“Master Jeremy,” Sebas started, a trace of trepidation in his voice, “what exactly is that thing you bought into the shop?”

Jeremy struggled with the green shard — which appeared bigger than when he first saw it — but he managed to place it over a wooden section of the counters.

“I’m not sure,” he answered. “Shelby found it in a cave. The thing seems to spawn greenies.”

“And you brought it here?” Sebas was dumbfounded. “Why not just send it to Phlegobos or Solphyria?”

“Eh? It’s harmless.” Jeremy shrugged. “Shelby coated it with a few layers of glass to keep the green motes contained.”

Sebas sighed. Sometimes he couldn’t understand his master’s way of thinking and the risks he took — dinner with demons, riding a giant snail, going to the astral for skeletons, and now bringing an orc-spawner inside the Corner Shop™. At least none of his plans blew up in his face — or at least, not yet.

“What are your plans with it, If I may ask?”

“I could probably cut a small piece of the thing,” Jeremy replied, deep in his musings. “Maybe place it in the cave then have my golems train in dealing with goblins — with proper supervision, of course.”

That probably means me, Sebas slumped.

“What of the cave where you found it?” he inspected the glass-covered shard — bewildered that it could spawn orcs and goblins.

It looked like it was taken straight from a moving picture that his attempted possessor was fond of — all the more, it truly felt alien.

“Burned. All burned,” Jeremy reassured him. “Shelby could smell or feel their taint, so we took a tour of the cave and burned every trace of the filthy mold mushroom things.”

It still gave him shivers — the fact that minuscule motes of light could become gargantuan orcs. Greenies were probably related to jerms, perhaps an ascended kind. He intensified his life ward by a notch — for safety reasons.

A slight twitch on the corner of his mouth was Sebas’ only response to the more intense ward. Sure, it felt like his soul was leaving his body — but it was a phantom feeling that was harmless unless his master willed it.

He heard shuffling behind the door before it opened to reveal a bunch of kids — the farmhands that regularly played with Shelby. They seemed hesitant to enter the shop, probably due to his master’s enhanced life ward.

“I’ll deal with this,” he offered, leading the boys out of the shop and leaving his master alone. With his current mindset, Sebas wasn’t willing to risk the health and sanity of the boys to one of his master’s sudden whims — he might unwittingly turn them into half-orc hybrids or something nastier.

Jeremy watched Sebas leave. He looked over the counter to find a vial of blood and a note on color and flavor.

Flavor?

He couldn’t remember listing that option. The person wrote, something with a tang, with a flourish — at least he knew some fruits that were in season so adding flavor wasn’t going to be a problem.

He found another vial — this one with a note in Sebas’ handwriting. It simply said, same as the first batch — customer satisfied with result, clearer directions needed.

Jeremy scratched his head. The drops were easy enough to use, you just swallow them or plug them into a wound — how could instructions be any more clearer?

After a few minutes, Sebas returned having talked to the kids.

“What did they want?” Jeremy asked. He was still pondering on how to make the already clear instructions even clearer. Did they need to draw pictures for those who can’t read? Surely, their companions could just tell them, couldn’t they?

“The kids want to tend to the fields within your domain,” Sebas answered.

“How much do we need to pay them?” Jeremy frowned. He didn’t know a lot about farming and crops, so he couldn’t calculate the possible profits.

“They’ll take two-thirds of the crops, leaving the rest to us,” Sebas starts, “or they could sell our share with theirs just give us coin.”

“Isn’t it a bit late in the season?”

“They said a week shouldn’t matter.”

Jeremy brightened. He wouldn’t turn down free money — and he had more than enough land. He had four ready fields but he wanted to keep one for his dandelions. He could always get his skele golems to plow more fields for sap — he just wanted to keep the first one for sentimental reasons.

“What of their folks — and Wentworth?” Jeremy remembered. “Don’t they have duties in his farm?”

“They said half of them could take care of their duties at Wentworth’s. They do plan to switch among themselves every week or so.”

Jeremy was fine with it as long as they had permission. He wondered if some of them wanted to try their hand at being adventurers. They could lend them the Corner Shop’s™ wares, give them some healing drops, and then train them on closely-monitored goblin caves. Then they’ll charge them for equipment rent, drops cost, and valuable training.

He started steepling his fingers.

Oh the possibilities….

***

The boys were elated — Sebas agreed!

Now they could freely practice their granted powers and abilities in relative secret. Sure, there were spies — but Shelby offered to send them away once they started their practice.

They would divide themselves into two groups — one to tend their families’ farms while the rest explored their abilities at the Scourge’s place.

They almost came to blows deciding on who got to go to the Scourge’s first. Nobody wanted to lag behind the others in knowledge and ability — and there was the issue of straining the Earth.

