It was right as I was about to close up for the day that some unusual customers stopped by Dagashi-ya Yahagi.
“Pardon me.”
Hearing an especially high-pitched voice, I stood up and looked around, but I saw no customers.
“Huh? Was that my imagination?” I wondered aloud.
“No, we’re right here.”
I heard a voice, but I didn’t see anyone anywhere. Has some invisible person come to my shop?
“Yusuke, at your feet,” Minerva said. When I looked down, I saw three dwarves less than ten centimeters tall there. One was an old man with a long beard while the other two seemed to be young men.
Other worlds are incredible! I had no idea a race like this could exist. But it’d be rude if I seemed too surprised, so I calmly made their acquaintance.
“Welcome.”
“Mister shopkeeper,” said the old man, “our two youngsters here said they saw a beautiful chair at this store. If you still have it, could we please have a look?”
He had to be talking about that capsule toy, huh. I took the miniature sofa I’d set up as decoration and placed it on the floor.
“Is this it?”
“Oh! How wonderful,” he marveled. “It looks so comfortable for sitting.”
“It’s just like we said, right, Elder?”
I wanted to close up my shop already, but the dwarves were gathering around the chair and stirring up a fuss. The “dwarves” that had appeared at Dagashi-ya Yahagi introduced themselves as earth sprites known as gnomes.
“Mister shopkeeper. We’d like you to sell us this sofa, but how much is it?” It seemed that the gnome elder had taken an especially keen interest in my sofa. He had asked me with such a serious expression, but this wasn’t something I sold in my store.
“To tell you the truth, this is one of the items from my gachapon.”
“Gachapon?”
“I’m talking about this.”
I explained what gachapon were to the gnomes.
“In other words, for just three hundred rims, we can get furniture from here?!”
The gnomes grew excited.
“That’s right. Although, in return you won’t know what’ll come out.”
“Hm,” the elder said thoughtfully. “It seems we’ve found an amazing store. Itchee, Scratchee, tomorrow we must bring our whole clan here together.”
“Indeed, Elder!”
“If it’s only three hundred rims, we can buy his entire stock!”
Whoa, they’re going to buy up everything? This gachapon could fit a maximum of fifty capsules inside it. With forty-nine of them in stock, that meant I’d get 14,700 rims if they bought all of it!
“Are you going to open your shop here tomorrow as well?”
“Yes. So, by all means, stop by.”
“Then we shall be back tomorrow morning!” The elder tapped the cane he held against the ground and with that, their bodies were swallowed into the earth and disappeared.
“It’s rare for gnomes to appear,” Minerva said once they had left. “They must have really liked that sofa.”
“Do gnomes not show themselves in front of people?” I asked.
“There likely aren’t many adventurers who have actually seen them, even among those who go into the dungeon. I have only seen them a couple of times myself.”
Then I guess I’m lucky.
“By the way, do gnomes have money?”
“Gnomes are very wealthy, I hear.”
While that was all well and good, there was one problem.
“But if you’re that tiny, isn’t it impossible to lift a hundred-rim coin?”
You needed three one-hundred-rim coins per try for this gachapon. A hundred-rim coin was far bigger and heavier than a ten-rim coin.
“They’re probably fine. Gnomes are masters of Earth Magic and are great sorcerers. I’m sure they can handle something like lifting a coin.”
That was how Minerva explained it to me, and sure enough, he proved to be right.
✦ ✦ ✦
The next day, just as I was opening my shop, those gnomes came carrying two whole ten-thousand-rim silver coins. They had said they would bring their entire clan over, and there really did seem to be about a hundred of them here. Their noisy high-pitched voices resounded against the dungeon’s walls.
“Mister shopkeeper,” said the elder, “please allow us to exchange these. It is also difficult for us to turn the gachapon’s dial. I’m greatly sorry to trouble you, but could you turn them in our stead?”
“That’ll be no problem.”
I then called out to Minerva. “Sorry, could you help me?”
“Me?”
“Yeah, I need a temporary employee.”
“Working at the store together...” Minerva thought for a moment before he nodded his head. “All right.” He started silently putting in the smaller coins that the gnomes had exchanged, turning the knob. I took the capsules that he dispensed and twisted them open to retrieve the contents. Every time I placed a piece of furniture on the floor, the gnomes all cheered.
“Hey now, what’s all this fuss about?”
“Wow! There are so many gnomes here.”
Meryl and Mira had arrived on the scene.
“Great timing,” I said. “It can be just for the morning, but could you two do some part-time work for me? I’ve got my hands full right now.”
“I guess we can’t say no,” Meryl smiled.
“Leave it to us,” said Mira.
My two long-standing customers were well acquainted with my products. They had even memorized the prices, so I was perfectly comfortable leaving my store in their hands. Thanks to that, Minerva and I could focus on opening the forty-nine capsules and handing the furniture off to the gnomes.
“Oh!” cried the elder. “The secret special item was a rocking chair! I’ll take this to my room.”
It seemed he had taken a great liking to the rhythmically swaying rocking chair.
The elder then peered up at me. “Sir Yahagi, you’ve graced us with a fine shopping haul. Please allow us to express our gratitude.”
“No need. And thank you for buying out my stock.”
I had thought these things wouldn’t sell at all, but now they were all sold out. I’d even made a killing off of them.
“But is this really all right? You’ve sold such wonderful pieces of furniture to us for so cheap.”
“It’s no problem,” I assured him. “I sold them to you at their regular price point.”
“But I can’t accept that...” The elder perked up. “Oh, that’s it! Sir Yahagi, do you like baths?”
I was from the country of Japan, a land of hot springs. I’d been a bath lover back then, and that hadn’t changed since transferring here. However, bathtubs were a luxury item that only the rich had in their homes in this new world. Of course there was no way my usual place, the Swindoll Con Inn, had one either.
“I love them. Why do you ask?”
“I see! You like baths! Then we will tell you the secret location of a hot spring.”
“What?!” I cried in excitement.
“On floor B2 of this dungeon, there is a secret spot where a hot spring wells forth. It’s located at the former site of an ancient temple, so it’s a safe place where monsters do not appear.”
The elder wriggled his nose with seeming pride.
“I’m grateful for that information,” I told him sincerely. “I love hot springs.”
“Oh ho ho, that’s splendid to hear. Please feel free to use it how you please. We won’t mind if you tell your friends either.”
The elder entrusted me with a map that showed the hot spring’s location and left, leaning upon his cane.