The new store was completely ready to go, and opening day was finally upon us.

　I sourced and decorated my own flowers for the opening.
　I decorated the show windows with dresses made from our fabric. It's too small to be a show window, but it's huge to be seen from the street.

　I had the dress designed by Mr. Shamash and had it tailored by a local tailor. Mr. Shamash's designs are quite advanced in this world. We're only a fabric store anyway, and the samples are just fine as long as they're a bit eye-catching.
　This kind of work can be ordered from any number of private craftsmen through the guild. In a world where even industrial manufacturing has not yet begun, the unit of work is entirely individual. At best, it is a master and an apprentice. The guild is what unites them all.
　I'm a member of the guild, so maybe the guild will offer me a job sooner or later.

　The store's design is also designed by Shamash-san, so it will look quite exotic to the people of Elisheh. But it's also a calculation. All the fabrics we carry are new to the people of Elishez.

Strange cloths for sale in strange stores.

　That's the way it should be perceived at first.
　Standing out and being recognized first is the priority.


　◇◆◆◆◇



So, we're opening for business, everyone okay?
Yes!

　Everyone has a nice smile on their face.
　I've already done the simulation. There probably won't be too many customers buying today, so it won't be as hard as it sounds.

　There are about seven staff members on hand, including me.
　It was the opening celebration, so we had prepared a little gift for each customer. There are two kinds of gifts, one for visitors and one for purchasers.

　The commemorative gift was a limited edition of 500 madras checkered handkerchiefs. The 500 handkerchiefs were made by an independent seamstress from Elishe's supplier ....... It cost 4 silver coins to make them. Cheap labor costs.
　The checked cloth could be one of our main products, and even if we were to throw it around as handkerchiefs, it would not be a bad advertisement.

　Ooh, a nice handkerchief!　
　Where did you get it?　
　I've never seen this pattern before.
　Actually, it's from that store over there...

　As in, .......
　Well, I don't know if it will work that well.

　I was pretty confused about what to give to the customers who bought my products.
　The fact that they buy our products means that they are our customers. You have to take good care of them. Of course, it's possible that the person who buys from you on the first day you open could just be a fan of new things (・・・・・・), but there's no point in saying that.
　So I decided to give them a pair of sunglasses as a present.
　You can find all kinds of sunglasses at a 100-yen store. I don't know if this is related to the cloth, but I guess the people who buy cloth in my house are all rich people. They would order their own designs from a familiar tailor. In other words, they are fashion-conscious people.
　There are no sunglasses in this world yet. That may seem rather bizarre, but that's the way it is, this is the way it is. I'm giving them away for free anyway, I'll give them a challenge.
　The people of this world are predominantly Caucasian in terms of race (although in reality there are cat people and dwarves and so on, making it almost a racial melting pot). So, I decided to wear sunglasses to avoid the problem of ultraviolet rays.
　In fact, I gave the samples to Hetty and Aeon, and they are using the sunglasses on a daily basis. In the case of Aeon, it may be just a disguise.

　As for the opening date and time, we put up fliers around town.
　We put them up in the temple as well, so word of mouth seems to have helped spread the word, and crowds of people have already gathered in front of the store.
　Most of the people must be after the handkerchiefs, but that's okay.

Well, let's get this open now.

　The time is exactly 10am.
　It was just 10:00 a.m. It was very late in the day for our world.

So, since there are all these people here, let's line up on either side of the entrance and say "welcome".

　It's department store style.
　It doesn't make much sense, but the customers will feel good about it.

　And the store is open.
　I opened the door and hung the opening sign.

　I thought that the people who had already gathered there would rush in, but I was surprised. Maybe they were too generous with their free handkerchief gifts and felt suspicious about it.

　But when Deanna came out from the back and smiled and said a few words, "Please go ahead and take a look," the reaction was dramatic. It's called the Elf Seal of Trust.
　In this world ...... especially in the Empire, elves are almost like God's representatives. It would be rare for anyone to know the difference between a high elf and an ordinary elf, but an elf is an elf.
　They were reassured that it would be fine then, and people were being sucked into the store one by one.

　The opening gifts are handed out at the back of the store. Naturally, they are limited to one per person.
　Customers who enter the store will take a look at the merchandise to some extent, but the situation will not be resolved until they are given a handkerchief first.
　After they receive their handkerchiefs first, I asked them to take a look at the store if they were interested.

'Stand in line, please!　Please take a look at the products too!

