“We really shouldn’t go into a possible assassin’s home,” Lou said.

“Shut up!” Mandi snapped. “Winn, you’re first. Honestly Lou, how are you married again?”

“Says the non-married girl,” Lou deadpanned. “Ow! Stomping on my feet kind of proves my other point.”

Today was just not my day, from the skeleton king’s magical bone dust not doing anything, to the overly difficult ingredients for the water breathing, and now a visit from nobles who apparently had trouble reading the room. At least in the case of the brat. But if she wanted to pay double the price for everything in an effort to display her wealth, then so be it. That could be funding for a trip. Perhaps I’ll find mermaid scales on display somewhere.

The first to enter was Winn, followed by Lou, then the petite redhead mistress. The air around Milia almost seemed to warp, but as long as they didn’t bug her, the dryad wouldn’t send a sharp vine through their feet.

Deciding to properly play the role as the shop keeper, regardless of the customer, I greeted them.

“Welcome to the shop,” I said. “Take a look around, let me know if you need anything.”

Mandi’s attitude from just outside seemed to have dropped and I wondered if her talk was all but a mask, pretending to be all superior. Typical noble shit, am I right?

“Your house and the shop is even more interesting inside,” she said, gawking. Winn glanced at the available potions, though without an appraiser, he’d never know the true quality of my work.

“If I may make a recommendation,” he began. “You should include a mana potion in your inventory. You may not enjoy the company of magicians, but mana potions are always in high demand.”

“What an annoying idea,” Mandi huffed. “How about telling him the rest of it.”

“Hmm?” Winn said.

“The kingdom’s resources to make mana potions are being monopolized by the Lord Ruler and House Astral. Only noble potion makers can afford to buy anything from those crooks.”

“You really shouldn’t be badmouthing the Lord Ruler, especially in front of people,” Lou said.

“Humph!” Mandi folded her arms across her chest and looked away from her companions.

“Besides, if you want to blame anyone for our lack of mana potion resources, you blame you-know-who,” Lou said.

Okay, I’m going to be honest here, I was preparing to toss them out of the shop, but the information I received almost made me want to give them discounts. No, I had no intention of raising my prices. Even with these three, I’d stick to market, focus on a good reputation, not that of Ripoff Rodney if you know what I mean.

“May I ask who are you talking about?” I interrupted the argument, voice cheerful. Yes, I knew that’d throw them off, but honestly, I couldn’t help but be excited. If I found the ingredients to the mana potion, learned about it in the process, perhaps I’d find myself with a fortune. “I’m sure the suggestion of a mana potion wasn’t just an offhanded comment.”

Mandi sighed. “I’m afraid saying that name directly may draw his attention.”

“We’re talking about the kingdom’s biggest enemy,” Lou said. “Wanda’s ass, it’s not that big of a deal, who doesn’t know about him?”

“Backwater peasants!” Mandi snapped. She quickly turned to Nate, blushing. “I don’t mean you.”

“The hell’s gotten into you,” Winn said, voice tired. He waved off any of her oncoming protests. “I was hoping he’d reveal a secret stash of mana potions from the back. We were paid a lot of gold after all and it’s getting heavy in my pocket.”

“I should demand a refund since the job was cancelled,” Mandi growled.

I narrowed my eyes at them.

“Due to a misunderstanding!” she quickly said.

The kingdom’s greatest enemy. Ah, of course. They slandered someone they called Ares the Peace Spawner in their history books like crazy. It almost seemed to imply that he was truly the most powerful magician in all the land, though not directly insulting their Lord Ruler or the hero. In fact, the book seemed a little too eager to mention the hero’s failure at catching the guy.

Harmony scrutinized the redhead further, but the other woman’s attention drifted between arguing with her two bodyguards, ogling the shop, or me. Milia intervened, her desire to see them gone almost palpable.

“Do you see anything of interest?” Milia said in her best shopkeeper voice. Flinching, Mandi seemed to have sensed the hidden vibe somehow, I think, due to her brief glare, but she put on an obviously fake smile. “Sure, two energy potions please.” She glanced at the others, clearly trying to keep calm under the dryad’s scrutiny. “Is Howie here yet?”

Her butler from before stepped into the shop. “I’m here Mistress.”

“Go ahead and pay them,” Mandi said.

Howie approached us and understandably examined our potion. His eyes suddenly widened when he looked at the label and price tag. Then his voice became a whisper, because his next words made my eyes widen.

“Are you sure you do not wish to sell this at a proper price,” he said lowly. The other three were already arguing about something again, negating any chance of hearing. “This is much, much too cheap. If I couldn’t tell these were handmade today, I’d accuse you of stealing them.”

I smiled at the sharp man who held the appraiser ability. So that’s why Mandi brought him in. I had to hand it to the noble brat. Spoiled as she made be and needed a long grounding, she at least wouldn’t be easily ripped off.

“We only do market price here,” I said. “For now. This town’s suffering enough inflation. I’m hoping to contribute toward lifting the burden.”

