I would like to thank Gamee00 to contribute to my patron! Thanks alot!

***

Coronated as the best salesman in the market within the span of weeks, Nik's arrival attracted the attention of plenty of denizens.

"Oh? Chugging down pills to boost your ego? How immature!" Some of the men scoffed. They attributed Nik's recent increase in bulk to the current trend of abusing medical proteins fraught with side-effects. Of course, their disgruntled mockings did not last long for the lovable and supportive women of the market who came to his rescue in the form of throwing slippers at their lazy and judgemental husbands.

"He just returned from vacation! Give him a break, will you?!"

The women of other shops roared in tandem, startling the early customers that had nothing to do today. With Christmas on its way, many institutions would give out days, if not weeks of holidays. The market street, too, was getting decorated by the hired workers in preparation to attract more customers.

"Hello," Yuuko's shop was next to the shop owned by Manabu's family. So, Nik did not have to go out of his way to greet the Shindo family. His effort visibly pleased Manabu's mother while his father only had a snort to reply with. The Shindo family was a producer of great cooks and from what he had heard from Megumin, Manabu also happened to have a talent in cooking.

"Ah~ How was your vacation, Nik? Do you feel refreshed? Did you have enough rest?"

Manabu's mother wore her hair in curls as her slight wrinkles deepened when she smiled.

"It wasn't a vacation, actually. Yuuko-san said that I can take a few days off if I sell the appropriate number of books," He grinned and then winked towards Manabu's mother in mischief, "Of course, I would certainly appreciate the support from such a beautiful mother."

His words made Manabu's mother giggle foolishly while her husband pulled her hand and dragged her into the shop, "Enough fooling around! We have to prepare the sock and materials."

Observing the distraught expression on her face, Nik couldn't help but feel more grateful. The land of elementals was filled with exotic beauties and the world of demons could barely produce a satisfactory toilet. Even his previous homeworld was filled with lawlessness.

The point is— this is the world Nik was slowly falling in love with.

Usually, at this hour, the shop is already opened and Yuuko would be dusting off some of the racks before handing the task to Nik. But today the shop still wasn't open. Nik frowned for a moment and cast his [Life Vision] and found out two sources of life force on the first floor of the house.

Not provided with any sort of key even when he should have one... being the star salesman and stuff, Nik decided to add the key to Yuuko's home in the long list of items he needed to have alongside his legal documents.

He had controlled the mind of a few officials in the offices that could provide him with legal documents. He just needed to meet up with them and collect those documents.

*Bzzzzt*

Nik waited for a few moments after he rang the bell before the communicator placed on the front of the shop rang with Yuuko's voice.

"Who is it?"

Oh, how much he missed this voice! Nik cried tears of joy internally while pressing the button on the communicator, "It's me, Yuuko-san, Nik. I am here to sell all your books once again."

"Nik!" Yuuko exclaimed as Nik enjoyed the suppressed emotions behind the exclamation, "Come in from the door attached to the kitchen behind the shop."

Nik did as he was asked to and the moment the door opened, his gaze landed on Yuuko's beautiful visage. Still garbed in a sweater that outlined her body, Nik came to understand that Yuuko had every intention of opening the shop today since this is the type of sweater Yuuko admitted to only to wear when she wished to attract the males into the shop and meet the day's need.

If the shop still hadn't open then something must have happened... maybe it was Megumi upstairs?

Nik mused while Yuuko fell into a brief period of astonishment when she recognized the changes in Nik's body. Wasn't Nik supposed to be away only for a week? Was this man in front of her Nik's father? If yes, then could she please finally get a hookup?

Bringing herself out of delusions, Yuuko inquired in hesitation, "N-Nik? Is that you?"

Nik could only keep a disheartened expression while touching his hair, "Is it so short that you don't even remember me? Hmm... well, I didn't know that you can be so heartless.

Time for me to look for another job, I guess."

Nik shrugged and slowly turned on his heels.

"Wait! I meant that you have changed a lot... I couldn't... you know, imagine such a huge... change."

Yuuko stammered as Nik came to a halt and turned his head, "So, do you mean it as a compliment?"

Yuuko had spent almost a month with Nik and that smirk made it all too clear that he was only screwing around. But lie she would not!

"Compliment."

She nodded seriously and then finally smiled, "Anyway, welcome back," She opened the door completely and gestured Nik to come in, "Unfortunately, I would be asking you to pay attention to the shop the entire time."

She said while Nik took his shoes off and inquired curiously, "What happened?"

"Megumi fell sick. I think she will be happy to see you, too," Yuuko thought for a while and then spoke up, "How about this? You should chat with Megumi for a little while until I bring her some porridge. You can then take care of the shop while I will go out and buy Megumi her medicines."

"Okay," Nik nodded and made his way to the stairs, all too obvious to Yuuko's stare lingering on his back and butt. Walking up the stairs, he found Megumi's room slightly open. Pushing it slightly wider, Nik observed Megumi with her eyes closed and her breathing shallow as she remained packed in a thick blanket.

"Mom..." Megumi whispered sightly, "Bring me water..."

The unnatural flush on her face and slightly dried lips made Nik sigh. Truly, getting sick in such a season was quite rough. Nik, admittedly, wanted to just get into the blanket and hug the fever out of Megumi, but it would be selfish of him to make Megumi endure her fever nay longer when he could put her out of her misery.

Not by ending her life! God's no!

Walking closer to Megumi, Nik sat on the warm chair next to Megumi and grazed her cheek with the back of his hand. [Cure] required direct contact with the target. With his [Cure] pushed to level 3, Nik had the confidence that it could at least cure the case of common viral. His hands glowed momentarily before Megumi's condition seemed to be turning for the better. Although there were no special indications that Nik's skill worked like a charm, [Perfect Eyesight] allowed him to check on Megumi's condition.

Unlike his previous thoughts, she was definitely cured of her fever, but it would still take time and rest to get better. At least, she would need lots of fluid intakes.

"N-Nik?" A slight slit between her eyelids allowed the fierce beauty to observe Nik before she smiled and closed her eyes once again.

"Nah~ He can't be so handsome..."

She chuckled at her own humor while Nik felt insulted and spoiled by Megumi's compliment.

"Yea, yea, sleep. You need it now to get better quickly," Nik smiled and leaned down to gently peck her cheek, "I'll show you later that my beauty is the least of your worry."

Nik also let a sliver of pure life energy enter Megumi's body and move on its own accord. Unlike Hamon which can only be truly manipulated after hours if not weeks of intense training, life energy was more gentle and soothing. Its restorative effects were already a great help to Nik during his phase of evolution and surely, the sliver would help Megumi get better by leaps and bounds.