" Ooh ... a proposal! Lord Johan! How daring of you! But we only met today for the first time! Could it be that this is the legendary love at first sight?" exclaimed Zanthia, appearing to be suddenly enraptured.
Them, the beautiful young witch deliberately raised her veil in order to show the way her now rosy cheeks flushed even under her usual Gothic makeup. A moment later, Zanthia put her hands to each side of her own face and exageratedly smiled. It was as if she was so full of surprise and excitement than she could not help but react in that way.
All the other people in the shop opened their eyes and mouths very wide in surprise. In fact, it were so wide open that their bulging eyes almost seemed to leave their orbits and their jaws threatened to unhinge like if they were anacondas.
Little Sun was no exception. A few trickles of greenish mist came out slowly from his open mouth and the black cat had to make an effort to swallow it again while Moon and Shadow desperately covered his mouth, nose and even the holes in his ears.
Fortunately, the three of them were hidden by the lead gray counter and the customers did not notice anything. Slowly, Little Sun's face began to change to the typical color acquired by faces of those beings that for one reason or another cannot breathe. But there was someone in the store who was suffering even more.
"W-What? L-Love at first sight?" exclaimed the fat man as his face winced in surprise and his forehead was suddenly beaded with drops of sweat.
His companions also seemed suddenly hot and sweaty. They were uncomfortable and nervous, not sure about how to react, so they stirred in place, unceasingly shifting their weight from one leg to another. The cats looked at each other without saying a word. Little Sun's face was already a little bluish.
"It's so romantic! I have to admit that it is a totally unexpected event for me. I especially liked how you examined each item in the store so thoroughly," said the witch as she looked at the floor and moved the tip of the sandal over the floor again and again in a way that reminded one of an insecure adolescent, "It makes me feel so flattered that my humble establishment has gotten your approval! Obviously, Lord Johan is familiar with our courtship rituals."
"Courtship rituals? What do you mean? What I did was just evaluate the quality of the store to know what to expect. How is it possible that this is part of a courtship ritual?" asked incredulously Lord Johan as he pulled a silk handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his forehead in a way that seemed to be polishing his bald head.
"The truth is that my heart took a leap during those moments that your penetrating gaze passed through me! Oh dear! In fact, I do not remember another man giving me that kind of look before!" praised the blushing young lady and paused a moment to make eyes at him in a flirting way before continuing, "Usually, most men would be too afraid of getting a premature death to even consider the possibility of looking at a witch like that. But not you! No, sir! No doubt, you are a very brave man!"
"What? N-No ... that's not what ... "muttered the fat man trying to explain himself but the words could not escape from his trembling teeth.
"Actually, I do not know why they do not dare to do it more often. After all, I only remember killing four of them for doing something like that," said the witch as if that were as reasonable as opening the shop every morning.
The men stepped back almost unconsciously and gulped nervously as they looked at each other. The cats facepalmed themselves.
"I definitely have a soft heart, I'm not as fussy as some of my witch sisters. Some people even think I'm nice. Don't you think I'm nice?"
"Ehh ... yes, you're nice. Very nice but not ... uh ... did you say that you had killed four men for having looked at you? That was just a way of saying, right? You hadn't really killed four people, had you? " inquired an increasingly nervous Lord Johan.
"Maybe it's a few more, but nobody is counting, right?" said the witch dismissing the subject with a nervous giggle, "Anyway, let's stop talking about other men and let's focus on you. You, brave and determined man, are really attractive in the eyes of a young and impressionable witch like me! Who would have thought that the so-called gallants really existed?"
Zanthia gave him another very flirtatious look, winking repeatedly at Lord Johan. He was getting more and more nervous. He gulped twice.
"O-On m-me ... No, there is no need to concentrate on me at all! In fact I think there has been a misunderstanding ... "
"No, no misunderstanding is possible in this case. The heart knows what it wants. I really admire the very determined manner in which you entered and declared to me in such a formal way by presenting your name and company in a few words. Clearly, you knew that to court a witch who owns a store of horrors there is nothing better than having a solid financial position."
"I really did not know ! It's a coincidence, miss, I swear it! I just wanted to propose ... " tried to explain Lord Johan.
"..Marriage, yes. I know. You are the kind of man who would buy every last item of the store just to get me to smile! True? " completed the sentence the very smiling witch.
"No! I assure you that mine is a serious proposal! " replied the fat man as he wiped the sweat from his brow again.
