Chapter Text
When it happened the first time, Subaru chalked it up to a weird one time occurrence.
The fact that he could remember his dream perfectly was a bit sketchy, but the entire thing was so absurd that a dream was the only thing that made sense. The fact that he went to bed before the entire thing, and woke up in his room once it ended just proved that.
So, a weird dream―― that was what Subaru had believed it to be.
Just 2 days later, he once again had that same dream.
Subaru: [――No, to call it the same would be a lie.]
His role in the dream was the same, however the people whom he came across, or rather, who came across him, were different.
Having a continuation of a previous dream wasn’t at all unheard of, though the fact that he remembered that one as well as he did the first one was a bit unnerving.
Subaru: [――But now, this makes it the third time. It’s been, what? 2 days since last time?]
Muttering that to himself, Subaru checks over himself, and finds exactly what he expects.
He was dressed similarly to how one working at a retail store would dress. That, paired with the retail store coded products around him, along with the register that was in front of him, was enough proof he needed that he was once again in that weird lucid dream.
Subaru: [Does this count as me getting a job? Maybe I could say I have experience working in retail if I ever make a resume.]
Honestly, Subaru could take this as a sign from God himself, telling him to stop taking advantage of his parents' kindness and get a job.
The thought made Subaru frown.
Chime!
Before he could beat himself up about it anymore, a chime rang out. Hearing that, Subaru, having done this twice already, understood what it meant. Thus――,
Subaru: [――Welcome! If you need any help finding anything, or wish to understand the function of something and how to work it, feel free to ask me for help!]
With his best customer service voice he could muster, Subaru put on a smile and turned towards the one who had walked into his store.
The one who had walked in was a tall, and rather handsome, man. He was dressed in white, what appeared to be a knight's uniform, with a sword at his side. He had purple hair and an aura that practically radiated elegance.
Despite the weapon at the side of the person whom had just walked in, Subaru was not scared. After all, his customers were all from a medieval world. ――It took him till the end of the second day to fully understand that.
Knight: [This is――! I, see…? I see. I suppose they were telling the truth. How such a thing came to be…]
As the knight rambled to himself, Subaru, wishing to get his attention, cleared his throat.
He was already used to this reaction. Afterall, to people in the medieval ages, a modern day retail store would be unthinkable. It would be like magic to them.
Once the knight broke out of his thoughts and turned towards Subaru, he didn’t waste any time before walking over.
Then, once he was in front of Subaru, both separated by the register in front of them, the knight spoke up.
Knight: [I see. You must be Natsuki Subaru, correct?]
Subaru: [Er, yeah? You have some good eyes.]
Clipped on the front of Subaru’s uniform, was a nametag. What was on that nametag was, presumably, his name, 『Natsuki Subaru』. ‘Presumably’ because Subaru himself couldn’t read the writing.
Apparently, the people of his dream world used a different language. One that Subaru was completely unfamiliar with, and couldn’t be bothered to learn.
In any case, Subaru couldn’t start zoning out now. His pay might get cut! Well, he wasn’t getting paid, nor was any of this real, but still――!
Knight: [Thank you, you yourself have… eyes.]
Subaru: [I know my eyes are scary but that honestly hurt more than an insult would! Could you really not think of a single compliment!?]
Knight: [My apologies Natsuki-sama.]
After Subaru cleared up that Subaru was his first name, and that the -sama wasn’t necessary, the knight finally introduced himself.
Julius: [Then, Subaru-san, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Julius Juukulius, Royal Knight of the 『Dragonfriend Kingdom of Lugunica』.]
That got Subaru to raise an eyebrow. Afterall, this was the first time he heard the full name of the country he was supposedly in.
Dragonfriend huh?
Subaru couldn’t help but feel like the name was a bit mystical.
He didn’t know if there were actually dragons here or not.
He had initially assumed that he was just in a medieval setting, one that very well could have existed in real life. However, this was just a dream, so the possibility of there being dragons or even magic was all too real.
And, based on the knight, Julius, in front of him, this wasn’t a normal medieval setting.
During his first shifts, he had only come across peasants who wore rags, or middle class citizens with low quality clothing. Now that a noble was in front of him, Subaru couldn’t help but admire his clothing.
Definitely too well made for the era my dream is supposed to be in.
Before Julius could notice him staring, Subaru snapped out of it, remembering he was in the middle of a conversation.
Subaru: [It’s nice to meet you Julius-san. Do you need a quick run down of what this place is?]
Julius: [That… would be ideal, yes.]
With that, Subaru began reciting a speech he had said many times over. As he did so, Julius stayed silent, nodding along unless he had any questions.
Subaru felt himself starting to get a bit uneasy.
