Demon World Boba Shop: A Cozy Fantasy Novel

There was supposed to be work that day. Buildings were supposed to be built, walls were supposed to be erected, and goods were supposed to be sold. After that, people were supposed to gather for the hyper-important civic purpose of learning what they needed to for to choose their new leader. It was supposed to, in all ways, be both a normal productive day and an especially significant historic night for the town.

The weather had other plans. It was possible for everyone to stay dry in their houses or under the cover of the plaza roofs. What wasn’t possible was for anyone to leave their houses and get anywhere without getting soaked. It was too wet and slippery to do any heavy labor, and too rainy and windy to be outside anyway. When the weather was like this, people stayed home. The world would still be there the next day, and a nature-provided holiday was as good a reason to skip work as any.

Arthur and Mizu were fine with it as well. Arthur had teas to dream of, and Mizu had both books to read and an eye for improving Arthur’s water supply. As the rain came down hard outside, Arthur fired up the wood-burning fireplace in his house for the very first time. They were cozy, they had each other, and plenty of time to rest. It was perfect.

Almost.

To hold the meats and cheeses in his coldbox, Arthur had cleared almost everything else out of it, which meant he was entirely without conventional food. And while each of them could do just fine on the charcuterie, it wasn’t really a breakfast in the conventional sense.

They had just decided to move forward with eating crackers and meat all day when Arthur’s delivery box dinged outside. He looked at Mizu quizzically, then dashed outside to see what had come. Inside the Milo-built delivery cart under his front porch was a single, solitary piece of paper.

Coldbrook Murmur Special Rainstorm Edition!

This reporter is glad to let every Coldbrook resident know that he fully plans on spending the entire day sleeping, as he has been informed is the town’s habit on stormy days. The entire day, that is, besides the time it will take him to finish this message, hand it off, and crawl back into bed.

Why is the Murmur being so heroically published today, you might ask? To deliver two pieces of news. The first was known to this reporter before today, and is something many of you have realized yourself just moments before reading this message. That’s right! Coldbrook’s small-item automated delivery system is now operational, courtesy of Milo Metalsmith’s hard work and the genius of an out-of-town clocksmith.

As a result of this, the Murmur is also now a delivered paper, one that will show up on your doorstep every day without so much as a blink of effort on your part. Congratulations!

The second piece of news is that while the majority of the town has taken the day off, a few heroic chefs have declined to. Better yet, our wonderful cooks have the same access to the delivery system you do. They have committed to cooking just long enough to get everyone a hot, delicious breakfast, delivered straight to their door.

Please see the section below this for more detailed instructions on the use of the delivery system, and enjoy your day off.

I know I will.

Within a half hour or so, Arthur and Mizu both had a heaped plate of meat, eggs, and toast, which they ripped into with gusto. Arthur put some tea on, poured them both beverages, and settled into a full, satisfying day of nothing. Or they would have. It turned out there was one more distraction before they could get down to the serious, serious business of doing nothing.

“Let me in!” Lily yelled, banging on the door with her little owl hands. “It’s crazy out here!”

Arthur popped off the couch and went to the door, throwing it open to allow in a very wet Lily, who was only spared being completely soaked by the superior winter gear Arthur had bought her so long ago. It was waterproof enough that it not only kept her dry but, judging by the sheer intensity of the rain outside, might just have kept her from drowning as well.

“Why are you out? You’re lucky you didn’t get blown away,” Arthur said.

“I got bored! I ate breakfast and then got bored. So I went to check on Skal,” Lily explained.

“On Skal?”

“Of course! He’s a thousand years old!” Lily said. “I wanted to make sure he was okay.”

“And was he?”

“He was fishing. In a boat,” Lily said. “With a harpoon.”

“Sound like him.”

“Yup. Anyway, I decided he probably didn’t actually need me after that, so I came here.” She looked up at the water demon behind Arthur and waved. “Hi, Mizu.”

“Hi, Lily. Here. Take some tea.”

“Oooh, thanks.” Lily shed her coat, then set down her pack, which clunked heavily on the floor, still dry. “I brought some books Spiky told me to read. I figured I’d just do that here.”

“I’m glad.” Arthur hugged Lily, then picked her up and deposited her on his couch. “As your guardian, I command you to get comfortable. I’m going to go get some blankets.”

—

A few hours later, all three of them were read out. Another hour playing games left them bored of that too. They needed other ways to make the day pass, and the best way to do that would be people. Luckily, they had a way to order those too. The three of them raided Arthur’s writing supplies and made several copies of the same note, sending them all around town through Milo’s miniature rail system.

Hello, friend.

