*Ring ring*
The shop door opens again. I’ll probably hear this in my nightmares if I ever learn how to fall asleep in this scarecrow body.

A mother with her child in hand passes by me.
The child is excitedly looking around the store. She looks about kindergarten age. 
Her mother seems to be single-mindedly looking towards what’s probably the shop counter with Elena behind it.
Eventually, the little girl notices me and locks eyes with the faucet sticking out my pants.

(…)
Uwaaah… It's just a faucet but I still feel like a criminal.
Someone, please cover this thing up.

“Do you still have mana potions in stock Elena?” (Mother)

“Of course mam, the usual amount?” (Elena)

“Yes please.” (Mother)

The mother appears to be doing her daily shopping.

Thanks to my new language recognition ability it's truly as if I just magically learned a new language.

Listening to all those conversations seems to have paid off. This is an essential ability for other world survival.
I can properly understand all the words people are saying now.
It's quite a strange sensation being able to suddenly comprehend this foreign otherworldly language. It's not being translated in my head, rather, it's like I've known and studied the language for years now.

“Mommy this person has something sticking out of it.” (Little girl)
I feel a chill go through my nonexistent spine.

Little girl, please don’t refer to me as a person.
This body is vacant.
I’m not here.
I don’t want to be anywhere near this situation.
Please forget you ever saw this. Look at the cool weapons behind you instead.

I'm being assaulted by feelings of deep-seated regret and terror at the thought of ruining a child's mind.
I wonder if this feeling is similar to the type of adrenaline rush that morally corrupt homeless people get addicted to when they whisper all the worst curse words they know into a stranger’s child’s ear.

The mother looks at her child and then over to me after tracing the direction her child is looking in. 
“Oh my.” (Mother)

(I’m sorry…)

“Elena dear, what’s this thing supposed to be?” (Mother)

Elena walks into my field of view with the smirk on her face of a merchant that’s succeeded in her dastardly plan to lure customers.

“Interesting right? It’s my latest creation!” (Elena)
Latest creation?!
For your information, that’s blasphemy.
Julia is my creator.

“Let me give you a sample!” (Elena)

*Pshhht*
Elena pours my water into a cup and hands it to the mother.

“Oh my.” (Mother)

The mother takes a sip of the water.
She looks pleasantly surprised.

“Is this safe for children to drink?” (Mother)

I need to get out of this store ASAP.
Someone, please buy me. Buy me and take me as far away from here as possible.
This is seriously going to mess me up mentally.

“Of course! The water is produced from water magic!” (Elena)
Elena pours another cup and hands it to the mother.

“Oh~ So it’s good for your health then!” (Mother)

Oh no. Please don't.

“Here honey, try this. Drink it carefully.” (Mother)
The mother carefully feeds my water to the little girl.

I’m so sorry. I’m going to single-handedly be responsible for this child’s early sexual awakening.

“It’s tasty!” (Little girl)
AAAAA, REINCARNATING HERE WAS A MISTAKE! GET ME OUT OF THIS OTHER WORLD!!

Elena looks pleased with herself.

◇◆◇

 

It’s evening.

I can tell when the sun has gone down when it starts getting dark in the store, so I’ll finally be able to tell when a day has gone by again.

Elena closed the door of the shop and went into the storeroom a while ago.

Peace. Finally.
Today was a disaster.
87 people in total ended up sampling my water.
Despite this non-human body, I feel fatigued.

Luckily it seems Elena’s store only opens in the afternoon for some reason, so there wasn’t much time left in the day for people to come to violate me.
Plenty of people also just came to single-mindedly window shop at the weapons or potions for sale and nothing else. I still got the occasional confused glance from those customers, but after they looked at the price tag standing near me they quickly looked away.

(…)

On the positive side, I got a vague idea of what the average levels are like in this world now. 

It seems the average level for children in this world is around 5.
Normal people like the mother that came with her child appear to be around level 16.
And last but not least, adults with a title related to delving usually have a level ranging anywhere from 20 to 40.

I'm assuming delving is referring to cave delving.
Maybe delvers are this world's equivalent of an adventurer or hunter trope?
If that's the case, the caves they're delving into might be like video game dungeons filled with monsters.
I'd love to go visit one of those caves sometime. Maybe I'll find a chest full of useful loot. Or maybe I'll get to see a scary dungeon boss.

That said, I’m currently weaker than a kindergartener. Visiting a monster-filled dungeon would probably be suicide.
With that embarrassing thought in mind, it’s time to become more powerful.
I don’t think I can last a week in this storefront without losing the majority of my sanity anyway.

For starters, I need to learn some sort of attack magic.
Time to learn fire magic and torch the place.

I focus on my status.

A bunch of information enters my mind.

Feels like sorting through this information is gonna become a headache in the near future, but I’ll worry about that when it becomes an actual issue.

I begin to focus on my mental image of a common household lighter being lit.
Casting water magic was pretty straight forward, so I'm hoping this will work.

Now I just mould my mana into it and…

*Vwoem*

I hear the sound of oxygen being sucked away and see a tiny flame appear in front of me.

(!)

Oh yes.
I am the master of fire.

I’m really getting the hang of this magic thing now.

Seems like the mana is somehow heating and fueling the flame at the same time. Convenient. Like magic ought to be.

*Pfff…*
I turn off the flame and look at my status.

(Oof)

The efficiency of this thing is not very good at all.
It took 3 mana points to sustain a tiny flame for just a minute or so.

Or maybe it’s because I haven’t obtained the actual skill yet?

Well, this is better than the water magic training I had to endure anyway.

*Vwoem*
I start another flame and peer into it.
I feel the pyromania inside of me awakening.

◇◆◇

 

Sounds like the demon is coming out of the storage room.

This is Elena’s nickname from now on.

I’m thankful for the repairs and all, but this torture is just too much.
After I let her take my full potion away, I felt like we we’re square. But after that embarrassing faucet installation, I feel like I'm owed some serious reimbursement. 

I’ve learned a valuable life lesson from being here at least.
And that's that beautiful women are the scariest behind closed doors.

Anyway, I’ve had quite a lot of time to myself to start fires, but I still haven’t unlocked fire magic even after creating 8 small flames.

It feels like it should’ve unlocked by now…

I wonder if there’s some sort of hidden extra condition?

Did I do something different when I was training water magic?

…Am I supposed to use it on myself?

I don’t think I’ll survive lighting myself on fire… If that’s the condition it’s not really worth it.

The demon approaches me and bends over to get a drink.

Sorry, no can do.

Looks like she had some scratches on her face and hands.

The violated bird probably didn’t let himself get fingered without a fight this time. Good for him.

(EEEK!)
Mana comes pouring into my mana crystal.

*Pshhht*

Alright… well…
At least I don't have to wait hours for my mana to recover now, so I appreciate the refill, but I’m never going to get used to the cold shower-like feeling when someone begins pouring mana into the crystal attached my body.