Ellia sighed as she watched the door to the back room shut with a smile still on her face. She remembered the day that she had been rescued by her boss, Mr. Portal. Though when he went out, he tended to go by Mr. A. It was drilled in during training that you referred to the boss as Mr. Portal, Mr. A, boss, or sir. Never call him Mr. P, he does not like that one bit.

Ellia had been a slave, destined to probably be sold to some filthy noble with a fetish for elven women. Of course, not that the slave traders before had not ‘sampled the merchandise’ on occasion, memories that she tried to actively avoid remembering, but again surfaced. She would need to visit the Counsellor on her next day off. Mr. Portal, for all his eccentricities, took good care of his employees.

Ellia heard nine ‘vwhoop’ sounds, the sign that someone had utilized one of the portals in the back room. The blue one led to the headquarters, while the gold one led to the stockhouse. Headquarters served many purposes. It was the administrative hub of the company, had extensive quarters that enabled every employee a room, had a giant cafeteria with seemingly countless food options, and had extensive medical care that could even bring the dead back to life.

The stockhouse on the other hand was more critical to the day to day operations of the Portal Trading Company. It was basically a giant warehouse that held everything the company had in stock. Ellia was not entirely sure how big the stockhouse was, though there were several starships in there that exceeded a thousand kilometers in length. Despite the amount of stock that was moved daily, the stockhouse only increased in size as new products and materials were added while existing stockpiles generally increased. It could be said that supply definitely exceeded demand, yet the Portal Trading Company kept everything under control in the flow of goods and materials.

Ellia recalled asking, as apparently many did, how Mr. Portal dealt with the ethics of his business model. The model was pretty simple: offer everything to everyone. There was no reason, for example, why either the local lord or a bandit leader could not walk through the front door and purchase one of those starships, so long as they had the money for it. Space travel was certainly not a thing on this world, which was more akin to a medieval technology level, but again there was no stopping them from doing so. However, for the most part worlds tended to stick with items and products more familiar to them for some unknown reason.

Ellia looked over at her co-worker, Nané. She was from some world that had a focus on mechanical contraptions and gizmos. Ellia had once heard Mr. Portal refer to Nané’s world as a ‘steampunk’ world, though Ellia had never been to such a place. She was fascinated by the stories Nané told about it though.

It was a slow day here though at PTC Branch #764. The fact that the boss had come through today was the most exciting thing. So Ellia and Nané had resumed playing a strategic board game called Conquest of the Realm they had started the other day to pass the time once the boss had left with the new employees. The front door opened a while later during one of Nané’s turns, so Ellia turned to the customer.

“Welcome to the Portal Trading Company. I’m Ellia. How can I assist you?”

The man that had entered the shop carried an aura about him that oozed with self-entitled superiority. Based on the badge affixed to his tunic, Ellia could tell he worked for the city, so he was probably something like a tax collector. If he was, he was going to be annoying to deal with. It was unfortunate that this disturbance occurred just after the boss had passed through.

“Hmm,” the man snorted, “I will be collecting your dues to the city for this pathetic business. Now hand over the proper amount.”

“I’m sorry, but how much is this proper amount?” Ellia replied with a plastered-on smile. Customer service was important, regardless of who they were or how annoying they might be.

Nané had stopped playing and came up next to her. The two women stared down at the man, since they were both well aware of the Company’s tax status here while this government stooge clearly did not. However, the idiot did not seem to take the hint.

“Incompetant woman. Fetch the owner. It is all you are good for.”

“The owner has given this ‘incompetant woman’ the authority to act on his behalf here in his store. As you have failed to provide any sort of account of the purported taxes that this store owes, which by local law is exactly zero, I can only presume that you are either threatening my coworker and I or attempting to steal money or products,” Ellia responded with sarcastic glee.

With that, she raised a hand and pointed it at the man. Channeling her mana, she conjured up five arcane bolts of magic that floated around her wrist. Next to her, Nané had drawn a pair of long-barreled pistols from hidden holsters in her uniform, which incorporated a bit of spatial distortion magic to hide completely. The man’s eyes went wide with shock as he found himself staring down the magic and weapons aimed at him.

“What? What is the meaning of this? I am an agent of the lord!” he sputtered.

“The lord that agreed to the demands of our boss, a certain Mr. A. You should really look up information about where you are going before you do,” Ellia calmly stated.

“It’s time for you to leave now,” Nané added.

The government stooge was trying to say something, but nothing came out, thus leaving him looking like a gasping fish. Eventually, his brain seemed to kick in and he beat a hasty retreat, though not before shouting something about vengeance and retribution.

