Please Don’t Come To The Villainess’ Stationery Store!

I was sitting in the carriage, thinking about what I had to do next.

Since I had gracefully exited on my own, the Duchess of Babeloa would be delighted and push forward with the marriage of Lennox and Sheria.

However, you never know. The Duchess might try to completely eliminate me to tie up loose ends.

“Hmm. That’s a plausible story.”

I nodded, recalling what she had done, to Meldenik.

So, before opening a stationery shop, it was necessary to select the best knights for my protection.

Therefore, the first thing I chose to do to avoid death was… to visit Dominic, the empire’s greatest sword and a hero.

Inside the somewhat bumpy carriage, I specifically thought of Dominic, imbued in the sword.

The great young knight, Dominic, who saved the empire at the age of 17.

Long ago, epics and heroic tales about him covered the entire empire.

About a thousand years ago. Demons, banished from the divine realm, tried to conquer the human world by summoning monsters, plunging the entire empire into chaos.

Then, the young knight appeared on the battlefield out of nowhere.

He found a way to seal the demons by sacrificing himself, which involved sealing both himself and the demons inside a cursed sword.

Thus, the empire regained peace through the sacrifice of Dominic.

Of course, Dominic had to live inside the sword for a thousand years, hoping for someone to summon him, for the seal that imprisoned him to be broken.

“In the original story, Lennox gained even more acclaim by obtaining Dominic.”

The audacious act of summoning the great hero from an ancient sword led to secretive attempts to proclaim him as the emperor.

Just as much, Dominic was a powerful and symbolic presence.

If things were left as they were, Dominic would become a true hero and guardian of the empire…

“Now, Dominic is mine.”

I hummed a tune.

“If I summon Dominic, who was the empire’s strongest knight and had great military power, there’s no way he would easily die to Hildegard.”

Whether the adulterer’s glorious future disappears or not is none of my concern.

I need to survive first, right?

Meanwhile, the carriage I was in finally reached the slums.

Looking at the space filled with a dreary atmosphere, I smirked inwardly.

And then, I tapped on the carriage window.

“I’ll get off here.”

“Pardon?”

The coachman stopped the carriage at my words to get off, but he looked quite perplexed.

Leaving the neighing horse, the man standing in front of the carriage window whispered with a restless face.

“Milady, are you sure you want to get off here?”

“Yes.”

“But this is the most dreary cemetery in the slums…”

Certainly, it was not a place for a noble lady to visit in the middle of the night. But I looked around outside the carriage window with a smirk.

The chilling cold clinging to my cheeks, the weeds messing up my dress.

“I’ve perfectly found my way here?”

At my words, the coachman scratched his ear, bewildered.

“Yes?”

This place was a cemetery in a slum, almost abandoned due to the famous rumor that it was haunted by ghosts. And if my memory serves me right, in front of the biggest tombstone here, the Demon Sword Dominic should be sticking out.

“I know too. That this is the cemetery in the slum.”

I coolly responded and paid the coachman before getting out of the carriage. I gave a slight wink to the coachman who looked at me as if I were something incredible.

“But, it’s already evening… T-there might be ghosts appearing, y-you should be careful.”

Even as the coachman drove away, he didn’t stop worrying.

Glancing briefly at the departing back of the carriage, I casually picked up my simple luggage from the ground.

‘I’ve died and possessed a body, why would I be scared of ghosts?’

After all, I could be considered a ghost myself.

Holding my luggage in both hands, I walked into the depths of the cemetery.

With each step, the cold seeped into my dress, but having already died once, the cold was the least of my concerns.

I enjoyed the bleak situation leisurely, looking around.

“Where could you be, Hero Dominic.”

Nobody would have thought that the sword sealing the hero was stuck in a cemetery.

That’s why, even in the original story, the main character, Lennox, who was Dominic’s contractor, discovered the sword quite late.

‘Even after finding it, it took a long time to summon the demon sword.’

People think that great things must be obtained through difficulty. However, sometimes the easiest and simplest way could be the best solution.

In fact, there wasn’t much to summoning Dominic and forming a contract.

“To summon Dominic contained within the sword, just draw the sword.”

Even though all that was needed was to draw the sword, Lennox had wandered for a long time without knowing how to summon Dominic inside it after finding out the sword’s location.

After briefly mourning him as he was in the original work, I walked through a cold, deserted graveyard.

After several rounds and when my fingertips began to feel cold, I finally managed to stand in front of the largest tombstone.

“Found it.”

In front of the large tombstone, carved out of a big stone, was a greatsword with moss growing on it.

I paid no mind to the moss and placed my hand on the sword’s hilt. It felt as though a mystical power was coursing through my hand, perhaps it was just my imagination.

Without much thought, I drew the sword in one go. My wrist hurt slightly, but eventually, the sword came out of the ground with ease.

Before long, a pure white light began to dominate my sight.

My vision turned white with the light filling it.

Since I couldn’t see anything, I closed my eyes tightly before opening them again.

Standing in front of the tombstone was a young man taller than me, who had appeared silently.

“Was the summoning a success?”

I handed over the sword I was holding towards him.

He took the sword with a displeased look, and the sword seemed to erode and disappear in his hands.