　Everyone has no concept of standing in line, so it gets messy. But the crowd in front of the store attracted more onlookers, and it was getting to be a big mess.
　We decided to send Rebecca and Elepippi to sort out the outside and get them to dispose of it.
　Well, it's a world without cars or bicycles. Even if we blocked the road, it would only get in the way of the carriage's passage. It was a good thing that accidents were less likely to happen.

　After receiving their handkerchiefs, customers looked curiously at the products, but most of them were surprised by the price tags and moved to the Katana corner immediately.
　It seems that katana is indeed a novelty, and there are many customers looking at them.
　Most of them just look at the price tags and let out a sigh of relief and leave. Well, since we are a cloth shop and many of our customers are women, it may not be a good fit for a "male romance" like a katana.
　Maybe we've steered too much towards aristocratic males.

　After that, some people who called themselves messengers of the aristocracy who were interested in the crowd came and some merchants who I met at the stall came to cool off.
　Cloths also sold well.
　The price of our cloth is almost the same as what we sell for the best in Elishe.
　When people think of the best elishee cloth, they tend to think of it as otherworldly quality, but it's not something to be taken lightly.
　In this world, everything is usually handmade. The best of them are made of rare materials and woven by skilled artisans with a lot of time and effort.
　If you wanted to buy the same quality fabric in Japan, you would have to pay over 10,000 yen for one meter.
　The same amount of money.
　You can understand that only the rich can buy such a thing.

　And then the closing time.
　I was quite tired from working until the end of the hour. Not physically, but mentally.
　I'd still like to select customers and make them members of the club as soon as possible.

Etowah, how are the sales?

　I ask Etowah, who looks unusually tired. Etowah is always full of energy for being so young, but as expected, she's going to be tired of something like today.

''It's 9400 el. It's different when the unit price is big, after all!
'Oh, ooh ....... I thought it didn't seem to sell very well, but it's great.

　That's the equivalent of nine gold and four silver coins. In Japanese yen terms, it was more than one million yen.
　It was like the sales of a fair at a jewelry store run by a black company.

As expected, the sale of a dagger is a big deal. That alone was 4,000 ells.
What did you sell the fabric for?
Many people bought the matching plaid pattern with their handkerchiefs. It's also reasonably priced.
'Affordable' means 500 per unit price, so you shouldn't be able to buy that much: ......

　A 500-el for 1 meter is about 75,000 yen, and since you can't make this with 1 meter, you'll have to buy a lot of them.
　Well, whatever it is, I'm glad it sold.

Membership card?
I gave you a clean bill of health!

　I have given each customer who buys from me a membership card that doubles as a point card.
　This is for when the membership system is opened in the future.
　A total of 467 people came to the store today.
　Of them, only about 20 people actually bought something.
　There are still some handkerchiefs left, so we'll sell all the rest tomorrow.
　In the meantime, I only hope that the customers who came today and tomorrow will invite others to come back.



　◇◆◆◆◇



　After the hustle and bustle of the new opening, the store was starting to settle down.

I'll tell you what. Is Miss Hetty here?
'What?　Well, I'm not here today, but I'll take a look at ....... If you have a message for me, I'll take it.

　A woman with a huge axe on her back.
　Her hair is curly and permed, and she has a baby face. She wears a well-worn breastplate.
　Is it a warrior you know of Hetty?

'Hm?　Are you Jirou?　By any chance.
It's not something you can put on, but yes.
'Oh!　You!

　I am squeezed in both hands.

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I'm...
Hmm?　What's up, Jiro, visitor?

　Rebecca-san, who was out shopping for lunch, has returned.
　From Rebecca-san's point of view, it might look like she's being cornered by someone with a huge axe on her back. No, that's actually the situation, though.
　The woman with the axe turned around and stared at Rebecca-san's figure intently before shouting.

'Hmm?　Ah!　Beckin!　It's not Beckin!
'Eeeeee!　Norilyn!　Geez, ...... or it's never going to change ...... you.
Beckin is kind of a squirrel.

　Apparently, they know each other.
　But, Norilyn. I'm wondering if it's an adda name or a real name.
　The two of them start talking about nostalgic nostalgia as it is.

'Do the two of you know each other?'
'Oops, sorry, I haven't seen Beckin in a long time. We even thought each other had already died, so we were both very emotional. I'm sorry to be late, but I'm Minori Leisia, who formerly served as the right-hand commander of the Unison Mercenary Corps. Please feel free to call me Norilyn.
'This is very polite. I'm Giraud Ayase, owner of this Artemis fabric store.
You're in the knighthood too, aren't you?
'Oh, yes. Right. By the way, what is the Unison Mercenaries?

　I've never heard that name before.