Ellia shrugged as she dispersed her magic, which sent a shiver down her spine as she reabsorbed the mana. Magic in this world was far different than her original one, where she would have had to worry about feedback loops for not using a spell. It was an adjustment to rid herself of those ingrained concerns, but she was growing more used to the magic of this world with each passing day.

“By the way, I broke through your defensive line,” Nané said as she holstered her own weapons.

“What!” Ellia shouted as the two returned to the game.

The day continued smoothly, with only a few customers coming in to buy or sell anything. One far more reasonable nobleman came as he did every week to purchase some fresh reef angler, a type of fish from world 383 if she recalled correctly.

There was a resounding thud against the back wall as the sun began to set. However, Ellia and Nané barely acknowledged the commotion as it happened every evening. The door to the back room swung open and a spindly creature with a vague humanoid shape emerged.

This humanoid-like creature seemed to be composed solely of green vines that stretched and moved as the creature walked. However, it had something akin to a mask over the ‘face’ which seemed to be composed of tree bark. This mask had three holes in it, two for eyes and one for a mouth, which were black voids except for the yellow spots of light in the eye holes that denoted the eyes of the creature. Though the creature seemed to have no physical sex charicteristics, the PTC uniform it was wearing was the female version, and the voice that echoed from beneath the mask had feminine tones to it.

“I’m awake!” the creature said as the other two still continued their game.

“Evening Letyn,” Ellia murmured.

Letyn, the plant-like creature, was the third member of PTC Branch #764’s storefront staff and their overnight staffer, as PTC branches never closed. She was a Lithoca, a sentient plant race from some world that Ellia could not remember. Lithoca apparently did better in moonlight than sunlight, so the night shift was perfect for Letyn, though her drowsy nature suggested she was certainly not a morning, or rather evening, person. The same general setup could be found at most branches of the Portal Trading Company, though some of the busier storefronts had many more staff on hand.

“You two have been at the same game for days now,” Letyn commented as she stretched her vine arms.

“And I’m winning,” Nané replied.

Ellia scowled, because Nané was right. Ever since she had broken Ellia’s defense lines she had been losing territory.

“I still don’t get it,” Letyn said as she set about preparing to take over.

Three days after the boss had come through with a batch of new employees, Ellia was confronted with a situation that she had only ever heard about in training.

“You buy everything here right?” a ragged and dirty human man asked.

“Just about,” Ellia replied, sensing the direction this conversation was about to go when she glanced just behind the man.

Behind him stood a human woman of about the same age and of similar appearance, probably his wife. Clutching the woman’s skirt was a little girl, perhaps about six years old.

“Please buy our daughter!” begged the man.

Indeed Ellia had been warned about this kind of situation in training when she was a brand new employee. A number of worlds that the company operated branches on were at society levels where things like slavery and selling people into servitude were either ingrained or accepted as options. Branch 764 operated on such a world.

Ellia could tell that the man and his wife cared about the girl, since they were here rather than seeking out any of the numerous slave traders that the boss tended to drive out when he stopped by. The boss was certainly strange, and had several morality issues about him, but one thing he was adamant about was destroying slavery and the like. It was why many employees of PTC were former slaves from various worlds, Ellia included. That said, Mr. Portal understood situations occurred when people like the man in front of her were at their last hope.

“I see. I am required to inform you that the Portal Trading Company does not operate in slave trade or forced servitude contracts,” Ellia started.

The man stared blankly at her, clearly not understanding what she was talking about.

“However,” Ellia continued, “We are capable of providing adoption contracts to willing participants that are underage; underage being those less than eighteen years old or the age of maturity when applicable. Those surrendering rights are afforded small recompense.”

“So... you’ll buy her?” the man asked after a moment.

“That’s not what I said, but to put it simply, yes.”

The man and his wife wept, and started hugging their daughter tightly. Ellia was gripped with emotion as she observed the scene and prepared the paperwork. Fortunately, it was another slow day and these were the only customers in the shop right now.

“She will be taken care of until she is eighteen and given the chance to work at the company in time. It will be up to her what she chooses to do from there. Please stop by as often as you might like and we can arrange visits and pass on letters,” Ellia said in a moment of calm.

“Neither me or the wife can read,” the man said.

“I understand, we will be able to accommodate you.”

After another bout of crying and hugging, explanations on paperwork, and a simple signature, the little girl stood with Ellia and waved goodbye to her parents. She had nothing aside from the simple dress on her back and a cloth doll in her hand. Ellia bent down so she could be at eye level with the girl.

“Selma? Let’s go meet some nice people that will give you some dinner, okay? There will also be some other girls you can play with.”

The little girl, whose name was Selma, nodded in agreement. Ellia took Selma’s tiny hand and together they walked through the blue portal in the back room.