Now Rame had found herself on her very first shift with this job. All she had to do was bide her time until things were right. She realized that could take a long time, but that shouldn’t be too much of a concern. After all, demon lords like herself live a long time. That is, if they didn’t die to her when she took over.

There was a lot of responsibility on her shoulders. Right now, it was only her that held a source of income. Meanwhile, her trusty retainer had yet to be as fortunate as her in that department. So it was up to her to make sure they stayed afloat with their current situation. Of course, maybe she should be the only one taking care of work. That way, Mifuru could handle things going on at home. That girl was more than capable of planning things like budget than anyone else she knew.

So for now, Rame was going to do her best. Which at the moment was listening to her boss explain the rest of the stuff she was going to have to do. Everything he said to her was a new experience.

For starters, there was the thing that she was going to spend most of her time near. That being the register. It was a grand concept for a machine that could handle monetary transactions just by pressing buttons. How did it make those calculations? Was it powered my the knowledge of a wizard’s magical spell?

Not to mention that paper money was the main attraction. They were so much lighter than the coins she was used to. Also one could carry them in those small things called wallets. Or what a lot of women seemed to use that looked like bags, but were more complex than that. Those things seem to carry plenty of other things than simple cash. She figured she needed to get herself one, but the ones she really wanted were priced so high. It was either choosing that, or getting a dozen proper meals and paying rent. So both her and Mifuru agreed which one was more important.

“Don’t think that all we do is just stand here.” Juuto opened up the register entrance for her to exit. “We also gotta make sure everything’s stocked for the day team.” He pointed along the aisles of snacks, drinks, and magazines, while they walked to the storage room. Of course, they didn’t have to worry about deliveries, since that was for the people that worked during the day.

“I get what you mean boss.” She responded with excited vigor. “I saw one of the freezers was empty, so I’ll take care of it.” Well, he could appreciate the can-do spirit she was emitting. What he kind of didn’t was how much she chose to carry.

One thing that Rame was glad she seemed to keep when bringing herself to this world, was that she maintained her immense strength. Without much effort, she picked up all three crates filled with gallons of liquid and went to bring them out.

“Uh, maybe you don’t need to push yourself that hard.” Juuto informed her, mostly for the sake of his own pride. “Can’t have any workplace injuries, you know what I mean?” She didn’t know why he seemed so worried about this. All this weight was almost nothing for her, but she did understand that harming her body was no good. After all, without the magic to drain the life force of others to heal her body, it was going to be quite the task to regenerate.

So she took his advice, after all, he’s the boss. She placed down two of the cases and got to working. He continued to supervise her, to which he was impressed how capable the girl already was at this. Sure, it’s not the most complicated work to handle. It’s just that she wasn’t taking it easy in any sense. So maybe this wasn’t going to be that hard on him with his job as manager. Getting someone so studious was certainly a positive for anyone that could find themselves in his position.

Once she was finished with her job, she decided that now was a good opportunity to ask for a break. “Say, could we get some coffee?” Rame didn’t forget about that energy comment he made earlier. So she needed a chance to try out her plan.

“I see that even you have your limits.” He joked, trying not to get too envious of her physical skills. “Well, it’s usually pretty quiet during this time. So as long as no one’s in the store, feel free to take breaks when you need one.” He wasn’t lazy at all, but if there’s no need to be standing up front. Well, his old boss always said that you should rest when you can.

So she went to the break room, with him following along. After all, he was to stick with her for the first shift just in case she had any questions.

“It’s a little cold.” He said, while pouring her a cup. “So I hope you’re not the type used to getting that 1000 yen stuff.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine.” She responded with confidence as he handed it to her. After all, Rame knew that if this had energy, then it might lead her to finding a new source of magic. Sure, this place didn’t seem to have the natural magic of Enatis, but perhaps it was simply a problem with the populace. Not to mention that surely her unique body could harness new sources these humans had no ability to do.

And so, she took her first sip. Big mistake…

It was just so… Bitter. Not to mention how sharp it attacked her taste buds, it was far from what she was used to… No scratch that, it was absolutely horrendous compared to even the worst meals they gave to prisoners. Rame’s body reacted on its own to defending itself to this noxious fluid. That would be to spit it straight out. Unfortunately, right onto her boss’s face.

“…” He blew out the bit that was hanging onto his lips. Good thing it wasn’t hot coffee that he handed her. “You know, if you didn’t like the stuff. You could’ve said no.”

“Ah!” She couldn’t believe the blunder she had made. And on her first night too, this wasn’t looking too good. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to do that!” She spoke in a panicked voice as she grabbed napkins to help clean off the spit drink.

“It’s fine.” He forgave her. It didn’t seem like she meant to do that. Plus, he accepted that things were rarely going to go perfect for him. “Just go keep an eye out for customers, I’ll get myself cleaned up in the bathroom.” And so he left her to handle the work while he was gone.

As that was happening, she stood at the register. Her head slouched down onto her arms, as she laid there disappointed. The only thing she could be glad about this whole ordeal, is that he wasn’t about to fire her.

The other bad part of this, was that the coffee ended up being a dead end for her. Though maybe that would be for the best. If that really was the source for her to regenerate magic, then she wasn’t sure she could continue to put that stuff anywhere near her mouth.

