Chapter 10
Charmant shook her head firmly.
“That won’t do. If it was something precious to you, treat it with proper respect.”
At her words, the man slowly lowered his head.
“…I see.”
“Selling it for money doesn’t tarnish the past. You must have thought a lot before coming here. Think of this as sending it off cleanly.”
Charmant waited for him to make a decision.
If he didn’t pay the price, she would return it along with the ring.
She understood the guest’s circumstances, but she couldn’t break the rules that had governed this shop until now.
Charmant had made far more difficult decisions than this one before.
After some contemplation, Evil finally opened his mouth.
“One silver coin will do. It’s the price I paid when I got this ring.”
“Please wait a moment.”
Charmant gave up rummaging through the safe and instead pulled out the pouch containing the commission she received from Ahil Duf the night before.
Fortunately, along with a few gold coins, there were three silver coins inside.
Charmant took out one silver coin and handed it to him.
The coin bore the image of the clock tower of Ellium.
“You made the right choice. As you said, I’ll make sure it finds a good owner. I wish you well on your new beginning.”
Evil accepted the coin with a bittersweet smile.
“Thank you.”
“Take care.”
The man turned around without hesitation and exited through the door. But he stumbled after only a few steps.
He paused briefly, as if catching his breath, then continued walking away.
Charmant leaned against the doorframe with her arms crossed, blankly watching the customer’s retreating figure.
As he disappeared from view, she let out a deep sigh as if trying to cast off any lingering feelings. Then she blinked and suddenly wore a startled expression.
“What… was that?”
Strangely, she began to doubt whether it had really been her speaking and acting just now.
She had expected to be too nervous to speak at all, but it felt as if someone else had taken over her body—perhaps a special ability of this body?
‘What is this feeling, like I’ve been possessed…?’
It was as if her body had moved on its own, guided by muscle memory.
Trying to shake off the strange sensation, Charmant gave her head a shake.
Then, holding the coin pouch, she walked around the house, including behind the counter.
“The safe…”
Now that she thought about it, even during cleaning and while searching now, she hadn’t seen a single safe.
She opened drawers, including the one at the counter, but there wasn’t a proper place to store money.
Then where had money been stored and managed until now?
To be honest…
There wasn’t a single properly maintained item in this place.
Yesterday, she’d been too overwhelmed to do anything but toss the coin pouch aside—but that wouldn’t do going forward.
Though she wasn’t exactly tidy by nature, Charmant had always had the habit of putting things back where they belonged.
Keeping her wages in a safe was obvious; clothes went where they came from, and dishes were returned to their original place after use. But here, she couldn’t even figure out where any of those “original places” were.
Left with no other choice, she placed the coin pouch under the sheet of paper listing the shop rules, beside the mana stone.
According to Alonso, Pepe was rich but always acted like he wasn’t. Maybe he’d just spent recklessly without bothering with a safe.
“I’ll need to finish organizing things… and make a safe.”
Though not especially skilled with her hands, Charmant had made furniture herself before, so a safe didn’t seem impossible.
As for guarding it—she could stand watch like a sentry.
While she was at it, she should also fix that chair with the uneven legs that forced her to use her body to balance whenever she sat on it.
“And I don’t see any paper. I’ll need to buy some.”
Now that she was getting used to her surroundings, the missing things started to stand out.
Thankfully, there were pencils and pens.
Even though the pen had dried ink clumped all over the nib from not being cleaned properly.
Creak, thud!
As the clock rang out six o’clock, Charmant flipped the sign to show “Closed” and locked the door.
The customer with the ring had been both the first and last visitor of the day.
“Phew.”
Charmant wiped the tension from her brow and looked at the closed door.
She felt a swelling sense of pride at having upheld the difficult rules.
She quickly gathered a few coins and the lock key, pulled up her robe’s hood, and headed out.
She intended to return before dark.
The only routes she knew in Ellium were the ones she had used to barge in and the roads where she’d blocked their escape.
