Ch 39: Guide to Running a Shop in Another World

After her complaints, Lu Yao thought about it again. Emeraldstone Town was visibly poor, lacking powerful mages. There were a few adventure teams and knights taking on guard duties, but none of them ever visited the nail salon.

She had been thinking of experimenting with magic-infused nails, which would require lots of testing and adjustments—modifying the magic circle and magic levels based on experimental feedback.

Although she could act as a half-decent mage herself and experiment during the creation process, she still needed more test subjects.

Instead of spending money to hire unreliable third-rate mages from the town, it made more sense to employ the dragons who had voluntarily shown up and were irresistibly attracted to anything shiny.

So, Lu Yao nodded. “Alright, I’m willing to hire you. The monthly salary is three gold coins. If you accept, you can start tomorrow.”

Three gold coins could feed a family of three in Emeraldstone Town for half a year. For frugal families, it could last even a whole year.

Normally, Lu Yao wouldn’t offer such a high salary for a regular employee. But since it was a dragon, she had to offer a premium.

However, to a dragon, three gold coins weren’t even enough for one nail appointment.

Lu Yao had made up her mind. If Harold found the offer too low, she would just drop the idea. She couldn’t afford to pay more.

Suddenly, Harold tossed his book aside and sat up, his deep blue dragon eyes sparkling like sapphires. “You’re serious?”

Lu Yao nodded.

Harold flashed a toothy grin, grabbed the book from the sofa, and waved it around. “I’m staying here tonight. Tomorrow, I want new books. I’ve finished all the ones you have.”

Dragons knew Lu Yao came from another world, and the scenery outside the nail salon window was entirely different from this one. The door to the shop also emitted a strange and powerful aura, supporting the operation of a time-space gateway.

“…” Lu Yao was at a loss for words.

Was she hiring a dragon or adopting a spoiled ancestor?

Si Jin, realizing that Harold had been coaxed into becoming a “child laborer” for three gold coins, couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

On second thought, though, he was also curious about Lu Yao’s magical abilities. Maybe it would be worthwhile to stick around as a staff member to investigate further?

A low salary wasn’t a big deal. After all, he didn’t lack treasures.

Si Jin raised his hand and said, “Shopkeeper, one guard isn’t enough. Harold sometimes has to return home. You’ll need at least two to rotate shifts. How about hiring me too?”

Lu Yao shook her head. “No need for now.”

The shop didn’t really require guards. Hiring Harold was purely for her to experiment with new nail designs.

One dragon at three gold coins was already a lot. Hiring two would cost six, and that was too expensive.

Although the nail salon had been doing well over the past few days, bringing in four or five dozen gold coins, 99% of that revenue had come from the dragon customers, with only a few human clients like Lixiu and her two friends.

There were virtually no potential customers in Emeraldstone Town—it was simply too poor.

Lu Yao calculated in her mind that she would need to save up and be cautious with spending until she could tap into new markets.

After all, she also had a high-cost operation at her snack shop.

Since the third-floor dining hall of the snack shop opened, the daily cost of buying ingredients had risen to nearly ten thousand. Her warehouse had even burst once from overstocking. To avoid taking up too much space, she’d shifted most of the overflow to herself, boosting her lifespan to around four thousand years.

The magic bone the demon god had given her was fascinating. With just a thought, she could draw out time from it. However, because the real world didn’t have a dimensional space, she still couldn’t monetize that time.

For now, the snack shop was a bottomless pit of expenses, and she needed to make more money to fill it.

Though she had just made a million from selling a ring, which would cover things for a while, she had no idea what the future held for her businesses. The more she saved, the more secure she would feel.

With that in mind, Lu Yao decided to list another ring for sale on the forum.

She pulled out her phone, took a new black ring from her warehouse, and shot a detailed video. Then she posted it on the Park forum with a price tag of two million this time.

After posting the ad, Lu Yao didn’t rush to check the replies. The previous ring had taken a while to sell, and now that she had doubled the price, she didn’t expect any serious buyers to show up quickly.

Having finished, she noticed it was already late and stood up, saying, “I’m heading home.”