He’s taking this really seriously. Is he supposed to be a quality inspector or something?
If this was God preparing him for work in the real world, Subaru would assume that Julius was meant to be a quality inspector. I mean, the dude was taking notes!
Naturally, Subaru was a bit nervous, with sweat building up on his forehead and back.
It was especially bad when Subaru would look at how Julius was acting. It wasn’t even about him taking notes, it was about how composed and elegant he was! How the hell was Subaru supposed to compete with that!? It was totally unfair!
Eventually, Subaru finished his little speech.
He fidgeted nervously while he waited for Julius to say literally anything.
Julius: [I see. This was very informative Subaru-san. I understand that you are only an employee, but would you mind coming with me? As a knight of the kingdom, I cannot allow something like this to go unquestioned.]
Subaru: [Uh…? What?]
Julius: [A massive otherworldly building appearing out of nowhere, then disappearing after a few hours. Such a thing, I initially dismissed as mere rumors. However, my lady, Anastasia-sama, was sure that it was real. ――And now, here I am.]
Subaru: [...Wow. The world building is actually decent. I didn’t expect that. Julius-san seems like an important character too… Well, whatever.]
Subaru understood the basics of what Julius was saying.
Apparently, a world outside of the store, actually existed! To the dream people anyway.
While he understood that, and understood Julius’ reasoning from wanting to take him in for questioning, Subaru couldn’t do that.
Honestly, if he could he would. Working a 9 to 5 wasn’t ideal, he would choose exploring a magical world over working in retail 100 times out of 100. However, he couldn’t.
No literally, he physically couldn’t. He couldn’t break the 『rules』 of the store,
Subaru: [Sorry, but I can’t do that. Ya’see, whenever I try to leave this store, my heart starts hurting a lot, like something’s squeezing it. Like the closer I get to the outside, the closer my heart gets to imploding on itself. Funny isn’t it!]
Julius: [I… don’t see how that’s humorous. Subaru-san, not that I’m accusing you of lying or anything, but, you must see how such a story sounds a bit far-fetched.]
Subaru: [A otherworldly building appearing out of nowhere feels farfetched too doesn’t it?]
Julius: [――――]
Julius furrowed his brows in thought.
Obviously, Subaru did have a point. And if he were telling the truth, and Julius forcefully dragged him outside, his heart might explode.
Such an outcome… Julius would prefer to avoid.
In the first place, Subaru had said he was an employee, and how the building came to be, or who his boss was, was unknown to even him.
How he didn’t know who hired him, Julius was unsure. The only reason he didn’t arrest Subaru was because the boy seemed genuinely as oblivious to the situation as Julius himself was. Which was equally as frustrating as it was concerning,
Julius: [Perhaps I should ask if lady Crusch Karsten-sama could make her way over here.]
Subaru: [――Hey!]
Julius snapped his head up as the loud voice called out to him. Seeing that, Subaru let out a tired sigh before speaking up with a, “So, uh,”
Subaru: [I kinda have to ask you to leave if you aren’t gonna buy anything. Don’t blame me! It’s just store policy. And if I don’t listen to store policy, well, y’know… my heart. It’ll probably go, pop! And I’d rather avoid that.]
The implications of his words were clear, and, hearing that, Julius raised an eyebrow.
In the first place, the reason his heart felt tight whenever he tried leaving, was because leaving was against store policy.
Julius: [Your heart starts hurting whenever you disobey store rules as well? That… is concerning. Perhaps you’ve been forced into a contract you don’t know of? And that can’t possibly be good for your heart. I should get Felix to check you out.]
Subaru: [Look man. I get you’re trying to look out for me, but you really don’t need to worry. And, uh, are you gonna buy anything? Baskets or carts are right there if you are.]
Julius: [Ah, right, right. Of course.]
His lady had told him before to try and get as much as he could if he happened to stumble across this place.
Anastasia: [Listen Julius. If ya happen ta come across that buildin’, ya need to go in an’ get as much as ya possibly can. Or, if yer not allowed ta take anythin’, memorize as much as ya can. I’ve heard that th’ stuff in dat place is from beyond the Great Waterfall, and that unheard of things are in there. Not ta mention, Russel got there before us!]
His liege, being as in love with money as she is, would never pass up on an opportunity like this.
So, in accordance with her wishes, Julius decided to spend all the money he had on him to buy as much as he possibly can.
Subaru: [――! I-is, are… what? Are you serious…?]
Subaru felt his shoulders slump in defeat. He hadn’t seen anyone buy this much stuff since his first day (or night?) here when that Russel Fellow guy came over.
Well, wasting time wouldn’t do anyone any good, so he might as well get started.
And get started he did. His hands started cramping from the repetitive motion of picking up items, scanning them, then putting them back down.
