24-Hour Friendly Market, Specializing in Dimensional Items - Chapter 222

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

24-Hour Friendly Market Specializing in Dimensional Items Episode 222

Episode 222. Insisting It Was Mutual Salvation (1)

I thought everything was resolved when I heard it had been handled well.
Manti had messaged me that the Creator and the Director—those two heroes—had returned, and that the Dimension had returned to its normal orbit.
I assumed it was all settled since there was nothing particularly alarming in the message.
But then… expelled from his homeland?
A hero who saved an entire Dimension, and yet… why?
I found myself fuming at the thought of the ungrateful traitors living in Manti’s Dimension, when something suddenly occurred to me.
‘Wait… now that I think about it…?’
There was something I’d glimpsed without paying close attention to it.
It was the message Manti had sent.
I hurriedly opened the message window and checked the previous message.

[> Saved Messages
-Could you perhaps meet with me at the Market? The sooner, the better. | Manti]

“….”
The two squares that had been attached after Manti’s name were gone.
The two squares that should have indicated the Dimension’s name.
Simply being expelled from one’s homeland wouldn’t erase the Dimension name that appeared after someone’s name.
If that was the case, there was only one highly probable explanation.
That he no longer belonged to any Dimension.
I stiffened my expression and asked.
“…Could it be that was the condition of the deal?”
Manti placed his front paw on my hand and gazed up at me intently.
Though it’s said to be difficult to read emotions from a cat’s face, I knew Manti well enough to say with certainty:
Right now, Manti bore the strained expression of someone holding something back with great effort.
Weariness, sorrow, and embarrassment mingled together, making his expression complex.
Manti, who had been silently staring at me, soon let out a low cry.

-It’s merely a shameful circumstance.

I opened my mouth carefully to respond.
“…What’s there to be ashamed of.”
Wasn’t it rather sad?
Though I didn’t love Earth tremendously, as a member belonging to this Dimension, I harbored a certain affection for it.
That’s why I was stepping forward to do things I didn’t have to do, to prevent the Dimension from perishing.
But I had never once contemplated the scenario of losing the Dimension.
It was simply taken for granted.
Yet this small cat had willingly abandoned itself to prevent the destruction of its own Dimension.
Because it believed there was no other way to save its Dimension without the method the Broker had presented.
And it appeared before me in such a pitiful state.
I gently stroked Manti’s back.
Honestly, I was terrible at comforting others, but right now, silence seemed to be the answer.
The warmth of Manti’s body had been my greatest solace when I was confused, so I wanted to offer that same sensation in return.
It was several minutes later that Manti opened its mouth without even a single purr.
With each of Manti’s vocalizations, a translation window appeared and then vanished.

-I once had my own duties. To oversee all things and ensure the smooth flow of everything was my responsibility. To put it in terms you might understand… yes, something akin to an administrator.

No wonder the fur had such a lustrous sheen—it had been a high-ranking official.
I wasn’t sure exactly what it was responsible for, but Manti’s station appeared to have been quite elevated.
I had simply thought it was a cat obsessed with some scholarly aesthetic.
Now that I thought about it, despite growing quite close to Manti, I had never properly heard its story.
This was the first time Manti had voluntarily shared about itself.

-I knew the circumstances of all those in my homeland. The countless hearts upon which my gaze fell and my hand touched—I could not bear to abandon them.

Making a rough guess, Manti seemed to have occupied a position much like a benevolent magistrate.
It was somewhat awkward to attach the word magistrate to Manti, but from what I heard, it didn’t seem to be a governor.
Manti continued.

-The condition that one presented was truly harsh. All records of me, the bonds I shared, every memory of me and its traces… if I were to completely erase my existence from my homeland, then a deal could be struck. But there was no time to hesitate. The hearts I had cherished were crumbling away in that very instant.

I said nothing and simply listened.
My hand resting heavily upon Manti’s back.

-Naturally, I lost everything. I could not have foreseen what would happen after my existence was erased… but my homeland spat me out. Into the Torn Picture.

A space where things no longer belonging to any Dimension are discarded.
It was only natural that Manti, who had perfectly met all the qualifications to enter the Dimensional Rift, was consumed.

-That place was truly a desolate and solitary space. I wandered without direction or purpose, treading an endless path. It felt as though eons had passed.

I already knew that time flowed differently in the Dimensional Rift compared to reality, but hearing it spoken aloud stirred something melancholic within me.
Could Manti, who loved Churu so dearly, have chosen any other path in that forsaken place?
Alessandro had said the same thing.
There would have been nothing to do but walk.
‘And if Manti escaped from the Rift and came here…’

-Until one day, an invitation led me to this place.

As expected, it was exactly as I’d suspected.
Just like Alessandro’s escape, Manti too had received an invitation that freed them from endless wandering.
I felt as though I should say something profound, yet nothing fitting came to mind.
Instead, I stroked Manti’s back again, a gesture to show I was listening intently.

-Having wandered for what felt like eons, I did not recognize this place at first. Later, I thought it merely a phantom from faded memories and dared not be certain. But you—when I saw the object placed here, only then did certainty bloom.