If it got any darker, she would undoubtedly get lost.
She locked the door securely and exited the alley.
Unlike the quiet and peaceful alley, the main road was still bustling with noise and people.
Charmant kept her face hidden beneath the hood and avoided the crowds as much as she could.
Even though she knew she had returned to a time before the war, the memories of mercilessly killing those cheerful people were still vivid.
Though she had been ruthless, she wasn’t shameless enough to walk around the middle of a fallen enemy nation with her face exposed.
She needed to avoid people as much as possible during her stay and refrain from forming any bonds—doing so would only invite disaster.
She was afraid that getting too close to someone might end in tragedy.
Charmant checked the signs posted along the roads and headed toward the store she needed.
First on the list was a small safe to use at the counter.
She’d debated buying materials to make one herself but eventually decided it would be better to just buy a sturdy one.
One made of solid metal.
Even if she returned to her original self, the safe would remain, and the original owner should know how to use it.
The lock on the front door didn’t feel secure, so a strong safe bolted to the counter seemed like the best option.
<The Artisan’s Touch! Heave-ho Workshop>
We make anything you can name
Charmant blinked at the sign outside the shop.
Beneath it was a list of all kinds of furniture, safes, weapons—boasting they could make anything.
The shop took up a whole two-story building made from reddish wood with dark patterns.
“…Wait a second.”
Charmant’s eyes widened as she stepped closer and touched the wood.
“This wood doesn’t burn…”
She could clearly see the blood-red flesh beneath the cracked grain.
This building was made of Prehwood, found only on the island of Saprea, beyond the northernmost point of the continent and even across the sea.
Prehwood, which could last at least a thousand years, was rare even in Rintvel, far in the north.
It was protected by the native people of Saprea and couldn’t be obtained without dealing directly with them.
And those people were as reclusive as elves or dwarves.
They wouldn’t even allow face-to-face contact unless you spoke their language—local interpreters were a must.
Moreover, since this place was far south of Rintvel, transporting the wood all the way here would have taken months at least.
The boastful sign posted by the shop owner hadn’t been exaggerated.
Without needing to see anything else, Charmant stepped inside and cleared her throat.
“Excuse me, is the owner here?”
Soon, a rustling sound came from within, and a short man wearing thick-rimmed monocle glasses emerged with confident strides.
“Welcome! What can I help you with? …Huh? Charmant?!”
With a pug nose, rugged face, bronze skin, and thick, dark red hair in long braids—there was no mistaking he was a dwarf.
Finding a dwarf in the middle of a city felt unusual.
Charmant grew awkward. This shop was quite far from her own, and yet the owner apparently knew her.
Was there anyone in this country who didn’t know Charmant Pepe?
Even on her way here, people who recognized her under her pulled-down hood whispered things like “That’s Charmant Pepe,” and “What’s she doing out and about?”
She asked, hesitantly,
“Would it be… possible to get a safe?”
The dwarf’s eyes widened.
“A safe? What kind of safe?”
He sounded surprised, as if he’d never heard the word before.
“I need a small safe to use at the counter. Preferably a strong one made of metal.”
“A real safe? Hm…”
The dwarf eyed her curiously.
Charmant felt guilty and cleared her throat again.
“I-I’d be fine with a premade one too. As long as it can hold money—wait, is that no good?”
The dwarf shrugged.
“Well, it’s not that it can’t be done. There’s nothing I can’t make! But you, spending money on a safe? You should’ve let me make one when I offered before. Regretting it now, are you? Did Alessandro scold you again? Wahaha!”
The dwarf owner laughed heartily, as if he’d never given her a strange look.
“Ahem, ahem.”
Charmant kept clearing her throat in embarrassment.
“Take a seat. I actually made one recently that’s almost ready—just needs a lock. I was going to bring it over anyway, so you came at the right time.”
Humming a tune, the dwarf disappeared into the back.
Charmant couldn’t hide her surprise.
