Majo no Tabitabi - Volume 15 - Chapter 1.29

CHAPTER 1 STORY 29

The Tale of the Sweets Shop and the Master and Student

In the middle of my journey with Miss Fran, we just so happened to find our way to a certain country I had visited before.

“Elaina. You’ve been to this country before, haven’t you?” my teacher asked as she walked alongside me. “If you don’t mind, would you show me around?”

I didn’t know all that much about the place, but it was true that I knew more than she did, so I readily agreed.

“This country is—well, you know, as you can see, it’s an ordinary country. It has a main avenue, and pedestrian traffic, and plenty of tasty restaurants. A normal place.”

“Ha-ha, you don’t say! By the way, I heard the sweets shop here is pretty famous.”

“…Where did you hear that?”

“Huh? Oh, a merchant told me about it back when I was traveling alone, but—if I remember correctly, he said that the sweets were reasonably tasty but that the free gift was amazing… He said such strange things… Elaina, have you ever been there?”

“I have not.”

“Really? Is that true?”

“I haven’t.”

That’s a lie.

I had. I had been there so much. But since I had gone and done things that I couldn’t let my teacher Miss Fran know about, I stuck to feigning complete ignorance.

“……”

But it’s a real bother that Miss Fran knows about the existence of this particular sweets shop…

“Miss, right this way.”

I walked off, leading Miss Fran behind me. Luckily, I knew the sweets shop was in a spot a little off the main avenue, so even if she had wandered endlessly along the main avenue, she probably would never have happened across the shop in question.

“……”

However—

In the short interval since I had left this country—after I had made easy money and then taken off—apparently the sweets shop in question had achieved more growth than I’d ever imagined.

People crowded together on the main avenue.

At one of the corners stood a shop that had a familiar sign set out in front of it. It was the sweets shop, which had had no presence at all when I’d last visited.

“Uh…”

There was the sweets shop we were looking for, facing the city’s main avenue in an enormous building that couldn’t even be compared to how it had been before. A long line snaked out the door of the shop.

“My goodness, speak of the devil… So this is where it was.”

Miss Fran looked up at the sign, pondering it.

Apparently, the store relocated while I wasn’t looking…

“Oh… I was just wondering who was there, and it’s Miss Elaina, isn’t it?!”

Then, in a continuation of my misfortune, while I was standing there looking up at the shop’s sign in a daze, a woman spoke to me from behind.

“……” I turned around and looked at her face. “You’re…”

Standing there was a young woman who clearly had too much money, wearing some kind of ridiculous down coat with a perplexingly gargantuan necklace hanging from her neck, and rings fitted onto each and every one of her fingers.

“…Who are you?”

I don’t know anybody like you. I tilted my head.

When I did, she snickered. “I’m the shopkeeper.”

That was what she said.

“……”

…Hasn’t your character changed too much?

“Oh, Miss Elaina, it’s been far too long. I haven’t seen you since I got your help that one time, oh-hoh-hoh!”

Wearing a cheerful smile, the shopkeeper ushered us into the VIP room in the back of the store. I was happy that she cared enough to offer me special treatment, but in my current mental state, I didn’t really want it. All I wanted to do was hurry up and leave.

But I couldn’t leave.

“Well, isn’t this wonderful?”

My teacher, Miss Fran, was absurdly excited, so I couldn’t leave. “Look here, Elaina. There’s a chandelier on the ceiling! It looks awfully expensive…”

“It sure does.”

“Oh! Look here, Elaina. There are strange abstract paintings decorating the room everywhere! I don’t really understand what they mean, but they look awfully expensive.”

“They sure do.”

“By the way, Elaina, what is your connection to this person?”

“…We worked together a little. It was a while ago.”

“Huh, you met at work? What kind of work?”

“……”

I was reluctant to answer. The shopkeeper, who couldn’t read the room, exclaimed, “Ah!” and clapped her hands together as if she had just realized something.

“As a matter of fact, Elaina came here to my shop before, and she saved my business when sales were sluggish!”

That’s what she said.