“Who are you?”

Hearing his half-muffled voice, I was convinced that the summoning was successful.

The person in front of me looked exactly as Dominic was described in the novel.

A handsome man with black hair and eyes that held blue gems.

He had a notably high nose bridge and soft-looking hair, but his noble gaze gave him a somewhat rebellious air.

“It’s just like the magic sword Dominic described in the original work.”

Having assured that the man before me was Dominic, I opened my mouth towards him.

“I am Meldenik Babeloa, you can call me Mel, for short. You’re Dominic, known as the Hero’s Sword, right? The great hero who sealed the devil.”

His expression, which seemed intrigued for a moment, turned cold.

“You know me. What do you want by calling for me, Mel?”

“Let’s make a contract.”

But as soon as Dominic heard the word ‘contract’, he lost interest and plopped down in front of a large tombstone.

“A contract… Really plain and boring. You’re predictable. You’re just trying to use me to satisfy your own desires.”

Dominic turned out to be more cynical than expected.

I shrugged my shoulders towards him and said,

“Right.”

“You agree just like that?”

“Yes.”

Because it’s true that I’m trying to satisfy my own desires.

Dominic looked up at me with a stunned face due to my candid attitude.

“Alright. What is your wish? Depending on that, I’ll decide whether to make the contract or not.”

Dominic opened his mouth with a flustered face.

“Protect my life.”

I quickly responded as if I had been waiting for it. Protect me from Hildegard!

“Of course, I will risk my life to protect my contractor. What else? What should I give you?”

My contract condition was just that.

“Besides that……”

I tilted my head in confusion.

What else do I need?

“Not really anything.”

“…Not really anything? Why? I thought you’d want to satisfy your own desires.”

He seemed at a loss for words.

That’s understandable, considering most of those who have summoned him so far have wanted to conquer the entire continent. But I just want to live a modest life.

“Yeah. That’s why I asked for protection, remember?”

He looked at me, bewildered, and asked.

“What do you mean, protection? From whom? Are you unable to say that you want to conquer the empire?”

“No, I don’t need an empire.”

He looked at me with surprise at my firm answer.

“Then, what do you want?”

Suddenly, it dawned on me that there was something I wanted.

Actually, I do have something I want.

“In fact, I am quite ambitious.”

He cynically smiled as if he had expected that response.

Looking straight at Dominic, I repeated exactly what I had told the maid earlier.

“I’m going to own a stationery store in front of the academy. I want you to become my knight, protecting me and our stationery store.”

Preferably a strong knight.

I grinned.

The seventeen-year-old boy, who had been glaring at my laughter, soon nodded vigorously.

“A stationery store…? Ah, now I understand.”

Oh, is it because you’re an ancient sword that you know what a stationery store is?

I looked at him with hopeful, sparkling eyes.

“It looks like you’re thinking of naming the new empire ‘stationery store.’ Your naming sense is terrible. Don’t you have another name?”

What are you talking about?

Have you gone mad being trapped inside a sword? I don’t want to be the ruler of an empire, just the owner of a stationery store!

Of course, my dream is to be a stationery store owner who commands the children of the entire continent.

However, Dominic was skilled in physical power, so apart from basic magic, he was pretty useless in commercial aspects.

So even if I wish to become a merchant magnate, I can’t achieve it through Dominic.

The only thing I want from him is to save my life!

I answered him with a bright smile.

“A stationery store is like a general store. The difference is it sells food for children, as well as school supplies and general goods. It would be fun, right?”

“Fun?”

“Yes.”

I nodded vigorously at him.

“It would be very easy for you. You’ve always wanted to get out of the sword.”

The dream of Dominic, the hero’s sword, was to escape from the sword. And there was only one condition for Dominic to escape from it.

To completely fulfill the contractor’s wish.

“You know that if you completely fulfill the contractor’s wish, you can become a real human after escaping from the sword.”

Dominic furrowed his brows and retorted.

“How do you know that?”

“…This sword, is it sharp?”

But I can never admit I read that in the original work, even if I were to die.

I decided to quickly think on my feet.

“It doesn’t matter how I knew. As long as you protect me and my stationery shop well, what’s important is that you can escape from that sword too.”

And my strategy worked.

Although he lived for more than a thousand years, this naive young hero who lived in the sword nodded vigorously.

“…Right, that sounds like an easy and comfortable way. I feel kind of disappointed though…”

With a face half filled with bewilderment and half with regret, he looked at me and then sprung up.

Well, he really liked smashing things in the original work too.

“Anyway, please take care of me, Mel.”

Seeing the joy on his youthful face, I was satisfied too.

Now, maybe it’s time to tell him about the stationery shop.

“The building for the stationery shop is already prepared.”

I rummaged through the clutch I was holding securely under my arm and handed him a small apron.

Dominic looked at me, seemingly taken aback by my quick reflexes.

“First, put on the apron and let’s start by making dalgona.”

Thus, the magic sword, Dominic, somewhat bewildered, received the apron from me.

“Why aren’t you wearing it?”

“…Would you wear it? This is a graveyard.”

Ah. Right? I forgot in my excitement, but making dalgona in a graveyard would be a violation of food hygiene laws.