The Flying Emporium

The overnight transformation Severin woke up to this day wasn’t any less miraculous than the ones he was used to from the System.

The big stage and innumerable seats that had appeared turned the center area of Severin’s mountain into one big open-air theater.

Malcos’ army of workers, both classbearers and non-classbearers alike, had truly exceeded all his expectations.

With this thought, Severin stepped away from the window, made himself presentable, and quickly left his room to inspect everything in person; the coming days, his store and cafe would remain closed to the public.

Severin was in awe as he slowly walked through the rows of seats, observing the many workers putting the finishing touches on things and made his way towards one particular group of people.

“-enough! We need more booths, and fast. The dwarven delegation also wants in on it.”

“But didn’t they-”

“Yes. Yes they did.” The woman in charge was clearly annoyed. “But they changed their tune the moment they learned the elves were also interested.

It’s ridiculous, yes, but I really don’t want to deal with that insufferable Bandir prick turning this into some diplomatic incident. So please just set up some another five or six booths or however much the elves have, will you? Or do I have to repeat myself?”

“N-No, of course not, la-”

“Good.” The woman cut the flustered worker off and immediately turned her attention towards yet a different victim.

”You! Are you done with your tests yet? Have you figured out whether the sound of those things will be sufficient? Remember. In a couple of hours, all this here will be packed, you understand? This won’t be just a small crowd. I want the sound to be crystal clear. So tell me now if we need to hire some mages with sound amplification skills. Those don’t grow on trees and we have little time as is.”

“No need,” was the confident answer.

“Are you sure? It’s okay to tell me. Just tell me now.”

“I’m certain Lady Jasmine. The sound is impeccable. It’s a truly magnificent tool. And if I may?”

A raised eyebrow gave him the go-ahead.

“It might be presumptuous of me, but in fact I would strongly suggest equipping our own Arena with some of those crystals.”

The woman slowly nodded in response to the elderly man’s suggestion; clearly the man held enough seniority that his words carried some weight with her.

“Alright then. I trust your opinion on the matter.” This was the man’s dismissal.

Immediately, the woman started to look around again. And this time her eyes fell on Severin himself, who had stopped to observe the spectacle from some distance away.

“Aaah. There you are!”

“I’m surprised to see you so personally involved,” Severin admitted frankly.

‘And judging by your looks, you’re already at it for a couple of hours,’ he thought but didn’t dare pointing out loud, even though this observation only served to raise the respect he felt for the young noble.

“Well, of course. Now, I don’t want to bore you with all the intricacies, but suffice it to say that whenever so many people come together in one place, it always comes with great opportunities. Some financial in nature - just think about all the traffic coming and going through the portal station and Hanvia these next days - and some more political. It’s very much like the Games in that aspect.

Plus, let’s not forget those heating devices you promised to sell us,” the princess reminded him. “Those in itself are motivation enough. So having us help entertain our own citizens so that in return we can equip every Hanvian household with one of those spheres is quite the deal for us, ha.

“But mentioning the Games... I truly wish you’d agreed to host your event in our Arena, you know? Could have offered you a much larger share of the revenue, too.”

“This really isn’t about the money.” Severin explained.

“You already said this during our negotiations. But aren’t you still a merchant?”

Severin in response rolled his eyes in a deliberately exaggerated fashion; now that he and his team earned a couple of days’ rest, he had regained much of his humor. Still, he couldn’t divulge more than he already had, and left it at that gesture.

Jasmine, curious as she may have been, also understood she wouldn’t get any more out of him. And there was still some more work to do.

The two exchanged a few more pleasantries, and after Severin confirmed everything was still on schedule, the woman turned her attention back to some organizational matters.

From now on, Severin was simply another visitor with no other responsibilities. Everything happening from now on was out of his hands and left to more experienced people.

From now on, he and his employees had some long overdue free time. Which first of all allowed for an extensive breakfast.

Only Emily joined him in the otherwise empty cafe.

Krill and Sabina had already left to spend some time with their families while Mylana used this opportunity to do some tinkering in the store’s backroom.

As for Bandur - with the minimap still disabled, Severin had no clue what the dwarf was currently up to, but he wasn’t too worried either.

He kept to leisurely observing the nearby workers, and the crowd gathering in the distance while eating.

Though the official start was still some hours away, entrance would be quite some time before that. At which point the food stands would also open for business, Emily had pointed out.

