After school.
Footsteps slowly began to find their way into the rarely-frequented stationery store.
Some of the children from Academy Advanced Class A had bravely escaped to visit the stationery store.
Their throats roughened by beer candies, the children knocked on the door of the stationery store.
“Is this the stationery store?”
“Commoner!”
The fact that Mel of the stationery store and Lady Meldenik Babeloa were the same person wasn’t widely known yet.
So, the children, coughing, shouted “Commoner!”
“Huh?”
My eyes widened in surprise.
‘Finally, a customer has come!’
Although just one, two, three. Only three people!
At first, some kids entered with proud or haughty faces but stopped in their tracks at the sight of me.
Then, they opened their mouths wide and muttered softly.
“Wow, it’s an angel……”
An angel? Are they talking about me?
Seeing their dazed eyes, I understood.
They were calling me an angel!
To meet their expectations, I gently brushed back my hair and wore an elegant smile.
“Hello, children?”
Several children wearing Academy uniforms gripped their suspenders tightly and looked at me as if enchanted.
Whether from shyness or the cold, their chubby cheeks were tinged pink.
“We have come, following the introduction by His Highness the Prince!”
“Hand over more of that candy!”
“Yeah! Give us more of that voice-changing candy!”
The children demanded with utmost seriousness.
I couldn’t speak because I was trying to hold back my laughter on the inside.
It seemed Dominic felt the same way.
His shoulders were shaking as he was organizing the merchandise like a part-timer, practicing first-in, first-out.
But seeing that I didn’t respond, the children must have misunderstood something.
“We have enough money!”
One of them said with a whistling sound, possibly missing some teeth.
“Right! We have loads of money!”
I watched the children walk up to the counter adorably and nodded vigorously.
“Do you guys only want the beer candy?”
They exchanged looks. Among them, a boy who seemed like the leader, chubby with wide eyes and wearing a gold necklace, shouted.
“I want something stronger!”
“Stronger?”
“Yeah, the kind that makes you lose your voice!”
“Or the kind that hits you!”
The other children’s eyes sparkled immensely at the boy’s words.
I thought to myself rather grimly,
‘Selling that dangerous stuff could get this sister arrested for violating food hygiene laws.’
Though I am not sure if such laws exist in this world.
When toys or bad food go beyond the realm of jokes, problems are bound to arise.
However, it was impossible to harm the innocence of a child with sparkling eyes.
I brought my hand to my chin and asked the children seriously, “No. Kids, do you want something even more fun?”
As expected, at the words “something even more fun,” the eyes of the children standing in a group widened.
“Something more fun? What’s that?”
A little one asked with puffed cheeks under the guise of holding a flower.
So cute that I wanted to bite. Wiping under my nose to check for nosebleeds, I softly spoke, “You want to play a prank, don’t you?”
“Yes!”
I glanced at Dominic, who was leaning on the stationery store’s counter, looking at the children with satisfaction.
“Dominic.”
As if marveling at the children lined up like trick-or-treaters on Halloween, he responded a beat late, “…Yes.”
“What candy should we give?”
It seemed like the beer candy was quite popular, so giving something similar yet different might be good.
‘I made a few candies similar to the beer candy last night.’
I looked at Dominic with a triumphant smile.
“…How about that?”
We locked eyes and pondered.
Standing with my hands on my hips and staring at the counter, I soon handed them candies that would randomly turn their tongues blue or red.
They were magical candies, not as special as beer candy, but enchanted.
Of course, the dye was enchanted to disappear quickly, fading in about thirty minutes.
“How about this. Want to try it?”
As I handed out the candy to the children, I smiled brightly.
The children took the candy with trembling hands. Initially looking at the candy with wary eyes, they soon popped it into their mouths.
And a few minutes later, the joyful cheers of the children began to shake the entire stationery store.
“My tongue has turned into a monster color!”
“Mine, my tongue too!”
