The Flying Emporium

Around two weeks after they had set up their small encampment next to his hut, the small group, led by Samuel, packed up their tents and bid Severin goodbye.

“Don’t worry, we’ll be back in a few days. It’s just that the two of them here need some experience to broaden their horizon.

We’ll check out one or two of the dungeons around here and see how it goes.”

Samuel turned around to face the two in question.

“Your individual abilities might be excellent for your age, but you mustn’t become overconfident. You still have a lot to learn. There is more to being a successful adventurer than being strong.

Sooner or later, you will have to work together with other people. Cooperating and coordinating with multiple other people during battle. Everyone with their own habits and skills. Possibly in some small cave or so, with not enough space to move around freely.

Don’t underestimate the difficulty and dangers involved!” His expression grew solemn.

“Otherwise, you’ll have a rude awakening once you get your Silver-Badges.

Having connections and forming ties is an important part of adventuring that cannot be overstated, you get that?

I won’t always be around.”

“Of course, Master Samuel.”

“Yeah sure.” Miriam couldn’t keep herself from rolling her eyes.

She and Timothy had already grown tired of this speech.

‘Let’s just get this over with please.’

…

Severin stood at the door and saw them off. He watched until the surprisingly fast Flying Ship became a small black dot in the distance until it disappeared in the distance.

Sigh

‘One day…’

After a small drop in his mood, Severin just as quickly picked himself up again.

After all, things didn’t look that bleak for him anymore.

“Good thing I let the work pile up a bit in the time I had company.

Should be enough to get one or two more levels for my [Alchemist] subclass.

And with that, hopefully, gain some new recipe or so.” Still, looked somewhat upset.

“What’s with the [Shopkeeper] experience? Still not even at the 50% mark, even after all those sales. The System better not be too stingy with its level-up reward once I made it.”

…

In an attempt to get himself acquainted with Severin, Samuel had often kept him company in the store and told him stories about his own adventures.

About all the places he had visited, be it dungeons and raids or monsters he had hunted in the wilderness. The [Berserker] had used the term ‘grinding’ to describe the latter activity, which almost caused Severin to lose his composure.

As someone with a non-combat class himself, he felt a bit silly when he learned that he was obviously not alone in that regard.

He had also learned about all kinds of magic items and technology and received a crash course about the most common classes in Galira.

The old man never talked about his own level, and Severin didn’t ask. But just based on the many stories, he was sure the man was extraordinary. Not for a second did he entertain the thought that he could be lying.

Between their sparrings he also talked with the other two adventurers, from time to time.

From them, he learned more about the life of ‘normal’, classless people.

While Severin’s knowledge on the subject was very limited, he expected their life to be like in medieval times in his old world.

And while that turned out to be somewhat true for remote places, like Timothy’s hometown, he had been too naïve.

Not everything in this world revolved around suicidal thrill-seekers and their needs, so in a world of magic with all kinds of tools and artifacts and crafting professions, how couldn’t there be a certain elevated standard of living?

…

Severin had gotten too used to their company.

Because of that, what once was his only form of entertainment, crafting, had now become a boring chore instead.

Crafting potions with the help of the system-implanted skills and knowledge was no challenge at all. And after the novelty effect had faded, it had become tedious work instead.

His hands moved automatically as if he had built up muscle memory through repetition over the span of multiple years.

Severin was sure that assembly line work couldn’t be any less interesting.

He put it down to the missing mad-scientist vibes.

Still, after a day of mindless work, he was quite pleased to see another recipe popup as a reward.

“Finally, something else than jello. Might as well have become a [Cook] back then.”

Severin was about to hold the somewhat viscous, green liquid he had just produced, against the light, only to again be confronted with the fact that he didn’t know where the light came from.

‘Since Sam didn’t mention it, it’s probably nothing too special.’

He contented himself with reading through the item’s description.

“20 gold each, huh? ‘Lasts for 30 minutes’.” Severin did some rough estimates.

“Considering how many potions these two are chugging in 30 minutes, it’s not even that expensive in comparison.

And it’s limited to only 5. Not sure whether that’s a good thing or not. It probably is? Makes them come back more often, I guess. Assuming it’s as useful as I think it is.”

“Then again, the demand should be more class-specific.” He quickly analyzed.

I can’t see Tim using that stuff unless…”

A small smile came onto Severin’s face once he tried to imagine the caster thrashing around with his staff.

…

Another two days later, the store was fully stocked again.

It was finally time for Severin to pay attention to another matter.

Having a group of combat maniacs at one's front porch had more benefits to it than just the entertainment factor. And as their jello-addiction enormous potion consumption provided him with more experience, his gold count naturally increased as well.

And now it was time to invest that gold.

Or, more specifically, the money that was reserved for shop enhancements.

Sadly, because of the poor conversion rate, the balance reserved for personal purchases was still too low, to be able to afford a bedroom yet.

So once again, Severin went through his options while browsing the shop menu.

‘The first option would just be to expand the shop itself. I can’t imagine that it would ever be a wrong decision. At least not in the long run.

Once I have more customers, I’ll probably need the space anyway. Would also allow for more shelf space.’

Severin considered for a moment.

‘Just simply saving up some more would probably not hurt either.

Then I would just wait until I really need something specific.’

Severin already knew those two were his best choices.

But he still scrolled down in his System menu and checked one more option.

‘I can just buy the land in front of the store. With enough money, I could even buy the whole thing apparently.

For now, I should be able to afford at least an area that’s multiple times the size of the hut.

With that, I should be able to go outside…right? Since it technically would belong to the shop? I mean, it wouldn’t make much sense to have this option otherwise. Especially if it’s purchasable from the shop’s own balance.’

Severin tried to convince himself.

He was desperate to step outside.

‘I mean, I must look pretty suspicious already! Almost two weeks and they’ve never seen me leave this hut! I can’t have them leave and never come back because they don’t trust me!’

He still tried to rationalize the decision that he had already secretly made when he watched that ship disappear into the horizon.

It was probably the worst option out of the three.

Still...

He closed his eyes and…

Tap

Kaching

Once he opened his eyes again, he saw some changes happened to the menu.

The most obvious being the 400 cold coins missing from the balance overview.

He ignored these for the moment and instead took a deep breath.

Then he went around the counter with a heavy heart.

He stopped in front of the door and opened it with shaky hands.

The sight that greeted him made him become hopeful.

“A fence! That’s a good sign, right?!”

The fence, which was seemingly made from the same rustic wood as his hut, was clearly demarcating the area is he had just bought.

He carefully tried to cross the doorstep.

Successfully this time!

“YES! I knew it! Thank god.”

Severin was lucky that no one appeared at this moment, and nobody saw him.

Otherwise, he might have decided to lock himself up inside the shop and never open it again.

He wouldn’t be able to bear the shame he’d feel if someone saw the silly dance he performed in front of the shop.

It was truly a truly ridiculous sight, with his arms flailing around while making unintelligible sounds.

After running around like that for a short while, he let himself fall onto the grass that was swaying in the mild breeze.

“Haha! I did it!”

Suddenly his laughs suddenly stopped and made way to a displeased frown.

His eyes, for the first time, fell onto his new home.

More specifically, on the wooden store sign over the door.

“So that’s how Sam knew my name. That’s ridiculous. And I can’t even explain it to anyone. Who would believe me? I didn’t come up with that!”

Severin felt wronged by the System once more.

“What a shitty name!”

If he didn’t want to become a laughingstock, he better make the name come true.

The sign read ‘Severin’s Emporium’.