Magic Store 21






As I continued observing this silver-haired middle-aged customer, I thought that he really didn't need the "rideshare" part of his self-introduction - his outward appearance and aura were not too far off from my mental image of a knight.

Looking at his hand holding the pen, I noticed a large, healed scar on the back of his hand.

Curious, I asked, "What kind of work did you do before becoming a rideshare driver?"

"Oh, this and that... I retired, you know, being of a certain age and all."

His tone was gentle, but there was a clear implication that he didn't want to elaborate further.

I figured he must have been injured doing some kind of manual labor job.

"I've filled everything out, boss."

After completely filling out the log with his address and contact info, the customer handed it back to me.

As I reviewed it, I noticed he had written something under the "Other" field - "Wolf."

"Sir, what does 'Wolf' mean that you wrote here?"

"It's my name, but..."

"You don't have to write your full name, since it's not for any special purpose."

"Oh, is that so?"

"Yes, you see, this convenience store can teleport to different locations around the world, so we get all kinds of customers who've been afflicted by various curses.

That's why we have that 'Other' field - for precautionary purposes."

I've only dealt with a succubus boss so far, but I'm hoping I can work at places like the Maldives or Waikiki beach someday.

Not the Demon King's castle, though.

"I see."

This customer, the elder Wolf, seemed genuinely intrigued by my explanation.

"If this is a teleporting convenience store, you must have been to all sorts of places during your time working here."

"I actually haven't experienced that yet. I've only been working here for 3 days."

"Ah, not long then. Are you managing alright so far?"

"Up until just now, it's been manageable..."

I glanced out at the shattered glass door, barely hanging on.

Noticing my gaze, the elder chuckled and continued.

"I was curious about what happened to the door, but I didn't want to pry."

"A Minotaur customer rammed through it. So that's how I have to work today, I suppose."

"Oh my, you must be having a hard time."

"Excuse me, sir, may I ask you one more thing? Not about your previous work, but..."

"Of course."

What I was really curious about was this - how does someone end up with the name Wolf?

I knew the name existed in the human world, but in this world, it seemed like I had to take it literally.

"By any chance, what is your... species?"

"I'm a werewolf."

Ah, that explains the shaggy hair and beard.

As the elder spoke, he briefly removed his hat, revealing pointed ears protruding from his shaggy silver hair.

The tip of one of his ears was missing.

Putting the hat back on, he chuckled and added, "I understand the confusion. The full moon is still quite far away."

That, and the fact that my basic knowledge of this world was still quite lacking, contributed to my bewilderment.

I didn't want to accidentally reveal my own origins by asking the wrong questions.

Still, my curiosity got the better of me.

Trying to maintain the facade of being a native human, I continued the conversation.

"The full moon must be quite inconvenient for you."

"The worst part is not being able to go out at night. But these days, the welfare system has improved, so it's not too bad."

"Welfare? Ah, I haven't really been keeping up with the news lately..."

"Around late fall to early spring, when the sun sets early, they provide monthly support payments since it's impossible to work. They also distribute blindfolds to prevent us from seeing the full moon and offer stipends for maintaining our appearances."

I tried to imagine the logic behind it.

During the full moon, when werewolves transform, the government must provide funds to help them trim all the excess hair that grows, or something like that.

And since the shorter daylight hours mean less time for work, the welfare policies were designed to compensate for that.

Listening to the explanation, it seemed this world had its own functional systems, in its own way.

"You seem quite curious, boss."

The elder's sudden comment caught me off guard, and I quickly apologized.

"I hope I haven't been too intrusive."

"Not at all, it's refreshing. These days, people don't tend to show much interest in other species."

I suppose it's similar in my own world - we might glance curiously at foreigners, but rarely delve deeper into their cultures.

Suddenly, an alarm rang from the elder's smartphone.

He glanced at the screen and apologized, "Excuse me, I should take a look at this for a moment during our conversation."

"There's no need to apologize. I'm the one who's keeping you from your work."

When greeted by a polite customer, even a passer-by like myself becomes unfailingly courteous.

With a slight bow, the elder also nodded and went to sit at a table by the window, intently gazing at his smartphone.

And then, he just sat there.

How strange.

He remained seated, zoned out, for about 3 minutes, with no other customers coming in.

On a weekday, this time of day would normally be slow, but after the intense "hellfire" of a shift I had just experienced, the lull only made me feel more uneasy.

Even during our conversation, no one had entered the store.

Curious, I looked out the window, and saw several cars stopped at the intersection, their turn signals blinking, but not moving.

The pedestrians were also just standing around, murmuring.

As soon as I stepped outside to take a closer look, I understood the situation.

It was a multi-car accident.

From my assessment, it went something like this:

A car had mistakenly entered the left-turn only lane, then tried to abruptly change lanes just as the light was changing.

In the next lane over, another car had the same idea, and the two vehicles collided headlights-first.

Imagine two people running towards each other on opposite sides of a wall - when they emerge, their heads collide.

