The Flying Emporium

Severin didn’t have a good feeling about this situation, but what could he do about it? Deny their request and not let them test his products? Try to make up some excuse about not wanting to disrupt his other customers?

No one would buy that. Even if they did, it wouldn’t take care of the underlying problem. Not in the long run, at least. And so, a few moments later, and as one, the group went outside, drawing even more attention to themselves than Severin had initially feared. So much so, that he didn’t have a reason to deny Krill and Emily their request to join in as well. There was no one left in the shop for them to serve anyway- everyone wanted to know what was going on when the bigshots were on the move.

“Mooom? Why are you-“

“Master?! What’s happening-”

Nel, Milly’s son, and Timothy who were both standing next to sparring grounds like everyone else also immediately realized something was up when they saw the group approach, but unlike the many people observing from the sidelines, they had no qualms to shout out and ask them directly; Severin half expected a certain shameless [Duelist] to also chime in, but in the end the man in question only pricked his long ears, remaining silent and at a surprisingly respectful distance.

“We are going to test a new product,” Samuel confirmed the already spreading rumors, circulated either by the people who had been within earshot inside the store or those that had been intrigued why the store owner’s longest employee was suddenly sent to fetch an ordinary pot filled with water.

“A new product?!” Timothy cried out loud enough for the news to reach even the last person, and judging by their reactions, it didn’t even seem to matter to them just what kind of product it was. Based on their experiences, whatever the small shop on the now flying mountain offered had always exceeded expectations.

“Hmm.” Samuel affirmed. “But we have yet to fully determine its capabilities. I suspect at the very least it will be a useful utility tool, worth a one-time purchase,” What?! No, it won’t!, Severin wanted to shout, “but we still haven’t figured out its whole potential. There might just be something more to it.” No, there isn’t!

With Samuel’s perceived threats, Severin’s mood worsened by the minute, but no one seemed to notice.

The [Berserker] continued.

“So where is Miriam? What is she up to? I fear she’ll be angry with me again if we do this without her, haha.”

“Over there”, the boy pointed towards one of the training dummies. “Still hasn’t figured out the timing for her new skill.” One could tell he was rolling his eyes just by hearing his voice.

“Timothy.”

The boy indicated a bow in response to the admonition, but a feisty grin was still plastered on his face.

Samuel slightly shook his head but didn’t comment on it further.

“Well, that should make things easier,” he said instead, and turned back to the group of people he came with.

“Need anything?” Only a vague sense of responsibility forced Severin to ask the question through his gritted teeth.

“No, thanks. I don’t think that will be necessary. But if you would,“ Sam prompted Milly, holding out his opened palm.

The woman hesitated, visibly reluctant to part with the sphere she was holding on to, but ultimately placed it in the enormous hand where it seemed to disappear.

With no further ado and under most everyone’s watchful eyes, the half-giant stepped onto the training area and towards the dummies. He approached his disciple until he was only two meters away from her, at which point all of a sudden, the girl who seemed too focused inflicting pain onto the dummy before her to notice anything else around her, and much faster than her class might suggest, turned around ready to pounce on the approaching person.

“Wha- Ah! Sam.” She was clearly unhappy by the interruption. Any other person would surely have gotten a piece of her mind.

But only a few words later, and her displeasure had turned into excitement. The next moment she rushed towards the dummy, punched in some settings-most likely adjusting its fire resistance values-and then back towards her mentor.

A few more words were exchanged between the two and yet another half a minute later, a visibly disgruntled, young [Berserker], was standing just outside the demarcated area, next to a now even wider smiling [Chaos Mage], who, the next moment let out a cry of pain as an elbow found a way into his ribs.

This seemed to be Samuel’s starting sign.

The man turned back around to face the dummy that stood a good ten meters in front of him and started twisting the small sphere in his hands.

Everyone was looking on with bated breaths. Maybe this would be the moment someone finally managed to put a scratch into one of those dummies? The possibilities this would open up would be endless.

The sheer size of the man made every one of his actions stand out. Seeing his right shoulder and arm move, people tried to count along.

The first twist. The second. The third.

And another one.

Or was it only a partial one? Hard to tell from the distance; only Samuel knew for sure. And he kept going, another tw-

The man’s movements stopped.

His muscles began to bulge.

“What’s going on?”

“Why are you stopping!?” soon the first impatient shouts emerged from the group of spectators.

“Yeah, keep going! Show us what that thing can do.”

With time, as the half-giant remained unmoving, the shouts only grew louder, more disorderly and impatient when Samuel almost helplessly exclaimed, “It doesn’t…it doesn’t turn any further! It is stuck!”

“Really?!” Severin’s sudden exclamation of elation was luckily drowned out by ones that were instead fueled by disbelief, disappointment, and indignation.

He tried hard to suppress a laugh.

‘Only five!’ That was the result of his own count. And if the engraved scale wasn’t off, that would translate to a maximum temperature of a thousand degrees. Hot, sure. ’But it is not some kind of thermal weapon, at least. It will largely be useless to them.

Yes! Great news for once!’

“Great.”

‘Huh?’ Surely, he must have misheard. Had to be.

Severin looked around just to make sure.

“That’s great.”

The voice… this time, it couldn’t have been a mistake. With a bad premonition, Severin swirled around. And was faced with the person he least wanted to see right now.

“I was truly afraid of the implications if that thing could actually melt most of our metals and alloys. Would make it terribly unsuitable for residential use. But with this… I solemnly pledge to bring at least one of those things to every Malconean household.”

‘Nooo!’