"Did you guys check out the Drug Store already? I'm going to visit today!"

"Yeah, I took a free sample yesterday. It was so good, I had to buy some! I used all of it already though... It's amazing that I didn't even get a hangover. I'll have to go buy more today!"

Cole and Rogg weren't aware of it, but the Drug Store had become the talk of town. During the night, people were smoking their newly bought weed instead of drinking alcohol. Usually, the streets would get completely destroyed on party nights, but this time almost no damage was done. Instead, the streets were filled with people smoking through apple pipes.

Cole's free sample had been such a small amount, that people had barely faced the surface of getting high. Now that everyone had their own weed, they started to smoke unreasonably large amounts. Most enjoyed the feeling of being stoned as a rock, and almost nobody had bad trips. It almost felt like demons were immune to most side effects of cannabis.

The streets were filled with people who had smoked all of their weed at once. Some were laughing at seemingly random things, while others were having meaningless conversations. Their wallets were also thankful, since smoking is way cheaper than binge drinking. A beer is cheaper than a gram, but you barely feel drunk after one beer. A single gram easily took people with low tolerance to the moon, however. It seemed like everyone had forgotten their responsibilities and just enjoyed the night.

Customers visiting restaurants were also skyrocketing, as everyone had the munchies. Overall, it was a pleasant night even for people who weren't involved, as there weren't any drunk people they had to worry about.

Cole and Rogg had also been vibing and were about to wake up. A small commotion could be heard outside the store. Cole still wanted to sleep but couldn't due to the noise. He checked Rogg's magic clock, which pointed to precisely 6am. Cole wasn't too happy to be woken up so early by a commotion.

"What the fuck is going on outside? Is there a riot?"

Cole opened the door to see what was going on. There wasn't a riot, but instead something much worse. Outside the Drug Store were hundreds of people lined up waiting for the store to open. It seemed like they had waited all night. They all saw Cole and assumed he was there to finally open the store. Cole wasn't having it, however.

"Guys, what the fuck are you doing?! Can you please quiet down! We're trying to get a good night's sleep over here!"

"But... You said the Drug Store would open right away in the morning!"

"Yeah! Open the store!"

The line was disappointed to say the least. They had waited for the entire night just to get some weed, and the store owner was telling them to quiet down.

"It's 6 fucking AM! We need sleep too! Alright, how about this, all of you get a discount if shut the fuck up for two more hours!"

Cole decided to bribe the line using a discount. People weren't too happy about his choice of words, but they did want a discount. In the end, they agreed to let Cole sleep for two more hours.

Holy fuck that's a lot of people. Why the hell are they lining up overnight just to get weed? I'm glad for our success, but even I can't work for eight hours without breaks and only six hours of sleep.

Cole quickly went back to sleep. He slept like a baby, and quickly woke up to a commotion again.

Ughh... Did I sleep for two hours already? I'm still tired as fuck...

Cole checked the clock, which now read 8.43am.

OH FUCK! I overslept... No wonder they're angry again. Even Rogg overslept...

"Rogg! Wake up! We gotta get the store back running!"

After a few minutes of preparations, the store was ready to be opened. Cole headed outside to calm down the angry mob. Surprisingly, very few people had left the line. Instead, even more had joined the wait.

"The Drug Store is now open! We apologize for the delay and as compensation, everyone who buys weed from the Drug Store today will get an extra gram for entirely free!"

The crowd celebrated after they had been waiting for an entire night, and the Drug Store was finally open. It was honestly quite ridiculous. It seemed like the demons in Medoea had forgotten the fact, that they are currently in war with humans. Modern people wouldn't even think about partying if war was declared, but the citizens of this cruel world had been through war their entire lives, and it had always been the norm. They would much rather live life to the fullest when it was possible during the few months of peace.

Cole didn't even need to give free samples anymore, since everyone was just hungry to buy more weed. The doors opened, and people started rushing inside. Cole had to stay outside letting people in one by one, so the store wouldn't get too cramped. Overall, it was proceeding smoothly.

Cole was getting tired faster than the day before and really wanted to go back to sleep. He had to keep going though, as the customers would most likely riot if he closed down now.

The Drug Store sold a lot more than the day prior during the morning, but the commotion seemed to finally die down after 1pm. They were still getting many customers, but there was no longer a huge line craving for cannabis. For Cole, this was a good thing, as he could finally relax. The town of Medoea was fairly small with only 20,000 residents, so the huge success didn't even make sense in the first place.

Finally after multiple hours of chaos, there was a moment of silence without a single customer. Cole and Rogg finally had room to breathe. They had now sold one of the massive 6 meter cannabis plants.

"I can't believe we sold an entire plant in just two days. We're going to run out soon..."

Cole wasn't too happy about running out of weed. Not only did this mean he couldn't smoke, but the entire city would be filled with hungry addicts that want to buy cannabis. It would take at least two more months until Artyom's plants were ready to be sold. The only thing left of the first plant were the leaves and stems.

"Can't we sell these leaves? They look pretty good to me."

"No, you can't smoke the fucking leaves Rogg. Maybe we could make hash out of them... No that wouldn't work either. We don't have enough leaves to make more than a few hash coins and besides, it takes too much work..."

"Hash coins? What are those?"

"Forget it. They wouldn't be worth the effort."

Maybe we should hire more workers. Then I could focus on making hash. Or could we make edibles out of the leaves? ...No, I suck at cooking...

Hiring more workers seems like a good idea though. Yeah! We'll start hiring right now!

While Cole was thinking, the door opened and a customer came in. It was a young woman with blond hair. She was wearing an expensive looking white dress. It was neat compared to the cheap rags most people wore, but didn't quite reach the level of Howard's outfit. Nonetheless this girl was most likely rich.

