117. At That Time, Vivian Was (2)
117. At That Time, Vivian Was (2)
[Episode 117] - At That Time, Vivian (2)
No matter how hard I looked, it was a bizarre house. The ceiling was chocolate-coated crackers, the window frames were decorated with cookies, the doorknob was a smooth lollipop, and even the adhesive used was whipped cream.
"It's a miracle that bugs aren't swarming it..."
"Because it's magic."
That damn magic...
I frowned at the sticky-looking Candy House, but Fran, acting as if it were nothing, grabbed the lollipop doorknob and beolkeok! swung open the cookie door.
Is she really okay touching that sticky lollipop? It clearly looked like the candy was melting and sticky—didn't it get on her hand? I felt like grabbing Fran's hand right then and there and running to a spring to wash it off.
As I thought that, Titania suddenly came to mind.
'Reminds me of when Titania ate chocolate when she was little.'
When she was six, Titania would have chocolate all over both hands, happily licking it off her fingers. I remembered the memories of scrubbing those hands clean. She was so cute back then.
Feeling lethargic at the thought of Titania, I pinched my cheek to snap out of it. Now wasn't the time to miss Titania. The witch from 'Hansel and Gretel' was right in front of me.
Fran, who had opened the door and entered the house, called the witch's name.
"Katarina, are you there?"
The interior of the house made of sweets was more normal than I thought. Wooden floorboards, ordinary wooden furniture. Unlike the bizarre exterior, the inside was extremely normal.
But if there was a problem...
'...It's filthy.'
The inside of the house was seriously dirty.
Except for the kitchen where she made sweets, the rest of the space was completely filthy. Trash and dust on the floor, unorganized laundry. This was one of the reasons I didn't want to meet this witch.
As Fran walked around the house, wading through the trash piled on the floor, a udangtangtang (clattering) sound of trash falling over came from inside the house. The innermost door swung open, and a woman who was only half-dressed popped out.
Lifeless green hair. Dark circles down to her cheeks. Mismatched underwear top and bottom. She was even wearing her clothes inside out as she hurriedly got ready; it was pitiful to watch.
'Katarina', having hurriedly put on her skirt and clothes, gave a goofy grin and bowed at the waist to greet Fran and me. It was a formal greeting, but feeling completely un-welcomed, I stared at her blankly.
"W-w-w-welcome...! To my... confectionery shop...!"
"Katarina, it's me. Fran from the Coven."
"F-Fran?"
Katarina, who had only lifted her head to look at Fran while still bent at the waist, let out a deep sigh as if disappointed and slumped down to the floor. She looked like a doll with its strings cut.
"W-what... I-I thought it was a c-customer for the first time in a while..."
Would a customer even come to such a dirty place...?
Well, the exterior was certainly outstanding as a confectionery shop, but customers who saw the interior would definitely run away immediately. It was so dirty you couldn't tell where the display case was or where the counter was.
Fran ignored Katarina and continued.
"Katarina. I've brought the person you said you needed to work with."
"W-what?! R-really?! W-where?!"
Fran pointed at me standing next to her. The moment Katarina whipped her head around to look at me, her dull eyes shook as if an earthquake were happening.
"A-au, a, aaaa-"
"...I'm Vivian Liliensole. Please take care of me."
"Ack!! Vivian!!"
Katarina screamed as if she had seen a ghost.
Yeah, I had expected this to some extent. Most people who knew Vivian until now had reacted this way. Actually, this reaction was so rare now that it felt nostalgic. Sigh.
Katarina's eyes rolled back, and she collapsed backward with a pik. This was the second reason I didn't want to meet this witch. She was just too timid.
In other words, it meant you couldn't communicate with her.
'I suffered a lot in the original work because I couldn't communicate with her. The dialogue options were practically meaningless. This is why I didn't really want to meet her...'
Fran looked back and forth between the collapsed Katarina and me, then shrugged. As if saying, 'It's not my fault.' Yeah, what could be your fault? It's all Vivian's fault.
I let out a deep sigh and looked at the filthy house. Thinking now was my chance while Katarina was passed out, I rolled up my sleeves and asked Fran to take care of the collapsed Katarina.
"I'll leave Katarina to you. I'm going to... clean up this filthy place."
"I don't mind cleaning it myself, though."
Fran patted her chest as if asking if I didn't see her maid outfit. Seeing her confident demeanor, as if saying 'Cleaning is my job!', I chuckled and patted Fran's head.
"I'm afraid she'll faint again if she sees me the moment she opens her eyes. Please explain things about me well when she wakes up."
"That's true. Understood."
Fran picked up the collapsed Katarina and went into the bedroom inside. Turning my head to look at the state of the house, which looked like it had been bombed, I let out a deep sigh and started looking for a broom.
*
It took over four hours for Katarina to come to her senses and for Fran to explain about me. Perhaps because Katarina, unlike other witches, didn't know about 'me', it took a while for her to understand the fact that Vivian had died.
"S-so. You mean... a V-Vivian with different contents?"
"...Yes. You've already asked that dozens of times."
"I-I'm sorry... I just c-can't believe it..."
Katarina looked at me, her eyes darting around as if she really couldn't believe it. When I let out a deep sigh at her frustrating behavior, Katarina's shoulders didn't just flinch; she jumped as if burned. To think she'd act like this even with Fran's mediation...
