The Flying Emporium

It took Severin the better part of an hour until he arrived at Hanvia’s extensive administrative district because of course it just had to be located on the other side of town, seemingly on purpose as far away from where the common people resided as possible.

And because bureaucracy was apparently not solely a thing of the world Severin had left behind, he then spend another four hours, which felt more like twelve to him, either waiting for some oh-so busy official who would then either put him off entirely or, more commonly, direct him somewhere else, resulting in him making circles around the city hall, immigration affairs, the department of labor, the tax office, and various other kinds of increasingly obscure regulatory bodies.

And again, the eagle-faced badge proved anything but helpful, making him seem more suspicious than anything else.

It was only by sheer coincidence that Severin was finally had some success that day.

In fact, it could easily take days, if not weeks or even months until an appeal usually reached the right ears, -and at times even longer until they were then given the attention they deserved or required- Severin was assured by his savior who came in the form of a high-ranking, though nameless official who had recognized him from his time spent in the palace and who was aware of Severin’s special circumstances and the dealings he had with her [King].

With the woman’s standing and knowledge of the inner workings of the administrative apparatus she was fortunately able to pull some strings for Severin and to provide him with two documents that would’ve looked boringly ordinary if it wasn’t for the application of a magical stamp to guarantee its authenticity and which immediately fused into the paper itself, taking the appearance of a holographic watermark.

The first of the two documents was the identification the clerk of the Free Worker’s Guild had asked of him.

The second, his savior took upon herself to issue, was a local business license, something that, considering the actual location of his business, would have been otherwise impossible for Severin to get his hands on; just in case she had said.

As his form of thanks, Severin invited the women to visit his store with the implicit promise of a generous discount, before quickly excusing himself.

If it wasn’t for his two [Employees] relying on him, being at least equally exhausted as him, and the fact that things would only get even more busy from here on out, then by now at the latest Severin would have called it a day.

But as it was, Severin directly made his way back to the Guild; by now the whole city was wide awake, and the same way now almost took him twice as long as before.

Once back inside, however, he realized the Guild’s business had calmed down considerably.

Severin thought about the reason for this while waiting for the counter of his clerk to free up; as soon as it did, he cast the matter aside, stepped forward and, wordlessly and with more force than he had intended, slammed both his documents onto the counter.

The clerk found his bearing more quickly than Severin would have in a similar situation and showed a genuine smile when he realized just what exactly these papers were.

“Aah splendid. That will help things along. I knew I would see you again.” If the man had been surprised to see Severin back so soon, he hid it well.

Then again, Severin had told the man to expect him, going so far as to pay the Guild’s fees upfront before he had left earlier, in the hope of speeding things up this way.

And apparently with great success, considering the next thing the clerk said was, “You will be pleased to hear that in fact I already found two potential hires when I looked through our register. Just who you are looking for. One of them…”

In his current tired and irritated state, Severin didn’t really care or have the patience to learn about some people’s backgrounds or the circumstances that drove them; those were things that could be left for when the deal had actually gone through and after the two had proven themselves; or maybe just until he was in a better mood.

What he did care about, however, was the but he could clearly hear coming in the man’s voice.

"But...?" he forestalled.

“Well… It just so happens that the server is still bound by some contractual obligations.” And then before Severin could even begin to frown, “But that is not a problem a small donation wouldn’t be able to take care of, I am sure. A transfer fee, so to speak.”

“Riiight. And how much time would this transfer take?”

“That’s hard to say for certain, I’m afraid. It largely depends on the current contract holder. But it is safe to say that the larger the offered sum, the more willing he might be to see things through quickly. I am sure you understand.”

In fact, Severin himself wasn’t quite sure he did.

That was, he couldn’t decide whether he was simply being fleeced or not.

But in the end, it didn’t really matter to him either way; he understood that throwing money at a problem more often than not would take care of it, and, since money was the one thing he had plenty of, especially in comparison to most classless people, that was exactly what he did.

Yet another two hours later and several coins lighter, accompanied by three wary people-one of which the guild’s inspector who still would have to do his duties and give his okay before any actual agreement could legally be finalized- Severin led the way towards the city gate through which he had entered the city some eight to nine hours prior.

Severin noted that while the line leading inside was just as long as before, if not longer, the way out was completely clear and without a single holdup due to the lack of inspections in that direction.

This in turn meant that Severin had no opportunity to flaunt the badge Sergeant Janice had given him.

Trying not to let his silly displeasure at this realization show, he quickly passed through the gate and headed towards the building on the horizon, of whose existence his three companions until now apparently had been completely unaware.