Chapter 7
***
A few hours later.
“Huaaah…”
I flopped down over the ledger.
‘It was the first day after reopening, but it was way busier than I expected.’
From people selling items they had been keeping for a long time to people asking about consignment sales, it was more than enough to keep me busy, even considering the excitement of opening day.
But this kind of busyness was exactly what I had wanted.
“My strategy worked perfectly!”
A pawnshop has two main sources of income.
One is direct purchase—buying a customer’s item cheaply and selling it at a higher price.
The other is pawn lending—lending money with the customer’s item as collateral and earning interest.
But I had decided that if I wanted to make more money, I needed a new business model.
‘That’s why I came up with consignment sales.’
Consignment sales.
Acting as a middleman and selling the customer’s item for them.
The fee itself was good, of course, but the real value was somewhere else.
‘I can hold and display high-quality items without using any of my own cash at all.’
For someone like me, with limited money on hand, it was the best strategy I could choose for now.
A pawnshop is a business that depends on the items customers bring in.
If the items are good, more customers come. And if more customers come, the items they bring get even better.
The more expensive and high-quality the item is, the more commission I can earn from it, so that is another advantage.
It was a continuous positive cycle.
“It looks like Mrs. Helena spread the word around. I should probably thank her.”
When she first came in, she had clearly been full of distrust toward me.
But the attitude she showed just before leaving had been completely different.
“As the guild leader of this street, I have no choice but to be strict. But before I am the guild leader… I am also someone who walked the path of business before you.”
By then, trust had already begun to show in Helena’s eyes.
“If a talented new sprout truly wants to take business seriously, then as a senior merchant, I will gladly support and help her.”
I could understand Helena’s position. To begin with, I had already guessed that her harsh tone was partly an act.
That was because I had seen Helena’s entry in Grandfather’s customer ledger.
‘If she really had such a bad personality, there’s no way she would have been re-elected for five years straight. Ahh, they said she was good at her job, and she really does support people wholeheartedly once she decides to.’
As she slammed an [Approved] stamp onto my Notice of Reopening, Helena had said:
“Work hard, Guild Member Elisha.”
Not “young lady,” but Guild Member Elisha.
That meant she had recognized me as a proper member of this street.
I had done everything I could do on the first day of opening.
And I had done it successfully!
‘Grandfather would be happy if he knew, right?’
Grandfather’s handwriting still remained in the ledger.
The last thing he had said at the sanitarium echoed in my ears.
“My granddaughter, Elisha. …Please take good care of the pawnshop.”
Grandfather was a rough and blunt man. He was not the type to say things like please take good care of it.
That was why I had not been able to answer at the time. I had felt like I was about to cry because he had sounded so different from usual.
Only now, after the fact, I murmured softly as if answering him.
“I’m doing well. So don’t worry.”
‘I miss you, Grandfather.’
Closing the ledger, I looked around the pawnshop again with a strange feeling.
The small pawnshop had a total of four floors.
‘Basement, first floor, second floor, attic.’
In the basement were stored pawned items that could not be exposed to light. Rare books and paintings were the main things kept there.
The first floor was where I was now. It was the space for receiving customers, and most of the items we had bought were displayed there.
The second floor was normally kept locked. It was like a vault for items customers had left as collateral, as well as weapons and magic tools that needed careful handling.
And the attic was Grandfather’s personal space and workshop.
‘Since I pushed that debt-bomb of a house onto Hugo, I was planning to live in the attic for a while. It’s small, but it has a bathroom and a kitchen.’
But—
‘I still haven’t finished cleaning it…’
I had been so busy sweeping and cleaning the customer area and display shelves that I had not gotten around to cleaning the attic yet.
Still, that was not really a problem. For the time being, I could just spread out a blanket under the first-floor counter and sleep there.
‘In my previous life, when I wandered the streets of the Moro Principality, I even slept on the ground. Just having a roof over my head already feels luxurious.’
