“Hello Miss Triss. What can I do for you?” The clerk asked.

“Why, hello there Mr. Clerk. I need to see the mayor, I have a proposal for him.” I said.

“Of course. I will notify him of your arrival. Do you want to wait, or shall I send someone notifying you of the appointment?” He asked.

“I will wait. I have different business to do too. I need to report my breakthrough in the next realm.” I said.

“Of course. One of my colleagues will come shortly.” He said.

I nodded to him as he left, idly watching the hall around me. It had grown. I could feel the qi in the air, thicker than anywhere in the town. The building itself didn't grow though, which meant someone placed an array. Interesting.

“You broke though?” A voice from behind asked.

I turned around, and saw a certain giant standing there, still stupidly tall.

“Yes. Did I have to report that to you?’” I asked.

“You did. Follow me.” He said.

We left the town hall, when a cry came from a mortal. I looked around, already knowing what happened. And sure enough, a plume of smoke rose in the air from the beach. Right where my house stood.

“That's not normal.” I commented.

“It is not. Follow me, we can do your evaluation later.” He said.

Tiger took off running, and I followed. Sprinting like we were, we didn't take long to arrive in front of my house. My burning house.

“That's not good.” I said.

“It’s sabotage. The mayor will be furious.” Tiger said.

“I really liked my house. But I don't think it was worth that much.” I said.

“It’s not about that. Someone went against the mayor in his own town. Heads are going to roll.” He said.

We watched in silence as my house burnt down, I immediately noticed when the flames reached my cellar, seeing as the fire transformed into yellow for a short while. Good, that was the salt.

The townsfolk worked to stop the fire from spreading, carrying bucket loads of sea water and splashing it over the nearby buildings.

“That fire seemed awfully convenient, don't you think?” I asked. “Just as I left my house.”

“Oh yes.” Tiger growled. “This was planned. And would have happened regardless of your timing. They had someone watch you all day long, and decided to strike when you left. It’s going to be nearly impossible to find the culprit, they most likely left the town by now.”

“So, what am I going to do, all my stuff was in there. Sure, my tools probably survived, as did my money, but all materials are destroyed.”

“You’re really in the second realm?” He asked.

“Yep. I freshly advanced into the next realm.” I answered.

“You don't need to worry then, the mayor would’ve offered you another, bigger house anyways. You’re the wheel that drives the expansion of his town.” He said.

“So, I need to think about a new house, and plans for it? I need to talk to the mayor beforehand.” I said.

“I will have to report to him anyways. You can follow me.” Tiger said.

“Thank you.”

We turned around, and ran back towards the town hall. The clerk already waited for Tiger, and didn't even blink as he announced I’d accompany him.

“Tiger! What happened?” The mayor, who’s name was still a mystery, asked.

“Someone insulted you my lord.” Tiger answered. “They burnt her home down.” He said, pointing at me.

“THEY DID WHAT? WHO?” He screamed.

Ouch. That hurt my ears.

“I don't know my lord. We weren't present when the fire was lain.” He said. “But it was a cultivator wrought fire, the flames turned yellow while burning.” Tiger said.

“Of course. Do you know anyone that would want to harm you?” The mayor asked.

“Well, I can only think of two people. But there could be many more, after all I don't work for entitled pricks.” I said.

“Who?” The mayor asked.

“First of all the Waid Clan. One of their number came into my shop, demanding I work for him. I declined, and when pressed my emotions got the better of me and swore an oath I’d never work for his clan.” I explained. “The second is the fat merchant. He really dislikes me because I don't respect him.”

“Hmm, it can't be the Waid Clan. All of them left soon after the tournament, sir.” Tiger reported. “But merchant Gredy could be a very real possibility. He wouldn't do the deed himself, but pay someone for it.”

“So. Gredy. He is going to pay for that. Tiger, fetch him.” The mayor commanded

This wasn't good. My involvement was secret and would stay that way, but I had a second realm cultivator in my employee. And losing workforce like this would be quite the setback.

“How about something different.” I spoke up. “He hates me because I am competition. Sure, I'm small time compared to the business he seems to have, but that can change. Don't you think hitting him where it really hurts, in this instance his purse, would be far more satisfying? The slow realisation he did something he shouldn't have. The feeling of being powerless, the knowledge of his inevitable fall from wealth. It would be delicious.” I explained.

