The Flying Emporium

It was a rare occasion that any Society branch would keep its doors closed for an entire day. It was a measure reserved for only the most dire of circumstances and even then never happened at the more popular locations.

Still, even now, a day later, Magda stood by her decision to do exactly that. For many reasons.

She had needed the time to think. To write reports. To double check certain legal documents. To mourn the loss of some good people who needlessly died in the line of duty.

And to care for the survivors.

That those survivors had retrieved a rare class orb also didn’t make things easier.

Adding to all that the presence of the last remaining group that had accompanied her from the Hanvian branch, and, given how otherwise shorthanded they were, Magda couldn’t have proceeded with business as usual, even if she wanted to.

Now, a day later, things were hardly looking better. None of the issues had just magically resolved themselves overnight. Yet time was a luxury she didn’t have.

With how incessantly those reckless fools had been pestering her and her staff ever since the sudden emergence of the new dungeon, she feared ignoring the crowd of foolish adventurers any longer would only further escalate the situation.

With a heavy heart but a made up mind, this morning Magda again unlocked the Society’s doors.

Anticipating the usual stampede, she immediately took a quick step backwards, making way for her inconsiderate patrons.

But the anticipated scene didn’t appear.

Even after an entire minute of waiting, there was no sign of the usual shoving and shouting.

Magda was perplexed.

Was it still too early?

‘What nonsense,’ she dismissed the thought. ‘For those people, it was never too early. Or too late, for that matter.’ If it was up to them, the branch would remain open all around the clock; as some of the larger branches actually did.

Failing to come up with a satisfactory explanation for this abnormal scene, Magda finally lost her patience and let her curiosity take over.

Again she approached the door, firmly placed her hands, and pushed them open herself.

The sight that greeted her was unsettling.

Where was everyone?

Given the stress of the last few days, this question should have been a cause for celebration. Instead, she had a bad premonition; her whole body grew tense.

‘Did those idiots finally cross the line and storm the dungeon? Couldn’t they wait any longer and decided to collectively throw away their lives?’

Magda refused to believe that was the case. It didn’t make much sense.

But what else could be going on? After a moment of apprehension, she decided to find out. She stepped outside to inspect her surroundings.

What she saw stopped her right in her tracks. Though what she saw immediately answered all of her lingering doubts and question, in turn several new ones were raised.

At some point in time, while she and her staff had been holed up in Magda’s office, the Emporium had experienced a whole series of drastic changes.

First, there was the main store that had been considerably expanded to include an entirely new second story.

This observation, on a personal level, was maybe the most important to Magda. As per their contractual agreement, this change meant that she was now fully authorized to similarly expand her own facilities; back then, it had been a major concern for Severin that the Society might try to outdo and overshadow the Emporium.

Any other day, this realization might have delighted Magda; today it only caused her a headache.

‘As if I don’t already have enough on my plate.’

In reality, this almost forgotten clause of their contract was likely the only reason Magda paid the building any attention to begin with. Because the other changes were far more eye-catching.

Like for example the changes to the building on store’s right.

It, too, had expanded in size. But on a much greater scale. In fact, the change to the actual store, at least in terms of its visual impact, was by far the least significant one.

That building, Magda knew, housed the staff's living quarters, which, in her opinion, considering the average person’s living conditions back in the capital, were already rather generous to begin with..

Now this building had also grown in size. But unlike the main store, it didn’t just double in height, but also in width. Effectively quadrupling the available living space.

“What is he planning now?” Magda found herself involuntarily wondering out loud.

And why was there a second building of the same dimensions also standing there?

Nothing of this made much sense to Magda.

Was he hiring more people? But why? Even if Severin required more personnel to man the store’s new floor, just how many people could he possibly need? What for?

Again, the answer, at least in parts, revealed itself with just a look towards the opposite end of the Emporium, where the kitchen was located. Or rather, had been located.

Now it, too, had been replaced. In its stead now stood a foreign building many times the original’s size and far larger than even the other new massive buildings in its vicinity.

And yet. Despite its dimensions, Magda felt the building gave off a certain inviting warmth. She felt herself drawn to it.

As did evidently a large crowd of other people.

By now, it was all too apparent where the majority of her usual clients had disappeared to.

Magda had half a mind to join them to investigate. She craned her neck.

Judging by the outside seating arrangements, the cafe hadn’t actually gone anywhere. It wasn’t entirely clear what that big new building actually was.

Just an expansion of the cafe? That seemed unlikely, given its size.

‘Then maybe a restaurant?’ Magda mused, but was unconvinced.

Curiously, she couldn’t see any signs that could provide some clarity, either.

Still, Magda maintained her composure. In the end, her sense of duty won over her curiosity. So instead of joining the people loitering around the Emporium, she decided this was the perfect opportunity to take care of some other, more pressing business.

