Want to be human, but cube-like

"It's okay, I can ask Aiyin tomorrow. She had this Valentine's Day set meal with me tonight, so she should know more about it than I do."

Alex shook her head and smiled faintly.

"..."

Xiangzi suddenly regretted bringing up the topic.

Just as the room fell silent, a new adventurer suddenly appeared not far away.

Just like the animals and monsters that had suddenly appeared before, they almost gave Xiangzi a fright.

"Hmm, the second adventurer. Let me see what you sell?"

Alex turned her head and couldn't wait to get up and walk over.

"Well……"

Then she puffed out her cheeks in dissatisfaction.

"what happened?"

Xiangzi asked.

"It sells dark oak saplings and cocoa beans, for the same price of three and four gold coins respectively."

Alex casually closed the trading interface and was about to turn around to buy tea seeds from the adventurer she had met earlier when she paused.

"Can cocoa beans be used to make chocolate?"

Remembering the chocolate pie she'd seen while looking through the recipe for the milk bucket, Alex recalled what Aine had told her yesterday when explaining Valentine's Day—the custom of exchanging gifts. She tilted her head and asked.

"It seems... yes?"

As a pampered young lady who never lifted a finger and didn't even know what a beverage machine was, Xiangzi could only vaguely recall the ingredients of chocolate. She hesitated for a moment and replied in an uncertain tone.

Should we buy cocoa beans to make chocolates as gifts for them, or buy tea seeds to make matcha food for Lena?

Alex was once again caught in a dilemma. She puffed out her cheeks, looked down at the four gold coins in her hand, and looked very distressed.

"Why not just buy both?"

Xiangzi, who could tell at a glance what Alex was struggling with, smiled helplessly.

"But... it will cost eight gold coins in total."

"I'll go exchange some coins for you as soon as the bank opens tomorrow morning, okay?"

Seeing Alex's expression, Xiangzi figured she would need even more coins, so he had no choice but to coax her like this.

It seems she'll have to visit several banks tomorrow.

Otherwise, a bank might not have enough coins for her to withdraw in cash, and even if she made an appointment, it's too late now.

…………

PS: The current Xiangzi, in front of Alex, has completely abandoned her feigned strength and become soft and gentle.

No need to work outside every day, the job at the burger joint is so easy, and you even live with a beautiful but clueless girl, plus they have a fantastical island in another world to play on. How could you not be happy? Everyone else is so envious!

Volume 1: Chapter 128 Are your tea seeds made of gold or are your cocoa beans made of gold?

"call……"

After school in the afternoon, Aine took the train alone to Ikebukuro. When she arrived at the hamburger shop, she looked down at the bag of clothes she was carrying and sighed with some annoyance.

Aiyin seemed a bit listless today.

It took me quite a while to cover up those faint dark circles under my eyes before I left the house this morning.

At school, her classmates showed concern for her, asking if she was feeling unwell.

Unable to tell Aine the real reason, she could only use the excuse that she hadn't rested well to brush it off.

That's not wrong, since she did have insomnia last night.

To be honest, she had been thinking about how to face Alex since last night and still hadn't figured it out.

Because she was lost in thought, it wasn't until late at night that Aine remembered she needed to prepare a design plan for the clothes.

After finally finishing her work, she lay down in bed, but she couldn't fall asleep. As soon as she closed her eyes, her mind was filled with images of Alex.

The more I lie down, the more energetic I feel.

It reminded me of that feeling I had when I was a kid, the day before a school field trip, so excited I couldn't sleep.

But are you actually looking forward to meeting today?

With a slight blush creeping onto her cheeks, Ai Yin lowered her head and pursed her lips, hesitating to take a step for a long time before finally mustering the courage to push open the door of the hamburger shop.

It shouldn't be expectations, right?

I was just at a loss... Yes! That's it, I just didn't know how to answer Ellie's question from yesterday evening.

She nodded to herself, finding a reason for herself, before looking up and preparing to push open the door and go inside.

Then I saw Alex coming over and opening the door.

"Aiyin? Good afternoon, aren't you coming in?"

Alex greeted her with a smile, her expression completely unchanged, and invited her in.

"Ah, although we're not open this afternoon, we didn't lock the door, so you can still come in."

Aine, who was still stunned by the sudden sight of Alex, snapped out of her daze upon hearing her words.

"Uh, oh..."

Turning her head, Ai Yin realized that the sign hanging behind the glass door, facing outwards, read "Rest."

She had been completely distracted and hadn't noticed that there wasn't a single customer in the store at the moment.

"Um... Good afternoon, Ellie..."

Aiyin, who was several beats slower to react, greeted him quietly.

Even though a night had passed, she was still a little shy when she saw Alex again.

Rather, it was Alex's complete lack of any unusual reaction that made her feel slightly dissatisfied.