Closing time had long passed.
As I stretched and stood up, I looked outside without thinking.
“……”
And froze.
“You’re busy.”
Because a huge man dressed in black was leaning against the window.
What—when did he get here? Was he talking to me when he said I was busy? More importantly, does he know me?
As I slowly lowered my arms from the stretch, a thought flashed through my mind.
‘Could he have been sent by Hugo?’
I had expected someone to come sooner or later.
But instead of coming himself, he sent someone?
‘I thought Count Hugo would come in person rather than risk a rumor spreading that he had sent someone to extort money from a young woman.’
It was unexpected, but I was already fully prepared.
I had installed protection magic and bought plenty of self-defense magic tools.
Naturally, I placed one hand on the self-defense spray and the other over the button.
‘If I press the button, iron bars will come down and all the entrances will lock automatically at the same time.’
They said this spray hurt terribly when used.
If it touched the skin, the person would supposedly be unable to do anything for at least two days.
If things went bad, I would use it immediately.
I lifted my head.
“Yes, that’s right. I’ve been a little busy. I had a lot to do.”
Even while answering calmly, pretending to be relaxed, I kept my eyes on the man.
I had to understand my opponent in order to prepare.
The first thing I noticed about him was his broad body, wide enough to cover more than half the large window.
‘No, does a person’s body really need to be that huge?’
He looked like a wall.
The wall—no, the man—was wearing a black shirt with a few buttons undone.
Through the opening, I could see a dark pattern, and he did not seem to care about hiding it.
Instead of admiring his strong body, the bold tattoo, or his dangerous-looking good looks, one completely different question came to mind.
‘Isn’t he cold?’
Well, that was none of my business.
Whether the guy who came to squeeze money out of me was dressed warmly or not did not concern me.
Past his sharp but strong jaw and the scar on his cheek, I looked straight into his eyes.
They were a strange color—gray mixed with red.
Smiling brightly, I said,
“But it’s not like your business is urgent, right?”
“What makes you think that?”
‘Oh. Other than Grandfather, I’ve never heard someone with such a deep voice before.’
I shrugged.
“If it were urgent, you would have called out to me much earlier. But even if you had, I wouldn’t really have been able to help you.”
“Why? Do you pick and choose your customers?”
“No. It’s because we’re past closing time. Would you like to come back tomorrow?”
‘He’s not barging in right away. Maybe he only came today to check whether Grandfather is here.’
I answered with a smile, and the man’s eyes narrowed.
“You’re the owner of this pawnshop?”
“Yes. As you can see, I’m the owner.”
“Aren’t you a bit… young for this kind of work?”
This kind of work? Too young?
He casually said something rude while looking me over, and then his next action made it even worse.
He put a smooth red cigarette in his mouth and lit it!
‘What in the world is he doing right now?!’
I had been about to snap back at him, but suddenly I lost the energy.
What kind of manners was this man raised with?
“Excuse me, this is a non-smoking area.”
My protest was ignored completely.
Ugh, should I spray him or not?
I stared at him with cold eyes, and then a small group of passersby came into view.
Good. It would be better if there were witnesses.
If this man so much as laid that pot-lid-sized hand on me—
I was not just some random girl on the street. I was an official guild member now. That would mean he had laid hands on a Gray Street merchant.
At the very least, I could make sure Hugo’s group would never be able to show their faces on this street again.
‘Thinking about it that way, I might even be willing to take one hit. Then I could also get compensation for it.’
The man seemed to notice the people too. He turned halfway and looked at them.
People of the neighborhood! Look over here! I shouted in my heart.
But what happened?
The moment they met the man’s eyes, the passersby flinched and hurried away.
“Walk faster, faster. Lower your head. Don’t make eye contact.”
“Wow, seriously. What is with that face…?”
Huh? His face?
What was so scary about the way this man looked that they were reacting like that?
I was sincerely confused.
What, did he have horns I somehow failed to notice?
