The Flying Emporium

Severin was very confident that if he was able to come to this conclusion, then so was Samuel. That being said, the [Berserker] didn’t show any signs that pointed to him having even the slightest amount of interest whatsoever in getting personally involved. There had been all kinds of opportunities for him to offer his aid over the course of the evening, but they had all been tacitly ignored. Maybe if the whole thing presented a more imminent danger to low-level or classless people, he would’ve changed his mind. But as things were, with no settlements in the immediate vicinity and the appropriate authorities already alerted there was no need for him to go out of his way.

Instead, he seemed way more concerned whether the Lion’s Head Guild had any plans to further involve themselves in this matter.

Yet, that was not a question Xander or any of his four companions were able to answer right now. This was still something to be decided, dependent both on the headquarters’ response as well as Andreas’s meeting with the Society. But unlike some might think, they didn’t seem to reject the possibility categorically. According to Xander’s descriptions they had obviously been in real danger of death, but that was after they pretty much got ambushed. Even if they wouldn’t be able to make it to the dungeon core itself, with prudent preparations they would surely fare way better the second time around.

Even just the possibility of Andreas and Co returning to face the horde of monsters once more, seemed to somehow please the old man, though he refrained from commenting on it any further.

The rest of the day went by rather uneventfully. Samuel shared some more of the knowledge he possessed about Dungeon Breaks, their consequences for the dungeon itself as well as their surroundings, and some strategies aimed to conquer them.

It turned out with either the right class or tools it wasn’t even necessarily impossible to ‘fix a broken dungeon’. Of course, that was most likely not what was going to happen in this specific instance. Such a procedure was mostly reserved for dungeons that had stayed undiscovered until their Break. If a previously known dungeon was somehow deserted for a long enough period of time to gather enough mana for a Dungeon Break to occur, then it was most likely not worth the effort anyway.

After that, Xander recounted more of their previous battle. To Severin’s regret, the [Duelist]’s condition seemed to improve by the minute. The more time passed, the more valiant and heroic his deeds became. But while even his group members couldn’t help rolling their eyes and scoff at certain parts, based on their overall reaction, he didn’t seem to actually exaggerate his own merits all that much. After only this short amount of time, he had already become an integral part of the guild. Something that truly spoke for his skills, considering his personality.

Overall, the mood was rather cheerful.

Severin enjoyed the general atmosphere and the more colorful descriptions of everything that happened.

So did Miriam and Timothy. But for slightly different reasons.

Severin still treated them purely as entertainment, like action movies or fantasy stories. Even though on an intellectual level he knew monsters and the like were a real thing, he couldn’t help it. After all, he hadn’t yet seen even a single one of those beasts himself.

To the two junior adventurers, on the other hand, those same stories were a wealth of knowledge. Every now and then they kept asking how the group in general and the [Duelist] specifically, had dealt with certain kinds of enemies, their weaknesses, and the items and skills they had used to keep them at bay. Very much to Xander’s delight.

Besides reveling in the attention, the [Duelist] and his group obviously had their own reasons to be excited.

Most importantly, none of them had died. Which was a clear win in their book. Furthermore, it seemed like their troubles had been rewarded with a non-negligible amount of experience. Almost making the whole ordeal worth it.

Severin was sure that had they not been sent to inform him, the group would surely be lying unconscious in some tavern by now.

Another goal Severin put on his imaginary to-do list. Building a tavern. Not the ‘being unconscious’ part, that is.

Instead, the day ended rather early and on a more peaceful note.

With practiced movements, another makeshift camp, not unlike the one already present, was set up.

Going to sleep early was the norm rather than the exception for Severin. At least since coming to this place. It hadn’t always been the case. Back in his old world, he rarely went to sleep before daybreak.

Playing games, reading books or novels, watching random videos and shitty movies. Anything to keep his mind occupied. Until he was tired enough to collapse on his bed and fall asleep without having to lay awake and think about his future for the next couple of hours.

Nowadays, he doesn’t have to worry about stuff like that. For better or for worse.

Still, his new, arguably healthier daily rhythm wasn’t really by choice either. Even if he didn’t work himself to exhaustion over the course of the day, forcing him to rest early, then the mind-numbing boredom caused by the lack of entertainment made him do so.

As the day before hadn’t been too stressful for him, Severin woke up comparatively early.

Today he was the first person to do so, on this mountaintop.

Concerning the guild group, it was only expected for them to sleep in; Even if, based on his cocky behavior, Xander had already seemed to have replenished most of his energy reserves.

As for the other group, Severin suspected that they didn’t go to sleep right away and instead kept conversing among themselves. It was something he had already observed more than once and no matter how left out he felt, whenever that happened, he knew it to be a consequence of him not being able to leave his property. If he could, he would just join them.

But he couldn’t. In those situations, he kept to himself and made sure not to leave his shop. He didn’t want to look like those people at a party who distanced themselves from the others until someone would eventually come over and give them attention. He didn’t want to appear needy.

But for now, he felt there wasn’t much for him to do about that. Expect maybe expand the shop’s sphere of influence to include their camp as well, though he felt that would be awkward in its own way.

‘So, I couldn’t join you before, but now since I built this magic fence around you guys while you were sleeping…’

With Tim’s and Miriam’s daily fights, they more often than not were pretty exhausted themselves at the end of a day.

Even ignoring them trying to storm his shop the other day, them being awake before him had been rather uncommon so far.

The silence that greeted him upon leaving his store annoyed him to no end.

It was a childish and petty thought, but for a moment, ‘accidentally’ waking everyone up by smashing the door shut seemed like a reasonable course of action to Severin. The only thing stopping him from actually doing so was Samuel’s presence. There was no way he’d risk upsetting the old man like this.

Severin had a reason for being so impatient.

On the day before, seeing Xander and his group exhausted but in a stable condition, he couldn’t bring himself over to annoy them with his wares. It seemed inappropriate. But.

There were four new potential customers. His quest log displayed a progress of six out of ten for his [Building of a customer base] quest. With an unknown reward waiting for him.

It made it unbearable for Severin to keep waiting.

Being able to adjust his salary would be a useful ability, but it wasn’t anything exciting.

But an unknown reward…He just had to know. It could be anything!

He didn’t fool himself, though; Given the System’s track record, the reward would surely be underwhelming anyway. But just the possibility, no matter how unlikely the odds, of unlocking some amazing feature almost drove him crazy.

Like that, totally on edge, Severin sat in his usual spot, carefully observing the two camps while impatiently rocking his right leg.

Half an hour later his prayers were finally heard. Noticing movements inside one of the tents he could barely keep his composure until a sleepy-looking head poked outside.

“HEY TIM! Good morning! Hope you had a good night’s rest!”