around when the lunch rush had settled down…
“Whoa, there’s more again.”
When I peeked into the junk yard to check inventory, amidst the straw packing material were ten blue medicine bottles packed in wooden crates, which had increased in number.
“Eh? Could it be that Leah person again?”
“Yes, this time it’s ten bottles of blue medicine.”
“That person must really like apples.”
Ever since trading the red bottle for apples, this person named Leah had been frequently exchanging with us. They always took apples and left behind mostly medicines, and every single medicine was labeled [Leah’s Mixed Medicine]. Since I didn’t know what they were, I set them all to KEEP. But honestly, with them coming in so frequently, it didn’t even feel strange anymore.
“At this rate, these will just keep piling up until Princess’s analysis is done.”
“Well, that’s how it goes in business – inventory is always a headache.”
“I guess so?”
“Like those snacks I stocked up on for Kumakuma big sister – they’re not moving at all, are they? When stocking up, you have to think about how to sell them first.”
Mars’ words were so apt that I slumped over. The path of business is indeed tough. Watching the adventurers happily eating bentos on the cardboard boxes, I vaguely pondered how to sell the massive amount of Costco snacks.
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That’s when the day of the presentation finally arrived. I put on a suit with suspenders that I had bought at a gentlemen’s clothing store and stirred the miso soup with crab as I absentmindedly watched the TV.
“Hey Mars, what if we get denied for the space development business at today’s presentation?”
“Huh? What do you mean? Then you’d just have to do it in another country, right?”
Mars the cat nonchalantly answered the misgivings I had inadvertently voiced while watching the news that wasn’t registering at all. Well, that’s true…but then I likely wouldn’t be able to go to university anymore, I thought as I sipped the somewhat salty miso soup.
“I’d say there’s an 80% chance it’ll be fine. I’ve already done the groundwork with all the participants.”
As she handed me a teacup of steaming wieners, Princess casually said that as if it was no big deal.
“…Eh!? Groundwork!?”
“Well, yeah, of course I did some groundwork.”
“…Eh? How did you do that?”
Did she really have those kinds of connections?
“Oh, you know, emails, phone calls, that kind of thing. At this star system’s security level, it was easy to get leverage on anyone’s weaknesses.”
“So it wasn’t groundwork, more like…threats?”
“I didn’t threaten anyone, just asked for a little cooperation.”
As she said that in a cheerful tone while watching TV, I gazed at her ponytailed profile and felt even more apprehensive about today’s presentation.
The result was that the presentation went smoothly without a hitch. I stood before a modest number of people in a large conference room and initially felt extremely nervous, even with Princess’s instructions through an earpiece and Mars’ assistance beside me. But as I used slides with videos to explain the business, that nervousness gradually melted away.
“In other words, this Kawashima-style space exploration vessel utilizes the gravity control technology developed by Popinania Industries as its core, enabling extremely clean space development that is also environmentally conscious…Um, does anyone have any questions so far?”
That’s because no one was looking at me. In a silence so profound that manga sound effects of [Sheen…] could have been inserted, the attendees all had their eyes downcast, not raising their hands or even glancing at me once.
I had so many questions about this mysterious company called Popinania Industry, their enigmatic gravity control technology, and most importantly – how did the Princess manage to intimidate them? In some ways, our Vice President might be the last person on Earth you’d want as an enemy. With these thoughts in mind, I completed my one-sided presentation.
After the presentation wrapped up smoothly, Mars and I stopped by the burger shop near the station to grab dinner for three. When we got home, Princess greeted us at the entrance with an unusually serious expression.
“Welcome back.”
“Huh? Did something happen?”
“Tonbo, did you forget to mention something during the presentation?”
As Mars and I exchanged glances, the Princess silently shook her head and gestured for us to come inside.
“The analysis results just came in.”
“You mean for the red medicine?”
“Yes.”
So we’d finally learn the truth about the apple-loving Leah san… With mixed feelings of excitement and anxiety, I loosened my tie.
“To put it simply, this medicine isn’t from space or from this planet.”
The Princess said this while gently swishing the red medicine bottle.
“What do you mean?”
“Most likely, this came from what Tonbo and the others call ‘another world.'”
She pointed at the TV, which displayed the analysis data.
“Look at this. The analysis results show that we can barely identify anything.”
Indeed, under the ‘components’ section, rows of red text reading [Analysis Impossible] lined up. They could only identify basic elements like water and alcohol.
“We can’t even determine what the bottle is made of. If it came from our universe or this planet where we have proper data, it wouldn’t be completely unidentifiable like this.”
“So it’s from another world… Then we won’t know what the medicine does unless we ask someone from there.”
“That’s true, but that’s not the main issue…”
The Princess pressed her right palm against her head and pointed at my nose as she continued.
“What’s important now is that your Junk Skill has changed. It’s not just connected to our galaxy anymore… it might be connected to a new market in another world – one we couldn’t reach before.”
Come to think of it, that’s true. So my skill wasn’t just connected to distant space, but there was something even beyond that.
“But why did this happen…? Maybe defeating that huge snake leveled me up and increased my connection points?”
“I’ve never heard of killing something causing an ability skill to level up though…”
Mars, who was brewing tea for the three of us, said this while tilting his head and looking up at the ceiling with his hand on his neck.
“Ah, but maybe… could it be because we recently escaped from the dungeon into another world? Maybe that connected me to someone with a market skill in that world?”
“Huh…? So you mean we might get more trading partners every time we go through a dungeon to another world?”
“Maybe, but even if that’s true, it would be hard to verify. Tonbo’s ability doesn’t display a list of trading partners, so we wouldn’t know if the number increased.”
He shrugged his small shoulders slightly and crisply opened a bag of rice crackers he’d taken from the snack basket on the kotatsu. Indeed, even if potions from different otherworlds were being exchanged, it would be impossible to tell them apart.
“Mar-chan is right, there’s no point thinking about that now. The question is whether this change is good or bad.”
The Princess said this while handing me the red bottle.
“Huh? Isn’t it a good thing?”
“The Junkyard can’t choose who it trades with, right? Tonbo, what are you going to do with all these medicines when you don’t even know what they’re for?”
“Ah… right…”
I froze, staring at the bottle in my hand. True, right now I’m just having my apples taken by this Leah who makes the medicine. It seems like Leah san is the only one accessing the Junkyard from the other world right now, and the merchants from our galaxy wouldn’t trade for medicine with unknown effects either. Though it’s not like we can do human experiments…
“You’re right, I can’t really say it’s entirely a good change…”
“Apples are one thing, but what if someone snatches something good that comes in from our galaxy?”
“That’s true…”
“Well, worst case we can just store away medicine, but what if something weird comes through?”
“When you say weird things…”
From my perspective, most things that get exchanged in the Junkyard are weird. Thinking about this, I opened the Junkyard to store the red medicine bottle.
“Eh!?”
“What? Was something in there?”
“A treasure chest…”
Yes, a treasure chest. Inside the opened Junkyard was… a large treasure chest decorated in red and gold, exactly like something you’d see in a fantasy RPG.
“There’s a treasure chest in the Junkyard! They really exist! These kinds of treasure chests!”
“Tonbo-kun, THIS is what I meant by weird things…”
The Princess’s calm and collected index finger poked at my chest as I was suddenly reverted to acting like an excited little boy.
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