Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Please Come Again

Up until the moment he'd introduced himself as a professor, he'd somehow carried an air of dignity.

"Wa-water! Hack, cough! Gah! Wateeer!"

But now, with his stoic face completely twisted as he desperately begged for water, he looked utterly pitiful.

This was exactly why I'd warned him.

"Wa-water, please!"

"Sir, I'm sorry, but you'll have to purchase the water."

"F-Fine, just give it to me right now!"

"Five silver."

"H-Here!"

What he hurriedly pulled from his pocket and practically threw onto the table was a 100-gold coin.

He'd probably mistaken it for a 100-silver coin of the same size. That was how out of it he was.

It might sound absurd to confuse gold and silver, but tears were streaming from the eyes that were supposed to tell them apart.

"Excuse me, sir─"

"Kheeeek!"

"I think you gave me the wrong coi─"

"Please...! Please just bring me some water!"

...He has no intention of listening.

I was slightly annoyed, but obediently brought him a bottle of water.

'Be grateful I'm the owner.'

If it were one of those young part-timers these days, they'd probably get into a battle of wills and tell him to get it himself even if he were about to die.

Well, I'm the owner, so I definitely can't do that.

"Guaaaaaah!"

The man let out a strange cry and chugged the water.

"...Pwah! It's not working!"

But there was no way mere water would calm the fire.

"It's too spicy! My tongue hurts so much!"

Feeling a complicated mixture of pity and exasperation, I asked,

"I've heard milk works well when you've eaten something spicy. Should I bring you some?"

"Y-Yes, quickly...! Hurry!"

Even while half out of his mind, the man maintained his manners, but he couldn't hide the look in his wide-open eyes.

They seemed to say, 'Why didn't you tell me that sooner?'

'Because I wanted to sell you something else.'

I managed to sell you water too, didn't I?

That's how business works.

Especially when the store is as dead as it has been lately.

'Besides, I bought all the snacks when I drank with Delilah, so I actually lost money.'

I had my reasons.

"Here's your change─"

Just as I was about to deduct the cost of the milk from the heavy change still in my possession and return the rest.

"Forget that! Just give me the milk!"

The man snatched the carton as if nothing else mattered.

"What the—! How does this packaging...!"

Then he struggled desperately to open it.

His face was turning so red it looked ready to explode.

"Give it here. I'll open it for you. If you keep forcing it, it'll only get harder."

"Q-Quickly...!"

Yes, yes.

I answered halfheartedly and pulled apart the top of the carton.

Naturally, it was the large size. A whopping thirty silver.

'You're going to chug it anyway, aren't you?'

Everything I do has a reason. Absolutely.

Meanwhile, the man gulped down the milk.

'...Maybe not very neatly.'

Milk was leaking from the sides of his mouth, running down his chin, and dripping onto the floor. Great, now I have to clean that up.

Milk has a high fat content, so if you don't clean it properly, it can start to stink.

'He's kind of a nightmare customer.'

While I was thinking that—

"Pwah!"

The man emptied the entire carton in one go and let out a huge breath. A few more drops of milk fell from his mouth. Damn it.

"Burp."

He even burped.

Thankfully, he was far enough away, but I could almost imagine the peculiar smell of milk, and I desperately suppressed a sudden gag.

'I'm still hungover.'

This old guy was making things difficult in every possible way.

"Ugh, I'm sorry."

At least he had enough shame to apologize.

I'd have liked him to clean up the mess too, but seeing his exhausted face, I couldn't bring myself to ask.

"Haa, haa."

He was panting like crazy too.

'Anyone looking at him would think he'd just slain a dragon by himself.'

Still, by then he seemed to have regained his senses, because he hurriedly straightened his disheveled clothes.

"Are you feeling a little better?"

"Phew, yes. I've made quite a disgrace of myself in front of you. My apologies."

"It's fine. I'm just glad you've calmed down."

Compared to carrying someone I'd just met all the way home, this was nothing.

Anyway, it should be safe to mention it now.

"You need to take your change."

I tried to pull out the change I'd temporarily stuffed in my pocket while opening the milk.

Damn, there were so many coins they refused to come out easily.

Then.

"Ah, you can keep the change."

The man's palm suddenly appeared in front of me as I wrestled with my pocket.

A gesture that seemed to say I could just leave it there.

...Seriously?

I asked, dumbfounded.

"...Are you sure?"

"Yes... I behaved disgracefully, didn't I? It's not that much money, so please take it as an apology."

What is this, a tip?

'Except it is a lot of money.'

The change alone was 99 gold and 65 silver.

Converted to won, that was nearly one million won.

'Isn't this basically several days' worth of sales?'

For a moment, I considered asking one last time just to be sure, but quickly abandoned the idea.

