CH 29

It was my fourth day as manager of the Aion Mall Otherworldly Store.

After finishing my job of closing the store, I went up the escalator in the space for tenants.

They do not operate the escalators in the areas that are not open for business. So I took the escalator up as stairs.

Going up to the third floor, I went further up.

I headed for the rooftop.

“Come to think of it, this is the first time I’m going up this escalator. ……Whoa.”

At the end of the escalator, there is a doorway.

There is a small covered space that leads out to the rooftop parking lot.

Usually in the Aion Mall, there would be couches and vending machines for resting, but in this space, there were all sorts of things placed there.

“Stones? And pieces of driftwood? This one is a rag, and that one is ……, scales.”

The interior and decorations lacked a sense of unity.

It looked as if they were “children’s treasures,” as if they had been picked up from somewhere around the place.

Sparkling stones, round stones with no corners, rocks with black spots, bark stripped off and whitish wood, soiled rags that had probably been left out in the wild, and scales of some creature.

They were all too big to be “children’s treasures”. The stone was about one meter long.

It wouldn’t fit in my pocket at least.

“Or rather, these red scales must be Barbera’s! That’s why Anna-san says, ‘We always have a few left over!'”

Among several randomly stacked scales, I picked up a piece.

It was about a little bigger than the palm of my hand. It seems that the scales are large or small, depending on where they grew.

It is not as hard as I thought it would be. No, they are hard, but they are bendable.

“They are hard but elastic, so they could be used for armor. It can draw magic power, and if it is crushed into powder, it can be used as fuel. …… This could be a great treasure trove.”

I gulped and swallowed my saliva.

The goal of the Aion Mall Isekai store is 100 million yen in monthly sales, but daily sales are less than 100,000 yen, so we need products that sell well.

“W-well, it’s a last resort! I don’t think it’s very appropriate for the Aion Mall to be selling monster materials! But I don’t know if it’s possible, since everything from ‘A’ to ‘Z’ is available at Aion. ……”

I gently put the red scales back in place.

It’s five months before we have to achieve 100 million yen in revenue per month.

Do the scales belong to an employee? Lost property?　So, if it doesn’t look like we’re going to make 100 million yen, let’s think about it.

It seems that Barbera is using this space, containing “children’s treasures,” as a sort of room or a warehouse.

Although it is the space of Aion Mall’s Otherworldly Store.

I can’t speak for others, since I live in the tenant’s space.

“Good work, everyone.”

“Oh, you’re finally here, Naoya!”

“Naoya-san, you are just in time. We’re just about to cook it.”

“…… Meat!”

When I went out from the space Barbera was using, Chloe, Anna-san and Barbera were right there.

They were roasting meat on a wooden spit in a stone pit on the ground.

“Oh, it smells so good! I knew it was good to have an outdoor BBQ! What’s more, it’s over charcoal, I know! …… Hol’up! Aren’t we talking about the rooftop fire ban or anything like that just a moment ago?!”

“What’s up, Naoya?”

“Hold on, Barbera-chan, let’s cook this properly before we eat it, okay?”

“…… I want to transform.”

“Oh, are you sure? Do you think this will be enough for you when you take dragon form?”

“Well, of course, it’s only rabbit meat, it’s not that much! It’s only one bite when you turn into a dragon! -It’s not about that!”

Barbera tilts her head in confusion at my outburst.

Chloe is also a bit nervous, and Anna-san is smiling.

The rooftop of the Aion Mall Otherworld Store was different from the rooftop of the Aion Mall Kasugano where I was.

The rooftop parking lot was dirt. Just like the parking lot on the ground.

I wondered how hard it was to carry dirt to the rooftop, and if magic was used to build it in the first place.

Though the rooftop parking lot was dirt, the escalators, elevator entrances, and the exhaust vents of the food court were normal, which was somewhat surrealistic.

By the way, the ramp from the ground to the rooftop was made of concrete. If that’s the case, the rooftop should be concrete, too.

“Calm down, calm down. This is a different world. This is not the Aion Mall in Japan, but the Aion Mall Otherworldly Store. This is normal. It’s acceptable.”

I told myself that.

These three girls seem to be having a good time.

Although they are very outdoorsy for a girls’ night out.