At this rate, I felt like I wouldn't be able to talk about work even if a lifetime passed, so I quickly asked about the 'job' Katarina had asked Fran for. I almost laughed at the situation where the applicant was the one asking the recruiter questions, but I brushed it off and asked slyly.
"Katarina? Come to think of it, why do you need someone to work?"
"Ah, w-well... A-as you can see, my shop doesn't have many c-customers..."
"......Yes, and?"
"I-it's like I can't do business h-here... or maybe the l-location isn't good...? S-so, I'm thinking of moving the shop this time, and I'm l-looking for an employee to work with me there."
"......I see. Exactly what kind of work does that employee do?"
"U-uh, w-well, e-everything except c-cooking."
"What?"
Everything except cooking? As I stared at her in disbelief, Katarina flinched and shook her shoulders. Could it be that she felt threatened just by me looking at her? I let out a sigh as I watched Katarina start to tremble.
"...So, you're looking for an employee to take charge of all shop work except for kitchen duties?"
"Y-yes, that's right. If possible... I'm l-looking for an ideal employee who will always greet customers for me, and do the work of meeting people for me..."
...At that moment, I couldn't help but clutch my forehead due to the throbbing headache. I couldn't help but think I shouldn't have come. No matter how much I needed a job, this wasn't it.
I rolled my eyes and glared at Fran, but Fran, who had introduced me to this job, seemed to have no thoughts about this situation. She probably thinks it's possible because she's a perfect maid.
It was a moment where Fran, who had seemed reliable until now, looked like a fool.
In a situation where I could only sigh, wondering what on earth I should do, a loud stomach growl rang out from Katarina, who was lying on the bed. Katarina's face turned bright red at the sound from her own stomach, and she smiled awkwardly.
"I-I'm sorry. I haven't been able to eat properly..."
"...? Because you don't have money?"
"Ah, no. It's n-not a money problem... I just focus on making s-sweets... so all I eat every day is the sweets I make... I don't really eat things like rice... Heh, heheh...!"
Is this something to talk about as if it's a point of pride?
Seeing Katarina scratching the back of her head and smiling sheepishly, I felt absurd. Should I say every action of hers is annoying, or that I can't just leave her alone?
I knew about Katarina through the original work, but seeing her with my own eyes, I knew for sure. She was the type of person who I thought might really die alone if left like this.
"Haa... Is it okay if I use the kitchen?"
"Y-yes? I-it's okay..."
"Then wait. Fran, can you help me?"
"Yes, understood."
I stood up and headed with Fran to the kitchen, which was the cleanest part of the house. When I opened the pantry where food was stored, it was funny that it was full of only ingredients for making sweets. Flour, sugar, eggs, etc.-
I took eggs out of the pantry and started cooking with Fran's assistance. It was an omelet that could be made with just eggs and salt, but I had to get Fran's help because I had never used this kitchen before.
'Cooking is easy if I can just handle the kitchen. I haven't had a chance to cook since coming here, but I used to live alone before.'
I put three decently made omelets on a plate, lifted the plate, and headed straight to Katarina. Katarina stared blankly at the bouncy, yellow omelet placed in front of her, drooling.
"I'm sorry I can only make you something like this. If there were a variety of ingredients, I would have made something proper... There were only ingredients for making sweets, so I just roughly made an omelet. Eat it quickly while it's warm."
"I-I'll eat well..."
"And, I've cleaned up the dirty things outside to some extent. I haven't done the laundry yet, but if you tell me where to do it before I leave, I'll take care of it. And also..."
"C-cleaning?"
Startled by the word 'cleaning', Katarina got up from her seat and looked outside the door. It wasn't fully organized yet, but Katarina was speechless at the sight of the interior, which was definitely different from when she first saw it.
"T-the floor is visible...!"
Katarina looked at the slightly organized house and scooped up a spoonful of the omelet she was holding. As soon as the omelet touched the spoon, it scooped up in the shape of the spoon, just like pudding.
As the salty omelet touched her teeth, it went down her throat with a gulp before she even chewed it a few times. She could feel the warmth filling her body, enough to feel the warm energy going down her esophagus into her stomach.
Katarina, who had hurriedly put all the omelets on the plate into her mouth, suddenly jumped at me. As I, who was sitting, was startled, Katarina hugged my waist tightly and buried her face in my stomach.
"H-hired! You're hired!"
"What?! N-no, I don't want to!"
"I-I refuse your refusal! You're h-hired! You can't go anywhere!"
"No, more than that...! Get off me!"
I tried to push her face away, but Katarina, who was stuck like a leech, had no intention of letting go. I looked at Fran with desperate eyes as if asking for help, but Fran just nodded while eating the omelet I had made.
"That's great, Vivian. You've found a job, so everything is A-OK."
"A-OK my foot...!"
"M-mom! Don't go!"
"W-who's your mom?!"
...This was how I came to work with Katarina. Katarina took charge of cooking in the kitchen, and I took charge of all the general work. Displaying the sweets Katarina made, or serving customers.
After some discussions with Katarina, I moved with her to a small countryside village far from the capital. There, we opened a very small confectionery shop in a small store in the forest that Katarina had prepared.
There were few customers, and we didn't make money, but Katarina said she was happy that others ate the sweets she made.
That the sweets containing her 'magic' became 'medicine'.
A countryside confectionery shop where sweets contained minor magic that could cure colds or minor illnesses. There, Katarina and I started our country life, just the two of us.