After school, visitors slowly began to trickle into the previously deserted stationery store. Some of the children from the Academy's Advanced A class bravely ran over and visited the shop.
The children, whose voices had been affected by eating the beer candy, knocked on the stationery store's door.
"Is this a stationery store?"
"Commoner!"
It was not yet widely known that Mel of the stationery store and Princess Meldenique of Babaloa were the same person. So, the children coughed and still called her "commoner."
"Huh?" I opened my eyes wide. 'Finally, customers have arrived!'
One, two, three... There were only three of them!
At first, some children entered with majestic or arrogant expressions, but upon seeing me, they stopped at the door. Then, they opened their mouths and muttered softly, "Wow, it's an angel..."
Angels? Are they referring to me? After seeing the children's wide, wandering eyes, I understood. They called me an angel! I smiled, flipping my hair slightly to meet their expectations. "Hello, children?"
A few children in academy uniforms clutched their suspenders, looking at me as if they were enchanted. Whether it was embarrassment or the chilly day, the children's chubby cheeks were flushed with pink.
"We came to visit after being introduced by His Highness the Crown Prince!"
"Give me more of that candy!"
"That's right! The candy that changes your voice!" The children spoke very solemnly.
I found it so amusing that I couldn't hold back my laughter. It seemed Dominic felt the same way. His shoulders were heaving as he arranged the shelves for first-in, first-out, like a diligent part-time worker.
However, when they saw that I didn't answer, they seemed to have misunderstood something.
"Well, I've brought enough money!" One of them called out to me, his voice a little chirpy, as if he'd lost a tooth. "As soon as possible! We have lots of money!"
I looked at the adorable toddlers, who walked to the counter, and nodded vigorously. "Kids, can I just give you a beer candy?"
They exchanged glances. Among them, a chubby boy with a gold necklace around his neck, who looked like a miniature adult, shouted, "Give me something stronger!"
"Stronger?"
"Hmph, you just can't get your voice out!"
"Or just hit him!" The eyes of the other children beside him began to sparkle tremendously.
I thought nervously, 'If I sell such dangerous things, I'll be arrested for violating the Food Sanitation Act.' I didn't know if there was a food hygiene law in this world. If toys or junk food went beyond the realm of harmless pranks, there would always be problems. But I couldn't disappoint the little boy with his sparkling eyes.
I put my hand to my chin and asked the children seriously, "No, I can't. Kids, can I give you something even more interesting than that?"
As expected, the eyes of the children standing in a group widened at the words 'more interesting.'
"What's more interesting? What is it?" The little boy asked, holding a plump cheek that looked ready to burst under my chin. He was so cute I wanted to pinch him.
I wiped the bottom of my nose to make sure there was no nosebleed, and then I spoke quietly. "You want to mess around, don't you?"
"Yes!"
I stood with my arms folded on the stationery store counter and glanced at Dominic as he looked at the children happily. "Dominic."
He replied a beat late, looking curiously at the children who had come to receive candy as if it were Halloween. "...Yes."
"What kind of candy should I give them?"
Apparently, beer candy was quite popular, so it would be nice to give them candy that looked similar but had a different effect. 'I made some candies last night that looked like beer candies.' I looked at Dominic with a sly smile.
"...How about that one?" He and I made eye contact and pondered.
I put my hands on my hips and stared at the shelves, and soon handed them candy that randomly turned the tongue blue, red, or other colors. It wasn't as special as beer candy, but it was an enchanted candy. Of course, to ensure the pigmentation wouldn't last long, the dye was enchanted to be removed quickly within 30 minutes.
"How about this? Do you want to try it?" As I handed the candy to the children, I smiled refreshingly.
The children received the candy with trembling hands. They looked at the candy warily, then soon put it in their mouths.
And a few minutes later, the children's cheers began to shake the entire stationery store.
"My tongue has become the color of a monster!"
"My, my tongue too!" The children opened their eyes wide and clapped their hands together. I was sure they were excited to see their tongues change color.
"Merong!"
"Ugh! It's a blue slime-shaped tongue!" They were excited, teasing each other, and then they all looked at me at once.
Watching the children have fun, I was a little embarrassed.
"She's not an angel, she's a genius!"
"A magical genius!"
'...The genius isn't me, but Dominic.' For some reason, I felt like I had been receiving excessive praise for my skills lately. I wondered if it was because Meldenique had been ridiculed all the time, and was now finally receiving some blessings.
At that moment, a young boy, who appeared to be the son of a wealthy merchant, held my hand tightly and said, "I'm going to buy all these stationery stores!"
"...What?"
"I'm going to order my dad! I'll buy it for a hundred times more money!"
"No, I won't! I... I want to live here! How much is it?"
"Now you can buy it with money!"
Do these kids have a lot of money...?
I squatted down to their eye level. As my face approached, the children's eyes darted around.
"She's so beautiful, it's overwhelming..."
"Her eye color is so beautiful..."
"...Don't look at us, it's embarrassing." One of them even put his small, bracken-like hand over his face. But he was peeking at me through the gaps between his fingers.
I was about to burst out laughing. They were truly cute children.
"The stationery store isn't for sale. Instead, if you come to visit often, I'll give you a bonus. Okay?" I frowned slightly, then stood up.
The children nodded with innocent eyes. "Yes, we'll come back!"
"Please spread the good word to your friends."
Everyone nodded, but the most silent of the three, a sullen-looking little boy with bangs covering his eyes, gently grabbed my collar and said, "You know..."
"What?" I tilted my head and looked down at him.
"Well, the black pattern on your hand, did you draw it on purpose?"
I looked up and down at my hand with a puzzled expression. 'Nothing...' The child puffed out his cheeks slightly and removed his hand from my collar.
"Uh, the paint-like thing is gone..."
"...?"
What does that mean? I scratched my eyebrows and looked at Dominic with puzzled eyes. However, he didn't seem to know either.
The child shook his head as he took a few steps away. "I think I saw it wrong."
After all, children often can't distinguish between reality and fantasy. I nodded and waved.
They counted the cost of the candy from the coin bag on their side, opened the door as they had come, and left. Hoping for the word-of-mouth that the cute children would spread, I waved my hand at them.
It was truly a lot of fun to sell things according to the needs of children. Maybe I'm a service worker now?
I put my hands on my hips and looked at Dominic. "Today is the first truly rewarding moment in my life."
In my previous life, when I was a child, I was poor. I had to break open a piggy bank full of ten-won coins to buy a few hundred won worth of candy. Every day, while looking at the shelves, the stationery lady would hold out her hand to me. There was a little candy in her hand. I had finally taken a step toward becoming a stationery store owner.
"That's a good thing."
I hugged Dominic, who was nodding satisfactorily beside me. "Yes! I'm so happy!"
Dominic stiffened after receiving my hug. Then he hurriedly pushed me away. His hands were covered with calluses, but he seemed to have adjusted his strength.
"Absolutely not."
"...What?" I became even more puzzled.
"I swore chastity before marriage to the gods hundreds of years ago."
I swear I was just a friendly hug. What did you imagine, you idiot? And... chastity?
I shook my head at the sight of Dominic's serious face. However, his absurd behavior was also fully excusable. I was so happy right now!
"Yes! Live chastely for the rest of your life!"
"What, what?"
I patted him on the shoulder, as he seemed even more confused, and decided to work harder to hone my alchemy. "It's going to be a hit, so why don't you make a new item now?"
However, a small child who had been sitting alone in the yard of the stationery store opened the door and walked in.