My little Mirisa skipped the academy and became a duke... that little one...
This is absurd. It must be a dream. No, I hope it's not a dream, for Duke Hesman's sake.
"...Duke Mirisa?"
"Boom!"
"Uh, you're doing well, aren't you?"
Axion, who had been staring at me in shock, let out a sigh.
"Huh? You don't remember that either? She's doing great! Mel helped her a lot!"
"When Mirisa became a duke, you cried a lot! The baby rabbit is a peacock!"
"That's why Mirisa asked for Mel's advice!"
...I cried?
No, I couldn't have cried. My eyes are already so cold. I wiped my reddening eyes and muttered quietly to myself.
"Yes... I am overwhelmed with emotion. Already."
Axion seemed to feel a desire to compete.
"But Mel cried even more when I became the successor to the stationery store!"
I blinked, a little confused.
Those tears seem to have a different meaning... I couldn't bring myself to say the truth. A prince who should have been learning the art of kingship and becoming a grand duke is now a stationery store manager. That's not good. Was that not his intention? Was it because I was worried about our little prince's future...
"You cried because I showed you my business plan!"
I opened my eyes wide and muttered to myself.
"Did my child have a business plan...?"
It feels like only yesterday that I was a child who had just lost his own child.
Then, Axion and Carat exchanged worried glances with each other and turned to me.
"Mel, I think you've lost a lot of your memory!"
Carrot seriously came up with an alternative.
"Mel, did you fall out of a persimmon tree?"
"Ugh...! Maybe!"
...I didn't fall from a persimmon tree. I feel a bit like I'm being treated as a fool right now. However, rather than explaining the situation in detail, it would be better to pretend that I did fall. I couldn't help but nod.
"Yes... I think I fell. Maybe. I think so."
"Then you don't remember my great and brilliant business plan?"
"Yes... Huh?"
The modifier "great and brilliant" is a little unsettling. When I saw Axion, who was full of confidence, I dared to harbor a sense of disbelief. Axion, who noticed my feeling, opened his wide eyes and shook his head.
"Okay, then close your eyes now!"
"Huh?"
"I'll show you again!"
What the hell is going on? How did the situation get to this point?
I was warped five years into the future with Danny's tricks, so I didn't know anything, so I decided to faithfully follow the children's words. I closed my eyes and waited for the business plan that Axion would show me.
"Now, hold my hand!"
I held Carat and Axion's hands tightly. I felt strangely excited. It was amazing that Danny could experience magic in the fantasy he created.
A few minutes later.
"Okay, now open your eyes!"
I opened my eyes without much expectation and was surprised. I had been teleported to the door of the first stationery store in front of Malton Academy. The first stationery store I created. The stationery store that I had been ambitious to build with Dominic for the first time was still the same as it was in the past, even though five years had passed since then.
Except for the sign on the door that says "Temporary Holiday," and the addition of graffiti written by the academy's students and graduates on the peeling wall.
"Wow..."
It's been five years, but it's the same. It looks like a stationery store in front of the academy, but it's amazing.
Opening the door of the stationery store, with the hand opposite to the one still grasping mine, Axion said vigorously.
"Hmm, Meldenik's stationery stores have already spread throughout the empire. It's number one in the Magic Kingdom."
Looking at Axion speaking in an adult manner, I nodded. I am now being spoiled for the future.
But it's okay because it's a very happy future. I feel like I've had a hard time in the past five years, but I'm still proud. I laughed. At my happy smile, Axion puffed his chest out more confidently and said.
"Come in. Because I put my business plan in this! Speaking of ambitions, I will make Meldenik's stationery store number one on the continent!"
"Oh, what are you going to do?"
"Whoa."
I didn't answer but walked into the stationery store with a bright smile. And when I saw the four demon bosses in the stationery store, I was taken aback.
No, why are these demons out in their demon forms?
"I've made a lot of strange items with those demon bosses!"
