Chapter eleven: expanding operations

A patronless antique wine bar with neon-lit signs. Slow jazz played from the old jukebox in the corner though it would mess up and scratch the records from time to time. I was at the counter taking regular sips from my drink, and as I sat there, I thought, “hey Olivia, didn’t I ask for scotch?” That’s certainly what I remembered ordering, yet in my hands was a tasty, chilled apple cider comically served in a beer mug.

Sherry had gone off to wash up after our usual training session. I’m glad she’s become enamoured by the whole idea of hot springs, which wasn’t surprising since such places weren’t common in this country. There were times when she’d fall asleep in one of the guest rooms after bathing and seeing how it’s been almost an hour since she left, I saw no reason to doubt it.

“You did indeed,” Olivia answered in a snap while cleaning the cups and organizing the drinks.

“Is this a phase?” I wondered. “Are my children going through a rebellious phase?”

“Funny of you to say in that tiny body of yours, master.”

“But not far from the truth,” I chuckled back. Once a player bought and constructed a guild castle, the game would then allow for the creation of custom NPCs to manage it. The customizer had access to all the same tools as the character creator – which was quite expansive for the middling game – so there were a lot of unique settings and results. On their own they were quite powerful; their base levels were set to 150 with dozens of devastating skills. They were even able to equip the same items as the players so there were a lot of players in the game who liked to dress them up. “Anyway, about my scotch…”

“Absolutely not.”

“Brutal,” I sighed. “Ahhh… I can still remember when you were this small,” I gestured to a size obviously impossible for even a human baby.

She shook her head in disappointment, “I’ve never been that small. I don’t understand how you got so drunk from mere apple cider. Perhaps I have to dial even these back?” confused she quickly checked the label of the drink and it was indeed just juice.

“Olivia, you secretly resent me for giving you the appearance of a middle-aged lady, don’t you?” as elegant and wise as she looked to be, I doubted there were many people actively okay with being deliberately old.

“Oh my, are you finally feeling guilty about it? After all this time?”

“Ugh… sorry.”

“Fufu,” she snickered back. “Worry not, master. I’m grateful you’ve granted me a visage fitting for this grand establishment. I feel no discomfort or displeasure in this body, and I’ve come to appreciate the aesthetic detail you had in mind when creating me. I am ‘Olivia’, the proprietress of a marvellous guild castle, and it is only natural I adorn a suitable figure, correct?” she expressed her sentiments with confidence enough to make me doubt my own guilt. It was true my original intention was to give this place a more relaxing feel rather than having a young and spry female manager who would only make it look like a sleezy brothel.

“Well, if you’re fine with it then we’ll leave it at that.”

“Quite. However, I suppose if there was one dissatisfaction, it would be that it’s a waste to let this place go so unappreciated.”

“You mean like getting other patrons?” I took a glance around the room, and I honestly quite enjoyed the juxtaposition of a fully furnished bar and hot spring facility without any patrons. There was also a slight feeling of repulsion at the back of my head about letting strangers roam free in this private sanctuary of mine; they’d have to be extremely trusted by me or my assistants for me to even consider letting them use this place. Still, what she said was true in that it was a shame to see this marvellous and spacious bar go unused for whoever knows how many years. “Hmm, I can see your point… but I’m not particularly a big fan of that idea.”

Hearing my say so she immediate drew back, “I apologize. It seems I’ve stepped out of line and insinuated an improper suggestion.”

“No, I’m not mad or anything. Truth be told, I do think it’s a good method to convert the gold we have in storage to a more useable format by turning this place into a business – even though it feels like we’re laundering dirty money by doing so.”

“In that case, how about a replica?” Olivia suggested. “The idea came to me while watching over your training with lady Sherry. This place will stay as is, but we can open an imitation in the real world and use it to slowly covert our funds into modern currency.”

“That… hmm, yeah that’s not a bad idea.” Obviously, there was no way I could go out and sign all those contracts for purchasing land and opening businesses in this childish body of mine. If it was only as easy as it is in all those other fantasy stories where children could purchase huge chunks of land if they drop a bag of gold; reality is tough. “You think you’re up to the task?”

“If it is the wish of my master, then you need only to give the order,” she lowered her head slightly in reverence.

“I see,” the truth of the matter was that I had been trying to figure out how to convert the gold in my storage without drawing too much suspicion. There was no way I could convert billions of gold coins so quickly, and it wasn’t as if I needed all that money immediately either, so I thought to take my time on it. “What we need right away is the capital to even start up all the preparations for the business. The safest and most direct route to take was to go to a refiner or a bullion dealer, which unfortunately means they’ll probably take around 5 to 15%, but beggars can’t be choosers.” I then took out some documents from my inventory and presented it to her, “I’ve done some of my own research on this matter since it would’ve eventually come in handy. Here’s a few reputable agents you should easily be able to get into contact with so sort it out from there.”

“Understood, I shall go and take a look into these people.”

“That said, it’s not like I can just let you go out on your own. The real world is a dangerous place after all…”

“Dangerous, you say,” she had a doubtful look on her face. “I don’t believe there’s anything out there remotely dangerous to me,” Olivia protested, but I wasn’t feeling good about letting her do all the work.

“I’d like you to take one more person with you.”

“I admit it would make me feel more assured,” she sighed and gave in. “Very well, if you’re so adamant on this, then I have no other choice. Be that as it may, who did you have in mind?”

“Good question.” The best candidates were obviously one of the other assistant NPCs. I’d prefer it to be a male too just to get a diversified perspective on the operations, and a burly one at that for maximum intimidation factor during troublesome negotiations. That being the case, my choices were limited to two. “My thought is either Cedric or Ark. Take one of them with you.”

“Actually, I was wondering if you’d allow me to have Lyssa accompany me.”

“Lyssa? She’s a little… are you sure she’s up to the job?” Lyssa was the assistant NPC managing the Sacred Underground Temple, and to put her personality simply she was a ‘battle maniac’. I was going through a bit of a phase when I created her, and because of this it was hard for me to even look at her without cringing. Despite her main role as a healer and support, she vastly preferred the frontlines and melee combat, heck her main staff was modified fully for melee damage regardless of it being classified as a magic item; Priestess parentheses, ‘skirmisher’.

“She’ll definitely be an asset,” Olivia told me with confidence. I just wasn’t feeling the same, but I had little reason to doubt her.

“If you say so, but I still want you to take Cedric or Ark as well.”

“Then Ark will do.” Ark and Lyssa were probably the two who got along swell, well that’s what I would’ve thought back when it was a game. When I created them, I set their personalities to both loving frontline combat and the rush of challenging powerful opponents.

For the time being I decided to leave it to Olivia.

“All right, I’ll have a chat with the both of them when I get time later.”