The next day, the grand opening day of the stationery shop dawned.
I finally put up an ‘Open’ sign on the stationery shop and looked over the interior.
In the middle, there was a counter with balloons huddled together.
On the left, there was a box placed with small rings, accessories, etc., bought from an antique street inside it. I cast a cleaning magic spell on them to clean and even packaged them hygienically.
Next to it, there was a broadly placed slushie container. Thanks to the devil’s ability, the slushie inside could be kept for months without going bad.
“Perfect.”
I nodded with a proud face.
On the right side of the stationery shop, there were a few cabinets.
On top of those cabinets, there were notebooks made by weaving paper all night, diaries with ancient writing on the front, pens with feathers attached, and pouches that could be used as pencil cases with embroidery.
“Happy, Mel?”
Dominic asked with a light smile.
“Yeah, but we still lack a lot of items…”
The variety was roughly matched, but I felt somewhat disappointed because there were hardly any items I made myself.
‘The stationery shop should have beer candy, paint candy, slushies, and lots of junk food. But the catch is that we only have slushies right now…’
Dominic, who had developed dark circles under his eyes from making dalgona with me all night wearing an apron, sat in front of the counter and smiled playfully.
“Have you thought well about developing new items?”
“Hmm… I thought a lot. But it’s not something that can be realized right away.”
Currently, I have about 100 million becquerels in hand.
“Items that are not here could be implemented using magic, but there’s no magician.”
Running a small shop, this amount of money is significant. However, it was not enough to employ a magician with a salary.
Due to the lack of funds, it was impossible to hire a mid-level or higher magician.
That’s why Dominic was coveting the demon he had summoned!
“What is it, tell me.”
“I want to try making beer candy first.”
“Beer candy? What’s that?”
I straightened my mouth and shook my head slowly.
“Not knowing about beer candy, you’ve missed out on half of your life, Dominic.”
The eyes of Dominic, the arrogant young hero, widened.
“Is it that incredible?”
Dominic was often too naïve, which made it awkward to tease him.
I decided to tell him the truth.
“Listen, Dominic. Originally, the children watch and learn everything adults do.”
“…Really?”
Dominic tilted his head.
“Yes, adults like to drink.”
Moreover, thanks to the rapidly warming weather recently, breweries have increased, and beer has become incredibly popular even in noble society.
In summer, it’s all about beer, yep.
“So, kids must have seen adults drinking over their shoulders. But children can’t drink alcohol, right?”
Dominic nodded.
“That’s right. It’s illegal for children to drink beer. It makes them mentally incapacitated.”
“Right, that’s it.”
“So, what do you want to do?”
Looking at him with a curious expression, I grinned.
“I’m going to make two kinds of beer candy. One that adults can eat, making it just like real beer. And the other is a children’s candy that only looks like beer on the outside. The kids’ candy won’t cause any intoxication or hangovers. It will be sweet.”
“That’s fascinating.”
Dominic looked at me seriously and nodded several times.
“It’s difficult to create something that doesn’t exist in this world at all. It would be nice if there were a magician.”
I shook my head with a look of disappointment.
Seeing me, Dominic clicked his tongue a few times.
“I know some basic life magic. If we have the ingredients to make beer candy, I think we could manage to assemble it to some extent with beginner magic.”
“Oh, really? For real?”
I thought we would only be able to procure them once the size of the stationery store grew!
Suddenly, it seemed like there was hope.
“Then, we’ll need lots of the raw materials for the candy and beer.”
“Why do we need those?”
I thought it would just magically appear?
Receiving my questioning gaze, Dominic furrowed his brows and continued.
“To recreate the adult beer candy, we need to replicate the taste of beer.”
“Oh, I see.”
“It’s the same for the children’s version. Since it also has to look like beer on the outside. To create the perfect beer appearance, we need reference materials.”
“Oh……”
I looked at Dominic with sparkling eyes as he laid out his expertise.
He was already my savior.
Dominic, feeling embarrassed by my gaze, lowered his eyes and muttered softly.
“…Well, as you know, I was trapped in a sword when I was a minor. So, I don’t remember ever drinking beer, and my memories of being close to alcohol are vague.”
Now that I think about it, I had forgotten that Dominic was a young knight who died in an immature state.
‘He also lived for over a thousand years just inside a sword.’
Somehow, his unique life made me feel a complex sense of pity.
I raised my hand and patted his shoulder.
“Try it this time! Cheer up!”
“…What’s with that look in your eyes? I’ve done everything but drink. Because I am the legendary sword.”
Dominic’s ears turned red as he boasted, which was typical of him.
I chuckled and responded.
“Right, right. Then I’ll have to get some beer. You just need the reference material, right?”
Getting beer is easy. Just buy it.
So, is this a success?
But Dominic ignored my overly bright eyes.
“No. Creating and combining magic requires a very delicate process. The same goes for beer candy. You’d have to create the brewing process magically.”
“The brewing process?”
“Yes, to create a magical formula, you need to know the brewing process. Someone knowledgeable about alcohol needs to teach me the brewing process, step by step.”
Dominic continued to speak with an unsatisfied look on his face, and there seemed to be a hint of embarrassment.
“Beginners tend to rely heavily on specific magic formulas. I am a beginner when it comes to everyday magic.”
It seems he was worried that his limitations would disappoint my expectations. But considering Dominic uses both magic and sword, it made sense.
I just nodded quietly.
But even if we could find alcohol, where could we find such a person?
We didn’t know anyone knowledgeable about alcohol, and we didn’t have much money to spend on it either.
For now, I just smiled broadly and looked around.
“Then, let’s forget about beer candy for now and focus on selling what we have to gather some startup capital.”
“Right. Who knows, maybe selling these alone could be a huge success.”
Dominic replied energetically.
“Exactly! We also have slushies made of ice that even high nobles can’t easily get!”
…That’s what we had confidently thought to ourselves until this morning.
Whoosh.
A few hours after opening, I was flustered. I had been excited about making a big hit with the business ideas I forced out of Dominic.
“Even though we haven’t promoted it yet, is it possible that there are no customers at all?”
I looked around and muttered weakly.
“Why is it that only flies are buzzing around?”
Dominic, who had been overworked because of me last night, yawned and stretched.
He opened his mouth as if it was no big deal.
“Maybe it’s because it’s not time for the kids to come yet?”
“It’s certainly a persuasive hypothesis.
But we can’t just wait indefinitely until the children come, can we?
I rubbed my eyes and came up with a clever plan to attract customers.
“Shall we start by targeting the merchants around us?”
Since children might occasionally visit the shops around the academy.
Maybe the shopkeepers or the children visiting the shops could be encouraged to engage in soliciting activities to come to the stationery store.
I muttered with a disappointed face.
“Not bad.”
I got up, feeling stiff.
If nothing else, it seems I should go out and promote around the neighborhood for a while.”
Thanks for the chapter!❤️🔥