…

“Okay. Let’s go through this one last time, shall we?” Magda asked. Her ever-present smile seemed more tired than earlier. “Just to make sure.”

Over the last couple of hours, this wasn’t the first time they had this conversation, but both of them hoped it would be the last. “One-hundred-fifty square meters,” she said with as much emphasis as she could muster. Severin nodded reluctantly.

That was five times the size of his store when he had first arrived; still almost double its size after the first upgrade, and even now in its current form, the store only exceeded the measurements by fifty square meters. Despite all the empty space around him, this was definitely the most he was willing to accept, and only after Magda repeatedly explained to him that this space would also be needed to house any of their employees. As for the exact location, as long as the building wouldn’t get in his way, Severin didn’t care too much about these details.

What he did care about, however, was something else:

“Only to a depth of three meters! And no excessive upwards extensions.”

“You keep saying this, but I still don’t know what that’s supposed to mean.”

“Well, that is…” He wanted to give up as little of his land as possible. In that regard, expanding upwards should be in everyone’s best interest. But on the other hand, he didn’t want the Society to suddenly raise a skyscraper in his front yard, either. “How about… You are always free to match the height of the highest building?”

Mag’s smile slipped as she instinctively looked towards a spot behind Severin. Even without turning around himself, he knew what she must have been thinking right now. While the tired woman was still weighing her next words, Severin quickly thought of something to appease her.

‘I still need to prepare a room for my future employee, anyway. In fact, the System back then had granted me two additional ‘[Employee] slots’, not just one. So, I might as well... ’ With no further ado, he opened the corresponding System menu, picked two appropriate rooming prefabs, placed them into the inbuilt editor, and moved them on top of his’ and Emily’s room, respectively. Then, ignoring the price, he confirmed his choice. A disgustingly smug expression made it onto his face. He still didn’t even bother to turn around, and instead kept looking at the woman in anticipation of her expression of disbelief and awe.

However…

[To ensure an undisturbed shopping experience for all customers, the remodeling process and the addition of any new facilities will take place during nighttime. Thank you for your understanding.]

“…”

He felt he was experiencing some sort of Déjà vu. His expression turned ugly, but he was too tired to actually fly into his usual rage.

Hem

“I’ll add another story shortly. Very shorty. We can add this into the contract as well, if you like.” ‘The System already took the money anyway,’ he complained inwardly.

“Alright then. As things stand right now, that’s not that urgent of a matter, anyway. Let’s see, what next? Right. Security and protection. Not that you are in need of that,” she joked while the image of the unnaturally dangling arm was still fresh in Severin's memory.

“No preferential treatment, I get it. You will interfere and prosecute anyone that tries to attack or hurt me and my business with illegitimate means, but that’s that. ‘The same you would do for any other merchant or shop owner’. That about it?”

“About,” she confirmed. “But most importantly, we won’t help with any issues brought upon yourself. In particular, that means no hiding behind the Society’s name after stirring up trouble; or to use it as a means to strong-arm or manipulate other parties. You get the idea.”

“Yeah.”

“On the other hand, as the owner of this land -or shall I call you ‘landlord’ from now on?- you will have to provide our facilities with the same kind of protection you would any other part of your property up here.”

He easily conceded this point as well. As far as he was aware, he couldn’t just disable his barrier for certain parts just as he liked, anyway. ‘ And even if I could, it would be stupid to do so. So whatever. I mean, it’s basically some kind of mutual defense treaty.’ However, he couldn’t suppress his urge to add, “As long as it’s nothing you had brought upon yourself”.

She ignored his jab and continued. “That leads us to…”

“No persecution of customers.”

“I thought we went over this already? What do you expect us to do? As long as someone has previously visited your shop, we are supposed to grant them some kind of immunity? No matter if they are wanted criminals or not? Just like that?”

“And who is it that determines who is a criminal?” Severin countered her, already knowing the answer.

“That’s ridiculous. You are…” Magda started, but caught herself and took a deep breath. “Think of something else.”

…

”Fine, but I hope you understand that’s an enormous concession on our part?! A neutral zone. Unbelievable. And you will have to enforce it yourself. We won’t actively,” she put much emphasis on the word, “deal with those unsavory elements, but we won’t stop anyone from doing so either. That’s on you. On the other hand, we still ask you to at least consider turning someone over in especially severe cases. I mean, it can’t be in your best interest to have this whole place swarming with wanted criminals, either.”

“Don’t worry. I don’t intend to let it get to that. I assure you troublemakers will be dealt with.”

Magda nodded, but she was clearly not all too happy about this.

…

After that, there were many more or less important topics that were revisited. For example, clauses that ensured that none of the two parties could deny the other their services. At least not without a valid cause.

Or that of the Society’s mentioning of his ‘Emporium’ would have to be as accurate and fair as possible.

Many of the other terms were just as vague to say the least, but Severin had reason not to mind that too much.

…

“This should leave us with the contract length and the monetary aspect?”

“Twelve months?”

“Double that.”

“What?” Severin hoped he had misheard her.

“Twenty-four. It will already take six to twelve months only to get this place going, no? You don’t expect us to help you advertise this place, only to leave the moment business really starts to kick in.”

‘Fuck.’ “Fifteen.”

“Eighteen. And the option to renegotiate a new contract after that.”

“Fuck,” this time he couldn’t keep it to himself anymore. “But that will cost you extra! Twenty-five thousand. A month!”

“Deal!”