Isekai C-Mart Hanjouki ch?0115 (1/2)
The Inimitable Empty Can — Beautiful Tsundere Blacksmith Girl Version
“Whew I’m so full”
“Thanks for the meal”
The idiot elf and I were facing each other on the wooden floor of the shop, having just eaten lunch
Before and after eating, the idiot elf always put her hands together in thanksgiving
I didn’t follow the custom, so for that 05 seconds, I felt a bit aard Maybe I should pray too?
But so, so I never would I would be disappointed inthe idiot elf’s example
Though, soht to ht be a wee bit excessive to call her ‘the idiot elf’
But she also called me ‘Idiot Master’ So ere even And anyway, she was always doing idiotic things, so ‘idiot elf’ fit
“Stop licking that”
I thwacked the idiot elf on the head
She was licking the leftover juices out of a can of food
See there? An idiot elf
“A But it’ll be wasted?”
“A bitis, it’s bad manners And why are your manners so horrible for so?”
“What are manners?”
See there!? An idiot elf
“If you don’t want to waste the juices, soak them up with some bread or whatever and eat the bread Use a trick like that Either way, don’t lick the juices up directly I won’t allow it”
“Then please bring some of this ‘bread’ stuff with you next ti to it I’ll look forward to it”
“You really don’t do anything besides eat, do you?”
“What is there to life for a living creature besides eating and sleeping? Elves are living creatures”
“Are you trying to sound sophisticated? It’s not working Not at all Not one bit”
“Oh! Welcome!”
“Welcome!”
The idiot elf and I turned smiles on the customer who had come in
Even e sneered at one another, we could instantly switch to smiles
Oh, ot a look at the customer
There hadn’t been a single custo in after lunch was the first of the day
She was a petite and beautiful young girl
For all that she was incredibly adorable, she had on so coveralls
She looked to be in her late teens Her ears weren’t pointed so she was probably hu she should be as old as she appeared
The girl looked over the merchandise in the shop with the sullen expression of an artisan
My goal these days as C-Mart’s oas to put a smile on the face of every customer
But this beautiful girl… There wasn’t a crack in her sullenness
What could I do to get her to smile? I didn’t really have a clue
((She’s the blacksirl,)) the idiot elf said in a low voice
((Blacksmith?)) I asked in reply
I had thought she looked like an artisan, and so she was
((She inherited a workshop, and despite her age, she’s already the boss))
Not a mere artisan A boss
“What is it, shopkeeper? Are you interested in me?”
“Ah Not really,” I replied vaguely
It see
“Well, nor am I in you But your merchandise is another matter Could you keep it down? I can’t concentrate”
“A—all right Of course”
I affected a passable smile
For so at attention
“You’ve sowithuseful to a smith I only trust my own eyes, you see”
“Oh, OK I see Then please feel free to look around”
“I don’t need your permission for that Are you an idiot?”
“Yes! The Master here is an Idiot Master!” the idiot elf asserted with conviction, and I jabbed an elbow at her
The sirl was just as prickly in manner as one would expect from her sullen expression
Almost like she would murder me ords
And the scary thing was how she didn’t feel particularly angry and how immediately obvious that was from the habitual manner of her delivery
For your average, irls were scary
The idiot elf could stay an idiot
“Are these…scissors?”
The s out the scissors She snapped them open and closed
But this world had scissors too
Extreh quality hand-made scissors sold at such an extremely low price that modern japanese scissors, even ones from a hundred yen shop, couldn’t compete quality- or price-wise
Somore over
“What is this? A…’stay-puh-ler’?”
Now a stapler had caught her eye
“Do I press here?”
She didn’t see it to the palm of her—
Aaah! She pressed it!!
A stapled pierced her finger
She flapped her hand as if to say “O!” then cleared her throat with a loud “Ahem!” while…
…the idiot elf and I, both frozen at attention, winced together My own hand hurt!
Licking the tip of her pierced finger, the prickly girl replaced the stapler on the shelf as if it was nothing
And then she went on to look at other goods
And easily two or three minutes later—
“Say, shopkeeper”
“Yes, what is it?” I replied instantly It felt unwise to delay even one second
“It took a fairly skilled smith to make that, didn’t it? To work iron into needles so thin and all”
“Uh That must be so You’re far too kind”
By ‘that’ sheout her hand like “O!” three ht? The staple?
But a smith hadn’t made that; it was probably mass-produced by a machine in a factory
Well, I didn’t know all that much about it, not really, so I would leave it at that
I left the her to look at the merchandise and started to clean up from lunch
The idiot elf also began to stir, so I waved her off to go be with the customer
This sirl Her sort just unnerved me a bit Not that she wasn’t lovely in her oay, I’m sure
But so about her unnerved me
I began to tidy up the two people’s worth of cans that had been left lying around
I gathered the e with the discarded food cans, a un to pile up since est size convenience store bags full of it already sat in the corner of the shop
That wasn’t good at all
But what to do with it?
Garbage pick up day was— Not a thing here, huh? Well, it was a fantasy world
I supposed all I could do was take them back to the other world
Except…
It depressed s of garbage in either hand—like a husband tasked with taking the trash out on his way to work in the
That would be the worst thing ever
“Say, shopkeeper,” came a low voice
I paused in cleaning up and stood at attention
If only she would quit calling out with that low voice which seemed to promise murder
“Wh—what is it?”
“What are those?”
“Uh…what are whats?”
I raised my head
I looked all about Where hatever could pique the interest of a beautiful but prickly blacksirl?
“Those”
“Pardon?”
“Oh, for— Those! In your hand! What’s so hard to understand!? I’ve been talking about them from the start! Are you an idiot? Are you?”
“Pardon?”
The only thing I had inAnd…the empty cans inside?
“You’re about to throw those away? I mean, that’s what it looks like to me”
“That’s right, but, uh…? Oh! I won’t toss thee properly, at least
“They aren’t for sale?”
“Right If it’s canned food you want, we have plenty there”
I pointed to the canned food corner
There were large piles of cans