AIWON Mall Isekai Store, Grand Opening Today! - Chapter 140
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Maria : Mebius World Online
Ouren/Yuuzen : I Was a Small Fish
Episode 11-5
On the 32nd day since I became the store manager of the Aion Mall Otherworldly Store.
After the store closed, we finished choosing furniture and headed to the employee apartments from the third floor.
It was me, the dog-type beastkin Colette, and the mother-daughter pair, Francine-san, along with the peddler’s family.
The furniture for the three households amounted to quite a bit. The skeletons helped carry it every time we chose something, but in the end, we also had to push cart trolleys for the move.
While the store’s interior and outer walkways were fine, I started wondering what to do about the unpaved ground in front of the employee apartments. I figured we’d have to manage with the bumpy surface, even if it was a bit rough, but then…
“…I’ll carry it.”
Barbera effortlessly lifted the cart trolley. Even though it was loaded with furniture, she handled it with ease.
“Whoa, Barbera, you’re still as amazing as ever!”
Her tail wagged proudly at my words, and the flame at the tip flared up.
“‘Amazing’ is an understatement, Manager-san! What is that thing!?”
“Peddler-san? You’ve seen cart trolleys before, right? We’ve been using them all along.”
“Not the trolley! The box! That box!”
“The box…?”
I tilted my head. I looked around, but Anna-san, who could explain, wasn’t around. I couldn’t sense Chloe either. Meanwhile, Barbera continued walking along, carrying the luggage.
The peddler-san came closer.
“That light, foldable box that’s sturdy enough for packing, the light brown one!”
“Oh, you mean cardboard. Now that I think about it, we didn’t use it in the sales area, did we?”
“Cardboard! So that’s what it’s called! Manager-san, could you sell me some of that!?”
“Huh? If it’s just a small amount for personal use, feel free to take it. Back at the Aion Mall in Japan, we also gave it out for free if customers needed it to carry their purchases home.”
“You’re saying I can take it!? For free!?”
Peddler-san leaned back in shock. His reaction was so exaggerated that I finally realized something.
“Come to think of it, packaging here is usually just wooden boxes or cloth bags, right? …Could cardboard actually sell well?”
“It would sell like hotcakes! Do you know how much easier my peddling would be? How much lighter my loads would become?!”
“Right, your job is to load goods onto your wagon and deliver them to towns and villages.”
“That’s right! An Item Pouch is a magical tool and too expensive for me to afford, but this…!”
“Cardboard, huh…”
As I watched, Barbera placed the cart trolley in the entrance hall of the employee apartments. Apparently, the skeleton opened the door for her. That’s helpful.
After giving her a nod, Barbera grabbed a few cardboard boxes from the cart trolley and carried them inside. They were the heavy ones used for packing the furniture, but… well, it’s not surprising at this point.
“I’ve heard that Japanese packaging materials are high-quality. By the way, Peddler-san, how about this?”
I rummaged through the small pouch I always carried with me. What I was looking for was still inside.
“This is a plastic bag with a logo, and this is a reusable bag.”
As the plastic bag rustled, I also pulled out my reusable bag. The plastic bag was for customers, while the reusable one was my personal item.
Peddler-san’s eyes widened as he took the plastic bag in his hands.
“This is…? It has a strange texture…”
“When you unfold it, it looks like this.”
“Unfold…? Whoa!”
Even though the plastic bag was folded up small, Peddler-san couldn’t figure out what it was. I helped open it and let some air in to expand it.
“A-Aa Aion Mall has such light, thin bags? But they must be expensive, right?”
“Well, they’re no longer free nowadays. This size would cost about 3 yen.”
“Th-Three yen!? But isn’t it disposable?”
“You can reuse it a few times. If you overuse it, though, it’ll get holes.”
“At that price, peddlers, merchants, even adventurers might want it. Maybe we could adjust the price.”
“Oh, and plastic bags have another feature—they’re water-resistant.”
“…What?”
“They aren’t durable enough to be water pouches, since they tear easily. But I’ve heard they sell drinks in them in places like Southeast Asia.”
“Water-resistant…? For 3 yen…?”
Peddler-san’s eyes sparkled, practically gleaming. He started inching closer. Too close.
“Manager-san! This is it! Let’s sell these!”
“Uh-huh.”
“Light, sturdy, and water-resistant without being bulky! Peddlers and adventurers will rush to buy them!”
“Well, cardboard and plastic bags are technically sold at Japanese Aion Malls…”
“Cardboard will sell too! Ugh, if only I still had my old trade routes!”
“These are basically packing materials, you know. People usually go to home improvement stores for that kind of thing, not malls…”
“This is revolutionary! Cheaper than cloth bags made from scraps, which still cost a decent amount! Lighter and cheaper than wooden boxes! A revolution is coming!”
While Peddler-san’s excitement kept rising, my enthusiasm was waning. Sure, compared to the cloth bags and wooden boxes in this world, plastic bags and cardboard certainly have strong points. Of course, they also have their weaknesses, like durability.
But more than that…
“From ‘A’ to ‘Z,’ everything is here, and there’s ‘L-O-V-E’ in the name. But still, the main thing I want to sell is the products inside the plastic bags or cardboard.”
“What!? You won’t sell them!? If you’re hesitant, I’ll use my old connections to sell them in bulk!”
“…If the deadline for the monthly sales target of one billion yen is approaching and it looks like we won’t make it, I’ll consider it.”
“I see. If that’s what you decide, Manager-san…”
I’d rather sell the products that get packed in these materials than the materials themselves. Cardboard aside, plastic bags don’t take up much space, so I could bring quite a few through the Small-Scale Transfer Gate.
But, this is just my personal preference.
“Still, thank you, Peddler-san. Thanks to you, I’ve found something to sell if I need to. Let me know if you come across anything else.”
If push comes to shove, I’ll sell them! After all, if we can’t meet the sales target and the Aion Mall Otherworldly Branch Store gets nationalized, I won’t be able to go home!
So in that sense, it’s a good backup plan!
“…Should I carry more?”
Just as I was calming down, Barbera looked up at me from below. Oh, she’d already carried everything to the rooms. Thank you so much!