The Flying Emporium

Well into the midday hours, the Emporium still remained closed; much to the grievance of both its regular patrons and the gathered curious onlookers alike.

That was despite old Krill assuring Severin repeatedly that he was more than willing to man the counter like he did usually.

The [Shopkeeper] was having none of it.

Before Severin would have his newly anointed [Employees] work their same menial tasks as before, he would rather keep the store closed entirely. And that was exactly what he did.

Besides, no matter what Krill claimed, overwhelmed by the situation and in a fit of gratitude, Severin knew the man was barely fit for work and should, for the time being, instead focus on different matters. Such as familiarizing himself with the System, its functionalities and the with the strange floating bluish screen, and with his new responsibilities.

Similarly to Krill, who needed to be forced into his good fortune, the one who had done the forcing - namely Sabina, who, immediately and without hesitation, grabbed the opportunity presented to her - surprisingly, also expressed her willingness to continue serving dishes for one more day; suddenly the young woman’s work ethic had skyrocketed, Severin observed.

But of course her suggestion was similarly denied, and for the same reasons.

Only difference in this case being that with young Nel around, opening the kitchen and the adjoining inn for business was currently all but impossible, anyway; if at this moment they decided to open the doors, Severin was convinced the boy might actually become System’s first victim of its dreaded Soulerasure punishment. A fear his mother obviously shared and the cause of many headaches all around.

“Give everyone some time to familiarize themselves with their new powers, and I’m certain everything will pan out just fine.

That Milly seems to have a good head on her shoulders and I’m sure Bandur will also do his best to get the brat settled. He might be a bit grumpy now, but he’ll get over it; he’s no idiot either. He knows that going forward, they’ll have to work closely with each other.

Anyway, the main store is one thing, but the inn… couldn’t open it either way. Not just because I think that me might want to prepare something special for the grand opening, but because it would be futile before our reinforcements arrive.”

“Well, speaking of the devil,” Severin cut Mylana short.

“The what?”

“… I’m saying they are here.”

“How- Ah, I see.”

A quick look onto her own map of the mountain, and it became immediately clear how Severin had determined their arrival.

The arrangement of eight white dots moving one behind the other made for a very peculiar formation that wasn’t only eye-catching when looking at it from a bird-eye’s-view, but also immediately identified them as non-adventurers; at this point, they didn’t even need to double-check the names to know that the dot at the front would be reading the name Everheart.

“The timing is horrible, though.”

“Hm,” Mylana agreed. “But that’s entirely on you. Maybe next time you put some more thought into your expansion plans. It’s no wonder and well-deserved that Bandur is mad with you, you know?”

“Well,-” Severin wanted to make up some flimsy excuse. But Mylana didn’t let him.

“Nothing we can do about it for now,” she continued, ignoring Severin’s sour expression. “At least you remembered to create some more apartments. And that community room you talked about, yes?

So just give them the rest of the day off and let them settle.

Unfortunate that this means we’ll have to remain closed for the rest of the day, but so be it. Unless you have a better idea?

In the meantime, see that you prepare for tomorrow’s opening of the inn.

Just don’t make stuff like this a habit. Even you can’t get away wi-”

“I get it. I get it! So please, can we just go?” Severin couldn’t take it anymore.

“Please. I’m not stopping you,” Mylana conceded. With crossed arms and a wry smile on her face, she pointedly stepped to the side and made way.

Severin took a hasty first step. And then halted to make a System-wide announcement:

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More importantly than that, don’t forget that these people are all just regular folk.

I hope you get where I’m going with this, yeah?>>

Then, without waiting for any acknowledgements, he broadcasted a similar message using the transmitter crystal lodged in his ear. After all, Milly, the arguably most important person to receive this warning, didn’t have the same System capabilities as her son, and Severin still didn’t count on the latter to forward the message himself.

With that out of the way, Severin was ready to go welcome his visitors.

He reached the door out of the main store, opened it, and-

Bang, Severin slammed the door shut.

“You knew about this, didn’t you? He accusingly pointed at the now openly laughing woman standing behind him.

“The real question is, how did you not? You checked the map just a minute ago.”

“Yeah, but…” he grumbled.

“But what?” Mylana teased.

“Nothing! Let’s just wait for them here! We can use the underground passage to lead them to their apartments.”

By now, this morning’s crowd of curious onlookers had increased many times over; the moment Severin opened the door to his store, he was overwhelmed by people shouting their questions and demands at him and there was no way he would deal with this right now.

In that case, all he could do was to track the progress of the string of people moving across the mountaintop, from the direction of the Malcos’ controlled portal station, until they became part of the crowd around his store all the way until they arrived on his doorstep; all while Mylana kept snickering behind his back.

Fortunately, Severin didn't have to endure her mockery for long.

As quickly as the congestion in front of the store allowed, the expected guests arrived in front of the store’s closed doors.

Just before the knuckles of the person leading the group could connect with the door-a gesture that would have been entirely in vain anyway, given the protective magic covering all the Emporium’s properties- it opened from the inside.

“Please, come inside,” Severin hurriedly invited.

A few moments later, a total of ten people stood in the now cramped main sales area of the Emporium’s store, confirming to Severin that adding a second floor had probably been the correct choice.

“Welcome Mr. Everheart, welcome Mr…” Severin paused. Only now did he realize that among his eight guests, there were not just one, but two familiar faces.

“...Reigh?!” he finished.

“Mr Severin.”

“Sir Severin.” Both returned the greeting. Everheart then continued, “On the way to our agreed appointment, I bumped into an old acquaintance. I hope you don’t mind.”

Before Severin could reveal if he did, the third man preempted him.

“After the short conversation we had last evening, I came to the conclusion that I might have been somewhat hasty. So I decided to convince myself with my own eyes of the situation up here.

And I must admit. All that I have seen and heard so far has quite exceeded my expectations. I assumed the rumors in the capital were just the same exaggerations as usual. But in this case, it seems they don't do the reality of it any justice.”

Hearing these words Severin, who had initially been somewhat annoyed when he was reminded of the auctioneer’s rejection, now had to try hard to suppress a wide grin on his face and to stifle his laughter.

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It’s no-man's-land after all. Anyone presumptuous enough to try to officially regulate the process would get into a lot of trouble with basically everyone. Maybe even provoke a full-blown military conflict, depending on who it is. Why are you asking? Where is this suddenly coming from?>>

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