Might as Well

Sam left the grinning Lucy at her desk as she continued to play with her new familiar. Or more like she told him that he should leave after he suggested teaching that one famous poem about ravens to the familiar.

Smiling to himself, he checked the time to see how long he had until night fell, and when he saw it was still early enough, he packed up and began his journey toward the library. He hadn’t seen the kind old librarian in a while.

Before leaving the company headquarters, he picked up a few things and activated his Chameleon mask before waiting for a smaller group of people to leave the building and joining the group covertly. Hopefully evading the attention of those who were observing the building.

And seeing as he could spot several of them without any magical aid from Lucy’s office, it was given that there were several observers that he couldn’t see.

On the way to the library, he took a small detour into a bakery, buying a dozen fresh cookies (making sure they weren’t the crumbling type) then made a beeline to the building housing the library. He also made sure to cancel the Chameleon mask’s effect before approaching the final steps of his short journey in an alley, as the librarian only knew his original face.

However, when he reached the small plaza in front of the library, it was full of people standing in line.

Thankfully, there was a small sign put out at the end of the line.

ENTRANCE ONLY WITH A LIBRARY CARD

He looked around and couldn’t help but sigh. Apparently, the library rush had already begun.

Schooling his face into a pleasant smile, he approached the last guy in the line. It was a man, wearing a basic robe though high quality with an unfamiliar symbol on it. ‘Probably some new guild…’ Sam thought, then he began talking.

“Hey, mate!” The guy, previously immersed in his own system screens, looked up and took a long look at Sam’s gear, which was still some of the basic gear one could get in the beginner town, and sneered at him.

“What do you want?”

“What’s the line for?” he asked, ignoring the condescension in the man’s voice.

“Can’t you read? To get a library card!”

“Oh? Just to get a card?” he asked, playing up being surprised.

Apparently, it worked as the guy sighed and threw a disgusted glance at the other people and the library.

“Yeah… so many people want to get in that they had to limit how many library cards they give out. So, if you want one, then get behind me and maybe you will get one in a week or two.”

Sam nodded.

“Thanks for the info!” Then turned toward the library and began walking to the entrance, guarded by stone-faced guards.

The man in the robes began immediately to yell after Sam.

“Hey, where are you going? The line ends here!”

However, Sam simply ignored him and other people who also noticed him and began to laugh at him.

He simply walked up to the doors, ignoring the first person in the line as they tried to convince a bored-looking librarian assistant sitting behind a foldable desk that they were pretty big and they totally deserved to be let in.

Sam smirked, as he remembered that this was the assistant that regularly left behind crumbs on the main desk. Assigned to door duty was probably her punishment.

The moment he reached the top step, one of the guards stepped forward, more than likely to send him packing, but he swiftly revealed his library card. ‘I never thought I’d ever flex with a library card…’ he thought amusedly as the guard froze for a second, probably recalibrating.

“Welcome, sir!” they spoke up in a neutral tone, then stepped aside, motioning Sam to enter while the people in the line began to grumble.

Both Sam and the guard ignored them. The assistant just let out a long-suffering sigh.

In contrast to the outside, where people were yelling and talking, as well as the addition of the background noise of the city, the inside of the library was deathly silent.

All around, Sam could see people busily reading while librarians walked around watching them with hawk eyes as if they were prison guards. A few people glanced up at his entrance, but after noting the lack of quality of his clothing, they quickly returned their attention to their reading.

Sam smiled and headed directly to the main desk, where he could see the head librarian sitting with a pinched face.

Arriving there, he cleared his throat and spoke up.

“Hello, madam. I brought you some cookies!”

“Young man, just because…” she began whispering harshly, then her eyes fell on Sam, and her dour expression lit up a little. “Ah, young Sam!”

She gave him an honest smile and happily took the box that Sam was holding out to her.

“Thank you!” she told him in a low voice.

Sam nodded and discreetly motioned toward the readers they could see from the main desk.