"Love and marriage are always serious matters Lord Johan!" said Zanthia, who was no longer smiling.
"I mean that mine is not a love proposal but a business one," tried to explain the fat man to the witch without success.
"Of course, now I understand your position, we must consider the political and commercial aspect of this serious matter. A marriage is based on love but it is also an alliance between families and businesses on both sides of the couple," affirmed the witch while nodding.
Lord Johan was speechless. Everything he said seemed to make the situation worse. He looked at his companions for help. At the same time, the other two men looked at each other, confused by the turn the events had taken, but said nothing. Originally they believed that they arrived here to close a commercial deal.
Before coming to this place Lord Johan and his second had been in the house of the nondescript man, a recently promoted manager of the company named Roberto Gomez, to welcome him to the Capital. The wife of the homeowner, a talkative woman named Silvia, had recently purchased the wax golem to officiate as a butler.
When they witnessed what the automaton was capable of doing, they were amazed by it's capabilities. The woman said that she had bought it at a really cheap price in an adorable and exotic shop run by a nice and courteous owner. She even gave the children free candies.
It was an interesting sales strategy that, together with the impressive product that was the golem of wax, it generated irresistible curiosity to these seasoned businessmen. Then they decided to visit the shop that had sold it and try to obtain some models to distribute them throughout their territory. Maybe even eat a few free candies ...
But then, why had Lord Johan acted that way? The words of the witch sounded convincing ... Maybe it was true that they had come to witness a love proposal?
They decided not to risk causing Lord Johan's wrath. Until more information, it was best to move in safer waters and stay quiet. After all in the noble families it was customary for mature men in good standing to marry young girls. Some even had numerous concubines.
"Owner Zanthia, this has already gone too far. I am an old man and you are a young girl! " complained the fat representative of the Abercrombie family in a righteous tone.
It was a somewhat flimsy argument, considering that there was no sure way to know how old a witch was.
Although this woman had the appearance and attitude of an inexperienced young woman in her twenties, it could actually be a disguise behind which an old monster of those who live for hundreds of years would hide.
Besides, it was silly enough to ask the age of an ordinary woman. How much more dangerous would it be in the case of a witch? No, it was best to act as if she were a young girl and pretend to be ashamed of the age difference.
"Ooh! Could it be that due to his age Lord Johan is already thinking of retiring from the direction of the company Abercrombie? You flatter me with your choice. Very good, do not worry. I will not let you down!"
"…"
Lord Johan was speechless. Everything was slowly turning for the worse. He try to slow down the asckward developments bt keeping silence but to her dismay the witch continued to talk.
" We will leave the issue of marriage for later. I am sure we could work something out in the future. In the time being, we will concentrate on your new request. After all, everyone knows that for kings and businessmen succession is always the most important matter."
"…"
The stress that the fat man was suffering growed steadily with every word of Zanthia.
" It is unexpected but with great reluctance this young owner has decided to accept the challenge. I promise to take the reins of this company that Lord Johan has decided to leave in my hands." say the young witch and finally stopped talking.
Zanthia and Johan gazed at each other for a long time without saying another word. She was expecting for an aswer but why does it looked liked it was a battle?
The other two men and the cat waited silently as well. They did not want to interrupt the contenders, even as they suspected the final winner. Finally, it was Lord Johan who surrendered first and looked away; the fat man had been utterly defeated by the witch.
"I do not know what else I could say! At this rate I will be married before I leave this store! But I assure you that is not my intention. I do not want to leave the direction of my company either." he confessed.
The witch stared at him but she did not say a word.
The fat man sighed before looking at the tall and skinny man. Then he spoke again
"James, as my trusted butler and my second in command in the company, could you please take care of this matter. Try your best to undo this misunderstanding." Lord Johan asked in a pleadingly voice.
"Of course, Lord Johan ..." James solemnly accepted the task. He slowly approached the witch in a manner that showed great dignity. The curious witch looked at him. There was something strange about this man, an air of danger that only the experts had, well hidden in his polite manners.
"Owner Zanthia, let me assure you, I do not wish to offend you in any way. I understand that marriage is very important for the members of your community. And obviously there are some rules of courtship that Lord Johan has apparently performed inadvertently. "James continued talking in a solemn and as each step brought him closer to the gray lead counter near Zanthia.
Below this counter, the cats were a little cramped. Of course, Little Sun occupied most of the space. His face was now gray-green and it was clear that he could not contain the ghost for much longer. The ideal thing for them would be to go immediately to the basement of the store by stairs.
