Chapter 52.1. Attraction
The former station building is now known as Amatsugahara Market. Everyone was diligently cleaning, removing Ivies, tidying up Goblins, Big Rats, and slimes lurking in hiding, making it considerably cleaner.
While it was undoubtedly an old building, it was quite spacious, and the solid structure, once a naturally occurring dungeon teeming with monsters, had now become a cherished facility for the people.
Within it, in an area partitioned off with plywood, people had set up several small shops. Among them was a man from a thrift store. Despite being glared at by a fearsome, all-black-clad man, he had reluctantly opened his shop here, and a week had passed.
“Hey there, miss! How about taking a look at the clothes? They’re cheap, starting from ¥1000! Just have a look for now!”
With a smile and a cheerful voice, he beckoned, and the group of old ladies who had come to shop started walking towards him. He greeted them with an even wider smile. On the clothing racks were clothes that the man had procured and repaired, neatly hung on hangers.
They weren’t laid out haphazardly on mats like a street stall. They were properly hung on hangers.
He stood there, proud like a lord of his castle, rubbing his hands together skillfully, observing the old ladies as they looked at the clothes. It was clear they had come from outer town, given the potatoes and corn they had packed in their backpacks.
“These are so cheap! I’ll buy a few.”
“Yes, I’ll buy some for my kids too.”
Since they were second-hand clothes, it was only natural that they were cheap.
The old ladies in front of him were used to shopping at street stalls; they had limited budgets. It was customary for them to buy clothes displayed shabbily on makeshift stalls.
That’s why, even though the prices were the same, they found joy in buying from an actual shop. They each picked out a couple of outfits.
“Thank you as always!”
The man was bowing deeply, the old ladies walked away, and he cheered happily as he went inside.
“Look at this! This makes it the 11th sale today! I’ve never sold this much before!”
Normally, he considered 2 or 3 sales good. Yet here he was, with 11 sales before noon. Could this be happening?
“You’re so noisy, aren’t you? I can tell just by looking at that. Hmph, it seems that having a proper shop improves sales.”
His slightly plump wife answered with a smile, despite her slightly bitter words. In her hand was a needle, and she was making alterations to a new piece of cloth. The man and his wife both worked on repairing and selling clothes together. They had purchased worn-out fabrics from this market. The cost price had gone up compared to before, but since sales were good, it wasn’t a problem.
Looking at his wife as she spoke sincerely, the man puffed out his chest and rubbed his nose.
“It’s all thanks to me, you know. If I hadn’t seized the opportunity, things wouldn’t have turned out this way. You were strongly against it, but I saw it as a chance! After all, it seems the goddess only wore a front piece.”
The husband smirked with pride, to which the wife let an exasperated sigh.
“You’re such an idiot! The goddess only has bangs, not a ‘front piece.’ Who would believe in a perverted goddess like that? Well, indeed, I was vehemently opposed. After all, it’s an abandoned town. I thought you’d be stripped naked, killed, and never came back.”
“That’s harsh, you know! When you left, you seemed oddly downcast. Was it because you thought I was going to die?”
“Of course! You didn’t take much merchandise with you either. I thought you’ll die crying, saying ‘I’m gonna die~’ while you were leaving.”
The wife tapped her husband’s shoulder with a bang, and he awkwardly changed his expression and nodded. At that time, he thought he was going to die. He had gone to President Amano’s place, feeling like a ghostly specter, weak and shaky, expecting to die as a warning for defying Shimazu’s thugs.
But by noon, he had turned things around, celebrating as he returned home with empty racks, having sold all the clothes. And so, with many people coming to buy, he felt a mix of joy and surprise. Moreover, he could rent a shop space, becoming the lord of his little kingdom.
His wife, initially half-believing, had come along, and here they were today. Faced with clothes that were consistently selling, she was diligently making alterations. They might run out of clothes to sell.
Who would have thought he’d have days like this, worrying about such things? He couldn’t stop grinning.
“It’s fine if we only go to the outer town occasionally, right? Like once a week?”
“True, dear. We still have to pay rent and taxes, and there’s the hospital too. If only we had a doctor here, we could live here completely. Our cramped six-tatami-mat shack in the slums seems silly, but there’s no help for it.”
In the lower levels of the outer town where the poor lived, dungeons occasionally spawned, and deaths occurred due to slow responses. Even if dungeons weren’t forming, there were plenty of thieves, villains, and ruffians. Going out at night meant risking death.
But here, they could rent a spacious room at a low cost and sleep comfortably. It was annoying not to have electricity, but they weren’t too fixated on that. After all, they had been living without electricity in their cramped shack in poverty.
The security was good too. The pitch-black giant tiger patrolled obediently with security guards, and they didn’t demand bribes.
In the black market, bribes were commonplace, and there were even tip-offs to the thugs.
“Our rise to success starts here. Just watch, my dear. Soon, we’ll sell brand-new clothes, build a mansion, and hire help.”
“I’m looking forward to it, dear. Your rise to success, that is.”
They laughed together, a couple of second-hand clothing shop owners with ambitions. Meanwhile, a black cat sat in the corner, gazing at them intently, but the confident pair didn’t notice.
