"Emmmmm... mind telling me what exactly you're doing?"
Standing in front of a newly renovated shop, Natsuki narrowed her eyes.
Looking inside, the place was still a mess, with bags of dog food and cat food piled up.
At a glance, it was obvious—Ren was preparing to open a store.
Of course, Natsuki wasn't really asking out of ignorance. She knew what she wanted to ask, and Ren definitely understood.
Why did he suddenly decide to open a store? As an active Demon Hunter on Itogami Island, she had only just now found out? And when did Ren even acquire this shop?
"Opening a store. Isn't it obvious?"
Ren responded with a light smile, acting as if he didn't catch her implied accusation.
Natsuki's mouth twitched as she snapped her folding fan shut.
"My eyes work fine. You know what I meant."
"After arriving on Itogami Island, I always felt something was missing in my life."
"So, you decided that opening a store would fulfill your life?"
"No, back in my own world, I used to run a pet food shop... After moving in with you on Itogami, I felt like something was missing. So I quietly acquired a small shop and decided to get back into business."
"So, Mister Ren, you didn't use any special powers... right?"
Natsuki's eyes turned sharp. If Ren had used any underhanded tricks, she might not be able to haul him off to the Guard, but she would still give him a scolding.
Ren simply shrugged.
"Relax, I went through proper legal channels. Everything's by the book."
"Seriously?"
"Why don't you trust me? I'm just a helpful citizen."
"You and Remilia stirring up trouble with rogue vampires in the middle of the night is what you call a helpful citizen?"
Ren could only let out a helpless sigh. He had been dragged into all of it from beginning to end.
Natsuki snorted. And what about all those vampires that had been beaten senseless by Remilia over the past few nights?
Honestly, her favorability toward Flandre had skyrocketed lately. Aside from her habit of undermining her sister, Flandre was a nearly flawless child.
By the way, Natsuki had unofficially become Flandre's tutor. When they got back, Flandre still had to do homework.
Flandre didn't seem to mind. In fact, when it was time for homework, she would run over to Ren, snuggle up, ask for help, and act all cute—melting Ren's heart in the process.
No one can resist cute little Flandre!
On the other hand, Remilia didn't like going out during the day but loved stirring up trouble with the city's vampires at night.
While beating them up, she would scold, "You call yourselves vampires?"
Honestly, she was becoming something of an urban legend among the demons.
Ren, meanwhile, followed her around quietly, watching the show.
Of course, he still tried to defend his and Remilia's actions.
"Remi and I are just helping to eliminate risks for those poor folks who might get harassed late at night~."
"...That's pure sophistry."
Unable to out-argue Ren, Natsuki simply stopped talking.
"Heave-ho, heave-ho~!"
A sweet voice called out as Flandre cheerfully carried in boxes one by one.
After she finished, she quickly ran to Ren's side and held her head up.
"Hehe... Big brother, head pats!"
Seeing her begging for a reward, Ren chuckled and patted her head.
Feeling the warmth of his palm, Flandre giggled and nuzzled against his hand. So warm... Big brother's hand...
Natsuki ignored their antics and glanced at the contents inside the store, then deadpanned.
"Don't tell me you've been restocking inventory while going out with Remilia at night..."
"Of course not. The items in my shop have to be unique—otherwise, how would I beat the competition?"
This time, Ren wasn't using the same setup as he did in the DXD world. After all, Kuoh Town in that world had more humans than devils, and only a handful of devils existed there. That store could only operate as a regular pet food shop managed by Raynare and the others.
Ren barely paid any attention to that business.
But the Strike the Blood world was different. Where were they now? In a demon sanctuary!
What lived in demon sanctuaries? Vampires, beastkin, artificial lifeforms...
For Ren, selling special items here made perfect sense.
Of course, he wouldn't sell the high-tier items from the gacha—those would be a massive loss.
What he planned to sell was simple...
"Special? What do you mean by that?"
For some reason, Natsuki felt a sudden sense of foreboding.
Ren grinned and casually tore open a bag.
Instead of ordinary pet food, it contained—crystal-like items.
"Give it a try!"
"You want me to eat this... huh? Wait a second!"
As she took the item, Natsuki was about to complain but then paused.
This... had magical energy in it...
Her eyes narrowed slightly. After hesitating, she placed the small crystal in her mouth.
It melted instantly. Magical power surged from the crystal into her body.
In that moment, Natsuki felt a slight strengthening of her internal mana.
"You plan to sell these on Itogami Island?"
Natsuki could no longer stay calm.
Wasn't this basically turning the island into a hotspot for trouble?
What if those demons who gained power from these started causing chaos?
What if unscrupulous demons came here for power?
Even if they couldn't win a fight, the island's balance would still be shaken.
With that thought, her face turned grim.
"Ren, this stuff..."
"Relax. The boost is extremely small. So small it's practically negligible. Even if you buy a hundred or a thousand bags, it won't cause any qualitative change. These are just failed products. Just to add a 'special' label to the shop's image..."
Yes, these were all failed products.
Ren had previously obtained the formula for crafting nekomata bloodline crystals.
Rather than rushing into making True Ancestor bloodline crystals, he decided to practice with the Nekomata ones first.
Before leaving, he had asked Kuroka for a sample of her bloodline essence. It could potentially hurt her foundation and lower her power, but Kuroka had handed over five drops without hesitation, not even asking what he wanted them for.
That moved Ren deeply.
So, using the formula, he attempted to manufacture pet food infused with magical properties.
Before trying the nekomata crystals, he experimented with mass-producing blue-grade light attribute crystals to see if he could reverse-engineer them.
As a result, these current pet food products were all failed attempts.
Even with the formula, making purple-grade items was rare. Blue-grade could be produced in bulk, but raw materials were limited...
What he was now selling were failed products between white and blue grade.
They did strengthen the body—but to an almost invisible degree.
It was like dropping a single droplet of water into the ocean. Would the ocean notice? Of course not.