However, the customers were halfway between the cats and the door. Maybe they could dodge them but there was definitely a risk that they would see them. And, to make matters worse, the system had repeatedly warned them that if the customer observed the situation, then the reputation of the store would decrease a lot. They needed a distraction.
Meanwhile, the fat man nodded repeatedly, satisfied that someone could put into words the absurd situation he had gotten himself into. Miraculously, the witch had not interrupted his butler as she did with him. Lord Johan harbored hopes that the misunderstanding would be resolved satisfactorily.
"I guess what I'm trying to say is that ..." continued James.
*PLAF PLAF PLAF!*
A pile of books seemed to fall alone from a library on the dark far right side of the store. The noise made the clients and Zanthia turn around to see it and even take a few steps in that direction. Taking advantage of that brief moment, Moon pushed Little Sun downstairs.
"Meeeooww…"
*SLUMP!*
*PLOP!*
*PAF!*
And then there was the silence...
"What was that?" asked the customers, turning around to look at the source of this other noise.
"I do not know," lied Zanthia unabashedly, although she had perfectly recognized the sound.
It was the noise that made a body when it fell down the 180 meters of stairs to the basement. Specifically, the PAF sound should be from the 5th step from below. Damn non-Euclidean architecture! What kind of idiot puts all those extra dimensions on a stair? Luckily, she was not the one who fell this time. Zanthia gave a long sigh.
"MEEOW!" screamed Shadow with all her might at a high frequency. She even emerged from the shade of the library to attract more attention.
"Ooh! A feline! "exclaimed the tall and skinny man as he ran at high speed to the far right of the store, where a grey cat on a pile of books was cleaning its back with her tongue.
Lord Johan sighed. He had been so close to getting it. James approached to Shadow was and took her in his hands, before holding the pussycat in the air and turning her to admire it well. The feline protested and threw a couple of fake attacks in the air but did not escape.
"Who is a cute, cute, cute kitten? Who? This kitten! "James said in a playful tone that was not at all like the previous one he used before when discussing business.
The once solemn butler had completely lost his dignity. Even his aura of danger had vanished completely. Roberto was perplexed. However, Johan could not help but know that his trusted butler was a recognized cat fanatic; James even had half a dozen of these as pets. It was an understandable reaction for him to be distracted by playing with the beautiful gray cat.
Even so, why did it have to happen right at this delicate moment?
There was no doubt that the cats' plan had been a resounding success. No one had noticed that Moon had seized the opportunity to close the basement door. Then she also closed the door to the corridor that led to the staircase in order to completely isolate Little Sun (and the ghost in his belly) inside the warehouse.
Of course, this was surely going to make things more difficult for the black cat but hey, he really had it coming. Besides, Little Sun was a powerful magical familiar and a very tough cat. Moon considered that he could take care of himself.
"Hmmm ... I did not know that your assistant had such a love for cats ... there is no doubt that we have similar tastes, Lord Johan." said Zanthia approvingly.
"Ehhh ... yes ... Ahem, going back to the above ... ehhh ... Roberto will explain it now!" said Lord Johan while gesturing to his subordinate.
Now that James had been taken out of the ecuation by the gray feline, it was Roberto's turn to put his chest to protect his boss from the terrifying monster of marriage. The nondescript man played with the mustache with which he imitated his boss before speaking in an insecure way.
"Eh ... Owner Zanthia ... I'm afraid that Lord Johan has not come to propose to you. Neither to leave you the direction of the company. Actually, we have come on the recommendation of my wife Silvia. Remember her? A lady of short estature, a little fat, with a wonderful voice although a little peculiar, that's it ..."
Zanthia remembered Silvia and frowned. A wonderful voice? Do you mean that horrible nasal voice of the fat lady? Is this man really Silvia's husband? Wow, it seems he's really in love with his wife!
"... she came with my two children, the two candy's fans ... haha ..., the youngest, Pablo, did not stop talking about you ..."
Zanthia remembered the time she went to caress the child's head and her hand was almost trapped in his dirty hair that was completeley full of candy. She could not help frowning even more. Lord Johan saw that his subordinate's random babble seemed to put the witch in a worse mood and he trembled at the thought of the consequences.
"Get to the point! Come on, Gomez! Get down to business!" thundered the director of the Abercrombie company.
Roberto nodded to his employer and addressed the witch in a firm voice.
" You'll see, owner Zanthia, this is the situation."