Theo huffed, placing the heavy crate of potions on the counter to sort through them. He grabbed bottles aplenty from inside, arranging what he believed would be his most popular products in the highest visibility locations.

Small labels went onto the shelves to indicate the potion types as well as the general pricing. Haggling was something Theo expected, but he wanted to set a precedent he could start with. He believed his prices to be fair, yet profitable, but checked some notes on ingredient pricing in Romuen to make sure of that.

A tune he'd heard from a bard came to mind, so Theo began humming it quietly as he stocked the shelves.

Once the potions were all set up, Theo moved on to all his enchanted tools. They came in countless sizes and shapes, but he remembered the function of each and every one intimately. One of his favorites to make - a sack full of wind-enchanted stones that made for fast, cheap projectiles - went on a middle shelf.

He’d found that they tended to be popular with adventurers back in Renwurd for their small size and utility. They could be used to silently grab the attention of a monster due to the wind enchantment, or even to poke out an eye in a pinch. He hoped they would be just as popular here, so he displayed some of them among an assortment of other enchanted tools next to his most colorful potions shown in the window.

The last vestiges of the sun left the sky, and with a sigh of relief, he was finished. The shop was properly stocked with everything labeled and organized. Theo’s stomach growled once more, protesting its emptiness.

Oh goodness, the time certainly escaped me.

A glass orb rested on the shelf. Theo grabbed it, and with a small squeeze, soft, white light emanated out. Lightsource in hand, he walked through the door behind his counter. With a gasp, he saw his home fully for the first time.

“It’s perfect!” he said, elation washing away his weariness.

He stood in the kitchen, realizing that he was truly on his own now. He eyed the small kitchenette to his left, immediately taking note of the enchantment work from afar.

Infusion mana coated his eyes as he moved in for a closer inspection. He frowned. “Who did these runes? There are unstable nodes all over the place! And who uses a fire rune for an oven instead of a heat rune?”

Theo grumbled, vowing to fix those runes himself later. A layer of dust coated everything just like it had his shop room, aside from a few patches. It looked like Frevan had tried to do a bit of dusting himself, considering the scattered clean spots.

“Broomgust,” Theo said, drawing on his mana pool once more. This room wasn’t as big as his shop space, so it took less time to clean.

There was a sliding door across from him which he knew to be his workshop. Considering his weary state, he elected to check it out later.

The door on the opposite wall from the entrance to the kitchen turned out to be his bedroom. He found the master bathroom through a door in the bedroom. Pleasantly surprised, he ran his finger across a lovely porcelain tub that looked to be just the right size for him.

I believe we’ll be acquainted with each other quite soon. I could use a soak.

His dinner went down quickly - it was just small provisions from his trip. He’d have to shop for essentials later.

The tub turned out to have plumbing directly to it, but Theo was displeased with the enchantments once more.

“Honestly, who uses pulling runes for moving water? A proper displacement rune gets the job done just the same for at least half the cost,” Theo said, pulsing mana into the tub to begin the filling process.

Despite the lack of anyone present, Theo felt his cheeks heat up in embarrassment. “Ah. It appears I was the wrong one here. The pulling creates a siphon to pull the water continuously.”

His night continued pleasantly as he relaxed and read up on his notes once more to solidify what he knew about the local economy.

Refreshed from the bath, Theo dreamily watched stardust fall from the sky through his bedroom window. The drifting white flecks glimmered in the moonlight as they drifted slowly to the ground.

One final use of Broomgust on his new bedroom and Theo collapsed on his bed. The combination of travel and a day of unpacking was exhausting. Sleep found him quickly.

The next morning, Theo performed a small calisthenic routine, his dad’s words echoing in his mind.

“Strong magic resides within a strong body, Theo.”

He’d exercised a decent amount simply from moving in, but it was a habit at this point to get a little exercise in every day. Theo felt he was more of the bookish type, but he prided himself on the small amount of physical fitness he maintained. It did seem to have positive benefits on his magic, after all. Whether that was all in his head or not, he didn’t know.

Theo glanced out the window. Oh dear, it’s getting late. I need to get going!

He ran to the bathroom and cleaned himself up for the day. His hair was stylishly ruffled upward with a bit of water. A quick check in the mirror, a luxury to own for sure, showed verdant green eyes staring back at him.

In his room again, he fumbled around in his unpacked luggage. There it is. A brand new vest - it was his secret weapon for success today. As his parents taught him, impressions always begin with one’s attire.

After changing, he scarfed down some breakfast and left to buy necessities. He’d open his shop today, but a full stomach came first. There was one other stop on his trip as well.

