When all the children left, the bustling atmosphere disappeared in an instant, and I felt lonely.
'I didn't know where people stood before, but now I do.'
I shook my head and drew a blueprint for the future.
'For now, let's keep business open and secure regular customers.'
I planned to secure regular customers and spread the word little by little, meeting people's needs.
'I would match my ideas with the children's thoughts and then release products accordingly.'
I mentioned earlier that they liked cotton quilts, swords, and ice cakes. I sketched my ideas on Kent paper without hesitation and muttered in a low voice.
'This was good.'
"Remember what the kids said excitedly? Fluffy cotton quilts, ice cakes, and swords." I chuckled, turning my head to Dominic.
"Are you going to make that?" Dominic tilted his head and asked. He didn't know what I was going to say.
"Yes! I'm going to pick the clouds in the sky."
"..."
Dominic's eyes looked at me as if to say, 'Poor Mel, have you finally lost your mind from the burden?'
"...How?" He didn't like it, but as my contractor, he seemed willing to listen.
I nodded seriously and opened my mouth. "Maybe it's simple. As long as you have sugar." It wouldn't be difficult to make a lovely sugar cloud that looked like a fluffy quilt and dissolved when you blew on it.
"It's called cotton candy!" I thought of the cotton candy I had eaten in my previous life. I wanted to give the sweetness that melts in my mouth to my children as well.
"But the question was, what kind of magic would I infuse into the cotton candy?" It was always the next problem. How could I make something that could overwhelm everyone? Dominic was a young gem at life magic, but I couldn't afford a high-quality mage, and my alchemy skills were still lacking.
To make matters worse, Dominic had bad news. "The number of taxes has increased. I feel like I'm alive now. I'm ready to kill them."
I put my hands on my cheeks and laughed happily. He didn't even want to ruin the store, so he was ready to 'kill' the source of our helplessness.
"Oh, do you think I'm a little threatening now?" Dominic, a hero who specialized in military power, smiled sinisterly and nodded.
"But those three are just our prey now. I played with them again."
"...?" How on earth did he 'play' with them?
'I wonder if I'm mistaken that those three must have been in pain.' Dominic's cowardly laughter made me feel a little embarrassed.
'…I think I taught him wrong.' I heard that the ego sword is tainted by the contractor's tendencies.
'Could it be that I've inadvertently made Dominic into a villain?' No. No way. I shook my head and nodded to Dominic, putting aside my anxious thoughts.
"Yes. Then let's quickly get the information out of them."
"I understand." Dominic quickly became serious.
After a while, I opened the door of the stationery store, and three figures dressed in pitch black crept in from outside the door.
"Kneel."
"Yes, yes!" The three individuals Dominic had brainwashed knelt in front of me in unison.
Looking at those who were just staring at me, I savored the moment. 'Oh, they're still trying to act insolent even now.' They were the ones who were always overbearing to Meldenique.
'Know your place, Princess,' 'Aren't you just cursed blood…?'
But now, they were kneeling in front of me, defeated by the logic of power. I rebuked them with dignity.
"Tell me everything you know."
Then, the three individuals in front of me began to earnestly divulge the information they knew.
"This is being led by Duchess Hildegard of Babyloa."
"The one directly overseeing this is Viscount Telln, Hildegard's chief representative."
Viscount Telln? Tilting my head at the familiar name, one of the three individuals spoke quickly.
"Yes, Viscount Telln, Hildegard's closest confidant, who is famous for being a great sorcerer."
"I don't know the details, but he's preparing something."
Why on earth were they so anxious to distance themselves from the original plot and bother someone who just wanted to be excommunicated?
"I understand." I sighed and said pitifully, "Why do they bully a good person like me like this?"
Dominic, who was standing next to me, rubbed his cheek with the back of his hand, avoiding my gaze. "Honestly, you're not a good person…"
"The world is too harsh for a good person like me!" I ignored Dominic and continued to think. Lennox must have been very upset by what happened last time. Besides, Madame Hildegard always wanted to get rid of me because her daughter was too precious.
'Then all that's left is a war of destruction.'
I gestured with my chin to the three individuals who knelt in front of me.
"Get out."
"Yep!" The three individuals left obediently again. Dominic did not forget to re-brainwash the departing trio.
"You said Viscount Telln?"
"Yes, I did. What is Viscount Telln capable of?" Dominic, who didn't know much about the nobles yet, asked curiously.
"Hmm, I'd say he's a mad wizard. If he delivers something to the Academy… whatever products he brings will quickly dominate the market. He's a person who loves to show off." I searched through Meldenique's memory and recited the information I knew. At the same time, I remembered the assault and verbal abuse he had inflicted upon Meldenique.
'Why don't I just kill scumbags like him right away…' He had turned to her with blood-red eyes. 'You're so insignificant, it's like playing with ants without killing them.'
The mage who soiled his hands on behalf of Hildegard and Sheria was also foul. "Even though Meldenique was a princess, he always spoke to her disrespectfully." He only spoke to her like that when there was no one around. He was a despicable individual. A dangerous person who lacks empathy and only cares for himself is now targeting the children's market. Since this happened, I could never lose this battle.
"Dominic, I'm going to clean up the trash." I said resolutely. The good news is that I remembered his patterns and methods.
"He's obsessed with magic."
"Really?"
"Yes, he's so obsessed that he amputated one of his arms to experiment and focus more on magic." The reason why such a fanatic would do everything Hildegard asked him to do was simple.
'Because Hildegard saved Viscount Telln when he was young.'
Hildegard's hold over Viscount Telln stemmed from an accident. One day, Viscount Telln, who was experimenting with magic, accidentally ate the flower liquor of the Hinea flower, which is widely known as poison. There was only one way to detoxify the poison: basking in the light flowing from a healing magic artifact called the Branch of Finard. At that time, Hildegard was the only one in the empire to own the Branch of Finard. She eagerly used her genius and made a pact to save Viscount Telln. In the original "Enchanted Lovers," the relationship between Viscount Telln's genius and Hildegard was also detailed.
Both Hildegard and Viscount Telln were vicious and strange. However, paradoxically, they were able to act as each other's checks and balances.
'In other words, they are like crocodiles and plovers.' He was also someone who needed to be dealt with in order to properly confront Hildegard.
'He is a human being who must be eliminated for the sake of humanity.' That scum always brought bizarre magical tools and caused side effects in the world. It's probably not much different now.
'The magic stone that makes you experience hell, and the slime that confuses the human mind and makes you work 24 hours a day, are also his creations.' I stared out the window.
"I'm sure his creations will bring extreme magical side effects."
"Hmm… So what do we do, Mel? Do we have to suffer like this?"
"No." I shook my head.
"First, we need to figure out what they're going to launch." And I'm going to use that to change the game.