And so the next few hours were spent either digesting or eating; realizing just how much food even a single gold coin could buy outside an adventurer’s encampment, the girl had the time of her life as she dragged Severin behind her from booth to booth, leaving nothing untasted.

Like this, time flew by quickly.

Before they knew it, the screens all over the festival side-the smaller ones on the outskirts of the site, as well as the enormous one on the center stage- came to life, and an all too familiar voice could be heard; it was the signal that the main show would soon begin and for people to get settled.

Emily and Severin grabbed another tray of some unfamiliar plant-based elvish snacks, before joining the surge of people who had yet to get to their seats.

Only now that the masses of people got settled, Severin began to realize just how many people were currently on his mountain.

He couldn’t help praising himself for his foresight to record the welcoming speech, he as the organizer of this event, was obliged to hold, beforehand.

When others, such as Malcos’ eldest Princess, surely would have jumped at this opportunity, just thinking about having to do this live and in front of a city’s worth of people, made Severin’s stomach turn with anxiety.

Severin tried to ignore his own voice resounding from every one of the [Receivers] and focused on making his way towards the elevated seating area specially reserved for himself, his employees and their families, and a select few other people personally invited by Jasmine. And, of course, several guards.

Missing no opportunity to play politics, Severin thought to himself once they arrived.

Not that he cared, as long as she wouldn’t involve himself in her plans.

Thankfully, apart from exchanging a few pleasantries with her guests, nothing much else was expected from him.

Instead, it was mainly the families of his two regular employees who insisted on meeting him to personally thank him for their newfound wealth; much to Severin’s own embarrassment and discomfort - after all, their few coins of salary to him was truly negligible.

He only escaped this awkward situation when the playback of his speech full of trite platitudes finally came to an end and was met with a thunderous storm of applause so loud that it made all other communication impossible.

Applause, Severin understood, which was not for himself or his speech, but was testimony to the audience's enthusiasm and expectations for what was to come.

It lasted a few minutes, just long enough to actually get seated, before the screens once again flickered to life and now showed the face of some annoyingly handsome fellow Severin didn’t recognize.

Apparently, he was in the minority with his ignorance, as, once again, excited cheers and applause filled the open-air arena.

“Thank you, all you people of Galira who found their way here, be it as participants or solely as spectators, Thank You for your warm welcome!

And of course Thank You to Severin and the Emporium for making all of this possible in the first place–and for paying my salary, haha.

Now, let me introduce myself. I am Jake, your host. Some of you may know me from my involvement with The Games or the All Galirian Rumble. It is my honor and pleasure to now present to you the first ever Broadcasting Event!”

The crowd regarded these words as another invitation to applaud and cheer, but Jake, who Severin by now recognized as the annoying announcer who had already ruined the Games for him with his flat jokes, didn’t stop there. Instead, he cautioned,

“Before we begin, however, I want to remind everyone that this is new for all of us. Not just this stunning venue in the heart of the Golden Mountains, or the premise of this event, but also the involved technology.

Novelty truly is the theme here, haha.

And so I ask you all for your understanding and patience if not everything is always running smooth. After all, many of our submissions will be actual live footage!

Including that of our first participant apparently, whose signal we should receive any moment now.

So while we wait, let’s take a look at some details of our first participant, shall we?”

With this, Jake dramatically produced a sheet of paper. He took a look at it, and,

“Woah, who would hav-”

Without warning, the screen went dark - just for a split second. The live-signal everyone had eagerly been waiting for had come in and immediately hijacked all the [Receivers].

“Argh!”

“Waah!”

“What the-!”

Parts of the audience were either startled by the sudden change on the screens, others, mostly the regular folks, were truly frightened by what they saw: a closeup view of a light-green scaled snout bearing multiple rows of razor-sharp fangs which seemed to close in on the audience.

“Hello? Can yu zee?” The image on the screen was shaking as the lipless mouth was trying to articulate the hard to understand words, its owner totally oblivious of the effect their sudden appearance had on the spectators some several thousand kilometers away.

“Doez thiz vork?”

Short silence and even more shaking.

And then, suddenly, the view zoomed further out, revealing the full image of the… creature?

“Aah, thiz should be better, yez? You can zee me no, no? Vell, I hope zo.”

Ahem.

“I am Limzahl ov Clemenzcale Clan. And zhe nove… novilt… ar.. new thing I showz yu iz great Zaurian culture!”