Ch 37: Guide to Running a Shop in Another World

Fisa frowned deeply, her gaze scanning the room. One, two, three… nine…

Apart from the black-haired, black-eyed, beautiful shop owner, everyone in the shop was a dragon.

Although most of them were still young dragons, the sheer number was staggering.

Dragons had strong territorial instincts, and aside from Dragon Valley, such a gathering of dragons in one place was unheard of.

This was even more unsettling than if the shop owner herself were a dragon.

Fisa took a step back, silently regretting her impulsive decision to come on this trip.

In truth, she had been thinking about this on the way here. She was simply bored of her monotonous life in Onorton City and was looking for an excuse to travel.

When she saw Lixiu’s nails, it felt like the perfect opportunity, a chance for a not-so-important trip. Fisa had told herself it was just a casual visit to a friend’s town, and even if the journey wasn’t ideal, there was no need to be too disappointed.

However, even with all her mental preparation, the reality of this trip was far worse than she could have imagined.

Si Jin’s manicure was almost finished, with just the final touches left—the most crucial part.

Lu Yao turned to Lixiu and said, “I’m almost done here. Please have a seat for a moment.”

Lixiu nodded and pulled Fisa along to find a place to sit.

Elvi, on the other hand, was very curious about Lu Yao and moved closer to watch her work on Si Jin’s nails. Her eyes flashed with admiration when she saw Si Jin’s glittering hands.

Si Jin was a young golden dragon, in charge of overseeing the mines.

Simply put, he was an incredibly wealthy dragon.

His favorite gemstone was known as jijing, golden in color, transparent and radiant, and when touched by light, it resembled falling stars.

It was said that even a piece of jijing the size of a pinky nail could be traded for ten cities, as it contained pure, immense magical energy and could be used to craft powerful magical artifacts. What made it even more rare was that only dragons could find it.

Today, however, Si Jin had brought an entire treasure chest full of jijing, each piece the size of a fist.

The young dragons around him were in awe, as if suddenly confronted with an overwhelming sense of wealth disparity.

Especially the little golden dragon, who had hidden in the corner to cry.

He was the same kind of dragon as Si Jin and also loved jijing.

But all he had was a piece of jijing the size of a pinky, which he usually hid in the deepest part of his cave.

Compared to Si Jin, his life seemed utterly pitiful.

Si Jin’s manicure design was simple yet brilliant. The base was a silver-white color, minimalist in style, like the perfect backdrop to showcase the jijing gemstones placed on each finger.

Each piece of jijing was embedded in different spots on his nails, and when the ten fingers were aligned, they formed the pattern of constellations.

With the slightest movement of his fingers, it was as if the stars in the sky were twinkling.

Si Jin was thoroughly satisfied with his manicure. Unlike Harold’s more elaborate design, the jijing stones on his fingers were the centerpiece, each one exuding a magnificent, indescribable brilliance.

The smallest jijing stone on his nails was the size of a thumb, and the largest was as big as a fist.

Lu Yao thought to herself, with gemstones worth thousands of cities on his hands, there’s no need for an overly complex design.

Still, she had a little surprise in store.

Lu Yao pulled out a small, mysterious box from the drawer. As soon as she opened it slightly, the young dragons gasped, and even Si Jin and Elvi were filled with astonishment.

Harold immediately sat up from the sofa, tossing aside his comic book, and forcefully pushed through the young dragons to stand by Lu Yao’s side.

Lixiu couldn’t help but grow curious and whispered to Fisa, “Shall we go take a look?”

Fisa, frowning, her face showing signs of fatigue, said, “I’m not interested. You go ahead.”

Lixiu assumed Fisa was tired from the journey and didn’t press her further.

As Lixiu approached, she saw that Lu Yao had carefully taken something out of the box using a needle as fine as a strand of hair. When Lu Yao lifted it, the tip of the needle sparkled like a cluster of stars, dazzling and radiant.

With a gentle touch, Lu Yao tapped the tip of Si Jin’s left ring finger. The tiny sparkles on the needle flowed across the surface of the nail like droplets of water, eventually settling in place.

With just the slightest movement of Si Jin’s fingertips, the light on his nails shimmered like a summer night sky, brilliant as daylight. Upon closer inspection, the tiny sparkles seemed to move slowly.

“What is that?” Elvi couldn’t help but ask.

Lu Yao dabbed the remaining bit of silver light from the needle onto Si Jin’s right middle finger. “It’s Starshine.”

This was real light harvested from the stars—the very drop of Starshine that was her reward for completing a system task.

Don’t underestimate this single drop. When the box was opened, its glow could be seen from ten miles away.

Lu Yao had been too curious about the use of Starshine, and since Si Jin had brought such rare and precious gems, she boldly decided to test it.

System: [Such a waste of precious resources.]

Lu Yao: “I was just keeping my promise.”

She had once told Si Jin she would put stardust and rainbows in his nail polish, and the system had accused her of lying to a dragon. Now she had truly used the light of the stars.

Si Jin carefully wiggled his fingers, his face full of satisfaction. “There really is Starshine. It’s so beautiful.”

The young dragons looked up at Si Jin’s fingers with envy in their eyes.

Harold leaned in close to Lu Yao, his deep blue eyes fixed on her. “I want Starshine too.”

As soon as the other young dragons heard that, they immediately turned their hopeful eyes to Lu Yao: I want it too!