Checking his bag, he made sure he had everything he needed. Theo tried his best to navigate on his own within the trading district and eventually found the market. After haggling for some groceries, mostly just paying the price offered because he felt too awkward to do otherwise, he walked toward the guild district once more.

His trip brought him to the doorstep of the Merchant's Guild. He paused, watching the staggered, early morning foot traffic move in and out. A small, unlikely worry that his paperwork hadn’t been processed properly nudged at the back of his mind… but without a proper booklet, he'd be left trying to convert between foreign currencies on his own. There was no way that'd be a good idea. Swallowing his trepidation, he stepped inside.

A counter was open so he walked up to the teller. “Hello there, I’d like to link my currency conversions booklet to Romuen? I just opened my shop here, house number five on 3rd Street in the trading district.”

The fulvitre worker glanced up at him. They had lovely floral glass art within their head; shades of oranges, reds, and yellows popped out from within. “Welcome to Romuen. Just hand me your booklet and I can link it,” the glass person said, their voice tinkling like windchimes.

Theo handed it over and the worker touched it to the large floating crystal behind them, an information beacon. The crystal on his booklet glowed brightly for a moment, indicating that it was properly linked to Romuen and updated.

“And you’re Theo Lukien, yes? We received your paperwork a month ago. You’re all set to conduct business,” the fulvitre said, handing him his booklet back.

Theo breathed a sigh of relief - the paperwork was done. “Thank you very much, ser, have a nice day!” He waved, turned around, and walked out. On his way back home, he noticed something he hadn’t before. Each district used different stone paving styles.

The guild, inn, and restaurant district he was in now used square stone tiles, their flawless uniformity a clear sign of a talented earth mage. As he returned to the trading district, his gaze turned to the ground once more. The street was paved with circular stone tiles, diamond shapes filling in the gaps between.

I had wondered how people could tell the districts apart…

With that thought, he unlocked his shop. A few steps later, he entered the kitchen. There was a certain homey feeling about stocking his larder with groceries that made his heart feel lighter. A small bit of homesickness he didn’t realize he was carrying drifted away.

The mood shattered when he thought of the time once more. I need to open the shop, it’s so late!

Theo dashed madly to his door, flipping the sign from “Closed” to “Open” triumphantly. He settled behind the counter, watching the door with bated breath. Time crawled, second by second. Theo blinked several times, his eyes tired from staring for so long.

He stretched, yawning once before he rubbed his eyes. His legs were tired. A small reprieve was all he wanted to risk, so he hurried into the kitchen and came back with a chair. His thoughts turned dour as he sat down.

I thought I’d surely have at least one customer by n- The sound of footsteps on his stairs caught his attention. Theo stood up, vying for a better view. A human face appeared in the door, a flash of short teal hair. It was the woman he’d met at the guild last night!

“Welcome to Runes and Brews! Good morning, you’re my first customer!” Theo said, the buildup of anticipation making him louder than usual.

She glanced around the woefully empty shop. “I guess I am. You mentioned yesterday that you do custom requests. What’s the fee for that?” she asked, picking up a potion and inspecting the label.

“Ah, that would depend on the request. If it takes me a while I may need to charge more. But my standard I always went with back in Renwurd was 15 silvers.”

Her eyes widened, causing Theo to begin backpedaling. “Well, I could always go for-”

“It’s that cheap?” she asked, mouth agape before she realized and composed herself.

“Wh- uh, yes? What did you have in mind?” Theo said, stumbling over his words a bit.

“Do you have any lightning-enchanted tools? Maybe a wand with some kind of Shockshot spell on it?”

Theo lifted the hinged portion of his counter up and walked over to a selection of wands he had in a display case. “I’ll have you know you’ve come to the right place if that’s what you’re looking for! I happen to be a primary Infuser, secondary Primordial. Elemental enchantments are one of my specialty areas.”

“No wonder you want to sell to adventurers,” the adventurer said, peeking over Theo’s shoulder as he considered the wands.

He picked one up with a yellow stardust crystal attached to the base. “This may not be exactly what you’re looking for, but it’s one of my more experimental pieces. It contains a spell I’ve named Bolt Orb. It should have about five uses before it’ll need a new crystal. I have plenty of those in stock as well if you’d like to buy some for backup. I can show you how to replace them if you don’t know.”

“What’s the difference between Shockshot and Bolt Orb?”

“Bolt Orb fires a set of three small lightning orbs from the tip of the wand in a horizontal cone, so it’s better at dealing with groups. Shockshot is a bit higher power but it tends to be only single-target unless someone added chaining runes. This enchantment was my attempt at avoiding those chaining runes while still keeping the power output up.”

