Konbini Ossan Volume 2 Chapter 1 – Preparing to Open
The former inn turned out to be even more ideal than I expected.
The entrance faced the main street and was fairly large. Upon entering, there was a spacious lobby that once served as a tavern, with a kitchen and storage room further in.
Upstairs were four rooms. It was indeed a small inn, and it seemed like they turned a profit by serving alcohol at night.
I decided to renovate the lobby into a storefront, turn the kitchen into an office, and use the second floor for living quarters and inventory storage.
The reception counter, which had once been used for the inn, would be dismantled and a new counter — with a register — set up in the office.
A locked door would be installed at the staircase to the second floor to keep customers from wandering up. One of the rooms could also be used as an employee break room.
But first things first – cleaning.
The building had been unused for a while, so dust had accumulated. I also needed to prepare a room for Arisa to live in.
“Alright, Arisa-san. Which room would you like?”
I brought Arisa upstairs, planning to let her choose a room to make her own.
“What are you planning to do with the other rooms besides mine?” she asked.
“I’ll use them for storage, and later on for things like changing rooms or break areas once we hire more staff.”
“Then I’ll take the one at the far end.”
And so, Arisa’s room was decided.
Thankfully, all the rooms still had beds and basic furnishings. Considering the place used to be an inn for adventurers, that wasn’t surprising.
After helping her clean the room a little, I left the rest to Arisa. While she redecorated her space as she liked, I continued cleaning the rest of the building.
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While cleaning, I found something useful — a long wooden table with a broken leg.
Its rustic design made it perfect for a shop sign. I brought it inside from the back of the building where it had been left.
Just then, Arisa came down from the second floor, apparently done setting up her room.
“What are you doing, old man?”
“Oh, Arisa-san. Just in time.”
I walked over to her.
“I was thinking of removing the legs from this table and repurposing it into a signboard.”
“Hmm. Sounds good to me.”
“I was hoping to ask you to do the first job as our employee.”
“Huh? Just take the legs off yourself.”
She scolded me, but unfortunately for her — that wasn’t the job.
“Not that. I’d like to ask you to write the lettering for the sign.”
“Oh, that. I’ve had to do that a few times at part-time jobs. You know, like when the manager thinks a girl’s handwriting will make it look cute or whatever.”
Her words were a bit sharp. It stings a little to feel disliked by such a cute niece.
“Would you be willing to do it, Arisa-san?”
“Well, sure. I’m living here now, and if I’m going to be an employee, it’s the least I can do.”
“Thank you.”
“So? What should I write? Do we have writing tools?”
“As expected of Arisa-san. I hadn’t even thought about that.”
“You’re an idiot, old man.”
I had no response. I hadn’t thought of a store name, let alone the tools for writing.
“Alright then, let’s name the shop "The Cave Dwarf’s Magic Tool Shop".”
“Cave Dwarf?”
“They’re a race from a famous fairy tale in this world.”
“Hmm. Whatever, I guess. So, what do I write with?”
Prompted by her question, I searched through my magic storage pouch.
Among the items Shuri-kun had given me, there should be a brush used for drawing magic circles, and some quality pigment as well.
I pulled both out and handed them to Arisa.
“Please use these.”
“These are some high-end tools, aren’t they?”
“Are they?”
“Back at the castle, Kanehama and the others used similar ones when practicing magic circles. Why do you have stuff this fancy?”
“Well… it’s a long story.”
I couldn’t exactly tell her I got them in exchange for a promise of sexual favors with Shuri-kun.
She’s a high school girl. That kind of talk would be sexual harassment.
After that, I quickly broke off the table legs and prepped it to serve as a sign.
“Then, I leave the sign to you. Please make the lettering look as cute as possible.”
“Yeah, yeah. Got it.”
Arisa faced the signboard with a serious look, holding the brush. She seemed focused — so I could leave it to her.
“Arisa-san, I’ll be heading out for a bit. Please take care of the sign while I’m gone.”
“Huh? Where are you going?”
“I’m going to procure what we need to operate the store.”
With that, I left Arisa behind and headed out.
My destination — the Adventurer’s Guild. For the third time today.
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E/N:
The shop looks good, even if old and dusty! What will Ossan sell? Stay tuned!
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