Distance didn’t seem to be a factor to whatever their patron was —only the frequency and magnitude of their calls. In one instance, Harrow found himself cut from the Earth in Forge, when the rest of them secretly practiced raising earth walls for half the day in Bountiful.

It took them a couple of days before they could feel the earth again. Some of them even feared their misguided and purposeless actions led the earth to forsake them.

Rules were set. Now the boys took turns calling the earth, making sure not to strain its powers or generosity.

Shelby helped, to a certain extent. She couldn’t feel or sense the earth as they did — but she could show them how to use its powers.

Some of them wondered if they were more connected to the earth than their snail mentor — but the fact that she was borne of the elemental plane of earth probably made that improbable. Perhaps she didn’t need to call to the earth — she just used her own powers to get the results she wanted.

Shelby also offered to fetch them. She wouldn’t go near the city for obvious reasons — but she could burrow somewhere close and wait for them undetected.

Dylan wanted to ask her if she could also bring them back — but the snail seemed to scoff at his request. They didn’t need Ricki to interpret the snail’s dismissive clicks and whistles.

***

Lady Amaranth paced in her room. It was around two weeks since the Wizard Jeremy’s last visit. Her gathering went on as planned — but his words about a rat in the house rattled her.

Cultists — It turned out that the rats the wizard referred to were cultists. They had three of them in her house — one of them working for them for three years.

She shuddered over the implications. They could have easily slipped poison in her food or slit the throats of her children in their sleep. How could they have been so blind or careless?

At least the problem was dealt with — or at least the ones they knew of.

Some of her more paranoid advisors even proposed the theory that the cultists were working with the Scourge. Letting them know about the cultists was him simply saying he didn’t need them anymore to deal with their family.

The theory shook Lady Amaranth at first. She had multiple mages and doctors check her person for signs of magical curses or tampering — and thankfully, none were found.

Looking back, she knew she was just acting on her fear and impulse.

The scourge could barely pay the dues he owed for his land — what more the maintenance for a hidden cult? He arrived a little over a year ago — and their cultist guard worked for them for over three years. Most important, Sebas came with an offer of partnership regarding their healing drops.

She met with the butler personally, noting his lack of fear or arrogance. He seemed oblivious to what transpired in their house — erasing the remnants of her suspicion.

She had to admit partnering with the butler was profitable. The healing drops were innovative, easier to use and store. You can even pop it in your mouth before an encounter and suck on it after every blow you receive.

Sebas even said something about different flavors in the future. The butler was certainly doing his utmost to market the thing — not that it needed it that much.

The first batch of two hundred healing drops sold out in less than a week — even with the nasty stories about how they were used.

The guard captain Levan came to visit their shop after finding out they were selling the drops. He showed off his own drops, ones with the stamp of a winged cat — not a lion or tiger, a house cat.

He asked about our prices and if we could also perform the stamping. The shop attendants could only answer no. Their researchers were still busy determining the substances and spells used in making the healing drops — doing something as mundane as stamping the drops was the least of their priorities.

The lady couldn’t hold back a frown. She remembered how their researchers went a bit too extreme. One of them stuck the drop in his behind — noting its effect was somewhat increased, possibly because of the absence of acid usually found in the stomach.

She shivered. Research was not for her.

They kept fifty of the two hundred drops. Some for further research, most of them to sell at higher prices when nobles demanded them.

Of course, some of their newer and more dim-witted wizards proposed they just take the formula from the Scourge — a proposal that drew nervous laughs and mockery.

They haven’t even seen the Scourge — much less stood before him. The man was a terror — if he was even a man at all. Even without his clearly ornamental horns, his aura was enough to make weak men cower in fear. She even read a report that he somehow acquired a gargantuan demon snail — one that could probably take out half the guards of the city.

Lady Amaranth shook her head. There would be no taking from the Scourge.

Cooperation was their best option.

She even forbade their spies from even attempting to go near the Corner Shop™ to steal its secrets. She knew a few apothecaries already sent their own, but her network of informants assured her that none of the spies managed to gain relevant information.

It was probably time to get some more healing drops.

Adventurers were clamoring for the trendy drops, and she didn’t want them to find the courage to head to the Corner Shop. Most of them were glad to pay an extra 3 gold to avoid a run-in with the Scourge — or his demon snail.

She could probably raise her prices without issue — especially once Sebas brings in the flavored drops.

“Send for Sebas,” Lady Amaranth orders one of her attendants. “No — wait”

She could always ask for a cleansing. The wizard didn’t seem to mind the job — even if he was already earning a bit of money through his drops. It was also a good opportunity to cement her ties with the strange wizard.

Yes, it was time to send for the Scourge.