“Perfect. My team and I are hunting gilgafrogs in the local lake dungeon,” the adventurer said, turning to regard Theo.

“Ah, Bolt Orb should be perfect for their aquatic nature then. Do be careful to not use it with your teammates in the water, however. I recommend standing some distance away as well. If you’d like, I could even draw up a Spell Book for Bolt Orb so you could learn it as a Named Spell.”

“Spell Books are ridiculously expensive, I think that’s out of our budget for now. I have spells I need to reserve my mana for,” she said, patting her belt where twin daggers were sheathed on each side. “Besides, I’m not Primordial myself.”

“Well, do you need any potions? You have the flier right? I’m offering to cut a quarter of the price if you have one of my fliers,” Theo said, watching the adventurer’s eyes widen.

“Uh, my team could use a few healing potions, maybe a mana potion? How much?”

“What grade were you looking for? I have poultices for small injuries, but I assume you’re looking for something a bit stronger. Perhaps just a philtre? Or maybe a salve? Both can be applied topically, but you can drink the philtre as well.”

“Which is cheaper? We’re only a Steel rank team and I’m already buying a wand,” she said, showing her steel adventurer’s tag.

“The salve would be the more affordable option. It comes in a glass container so be warned that it is somewhat fragile. I do buy back containers if you can keep it intact.”

“How about two healing salves then. Do you make mana salves too?”

“I do, but I should warn you, they take longer for the mana to soak through the skin. They won’t help you in a pinch like a philtre would.”

“...You said everything is one-fourth off?”

“Indeed.”

“I’ll buy the philtre.”

Theo smiled and clapped his hands together. “Lovely, let’s finalize the purchase then,” he said excitedly and moved back behind his counter.”

He took out an abacus and added up the prices of each product. “Oh, before I forget, would you like any extra lightning-attuned stardust crystals?”

“Probably just two more.”

“They’re right over in that basket if you’d like to pick out two on your own. I’d recommend finding some slightly larger ones if you can, they’re all the same price regardless,” Theo said, winking knowingly.

She smiled at that and went over to the basket while Theo added up the total. When she returned, Theo was finished. “Your total comes to 8 gold, 25 silver, 50 copper.”

“Aren’t wands usually at least 16 or even 20 gold?” she said, her eyes growing wider than ever.

“...Are they?” Theo asked, feeling sweat grow on his lower back. “I just priced it based on my time invested in its creation as well as the components. It’s only an oak wand with a moderately magical resin after all.”

She eyed him warily. “You sure this wand works?”

“Of course! I can demonstrate if you’d like.”

“If you wouldn’t mind. The price is a little suspicious.”

“Understandable, but I have confidence in my products. Just allow me to find my spell dummy… I believe it’s in my workshop. One moment, please.”

Theo walked through the door behind him, opened the sliding door, and found his spell dummy sitting in the corner. A necessary implement for any enchanter making combat tools.

He returned to the rogue girl playing with his abacus. She put her hands behind her back and tried to look innocent, eyes not meeting Theo’s.

“Here we are. Now allow me,” Theo said, setting up the spell dummy, an amorphous blob of metal and cloth enchanted to take hits. He removed the lightning-attuned stardust crystal from the wand. “As I have a Primordial attunement, I’d rather not waste a use of the wand you’re buying. I’ll just use my own mana.”

“Go for it.”

Theo leveled the wand on the dummy. “Bolt Orb.” Runes on the wand lit up as Theo’s mana ran through it. There was a small pause. “Just… give it a moment, Primordial is only my secondary and I didn’t charge this one y-”

His arm kicked back as three balls of lightning fired out of the tip of the wand, striking the dummy. The cloth sizzled but was only a little burnt. Theo felt proud that his enchantments on the dummy allowed it to take a hit so easily.

“Hm. There must have been some residual mana from its creation still in the enchantments. Or maybe I’ve improved more than I thought.”

The adventurer’s eyebrows rose, clearly impressed. “Maybe. But that didn’t look weak. That’ll be perfect for us. Could you show me how to change out the crystals?”

“Of course. It’s fairly easy, you just need to take the crystal and affix it right here. Make sure it’s touching this rune here at the base, that’s what draws the power,” Theo said, indicating where he meant on the wand.

“That is easy. Well, thank you. You’ve saved my team a lot of money. We’ll definitely be coming back later,” she said, smiling at him. She produced her coin purse and handed Theo the money. She fortunately had the appropriate coins, so Theo didn’t have to make change.

