AIWON Mall Isekai Store, Grand Opening Today! - Chapter 138
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Maria : Mebius World Online
Ouren/Yuuzen : I Was a Small Fish
Episode 11-3
“Add some lighting, it’s so bare… If we can’t manage wallpaper, maybe a poster or something.”
Muttering to myself, I walked down the hallway of the employee apartments.
The hallway was dimly lit, with only narrow windows and a few magical light fixtures to break the gloom. On top of that, the stone walls made it feel cold and bleak.
Since it’s a shared space, I guess it’s fine to leave it as is, but it’s not exactly relaxing. If you’re from the city, you might think, “It’s got that modern vibe!” or “So industrial!” and get excited.
Not that I know whether it’s actually modern or not.
“Well, it’s just a hallway, right? As long as the impression fades a bit. The real issue is inside.”
“Inside, you say!?”
“Yes, yes, Chloe, calm down. Your voice echoes.”
I quickly brushed off Chloe’s reaction. If I keep engaging with her, I won’t have time to check all the rooms before the Aion Mall Otherworldly Store opens. There are six rooms in total, and I haven’t even seen one yet.
With a glance at the now-quiet Chloe, I opened the wooden door.
It was dark.
“Naoya-san, please wait a moment. I’ll open the shutters.”
“Oh, yes, please.”
Anna-san slipped past me, who was standing frozen at the entrance, and went into the room. From the far side of the dark room, I could hear her opening the shutters. Dim morning light filtered in through the window.
“Wow, it’s pretty spacious.”
“Indeed! It’s much larger than the room I stay in at the knight’s barracks! I’m even considering moving here!”
“If you’re going to live here, please pick a room far from mine. Preferably on the opposite side.”
“What!? Could it be that you plan to spy on me through the window!? Like, ‘If you don’t want others to see Chloe like this, you know what to do,’ and then threaten me—!”
“Oh, the first floor is all dirt flooring. I forgot, this is a place where people usually keep their shoes on.”
“Yes, although, to be honest, we didn’t have enough wood to make proper floorboards…”
“It’s fine. While living in the tenant housing, I pretty much stayed in my shoes all the time anyway.”
The room was bigger than I expected. Since it’s a maisonette with both a first and second floor, I thought each floor might feel cramped, but that wasn’t the case. Of course, it could just feel spacious because there’s no furniture.
From the entrance, I could see a window in the back—or more like an opening. It had a wooden frame and shutters, but no glass. I didn’t see glass windows even in the nearby town or port, so maybe they don’t exist here, or they’re just a luxury item.
To the right, there was a built-in fireplace, a functional one with a chimney, not just for decoration.
There was also a staircase to the left near the front, which led to the second floor. The small, closed-off room was probably the bathroom, but I’ll check that later.
I headed toward the front right side of the room, near the fireplace. I stared at it closely, touching it with my hand to inspect.
I twisted the faucet.
Water came out.
“Wow! This is amazing, Mom! Just like at Aion Mall, water comes out so easily!”
“Indeed, Colette. To be freed from fetching water daily… how wonderful that is. Let’s offer a prayer of gratitude to Naoya-sama again tonight.”
“…It’s cold.”
“As expected of you, Anna! Gah, if only we had running water at the knights’ barracks, it would be so convenient!”
“Hehe, Chloe-san, this is all thanks to the Aion Mall equipment. With that, we just needed to run some pipes.”
When I turned the faucet, clean water flowed out into the ceramic sink substitute and drained away.
In this world of swords and magic…
“Ahhhhh! Isn’t this clearly overtechnology!? I mean, yeah, I did ask for a water system, but still!”
I clutched my head in disbelief. Anna-san gave a wry smile, Barbera tilted her head, and Chloe wasn’t listening. Meanwhile, Colette and Francine-san smiled warmly at me, their eyes filled with admiration. Nobody here understood my struggle.
“Wait. Hold on. It’s too late now. The Aion Mall Otherworldly Store has electricity, running water, cleanliness, and comfort, just like the Aion Mall in Japan. Its exterior and interior are almost identical. Yeah, considering that, it’s too late to worry. Everything’s fine. No problem.”
Next to the sink was a small stovetop. It wasn’t gas or electric—it was a magic stone stove, powered by enchanted stones. When I pressed the switch, a flame lit up smoothly. Wow, how convenient. Yay.
“Maybe I should go all out and get electricity installed too… Oh, but you need a license for that.”
Once I got over the initial surprise, inspecting the other rooms was a breeze. Although the rooms faced different directions and the positions of the fireplaces and staircases varied slightly due to the U-shaped layout, the basic facilities were the same in each. I felt a bit guilty that the layout was the same for both me living alone and for Colette, Francine-san, and the traveling merchant’s family, but they were actually grateful, saying it was “plenty spacious.”
Anyway, all that’s left is to furnish the rooms and move in some daily essentials, and we should be able to start living here today. Chloe, Anna-san, Barbera, and the costume-wearing ghosts—the skeletons and ghosts in aprons working in the back—will handle today’s business while the moving crew packs up.
As for me, I plan to use the first floor as a living-dining-kitchen (LDK) and work space, and the second floor as my bedroom. The second floor was stone-built all the way to the floor, so it’ll be just right if I make it a shoes-off zone from the stairs up.
Each room also had its own toilet and shower. The undead’s engineering skills are amazing. According to Anna-san, “There were spare showerheads and toilets at Aion Mall, so we just installed them.” I wonder if Iori from HR had predicted this and prepared those spares in advance. There are samples in the closed-off second and third floors, but normally, you wouldn’t keep stock unless you had ordered them.
“That’s possible. It’s entirely possible that she prepared them to help us adapt to life here. I’ll ask her in my next email.”
I muttered to myself as I packed. But packing was easy. After all, I had barely unpacked anything since I’d been temporarily living in the tenant space with most of my things still in boxes from the move.
“Alright. I’ll move the furniture after closing… Oh, right. What are Colette and the peddler-san’s family going to do for furniture?”
As I loaded the boxes onto a cart and thought about getting help from the others and the skeletons to move the heavy items, I realized something.
We don’t have enough furniture. Neither for the employees nor for me.
“The furniture is on the third floor… Maybe I should do a limited soft-opening just for employees? Deduct the cost from their salaries, or better yet, use it as a sample to gather feedback from the locals?”
Or, maybe it would be better to place an order with the nearest town and compare options.
On day 32 of my tenure as the Aion Mall Otherworldly Store manager, I pondered the potential for a new business opportunity. But furniture, depending on lifestyle, might not be readily accepted by everyone. It’s bulky, so placing additional orders from Japan is tricky… well, I could, but it wouldn’t all fit in a cart. Even if it could, only a few pieces at most… This is tough.