“Are you sure? He could try the same again. And I won't build you a third house.” He said

“Of course I am. I am just going to have to hire some guards.” I said.

“Very well. What do you plan?” He asked.

“Well, I didn't have any time to plan. Give me a day or two, and I will present you with a building and floor plan, as well as a detailed way how I’m going to bully him out of the business.” I said.

A day later I returned into the mayor’s office, floor plan in hand. He looked at it, raised an eyebrow and said a single word. “Explain.”

“Sure. As you can see, the building has three stories and two basement floors. The third floor is my own living and working space. The second is where the first realm seamstresses I'm going to hire live and work. The first floor, where a few mortal clerks will live, will be used to sell and buy products. And my office for visitors. The two cellars will be where I store material and completed products.” I explained.

“I see. And how do you plan to force him out of his business like this?” The mayor asked.

“Well, that plan has several steps, and will take some time.” I said. “First, it starts with only selling robes and other clothes to those who do not sell anything to him. Anyone that does will be blacklisted by me, and forced to pay double for the rest of their life. Secondly, after accumulating some funds I will start buying stuff for more than the merchant. And lastly, I got to know someone who has a stable supply of spirit salt. Which I will start to sell sometime soon, to anyone not a customer of the fat merchant.”

“I see. You did put some thoughts into this. How are you going to fiance it though? All your stock burnt down.” He said.

“Well, the fire was hot, but not hot enough to melt my money. So I am going to venture in there, and dig out all that money. It’ll be enough to overcome the short period of adjustment.” I explained.

“So, do you know anyone looking for work?” I asked the man in front of me.

Currently I was sitting in a tavern, chatting with the owner.

“Who asks?” He asked.

“I'm Triss. My business is going to expand soon, and I'm in need of some mortal employees.” I explained.

“You're the seamstress?” He grunted. “Didn't your house burn down?”

“Yes it did. But I was going to expand anyways, so it’s no big deal.” I explained.

“What do you need mortals for?”

“To man my shop. I also need two apprentices.” I said.

“What for?” He grunted.

“I broke into the second realm. So I'm going to create clothes for more powerful people. And I need others to do the work for normal cultivators.” I explained.

“I know a few people that may be interested. Where do they find you?” He asked.

“I live in the town hall currently.” I said.

“Good enough. You going to eat or drink something?”

“Nope, cya.” I said, leaving a generous tip.

This was the third such tavern I had visited, after all everyone knew barkeepers knew people. Now I just had to wait and see. And hope for a few promising workers to come along. I purposefully didn't add anything about forcefully breaking through my workers, as that would not give me the people I wanted. No, I wanted someone that wanted a stable life, not someone that wanted to seek excitement.

The town had a few more taverns I could visit, but for now I’d wait. My house would take about two weeks to be build, so I had time to find workers. Probably not enough workers as I wanted to have in the end, but enough for now. Guards would have to wait until my house was finished, after all no cultivator would want to guard my old house.

Idiots.

I’d really like to test my new, third realm powers, but being this close the the mayor made me hesitant, and the week leading up to this had been too hectic. Well, I’d see in time.

“So, you want to be my apprentice?” I asked the girl in front of me.

She nodded shyly. Heavens, she couldn't be older than six.

“Do you really want to work for me, or do your parents want you to?” I asked.

Eyeing the two other adults in the room. They were the first ones to not flinch at the accusation, which was good.

The girl’s reaction was even better.

“No! I want to!” She yelled.

Her parents flinched at her outburst. But I smiled. Good.

“Very good. My house will be finished in half a week. If you're still interested by then, you know where to find me. Do make sure to think what you want though, do you want to move in with me, or stay with your parents.” I said. “No. Don't answer yet. It’s your decision, and doesn't matter to me. Now shush, go home, enjoy your last week as a child."

Very good. This girl was the first to come to me on her own. Teaching her would normally be quite time consuming, but really, why be a cultivator if you didn't cheat everytime you could.

Getting some clerks had been really successful, with five mortals - all pretty woman - expressing interest to work for me. All got the same response as the girl, they had time to consider if they wanted to work for me or not, and visit my new house if they still did.

I knew those five would come though, just as I knew the girl would. Working for a cultivator was too great an opportunity to pass up.

Or honor, as I heard many people call it. Hypocrites. They saw it as an opportunity, and calling it anything else was just deceiving the other party or oneself.

