The Finest Wine in the World
Once we finished lunch, we headed to the shop and got back to work.
We split things up between the two of us, making the magic tools people had ordered, dealing with customers who came in, and handling everything else.
Then, around three o’clock, most of the requests had been cleared out, and the flow of customers started to calm down.
“Boss~ tea~”
Angela brewed some tea for me, so we took a break.
“Thanks.”
I thanked her and took a sip.
“Boss, what’s this~? A cushion?”
Angela tilted her head while looking at the square block I’d just finished making.
“There’s no such thing as a cushion that hard. That’s a portable stove.”
“A stove? Does it shoot fire?”
“No, it raises the temperature and heats things up. You can warm cold coffee in your room, or eat hot meals while camping without using fire.”
Even if it was raining and you couldn’t make a campfire, you could still heat food inside a tent.
“Huh… You really come up with weird stuff.”
Come up with it, huh…
It wasn’t like I was inventing anything.
I just had fragments of some memory, and I was recreating them.
They were vague now, so faded I could barely remember most of it.
“As long as it sells, who cares?”
“If it sells, sure. That fish toy for baths you made the other day didn’t sell, though.”
I really thought that one was a winner…
The yellow duck sold decently, at least…
“Failure is what leads to success.”
At first, it had been one failure after another.
After the war ended, I’d been completely lost.I’d acted cool and refused payment, so I had no money. On top of that, I had to somehow take care of a horse that ate like crazy and a brat who did nothing but cry.
But I couldn’t bring myself to earn money through fighting anymore, so I gave up the path of adventurer or mercenary.
Luckily, I’d always been good with my hands since I was a kid, and during the war I’d often repaired broken weapons and everyday items, so I ended up taking this kind of job.
“Well, we’re in the black, so whatever. What about tomorrow~?”
Tomorrow…
“Work.”
Obviously.
Customers would come tomorrow too, and things still needed to be made.
“No, Mary~ If Mary goes again tomorrow, are you gonna go peep on her again?”
Peeping makes it sound bad.
“Who knows… more importantly, is she going again tomorrow?”
“Probably? They didn’t go deep in today, and they’re not tired.”
True enough.
“No, tomorrow’ll probably still be the shallow area. From what I saw today, they should be fine there.”
“So you’re not going?”
“Yeah. I need to prepare on this side too.”
As I said that, I took out the helmet and started modifying it.
“You really are something…”
“Hey, Katrina too, but what’s Mary actually like? I only know what I saw today.”
“What do you mean? You don’t know? Didn’t you teach her? I’m the same, you know, you taught us basic self-defense stuff.”
When I had free time, I’d taught the neighborhood kids now and then.
Mary was at our place, of course, but the other brats used to come over a lot too, to see the horse and mess around.
So I taught them the basics then.
Angela, though, was weak and had absolutely no talent for that kind of thing.
She was smart, though, and had plenty of talent for magic.
“I only taught her the basics. Same with magic. I wanted her to study instead, because I didn’t want her becoming an adventurer.”
“Mary used to ditch that and run outside racing around~”
Not just her. All the brats hated studying…
In the end, Angela was the only one who stayed seated at the table until the end.
Though that was probably just because she hated running races.
“She did take guild training and all that, right? How was she?”
The guild had training programs where staff and veteran adventurers held study sessions for the kids.
“You probably won’t like hearing it, Boss, but Mary’s got a good reputation. She’s nimble, handles anything you make her do without trouble, and she’s got guts. Plus, honestly, just being able to use magic already makes her a promising prospect.”
If you could use magic, you’d never struggle to find work, so I’d focused on teaching her that.
“Katrina too?”
“She’s a church girl, and she can use healing magic.”
That alone made her valuable.
Healing magic was controlled exclusively by the church, so normal mages couldn’t use it.
Well, I can.
Illegal, sure, but people from the covert division were walking bundles of illegal.
“What do you think, from your perspective?”
“She’ll probably hit C-rank pretty fast. Might catch up to me in a few months.”
Angela had been an adventurer for about two years, but she was still C-rank.
She was a mage and had ability, but since she also worked at my shop and only did adventuring on the side, her rank naturally didn’t rise much.
“Why not aim for B-rank? I’ll go with you.”
That wasn’t me trying to make up for earlier.
“Don’t need to. I like adventuring too, but basically I’m an indoor person. I’d rather be in this shop.”
Huh…
“Glad you seem to like making magic tools.”
“Minus fifty points~ I was thinking about making you cake, but now that’s canceled for today~”
Why!?
After that, I spent time modifying the helmet and thinking about the cloak and clothes too.
Then I sensed someone approaching, so I shoved all the disguise gear into spatial storage.
“I’m hooome~”
The shop door opened, and Mary came back in with a grin.
“Welcome back. How was today?”
Angela, don’t make that exasperated face.
“It was fun~ And we beat a goblin!”
“That’s good. You didn’t cause trouble for Katrina, did you?”
“As if I would!”
Wouldn’t you, though?
“Well, whatever. Good work. We’ll close the shop in a bit and have dinner, so go rest.”
“Okaaay~ Angela too, I’m back~”
Mary called out to Angela as well.
“Yes, welcome back.”
“Come with us next time~”
“On my day off.”
“I’ll show you my sword skills~”
She saw them today.
“Thanks. I will be counting on you.”
“Wahaha~ Oh, Eric, here. This is for you.”
Mary handed me a bottle of something.
“Hmm? Wine? What’s this?”
Did someone give it to her?
“I earned money for the first time today, so I bought it. Present, for yooou~”
Huh…
“If it’s the first money you earned, spend it on yourself.”
“I did. This is that.”
Oh, yeah?
“Thanks. Feed Rachel before you rest.”
“Will dooo~ Rachel~ I’m home~”
Mary headed into the living quarters.
“Wine, huh…”
“Isn’t that nice?”
It probably wasn’t an expensive bottle, and she should’ve bought herself something tasty instead.
What an idiot.
“Well, I’ll drink it sometime.”
“Yeah… I’m gonna go talk to Mary about that party-member thing.”
Angela stood up and headed toward the living quarters.
“Hmph…”
Can’t see a damn thing in front of him.
What do you think about this chapter?