She said those things, which kept me up all night, but she acted like she didn't care at all. It's so awful.

With her lips slightly pursed and her face flushed, Ai Yin followed Alex into the store, walking all the way to the counter in front of the kitchen.

Just then, Xiangzi came out of the kitchen, carrying a plate with several different kinds of food on it.

"Good afternoon, Ai Yin."

Xiangzi paused slightly, noticed Ai Yin, greeted her, and placed the plate on the table.

"Good afternoon, Xiao Xiang. Are you closed today?"

Composing herself, Ai Yin placed the bag of clothes on the counter, casually found a chair to sit down, and asked...

"We were open for two hours during lunchtime, and then closed temporarily after all the customers left."

Alex went back behind the counter, preparing to head towards the kitchen, when she heard Aine's question and turned back to answer.

"Well, we were researching some new ingredients today, and we weren't planning to open for lunch. But Alex said it would be a good opportunity to let our guests try the new dishes, and they were surprisingly well received."

Xiangzi picked up the conversation, and after she finished speaking, she couldn't help but lower her head and cover her lips with a small yawn.

"Sorry, I'm rude."

He immediately added, somewhat embarrassed.

"Ha...uh..."

As if infected by Xiangzi's actions, Ai Yin couldn't help but yawn.

"Aine-kun...didn't you get enough rest last night either?"

Seeing this, Xiangzi blinked in confusion and asked.

"Ah!... Yes, a little."

Her heart skipped a beat. Ai Yin turned her eyes to the side and answered casually with a smile.

"Because I was really struggling with how to design the clothes last night, I ended up staying up all night without realizing it."

She said this somewhat guiltily.

"Xiao Xiang? You don't seem to be feeling very energetic either?"

Not wanting the conversation to stop there, Aine continued to ask questions.

"Um... it's because the burger shop's supplier delivered new ingredients last night, and Alex was so excited that she studied them until very late before going to sleep. She also got up very early this morning."

Xiangzi had considered some reasons for this. When asked, he could simply attribute the source of all the ingredients to a non-existent high-end British ingredient supplier.

"That's it..."

The two women exchanged a glance and noticed a familiar look on each other's faces. It was a simple makeup look that Ai Yin had recommended to Xiangzi, which supposedly could perfectly cover up dark circles with inexpensive cosmetics.

"Ugh……"

Both of them, who had been forced to stay up all night because of a certain white-haired girl, sighed softly in unison.

Aine couldn't sleep because of what Alex said last night.

Xiangzi got up early and worked late because he couldn't bear to see Alex's distressed expression last night, as if she didn't have enough money.

Unlike Aine, she not only stayed up very late last night, but also got up early this morning to exchange for enough coins. Together with Alex, they took the money to the bank and waited for it to open.

One bank wasn't enough; he went to several branches and spent a lot on transaction fees before he finally managed to scrape together 500,000 yen in coins, which is roughly equivalent to forty gold coins.

If it weren't for Alex being with him, who could help him store the coins in his inventory, Xiangzi wouldn't know how he would have carried those thousand coins, weighing nearly seven kilograms, back with him.

I thought 500,000 would be enough for a while.

After going back and buying all the items from the adventurers who appeared last night, and then changing to other villager professions, I found that I had already used up almost half of my gold coins.

While still lamenting the high prices on Sky Island, I turned around and saw the new Weapon Crafter class that I had just changed jobs to. Alex had told me that Xiangzi could buy six gold ingots for only five silver coins there, and I immediately felt dizzy.

That gold ingot could be exchanged for so many yen, but it only requires five silver coins, which is only six thousand yen!

Recalling the adventurer selling saplings, tea seeds, and cocoa beans for several gold coins, Xiangzi couldn't help but feel an urge to kill all those unscrupulous merchants.

…………

P.S. I was wondering why I was getting less and less enthusiastic while writing; it turns out the Sky Island subplot was dragging on for too long. Let's skip it and get back to Aine's main storyline.

Volume 1: Chapter 129 Maid Xiaoxiang and Butler Alex

but

Thinking about those things now is pointless.

Besides, according to Alex, the things that adventurers sell are things that have no other way of being obtained; it's a monopoly business for them.

No matter how expensive it is, I have to buy it from them.

The only problem is that Sky Island doesn't have an anti-monopoly law.

But they're risking their lives for this business.

The image of Alex killing off the extra adventurers that spawned last night flashed through Xiangzi's mind, and he thought to himself.

Without realizing it, she seemed to be beginning to understand why Alex didn't treat the villagers as human beings.

"So, Aiyin, have you already designed your costumes for tomorrow's performance?"

Returning to the present, Xiangzi glanced at the bag Aiyin had placed beside him and asked.

"I guess... it's pretty much finished designing it?"