Another World Fluffy Cafe

Chapter 26: The Lively Fluffy Cafe

Today is the day off for the Fluffy Cafe.

Taichi was sprawled out on the sofa inside the café, pondering a certain thought.

“Isn’t it a bit too cramped in here for the number of fluffies?”

“What, are you just now realizing that?”

“Luke!”

When he muttered this, Luke chimed in with a remark that was rather obvious.

“I told you, it’s too cramped here.”

“Well, I never thought it would become such a big group!”

He recalled when he had rented this place, Luke had said, “It’s too small for someone as noble as me.” At that time, Taichi had brushed it off as a joke… who would have thought he would actually feel it was cramped one day?

Recently, the Fluffy Cafe had seen an increase in customers, and the sales were steadily rising. It wasn’t full yet, but that day might not be far off.

If that happens, the realistic option is to… expand the café.

(Should I look for a new property?)

However, he also wondered if there would even be a suitable place to find.

“…There’s no point in worrying, so I guess I should check with Shalti first.”

“What, are you going out?”

“I’m thinking of asking the Tamer Guild about properties. Are you coming along, Luke?”

Since they were in the city, Luke could stay behind at the café if he found it troublesome. However, Luke got up from the bean bag.

“I’ll go with you since I’d be worried if you went alone.”

“Are you my mom or something?”

Taichi couldn’t help but retort at Luke’s words, but he was glad that Luke would accompany him.

Leaving the Cerberus behind to watch the place, Taichi and Luke headed to the Tamer Guild.

Upon arriving at the Tamer Guild, there were still no customers today.

The Kingdom of Arzelun was a bit busier, so Taichi hoped that more tamers would come to Relim as well. And he wished for more Fluffy Cafes to open up.

“Oh, Taichi! Welcome!”

“Hello!”

Shalti, who was working on paperwork at the counter, waved and approached them.

“It seems… there’s no one here today.”

Taichi chuckled at Shalti’s wary expression.

“Well, it’s not like I’m going to keep increasing my familiars that often.”

“Is that so? Well, as long as it’s manageable, there’s no problem. But if that’s the case… what can I help you with?”

Shalti picked up a Pokédex, and it seemed she was wondering if he was looking for a new fluffy.

“Actually, it’s gotten a bit too crowded, so I thought I’d consult about finding a bigger property.”

“Oh, I see~”

After hearing Taichi’s reason, Shalti laughed, acknowledging that having two or three too many was indeed a bit much.

“However, unfortunately, there aren’t any suitable properties available. There aren’t many large properties in the city… How about purchasing and expanding the current one?”

“Expanding?”

Taichi blinked in surprise at this unexpected suggestion. The current property was located in the suburbs, and there wasn’t a building right next to it. If there was land for sale around it, buying it could indeed be an option.

(As for funds… selling the monster materials Luke defeated should be fine.)

Thinking about it, Taichi felt that Shalti’s suggestion might be the best one.

“By the way, can we buy the surrounding land?”

“How big do you want to expand it, Taichi?”

Shalti laughed while bringing out some documents.

Looking at them, Taichi found information regarding the property he was renting and the surrounding land. It seemed the Tamer Guild owned the land.

He noticed that the buying price for the property was 20 million Cheru. With the surrounding land added, it would require an additional 3 million Cheru.

(…I can buy it.)

Thanks mostly to Luke, though.

Looking over at Luke, who was looking a bit bored, Taichi rubbed around his neck affectionately.

“What’s up with that all of a sudden!”

“I was just thinking how it’s thanks to you that I could buy this café. It looks like I can manage it with the money from selling the monster materials.”

“Then you should make it more than twice the size!”

“That might be a bit too much…”

Cleaning would become quite the hassle, and he didn’t feel a strong necessity for it.

However—maybe he should think about it more carefully.

In this short period, he already had two or three familiars. Was there a guarantee that there wouldn’t be more in the future? Rather, it felt like there was a guarantee that there would be more.

Taichi sighed and told Luke, “I’ll think about it seriously.”

The backyard had just been renovated, so for now, it was fine as it was.

It could be fun to set up something like a tower next to the café and turn it into a gigantic cat tower.

Alternatively, they could even go ahead and turn a two-story building into a three-story one.

(Hmm~ This is getting exciting.)

Just thinking about it was making him giddy.

(Oh, a basement could be a good idea too!)

Given the previous incident with the thugs, it would be nice to secure a space for the fluffies to escape to.

While Taichi was excited, Shalti frowned and made an apologetic face.

“…? What’s wrong, Shalti?”

“There’s one problem.”

“Hmm?”

He thought that money, location, and conditions were all fine, so he tilted his head in confusion.

“Taichi, you’re amazing, and I totally forgot to mention this…”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“The condition for purchasing a property is that you need to have a guild rank of D or higher.”

“—Oh.”

He recalled that there had been such an explanation when he first signed the lease. At that time, it hadn’t been a problem since he was just renting, so he had brushed it off… but this was quite the serious issue.

Taichi’s tamer rank was F.

To move up to D rank, he would need to raise his rank by two levels.

*(Wait, is it really that easy to level up?) *

He thought that it might be better to rent a different property. It was presumptuous for someone with a Tamer rank of F to think about buying a house.

As he thought this, Shalti suddenly placed a stack of documents on the counter.

“I’ll support you, so let’s work hard to raise your rank!”

“Eh, raise it?!”

“Of course! It’s a great opportunity, so go ahead and level up quickly. With Luke, I think most of the subjugation requests will go smoothly!”

It seemed that expanding the Fluffy Cafe would take a bit more time.

With that, the second chapter comes to an end!

Thank you for sticking with me!

Is a hedgehog fluffy?

This is a delicate line, but I’ve been writing it thinking it is, since I got many responses saying it’s okay. (Laughs) I turned it into ore, but my feelings are still fluffy! (What does that even mean?)

I’d appreciate your support for both the book version and this one!