From the entrance room meant for medicine display, Naoki walked into the second room meant for medical consultation.
"Where is that man?" He growled with a hard stare narrowing down at Daisuke.
"I think…"
Daisuke had only started but paused when they both heard a creaking sound from the innermost room and immediately cast their gaze to their side.
Lo and behold, the store manager they had come to see, was peeping through the small gap between the wooden door and its frame.
"Mr. Ikeda," Daisuke called out with a look of surprise flashing past his eyes as Naoki squinted.
'Has he been there all this time?' They thought to themselves.
There was no other reason they could think of, other than this. Maybe the store manager didn't know that they were the ones that walked in.
This could explain why he was only stepping out now.
Shifting his gaze from Daisuke to the other man that looked like he would be shooting lasers from his eyes anytime soon, his eyes widened in shock as his hands left the door frame and dropped to his sides.
Without warning, he took two steps forward and knelt face down on the dirty floor with his hands pressed above his head.
"Lord Sato!"
It was truly a surprise seeing the Lord master in the store after several years. This was the second time he was visiting after coming a day to the store opening many years ago.
What was more overwhelming about his presence was that he had been in a coma for 18 solid years and had finally awakened.
The store manager was excited, and couldn't help but offer him a grand greeting, but no sooner had he done that, than he received a rebuke.
"Seal those lips!" Naoki hissed, instantly sending him a glare that could have bore a hole into the back of his head if his powers weren't still in space.
Where did he think they were, for him to address him as such?
He might as well go out to publicly announce his history.
In the face of the man clearly stronger than he was, Mr. Ikeda trembled helplessly while thinking about where he must have gone wrong.
Scoffing, Naoki turned his back to him and walked toward the high table with his hands behind his back.
A soft sigh tore through Daisuke's lips as he walked up to the man who didn't dare to raise his head even after he had been spared, and offered him a hand.
Quickly, the man scrambled to his feet and followed him toward the high table. They only stopped when they were arms-length away from Naoki.
"This store is just an empty shell," Naoki said as his eyes moved around the room before landing on the store manager.
"How have you been managing it when you ran out of medicines?" He asked.
Immediately, Mr. Ikeda bowed slightly as sadness flashed past his eyes.
"My Lord, in order not to completely lose out, we had no choice but to prescribe medicines to the patients that came for consultation."
Apart from selling different types of medicines to take care of some common ailments, the store also had an inner room for consultancy.
Naoki aimed to provide medicines that worked for the commoners and any noble interested, while also giving them free medical consultation to be sure they were being treated for the right illness.
If any patient walked in with symptoms of any illness, he would be taken into the room they were currently in, for consultation instead of buying medicine straight from the shelve without a diagnosis.
As the store manager continued to recount what the store had been up to and the management that was currently in use, Naoki listened patiently without sitting.
He wasn't in the mood to sit as he had no intention of spending his whole day there.
A few minutes later as Mr. Ikeda was concluding, Naoki gestured to Daisuke to open the wooden box they came with.
"Master brought a new batch of medicines for the store," Daisuke announced as he opened the box, letting the store manager have a good look at the several papers wrapped with medicines and the bottles containing liquid ones as well.
Instantly, his eyes widened in surprise as his fingers trembled at his sides. This was good news.
Mr. Ikeda's eyes glistened with tears as he was almost on the verge of letting down his manly pride.
His heart was gladdened with the medicines entering the store once again after 18 years.
This was indeed good news.
As soon as Naoki noticed that, he turned his gaze away and started walking towards the door, interrupting his emotional rant by giving out instructions on what the medicines were for.
Seeing that he was about to leave, Daisuke hurriedly left the store manager's side to go after him.
Reaching the entrance leading to the first room used to display medicines for sale, Naoki stopped in his steps as he cast his gaze on the man.
"Throughout this week, Daisuke will bring new batches of medicines daily until the store is filled once again."
"Thank you, My Lord." Mr. Ikeda replied in a tone laced with unhidden joy.
"In the meantime, call for the physicians and attendants to resume work in the morning, or they would forever rest in their homes."
Saying up to this point, Naoki turned around and left with Daisuke tailing behind.
That was it for the store.
In a day, Naoki had overseen that his retainers' morale and hope were revived by gracing them with his presence instead of just sending Daisuke to deliver the potions.
Also, he had taken care of the medicine store issue to ensure that patients would once again start to come around like before.
This time, it wouldn't just be to get a medical diagnosis and be prescribed medicines from another store, but the full treatment plan would commence along with selling medicines once again.
This was the goal Naoki had before he opened the store, and he would see to it that his vision came into place.
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Dearest Readers, I apologize for not updating for two days, as I suffered from writer's block so, I was unable to write.
And don't think I'm all good to go, but I will try my best.
Thank you for your patience.
XOXO