“I’d love to see you once again. Oh, and before I forget. I do buy monster parts, so if you want to bring me back some gills, eyes, feet, and tongues from the gilgafrogs, I believe I could offer you a fair exchange.”

“I think we might be able to manage that. I’m Telsa, by the way,” she said, offering her hand.

Theo took it, shaking. “Theo Lukien. Wait, you know that,” he said, feeling his ears heat slightly.

“We’re the Vanguard’s Grip. Remember that name, we’ll be famous someday,” she said, opening the door and waving to Theo.

“I’ll make sure to!” he called out, sighing happily after she left. Theo allowed himself a small happy-dance in celebration of his first successful sale on his own.

Telsa’s head popped back in the door, catching Theo mid-dance. He yelped, feeling his face turn beet-red, if the heat gathering was to be any judge.

She fought to keep a grin off her face. “Thought I’d let you know your shop was a little hard to find, you should put out a sign.”

Theo slapped his forehead lightly with his palm. “Oh dear, I forgot to put the sign out. I’ve had a million things on my mind, I suppose that just… slipped by. Thank you, Telsa.”

A small snort escaped before she cupped her hand over her mouth. “Sorry, the dance was cute, I promise,” she said, and the next thing Theo knew, she was gone once more.

Moments later, Theo was hanging up a sign he made outside his shop. It read “Runes and Brews” in a scrawling font he’d copied from one of his mother’s books. Below it were his business hours, each in a crisp font, easy to read from the road.

The sign was enchanted to glimmer slightly, which Theo hoped would catch the attention of anyone walking by. It hung from a small, ornately-shaped metal support on the wall. He was quite fortunate that the previous owner had that sign type as well so he didn’t have to install his own.

Hanging this up, and my first sale on my own, it really makes it feel… official, Theo thought and smiled to himself. Happy with that task done, he trotted back inside, still giddy about having his first sale.

Maybe I should frame the coins… Maybe not. I need the money, Theo thought, his mind coming back to the weight his coin purse had lost over the last few weeks.

His day went by quickly, Theo occupied himself by flitting around his shop, ever-so-slightly adjusting the positions of products. It helped him remember where everything was, and this way he at least looked busy if someone came inside.

The sign appeared to help, as he had five more visits to his shop before the day ended. One customer, a fulvitre, bought one of his light-up glass orbs. He found himself wondering if it would be incorporated into the fulvitre’s body or if it was strictly utilitarian.

That thought train led him to wonder if enchanted glass could be put inside a fulvitre’s body or not. He knew of their body art using colored glass but not much more. It never came up during the transaction, however, as Theo wasn’t sure if it was a personal question or not.

Two people inspected his wares and left without buying anything, though one of them, a human man, spent an especially long time sifting through his enchanted tools. Perhaps he was a potential future customer who simply didn’t have enough money today? He did make sure to check for any missing stock, relieved to find that he hadn’t been burgled on the first day.

A yellow-petaled perren with a messenger bag bought a poultice for muscle aches and two stamina potions. She seemed quite pleased with her purchase and even left Theo a small tip! He found himself curious about how a person made of plant matter had muscle aches, but he wasn’t going to turn down a sale.

His last customer of the night came in just as Theo was about to close up. It was a seastar chosen, he could tell from their pointed head with the gripper-suction things Theo didn’t know the name for.

He bought a little less than 75 silver worth of stardust crystals, all water-attuned, and paid Theo in a currency he could have sworn was out of circulation - a star-shaped 75 piece silver. He performed a cursory check of his currency conversions booklet as subtly as possible before the chosen left. It surprised him to find that, while out of circulation, it was still a legitimate currency.

The seastar man allowed him to keep the change as a tip, so Theo pocketed the coin happily. His stomach had other plans, however. It growled its complaints; he’d only had a hastily-made sandwich at midday, afraid to miss any would-be customers if he took any longer.

He made dinner for himself, going through the motions. When he put the last of the dishes away, a glimmer through the open door caught his eye. He sighed. The basket of stardust crystals was in complete disarray - and it was dirty. The seastar chosen had to be the culprit. Cleaning up the mess his customer made meant he needed another bath, and only after that was he able to sink into bed, exhausted but satisfied.

His eyelids were heavy, but there was a smile on his face as he started drifting off. Filled with thoughts of the day, his head spun. The deals he'd made, the people he'd met… it all swirled around and around, coalescing into a hazy, blurred fog that washed over him. One last thought hung in his mind, crystal clear and brilliantly bright as the rest faded.

It had been a good day.