Si Jin, who had been left on the sidelines, said, “…”

He stopped her. “Why not me?”

Lu Yao politely explained, “It’s not about you—it’s just that the shop doesn’t have much business and can’t afford to hire too many people.”

In truth, she was more interested in hiring apprentices. However, with the dragon customers’ appointments completed, there hadn’t been any new ones, so she wanted to wait and observe before considering apprentices.

Si Jin thought she was just making excuses. After all, each nail session brought in three to five gold coins—how could she claim she couldn’t afford to hire more staff?

Suddenly remembering that he hadn’t paid for his new nails, Si Jin asked, “How much is the bill for my nails?”

Lu Yao also recalled that she had forgotten to charge him amid the dragon crowd admiring his nails and with Elvie distracting her.

The design itself was simple, but the expensive parts were the rare jijing gems and the single drop of starlight.

Rubbing her fingers, Lu Yao cautiously quoted, “One hundred gold coins.”

Fearing it might seem too steep, she added, “Starlight is very rare, and I only had one drop.”

Si Jin pulled out a gold pouch from his chest. “I’ll give you a thousand gold coins.”

Lu Yao: “…”

Is this what they mean by a filthy rich dragon?

Si Jin stuffed the gold pouch into her hands, the weight of it causing her to bend forward. He steadied her with a smug smile. “Now can you hire me too?”

“…”

One dragon, two dragons—it didn’t seem like too much of a difference. Lu Yao’s thoughts turned practical. Making glue specifically for dragons and researching magical nail art would require materials from this world, and some rare materials were quite expensive. Previously, she had hesitated and planned to slowly acquire them bit by bit, fearing the nail salon would become unprofitable.

But with this amount of gold, she could confidently buy a batch of rare materials.

Lu Yao nodded. “Alright, same conditions as Harold. You both can start tomorrow.”

…

The dragon parents, having picked up their young, were on their way back to their dragon lairs, spread across distant lands. Dragons were highly territorial and preferred secluded places far from others when settling down.

It was getting late, and while the adult dragons were eager to return to their lairs, the young ones were reluctant to shift back to their dragon forms, much to the frustration of their parents.

Dominic, the hot-tempered red dragon, thrashed his tail, causing the ground to shake. “Sasa, your mother is still waiting for us.”

Dragons were magnificent and powerful, far superior in appearance to the fragile, deceitful humans. Dominic couldn’t understand why Sasa didn’t want to return to her dragon form.

Meanwhile, Field, with a softer approach, asked her daughter, Tina, gently, “Tina, tell mother, why don’t you want to turn back into a dragon?”

The other dragon parents were also confronting their young, who were now sheepishly silent, realizing they might have gotten themselves into trouble.

Teacher Muxin had already noticed what was happening. She saw her little brother Sensi’s claws glittering with embedded green gemstones.

Even though she was their teacher, she had no standing to intervene when dragon parents were disciplining their young.

“Since everyone has found their young, I’ll take Sen Sen home first. See you all later.” Muxin quickly excused herself. She was extremely curious about the nails, so as soon as they were out of sight, she stopped mid-flight to inspect her brother’s sparkling claws on a deserted hill.

Once the teacher left, the young dragons looked even more helpless. Their parents were growing angrier, with five or six dragon tails swishing through the air, causing the atmosphere to distort.

Finally, little golden dragon Kaka stepped forward, sniffling, holding out his claws. “If I turn into a dragon, my shiny nails will break. I just had them done, and I don’t want them to shatter!”

In an instant, five or six young dragons revealed their shiny claws as well.

The dragon parents: “…”

The air fell silent.

Elga, the mother of the little golden dragon, held her child’s claw and examined it from different angles. Even in the deepening night, the gemstone-studded nails sparkled brightly. “Did that human do this?”

Kaka, sniffling, nodded. “That shop is a nail salon. It makes claws all shiny and bright.”

Elga’s gaze remained fixed on Kaka’s nails for a long while before she finally spoke, “Alright, alright. Stop crying, let’s go home.”

The dragons, with varied expressions, silently carried their children away.

…

The next day, the sun was shining brightly.

