Konbini Ossan Volume 3 Chapter 7 — Store Renovation
After making bags and boxes for food storage, I finally decided to bring in new equipment for the shop.
A refrigerator. And a warmer.
Since I had started handling food, more and more customers were coming to the shop for meals.
And naturally, when people eat, they also want something to drink.
So, what would happen if this shop started selling ice-cold juice or alcohol, or steaming hot coffee?
Without a doubt, people would be thrilled. Just like in modern Japanese convenience stores, customers would start buying drinks together with food.
However, there was one problem with actually selling them.
That was the container issue. In this world, there are no PET bottles.
There are glass bottles and ceramic flasks, but for me to mass-produce, they’re far too expensive.
If I used them, the profit margin from drinks would shrink.
But I plan to solve this later.
For now, I’ll start by selling bottled alcohol.
Since the unit price of alcohol is high, even using bottles, there should be enough profit.
So, first things first — let’s make the refrigerator. The warmer can come later.
“Anyway, I’d like your help with the work.”
I explained my plan to install a refrigerator to Arisa, who happened to be off duty today.
Normally it would be her day off, but we didn’t have enough manpower. Also, she was the only one I didn’t need to explain in detail what a refrigerator was.
Asking her for help was the easiest option.
“Well, fine. I mean, it’s not like I’ve got anything better to do on my day off.
…
Other than working through the math problems you gave me, I’ve got nothing else going on.”
Arisa agreed without complaint.
For reference, those math problems are basically homework I assigned her.
They act as experience points to help her grow her skill «Calculator».
Since she realized her skill would get stronger, she’s been pretty motivated to do them.
Well, that’s not important right now. The refrigerator is.
The first thing needed to build a refrigerator is space.
In convenience stores, the large cooling units are designed so that stock can be replenished from the back.
They’re also built with extra room for storage, so they take up more space than they seem to from the front.
So, this time, I decided to partition off a corner of the store with boards and put up a "Under Construction" sign.
Almost all of that space inside would be used as a refrigerator.
Fortunately, the store is fairly spacious, so there’s still plenty of room for regular products.
To begin with, we don’t have that many products yet. We don’t even have proper shelves — just baskets placed on tables with goods sorted inside.
In the future, the number of product types will increase dramatically.
When that happens, I’ll arrange them neatly on shelves, just like a proper convenience store.
In any case, space isn’t a problem. Once secured, we can start the detailed work inside.
“Arisa-san, I’d like you to handle attaching these.”
I pointed to the pile of metal plates.
“What’s this?”
“These are cooling plates. I asked a blacksmith who knows attribute-imbuing techniques — through Shuri-kun’s connection — to make them.
…
They’re infused with weak ice attribute, so if you channel mana into them, they’ll cool the surroundings.”
Incidentally, just buying these cooling plates wiped out two-thirds of all the profit the shop had made so far.
“And how exactly are we supposed to attach these?”
“Use this.”
I pulled out a bottle filled with a clear liquid, along with a brush to apply it to the plates.
“Hey, old man.”
“Yes?”
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this. What’s this liquid?”
“Adhesive. Once applied and dried, it will hold firmly.”
“I knew it! That’s your spit, isn’t it!”
Arisa snapped. Well, I had half-expected that.
Strictly speaking, this adhesive isn’t saliva but something produced with my skill.
But since it came from my mouth, I suppose it’s all the same to her.
“Don’t worry. I brought a brush so you don’t have to touch it with your hands.”
“That’s not the problem! I’ll kill you.”
“I’d really prefer you didn’t. Being killed would be rather inconvenient.”
“Too bad. I’m definitely killing you.”
It seems her killing intent was pretty serious.
After a long session of persuasion, I somehow managed to get Arisa to agree to use the adhesive.
She still complained, calling it harassment and worse, but it couldn’t be helped.
The adhesive is free and extremely effective, so no matter how much she hates it, I have no choice but to use it. I’m even considering mass-producing it in the future.
Of course, if I ever do mass-produce it, I’ll probably end up being absolutely despised by Arisa.
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E/N:
What this "Warmer" is, I don't have the full picture yet so maybe in later chapters we'll get to understand that.
Anyway, that Spit-adhesive is a gag at this point! 😂 Makes me gag too 🤣!
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