’s left… they don’t sell sleeping bags, so I’ll have to go to the home center afterwards…” Rather than taking the time to put these in my backpack, would it be better just to push the cart while transporting to the other world? Well, I’ll test it one day. If I used some method other than walking and took the cart to the other world, the amount I could take in one trip would increase by a large amount.
With various goods in my possession, I returned to the other world. “Ooi, I returned.”
The elf girl was collapsed on the floor. “I’m… hungry.”
“Collapsing again, huh. You.”
“I haven’t… eaten anything since morning…”
“But you ate in the morning didn’t you?”
“Elves have poor fuel efficiency” “Don’t lie. It’s just you isn’t it? Here, it’s your favorite. You like meat right? I brought a lot of stuff.”
I laid out several different canned foods on the floor. “Garurururu”
The hand of dumb elf came flying, hit me, and pushed me off to the side. “What is this? Are you not giving these to me? When you said you were giving these to me, was that a lie?”
“Before that, I have something to ask you, dumb elf.”
“Did you just casually call me dumb?”
“You don’t have any particular destination do you? In that case, do you want to work here for a while? If there’s someone to tend the store, that would help me a lot.”
“While master was out, I sold about 10 products. I received the price written on the tag and put it in the box.”
“Ooh, what a useful person!”
“Praise me more. And give me more canned food. Also, I request nine every day as my wage.”
“By the way, did you just casually say ‘master’?” “Since you are employing me, you’re ‘master’ right? Or would you prefer if I called you ‘manager’?” “Ummmm, ‘master’ is good.” I said after deliberating. Being called “master” by a dumb but pretty and cute elf is unexpectedly not bad. My back feels kind of itchy. “On a side note, what does nine every day as your wage mean?” “Nine cans of food.” “Are you OK with accepting goods as payment? Not gold dust or coins?”
“Well, even if I receive coins, I can’t buy those delicious canned foods anywhere except this store.”
“That’s true, but… how about six?”
“Eight.”
Dumb elf’s hands were clenched and her eyes were locked on to the mountain of canned food on the floor. “How about seven?”
I took seven of the cans and placed them together. Faced by the power of the real thing, dumb elf was on the verge of conceding. “Seven and some hardtack” dumb elf said. Now that I recall, I also opened a can of hardtack, since there was only meat. “I didn’t bring any hardtack so… for today, how about seven cans of meat and one can of peaches?” I handed over today’s payment. “These ‘peaches’, what kind of meat are they!?” And thus, C-mart gained an employee. Dumb elf had become an employee. ← Chapter 5 This chapter has translator’s notes available.