The Arthur Teamaster rainy day club is looking for new members. You and yours are invited to eat his snacks and entertain his friends. Bring games and food, and whoever you need to enjoy your day.

Within a few minutes, replies started streaming in. First, Spiky sent a message saying he was too busy with books to show up, followed by another message saying that Leena had overruled him and they’d be over soon. Talca thanked them and said he’d be over soon, and Milo and Rhodia just sent a note saying “Yup!” and showed up a minute later.

“This is a good idea.” Milo shook the water off his feathers, then mopped the rest of the water off his head with one of Arthur’s towels. “Rhodia was just about to kill me.”

“He was trying to throw axes in the house.” Rhodia poked Milo’s ribs. “By my nice vases.”

“You could make more if I broke them,” Milo protested.

“I could. I won’t. No axes in the house.”

“Fine.” Milo took the towel and half dried, half tousled Rhodia’s fur with it. “Who else is coming, by the way?”

“Me!” Karra walked through the door carrying a half-loaf of bread and a paper-wrapped package of meat. “This is all the food I had on hand. I hope it’s enough.”

“It’s plenty. Other people will bring things too,” Arthur said.

Spiky and Leena came a few minutes later, pulling out chairs and setting up shop near Arthur’s fire. They were almost immediately evicted when Talca showed up, not by the transporter himself but with the gigantic Hing known as Littal.

“Sorry, Arthur” Hune said. “I told him not to bring Littal. He wouldn’t listen. All the being too enamored with me to talk stuff is worn away.”

“The note said whoever I needed to be happy.” Talca smiled at the Hing, who had sent water particles all through the room as he shook off before settling down in front of the fire to dry himself further. “I need him and you to be happy. You know this.”

“It’s fine,” Arthur said. “I like Littal. We’ve spent a lot of time together. Isn’t that right, Littal?”

The Hing grunted at Arthur, edged his body a little closer to the fire, then promptly fell asleep.

—

With so many people in such a small space, it was hard not to have fun. They all ate and drank and joked for hours. Talca and Hune weren’t announcing their joining yet, but Arthur got the distinct impression it wouldn’t be that long before they did. Despite the fact that they had only known each other a few weeks, they gave him the same feeling Milo and Rhodia did. It was a feeling that the world was better with them together than apart, and whether it was months or years away, he felt pretty confident they’d end up together on a more permanent basis.

When lunchtime rolled around, Arthur roasted some of the meat that Karra had brought and served it on bread with cheese, the one ingredient he had plenty of. Between then and dinner, they all snacked on the special meats and crackers he had bought for Mizu. For dinner, he managed to put together just enough ingredients between everyone’s offerings to make a respectable stew, one that was just a bit better because of Lily’s assistance.

and Spiky refused to talk about the election no matter how many times anyone asked.

“It’s a holiday,” Spiky said. “And if I’m the mayor, I’ll be the mayor. It’s no use worrying about it.”

“Yes, but it’s getting pretty close,” Lily said. “One more day of speeches, then election day. You aren’t concerned at all?”

“He’s really not,” Leena said. “He has ten books of notes on how to run the city, but he just doesn’t mind if it ended up being someone else. It’s weird to me but it’s just how he is.”

“Well, yes,” Spiky said. “It helps that I wouldn’t be the real leader, anyway.”

“Why not?” Arthur brought back Spiky’s tea, the only stat-enhanced drink he had made all day. It was purposed to make the librarian a bit smarter. Spiky had asked for it to help him cheat at a word game they were playing. Since he was on Arthur’s team, doing so didn’t seem like a bad idea at all. “Is Leena going to puppet you from behind the scenes?”

Spiky looked at Mizu and gave a half grin. “He really doesn’t know, does he?”

“No,” Mizu said. “It never even occurred to him.”

“What?” Arthur asked. “Is this an offworlder thing?”

“No, just an Arthur thing this time.” Spiky set down his notebook. “Arthur, I’ll make very good use of the system powers I get as mayor, and I’ll know… well, everything there is to know. In that respect, I’ll be a wonderful mayor. But a leader?”

Spiky threw up his hands in mock panic, pantomiming being helpless and hopeless.

“I’ll never be a leader type. It’s just not who I am. There are some answers that numbers in books can give, and when people come and ask me what to do, I’ll tell them. When there’s planning to be done, I’ll do that too. But leadership isn’t about having clear answers. It’s about helping people find the answers when the way forward isn’t clear, and someone just has to pick a direction and head out to keep things moving.”

“What will you do then?” Arthur asked. He was interested now.

“That’s what he’s saying, Arthur,” Lily said. “We’ll ask you, just like we always have.”