Mastore 108 - Dumpster

Magic Realm Convenience Store – Ch. 108

A side job full of innocence (3)

It took 10 minutes to review all 300 songs and delete 28 of them. It ended quite a bit faster than expected, largely thanks to the little girl's help.

"Umm... Burack... San...?"

“Black Saint and the Sinner Lady. We should probably delete this one too, Chan. It’s a 40-minute symphony.”

"Wow, whoever composed it, the title's really cool."

Every song the little girl picked to try playing turned out to be completely unhinged. Whether this was due to the unique intuition of dragons, or simply because he was picking anything with three or four cool-sounding words mixed in, I couldn't tell...

"I wanted to pway them. The last one and this one.”

Looking at this, it seems like it's closer to the latter. After being told ‘no’ to every song she picked during the 300-song review, the little girl looked visibly confused.

"Umm, which one should I try..."

"Manager-nim. I think we should stop deleting here."

“Yeah. I’ve been watching the list while Chan worked, and it seems fine.”

I had a quick, hushed discussion with Manager. The recorder had four types of magic: song storage, breath correction, auto-cleaning, and octave adjustment.

Of the four, we just resolved the song storage magic, and concluded the remaining three could be solved right away once the little one plays. But since the little girl seemed confused, Manager stepped in to choose the song.

"Hey, little girl. There’s this one song I really love. Think you can play it for me?"

“Yes. I'll twy my besht!"

“Thanks, little girl. It’s number 180.”

Seeing how she had the number ready, it seems Manager anticipated this. Following her hand gesture, the playlist scrolled down swiftly, stopping precisely at the 180s.

The song was called The Broken Grandfather Clock. The title had a gothic vibe, making it seem difficult to play, but the little girl reacted positively.

"...Wow."

“How is it? Sounds nice, right?"

"Yes. The song is pwetty. Can I twy it?"

"Of course."

The little girl nodded at Manager, put the recorder to her mouth, and took a deep breath. Then she started playing.

The song lasted about a minute in real time before it abruptly stopped.

“…Huff.”

It was a lung capacity issue. The little girl’s face turned red as she caught her breath, then she nervously glanced at us.

We responded with applause. Manager gave quick seal-like claps, while I gave slow, balloon-like claps.

“Why were you so worried? Playing so well like that."

I said it with 80% sincerity. Although the performance was interrupted a few times due to her lack of breath control, it was pleasant to listen to while it lasted. There were no off notes.

As for the song itself, well, it was calm and quiet. It was the kind of song that make you stop and listen if you heard it somewhere while walking down the street.

"That's right. Thanks to you, we got a treat for our ears first thing in the morning, little girl."

"Weally?"

“Yeah. You played so smoothly—it sounds like you’ve practiced a lot.”

“Yeas! I, huff, had trouble breathing before, but this made it much easier!"

It sounded like she still struggled with breath control. I suppose we can take her saying it was much easier to mean the breath correction magic worked well...

"And, when I thought 'I wish the sound was higher―' and then, huff, it just got higher.”

That must mean the octave adjusted automatically. It seems these two types of magic are working properly. So then….

“And—huff.”

"If it's hard, tell me later, Hana. Give me the recorder for a moment."

“Yes.”

The little girl, seemingly proud of her performance, handed over the recorder with a satisfied expression. When I was a kid, mine would get clogged with saliva after just a few blows, making it sound terrible.

The parts where you blow in and where the air comes out—both were completely dry and clean. When I was young, even if I blew for a little while, it would get soaked with saliva after just a brief play and only make blocked sounds.

"Except for the song storage magic, everything else seems to be running well, Manager-nim."

"Is that what Chan thinks?"

"Most likely. I’ve been paying close attention, and nothing seems off.”

Pointing to my eyes as I spoke, Manager asked again.

"With Chan's constitution?"

"Yes."

One characteristic of my isekai-derived constitution. When I look carefully at objects with magic on them, I can see subtle fluctuations. It came in handy when I was getting my license.

Thinking this might reveal something, I watched carefully at intervals, but there were no noticeable changes during the recorder performance. Same when the cleaning magic activated.

If the other magics had malfunctioned during the performance, the fluctuations would’ve grown or shrunk. When I explained this, Manager nodded in agreement and added,

"Seems Chan's gotten quite used to this now."

“Yeah. Just a couple of months ago, I never would’ve dreamed I’d be doing this kind of work….”

"That's what makes life interesting. Anyway, we're done with the recorder."

Manager took the recorder from me, shook it a couple of times, and put it back in the box. As for dust, well, the magic will take care of that.

“Good job, little girl. Want something to drink? I’ll grab some water from upstairs.”

"I'm okay, still fwesh and strong!"

“Then let’s move on to the second item. Chan, do you see the ramen box behind the mimic?”

I looked where Manager pointed and saw a large ramen box sitting alone behind the mimic. The packaging is simple with just one layer of box tape.

“I see it. But why is a magical item stored in a ramen box?”

"Temporary measure. The original box came crushed."

Manager explained that the plastic wrapping was intact and the item inside was thin but sturdy. But I was asking if it's okay to store magical items like that...

Whatever. They must have done it this way because it's fine. Thinking that lazily, I peeled off the box tape and took out the contents. Inside the plastic wrapping was a bundle of dark purple fabric, and the tag attached to the plastic read,

"...Great Mage Transformation Set. Hana, it says this is a transformation set?"