The children’s eyes widened with excitement as they clapped their hands together.
It was clear they were thrilled to see the color of their tongues change.
“Bleh!”
“Ack! It’s a blue slime-shaped tongue!”
They were having fun teasing each other and then all at once turned to look at me.
Watching the children having fun, I felt slightly embarrassed.
“Not an angel, but a genius!”
“A magic genius!”
‘…The genius isn’t me, but rather Dominic.’
Lately, it seems I’ve been receiving undue high praise for my skills.
I wonder if it’s some kind of karmic reward after Meldenic has been mocked all this time.
Just then, a young boy, who seemed to be the son of a wealthy merchant, tightly grabbed my hand and said.
“I’m going to buy this entire stationery store!”
“…What?”
“I’ll order my father! To buy it for a hundred times more!”
“No, I want to buy it! How much is it?”
“Now let it be bought with money!”
“These kids must have a lot of money?”
I crouched down to their level.
As my face came close, the kids rolled their eyes all around.
“It’s too pretty, it’s overwhelming…”
“Even the color of your eyes is so pretty…”
“…Don’t look at us. We’re embarrassed.”
One of them even covered their face with their tiny hand.
But through the slightly opened fingers, they were sneakily peeping at me.
I was about to burst into laughter. They’re really such cute kids.
“The stationery store doesn’t sell it. But if you come to play often, I’ll give you a bonus. Got it?”
I winked and got up.
The children nodded with innocent eyes.
“Yes. We’ll, we’ll come again!”
“Please spread the good word to your friends.”
All of them nodded, but the quietest one among them, who had his bangs covering his eyes and looked somewhat gloomy, lightly grabbed my sleeve and said,
“Hey…”
“Yes?”
I tilted my head and looked down at the child.
“That, the black pattern on your hand, did you draw it on purpose?”
I looked at my hand, which the child was holding, flipping it back and forth with a puzzled expression.
‘There’s nothing there…’
The kid puffed his cheeks slightly and removed his hand from my sleeve.
“Oh, the thing that looked like paint is gone…”
“What does it mean?”
I scratched near my eyebrow and looked at Dominic with curious eyes.
But he seemed not to know either.
As the child walked a few steps away, he shook his head.
“Must have seen it wrong.”
Well, children often can’t distinguish between reality and fantasy.
I nodded my head and waved at them.
They calculated the cost of candies from the coin purse strapped to their sides, opened the door as they came in, and left.
I waved flutteringly at them, hoping for the word of mouth that the cute kids would spread.
Selling items that cater to the needs of children was truly a joyous task.
Could it be that I am naturally cut out for a service job?
I put my hands on my hips and looked at Dominic.
“Today is truly the first time in my life I’ve felt this fulfilled.”
In my past life, I was poor during my childhood.
Poor enough to shake out a piggy bank full of ten-won coins to buy candies that cost a few hundred won.
The lady at the stationery store reached out her hand as I drooled over the display every day.
On her hand was a small piece of candy.
I had finally taken a step to become a stationery store owner myself.
“That’s good.”
I hugged Dominic, who was nodding contentedly next to me.
“Yeah! I’m so happy!”
Dominic stiffened as he received my hug and pushed me away hastily.
Though his hands were calloused, it seemed he adjusted his strength.
“Absolutely not.”
“What?”
I was even more puzzled.
“Centuries ago, I swore a vow of chastity to God.”
I swear, it was just a friendly hug.
What kind of thoughts is this guy having? And chastity…?
Seeing Dominic’s serious face, I shook my head disapprovingly.
However, I was willing to understand his absurd actions. After all, I’m incredibly happy right now!
“Yeah! Live a life of purity!”
“Wha, what?”
As he seemed even more flustered, I patted his shoulder, deciding to devote myself more to alchemy.
“Since it seems like business is picking up, how about we start making some new items?”
Just then, a little child who had been sitting alone in the stationery store’s yard walked in through the door.
