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TAP TAP TAP!

"LUCAAAAA!"

WHACK!

In a split second, a blurry figure flashed in front of our eyes and smacked into the pink-haired man right in the face. The two of them crashed down onto the floor with a loud thud. It happened so fast that we couldn't even see the appearance of this mysterious figure.

After a few moments of silence, a person with pink hair rose slowly into our vision. It was only when the figure stood up that I realized it wasn't Luca, but instead a young girl with similar hair colour as the shop owner. She flipped her head around, her pink eyes looking straight at the three of us, causing me to flinch under her scary gaze. The girl wiped away the frown on her face before a bright smile replaced it. It was almost impressive how quickly she could change her expressions.

His daughter perhaps? But, she looks to be around a few years younger than me so, I doubt he had her when he was like 10 years old or something. Maybe it was his sister.

"My sincerest apologies for the shopkeeper's behavior. We don't usually get customers around here so sometimes Luca forgets his manners"

"But, they got through the barrier, Sylvia. Isn't that kind of ama—OW! OW! OW! You're stepping on my fingers!"

We could all hear the distinctive scream of the man, Luca, who was still underneath the counter but, we choose to ignore it. I didn't really want to question their relationship anymore at this point. Instead, I turned my attention to the girl, Sylvia.

"Barrier?"

"Ah, yes! The barrier around the store serves as a warding device against those with ill-intentions towards the shop. As you can tell from the cracked windows, we aren't well-received here," she gave me a grim smile.

I nodded, understanding their predicament since Sir Klein had explained it to me earlier.

"Could you please get off my fingers? They're starting to grow numb," Luca whined weakly.

"Whoops!"

As Sylvia hopped off, from what I presumed were his fingers, Luca stood up and dusted his clothes. For someone who was just kicked in the face and had his fingers stepped on, he looked pretty much uninjured as he scratched his head with a lazy gaze. Sylvia frowned before pulling his robes closer to cover his beautiful abs— ahem, not that I was staring at it intently. Although, I had to admit that I was kind of disappointed. It's not like I could ogle at the family knights whenever they had training since the training grounds were outside the estate. 

Sob! Why must I be deprived of seeing beautiful abs even in this world? All my male classmates in my previous life never had any abs for me to ogle!

"I apologise for my behaviour earlier, dear clients. As my divine spirit mentioned, we rarely get customers around here so I couldn't help but question who you were instead of welcoming you like a proper shopkeeper should. Please allow me to take it back and greet you into our humble alchemy shop," he bowed with a polite grin. 

Stop! Your charms are too blinding!

From the way he spoke, it sounded as if getting a new customer was a once-in-a-blue-moon kinda thing. Wait—

"She's your divine spirit?" I looked at her in shock. But, she looks like a regular child! I thought divine spirits only came in the form of creatures. Luca grinned at me, as if he could read my mind.

"Aha! I bet you're wondering why she looks human, huh? It can't be helped. Sometimes, other people mistaken her as my daughter or sister but, truthfully we have no relations with one another, except for our contractual bond. It's simply coincidence that we look alike," he chuckled, "Anyways, to answer your question, it's because Sylvia is a spirit of the wood, one of the few divine spirits that could take on a human form. She's quite an amazing one, you see." 

Sylvia's face turned a little red at his compliment but didn't add to his explanations.

That's amazing! I wonder if Nova is one of those spirits that could take on a human form too. I should ask him about it later.

"Then, does that mean you're a mage?"

It was Sir Klein who asked this time around.

"Yes! ..... Well, not exactly. I guess you could call me.... an ex-mage? Or maybe, a retired mage?"

A retired mage? At such a young age? I thought mages worked for the ministry until well past their golden years. I opened my mouth but, quickly shut it because the look on his face clearly shows that he didn't want to talk about it any further. I coughed, turning my head around the store.

"You have quite an amazing store, Mr. Luca"

His face brightened up immediately.

"You really think so? It's all thanks to Sylvia here who created this place with her powers"

"That's amazing, Sylvia! I wish my div—" Marise quickly clamped my mouth with her hands. 

Oh crap! I almost spilled about Nova because I was so caught up with Luca's light-hearted mood. Thankfully Marise caught on quickly and intervened.

"Oh my! I have a question I've been dying to ask. Haha! This barrier is a really impressive spell. Could you tell me how it works?" Marise gave me a silent side eye, causing me to wince. I'm sorry for this lady's loose mouth!

"Oh! The barrier—"

Before Sylvia could delve deeper into her explanation, the front door jingled and three men stumbled into the shop. Even from a distance, I could smell the alcohol reeking from their bodies. It was clear that they recently finished an afternoon drinking session and were out looking for trouble.

"Instead of explaining it to you, why don't we provide you with a demonstration?" Sylvia spoke in a hushed whisper. The corners of her mouth hooked upwards in a devilish smirk.

"Is this the alchemy shop that crappy bartender was talking about?" the man standing at the center hiccuped. His unkempt black hair, unshaven beard, and stained clothing were disgusting to look at.

"That's what Rowan said, boss!" the one to his left cried out, staggering as he leaned on the door frame. He reminded me of a praying mantis, with his slanted eyes and stick-thin figure.

"Bah! There's nothing in here! It's just an empty shop!" came from the other man who was the last one to speak. His potbelly jiggled as he roared with laughter. The three of them snickered amongst each other, oblivious to our disgusted expressions.

Empty shop? What are they talking about? Can they not see us?

The man who was referred to as 'boss', stomped forward, the bottle of alcohol in his hand sloshed as he moved. I don't know how a drunk man could move so fast but soon, he was directly in front of me. Immediately, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. But, it wasn't because of the drunkard, it was because of the other person standing on my right—the head knight, Sir Klein.

I turned my face slowly and saw that his hand was grabbing the hilt of his sword, ready to slice the man's neck at any second. Oh crap! A murder is about to take place!

"Huh? Do you guys smell something nice in here?" the man bent his knees. His face was a mere inches from mine and yet, it's almost as if I was invisible to him. I covered my mouth as I held back the urge to gag.

Oh my god! His breath is disgusting! Did something die in there?

Sir Klein's fingers twitched, he was close to reaching his patience. But, before he could unsheathe his sword, Sylvia suddenly appeared between the both of us, her hands overlapping his. She shook her head, warning him not to do anything rash. 

She then turns to me and held her index finger to her lips. I nodded slowly in agreement and kept my silence, despite my every senses wanting to open my mouth and scream at him to get away. Anyways, I've already put two and two together that the barrier probably had something to do with the fact they didn't notice us. Although, I don't know if the barrier could still mask my presence if he suddenly bumped into me though, so I silently took a step back to create a bit more distance.

"It's probably the flowers outside, boss! Or maybe it's the ghost from the rumors. Keh keh keh!"

"Hah! As if the boss would believe that, idiot"

"Shut up! Yer' giving me a headache here!"

As the three men argued back and forth, my surroundings suddenly dimmed. Luca was standing in between me and the boss of the trio, shielding me with his back. 

"It'll be okay," he whispered.

Sylvia started emitting a pink glow and giggled gleefully, "It's time to have some fun"

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