'Oh, didn't I know Jirou?　Unison is Hetty's mercenary army. Norilin is a mercenary who gained fame as a right-hand man in hell. What happened to Norilyn?　I wonder if he's here to see Hetty.
Isn't MyaMiyah helping you now?　I got a letter from her. That's why I flew over there too.
'Miaha?　She looks like that, and she's like that ....... It's more like a brushstroke: ......

　Miah Miah is a ninja-like woman who seems to have been Hetty's chief strategist. Her real name is Miaha. I was greeted once, but I never saw her again. I've heard that she moves around as Hetty's hands and feet, and since it seems that Maja was also the one who kept Dida under surveillance, she might really be a ninja.

But we thought we should get together again sometime and pass around letters to each other. If a girl gets married and settles down, but there are few girls like that, you know. We are a bunch of wimps in society.

　Norilyn cowered her shoulders in a state of relief.
　She's a wild type with a big axe on her back, and it might be hard to imagine her getting married and settling down. No, he'd probably get mad at me if I said that.

'So, what did Miaha's letter say?
'Hmm?　Give me a minute.

　Rebecca asked, and Norilyn pulled a letter out of her pack and read it out.

'Err, cohon.
　Dear Norilyn. How are you doing?
　I'm working with Miss Hettie at the moment.
　When I am done with that, I am thinking of joining a certain knightly party with Miss Hetty.
　I don't know if I'm qualified to join because I'm not a knight, but the owner, Mr. Jirou, is quite a nice man, so I'm sure it will be fine.
　It seems that being a woman is more important than being a knight. Maybe there may be some things that are required of a woman, but don't worry.
　Everyone has fallen apart, but this knightly order is going to grow.
　Oh my gosh, there's even an elf-sama, which is a surprise, and then there's Becky! (And he's a captain!)　It's a girls-only knighthood, and I think we can all have fun together again.
　I know you were surprised by my sudden letter, but please think about it.
　From Miaha Yamila Mira.
OH......

　Rebecca-san holds her head up.
　So that means this Norilyn has come to join our knight squad?
　Miaha-san...... No, Myomiya-san. It's a good thing that you've got a good idea of what you're talking about.

I'm sure you'll be able to find it.　Master Jirou!　Please let me join the Order!　My vocation is 'Warrior' and 'Axeman'!　I'm not a knight or anything, but I have plenty of combat experience and I'm sure I'll be useful!

　A warrior and an axe man, huh? Then maybe I'll have to become a mercenary ...... now. I'm worried about the life of the combat vocationals in this world. There's Hitotsutsuzuki and Monster Spot, though, so maybe there's a minimum amount of work to be done.

'Rebecca, what should I do?'
Yeah, yeah. ...... Yeah. Um, yeah, Jiro.
Yes, sir.
''Maybe, miaha...... she's sending out the same letters at random ....... The Unison Mercenary Group had about 100 people in total, so ...... we might get about 20 people together. They're all good kids, and they're all very skilled, so for me, I'm glad they're joining us, but ......
Then it's okay.　But I don't know if I can pay you properly. I mean, once the number of employees increases to a certain extent, we'll have to make it a percentage of what we earn.

　If a skilled female warrior joins us, it's a nice thing to wish for. It's a good thing that half of the knights in the squadron are not famous or innocent. Even Etowah is in it. Of course, you don't want to get in trouble for bringing in strange people, but I'm sure Hetty's former associates will be fine.
　I'm the type of person who takes more credit than fame, you know.

'Yeah, I think the money thing is the least of it. These kids are ...... and so was I, but that's just the only way they know how to live. I'm not looking to get rich or start something with the money I make. Really, I'm just looking for a place to live ...... or a place to die.
Wow, that's awful, Beckin. But that's about it. I've been without a good job since Miss Foster was gone, and I've been without a good job. We decided that the Missus is our place, and we'll be with her when we die, and now the Missus is going to be gone. ......

　Norilynn is getting teary-eyed as she talks.

You see, I'm not going to cry. You've always been a crybaby. ...... Anyway, let's just have a drink for the first time in a while. Invite Hetty and Miaha to join you.
Wow!　Yes!　Drink, drink, drink!
Will Jirou be there?
No, I know you have some old stories to tell, so I won't do it this time.
Yeah?　So, for the first time in a while, let's do it alone with a woman.

　From that day on, the women from Hetty's mercenary group gradually began to gather.
　They were all unique women, but they were all experienced and fierce men who would never normally gather.
　Together with the new knights who joined, the size of the knight corps gradually swelled.

　Maybe it's time to call ourselves a knight's squad instead of a squad.