The weather on the borderlands had taken a drastic turn for colder, a prelude to a harsh Winter. Summer had only ended a month ago, yet the morning and late afternoon winds were enough to warrant extra furry clothing. Fortunately, the bookstore walls provided ample cover against the winds. Still, the situation was a clear reminder that Anne should arrange some heating before the cold breached through those walls.

The bookmancer wrote a few notes on a scroll and flipped another page of the book she was studying before doing a quick visual check on her customers. As expected, from the day she met Asha, the elf returned every single morning making her days more colorful. Surprisingly, her second-best customer also improved his studying time by adding the mornings to his schedule. Anne had a hunch that the hunter’s reasons went a little beyond academic commitment.

To be fair, young Rick had earned quite a sum with his successful boar hunting, which should have also earned him more freedom from mandatory work with his father. The boy was too responsible with his earnings, investing everything back into more reading time. Unfortunately, not everyone could splurge as much as the upstart hunter and the wealthy daughter of the mayor. The golden trio had also been anxious to learn more from the bookstore but their money only got them a week which passed by more quickly than a grey wolf.

Even Cyrus’ coins were well spent on financing his friends’ studies. The warrior was strangely proud of advancing slowly on his free literacy studies; he was saving coins though. However, even broke, the other party members would also come daily to accompany their friends and study their notes. They probably also noticed the benefits of tea drinking before studying.

Well, Anne wouldn’t mind proving the usually expensive drink in exchange for a group of regulars. As her grandpa used to say, ‘An occasional rich customer might pump up the bookstore finances, but only regulars can bring financial health’. Her store looked each day more like a proper bookstore should. Which also brought an unexpected challenge, the lack of quiet time to work on the more technical part of her craft.

Reading and light research were still okay. She could go through half a book in a day of customer service time, even adding interruptions. However, there were still heavier tasks that demanded her full and uninterrupted attention. Anne was doing what she could after opening hours, but she was almost a week behind schedule. Maybe she had been too used to doing only non-service tasks, and now she had to find a new balance.

Fortunately, other unexpected events had also helped her. For instance, Spring had been a lifesaver. Moruh archiving abilities were irreplaceable, but the supposed treefolk had come quite close to being as much help as him. That blessed being didn’t cease to surprise the bookmancer. Just a few days ago when the store stock of soul tea was dangling by a few cups, the former homunculus appeared with fresh tea leaves out of her own Goddess-blessed body.

Of course, it wasn’t impossible or world-view-bending for her to do so since her initial summoned spirit was indeed bound to a soul tree sapling, but definitely unexpected. From then on, Spring only had to pluck out some leaves from her arm stalks to provide her mistress with an almost unending stock of tea. And for the Gods, the tea made from her leaves tasted way better, and if Anne’s judgment was to be trusted, it also had a stronger effect. The bookmancer just hoped she wouldn’t raise a bunch of tea addicts.

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Counseling-wise, Anne was also progressing by leaps and bounds. Though she had studied and prepared for it, some things could only come from practicing. She couldn’t talk much about Ceres or Dorgh since they hadn’t come to the store recently. The mercenary absence was expected, but the dwarf didn’t have the same excuse. From what she could tell, he was more of a close-doors crazy mystic brewer researcher. So, she could only bid her time and wait patiently for his glorious return with a newly crafted brew.

As for Rick, she couldn’t be prouder. The young hunter had overcome his illiteracy obstacle and launched a small-scale but well-planned hunt after only studying the beastiarium a single time. And if that wasn’t enough, he had later organized another successful expedition with the cooperation of other customers in the forest area that he mapped by himself. It wasn’t an overstatement to say that he was the most responsible for the bookstore's current state of occupation.

Next came the newest and toughest customers of the bookstore, the golden trio. Cyrus was concerned slow in his studies. She had little hope to get him to learn any other languages in his lifetime, and he might take a couple of months to finish the current one. Anne was tempted to offer other knowledge delivery mechanisms to him, but she was certain that if she did so, he would never drive himself to learn how to read and write. So, she would just have to proceed slowlier and patiently with that one.

Iris was also challenging, but for completely different reasons. The girl was as smart as willful, it was her path, her plan, and her decisions. Anne could sympathize with the woman’s autonomy, but in her case counseling would only reach so far. Fortunately, the girl was still in the foundation step, which was visualization and spellcasting for mages.

Sadly, the primancer was adamant about going up the next tier with only pyromancy up her sleeve. Single-element mages could indeed advance faster but they would only come up stronger in the case of a high affinity, which wasn’t hers. Anne had suggested taking a step back and learning aeromancy as a complementing element before trying to break through the bronze tier, but the other just dismissed it. The girl’s reasoning wasn’t exactly wrong, she had been losing her best years for training because of the lack of resources, which she could solve once she advanced. Priority was something difficult to discuss, Anne would focus on the future but the adventurer was trying to survive first.

Then came the cautious foxkin. Hakon had been a pleasant surprise to the bookmancer. He didn’t mind sharing his views and challenges as a biomancer, which helped Anne guide him better. The guy had advanced two chapters in the book with far from superficial comprehension, thus exceeding her best estimates by far. He even expressed the desire of improving his foundation in herbology, which wasn’t a requirement for advancement, once he could spare the coin. It wouldn’t be long before he could start using healing essence to close up wounds.

Last, Anne was extremely satisfied with Asha. Her newest customer wouldn’t take her eyes off the book other than to discuss some definitions with Anne. On her first day, the elf could already feel her soul and identify its form, and with a week of study, she was already experimenting with free casting, inside of her soul space, of course. Thankfully, Iris had been observant and smart enough to bring this big fish to her.

The days were passing fast, but meaningfully. Anne already felt comfortable calling this place home.