Scratching his slightly damp neck, Victor breathed somewhat heavily. With Pepi neatly in tow he just returned from a long walk around the block.

‘’Take it easy girl. I know that you like frolicking around but I just can’t keep up with your pace…’’

Pepi tilted her fluffy head to the side and looked at Victor suspiciously but soon stuck her wet tongue out as soon as she saw Victor reaching into the ‘’snackbox’’ in the kitchen drawer.

Jeez, I seriously gotta start to train more… I can already see my legs burning tomorrow morning…

Having this premonition that tomorrow would suck, Victor secretly made up his mind to get some more exercise from now on.

After all, having been basically alone and left to his own devices for the entire time since he transmigrated had certainly taken a toll on his mental and physical health.

Just a brisk paced outing with his bright eyed puppy had left him slightly sweaty and out of breath.

With his back turned to Pepi, Victor searched for a treat from his cheap plastic box he just slapped a doggy sticker on the side. Gotdamnit… Did I run out of jerky already?

Feeling a bit discontented, Victor sneakily looked over his shoulder, only to see Pepi look expectantly at his hand hovering over the snackbox.

Fuuuuuuck she’s so expectant. Distraction pleaseee.

*Ding ding*

The familiar bronze doorbell chime brightly dinging felt like heavenly music in Victor’s ears.

Thank you. Whoever you are. Secretly wiping tears of gratitude on his sleeve, Victor prepared to meet the guest and wonder meanwhile if today would be takeout food day as well.

Victor and Pepi looked at the door simultaneously, each one with differing thoughts about the matter.

‘’G’day benefactor. It is my pleasure to see you once again.’’ A familiar, jolly voice came from the door.

‘’Mr.Cooper! Thanks for coming so soon.’’ Victor replied with an obvious joy in his voice.

‘’I told you before, just call me Charlie.’’ Taking off his aged, gray fedora from his shiny, bald head, he smiled at Victor like the kind neighbor grandpa in his distant memories.

With a curt nod to Charlie, Victor scooped Pepi in his embrace and welcomed him inside with a bright smile on his face.

‘’Have you lost weight Charlie? At your age you really have to take care of your health.’’ Eyeing somewhat suspiciously at Cooper’s frame, Victor felt that the old man looked somehow…thinner and somewhat gloomier compared to the previous time he had seen him.

Cooper flashed an appreciative smile at Victor and thanked for his concern.

‘’Thank you for your concern, Victor. Recently I have only had headaches from handling those dang rascals, but I am quite healthy.’’ Chuckling slightly, Charlie thought back to the fellas he had been raising back at his home.

‘’Oh right, you told me last time about them. How are they doing?’’

Charlie raised his eyes towards the ceiling and closed them for a brief moment in contemplation.

He opened his eyes slowly and gave a light breath out, Charlie then looked directly at Victor with eyes glowing with a mix of pride and worry.

’’Those rascals grow so quickly… It hasn’t been that long that I gave them a new life, but they are growing by the minute.’’

After giving a hearty laugh straight from his gut, he continued. ‘’The eldest of the rascals, Kurtis, is almost better than this old bird, would you believe that?’’

With a light chuckle filled with obvious sarcasm, Victor strolled towards the kitchen while gesturing to Charlie to follow. ‘’Heh, I’ll take your word for it then.’’

After putting Pepi down on the floor, Victor thought that he sensed complex emotions behind Charlie’s voice.

He really needs to care more about himself… I swear the poor chap has lost some weight while worrying about others. Aih, from what he told me, he hasn’t had too much luck in the previous years. Glancing at the jittery Pepi, Victor soothed the puppy a little.

‘’Don’t be rude, Pepi. Charlie is a nice man and you will be seeing him every once in a while…’’

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Hearing this, Pepi tilted her head sideways before she warily tip-tapped next to Charlie’s feet and sniffed at him a few times before joyfully swinging her tail from one side to another.

‘’That’s right girl, Charlie is a good man.’’