“Oh, I never realized… But how did you set things up so that business was so successful?”

“With handshake tickets—”

Uh-oh.

“Miss Fran, by the way, aren’t you hungry? I’m famished, you know. Oh, that’s an idea. Shopkeeper, do you have any cake? Yes, cake. I’d sure like to eat some cake.”

“Huh? Ah, cake, is it? Yes. Of course we have cake! Oh-hoh-hoh!” The shopkeeper let out a chuckle and, without a pause, clapped her hands twice.

Immediately after she did, the door to the room opened, and men in all-black clothes carried in trays of cake.

“……”

The cakes were covered in gold dust and looked by all accounts like they would be rather difficult to eat.

Nouveau riche…

“Wow!”

But as long as my teacher is happy, these are great.

I would be happy so long as she got absorbed in her cake and forgot once and for all that she had asked me a question.

“By the way, how did you boost sales of these cakes, Elaina?”

“……”

She’s persistent…

“That’s a trade secret,” I replied.

“Oh, is it now?” Miss Fran nodded in understanding as she munched away at her cake. “Miss Shopkeeper, by the way, what is a handshake ticket?”

“They come with your purchase whenever you buy something from our shop. They grant the customer the right to shake hands with any of the cute girls working here.”

“Shopkeeper…”

Why are you telling her that?

“Thanks to Miss Elaina coming up with the idea, our business became the most popular shop in the country. I really need to thank you for what you did for me back then…”

“Shopkeeper…”

I don’t need your thanks, so could you just keep quiet for a minute?

“You should know, the prices for our cakes are now ridiculously high, but that was also Elaina’s idea. Oh, Miss Elaina’s ideas are all just wonderful, aren’t they? I have to know just what kind of teacher she studied under, to become such a magnificent person…”

“My goodness…”

My magnificent teacher, Miss Fran, just put on a cheerful smile and continued chewing her cake.

“Elaina…you did a really good thing here, didn’t you?”

Though she kept wearing her cheerful smile, there was an indescribable air of intimidation in Miss Fran’s narrowed eyes.

“…I don’t…recall…”

I averted my gaze.

“She’s so humble! Elaina’s skills really can’t be described as anything other than superb!” The shopkeeper was smiling. “It was almost like she had been doing that kind of thing on a regular basis to make money or something.”

“Is that so…? Hmm.” I felt my teacher’s cold eyes on me.

“No…really, I don’t remember…”

“Ha-ha-ha! In that case, did you also happen to forget the amount of money we made? No, really, imagine forgetting that you headed home with a disgustingly large sum of money in your pocket…! That’s so like you, Miss Elaina!”

“A large sum of money… Hmm.” Miss Fran’s fingers grabbed ahold of me.

“…Ah, did you say we…made money…?” I had already lost any chance of escape, and the light drained from my eyes.

“Ha-ha-ha! Miss Elaina, you are truly a modest person! But I remember clearly everything you did for me and my business. Now, please. Enjoy your fill of my shop’s sweets today, until you are completely satisfied.”

Then the shopkeeper once again clapped her hands twice, and again, the black-clothed men brought in every type of sweet the shop offered.

Just the sight of it all was enough to give me indigestion.

“Oh, isn’t this wonderful, Elaina? The good work you do comes back to you. Oh-hoh-hoh!”

Miss Fran was still wearing a smile just like always, but there was absolutely no way she was letting me off the hook.

“……”

And then—

—she stealthily brought her face close to mine as I sat there in silence, and she whispered into my ear.

“But the bad you do also comes back to you, and you’re going to have to learn that, okay?”

[Publication Information] Animate Previously

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[Author Comments]

This story is one I originally intended to include in the main narrative, but when I initially wrote the first draft, it was a little on the short side, and it didn’t have much of a punchline, so it got rejected. After I got the offer from Animate to write a bonus story, I got all excited and wrote this, thinking, If the punchline is weak, then I’ll just rewrite it. Let’s go! Also, for this bonus story, Animate requested that I write it in two parts, so honestly, it was the perfect opportunity.