“Moruh, pay attention to the entrance and call me if any customers arrive. Don’t you dare to sleep on the job!” Anne gave the familiar a threatening look before leaving to the backyard.
The blue creature answered with the usual “Yes, mistress”, though he doubted they would receive many customers. In his opinion, buying the place had been a rare error of judgment of his usually brilliant mistress. Still, it was his duty to serve, so serve he would.
Being welcomed by the sight of a cat-like familiar wearing a magus hat would definitely cause a first impression on any visitor. Fortunately, people were used to familiars and were aware that some magic creatures could speak.
Anne wanted nothing but to give a nice reception to their customers, but she couldn’t ignore the repairs needed all around the building. Her first concern was fixing the shabby sun cover that had been knocked overnight by a sandstorm.
Sadly, even the blessed seeds couldn’t resist the scalding midday sun of this place. So, to deal with it, she had placed a simple cloth cover over plants which would allow the morning light blessings through but block the destructive rays at noon. Unsurprisingly, her subpar craft couldn’t resist the stronger winds.
She could think of one or two spells to solve it, but she didn’t dare to waste any pages on such a trivial task. Bookmancers had it easy when learning new spells and rituals but were terribly limited when choosing what to record. They could only cast what had been recorded in their grimoire, which was limited by their spiritual power. To complicate things, the recording was irreversible. As her grandfather used to say: ‘For a bookmancer, strategy is as important as the quality of their recordings.’
“Damn, can’t these stakes be sturdier?” Anne cursed while resisting the urge to consult a book on it. As a genuine book lover, she would turn to recorded knowledge at every corner. Nonetheless, she learned from experience that studying would only help to a point, going further would require practice and insight.
While the girl fought with the cover frame, someone else was observing her bookstore and considering whether to go in or not. The poorly dressed mid-stature human boy stared confusedly at the simple wooden sign hanging on the building that was supposed to be abandoned. He couldn’t recognize the words but the arrow pointing to the left side of the building was self-explanatory.
Against his better judgment, Rick decided to have a look at what was probably a prank or a trap. He had passed by here not a month ago and the place was still the same old abandoned Inn. Usually, the tired hunter would just move on, but the fresh animal and cart tracks told him that something was off. The place should be sealed, which would hinder the usual hoodlum but not a gang.
Of course, he wouldn’t deliver himself on a golden plate. Instead, he went around the building in the opposite direction.
Rick moved silently through the withering trees that barely provided any cover while searching for any unusual movements. He spotted two open windows but saw nothing worthy of note through them. Soon, he reached the wooden fence that surrounded the building's backyard and heard some noises. It sounded like a woman’s complaint.
The hunter moved closer to the fence carefully, he wanted to check between the gaps to see if he could recognize something. He was prepared for a lot of things, yet it took him a few minutes to make sense of the scene. A tall young woman was struggling to make stake-supported shade stand firm. Her height and hair color were an uncommon sight and probably testament to her northeastern origin.
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He was lost in thought looking at her, but it all changed too fast when he touched the fence. The girl turned abruptly and glared at him. A glowing ancient book appeared out of nowhere as the hunter heard:
“Restrictum!”
Unconsciously, Rick tried to step back but his legs failed to move. He was being restrained by some blue energy that rose from the ground. His senses started urging him to flee. He knew this situation too well, just like the beasts he ought to catch, he was trapped. Before he could come up with a solution, the woman was already on him.
“Sir, you’re trespassing!” Anne stated clearly. However, after a brief analysis, the intruder didn’t seem very dangerous, so she added:
“You’re welcome to visit my bookstore, but this is a restricted area. Please, state your business!” The sudden warning from the magic circle put her on edge, it took all of her mental strength and a deep breath to keep her legs from shaking. The trespasser, however, didn’t mind hiding his fear.
After a few moments, she had calmed enough to assess the danger level properly. The apprehension and adrenaline give way to relief. Her security measures worked and she felt more confident in facing potential enemies.
Then, she gave another threatening step forward to press the brown-haired sunburned boy to answer her question.
“Eh? Ms., I’m sorry. I, no! I didn’t trespass…” Rick stuttered and blamed his guts for panicking so easily.
“Oh, but you just did, or should we check the building deed to see how far my territory goes?” The bookmancer wanted to be serious be ended up sounding mocking.
She had already decided to let him go, but she needed to pass a clear message that some things wouldn’t be tolerated. As a store owner, treating customers with politeness and kindness was a must, even some degree of disrespect would have to be forgiven. But still, some mettle was also necessary. Others could easily mistake her courtesy for weakness. Her master had reminded her several times that some actions would need to be dealt ruthlessly, and trespassing was one of them.
Realizing that she didn’t mean any harm but demanded an explanation, Rick had to calm down and clarify:
“I’m sorry, miss. I was returning from the forbidden forest and noticed differences in the building… The abandoned Inn has been empty for a long time, I thought a gang might be trying to use it for illegal activities. So, I decided to take a look.” Rick managed to explain with confidence. He was proud of facing the forest dangers by himself.
Anne decided to believe him and didn’t look much into it. If nothing, the state of his clothes, the dirt, and the small hunt over his shoulder confirmed his story. So, she released the boy and after some perfunctory apologies, she guided him to the entrance.
Rick smiled awkwardly as the magic ties disappeared into the ground like they never existed. Hiding his head in embarrassment, he vowed to never act this cowardly again. In his defense, the spell seemed strong enough to restrain even a taurus much less a meager human like him.
Once they entered the bookstore, Rick forgot all of his previous thoughts, the place was beyond anything he expected. The six tables loosely distributed in the center of the room were nothing to pay attention to, but the dozens of shelves by the walls and piles of books lying everywhere were unexpected.
When he heard the supposed owner’s words, he just dismissed the ‘bookstore’ word as nothing important. The hunter was expecting a magitech store or some kind of potions shop, but the layout looked nothing of the sort. Marveled by the sight, he even skipped basic manners and walked around without offering any excuses.
The variety of books in different sizes, materials, and colors occupied the young man’s attention for a good five minutes. Then, he started to pay attention to poorly crafted shelves and remembered the girl struggling with the shade. Sure, she should be the one responsible for these shelves too. In fact, the workings were better than he would expect from non-professionals. Technically, he was a non-professional too. If not for the insistence of his dad, a seasoned woodcrafter, he wouldn’t do any better.
True to her training, she wouldn’t interrupt the potential customer while he explored the novelty of bookcraft. However, once he moved his attention to the craft of the bookshelves she knew it was time to barge in.
“Would you like some tea?”