“I heard there are a lot of people trying to read…”

The elderly woman took one of the cookies from the box and bit into it a little more aggressively than necessary. “Hmmpf. All they know is to demand things. Give me books about this and that… Not an ounce of respect!”

“That’s why there's a line?” he asked while making sure that nobody was paying much attention to them.

“Mostly. And also because we don’t have the required seats to accommodate everyone, so we had to set a limit.”

“Makes sense.”

“Indeed, it does, young Sam,” she said, then sighed and turned fully to face Sam. “But enough about my woes. How can I help you today? Are you here to study another language? Maybe practice the runic symbols?”

“I was curious if you had anything about Wind, Shadow, or Spirit magic?” he answered. Originally, Sam planned to start on a new language as there was always a need for learning new languages, but he threw out the question to see if they had anything.

The head librarian closed her eyes thoughtfully, then opened them and shook her head slightly.

“I’m afraid we have nothing that you wouldn’t have access to anywhere else. For Wind, we have the basic spells, for Shadow, we only have books that describe shadow mana and no spells. As for Spirit, to my knowledge, we have one book about it.”

“Really?” Sam was truly surprised. He didn’t expect that a relatively small library like this one had a book about Spirit magic, seeing as the magic wasn’t the most well-known one. Shadow magic was well known, but as it was technically a high-tiered, it was slightly restricted by the Mage Association.

“Yes. Would you like to read them?” asked Librarian Martha with a warm smile.

“Of course! Also, if you have any of the Sarkan languages, I would be thankful!”

“Oh my, what a ravenous appetite for knowledge!” She stood up from her chair and began leading Sam toward the back. “I do like to see when younger people are eager to learn!”

Sam followed her silently, occasionally nodding and humming in agreement as the head librarian began to natter, in a low voice of course, about how the youth nowadays didn’t want to learn, instead they wanted everything handed to them.

He spent the next few days while his debuff ticked down, in and out of the library.

The book about Shadow magic was interesting, but it didn’t provide anything new that he didn’t already know. The book about Spirit magic, however, was rather useful aside from being fascinating to read.

It described several monsters and beings that counted as spirits, including the Fey, as well as giving him several rules that one should follow when dealing with said beings. Luckily, he already knew about them…

It also mentioned that most spirits were born from the emotions and actions of other beings or from natural phenomena. There weren’t many that gave birth to their offspring or laid eggs like other animals and monsters.

‘That explains Lucky a little…’

He also spent time learning a new language, called the Sarkan language. It was a language used by the lizard people of the desert to the south, which was covered by endless sand dunes. Thankfully, in contrast to stereotypes, they were some of the friendliest and most welcoming races. They always made sure to know at least one other language, but his life would be much easier if he could speak their language. They were welcoming, but they drew a very distinct line between any guest and their own people. Speaking their language would help him bridge that line.

And when he was not in the library, entertained by all the people standing in line (the head librarian was nice enough to give him a seat that was next to a window overlooking the small plaza in front of the library) he was at the headquarters coordinating with Lucy about the expansion of the company.

The simple accommodations, designed to appeal to ordinary people were doing extremely well, while their attempt at recreating a modern shopping mall on the ground floor of said buildings surpassed every expectation.

They were making so much money that several crafting associations approached them about partnership. They would support the crafters with education and rarer materials, and in turn, would get a share of the action.

Lucy was in the final phase of the negotiation, with Sam adding his two credits where he could.

Heavenly Forest was also doing well, but much more low-key. They were always full, and no employee was bored. Thankfully, there hadn’t been any issues with the people making use of their service treating their employees badly. Sam attributed this to his instruction to make sure that every maid or servant acted like they were invisible, staying in the background. Those kinds of people saw servants as furniture so that behavior just reinforced that belief.

Lucy was also happy to report that they managed to purchase several plots in nearby cities. The Silvercrest family was big enough that their recommendation was still useful in several neighboring cities.

“How about Silverton?”

“Silver mines, obviously. Build a warehouse and basic shopping center with a few rooms. Probably not a lot of nobles.”