As he did so, Subaru debated whether to or whether not to make small talk.
Learning more about this dream world couldn’t hurt right?
Subaru: [So, uh…? ――Lugunica. That’s, the name of this country, that I’m, we’re in.]
Nice going Subaru.
Julius: [Yes? That is correct.]
Julius didn’t question it. Probably because the store appeared from thin air. He must’ve assumed that Subaru wasn’t the one controlling it, and thus didn’t know where it would end up.. Which was good, because he wasn’t controlling it, nor did he know where he would end up.
Subaru: [There’s uh… other countries? Could you tell me about them?]
And so, while scanning a ridiculous amount of items, Subaru got a history lesson.
――My dreams have better world building than most novels I read.
Such was the only thought going through Subaru’s mind as he bagged Julius’ items up.
Speaking of, Julius seemed to be a huge history nerd. Ah, and also, he confirmed that this dream world has magic, and monsters too.
Right now, Julius was going on about the 『Three Great Mabeasts』. Subaru felt himself shiver as Julius described them. Honestly, Subaru was glad he couldn’t leave the store. This world seemed to be set on the hardest difficulty after all.
Right, Julius was still talking. He should probably listen to him.
Julius: [The venom itself is conscious too apparently. Truly, the 『Black Serpent』 is a vile monstrosity that the 『Witch』 created solely to destroy.]
Subaru: [That’ll be… 7 holy gold coins, 1 gold coin, 3 silver coins and 2 bronze coins. Ah, you can round up and I’ll give you your change.]
Julius: [No need, I have the exact amount right here.]
Subaru: [Oh. Who the hell does that, er, whatever. Less work for me I guess.]
Saying that, Subaru accepted his money, put it in the register, then handed the bags to Julius, who promptly took them.
Subaru: [――Come again dear customer!]
Julius: [――. Before I go, Subaru-san. Do you know when this store will disappear? And, do you know when this store will appear once more?]
Subaru: [Er. I have no idea. Usually it stays for a few hours, but I don’t have much time working here to give you a confident answer. As for when it’ll appear… well, once more I have no idea.]
Julius frowned.
Julius: [I see. Well, next time you are here, Subaru-san, I’ll be sure to visit. And hopefully my liege will be nearby as well. We’ll be customers of course.]
Subaru nodded his head at those words. Then, while stretching his tired arms, Subaru let out a long weary sigh.
If Julius’ liege were here, Subaru had no doubt he would be working his ass off. In the first place, Julius only bought so much because his lady had told him to do so, that was something Julius admitted himself.
Subaru: [Don’t bring too many people here, please Julius-san. I’m the only employee here, so try not to overwork me too much.]
Clasping his hands together as he said that, Subaru sent Julius a wink.
Julius: [Well, I can’t promise you that. Sorry to say, but if I bring Lady Anastasia-sama here, I doubt your arms would be able to work properly at all the next day.]
Subaru: [That’s not comforting in the slightest! But, whatever. Ahem.]
Clearing his throat Subaru put up his arm and started waving goodbye to Julius. Then, as he was waving――,
Subaru: [――Take care dear customer! A five star review would be much appreciated!]
Subaru was surprised at how well his customer service voice came out. He was seriously considering getting a real job at a retail store.
Julius: [Sadly, I’m not quite sure what a five star review is. Make sure you take care of yourself as well. I recommend you get your heart checked out. For my sake, please do so.]
Subaru: [Mm. You’re seriously a kind person. Are you the protagonist of this world? Nono, that’s my position. But, you’re probably an important side character… ah? Don’t mind me, I’m just talking nonsense.]
Julius: [I… very well. I’ll be off now. Goodbye, Subaru-san.]
Subaru: [Yeah, yeah. See ya!]
After Jullius had left, Subaru was left alone with nothing but his thoughts.
Subaru: [This is starting to get a little creepy. Like, what’s up with this dream? Is this even a dream? It feels way too real. But then again, I don’t have any other experience with lucid dreams to compare it to… tsk.]
Subaru shook his head to dispel pointless thoughts before glancing to the side where a poster written in kanji was.
The poster was none other than the 『rules』 imposed upon him. Things like, ‘don’t leave the store’, or, ‘no using phones during work hours’. Which was weird, because he didn’t even get to bring his phone with him.
There was another poster to the side of that one, with rules for customers, such as, ‘no soliciting’, or, ‘paying customers only’.
Subaru: [――What is this place, really?]
The most believable answer was still that it was a dream, but what Julius had said, about the history of the kingdom, and the world as a whole, made him start to doubt it.
It seemed far too sophisticated to be a mere dream.
However, before he could ponder such things―― Chime! Another chime rang out, signaling the arrival of another customer.