“Inflation, you say,” Mandi said, catching only my reply, which I didn’t bother keeping my voice down enough for. That or she saw the intensity between the butler and I. “Do you have any plans to bring it down, other than this shop?”

“Increasing supply is one idea, but that’s a lot easier said than done, especially with shops closing and leaving for the city,” I said. “I’m searching for anything to—”

“But, shouldn’t you consider leaving this town and just moving to our city?” Mandi interrupted. Her words confirmed my earlier suspicions of where she came from.

“Nope,” I said. The firecracker of a girl seemed to deflate, which itself was kind of hilarious. She may be the only noble with her intentions wide open like a book. “I moved to this town and promised its people I’d help out to the best of my abilities. If it goes down, I’m right there with it. Not that I have any intention of letting that happen.”

Mandi suspiciously wiped at her eye. “Your pity for this town is admirable. If my father wasn’t on a journey to the Lupine Province to meet with a duke, I’d ask him to help somehow.”

“I don’t think Lord Wingston would want to help, especially given what happened last time,” Howie said bluntly.

“He’d help if I asked,” Mandi said, pouting. “Don’t treat Father as if he’s some cruel man.”

“This coming from the girl who was just calling this place a dump,” Lou said, shaking his head. “Anyway, we’ve got the energy potions.” He nodded at me. “We shall be on our way. We’re leaving tomorrow.”

“Do we have to leave so soon?” Mandi said, her voice almost pleading.

“Yes, idiot girl,” Winn said. “Now let’s go. Unless you want to disturb a potential assassin even longer.”

Mandi sighed, seeming unafraid at the potential of me being a knife in the night. I wasn’t sure if I should feel somewhat insulted, impressed, or grateful I didn’t come across as a killer.

“Before we leave, allow me to formally introduce myself,” the redhead said. “I am Mandi Wingston. These two are my cousins, Winn and Lou.”

“I’m Nate,” I said. “This is my fiancée…betrothed as this land calls it, Milia and my intern, eh, apprentice, Harmony.”

Mandi looked as if her soul left her body at the end of that explanation, but she returned to earth moments later, and almost seemed determined about something.

When they finally boarded their wagon and left back into town, I sighed.

More customers took the time to walk in, preventing Harmony and Milia from making the comments I knew they were going to make. I beamed at them.

As I took orders and collected silver, gold, and copper, my thoughts drifted back to the tension of the earlier conversation. The nobles were afraid to so much as say the Peace Spawner’s name. What did that mean anyway? He and the Midnight Dragon. They were only enemies of the kingdom, implying that there were other powerful oddities across the globe. However, judging by the tone of the books and the nobles, this guy had to be up there. Someone that even with my superstrength needed to avoid like the plague. Not that he’d end up in an isolated town like this. No, I didn’t just jinx it, this was simply a terrible place to hide, visited by kingdom officials on a monthly basis, along with bratty nobles, and rogue magicians that may or may not have a connection to the academies.

On a side note, I actually began to have a sinking feeling that system was attempting to drag me into something far bigger than I could imagine and at the cost of a rushed advancement. With that realization, I spoke directly to it. In my head of course.

System, stop rushing my advancement, I thought. Nothing good will come out of an over blasted battery if it short circuits.

It didn’t respond, leaving me to only hope the force behind it would not toss me into the grinder. Perhaps my second class should’ve been merchant. The whole party tricks stage magician class among their selection choices seemed like an obvious trap. Same for bard.

Later that day, I tried again to make something with the skeleton king’s bone dust but had no luck and moved onto something else. I didn’t have a direct recipe and took me a few tries to get something that somewhat resembled a light potion. Or at least a bottle of glowing, potentially toxic, mushroom liquid. Then it hit me. I hadn’t added mana yet. The Neonbrim mushroom provided all of the glow.

“Well, what the hell,” I said to Milia who watched, almost with as much anxiety as me. She helped with half of the other potions, but without a recipe to go off, well, let me tell you, this class is extremely difficult. I realized the system gave out freebies due to pity or perhaps meeting some kind of criteria to make them. Whatever the case, this level of slowdown annoyed me. I could hardly understand why it chose to waste time with realm advancement instead of my class. If I hadn’t left the town in two months, chances are I made my point. No system was going to be goading me into endless violence and do-gooder bullshit. Thankfully, the hero appeared to be doing his job. I think.

“Nate.”

We turned to see Harmony entering the shop. She was only dismissed for the day moments ago. Milia mostly trained her, and we had to be extra careful not to get caught by Mandi and her cousins.

Harmony passed me a letter, which brought out the worry. I’ve only existed in this world for just a bit. How could someone have any kind of message for me?

It turned out to be a letter from the kid whose village we liberated the other day. Now, call me what you want, but I felt just a little worried about the money he spent on the paper.

