Episode 47: “The Early-Morning Customer”
Mornings at the magic doll shop started late.
There was no need to open early like a bakery, nor did customers show up in any steady stream.
So, as usual, Fiine had been planning to take a leisurely breakfast before heading down to the first floor —
Bang, bang, bang!!
The sound of someone pounding on the door carried all the way up to the second floor.
Checking outside from the upstairs window, she found an unfamiliar child hammering away at the door.
“Fiine, isn’t that a customer?”
“…Not just harassment?”
“Why would a kid have any reason to harass us?”
“…But I don’t get the feeling a kid would have the money for a commission here.”
Looking him over, he didn’t carry himself like a noble’s child.
(I’m not good with kids, honestly…)
It wasn’t that she disliked them. As a category, she genuinely hoped children could grow up gently, healthily.
But actually dealing with one herself was another matter entirely.
They required even more careful handling than adults, and sometimes conversation simply didn’t land the way it should.
She was bad enough at talking to people as it was — the possibility that no real dialogue might form at all, no matter how hard she tried, was frankly terrifying.
“Let’s go already, Fiine.”
“B-but I’m still in the middle of eating…”
“Then hurry up and finish.”
A half-eaten piece of bread was shoved straight into her mouth.
Making some wordless noise of protest through her full mouth, she was dragged downstairs to the first floor by Yuria.
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“Welcome. What can the ‘magic doll shop’ do for you today?”
Yuria crouched down to meet the child’s eye level as she opened the door.
From a distance it had been hard to tell, but the child appeared to be a boy.
Around ten years old, maybe. He had hair longer than most boys his age, with somewhat androgynous features.
“Yes! Please — make my dad for me!!”
The boy bowed his head sharply, then pulled a jar out of the bag slung over his shoulder.
It was packed full of coins, but every single one was copper.
Even adding it all together, it almost certainly wasn’t enough to cover Lux’s commission fee.
(The fee varies depending on the request, but this is going to be a tough one no matter what.)
In truth, Lux didn’t operate on a fixed price. The fee shifted depending on the nature and circumstances of each request — but whatever the specifics, this clearly fell short of any reasonable price.
“Why don’t you come inside first, and tell us more about it?”
“Yes, mam!!”
And yet Yuria, smiling, invited the boy in without hesitation.
Unlike Fiine, Yuria was weak to children. More precisely, she was weak to anyone in a socially vulnerable position — children included.
Despite being the daughter of a commoner maid, despite having suffered under the constraints of noble society herself, Yuria carried a strong sense of noblesse oblige all the same.
At Yuria’s direction, the boy took a seat on the sofa and began speaking with careful politeness.
“My name is Adam Hügler. I came from Epfel Village.”
Epfel Village was a farming community located a short distance from the royal capital.
Despite being a farming village, it wasn’t poor — many wealthy landowners with large farms lived there as well.
Since crops needed to be transported to the capital, transportation links were good; a shared carriage ran back and forth between Epfel Village and the royal capital several times a day.
“Adam-kun. You said ‘make my dad’ just now — do you want to see your father?”
“Yes. But it’s not just that I want to see him.”
Drawing in a deep breath, Adam stood up. There was real resolve in the look he gave Yuria.
He clearly wasn’t just a child grieving quietly for a lost parent.
“I want to see my dad, and learn how to fight monsters from him!”