"Welcome to the Drug Store!"

Wait, haven't I seen her somewhere before?

Once again, Cole felt like he's forgetting something. For sure he'd seen this girl before, but where?

Their eyes met, and the girl immediately looked surprised. It felt like she also recognized Cole. Then it hit him. The girl in front of him was the maid at Howard's mansion. Cole remembered throwing rocks at her bullies. It took him a bit to recognize her due to the change in appearance.

Don't tell me! Did she see through my disguise?! Will she turn me in?

Cole thought he was going to get caught, but that didn't seem to be the case. The maid didn't look like someone who had just caught a criminal, but instead more like someone who had been reunited with their long lost friend. She broke the silence and spoke excitedly.

"Is that you?"

"Uhh..."

Cole was confused, as Howard's maid seemed excited to see him. He couldn't figure out why. The maid confirmed Cole's identity and looked even happier.

"It is you! You're the red horned demon!"

It didn't seem like the maid had bad intentions, but it was still a difficult situation for Cole. He had no idea how to respond.

Should I play dumb? No that wouldn't work...

It didn't help that Cole's social skills dropped significantly when talking to a woman. Thankfully Rogg unintentionally helped him out.

"Do you two know each other?"

Rogg knew that Cole was a red hown and had made the disguise for him. He was surprised that the disguise had been cracked by someone who didn't even know Cole's name.

"Well... It's complicated... We should probably talk in private. Rogg, you handle the store meanwhile."

Cole decided talking inside the store wasn't a good idea and brought the maid into one of the guest rooms. The room was fairly dark and didn't have much furniture besides a single sized bed. Cole decided to ignore the introductions and went straight into business.

"So, did Howard send you here?"

"No... I am no longer part of the Lennox household. Master, I mean the Duke relieved me of my position. I am not accustomed to the town yet, and I was looking for a place to stay. I decided to check out this store, since everyone in town was talking about it and luckily found you behind it!"

She got kicked out? Why?

"The Duke kicked you out?"

"Yes. I am unsure of his reasoning, but I am thankful to be free now."

Free? Was she a slave or something?

Wait, if she got kicked out could I hire her? She already has a lot of experience working for Howard.

This seemed like a perfect opportunity to hire the former maid. She mentioned looking for a place to stay, and the Drug Store definitely had spare bedrooms for employees. The only problem would be the former inn itself. It was in terrible condition when compared to Howard's castle, and the living conditions would drastically change if she moved here. It was worth the try though, since there wasn't anything to lose.

"I guess we haven't introduced ourselves yet. My name is Cole, and I run this store along with my friend Rogg. Nice to meet you!"

"Cole... Ah, I apologize!"

The maid seemed to space out for a second upon hearing Cole's name. She quickly apologized and continued the introduction.

"My name is Fellia! I have been the Duke's maid from the age of seven up until yesterday. I am currently getting accustomed to the town."

Fellia paused for a second before continuing. It seemed like she had something important to say.

"Cole, I have been looking for you ever since that day at the garden. Back then, I missed my opportunity to thank you. You were the only person crazy enough to defend me, and you even angered a prince for the sake of a commoner like me. I don't know how I can ever repay this favour. Now that I have the chance, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart!"

!?!

Cole was speechless. All he had done was throw some rocks and now someone was bowing down to him? Normally he would have considered this cringy, but Fellia seemed to be completely serious. It felt so sincere, that Cole could never make fun of it. Why did she go this far, when Cole had only done something as simple as punish some jerks?

He felt embarrassed at the situation and couldn't think of a way to respond to. His brain had completely shut down. After a long pause, he finally opened his mouth.

"I... It really isn't a big deal... I mean, no problem?"

Cole tried coming up with a polite way of responding. However, this one turned out to to be his biggest verbal failure to date, as he stuttered like a broken robot. This is exactly what Cole feared would happen.

Ah, dammit... Now she thinks I'm a complete retard.

Sure enough, Fellia let out a chuckle and then started laughing.

A similar situation had happened to him on earth back when Cole was a middle schooler. He accidentaly kicked his classmate while swinging at high speed. A teacher thought Cole did it intentionally, and forced him to apologize. Cole ended having to apologize in front of the whole class, and kept stuttering the entire way through. The rest of his classmates burst out laughing at the poor apology and made fun of him for days. That's what started his fear of awkward conversations.

At first, Cole thought he was once again going to repeat the past; however, this time felt different. It didn't seem like Fellia was making fun of him. Instead, she seemed happy. She almost looked cute while laughing at the situation. Cole didn't actually feel humiliated at all. He felt strangely comfortable even with the awkward situation.

He felt stupid after thinking about it. Fellia had just thanked him for saving her from bullies. Why would she make fun of him for stuttering. This helped his brain to start functioning again, and he was now even more interested in hiring her.

Fellia seemed to come back to her senses and apologized while bowing down.

"Ah, I apologize!"

"No, it's fine. Fellia, you said you were looking for a place to stay, right? How about working here at the Drug Store?"

"Are you serious? Can I really work here? There is no way I am qualified."

Fellia was really surprised by the offer. Cole thought it was odd, as the only thing he did was offer a job. It did seem like she wanted the position though.

"Um, if you've worked for Howard since the age of seven, you should have more than enough experience to work at our simple store. Currently, we have multiple bedrooms without any good use for them, and we are in need of more workforce. I don't see why you couldn't be hired."

"So, how about it? Do you accept the offer?"

Fellia didn't hesitate at all. She seemed really excited and responded without much delay.

"Yes! I will serve you for the rest of my life!"

Serve?

"Sigh... You're working, not serving me..."

The Drug Store is quickly growing and just gained a valuable employee.