Right.

He's an Academy professor.

I suppose he's that generous.

'Jackpot.'

Thanks to him, my sales went from a deficit to a profit in an instant.

And one hell of a profit at that.

I was grinning so widely I'd forgotten all about my awful hangover when the now-neat man cautiously asked,

"In exchange, may I continue visiting frequently...?"

Oh, absolutely.

"Of course, valued suck— I mean, customer."

I bowed respectfully to the man.

"Please come again."

Please!

Please come back again!

...You think I'm shameless?

Hey, what merchant cares about pride?

As long as I make money, that's all that matters.

*

The storm had barely passed and silence had hardly returned before another visitor arrived.

"You actually managed to come to work?"

It was yesterday's problem customer, Delilah.

Whether this would be another storm remained to be seen.

'Still, Delilah's practically a saint compared to that guy.'

The reason was simple.

She's cute and pretty.

"You managed to stay at your post too, Mr. Dante?"

"I drank much less than you."

Hehe.

Delilah gave a silly little grin.

"Did your classes go all right?"

"I just finished my last lecture."

"Wow, good work."

"Yes. It was hell."

Whew.

Delilah sighed and naturally headed toward the tables.

She flinched when she saw the seat she'd used yesterday, quietly moved to the one beside it, then promptly collapsed face-first onto the table.

"By the way, did something good happen? You're grinning from ear to ear."

As she asked, her head lying on the table turned toward me.

"Ah, I got a tip."

"Oh. That is something to be happy about."

Delilah had been answering listlessly when she suddenly jerked her head up.

"But even if you drank less than me and something good happened, you're way too fine, Mr. Dante."

What is that reaction?

I stared at the short-haired beauty glaring petulantly at me and wondered what that expression was supposed to mean.

Was she upset because she was the only one suffering from a hangover?

Or was she annoyed because I alone looked perfectly fine?

Either way, there was no need to think about it.

Delilah was easygoing enough to simply say what she thought.

"Sigh, and here I even went through the trouble of making a potion for your hangover."

"Oh."

I hadn't mentioned it before, but this was actually my first time meeting an alchemist, so I'd been quite curious about them.

And now she was even offering me a potion she'd made herself.

"Can I try it?"

"Of course. That's why I brought it."

I swirled the brown liquid inside the small glass bottle.

It looked like nothing more than water infused with medicinal herbs.

Gulp, gulp.

The taste wasn't very different from what I'd imagined either.

...But it seems kind of weak.

"Wait here for a second."

While Delilah watched in confusion, I went to the refrigerator and brought back a hangover drink.

It was damn expensive, but it had been buy-one-get-one-free, so I'd already planned to give her one.

"What's this?"

"It's a hangover cure, like the potion you made. The ingredients are probably similar too."

"Hey, I'm famous throughout the Empire... no, throughout the entire continent, you know?"

"I know. You wouldn't be an Academy professor otherwise."

Still, just try it. Hey, try it, try it.

When I gestured for her to hurry up and drink, Delilah snorted as though I were being ridiculous, then tossed back the hangover drink.

And then.

Boing!

Her hazel eyes visibly widened.

"Th-This is...!"

The effect couldn't have kicked in already.

Maybe she was analyzing the ingredients from the taste?

If she was an alchemist famous across the continent, that much seemed perfectly reasonable.

Then she quietly called my name.

"Mr. Dante..."

"Yes."

What was she going to say?

I smiled, waiting for the exclamation of amazement that was sure to come.

But what came out of Delilah's mouth was something I hadn't expected at all.

"Want to drink again today?"

Oh, please.

"Don't say something so horrifying."

Should I sprinkle salt outside the door?

I seriously considered it.

* * *

'...Where did it go?'

Feeling despair, Gunter frantically searched the pocket he'd already checked once.

But it wasn't there.

The 100-gold coin.

'I have the change from buying the cup ramen...'

Strangely, only silver coins came out. There wasn't a gold coin in sight.

'No way.'

Was that what the shopkeeper had meant by returning his change?

'You idiot!'

Gunter berated himself.

He'd assumed it would be mere pocket change, yet he'd told the man to keep such an enormous sum!

'No, I should look at it positively.'

It was money he'd planned to spend establishing a rendezvous point anyway.

-Please come again.

In any case, he'd earned the shopkeeper's favor, so the result was ultimately beneficial.

'I thought there was something suspicious about him, but he was more ordinary than I expected.'

Just as Gunter was about to click his tongue─

Grrrrrrrrrrumble.

'!'

Startled by the violent rumbling from his stomach, Gunter hurriedly ran toward the bathroom.

Prrrrrrrrrrt!

And at the brutally explicit sound that followed, a student who had just entered the restroom recoiled in horror and immediately turned around.