The Bookstore Mage

After a not-so-good night's sleep. Lucien woke up with a determined expression plastered on his face. Yesterday's events were like a heavy reminder that the world he was in was no longer the same. It was a world fraught with danger.

Although Lucien would love nothing more than to stay home and study magic, he needed the strength to back him up, the strength to look for answers on his grandpa, and the strength to understand his situation better.

He had been reckless in the past month. Lucien knew it, he understood how lucky he had been. That abyssal monster that he encountered in the astral plane was proof enough of what lurks on the other side of things. One wrong move, perhaps one wrong incantation, or one wrong spell, and who knows where or how he would end up.

Shaking his head, Lucien groggily stood up and made his way to the bathroom. After he finished with his morning routine, Lucien fixed some breakfast for both him and Moon.

When he was done eating, Lucien made his way back to his room, changed his clothes, and grabbed the magical book and his notebook using Imer before he made his way downstairs.

Lucien settled the books behind the counter, grabbed a broom with Imer, and began to clean the place. He returned some of the books that were laying on the ground to their respective places, others, on the other hand, remained there due to the lack of space.

After he finished with everything, Lucien glanced at the bookstore with a satisfied smile. He nodded and moved to open the door and raise the curtains.

The day was a little bit chilly, the breeze made him subconsciously take a step back. The location of the bookstore was not the best, he grumbled inwardly before closing the door.

His eyes subconsciously stopped over a certain place on the floor. "I'm pretty certain there was a small dent here before," Lucien mumbled.

The dent appeared after he slammed the Vampire Darius to the ground with Imer. Now, however, the imprint was no longer there. This made Lucien feel suspicious as he glanced around the bookstore.

"I know it was here, I'm not crazy. But now it's gone. Someone, or something, fixed it?"

Moon was nowhere to be seen downstairs, Lucien assumed she was lazing around upstairs. He made his way to the chair behind the counter and slumped down with a sigh pushing the matter to the back of his head.

Lucien first took a quick scan of his notebook, before he grabbed the magical book. He first took the time to revise the spells he already learned, recreating them in his mind and practicing the hand gestures.

After he finished, Lucien's eyes eyed the golden bracelet equipped on his right hand. This was the 'gift' the butler Ron had given him. It was able to store five spells, enabling him to cast them at any time with no incantation, or hand gestures.

Lucien had been meaning to store a few Usem spells, as that lightning spell was his current strongest one, and at least one or two Tajajiht spells. It had proven itself to be useful against the floating head after all.

He, however, kept pushing it back since he needed to ask Estrea to borrow her training place. Usem was too dangerous to summon here after all. Raising his hand, Lucien looked at the black ring on his pinky.

The storage ring was not too useful for him as of yet. The main reason was the fact that it couldn't hold the magical book inside. It was as if a force repelled it from doing so. This left Lucien with quite the dilemma. The magical book was too big and too thick to carry around everywhere, and he did not feel very comfortable leaving it around every time he left the bookstore.

The chimes of the bell above the door broke him from his thoughts, as they announced the arrival of the first customer of the day.

"Ah, madam Loreni, welcome!" A gentle smile stretched across his face as he greeted the sweet old lady. She was not an unfamiliar face, quite the opposite. Madam Loreni was a regular when his grandpa was here. She had lost her husband a long time ago, and Lucien always felt like there was something between her and his old pops.

He did see her at the funeral, and she promised to visit him. Although it had been a little over a month since then, Lucien was still happy to see a familiar face.

"Hello, dear. I see you've taken care of everything quite nicely. And what did I tell you to call me?" Madam Loreni's voice was surprisingly strong and deep, it brought Lucien a sense of nostalgia as he recalled scenes of the past, with her and his grandpa sitting behind the counter laughing while he was buried in his fantasy books.

Lucien quickly stood up from behind the counter and moved to hug the old lady. She gave a sweet smile in return and gently patted his back.

"It must have been lonely, staying in this place all by yourself."

Lucien answered with a smile:

"It was not so bad. Besides, I'm not alone." He said and broke the hug to show her Moon who came down at some point, and was laying down next to the counter.

Madam Loreni's eyes seemed to shine momentarily before she nodded in understanding. "That's good dear, I'm happy to see you are doing well."

"Please, come take a seat!" Lucien offered, yet she promptly shook her head and hand.

"Oh, no. I only came to check on you as promised. This old lady is still a little bit busy, I'm afraid."

"What old, you are still very beautiful, granny," Lucien answered with a smile.

"I said I'm old, not ugly." Granny Loreni rolled her eyes causing Lucien to hastily shake his head.

"Ah, of course! That's not what I meant-"

"Haha, you are still as fun to tease, dear." Her voice always rose several octaves when she was happy and became more girlish, and younger.

"Well, I'm afraid I have to go now that I've made sure you are doing well."

"Already? At least stay for some tea!"

"Oh, no. I'm afraid I am in a bit of a rush, dear."

Lucien's face turned a bit sad as he nodded, "Alright, but you still need to come visit."

"Of course," granny Loreni said and pinched his cheeks like she used to do when he was a child.

"Now, stay safe dear." Saying that she quickly turned to leave, not giving Lucien any chance to speak.

Once she reached the door, however, she paused and turned toward him:

"Ah, and dear. Leave some cookies on the counter when you go to sleep." Saying that granny Loreni left.

"Cookies?"