The Flying Emporium

The next day was comparatively slower than the previous. That didn’t mean, however, that they had no customers at all. Twenty-one people claimed their daily combinator uses. Nineteen people belonged to the Lion’s Head guild, which was temporarily missing Harold, one of their officers, plus the two youths Timothy and Miriam.

Taking into account that Andreas was able to activate the machine five additional times, this all added up to two hundred and fifteen individual activations. Each of which required the input of two items to be then combined into one. This meant even though everyone had already stocked up their inventory the day before, there was still a demand for Severin’s wares.

Even if there wasn’t any other business during the day, this would already amount to a not-insignificant amount of gold.

But to Severin’s great joy, there actually was more business.

On the one hand, there were the two youths, as well as a bunch of other adventurers who followed their example, who started to spar with each other. They used up quite a few consumables during their friendly bouts.

On the other hand, there were the ones who decided to search for adventure and opportunities. Or simply just a pastime activity to keep themselves busy and have a reason to leave the mountaintop. They were of the breed of adventurers that seemed to be allergic to rest. Of this group, some individuals already left in the evening of the previous day. Most, early in the morning.

Now, as the day progressed, more and more of these people trickled back to their guild’s camping spot and, naturally, also replenished all the items they had consumed in the meantime.

There seemed to be a correlation between the time they were gone and the amount of gold they spent afterward, making them very popular with Severin.

All throughout the day, Severin tried his best to ensure he was never left alone with just his assistant. Not long after getting up, he had to find out that the girl was still obsessing about the existence of magical artifacts which would allow a person to experience the thrills of being an adventurer without having to risk one’s well-being.

Only the presence of other people was able to stop her from further interrogating Severin about the magical device. At his wit’s end, the latter made up a random excuse for her to not discuss the matter in front of others; And since the girl didn’t want to tempt the System into punishing her for going against the host’s wishes, it was enough to shut her up.

Being somewhat familiar with the System and its antics, said host doubted that the girl would actually get punished for disregarding an order like that. If anything, it might end up rewarding her for it. He kept those thoughts to himself. She would find out soon enough how much of a scam the System was.

But until then, even Xander being Xander was a welcome distraction, as both the [Employee] and the [Shopkeeper] busied themselves with their work.

To Severin, it almost seemed like the [Duelist] was checking in on the girl, but he soon discarded the thought when the man started to question them about the requirements of a V.I.P. membership.

Being on the receiving end of being pestered herself, it was actually Emily who started to threaten Xander with blacklisting. Much to the amusement of both of the men. Though the laughter of one of the two seemed slightly more strained than the other.

During their many breaks on this slow day, Severin insisted on sitting outside, together with the adventurers who either stayed behind or had already returned. Much to the girl’s frustration.

Severin, however, was very content.

His workload was enough to busy himself, while it still allowed him to take breaks whenever.

He had an, for the most part, adorable [Employee] to assist him and who kept him company, as well as a bunch of regular customers who did the same.

Some of which were now entertaining him and Emily with their stories and, probably somewhat exaggerated, recounts of their exploits. The atmosphere was boisterous, and Em didn’t manage to keep on pouting for much longer.

From a hundred meters off, the shrill humming of magic, the clashing of various sized blades, as well as a cacophony of frustrated and excited shouts mixed together, created an even livelier mood.

Severin truly enjoyed himself.

He wasn’t even bothered by the prospect of temporarily losing most, if not all, of his income for the next couple of weeks. For a moment it didn’t matter. For a moment he felt like he had truly arrived.

It was a short-lived moment.

“It seems like we’re getting company,” one person suddenly exclaimed and pointed at the horizon, drawing everyone’s attention.

“Maybe it’s Harold,” was another one’s first thought.

“Since when is Sina located in the West?”

“Also, it’s still too early for him to be back already,” Andreas added. “If he directly made his way back, sure. But I doubt it.”

“It might just be a random visitor.”

“Right. I found this place without anybody’s help, so…” Xander sounded strangely proud when he alluded to the fact that it was him who had first introduced his now guildmates to Severin’s store, which earned him a few annoyed looks.

“Maybe it’s the [Berserker]? Samael?” someone else guessed.

“Samuel. Also, it’s the wrong direction for him as well,” one of the more attentive adventurers remarked.

“Then I fear, it’s most likely them…”

Everyone knew who ‘they’ referred to. The mood became gloomy.

Simon might’ve been blacklisted and humiliated, but he had seen the tooltips. And Edward had apparently even gotten a hold of some of the consumables. If they hurried to catch up with the rest of their group and decided to act immediately, it was very possibly the White Squall that was now coming their way.

And that was still the best-case scenario, Andreas felt. Once they too were Severin’s customers, the Squall would be in the same boat as them, wanting as few people as possible to know about this location.

Worst case? Simon spread the news just to spite them. But then again. Even he couldn’t get away with putting his own petty revenge over the guild’s interests.

While Andreas was sweating bullets, Severin already started to count imaginary gold coins, totally oblivious to the familiarity of the situation.

“It’s not them!” came the exclamation of an eagle-eyed [Ranger]. “And it’s only a single ship.”

Most didn’t know whether to feel relief or be concerned. The discussion arose anew. Even Miriam and Timothy, who had long interrupted their spars, joined in. And it was the latter who noticed the very same [Ranger] was now staring with wide-open eyes into the distance.

“What is it?”

“…”

He nudged the woman with his elbow.

“The…size of the thing. The color. I think it’s the Society.”