“Alright,” Lucy said while making a note.

They were sitting around a coffee table in her office and were overlooking a map of the country they were in. Ironwood was marked with a pin, while they decided where to build new ventures as well as which ones would go where.

“How about Brightgarden? I saw on the forums that there is a big summoner guild there,” she spoke while pointing at a point on the map a few days’ travel away from Ironwood, near a big lake.

Sam looked on interested, as he had no memories of any big summoner guilds in that city. The first proper summoner guild that he could remember seeing in his inherited memories was started in a different country. Naturally, after showcasing their competence, they were instantly copied by everybody.

“What do they produce?”

“Hmm, let me look it up…” answered Lucy as she began to go over her documents. Sam was momentarily distracted by a tiny raven as it kept staring at him with its beady eyes, but then his attention was redirected back at Lucy as she exclaimed triumphantly. “Ah, here it is! It says their main export is… art.”

“Build everything,” responded Sam immediately. One of the biggest industries that popped up after Magic Unbound conquered the world was producing art in the game (or about the game). Artists made serious money as, thanks to magic in the game, they could produce some mind-boggling art pieces.

Illusion magic made theater plays something very different, while the spells that manipulated natural resources like rocks and metals made it supremely easy to create art pieces that surpassed anything that modern technology could produce.

Lucy only took a few seconds to understand his response. “So you think it will be big?”

“Illusion magic, Lucy!”

“Oh…” She nodded and began furiously writing. “Do you think we should set up something to support the arts there?”

“Good idea! How about we build a theater and rent it out to beginners?”

Lucy looked at him, and he could literally see the gold coins in her eyes.

He waited until she finished with her notes before speaking up.

“What’s the next city?”

Out of the game, he made sure to keep up to date with Shadowland, as the activity on the site was growing by the day. He made sure to sell info now and then, though he made sure it was only contained in the vicinity of Ironwood. He didn’t want to be fingered as a cheater.

Then, as he was resting one afternoon, waiting for the time to log in and just staring out of his head, he heard a peculiar alarm go off on his computer. Looking up, he saw that SummerRose had sent a message.

Curiously, he got up from his sofa, turned off the cartoon he was watching, and sat down in front of the computer to read the message.

A minute later, he was left staring at it with confused feelings, as he could practically feel the desperation radiating through the message. ‘Maybe, this has something to do with her death?’

Unfortunately, there was no information about her death in his inherited memories. Her demise was one of the biggest mysteries of the game. There were rumors, of course, but nothing substantial.

Making a quick decision after remembering what kind of skill he gave her, Sam began typing with an expectant smile. It took only a few minutes to get a response.

[LazyPhoenix]: Hey!

[SummerRose]: Hello. Did you read my message?

[LazyPhoenix]: Yes. What do you need?

[SummerRose]: I need money.

[LazyPhoenix]: IRL or in game?

There was an entire minute before she answered.

[SummerRose]: both

[LazyPhoenix]: Why?

[SummerRose]: need to move

[LazyPhoenix]: I know someone.

[LazyPhoenix]: They are looking for talented crafters. Saw the last video.

Another pause. Sam didn’t care, he just waited patiently.

[SummerRose]: Trustworthy?

[LazyPhoenix]: Legit contract-type people.

[SummerRose]: I need to think about it.

[LazyPhoenix]: Sure, the option is always open. Want me to look into selling your stuff?

[SummerRose]: No, I will think about it.

[LazyPhoenix]: Talk tomorrow?

[SummerRose]: No. Give me an hour.

[LazyPhoenix]: OK

He sat back and looked at the discussion. Apparently, she really wanted to get out of where she was.

While waiting for the response he sent a quick message to Lucy about a potential recruit and prepared a blank basic contract they had created in their free time for when they wanted to recruit someone.

Exactly an hour later his inbox dinged with a new incoming message. Sam smiled and began to write.

[SummerRose]: Who do I talk to?

[LazyPhoenix]: Here is the address…