With that, she headed towards a different destination. One that was similarly packed with people ever since its sudden emergence.

The closer Magda approached, the louder the discontented voices became. Their frustration was evident and Magda couldn’t help but wonder just how much longer Jasmine’s men standing guard could keep them in check; maybe the thought of them doing something stupid wasn’t that far-fetched after all.

It also confirmed that coming here was the right decision.

At first, none of these people noticed her arrival as she quietly stood there observing the scene, wondering how best to approach.

That was when one of the many adventurers noticed her presence and the decision was made for her.

In these people’s eyes, she was the one ultimately responsible for the current situation. Meaning it was Magda who had ordered the dungeon to be off-limits.

Because of that, it didn’t take long for everyone’s eyes to be focused solely on her.

She was faced with an impatient, almost hostile crowd of people, which now loudly demanded answers.

“There she is! Don’t let her get away!”

“It’s her!”

“Don’t you think you owe us some answers?”

“Are you finally willing to let us in?”

“That has to be it, yeah? I mean, it’s been half an eternity. At this point, anything else would just be malicious.”

“If she doesn’t, we should just file a complaint with the Society.”

“I say we should do so either way. To let an amateur like her take charge of maybe the most important newly established Society Authorization District in recent times. It’s a fucking joke.”

“That’s exactly right! We have all seen the footage. The dungeon is obviously a joke. There. Your evaluation.”

Magda wasn’t flustered or even intimidated by those shouts and maintained her stoic smile; she was confident her status and the authority that came with it protected her against even the most foolish adventurer. Also, she understood quite well how all of this must look from the outside.

So, instead of issuing a lifetime dungeoneering ban to the more insulting loudmouths in the crowd, she did the most inconceivable thing.

“Actually, I had the same thing in mind,” she declared amidst the commotion, making the handful of people who actually caught her words question their hearing.

But not for long. Magda waited for the crowd to quieten down on their own before doing something even more outrageous. She was setting a precedent.

‘Here we go,’ she took a deep breath.

“I understand you are getting impatient,” she began. “Well, let me assure you, these last couple of days, we have worked our hardest to accurately determine the dungeon’s danger levels. However, we encountered some complications. We lost some good people-”

During the first few words, there was complete silence. The Society was notorious for disclosing as little information about their inner workings as they could get away with, and when they did, it certainly wasn’t any information that would paint them in anything but the best of lights.

As such, a situation in which a branch manager directly addressed their delayed progress with an active investigation was pretty much unheard of and made everyone hesitate.

That was until this point.

“Don’t talk shit!”

“Who do you think you are fooling? Lost some people? Do you think we are idiots?”

“Who’s gonna believe that?!”

“That’s right! We all saw the footage. Even the group of newbies made it out alive.”

“Have you guys become that much of a joke? Is that what you are telling us?”

“What a fraud!”

Magda was fuming inside. The pain of loss was still fresh. But she also understood where these people were coming from; she wouldn’t have believed it herself if she hadn’t seen those other recordings and the abnormal behaviour of this dungeon, first hand. All she could for the moment was to endure the verbal abuse and keep smiling; unless she started threatening people by revoking their licenses, there was no use in even trying to shut them up. She could only wait them out.

Luckily, some more reasonable and experienced groups were also present and seemed to understand that there had to be more to this matter than initially met the eye; otherwise, there was no way anyone representing the Adventurers’ Society-much less a full-fledged manager-would put themselves out there like this.

“Shut it, you idiots! Can’t you see there has to be more to this than that? How did any of you make it through a dungeon? Or is that why you are here? Because you think it’s an easy first dive?”

“Agreed. At least have her finish. Surely no one in their right mind thinks she came here just to tell us some fabricated stories and make us go away. Or do you?”

Magda nodded in appreciation and after some more insults were exchanged, she continued.

“It is true that we lost people. From our own branch. But also some reinforcements. From Hanvia’s main branch,” she put special emphasis on that last part. Not because these people deserved more grief and attention than her own staff, but to make even the last person understand that this had not been an issue of qualification, skill or level.

“Between runs, the dungeon seems to have evolved,” she revealed curtly. “And drastically. Thanks to the new technology the Emporium has introduced, we have witnessed everything first hand.

Let me be clear: What our people have faced in there is not the same as you guys have seen during the recent event. It has changed.”

“What do you mean, it’s not the same?”

“Changed? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Is it evolving that rapidly?” someone caught on.

“That certainly is one theory,” Magda replied to the interjection.

“So what? Many dungeons do? Or do you think you don’t have what it takes? Are you closing it down entirely? Is that what you came here to tell us?” complained again parts of the crowd.

The more attentive ones, however, didn’t miss the significance of Magda’s words.

“And what’s the other theory?”