I woke up at home, and Monday evening had arrived.
Ah, Monday – my favorite.
During the night shift at the convenience store, Monday is probably the least bad of the weekdays.
Monday evenings have a certain quality to them – that urge to just forget about work, go home, and relax with some food and drinks.
Thankfully, this special Monday vibe seems to carry over even in this other world.
The customer flow wasn’t too heavy, either before or during my shift.
However, something utterly baffling had appeared.
“Manager, what is this?”
There was a semi-transparent sticker or film on the storefront window.
At first I thought it might be some kind of anti-bug magic, but the manager gave a completely unexpected answer.
“The government ordered it. To cover up the windows.”
“Huh? Why?”
“They said it’s to make cigarettes not visible.”
Huh?
What kind of nonsense is this?
Apparently, this world also has nationwide anti-smoking campaigns, and the government officials had come up with this brilliant idea – “If people can’t see cigarettes, they’ll think about smoking less, right?”
I’m not sure which idiot proposed this “out of sight, out of mind” law, but it somehow got passed, and now here we are.
I asked the manager, “Are the higher-ups in this world actually camels?”
Camels are known to bury their heads in the sand when they sense danger, believing that if they can’t see the threat, the threat can’t see them either.
Seems like the same flawed logic is at play here.
How is this any different?
How many non-smokers are really going to see a cigarette display and suddenly think, “Oh, I’m bored, maybe I’ll try smoking”?
That’s just a ridiculous notion.
If this was just happening to someone else, I’d probably just shake my head at the sheer camel-like logic.
But now, as an employee here, I have no idea what to make of it.
The outside world is blocked off, just…gone.
Looking at the manager, it’s clear she’s not too thrilled about this either.
“It’s not great, to be honest. I feel kind of trapped in here.”
“Can’t we just rip this off?”
“Nope, apparently we’ll get fined if we take it down and don’t put it back up.”
I figured that the manager has already investigated that.
I bet burning down the entire cigarette factory would be way more effective, but oh well, can’t avoid the fines.
Setting that aside, I asked the manager about anything else I needed to know.
There was one notable thing:
“Hey, Chana, the police are supposed to come by later.”
“Oh, did you call them? When are they coming?”
“Apparently after 10pm. They want to talk to eyewitnesses, and since you’re coming in for your shift, they said they’d stop by then. Think you can handle talking to them?”
“Uh, I’m not sure. I’ve never done anything like that before.”
I’ve never had any dealings with the police, let alone cracked jokes with them.
And now I’ll have to give a statement in this other world.
“Don’t worry too much, I’ll be here with you.”
“But you must be tired, you should just go home. As long as I don’t lie, it should be fine, right?”
“I’m still a bit concerned, so I’ll just hang around.”
“But when exactly are the police coming? You said after 10pm, but how soon after?”
“Well, it’s just after 10 now, so they should be here any min-“
Suddenly, the sound of a motorcycle engine could be heard outside.
Looking out, I saw a police motorcycle pulling up to the curb.
So much for them coming “after 10pm.”
The officer dismounted and came through the front door, the baton on their belt swinging as they approached us.
As they removed their helmet, a cascade of black-tinged blond hair spilled out, and a pair of pointed elven ears emerged.
It was the same female elf officer from before.
She looks like she hasn’t slept in days – the dark circles under her eyes are much more pronounced, and the ratio of black to blond in her hair has shifted significantly.
Despite the sleepy expression, her voice was clear as she introduced herself.
“Officer Luvel reporting. I’m here regarding the attempted robbery and illegal magic item possession charges.”
“Yes, that’s correct, Officer.”
“The employee who was present at the scene would be you, correct?”
She looks at me as she says this, and I get a sense this is about to get serious.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“I’d like to hear the details, if you don’t mind.”
“Okay.”
With a nod, the elf officer pulls out a notepad.
At first, the questions are fairly straightforward – the time of the incident, the items that were nearly stolen (mostly groceries, it seems).
“It was around 9:30am, and the items were mostly everyday necessities…”
I suppose dealing with all the craziness in this other world has made me less anxious about these kinds of situations.
The words flow easily.
The other questions cover the commonalities between the stolen goods, my description of the suspect.
Finally, she asked:
“And what was the situation like when you apprehended the robber?”
“Huh?”
The officer’s question seemed a bit vague, so I asked her to clarify.
Pausing for a moment, she tapped the end of her pen against her forehead, then spoke up.
“The details will have to be investigated at the station, but this wallet appears to have had various magic spells placed on it.”
Ah, I see now.
“Though it seems they’ve all been dispelled now. Do you have any insights on that?”
“Hmm…”
I do have an explanation in mind, but I’m not sure if it’ll fly.
I can’t very well lie, so I just decided to be straightforward about it.
“As soon as I touched it, it just…activated on its own. I’m not sure why.”
The officer fell silent for a moment.
“…I see. Well, we can review the CCTV footage if needed.”
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FROM NOW ON THIS NOVEL WILL BE UPDATED HERE.