Ch 57: Guide to Running a Shop in Another World

With no customers around, Lu Yao decided to guide Mumu and the other two apprentices.

After two days of activities, their design skills and aesthetics had significantly improved. Lu Yao wanted to focus on correcting some bad habits they had picked up and expanding their understanding of color matching and composition.

However, Clarissa returned and loudly announced her intention to apply for an apprenticeship.

Lu Yao was momentarily speechless but then politely declined. “Sorry, this is just a nail salon. The main work for apprentices is doing nails for customers, which may not be suitable for you.”

Clarissa clearly looked like an adventurer with considerable strength and little understanding of Mumu’s existence. The adventurers’ guild still had a mission targeting the nail salon, and Lu Yao didn’t want to casually accept a powerful but unclear apprentice.

Clarissa took a small step back, her fingers twitching slightly as she seemed to think of something. Her tone became slightly urgent. “Shopkeeper, I can learn. I can serve customers like the slime, or work as a guard or gather materials like the others. I can do anything.”

Eugenia was startled. This customer had just been criticizing Mumu, and after a short time away, suddenly came back saying she wanted to be an apprentice at the nail salon. It didn’t seem right.

Lu Yao still shook her head.

Tina lightly tugged on Lu Yao’s arm and whispered, “Shopkeeper, she’s really strong.”

Lu Yao nodded and whispered back, “I know, or she wouldn’t have come here.”

Tina leaned closer, lowering her voice even more, “There are very few adventurers as powerful as her. She might be that demon adventurer.”

Someone with power comparable to a dragon—such an existence couldn’t possibly be an ordinary human.

Lu Yao was slightly taken aback. She opened the system catalog, and sure enough, the demon race icon was lit.

The customers from the morning had been ordinary humans without magic. Lu Yao had checked the catalog after leaving the research room and noticed the icon was still unlit. The only new customer since then had been Clarissa.

A fifty-year-old demon who looked like a seventeen- or eighteen-year-old girl.

In terms of age, Harold and Tina were likely decades older than Clarissa. Thinking about it that way, it didn’t seem so strange.

After some thought, Lu Yao asked directly, “What are your skills? And how would you explain this to the guild if you became an apprentice?”

Clarissa realized that the shopkeeper knew she was an adventurer. After a brief moment of thought, she straightened her back and spoke with determination. “Adventurers don’t have binding contracts; members can leave at any time. Black Hawk Squad and the guild have no hold on me. As for my skills, I’m a wind, lightning, and wood magic user, and I’m fairly adept at close combat.”

A close-combat demon mage with three elements, maxed-out offense, and self-healing. That kind of buff could stack to the heavens.

Lu Yao found it amusing that such a genius wanted to be an apprentice at a nail salon.

“Trial period: seven days. As an apprentice, your primary duties will be learning everything related to nail art and serving customers. It’s quite different from your previous work. During these seven days, if you find it’s not what you expected, you can leave at any time. Likewise, if your performance doesn’t meet my expectations after seven days, I’ll decline your apprenticeship.”

Clarissa’s spirits lifted, and she immediately responded, “I’ll work hard to meet your expectations. The shopkeeper won’t need to set up the concealment magic arrays anymore. If anyone from the guild comes, I’ll handle them all at once.”

Lu Yao smiled wryly. “That sounds reliable, but it would be even better if it could be handled peacefully. I don’t want to scare the customers.”

Both Si Jin and Harold could handle the adventurers, but Lu Yao had deliberately chosen the most troublesome approach to lure high-level races like demons, even though it meant losing a lot of mid-tier, wealthier magic-using customers.

That loss was regrettable, so if Clarissa could deal with the guild, Lu Yao wouldn’t oppose it.

Clarissa, full of confidence, assured her, “Don’t worry, I’ll handle it properly.”

…

That evening, Clarissa returned to Bribris City to pack her things and take care of some final matters.

Although the apprenticeship was still in the trial stage, she had already made up her mind to stay, so it was best to cleanly settle her affairs with the guild in one go.

Clarissa was probably the least demon-like demon. Born into a conspiracy, later abandoned and hunted, becoming an adventurer had never been her choice.

Becoming an employee at a nail salon, however, was the first decision she had made on her own.

At the inn, the heavy sword warrior heard movement and opened the door to check. Seeing Clarissa, he looked pleased. “You’re back. Did you finish the mission?”

Clarissa stopped in her tracks and shook her head. “I’ve given up on the mission, and I’m leaving the Black Hawk Squad. Is Norman in? If not, could you let him know for me?”

The heavy sword warrior was stunned, disbelief written all over his face. “Clarissa, failing to complete a mission on your own isn’t a big deal. Tomorrow, we can go to the town together, and the captain and I will cover for you. There’s no need to leave the squad over something so small. The captain is strict with you because of your strength—he expects great things from you.”

Other adventurer teams believed that, as a hero-level adventurer, Clarissa held a high status within the Black Hawk Squad. Only the team members knew that Captain Norman often gave Clarissa high-difficulty missions, commanding her to complete them alone. At first, the other members privately worried she might leave one day out of frustration, but Clarissa had always been like a machine with no personal emotions, never defying the captain’s orders. Over time, the team got used to relying on her for the most difficult and dangerous tasks.