----------------------------------------

Rising his eyebrow a bit, Charlie crouched down to pat the puppy while observing her keenly.

‘’Hello there girl, I am an old friend of your master. I didn’t think I would be needing souvenirs, but for such an energetic puppy I can always find a chewing bone or two from my wares.’’

Charlie slowly reached out to pat Pepi and gave her fur a few strokes before directing his eyes towards the entrance and yelled with some authority in his voice.

‘’Xavier! Bring me couple rib bones from that when you are done unloading the truck!’’

While waiting, Charlie keenly sensed the condition of the puppy in his mind. Well well well, it would seem that you learn something new every day. A pureblood demon hound is a rare sight around these parts of the world… I wonder if it is related to that?

Giving a sweet uncle-like smile filled with goodwill towards the puppy, Charlie turned his attention back from the puppy to Victor.

Coughing dryly with a hint of embarrassment, Charlie's expression turned somewhat solemn quickly. ‘’Over the past few months it has been increasingly difficult to find new death estates, Victor. Cutting to the chase, I am truly sorry but this old man can only provide limited stocks for your shop this time…’’ Shaking his bald head with fedora in hand, Charlie continued. ‘’As you know, some of my old comrades have passed away and I have been responsible for their…estate, thereby securing new articles has been an easy errand in the past, but that is only half of the truth. The other part is that I have been too focused on improving my, as you so delicately call them, parlor tricks.’’

Just as these words left his mouth, Victor turned around in the kitchen and looked at him with intrigue. ‘’You want to be like those performers on television? I had no idea you…Sorry, it was not my intention to disparage your intention.’’

‘’It is fine, Victor. I only practice for…myself, I have no intention to display myself like an exotic animal in a zoo.’’ Charlie said with a long pause in the middle of the sentence after some internal conflict.

Sighing with embarrassment, Victor tried to clear up the mood. ‘’It’s admirable to try to reach towards the peak of something. It must be just my personal bias against showing off with CGI and sleigh of hands in front of the crowd.’’

‘’CGI? No nevermind, I think I get the gist of what you are saying. In some cases there are fraudsters seeking popularity and adulation, but some of the people are the real deal. For example I have seen Guillermo Validor in person briefly, and I can still remember the shock in my heart even now. To see someone exceeding the grandmaster threshold resurrects my inner passion.’’ Charlie spoke with ever increasing fervor.

‘’Heheh, sure thing Charlie. I don’t judge. I am sure that you’ll get there someday and you can show off your skills. Still, it has been a bit baffling to see so many magicians and showmen on the media lately. Any ideas on what's all the craze lately been ‘bout?’’ Victor with some pessimism and curiousity on his voice, but tried very hard to conceal it while pouring cold water on two glasses.

Charlie frowned for a second and briefly told his speculation that the public was feeling uneasy with all the latest commotion and bad news one after another.

Just as he was about to ask Victor about the church, the doorbell chimed once again and a slightly bulky young man stepped into the store with a big box of merchandise and two pristine rib bones stacked on top of the box.

‘’Victor, this is one of the rascals. Xavier, say hello to Mr. Wartell.’’

‘’Hello - Mr. Wartell.’’ An unusually slow and deep voice came from the pale skinned, baggy clothed young man.

‘’Good to meet you, Xavier. I was just talking to Charlie about the recent events.’’ With a surprised expression, Victor observed the youth and found that the man called Xavier had heterochromic eyes, strong jawline and looked quite reliable as Charlie’s rascal helper.

Charlie saw that Victor was nodding somewhat secretly and sighed a breath of relief. Just as Victor was about to take a third glass from the cabinet, Charlie called out.

‘’You do not have to bother giving him anything. He’s still quite dull, but he’s adapting quite well. Pardon in advance for his rudeness.’’

Charlie walked in front of Xavier and picked the pristine bones on top of the boxes and was just about to hand them out to Pepi.

Gracefully squatting down to coax the puppy, Charlie froze mid squat as Victor mumbled in a bit disgusted voice.

‘’It smells a bit rotten here somehow?’’