There are even demons?! No, more than that, Axion knows that demons are demons... and even looks friendly?! After all, it is true that the river changes in five years. As I approached the demons with a curious heart, they gave me a loud welcome.
"Oh, Mel! You're here!"
"Devil, I'm here too!"
"You're here, little one!"
"Now that you're an adult!"
The Autumn Devil and Axion had a quarrel. I looked at the two of them, who were immersed in their chatter, and then glanced at the other demons again. All the Four Seasons Demons I had appointed as the president were gathered, but the one that stood out the most was the Winter Moon Demon.
He didn't even know we had come in and was eagerly making slushies in the corner. As I walked over there, I patted him on the shoulder and shouted.
"Ahem, Winter Moon Demon...?"
"This time, I'm going to make even cooler slush... If you take a sip, you can easily fly... summer! Air conditioning or something, it's better than that newspaper...!"
It seems like you're muttering hard... Winter Moon Demon, is your back hunched over more than before? Spinal correction seems urgent, right?
"...What are you doing?"
However, without knowing my complicated heart, the Winter Moon Demon rushed out.
"Haha! We made a pencil case that holds five hundred pencils!"
"Five hundred?"
"Yes! You stupid humans! Ha ha! Die while studying!"
...I really don't know if it's intentional or not, but it's a really great ability. I nodded in admiration. With my gesture, the Winter Moon Demon, who was even more encouraged, shouted vigorously.
"Look! This body has become a slave to this stationery store!"
"...Is that so?"
I was very confused. That demon claims to have become a slave himself. What does this mean?
"What? Why aren't you happy?"
The Winter Moon Demon sniffed and asked.
"I smell something alien on you, what is it? It's not the Mel who has become even more vicious these days."
In five years, I will become even more vicious. If it becomes more vicious than it is now, won't it really become a demon?
"Really?"
"You're so nice... What is it?"
Even after five years, the Winter Moon Devil, who still maintained his childlike appearance, came close to me and sniffed his nose as if he were smelling something.
"...This smell!"
His complexion was white and blue, and soon it even turned yellowish. Why do you look like that? I stiffened my body. The Winter Moon Demon narrowed his brows like a profiler and spoke sharply.
"It looks like you haven't washed it for about a day."
Isn't this devil a bastard? That's right. I shook my head tremblingly.
"Anyway, I'm a vicious Mel."
"Hmm... Yes, I feel bad."
Should I be happy about this? I feel guilty for some reason.
I looked away from the Winter Moon Demon and stopped watching the four demons at work. Come to think of it, the reason I came here wasn't to see the demons.
I said to Axion, who was walking toward me.
"Axion, so what is your business plan...?"
"Oh, first of all, I'm going to open a small branch next to the first store. I'm going to use it like a toy store! I made a lot of items with the demons! Look!"
"Yes, this Winter Moon Demon will be colonel of the business item plan."
I looked at the Winter Moon Demon with a pounding heart. The Winter Moon Demon bumped his thumb and index finger against each other.
A business plan appeared in front of me. The dense business plan was organized like grains of goods to be sold in the stationery store. I read the plan carefully as if looking at it with a magnifying glass.
Customizable children's footrests - used when a desk and chair don't fit! Use magic to make it a fun tool!
Axion had bad handwriting, but it seems that he had studied the contents of it diligently. I was surprised to see the section where the kid had grown up and had written down hard. As Axion, who graduated from a stationery store at the academy, he stood out for accurately summarizing the needs of the demand group.
Moreover, underneath...
"Wow, there are so many different items to be developed, from mobiles to poker games?"
"Yes, there are mobiles for infants and toddlers, and toys for seniors for grandfathers! I got some advice from His Majesty my father. Hehe."
Encouraged by the compliment, Axion smiled contentedly, and before we knew it, Carratt, who was standing next to him and glancing at us, snapped at us.
"Our stationery store slogan is, 'From the cradle to the grave!'"
After five years, I saw that my babies had become as energetic as adults, and I was about to burst into tears.