"Transformation?!!"

At the five syllables of ‘transformation’, her tail shoots upward and starts slowly spinning like a propeller. Looks like I accidentally triggered her voice activation.

I quickly unwrapped the packaging and unfolded it, revealing a smooth, dark purple fabric that flowed down and rippled gently. I told Manager my impression.

“Looks like a mage robe. It’s a childs’ size.”

"Oh, how did Chan know?"

“I’ve seen it a few times before. This is my first time seeing it in person, though.”

“First time in person. Ah.”

We shared a casual back-and-forth before I peeked back into the box. Besides the robe, there was a magic wand with a star-shaped decoration, a wrinkled pointed hat….

And an A4-sized booklet half-buried under the pointed hat. The cover of the manual read Instruction Manual in bold letters. This is what I was looking for.

“Manager-nim, I’ll read this for a bit. I think it’ll be useful for the inspection.”

"Sure, I'll help the little girl put on the robe. Little girl, raise your arms!"

“Yeas!”

Better read this quickly while I can. Page 1 of the manual: the title, the toy company’s name, and a description of the toy. Become a Great Mage and cast countless magics! I skipped past that….

From page 2 onward, most pages were filled with illustrations and descriptions. Mainly magic names and magic circle diagrams on the left pages. On the right, step-by-step instructions for drawing magic circles in the air.

The descriptions are mostly formulas. For example, how to use fire magic.

1. Prepare the wand. 2. Raise the star-tipped wand to eye level. 3. Move the wand tip counterclockwise at approximately 30cm/s―

“What the heck, how are kids supposed to understand this?”

"Chan, you can skip that part. I know it well."

I muttered in frustration, and Manager chimed in from the side. She dressed the little girl faster than expected.

“Manager-nim, don’t you not use a wand when casting magic?”

“I don’t need one anymore, so I stopped using it. I calculate the formulas directly in my head now.”

“So this wand is like a stick-shaped calculator that does the calculations for you….”

"That's almost right, except for one."

That one thing being, if you wave the wand as described in the manual, it would have originally cast real fire magic. If this were a proper wand, that is.

“A calculator always gives the correct answer, but this wand is designed to always give the predetermined wrong answer—that’s the difference.”

“What do you mean by ‘the wrong answer’?”

"Think of it as having one deliberately incorrect formula. It produces real visual effects, but the power converges to zero."

“Close to zero means it’s not exactly zero, right?”

"Right. With fire magic, um... you might feel spring breeze warmth."

I started to get an idea of what I needed to inspect. I probably need to make sure the warmth of a spring breeze doesn’t turn into the heat of a sauna or the chill of an air conditioner.

As I was thinking this, I felt a tug on my uniform collar.

“Mister, Mister.”

Looking down, the little girl was looking up at me, wearing the robe and hat. It's quite different seeing her in dark purple color instead of her usual all-white.

The moment our eyes meet, the little girl spreads her arms wide. The robe must be bigger than her body, as even with arms outstretched, they're hidden beneath the robe.

“Ta-da!”

“Wow. You really look like a mage like that, little girl.”

“Hehe.”

Looking down at her feet after responding, her tail was sticking out from under the robe, sweeping the floor. I figured we should finish quickly and let her cast some magics.

"For operational method, it says 'borrows minuscule amount of mana from the caster, harmless to the body.' Does this not use magic stones?”

“Recently released toys don’t use magic stones much. Some even run on solar power.”

“How economical.”

"Right? By the way, what are the precautions listed as?"

"Precautions are... don't hit anyone with the wand, don't lick it, don't swallow it."

The star-shaped wand is about 30 cm long. Are they expecting kids to perform feats of strength with it or something?

"Doesn't seem like much. Shall we start right away?"

“Yeah. Little girl, you’ve been waiting a while, huh?”

"Nope. Not long, just a wittle bit, Unnie."

"Still, since I made you wait, I'll teach you that much more carefully. How to become a great mage― that is."

"Ooh."

At the word ‘great mage’, the little girl’s tail wriggled under the robe, and Manager’s voice was noticeably more cheerful, probably because he was called ‘Unnie’. They'd probably play well even if left alone next time.

"Now then, first, your wrist like this..."

Bending down slightly, Manager places her wrist parallel to the little girl's, then extends her index finger and waves it. Even though it was a gesture she probably hadn’t used in years, it was still smooth. You could feel the aura of a professional.

The little girl followed Manager’s finger with his eyes, eagerly mimicking the movements with her wand. The first couple attempts missed the mark, seemingly not matching the motion right, then on the third try...

"Ooh. It's faiyah!"

A small flame blooms from the star-shaped wand tip. True to Manager’s words, it wasn’t hot, so the little girl brought the wand right up to his nose.

"Little girl, that's dangerous, don't do that. You’ll be in big trouble when you use the real wand later.”

“Oh, okay.”

It sounds like the safety warning about not pointing a gun muzzle at your face when shooting. The little girl immediately moved the wand away from his nose, and Manager continued.

“Good. Next, let’s try adjusting the power of the magic.”

"Powah?"

"Yes. First, the little girl needs to think in his head 'how big should I make it~'. How big would you like to make this flame?"

"Umm..."

After a deep moment of thought, the little girl spread his arms wide and answered.

"I wanna, fiyahworks! Super huge fiyahworks. Fill up all of here―"

Immediately, an enormous flame erupted, filling the entire storage room.



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