After kissing Ivy goodbye, I made my way to the shop. The market District was slowly coming to life as vendors began opening their stalls, and lucky for , I found Banji unlocking our store as well.
Her face lit up as soon as she saw .
"Asher. I was wondering when you’d show up," she said, pulling into a warm, sisterly hug.
She always treated like a younger brother.
"Had so family stuff last night," I explained as we parted. "Sorry I couldn’t make it."
She tapped my shoulder lightly. "Don’t worry about it. Yesterday was a big day for you after all."
I smiled. She looked great in a gray dungaree that stopped just above the knees, paired with black leather boots and a cap that gave her a confident, tomboyish edge.
"Where’s Kelly?" I asked.
"She hasn’t arrived yet," Banji replied, then sighed. "She’s still finding her footing. Balancing the ledger’s been tricky, and she was nervous about carrying the day’s cash alone. It’s a lot for soone new... but she’s committed. I think she’ll catch on."
"Yeah, that’s not an easy adjustnt," I said thoughtfully.
I made a ntal note: we’d need a proper system—a safe place to store money. My realm could work. But I wasn’t ready to bring Kelly into that world just yet. Introducing her to Rose and the others... wasn’t sothing I could take lightly. Tad or not, demons weren’t exactly easy to introduce to strangers. It had taken fights and no small amount of compromise for Rin, Tama, and Rose to coexist. Maybe I’ll just make her manage at the forest for a while, and not in the town where my waifus live.
Best to wait and let her grow comfortable around first before introducing her to them.
Inside the shop, we began cleaning. Banji used the ti to bring up to speed on so business challenges—mainly, the shortage of wine bottles and the unusual way she produced wine so quickly.
That’s when she revealed her secret: a skill called the Chrono Decanter that allowed her to summon a dark, crate-sized box that accelerated ti for anything inside. It caused food to rot rapidly, but wine? It aged beautifully. A batch that would normally take a year could be aged in a few hours. Ten-year wine took only two or three days. And the taste? Perfectly natural.
The downside was that it drained her mana a lot. With her limited reserve, she could only make around a dozen bottles per day or less, depending on her mood.
I asked my system internally, "Can you copy her skill?"
[No.]
I frowned. "Why not? You copied that goddess’s aphrodisiac spell last night."
[Only skills tied to intimacy or attraction can be copied.]
Figures. I was just too lazy to learn the skill from scratch, but apparently, shortcuts weren’t allowed. In the past, I’d learned that my ability to do magic through imagination only extended to elental and affinity-based skills. Though l still don’t know how l managed to use sticky hands on the dungeon floor with the Behemoth. Maybe because l was in the verge of death. But apparently, skills like geomancy, mnemomancy ... those required actual study.
"Banji," I said as we finished sweeping, "could you teach your skill? If I can help produce wine too, we could double our stock."
She folded her arms and eyed carefully. "That skill’s a family secret. Passed down from my mother. I’m not supposed to share it."
That made sense. It was the cornerstone of her livelihood.
"But..." she continued after a pause, "a good rchant knows when to guard a secret, and when to bet on growth. So, I’ll teach you. For the sake of the business."
I nodded gratefully as we sat. She began explaining the technique—and to my surprise, it was rooted in Spirit Language, an ancient form of magic nearly forgotten today. No wonder she guarded it so closely.
It took only thirty minutes to grasp the basics. Just as we began going through the wine-making process together, the shop door creaked open.
Kelly stumbled in, breathless, her baby tied to her back. She tripped over the threshold and landed on her knees.
I sighed, offering a hand. "Still clumsy as always, I see."
She smiled up at . "You ca today!"
I nodded. "Yup." I said, helping her to her feet.
The three of us sat down to talk business. I brought up an idea I’d been thinking about for a while.
"We need to diversify. Wine and fruit are good, but I want to expand into sothing... different."
Banji tilted her head. "Like what?"
"Sex toys," I said, straight-faced.
Both won blinked.
"Sex... toys?" Banji repeated slowly.
"What are those?" Kelly asked.
I laughed. They had no idea what a dildo was.
"I’ll show you once I’ve made them. They are like....artificial penises for won to pleasure themselves."
There was a long pause before Banji finally said, "You certainly don’t lack bold ideas."
"Exactly," I said, grinning. "Which brings to our brand na. I’ve been thinking about this for a while: Lick & Stick Enterprises."
Banji raised an eyebrow. "Lick... and stick?"
"Yup. Custors will rember it. ’Lick’ for the drinks. ’Stick’ for the pleasure line. Catchy, provocative, and hard to forget."
They exchanged uncertain glances, a hint of pink creeping into their cheeks.
"And the slogan?" I added. "Touch it. Lick it. Only at Lick & Stick."
Kelly covered her mouth, trying not to laugh. Banji gave a small sigh and said, "Well... you’re the boss. I suppose you know what you’re doing."
"I trust your vision," Kelly said. "It’s weird... but I think it’ll work."
"Great," I said, smiling wide. "I’ll have soone design a logo and get the na on the front door. From here on out, we’re not just a shop. We’re a brand. Lick & Stick Enterprises is going to shake up the rchant world."
I paused, realizing how dramatic my voice had beco—like so theatrical villain plotting world domination. I cleared my throat and dialed it back.
After making fifty bottles of wine in three hours using the Chrono Decanter spell l just learned, I left Banji to handle sales while I taught Kelly how to access my realm. I gave her strict instructions: never enter the town, only the forest. Just pick fruits with Banji and leave.
Using so of my Pleasure Points, I bought a safe from the system store that kinda looked like ones from my old world. We hid it deep in the forest section of my realm, marked clearly so Kelly wouldn’t lose track.
With that, our biggest concerns were handled. Now, all that remained... was to rise. To make Lick & Stick Enterprises known, challenge the rchant elite and take the throne.
TBC
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