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“I thought it was going to be something more compelling than tending the shop,” August stated as he sat on a chair in Charles’s Magic Item Shop. Although it was a completely unremarkable chair, somehow, supporting August, it looked more like a lavish throne. It felt as though the shop had transformed into a magic school principal’s office.
“Still…” he hummed, peering about the shop with a hand on his chin. “It’s been redecorated since I came here last. Is that thanks to you? Before, it looked like a cluttered storage room that had been raided by pixies.”
“I spoke about the design with Master Charlie, then we redecorated together. Leo helped to tidy it up, too.”
“That’s a surprise. As long as I’ve known him, Charles was always useless at anything other than magic. It’s a good thing you and Leo are here now,” he said, surveying the shelves full of grimoires and the hanging bundles of herbs.
“What was Master Charlie like when he was a student?” Lille asked curiously.
“Not too different from how he is now.” August shrugged. “Of course, he was the most talented student by far, and yet…his head was always in the clouds. His peers kept a watchful eye over him due to that. For instance, when he became particularly immersed in a project, he often fainted from forgetting to eat or sleep.”
She pictured Charles with a younger face, wearing a school uniform.
“Everyone respected him a great deal, but more than that, they loved him. They had the urge to help him or do things for him whenever they saw him,” August recalled.
Lille nodded. “I most definitely understand that feeling.” She was sure that Leo and Ark did, too. They were all working for him, after all.
“He had an unusual effect on me as well. So much so, that I did something very unlike myself.”
“Are you talking about how you took him in after his parents died?” Lille guessed.
“Well, yes, but everything that came after that, too…” he began, before a knock on the front door cut short his reminiscing.
“Oh! Looks like we have a customer. Master August, would you like to help them?” Lille suggested.
“M-Me?” he said hesitantly.
“Yes. I’ll be right next to you,” she reassured him.
“But, I…” His bushy eyebrows furrowed in apprehension. Lille found the sight of him uncomfortably fidgeting weirdly wholesome. He looked like a grandfather meeting his grandchild for the first time.
“Look, they’re here,” she said in a hushed tone, before calling out merrily. “Welcome!”
August was standing as still as a statue, his legs glued to the floor. There was no way he could serve customers like that, so Lille forcibly dragged him by the sleeve until they were close enough to greet their guest.
“W-Welcome…” August said in greeting. His beard twitched—an indication he was making an effort to smile. Lille thought the customer standing opposite him looked more alarmed than August did, but perhaps that was just her imagination.
Thus began August’s lessons in customer service.
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FOR the first customer…
“So, your baby cries too much during the night? Hmm… How about this music box? They’re supposed to send babies right to sleep.”
“Master August, not that,” Lille shushed him in panic. “That one contains the call of a siren. This customer’s husband is a sailor, so it could make his ship sink.”
“Why would you stock something like that?!” he growled under his breath.
“S-Sorry about that.” Lille took over. “What do you think of these fuzzy animal ears? They play animal noises when you put them on. Perhaps they’ll calm your baby down.”
“Indeed,” August agreed. “I recommend you purchase the cat ones. Cats have been loyal companions to sorcerers since ancient times. Their cries have a tendency to comfort us.”
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FOR the second customer…
“So, you’d like to score higher than your rival on your exams? In that case, I recommend this grimoire. It’s a rather difficult text, but at your age, it should put you ahead of your classmates… What was that? You can’t read the ancient script? You fool! That is precisely why you do not receive high marks! Right—in addition, I’ll throw in this dictionary. Use it well, and read very closely.”
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FOR the third customer…
“So, you’ve been getting heat rash whenever you wear robes recently? Then, I suggest you make a special order for a robe like mine. It’s embedded with a particular type of magic fiber, which makes it cool to the touch.”
“Wow, really?” Lille’s eyes sparkled. “Oh, but we don’t sell robes in our shop…”
“Goodness,” August huffed. “In that case, please start to stock some. Making something like that will be child’s play for Charles, I’m sure.”
“O-Okay.” Lille nodded. “But what should we do for right now?”
“Once they’re done, you can deliver them. So, first, I suggest we take down people’s details,” he said, before turning back to the customer. “Does that suit you? Yes? Then, please write your address on this piece of parchment.”
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THAT evening, August slumped down on a chair wearily as Lille closed up the shop.
“Thank you so much for today, Master August. You were very helpful,” Lille said pleasantly.
“…I’m exhausted,” he admitted. “Is it always so busy?”
“There’s been a big increase in customers lately. The people we met today seemed very happy with their items, didn’t they?” she sang.
“…Perhaps.”
“I think so, anyway.” She smiled. “It’s because you were so persuasive. On my own, I wouldn’t have been able to sell so much.”
She thought back to the relief, delight, and renewed resolve on the customers’ faces. August had a dazed look in his eyes that suggested he was thinking about the day’s events, too.
“They had expressions I didn’t usually encounter when I taught at the academy long ago. Even when I was working for the government, my colleagues were all sour-faced old fogies,” he scoffed. “…I think I might understand what Charles was aiming for with this place.”
The joy of making people smile. The pleasure of directly doing something for individuals in their community, rather than faceless people she had never met. The process of coming to love oneself by helping others.
Everyone who visited the magic item shop regarded Charles highly, and cherished the shop itself, too. Would August feel the same?
“I believe I did what you asked of me today,” August said, turning to look Lille in the eye. His light purple irises glistened.
“Y-Yes, you did,” she agreed.
“In that case, would you do something for me in return?” He grinned, one side of his mustache tilting upward.
A feeling of trepidation washed over her. She stood as straight as a soldier, her limbs going stiff. “Of course, if I can. It depends on what it is…” she said hesitantly.
Upon noticing her tense up, August’s eyes softened, reminding Lille of when her grandfather used to give her candy. “Don’t worry—I won’t make you do anything unpleasant. In fact, consider it my thanks to you.”