As she lamented her current situation. A person walked through the automated door. Her ears piqued at the sound of the bell ring, as she turned her head to look at her first customer.

It was of a man, who seemed to be pretty exhausted. Presumably after a long day of work at some place she didn’t recognize given the uniform he was wearing. He also seemed to be near her body’s age as well.

“Whew, finally.” He said. There was something about the tone of voice she recognized, Which is what caused her bewilderment. After all, there’s no one here that she knows outside of Juuto and Mifuru. So why did it sound like she had heard it before?

“Hello sir.” She said, as instructed by her manager. “Is there anything you need help with?”

“Hmm?” He looked at her, as if this was a confusing experience for him. “Oh, no worries. I’m just getting a drink… Oh, and I’ll have a hot dog too.” He went for the freezers out back. However, it was the latter part of that sentence that didn’t make sense to her. Hot dog? As in dogs that were capable of fire? That just sounded ridiculous.

Her questions would be answered, as the man went to the stand that they had set up. It was filled with sausages, but that doesn’t explain why that would be called hot dogs. It was when he put it on a bun, which were hidden in a drawer. That showed her what those things really were. He covered his with some red and yellow sauce and came up to her.

“Ya know, I never had any of these things until like, last week. Can’t believe how much I’ve been missing out in my life.” He said to her as he put the items down for her to ring up. Remembering how this machine worked, Rame pushed down the buttons that handled the pricing for the man. It came out to an even 500 yen, to which he paid with no complaint. “Are ya new?” He asked, as she handed him the receipt.

“Y-yes?” She answered with caution. Why would some stranger ask her something like that out of the blue?

“Oh, then I guess ya haven’t had one of these.” He pointed to his hot dog. “Trust me, they’re to die for. Ya gotta try it out when ya get a break.” With that, he left. Rame considered that to be an odd experience, but she was now rather curious about that hot dog stand.

“Well, I’m back.” Juuto returned now back to being spiff and clean. “Looks like your first customer experience went well.” He heard that man’s voice. It was clear to him that it was the only other person the manager had never seen until recently. It was odd to him, since meeting a new regular never happened in such a short time. “If you want, you can grab a hot dog as a reward. I’ll take over for now.”

“Got it boss.” She bowed her head and went over to the stand. Why did that man think this was so good that he recommended to someone he only just met? Was it really that good, or is there a trick she hadn’t seen yet? Carefully, she checked over to Juuto, in order to make sure he wasn’t about to see her next move.

That would be to use the little bit of magic she had. Of course, she had to make sure to not run out for important situations. However, checking for things such as poison or allergies sounded rather important to her. As well as the fact that it used very little power. And so, she hovered her hand over the meat. It seemed that nothing was there to trigger her danger senses. Checking over to the buns, it appeared that the same result was to be had.

“Hey!” Shoot, she broke a sweat when he called out to her. Was she too careless and allowed herself to be caught using magic? “Just to let you know. You just get two free hot dogs during your shift. Anymore than that, and you gotta pay. Got it?” Or he could just be telling her about work rules.

“G-g-got it b-boss.” She replied, trying to hide the fear that was built up in that rush. That was a close one. If he caught her, then she might have to kill him or something.

Now she could go get herself some free food now. Copying what she saw from that man, she put the sausage into the bun. Then she looked at what else could be added on top. It looked like the melted cheese sauce was a popular option, given the advertising plastered on this stand and outside the store. Then she tried out what was called chili, which was mostly just some meat unknown to her. Finally, she put on a fair bit of the yellow sauce known as mustard.

She took a good look at it. Perhaps she might’ve went a little overboard adding all those extras, but now she had to give it a bite. Slowly, she opened her mouth and closed her eyes to give this a shot. As Rame bit down, her eyes shot wide open in response to the taste. If that coffee was the worst thing she ever tasted, then this was by far the best thing that had ever graced her mouth.

She felt like she was in Hell. Which to note, is a good thing coming from her. After all the nice dinners she had during her reign as demon lord. How could this be hidden away on from small looking stand in this very store.

The two meats and their differing textures. All covered in that cheese, and hit with the tang of the mustard. Finally, the soft bun that was heated under the stand holding all this together. She couldn’t believe something so simple, could contain so many powerful flavors.

“These are free!?” She asked out loud, not even bothering to finish chewing to speak up.

“Yes… Well, the first two are.” He reminded her.

“I can’t believe this. I promise, that I’ll make sure that I’ll work hard every day to get me some of these.” She yelled out, while creating her second hot dog to chow down on. All these condiment options just gave her more reason to mix and match to try and find the perfect combination.

“I mean, you don’t work everyday.” He told her. In fact, as a part-timer. It was probably five night a week at most. “But if you want to make these at home. I can show you where to buy all the stuff.” He laughed, but she ignored his statement.

Rame was too busy with stuffing her face with the two hot dogs, alternating with each bite. Who needed revenge when you got food like this?

It was just too bad that she could only have two for free during each shift. Maybe this world called Earth will be the new target for her domination plans. Then, she could have all that she wanted.