Fisa woke up early, feeling more refreshed than she had in a long time.

She had stayed at Lixiu’s house and, upon waking, saw sunlight filling the sheer curtains. Stretching lazily, she admired her freshly painted nails, which brightened her entire mood for the day.

Downstairs, Lixiu was making breakfast and greeted her as she came down. “Fisa, did you sleep well?”

Fisa nodded, her usually cold expression softening with a slight smile at the corners of her mouth. “Yes, very well. Thank you.”

After enjoying a delicious breakfast together, Fisa prepared to find a spot to build the teleportation array.

Emeraldstone Town had a central fountain square, though the fountain had long since dried up. Streets radiated from the square in four directions, with the nail salon and potion shop both located on the eastern street, about three hundred meters away from the fountain. Along the way were fruit stalls, bakeries, weapon shops, and a few small taverns.

Lixiu suggested that the teleportation array should be built in a spacious area for ease of access, even though she doubted many people would come to Emeraldtown Town.

Fisa agreed and chose to build the teleportation array at the center of the fountain square.

Upon hearing that a teleportation array was being built, many townsfolk came to watch the spectacle.

Lu Yao, out buying groceries in the morning, overheard the excited discussions of nearby neighbors and quietly joined the crowd to observe.

—Although most of the townspeople feared Lu Yao, the shopkeepers of neighboring stores were friendly towards her. The town was so poor that Lu Yao’s regular purchases made her a valued customer. Occasionally, they were even happy to chat with her.

Her black hair and dark eyes made her stand out in the crowd, and Lixiu spotted her immediately, waving, “Good morning, shopkeeper!”

Lu Yao walked over, not hiding her curiosity. “Good morning. Could you explain how to use the teleportation array once it’s built?”

Lixiu replied, “Each teleportation array has a landmark. Once it’s constructed, it will automatically appear on the world map. When you want to travel somewhere, you just buy a teleportation scroll, input the corresponding landmark, and you’ll be transported to the designated location.”

However, teleportation scrolls have distance and level restrictions—the higher the level, the greater the distance they can cover, and the more expensive they become. High-level scrolls are particularly rare.

Low-level scrolls can only teleport short distances, so if someone wants to travel far, they often use low-level scrolls in succession, like changing trains.

The scroll that Fisa gave Lixiu was a high-level one, capable of directly teleporting her from Emerald Town to the vicinity of Sasa’s Potion Shop in Onorton City.

Lu Yao was amazed and made a mental note of Lixiu’s explanation. She realized she might need to use the teleportation array to leave town for materials in the future.

However, since Emeraldstone Town had no previous teleportation array, teleportation scrolls weren’t available in town.

This made Lu Yao recall that the magic book Si Jin had gifted her contained a section on scroll-making, though she hadn’t looked into it yet. It likely held the method for making teleportation scrolls.

She decided to check the book later. If she could learn how to craft scrolls, it would save her a fortune in purchasing them.

…

On the main road, a procession of carriages moved slowly. From inside the lead red carriage came the sounds of a heated argument—more precisely, it was a young girl venting her frustration.

Annie slammed her teacup down, her face full of resentment. “Mother, I didn’t want to leave the house in the first place! Why can’t you just respect my wishes? I’m so tired of this! Zeelan is going to marry Helena, and I’ve become a joke at the magic academy. I don’t want to go to school, I don’t want to go out. I just want to stay home and rest quietly for a while.”

Madame Sid set her teacup down gracefully, her expression unchanged. “Resting doesn’t mean acting like a beaten dog. I’m not asking you to socialize; I simply want to take you to an interesting place to clear your mind. Your impatience and bluntness need to be worked on.”

Annie knew she couldn’t defy her mother, which only deepened her irritation.

Madame Sid, lowering her gaze, let the rich scent of her tea waft up as she gently soothed, “If you’re feeling troubled, just take a nap. By the time you wake up, we’ll have arrived. It’s a fascinating shop; just hearing about it excites me, and I’m sure you’ll love it too.”

Annie, facing away from her mother, kept a sullen expression. She didn’t believe a word.

Her heart had long since gone numb, no longer stirred by anything.

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