You can see the car in the next lane, but the one two lanes over is invisible.

The two cars that crashed headfirst were now stopped, and another car traveling straight through the intersection had rammed into the space between them.

"~~ ~~!! ~~, ~~~~!!"
"~~~~ ~~!! ~~"

Amid the three-car pileup, two orcs and a golden retriever-like kobold were yelling at each other.

The kobold's ears were drooping, so it seemed he had been the one struck from behind - which is always 100% the rear driver's fault.

The two orcs, on the other hand, were angrily shouting at each other.

As I stepped further outside, their dialogue became clearer.

"You fucking idiot, if you had used your turn signal, this wouldn't have happened!!"

"Screw you, why are you bitching when you're the one who rammed me?! You wanna die?!"

Popcorn, where's the popcorn?

I felt a bit bad for the accident victims, but there's nothing more entertaining than watching a car crash scene unfold.

When fault is clear-cut, the insurance claim can be handled easily.

But in cases like this, where it's not obvious who was in the wrong, they engage in a verbal UFC to try to establish dominance first.

It's a battle of language.

How could I resist watching?

Heartless, you say?

They'll get their insurance sorted out eventually, and they'll calm down on their own.

What does it matter to me?

There's even a convenience store right here - maybe I should just buy some popcorn with my own money.

"Boss, it sounds like there's quite a commotion outside. What happened?"

The elder had also come out, curious about my stepping away.

Suppressing my excitement, I answered, "Looks like there was an accident out there."

"Oh dear."

"It seems like the commotion outside is keeping customers away..."

As I was responding, a sound like shattering brick echoed out.

I whipped my head around to see one of the orcs had just swung a punch, and the other orc's head had been slammed into the side of a car.

The car door was dented inwards, crumpled.

Huh...? Why are they brawling instead of calling the insurance company?

"You fucking piece of shit, do you have a death wish?!"

The orc whose head was embedded in the dented door pulled it out, his face partially caved in but showing no sign of pain.

He then ripped off the crumpled door and swung it with all his might at the orc who had struck him.

The struck orc flew several meters before crashing to the ground, but he immediately sprang back up.

Adjusting his dislocated shoulder, he stormed over and brutally struck the other orc's face.

With each blow, I heard the sickening sounds of bones and flesh breaking, of bodies slamming into distorted surfaces.

Watching this, I was suddenly reminded of a crucial fact I had been overlooking - this truly was another world.

Even though the customers looked outlandish, their actions were not so different from humans.

I had been trying to rationalize it as some kind of Halloween cosplay.

But no, these were the hulking, brutish orcs straight out of fantasy movies, fighting each other viciously.

The fact that I could maintain my composure while observing this 4D spectacle was because the other bystanders didn't seem as shocked as I was.

They were muttering and complaining, but reactions like "shouldn't we stop them?" or "better call the cops" suggested this was merely an ordinary bar brawl to them.

The elder's calm voice broke through my thoughts.

"Boss, are you doing alright?"

He didn't seem to be asking about my mental state, per se.

I was still a bit disoriented by this unprecedented 4D movie experience, but my three days of working here had hardened me somewhat.

I cleared my throat and replied, "What do you mean?"

"Well, as long as those orcs keep fighting, we won't be getting any customers," the elder remarked.

"Yeah, I wouldn't feel safe getting close either."

At least I wouldn't.

Even now, ominous cracking and shattering sounds accompanied the objects flying - who knows if they're corn kernels or shards of bone.

As I watched the brawl, the elder carefully removed his hat and handed it to me.

"Could you hold this for a moment?" he asked.

"Of course, but what are you going to do?" I inquired.

"Those young fellows seem a bit too hot-blooded. I'm going to go give them a talking-to," he said calmly.

What if he ends up like one of those flying projectiles?

But his expression was so serene, I figured he must have some trick up his sleeve, so I accepted the hat.

The elder then made his way through the stopped cars and approached the fighting orcs.

"~~ ~~ ~~~..."

I couldn't quite make out his soft-spoken words, but the orcs' responses were clear.

"What, you old fart?! Don't butt in while we're—"

Suddenly, the elder took a small step to the side.

A whooshing sound, and before the orc could finish his sentence, his body crumpled to the ground.

The elder then approached the other orc, who was still snarling, and another whooshing sound rang out, dropping him as well.

The two orcs had been taken down in less than 3 seconds.

Standing between the fallen pair, the elder reached a handout to the cowering kobold-like retriever in the corner.

Grasping the elder's hand, the retriever was helped to his feet, and the elder slowly guided him back towards me.

"Young man, can you stand?"

"Uh, yes, I'm fine. Thank you," the retriever stammered, bowing repeatedly as he pulled out his phone, presumably to call an insurer.

The elder gently rubbed his reddened knuckles, then straightened his disheveled clothes.

Handing me back the hat, he asked, "So, what did I do?"

The elder smiled serenely and replied, "As I said, I just went to give them a quick talking-to."











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