To be honest, under the glow of Starshine, even jijing paled in comparison.

Who wouldn’t want to have it?

Lu Yao gently pushed Harold away and put the remaining drop of Starshine back into its box. “No need to rush. Once I create a manicure worthy of Starshine, I’ll replace your nails.”

A simple manicure was just decoration. Once the dragons returned to their true forms, even the most beautiful nails would shatter into pieces, which would be a great pity.

Now that she had started learning magic, Lu Yao realized that magic and nail art might not be mutually exclusive.

She had an idea, but it required more theoretical knowledge and experimentation to back it up.

Until that idea came to fruition, Lu Yao didn’t want to waste such beautiful materials.

Harold and the young dragons, disappointed, sat back down on the sofa, while Si Jin walked around, proudly showing off his glittering nails.

Fisa, who had been sitting in the corner, trying to stay as far away from the dragons as possible, couldn’t help but notice Si Jin’s hands. The combination of jijing and Starshine was more dazzling than the sun and moon together, making it impossible to ignore.

Irritated, Fisa glanced up, intending to tell Si Jin to behave, but when her eyes landed on his hands, she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. “Why do your fingertips have starlight?”

Si Jin grinned smugly. “Didn’t you see? The boss just added Starshine to my nails. But I must say, you have some knowledge, recognizing it right away.”

This comment implied that Fisa’s ability to identify Starshine confirmed that Lu Yao hadn’t lied to him this time.

Fisa: “…”

Even if praised by a dragon, it didn’t make her happy in the slightest.

Lixiu came over, pulling Fisa up, her eyes sparkling with excitement. “That gentleman’s manicure is absolutely stunning! The boss is now doing Elvi’s nails—you can take a look at the designs.”

This time, Fisa didn’t refuse. She sat down at the table and, under Lixiu’s guidance, began flipping through the design options.

Just as Lixiu had said, the designs were unique and exquisite, each one breathtakingly beautiful.

And the tool they called a tablet was fascinating. How could it store so many images?

A simple swipe of the finger unlocked various interesting screens, allowing the images to zoom in and out—it was even more convenient than magic.

Beside them, Elvi looked both nervous and excited.

She had a clear goal and chose her design in just two minutes—an extremely simple blush-colored manicure.

Her special request was for Lu Yao to paint the Royal Knights’ emblem on her middle finger, as becoming a knight was her dream. On her ring finger, she wanted a subtle but intricate silver rose.

Lu Yao fulfilled all her wishes.

Since the customer’s ideas were already well-formed, Lu Yao didn’t need to think too much, and she completed the manicure quickly, finishing in less than an hour.

Elvi was a knight who frequently undertook dangerous missions, so she didn’t want colors that were too flashy or glittery.

She had an inexplicable urge to experience having her nails done.

Lu Yao used a very light silver nail polish to create a soft gradient, then used a fine brush to paint the requested emblem and rose on the stamp, transferring it carefully onto Elvi’s nails. Finally, she outlined the details with white polish.

This manicure was simple, but with the detailed Royal Knights’ emblem and the intricate silver rose that Elvi had requested, she was very satisfied.

Outside, the sky was filled with the warm hues of sunset—it was already evening.

There was only one customer left, and after finishing this, Lu Yao could finally rest.

As she cleaned up the nail polish she had just used, Lu Yao asked Fisa, “Have you decided on a design you like?”

Fisa put down the tablet and shook her head coldly. “The nails you do are beautiful, but none of the designs are to my taste.”

Lixiu was surprised. She had clearly noticed Fisa going back to look at several designs multiple times. Why was Fisa saying this?

Lu Yao could sense that Fisa was being difficult, but she couldn’t figure out what was wrong. So, with patience, she said, “You can tell me what elements you like, and I can design something new just for you.”

Fisa’s tone was mocking. “I like nature—flowers, trees, the sounds of birds and insects. Can you design a manicure based on that?”

It was only then that Lu Yao noticed Fisa’s pointed elf ears and the dried wild daisies woven into her long braid. So, she was an elf.

Understanding dawned on her, and she nodded. “Alright. Do you like the color green?”

Fisa was taken aback. “Yes.”

She did love green, but why wasn’t this shop owner getting angry?

Lu Yao, still looking through her nail polishes and tools, calmly reassured her, “Then there’s no problem. Leave it to me.”

Fisa was confused. Was she really going to make the design?

Lixiu, on the other hand, was excited. To her, Fisa’s request seemed incredibly difficult—she couldn’t imagine what a nature-inspired manicure would look like.

Elvi, who had been admiring the silver rose on her nail, also looked up at Lu Yao.

Lu Yao realized that the design Fisa wanted wasn’t on the tablet. She hadn’t left any good pictures of it because it hadn’t been requested much lately.

Fisa’s slender, fair fingers were already naturally beautiful and didn’t need much shaping. Lu Yao simply filed them down a bit and moved on to the main part.

At some point, Tina had come over to watch, curious about how Lu Yao would handle this picky customer.

At first, it seemed like Lu Yao was randomly applying polish, and Fisa even thought she was being mocked.

She assumed the shop owner was hiding her offense behind a calm face and was now humiliating her with this half-hearted effort.

But then, Lixiu let out a short gasp, her eyes widening with amazement.

Tina and Elvi had the same reaction.

Sensing something, Fisa lowered her gaze to her hands and was stunned by what she saw.

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