Then again, his master took orders all the time right? Perhaps she had plenty of spare paper. He thanked me, informed me of the rebuilding process, the surprisingly quick kingdom response, and that the village kept his involvement a secret. They all wanted to meet me again. This gave me warmth and fuzzies until I got to the ending. Him wanting to be my apprentice was one thing. He had the spark and his master offered to pay monthly. I’d decline it in the return letter, suggesting an academy. Learning magic wasn’t important anyway. He’d benefit from the blacksmithing. Assuming he could keep his mind clear. A teenage boy ogling his widowed master in this era—I felt certain she married before—well, that may be a part of the reason she wanted to send him away. For his own good. The thing that actually took away my warmth and fuzzies was the mention of rumors concerning something called a hallow. Someone normally somewhat unreliable swore with their life they saw one in the area.

“What’s a hallow?” I asked aloud, which gained the shocked expressions of both Milia and Harmony.

“A hallow is one of the most powerful demons around. Fiends,” Milia said. “They’re too heavy to exist on this plane.”

“Then maybe—”

“But a fragment of them can be summoned by a magician that uses illegal demonic mana,” Milia continued.

“Hallows are just myths, right?” Harmony said. “Monsters used to scare children.”

“That’s what they always say about things,” I said. “The myth may not be exactly what’s described, but sometimes there is a little truth to them hidden somewhere.”

“Hallows are no myth. Trust me, I wish they were,” Milia said, which caused Harmony to deflate.

“So about this demonic mana,” I said.

“It’s an aspect of mana that’s normally impossible to use by humans,” Milia said. “I can’t say I know much about it, other than how much its hated by spirit beasts and beings alike. There are rumors from home stating that even the kingdom and the empire tried keeping their existence a secret.”

“Receiving this rumor and hearing about the kingdom’s greatest enemy today,” I said. “I certainly hope the events are unrelated.”

“I think even the Peace Spawner hates hallows,” Harmony deadpanned. “Or maybe the myth.”

“Is it true that if you say his name, he’ll hear?” I asked.

“We’re talking about magicians,” Harmony said.

“It’s somewhat of an exaggeration, a twisted truth,” Milia said. “If a magician, perhaps a witch attempts to cast against him, he’ll detect it. But…”

“But?” I said, leaning forward.

Milia smiled sheepishly. “Let’s not say his name, just in case.”

I almost fell forward. Glancing outside, I took notice of the sunset.

“You know, I need to go into town a bit,” I said. “There isn’t a need for you to take the ten-minute walk. I’ll drop you off, Harmony.”

“Thank you,” she said. “Not that the walk is a problem. There’s still some light out.”

“Not really much,” I said. “Also let’s be honest. The monster rumor’s going to make you see things.”

Harmony laughed. “It can’t be helped. Imagination has a strange way of playing with our minds.”

I shrugged. “Coming, Milia? We could eat out tonight.”

“Sure, but I much prefer your cooking,” Milia replied. “Cutie, Woofy.”

The wolf cub hurried in with the kitten chasing its tail. I gave him a head pat, then picked up Cheetara. Afterward, we boarded the griffin and shot off into town. The cat snuggled into me adorably.

**

Cheetara purred as she basked in the presences of her mother and father. She couldn’t help but be thankful for them. The love she received truly triumphed over living at the shelter. She no longer had to compete for affection and Big Brother Woofy and Sir Wingy were always nice to her. They even started training her to be a proper lady magician. At first she didn’t know what that meant nor anything about mana. But they taught her everything. The language of the humans was surprisingly the easiest part. Cheetara had a name after all. It granted her a special bond with her parents and the land. One day she’d be a protector, not that her father needed such a thing. He was might itself and she’d hopefully follow in his footsteps. Big Brother Woofy would make sure of it.

**

After dropping Harmony off and giving verbal assurances to her maid, we strolled through town a bit. There wasn’t much of a night life in Kyushu, aside from the tavern that stayed open until three in the morning if someone was still there. A guard or two often checked late night establishments during closing time to make sure no idiot caused trouble for the unfortunate workers that had to put up with them. I guessed anyone uncompliant received a night in the jail.

It didn’t take long before Milia voiced out what she wanted to eat, her eyes on a stall ahead. They sold candied fruit, grilled veggies and meat on sticks. Amazing. I hoped for any meat pies, but they were out. Damn. They were so fucking good. With the demand, I knew I’d always be able to rely on this stand staying, unless the married couple that ran it got tired of the place.

And so we ate and chat. The spirit beasts ran around a bit, chasing each other from time to time, enjoying life.

Despite the rumor from the letter, no hallow or monster attacked us, neither in town nor the house. We mostly relied on Milia’s command over the land and lamps for lighting. We decided to give the new mana mushroom lighting a shot. We set them up like porch lights for both the front yard, backyard, and the fenced area where Beakwing currently rested. I planned to hire men to build his barn tomorrow. It’d take roughly five days. The griffin wasn’t leashed and completely free to travel back and forth into Milia’s forest, especially if he sensed any approaching rain.

Before calling it a night, I decided to write the kid back out of courtesy and also respect for his master. I’d send the letter out tomorrow. Or have Harmony deliver it to a traveling messenger.

As I relaxed in my bed after the bath, I couldn’t help but have a feeling that a storm approached. Did I truly know its direction?

I didn’t need to. I’m here after all. The dice of peace would roll for me regardless of my plea.