I'd also need some labourers sooner or later. And buy a cart or two. I would not start exporting until my business finally flourished again, but painting some stuff on a cheap tarp would be good enough. Then I'd just have to leave the cart somewhere on the market place, and have free advertising.

I'd also need to hire a town crier to something like that, to announce my shop to the world. Well, all in due time. First I had to start organizing some fabrics to work on, a new loom to be made, and several sets of tools for my potential apprentices to work on.

Rebuilding your life really was work.

Well, at least I still had all of my most valuable possessions, as well as nearly all of my money.

Anyways, for now I just had to wait and see. Just another week and I'd be free to do whatever the fuck I wanted.

My new house did look magnificent. Three stories high, with the first one made of marble. A small flight of stairs led up into the main entrance, filled with a solid wooden door. Large, glass filled windows made sure enough light entered the show- and shoproom, with normal, smaller windows lining the rest of the rooms.

The two upper floors were made out of wood, but painted to look more impressive. With a smile on my face, I entered the building, my bag on my shoulder.

Exploring the building would have to wait for now, I had seen some of my future employees in the small crowd gathered around the building.

“I see you decided to come. Good.” I said. “Can you read?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“Good enough, join me.” I commanded.

I took out the contract I prepared for this occasion. It basically depicted working hours, pay and secrecy. It also said that, barring unforeseen consequences, I would awaken them in a half a years time, should none of my secrets come to light. Not the finest way to do something like that, but I didn't need to care about employee protection laws here.

“Now, take this. It’ll teach you everything you need to know. If you still want to sign afterwards, you can just add a X under the contract. And later the name you chose for yourself.

I’ll be in my office from now on, send anyone searching for me to the back, into the last room in the back. There’s two girls coming for an apprenticeship, as well as seven others, to work like you.” I commanded.

As I walked, I relaxed my aura a bit, covering the whole of my house, as well as its immediate vicinity. No reason to allow someone to burn my house down again. The mayor wouldn't sponsor another house. This one was expensive enough, I really should gift a few good clothes to the watch, they’d need it in time. As my aura spread through the house, I took a moment to check on everything. Two rooms full of bunks for mortal employees, as well as a large communal room, two bathrooms and a kitchen? Check. Ten rooms ready to be lived in by guards and apprentices? Check. Two basement floors, filled with enough storage to last me for a long while? Check. My own well in the basement? Check. Personal story, with meditation room, a room for a personal servant, a bathroom with a ‘shower’, a bedroom, a kitchen, several unoccupied rooms? Check.

Everything was in place. Now I only needed to start working myself deeper into formations, and I was good to go.

As I sat down in my office chair, a thought came to mind. I needed a white cat to insult annoying people. After all, what easier way to dismiss someone than stroking a cat as they entered the office, not stopping once to greet them?

Yeah. Hopefully house cats existed in this world, or I would need to get myself a substitute. And while those worked the same way, they just didn't feel as right as a cat would. And I liked cats.

In short order, all seven of the remaining woman came into my office, and read the contract. Or were given the knowledge of reading by me after agreeing to learn with qi - and signed with an X. Now, I only needed my two apprentices to come, which wouldn't happen today, both had been quite young, and something like the crowd infront of my house would probably scare them away.

Thanks to my preparations - round marbles filled with instructions stored by qi - they all know what I expected of them. Someone manning my shop as long as the sun was up, taking up orders from customers, assigning priority depending on politeness, price and the special wishes of each customer. They’d then transfer said list to me, and my apprentices, and send some runners I’d hire in time to search for the cultivator in question, and tell them their order was ready.

Like this, I would reduce my work load significantly, and have more time to do more interesting stuff. Like studying arrays, cultivating, and similar stuff. For now I’d get myself some clothes with a basic, interlacing protection array. Like the one I did with my test fabric. Only this time I wouldn't keep the arrays at the same size, the more important an area was, the denser I’d lay the arrays, reducing my workload significantly.

For now, using simple fabric would have to suffice, seeing as I would take a little to build up my stores of non-cotton fabric and fibres again. Anyways. That meant keeping the array active wouldn't work, I’d have to activate it for only short moment, like when something dangerous was about to hit. Tough to use, but cost and work efficient. And considering the change I went through after my first advancement, I’d be surprised if something similar didn't happen again.

It was good to have a house again, because now I could cultivate in peace and quiet, assess the changes to my body, and plot my further cultivation. There was much to do, with so little time. At least I now had more time on my hands!