I sat down on a wooden chair that was probably left empty for me.

The chair was just a log sliced into a circle and placed on the ground.

No worries, we have chairs like this in Japan, too.

It was just a little wild, and it would be very strange to have it on the rooftop of the Aion Mall.

“Okay, I accept it. I accepted it. I accepted everything. Well, I’ve never had rabbit meat before, so I wonder what it tastes like!”

There’s no point in rambling on and there’s no answer.

Since I already have an idea about it, I’m just going to open up and enjoy it.

I’m sure it will be fun to have a BBQ on the rooftop of the Aion Mall! I wish they did that in Japan too! Hahaha!

“Here you go, Barbera-chan. Enjoy this.”

“This looks good too! Come on, Naoya, taste the meat of the rabbit I hunted for you!”

“Ah, thank you, Chloe.”

Anna-san offers Barbera and Chloe offers me the meat on a skewer.

Barbera took a bite of the still-sizzling meat, without care.

“Ah! Hey, Barbera!”

“Fufu, no need to worry, Naoya-san. Barbera is a red dragon.”

“…… delish.”

“”Of course a dragon wouldn’t get burned just because the meat is hot, would it? Sigh…. -hot! Oh, it’s delicious.”

Unlike Barbera who took a bite, I, as a normal human being, let it cool down and then took a bite at the end.

The first rabbit meat in my life was tender and had no smell.

“It was somewhere between chicken and pork. This was rabbit meat…huh, maybe it’s different from normal rabbit meat because it’s the meat of a one-horned rabbit, a monster. But it is delicious. It’s delicious, but the only seasoning is a sprinkling of salt.”

“Mmm, the rabbit is tender and tasty! Meat is wonderful after all!”

“You must have some more thoughts on that, Chloe. Come to think of it, when we ate goat meat in the city, all you said was how chewy it was.”

“Ha, it’s delicious. The meat of the rabbit roasted over charcoal is crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside, and the more you chew it, the more the flavor of the meat seeps out. It’s nourishing and invigorating ……”

“Can the undead digest and consume it? Can they carve blood? Can they get nourished? What’s going on with that, Anna-san? Are you saying that on purpose?”

“…… its gone.”

“You know, they’re one-horned rabbits, but they’re still young, the size of normal rabbits. There you go, Barbera. I’ll give you my share.”

“Na-naoya! Don’t you have any for me!”

“Ah, I should have bought some more meat in town. Chloe, bring out the galette. A bite of meat for dinner is not enough for me either.”

The rabbit was delicious, but it was not enough for the four of us to eat.

I asked Chloe to bring out the galette from the porch, since there didn’t seem to be anything else available.

“Chloe, the jam too. Anna-san and Barbera can have some too, if you want. They are souvenirs from our trip to the city.”

“Oh my! Thank you, Naoya-san.”

“…… delish?”

“Dunno, I wonder if it’s good enough for a dragon’s palate.”

Chloe wriggles her lips and pulls out a galette from the pouch on her hip.

The hygiene of this world is questionable, as she places it directly on an empty wooden chair. I’m sure Chloe thinks she can just ‘purify’ it after placing it there. Another world is frightening.

“Is it enough for a dinner for four people?”

“Um, Naoya-san. Barbera is a dragon and an amorous species, so as long as she has magic power, she doesn’t need to eat. Besides, I am also an undead, so I don’t have to eat …….”

“Eh? But you were both eating rabbit meat, weren’t you? Even when I made pot-au-feu before.”

“I know what it tastes like, so eating is kind of a hobby of mine. So one galette would be enough for me.”

“I see that’s how it is. No, I didn’t buy them only one at a time, so don’t be shy.”

“…… Sweet! More!”

“And before you can say anything, I have another galette! Good, good, eat well and grow up!”

“…… am already big. Want to see?”

“No, no, I don’t! Look, I know Barbera’s dragon form is big!”

She was so offended at being treated like a child that I stopped Barbera from transforming.

Anna-san giggles at us and says, “We’ve become good friends,” while Chloe is preoccupied with the galette, not minding us. You had a lot of food in town, didn’t you?

Anyway, the galette with fruit jam was a hit with both Barbera and Anna-san.

The girls’ night out, or rather the dinner party in which I also participated, continued.