The Flying Emporium

Severin was equal parts confused and infuriated.

Without warning, the door to his room had been slammed open, his privacy violated,

and without justifying themselves, the intruders then started to demand answers of him.

Answers to questions he didn't know.

But saying as much, directly denying any kind of wrongdoing and, in turn, demanding answers himself, didn’t help defuse the situation. The one, or maybe two expletives, surely didn’t help either. Considering that at least one of the two people these were directed at was of royal blood-and therefore in this world of royal class- they might even have constituted a crime in themselves.

But if it was, the [Princess] chose to ignore it. “Fine. We show you. But by then you better have some satisfying answers for us,” was instead her response forestalled anything Singerton might have had to add.

In his righteous anger, Severin didn’t think about any of these things, and was more than glad to accept this challenge.

Only to soon discover that a small contingent of troops had surrounded the inn, and was ready to escort him to who-knows-where.

That took some of the wind out of his sails.

The anger begun to give way to apprehension and nervousness. Severin started fidgeting with the ring on his hand, and suddenly was painfully aware that any physical resistance would not only be futile, but would only worsen his position.

On the upside, however, all this-the way these people had forced their way into the inn and into Severin’s room, their numbers and the volume of the initial confrontation-meant this spectacle was impossible for any of Milly’s guests to miss.

No matter if they had been enjoying themselves down in the common room or had already been soundly asleep in their room upstairs, they all were now wide awake and more than just slightly intrigued about the fuss that was going on and which apparently even involved some of the imperial troops.

And that, of course, also included a certain half-giant.

“What’s going on here?” Samuel demanded as he spied a surrounded and now forlorn and anxious looking Severin.

“Sir!” After a moment of inner debate, Singerton gave a crisp salute. “I’m afraid…”

“Out with it.”

The officer of unknown rank was considering the onlookers and how much could be revealed in front of them on one hand, and the extents of Samuel’s authority on the other, when a clearly unhappy [Princess] answered in stead.

“We have reason to believe the agreement has been violated.”

“Reason to believe?” Samuel asked with a raised eyebrow. “Those things are usually rather clear-cut, are they not?”

“I... we… concede no actual breach has been detected. But there have been irregularities, nonetheless. We don’t believe matters have proceeded as we had agreed, and now we want answers. Need answers.”

Singerton, now more willing to talk, backed her up. “An unidentified structure has appeared at the designated location. The one we inspected earlier today and upon which…” The man hesitated, afraid to give away more than he was authorized.

“Surely you have read the reports beforehand?” Samuel asked. “They state…”

“They state new facilities have a tendency to simply appear overnight. Undetected and unseen. Yes.

But we had agreements. And not only…”

Very belatedly, Severin now realized what was going on. And almost started to panic.

He barely managed to consult the System’s log functionality.

And breathed a sigh of relief.

“It’s deactivated! It’s still deactivated!” he started shouting, more to placate himself than anyone else, and not quite in control of his voice.

Having signed the agreements the woman just referred to himself, he was naturally very aware of what they said. And of the fact that with all their precise wording, there had been no room for something like the spirit of the contract or something similarly vague, like in the contract he had worked out with Magda.

There were no ifs or buts.

Neither in regards to what exactly constituted as a violation, nor to the question of how such a violation would be sanctioned.

But although this meant that their affront to him was all the less justifiable, Severin was suddenly very aware of just how close he had come to lose his head. In the literal sense; and not because of some insult.

“So you finally stopped pretending?! Well then, maybe now you can start answering some questions.”

“Not operational yet!” Severin croaked, still too excited to properly process the words.

If the System had wanted to get rid of him, and had activated the portal station upon its completion, meaning that it technically would have been operational without the other party’s explicit consent…

gulp

“We should make sure everything is in order!” Severin suddenly urged and from one moment to the next became the driving force to direct everyone back towards the construction site.

No thoughts for anything else than to go and rectify the situation as quickly as possible.

The change in attitude was abrupt, but if anyone was commenting on it, Severin had no mind to notice them.

Without waiting for anyone, Severin started off into the directing of the closest city gate, ignoring the group of soldiers who were unsure how to react to the strange man’s behavior and looked inquiring over the two people in charge.

The command came in the form of a slight nod from one of the two, and an ill-humored, “I’ll keep my eye on you”, directed at Severin, from the other.

Roughly twenty minutes later- sooner than the chubby [Shopkeeper] under different circumstances would have preferred- was standing inside the magically lit and still very much busy construction site; the progress since his visit just a couple of hours prior was immense and work was still being done even now.

In case Severin had wondered how anyone could have noticed the System’s handiwork at this time of day, the many busy workers were answer enough.

Only now that he stood inside the centerpiece of the transitioning hub did he calm down.

Severin looked around and at the slightly elevated stone platform, very much similar to the one on his mountain.

The carved runes made the structure seem more like a mosaic than a portal-gate.

‘Maybe like a warp platform,’ he thought while at the same time wondering if the appearance of something that more closely resembled an actual passageway would have caused an even bigger, more inconvenient, and possibly fatal misunderstanding.

He quickly dismissed these thoughts and looked at the small, plain column.

It had a small opening that every regular customer of the Emporium would immediately recognize as a coin slot, and together with the platform it occupied all of the land Severin had been granted.

Everything was in order.

“So, this is really it? This thing is supposed to…”

“Yes. Once it’s activated,” he stressed again. “Shall we then?”

“Fine,” the scion almost spat the word in a way that didn’t befit her stand and which was uncharacteristic to everything Severin had seen of the woman on the previous days. Then again, considering the circumstances…

Severin chose not to overthink anything when she added, almost hopefully, “Provided all the required troops are ready for deployment on such quick notice.”

But it turned out that wasn’t actually much of a concern.

Though at least one or two days ahead of the schedule that Malcos had apparently and mistakenly drawn up, with the construction work around them already in its final stages and located so close to the capital itself, gathering the required and already instructed troops-and construction workers, for that matter- naturally wasn’t much of an issue.

In fact, even if it had been a problem, thanks to the stipulations which had been adopted to avoid any kind of delaying tactics when deploying this new kind of magic-technology, there wasn’t much of a choice, anyway.

By the time Severin had double and triple checked the relevant System settings and contract clauses in order to avoid another-and this time undoubtedly costly- mistake, everything and everyone seemed to be set.

He produced a small device-a remote control with a single mechanical button that almost looked silly in its simplicity- and presented it to the young woman.

Its counterpart, as per agreement, he would only hand over once he and Singerton were on the other side.

“If you will do the honor.”

“I’m afraid the one in charge of this terminal will be me,” Singerton corrected in a harsh and unwilling tone, which seemed to indicate he wasn’t all too happy about this arrangement and the treatment the woman had received.

The [Princess] barely concealed her displeasure, either.

“Oh.”