Manti turned their head slightly, gazing at something that had fallen beneath the shop stall.
It was nothing grand—merely an empty Churu wrapper.
A discarded vinyl pouch, drained of its contents, yet it had become Manti’s landmark.
I had been fortunate enough to forget about it and leave it uncleaned.
As I gazed at the empty Churu wrapper alongside Manti, they let out a soft cry.

-So you cannot fathom how deeply moving it is, my friend, that you have not forgotten me, that you remember me still.

I met their gaze while stroking the small cat’s diminished frame.
The soft, lustrous white fur was gone, the serene eyes nowhere to be found, yet the Manti looking up at me remained Manti.
Even huddled in a pitiful, shrunken form.
Still the same Manti who loved Churu.
The same one who would lap eagerly at a Churu I pulled from my Inventory, despite their weary body.
A soft smile bloomed unbidden across my face.
Only then did Manti look up at me with eyes that seemed slightly lighter.

-I have missed you dearly.

The unmistakable relief in that cry nearly brought tears to my eyes.

* * *

Ah, but I didn’t cry.
Of course I didn’t.
No matter how heartbroken or sorrowful I felt, I was never one to shed tears easily.
Since it had been so long since a proper meal, Manti—who had eaten ground feed instead of Churu—finally seemed to have relaxed, now sleeping peacefully in one corner.
The way he slept without the slightest movement made him look almost as if he were dead.
It must have been an eternity since he’d slept so comfortably, without fear.
I settled down nearby and watched Manti’s peaceful slumber.
Though I’d wiped him clean with a cloth and he looked somewhat less grimy, his skeletal frame remained—skin stretched taut over bone.
Still, one meal wouldn’t fix that, so I’d need to keep caring for him.
In any case, I’d managed to address two of the three basic necessities for any living being: clothing and food.
Food was easy enough—in this modern society that favored pets, I could procure whatever suited his palate.
As for clothing… well, he wasn’t the type to wear clothes anyway, so I’d be satisfied with him being clean.
The real problem was shelter.
How could I possibly solve the massive issue of him losing his home dimension?
“…Actually, couldn’t I?”
I muttered absently before suddenly jumping to my feet.
I tried to move quietly to avoid waking Manti, but my thoughts were racing so fast I couldn’t calm down.
I couldn’t construct a separate building on the 75th Floor, but I could certainly provide Manti with a place to stay.
And beyond that, there was far more I could offer him.
It wasn’t even a particularly novel idea.
I was simply repeating what I’d done once before—creating a home for someone who’d lost their dimension and was wandering lost.
I carefully opened my mouth.
“Manti.”
The sleeping Manti’s ears twitched ever so slightly, and his drooping tail began to sway slowly up and down.
Was that a signal to go ahead and speak?
I launched straight into the heart of the matter.
“Would you consider coming with me?”
Wait, wasn’t that more like a proposal than the main point?
It might sound ambiguous, but this was a genuine recruitment offer.
I continued seriously.
“Come live at my place. Of course, it won’t be free.”
Given how much I’d spoken of duty and responsibility, Manti must have lived with tremendous pride in his role.
Simply providing shelter, food, and clothing to someone who’d lost everything wouldn’t transform that pitiful cry into something worthy of a general.
What I needed to do was give Manti a role.
A bundle package that included a home and friends as well.
“Instead, you’d just commute here. You’d manage this stall when I’m away. You’ve seen it before, right? You’d just deal with customers the way my… not subordinates, but friends do.”
Yes, I intended to entrust Manti with the position of middle manager.
I could grant him the Market Administrator’s authority as a middle manager.
That authority included access to other Intermediate Stations.
Since Alessandro, who lives in Babel Square, has even visited the Irregular Dimensional Market with me before, there was no need to confirm whether it was possible.
So I’ll designate Manti as a mid-level administrator on the 75th Floor and grant access to Babel Square!
To be honest, the Title Quest didn’t escape my mind.
But my proposal to Manti carries only 0.5 percent self-interest.
The desire to comfort Manti outweighed any impulse to simply complete the Title Quest.
I approached Manti and crouched down beside them.
“Live with me.”
‘Yeah, okay.’
This line could easily be mistaken for a proposal, and I wouldn’t mind.
I couldn’t ease the pain of being forgotten in their own homeland, but I could offer a warm home where that ache might dull with time.
Now fully awake, Manti looked up at me with clear, bright eyes.
Without answering, Manti blinked softly and let out a small whimper of disbelief.

-Do you truly mean it?

“Of course.”

-Why… why would you do this much for me?

Manti was intelligent.
They’d already calculated in their mind that this arrangement benefited them more.
No matter what conditions I attached to my request for work, I was offering belonging, a home, and a new role to someone who’d lost everything.
But what of it?
‘Because I want to.’
“You’re asking because you don’t know?”
I laughed lightly, deliberately casual in my response.
“You were the one who was warm to me first!”
At least stay as warm and comforting as a steamed fish cake bundle.
It would be stranger for me to pretend otherwise now, after you comforted me when I was vulnerable.
Manti’s eyes, which had been serious all along, wavered slightly.
Ah, they don’t seem confused.

-What are you saying…?

…They seem bewildered.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————