Chapter 06.
The morning started with a loud blast.
Wiz was sweeping the front of the shop when the blast reached the town. A light breeze blew away the pile of leaves she had swept up. She turned her head to see a faint trail of smoke rising from Verdia's old castle.
'There's Megumin-san and Kazuma-sans daily explosion.'
"Hey, Wiz." "Hello, Kazuma-san. Nice explosion today as well? ...Eh? Kazuma-san?" "Ah, I made Megumin take Darkness with her today." "And they were okay with it?" "Well, Megumin seemed happy to bring Darkness along. She said she was glad to bring another person into her explosion-cult. And Darkness wanted to get a chance to feel explosion close, again... Don't ask." "Ah, I get it." Wiz nodded her head in acceptance.
"Didn't they ask you why you were going?" "I already told them I was going to work a part-time job for you." "But I told you you could stop coming..." "And I told you I was going to help you. So, What should I do?"
Wiz looked at her broom and looked at the scattered leaf piles. She shook her head; If she was going to get his help, at least get her job done by herself. "Kazuma-san. There should be our sign inside the shop. could you bring it outside?" With a curt nod, he went inside. Wiz looked at the sky again before she began sweeping up the leaves again.
"Okay~That's all done."
Finishing writing on the sign with today's sale Kazuma wiped his brow. He rubbed the chalk-powder off his pants before heading inside.
"So, what's next on the list?'
Wiz smiled as she put away the brooms. And she came back with the small stand and the pile of... those nature's beauty scroll she had bought. He looked at them with heated distaste.
"I thought of putting them on display today. Right in the corner there. Could you help out?"
'Well, at least it's not the exploding bottles.' "Well, there's no point in stuffing them in storage I guess. So, How much do you plan to charge for them?" "Eh, About this much."
Kazuma took a small piece of paper from her. He squinted as he gazed at the written numbers. Arabian numbers, to add. His eyes widened as he took one look at it.
"Wiz... this is the almost the same price as you bought them. Did you make a mistake?"
Wiz cocked her heads as she looked at Kazuma with slight confusion. Mistake? Did she make any mistake when she wrote them today? She checked the ledgers and receipts before she decided on the price; a price that would please everyone. Her and the customers.
"Yes, it's no mistake."
Kazuma relaxed his shoulders and laughed. Wiz also chuckled, covering her mouth with the purple sleeve. They laughed for a full minute before Kazuma began filling the display with the scrolls and then reaching out to put on the label.
"Oh, okay. Then I'll just go and- 'no mistake'!?"
Kazuma whipped around and picked at her remarks as he did with his party members. He pointed at her and then at the price tag in a repeating flurry. Wiz held up her hands in surprise. Kazuma calmed down enough to talk more quietly.
"Are you serious!? You won't be able to retrieve even the principle capital!"
but it was more serious than that. With a lack of demands in the product and lack of customers in the shop... Yes, it was more serious than that. But contrast to Kazuma's burning insides, Wiz's face was shining with pleasure.
"But the customers would be happier that way."
Wiz smiled more broadly as she imagined happy customers buying the scrolls. And then stopped, imagining Aqua kicking down the door and attacking her for mass selling her party tricks; 'You damn undead, don't take away my one unique point as a character!' Kazuma watched Wiz pulling a scroll back and putting it back as she conflicted over customer's happiness or her well-being. He smiled warmly as he looked down at the curly numbers Wiz had written on the paper.
'Wiz is too good of a person... Is she really a lich? The undead king? Hm? Wait a minute.'
Kazuma stopped in his tracks as he looked at Wiz's unnaturally white skin into attention; clearly for the first time.
Wiz is a lich. She didn't need to eat to survive. She doesn't need money to survive. As she said, eating was luxury for her. Then... it makes sense that she doesn't care or know about running a business. She doesn't need to know it to live... Or so to speak. She needs the money to help Vanir build his dungeon. But since he is immortal like her... for her, she has all the time in the world. Or either that she got a bit relaxed or lazy because she became almost immortal. To her, shopkeeping is just a hobby...
He needed to ask her later.
A/N 2019, Project Augustus. In courtesy of Sammo909.
I'm planning another project; Project September Morning Bell. It's actually TWO stories. A storyboard project for the previous discontinued story of [The Great Showgirl] and a think-and-write project called [Aqua therapy]. An Aqua version of [Shopkeeping Wiz]. It might change in the middle since I'm also thinking of a Megumin & Yun Yun one. But I'll have to finish this first.
