I couldn't fathom the intention of this succubus who had called me to the counter only to start puking out pancakes right in front of me.
Was she trying to boast about what she had for dinner?
The succubus didn't seem interested in answering me.
Or rather, she was in no condition to answer or do anything else, for she had already cooked up another batch and presented it before my eyes.
"Ughh..."
"Ma'am, could you please step away from the counter?"
I asked as I looked at the vomit dripping down under the counter.
My voice sounded surprisingly calm, even to myself, though it was more out of sheer disbelief than anything else.
I was more amused than angry.
The succubus finally calmed down, panting and fluttering her wings, then wiped the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand.
The sight of her sheepishly smiling face and fluttering wings might have seemed alluring under different circumstances.
If only she hadn't just thrown up.
"Hehe... Boss..."
Please stop calling me that and move away.
You need to clean up your mess.
The dwarf who had gone to get the wax had now come back and was standing next to me, glancing between the succubus and the counter.
"Can we pay here?"
"Looks like we can't do it at the counter right now. Card or cash?"
"Card."
I took the card and went to the counter to complete the transaction.
With the dwarf taken care of for now, I had to figure out what to do about this disastrous situation.
First, I decided to deal with the succubus before the pancakes.
"Ma'am, please go sit over there by the window."
I pointed to the table by the window, but she responded in a slurred voice.
"Don' wanna..."
I don't want you to either.
If you throw up again, I'll have to clean up that too.
But this succubus was clearly not in her right mind.
She was having trouble even walking, so I couldn't just send her outside - she'd probably just collapse in front of the store.
So, with a resigned sigh, I grabbed her hand and escorted her to the table, guiding her to sit down.
As soon as she was seated, she plopped her head down on the table, staring at me with unfocused eyes.
I left her there and went back to the counter.
The spreading vomit had now reached the vicinity of the card terminal.
I grabbed a wet rag from the sink and, after a moment's hesitation, began to clean it up.
Rather than meticulously wiping up the vomit with the rag, it might be better to just sweep it all to the floor and then mop it up.
That would be easier than trying to clean it bit by bit.
The only problem with that approach was that I'd have to keep serving customers while dealing with this mess.
Even with only half of it cleaned up, a customer had already arrived.
"Boss, where's the ice cream... Ugh, what's this?"
"It's right in front, sir. But could you please take a look and pick what you'd like?"
This customer was a lizard-like humanoid, a salamander of sorts, wearing a factory uniform.
Likely grabbing some ice cream during a night shift break.
Reptiles do need help regulating their body temperature, so ice cream would be a good solution.
Thankfully, he seemed to understand the situation.
After glancing between the succubus on the table and me, he started browsing for ice cream with his tongue hanging out.
I was grateful he grasped my current predicament.
In the meantime, I pushed all the vomit under the counter and laundered the rag to clean up the counter surface.
Now, where was that mop...
"Manager, where's the mop in the store?"
[Why? I already cleaned up before the shift change...]
"There's vomit at the counter."
[Ah...]
The manager let out a resigned sigh and replied.
[Well... I'm not sure if we even have a mop.]
"If there's no mop, how do you clean?"
[With magic, of course. Say, I can teach you a quick cleanup spell - do you have any magical power?]
"No, I don't."
[Hmm, I think I still have something from when I used to train in summoning magic. Do you want to check inside the office?]
When I rushed into the office, I found it filled with all sorts of junk that I had never seen before.
The scattered books didn't look like ledgers at all, and I had no idea what that thing in the corner was.
An hourglass, perhaps?
After rummaging through the crystals and mysterious potions, I finally spotted an old, worn mop in the corner.
Grabbing it, I hurried back out to find the salamander had finished selecting his ice cream.
The number of ice cream bars on the counter... Wait, how many did he grab?
"That's quite a lot. I need to get some for my coworkers too."
Quite a lot was an understatement - after counting, it was over 40 ice cream bars.
When I tried to calculate the total, a message popped up saying I was missing one of the "2+1" ice cream items.
"Sir, you didn't bring one of the 2+1 ice cream items."
"Oh really? Which one?"
I had no idea - out of these 40-something ice creams, which one would be the 2+1 special?
The POS display didn't clearly indicate which items were part of that promotion.
And I couldn't just grab another identical ice cream, since the 2+1 deal seems to apply to the whole bundled pack, not individual items.
The fine print did list the 2+1 eligible items, but the text was microscopic, and there were so many varieties.
In this situation, the best option was probably to just not mention it at all.
Customers buying dozens of items usually don't care about an extra ice cream or two.
Only the more meticulous ones tend to count it themselves.
But I had already brought it up.
Retracting what I said wasn't really an option either.
So, I decided to try scanning everything again from the beginning.
That way, I could identify the discounted 2+1 item by the lower price when I rescanned them.
Of course, navigating the temperamental touchscreen and tiny item buttons made this a tedious process.
In the end, I decided to just let it go.
"You know what, this is taking too long. I'll just go."
"Are you sure that's alright?"
"Yeah, my coworkers are getting affected by the heat, so I need to get this to them quickly."
"Oh, I see. That's rough."
"Can't be helped when you're a salamander. Anyway, could you please print the receipt?"
As he handed me his corporate card, I thought the factory employee perks were quite impressive - using a company card to buy ice cream.
After ringing him up and bagging the ice cream, I turned to tackle the vomit mess.
Luckily, no other customers had arrived during the cleanup.
"Manager, I've finished cleaning up the vomit. Can I just flush the mop water down the drain?"
[Sure, there's nowhere else to dump it anyway.]
"Also, the succubus customer who vomited is still here."
[She's still in the store?]
"Yes, she doesn't seem to be leaving."
[Well then, I guess we need to get her contact information and address in the registry...]
"Why? Has COVID-19 spread to this world too?"
This was another unexpected revelation.
Even in my world, stores had customer registries and QR codes for COVID contact tracing.
But here, what was the reason?
The manager, of course, had no idea what COVID-19 was.
[What's COVID-19?]
"It's a virus that's infected around 140 million people and killed about 3 million in my world."
[Goodness, did they have a botched magical experiment on a continental scale?]
"No, it's from some bad dietary habits..."
The manager found it hard to believe that a simple dietary issue could wreak such havoc on the world.
But sometimes reality is indeed stranger than fantasy.
Apparently, the registry was for a similar reason here.
[Occasionally, we get customers who are cursed or under anti-magic effects.]
"Do those things spread as well?"
[Yes, and the problem is they don't even realize they're affected. That's why the Magic Bureau asked us to keep this registry - it helps trace the source.]
The "Magic Bureau" sounded like some kind of government agency.
Anyway, I guess I should add the succubus's information, but she was practically unconscious at this point, drooling and limbs dangling.
How am I supposed to get her contact details?
I grabbed the registry and approached her.
"Excuse me, mam, if you're going to stay in the store, I need you to fill this out."
"Hehe..."
I couldn't do it, and the manager saw my dilemma.
"She's just laughing, manager."
[Hmm, let her be - maybe she's having a nice dream... Wait, has she been laughing this whole time?]
When I confirmed that, the manager paused, then said:
[There should be a curse detection device under the counter. Could you please grab that?]