The Flying Emporium

After taking care of everything he had his mind set to, instead of joining the others outside to catch up with Andreas or try to improve his relationship with Jasmine, an exhausted Severin-owed in large parts to his lack of sleep the night prior- directly went to bed.

In fact, his plans for the next day required him to retire early, anyway.

So, at dawn, while certainly not the only person up and about-though maybe, he thought, the first to actually wake on this day-according to his map, everything was still peaceful.

Before leaving for his actual destination, Severin’s first order of business was to inspect the new changes he had commissioned a few hours ago. Changes, he was sure, most of his customers wouldn’t even notice.

First of which was the expansion of the apartment building he was currently in towards the back were people only seldomly gathered, to include two more living spaces; one downstairs, and one upstairs.

He had considered adding even more accommodations, including the possibility of expanding the already existing apartments, but ultimately forced himself to wait for at least the next couple of days or maybe weeks until he had a better idea how the new portal would affect his business. And for the money that came with it, and which may allow him to tackle even bigger projects.

‘If the depositing feature will even just be half as well received by the newcomers as it currently is…’ Severin forced himself out of his daydream when he found himself standing in front of yet another new door that had appeared overnight on the ground floor of the small tenement.

Playing around with the settings of his map, he changed the displayed layer to two meters underground and confirmed what he already knew -not that he actually distrusted the System in that regard-, before entering the magically lit tunnel.

With his main store being directly adjacent to his current location, after only a few meters he already reached a junction and instead of following the tunnel further and towards the direction of his kitchen, he took the stairway to his right.

A couple of seconds later, he stood in the middle of a newly added and completely empty room.

Satisfied, he nodded to himself and exited through the door leading behind the store’s counter.

Here he wrote a short note for his two [Employees], reiterating what he had already told them the day before. He excused himself for once again leaving them to their own devices, but assured them he would try to make it as quick as possible, maybe quick enough even to return before the afternoon shift was over.

When he left the store and if anyone of the few people who noticed him wondered how he managed to get over there, nobody made mention of it.

‘Maybe I can make it back even earlier’ Severin told himself, hopefully seeing that the sun was not yet fully up and walked towards the fortress-like building near the edge of the mountaintop.

At a distance, to him, the fortification-and it certainly was a fortification, one that was comprised of four towers connected by a massive curtain wall-looked very much already complete; only the few workers still scurrying around in the black hole of his map claimed otherwise.

Even banners and flags were already flying, showing a crest that had some suspicious similarities to that of a certain adventurer’s guild led by a certain [Prince].

Even at a distance, the open gate, guarded by four soldiers, who had already locked onto him, and through which a familiar-looking pillar of light could be seen, appeared almost needlessly huge; even the Society’s large double doors appeared tiny in comparison.

‘Wide enough to accommodate multiple trading wagons side-by-side’, Severin concluded as he got closer and was confident that this truly was one of the two reasons for these dimensions.

The other being simply to intimidate.

The moment he-unchallenged by the guards who had to be aware of his identity, which allowed for some privileges- passed through the gate and into the bailey, Severin felt confirmed in his assumption and suddenly felt very small.

A feeling that only got worse the deeper he went inside and towards the portal.

To make things worse, still no one approached him.

Not the soldiers who were training only a short distance away to the right of the portal, nor the robed official who just then disappeared through one of the many doors leading inside the fortress and into, Severin imagined, one of the many customs offices he knew were laying inside.

Severin felt out of place; like an intruder.

To make things worse, he felt multiple eyes staring down at him from within the oppressive masonry and the sudden discomfort he was feeling had nothing to do with the fact he had left behind his own property without having eaten anything for half a day.

He fastened his steps and hoped dearly that once this place had opened to the public, the mood in here would lighten up. Some attendants would go a long way.

Soon, though not a moment too soon, Severin stood in front of the portal which, he only noticed now, was actively being illuminated.

‘To make the most of its semi-see-through nature,’ Severin concluded and peered into the light.

Some shadows were flickering and he could make out some people moving around on the other side, but not towards him.

The other side was deemed clear and Severin stepped forward and away from this uninviting place and into a more colorful and pleasant terminal hall.

The unscheduled arrival startled the guards just as much as their immediate reaction startled him, but a Sir Singerton who this time around was far more amiable than during their previous meeting, quickly intervened and made sure that about twenty minutes later Severin was standing, unharmed, at the end of an already far too long queue before Hanvia’s city gates; it was the main reason he left so early in the morning in the first place, as his actual business, he figured, might not even necessarily take all that long.

So the wait didn’t come as a surprise to Severin and he took this opportunity to grab the map he had bought back at the Society no two weeks prior and planned out a route that would lead him to his destination.

When a uniformed woman whose approach had been hidden by the big cart in front of him suddenly stood next to Severin.

He didn’t need to look at her insignias to know she was more than a random foot soldier.

“Excuse me, Sir. Are you Severin?”

He eyed her suspiciously and for a moment considered denying his identity, though more out of reflex than out of any sort of consideration. But before he could do so, the woman apparently noticed his hesitation and explained, “I am Sergeant Janice. In charge of this part of the city wall. One of my men saw you leaving the… new facility.” She gave him a knowing look. “And you don’t look like any of our guys. Nor like one of the builders or enchanters.”

“Right.” Severin gave a careful nod, and no longer considered telling anything but the truth. “That’s me.” Now he only hoped it wasn’t Ringald or some other person he couldn’t turn away, who would demand his attention and thwart his plans for the day.

A needless worry, as it soon turned out.

“Magnificent! Then please allow me to escort you into the city. Given your contributions, there is really no need for you to be standing here in line.”

Under the curious glances of the people they were passing, he was then led to a door beside the huge gate reserved for official business.

“And please take this,” said the officer respectfully, “with regards from the [King] himself.”

The item in question was a bronze-colored badge of a size that fit perfectly into Severin’s large hands. It showed the relief of a flying eagle on its front. Its reverse was blank.

Even without the use of his [Identify] ability or a need for the officer’s explanation, which she provided dutifully, Severin quickly grasped its use and was elated to own what he deemed to be the [King’s] equivalent to one of his own V.I.P. cards.

And so Severin’s mood was great enough for him not to have one of his usual fits when he connected the dots after overhearing two passersby discuss some official announcement inside the arena that was scheduled for next day’s afternoon.

From what he had just seen of the progress of the two terminals as he called them, the actual timing didn’t come as much a surprise. In fact, he had already expected as much the day before, but having to learn of the date of the official opening this way greatly displeased him, nonetheless.