Now, however, Clarissa was suddenly saying she was leaving.

The heavy sword warrior’s first thought was that perhaps the pressure had finally gotten to her, though he instinctively made excuses for Norman.

Clarissa said, “It has nothing to do with the mission. I just don’t want to be an adventurer anymore.”

The heavy sword warrior cautiously asked, “Do you have somewhere else to go?”

Clarissa nodded. “Yes, I’ve already arranged something.”

The heavy sword warrior’s heart sank. He was sure that another adventurer team had poached Clarissa with a tempting offer. Norman had just been called away for something important, leaving the warrior unsure how to retain their only hero-level member. Desperate, he could only blurt out, “Where are you going? Did they offer you something better than what top-tier adventurers get?”

Maybe a noble had hired her as a bodyguard?

With her abilities, joining a knight’s order wouldn’t be out of the question, though her half-demon blood would prevent her from being accepted by the royal family.

Clarissa replied, “No, I’ve applied to be an apprentice at that nail salon in Emerald Town.”

The heavy sword warrior was dumbfounded. “A-apprentice? What kind of apprentice?”

Surely she didn’t mean the shop they’d targeted for the mission?

Clarissa’s expression turned serious. “A nail salon apprentice, part-time guard. Also, let the guild know that if any more adventurer teams take that A-level mission, I’ll personally greet them at the shop door, and they should prepare themselves.”

The heavy sword warrior was speechless.

After leaving the Black Hawk Squad, Clarissa went to the Redheart Guild and canceled her adventurer registration.

From then on, she was simply Clarissa, the half-demon, and a nail salon apprentice.

News of hero-level adventurer Clarissa’s departure from the Redheart Guild spread across all the guilds in Bribris City within a single night.

…

The next morning, Si Jin returned with a large supply of materials from outside and raised an eyebrow upon seeing a new half-demon employee in the shop.

Their shop owner is truly fearless.

Lu Yao formally introduced Clarissa to the other employees and finally assigned Mumu to guide her. Both Eugenia and Tina were initially trained as apprentices under Mumu’s guidance, and he had taught them well, so Lu Yao was confident.

Clarissa looked down at Mumu, feeling slightly awkward. Mum gazed back with his round, glistening eyes, tilting his head innocently and letting out a soft “chirp.”

Clarissa’s heart skipped a beat. This slime… was actually kind of cute.

Among higher-level races, there seemed to be a reserved distance, but Lu Yao didn’t interfere, letting them grow accustomed to each other naturally over time.

She hadn’t removed the hidden magic array outside the shop just yet, thinking it might still lure something interesting.

Early in the morning, there were no customers, and the staff could handle regular clients easily. Lu Yao went to the snack shop to pick up breakfast. What once was a meal for one had now grown into a pile of lunchboxes for the increasing number of nail salon employees.

She called for the staff to have their meal and then took hers to the lab to check on materials. This time, Si Jin and Harold had done exceptionally well, bringing back everything she needed in a single trip, and in considerable quantities.

After quickly eating, Lu Yao began mixing the ingredients for Glue No. 3. The difficulty of making Glue No. 3 was even greater than that of Glue No. 2. She failed fifteen times before finally producing a passable batch, but the glue’s effectiveness was poor—when applied to the nail file, it could barely cut through plastic nail tips, and the attack power wasn’t significantly improved.

She spent more time adjusting the ingredients, carefully reviewing the recipe, and refining the process. After three more attempts, she finally succeeded in creating a product similar to the original.

Lu Yao applied a bit of the glue to a nail file, and this time, with a gentle swing, the blade left a silver trail in the air. With a loud “crack,” a corner of the lab table snapped off.

!!!

This glue was incredibly potent. She had only intended to test it on the plastic nail tips, but without controlling her strength, the file lightly touched the table, cutting off a chunk of its edge.

Lu Yao pondered the idea of using a file coated with Glue No. 3 to attack a nail enhanced with Glue No. 2. She wondered what the outcome would be.

Just then, the door to the lab slowly creaked open, leaving a narrow gap. A chill crept in from the floor, crawling up her skin. Lu Yao shivered and called out for Mumu to close the door, but there was no response.

Sensing something was off, Lu Yao frowned. Even if Mumu hadn’t heard her, Sigmund and Harold were outside—there was no reason they wouldn’t answer. Moreover, the quiet outside felt eerie, almost too silent.

“Click… click… click…”

Something was out there. Lu Yao gripped the nail file tightly and stood up slowly.

“What’s going on outside?” she asked the system.

The system paused for a moment before responding: “A necromancer has arrived.”

“And Harold and the others?” she asked.

“They’ve been frozen.”

Lu Yao was confused. “What do you mean?”

“Time has stopped.”

Lu Yao: “…”

As she processed this information, the necromancer, holding a black staff, slowly approached the door and pushed it open wider.

Upon seeing Lu Yao, the necromancer appeared genuinely surprised.

…

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