This night, Severin simply lay awake in his bed without getting even an ounce of sleep. To him, it felt a bit like he had gone back in time to the night before a school trip.

The only difference was, besides the excitement, the joyful anticipation, and the slight nervousness he felt back then, now there was also this strange feeling of discomfort mixed in. Calling it fear might be taking it too far, but it still reminded him of the decision he had postponed during the day.

Shirt or Ring.

An item that provides armor and boosts his health pool so that he would, in theory, be able to take multiple smaller hits, or the accessory that would protect him only against a single but potentially lethal and unexpected source of damage.

During the course of the night, Severin changed his opinion many times.

From a bandit raid to an air crash; one after the other, Severin tried to envision all kinds of life-threatening situations he might encounter during his travels and tried to estimate the performance of the two items accordingly.

Naturally, after dwelling on his mortality and the dangers of this world he would soon step into, Severin wasn’t in the most clear-headed state of might to make a decision. He realized at this point, he might as well leave it to the flip of a coin.

Maybe if everyone currently residing on the mountaintop had deposited the maximum possible amount, or if he was able to further adjust the conversion rate of personal income, Severin maybe could have purchased both items. As it was, however, he would have to be satisfied with the fact that even after making his decision, he at least would still have enough funds to cover his travel expenses.

Severin let out a regretful sigh before finally pressing the purchase-button.

Strangely enough, though he had felt uncertainty even at the last moment, now that the money had been deducted and the item appeared in his inventory space, he felt that a burden had been lifted. Suddenly, he felt very tired.

“Maybe just for a few minutes…?” Severin mumbled to himself.

The answer came immediately in the form of movement on the minimap that was located in the upper-right corner of his vision. Apparently, it was already later than he had expected.

With red puffy eyes that had black circles around them, Severin had no choice but to hoist himself out of his bed even though he was more tired now than at the time he had laid down.

On every other day, he could simply leave things to Emily and Bandur and simply take the day off, but not today. He still had preparations to make and provisions to stock up on before leaving.

Potions and elixirs and the like were one thing; those he could simply take from the shelves in his store and have Emily replenish them later on.

The real issue was food.

Fresh food, and in large quantities; too large to let Bandur handle it all by himself. No matter that it was perishable, Severin would only be satisfied once his personal inventory was filled to the brim with foodstuff.

The gut-punching feeling he had suffered when he first left the premises of his Emporium was still too fresh in his mind and not something he wanted to feel ever again; at this moment, he felt very sympathetic towards Emily.

---

A few short hours later Severin couldn’t help fidgeting with the ring on his left hand as Samuel led him to board a flying artifact that was of especially high quality in terms of craftsmanship; even Severin could tell as much with only a single glance.

The ship wasn’t nearly as big as the one used to house Markus and his men, but was certainly larger than the one Samuel usually used whenever he was joined only by the two youths exploring the Golden Mountains. Severin couldn’t help wonder whether the [Berserker] was simply trying to show-off his collection of flying artifacts, when the man answered Severin’s unvoiced question explaining that this, apart from a one-seater he owned, was simply the fastest of his ship.

Samuel went on to explain a bit more about the ship and its specifications, but Severin barely took note of it.

The moment he stepped onto the deck of the ship, the moment he left his new home behind, though the pain didn’t come, the ever-present minimap suddenly disappearing was almost as disturbing to him. He felt as if he was deprived of one of his senses. Combined with his lack of sleep, Severin felt he was going insane.

---

When Severin came to, he didn’t know how much time had passed since their departure. He looked through the porthole on his left and determined that, judging by the position of the sun, it hadn’t actually been as long as he had feared.

For a moment, he debated whether to simply roll over and stay in bed, but ultimately decided that sleeping through the whole journey would be too rude to his host.

Reluctantly, Severin got up from the comfy mattress and slowly headed for the door of the otherwise empty cabin.

Standing in the hallway with the many doors that probably led to similar cabins, Severin felt disoriented.

After the boarding, because of the state he had been in, Severin hadn’t even bothered to try memorizing the layout of the ship. It didn’t help that Samuel hadn’t directly led him to this guest room, but first showed him the full-blown dining hall and something that should be the equivalent of an engine room sheltering two strangely familiar looking blue-purplish crystals that where embedded directly into the ship itself.

Severin was still wondering where he was supposed to go, when the sound of bickering reached his ears.

Following the noise down the hall, he soon reached the steep staircase that led to the main deck of the ship-like flying artifact.

“Back among the living?” Samuel greeted him as soon as Severin stepped onto the deck. But the [Berserker] wasn’t the only one to notice his arrival.

The bickering that had guided his steps suddenly stopped and before Severin could give his reply, he found himself interrogated by two excited youths.

“Who do you think will win this year’s free-for-all? [Slaughter King Rich] or…?”

“Pah. Only brutes and savages care about the free-for-all. Ask him about the team competitions or the…”

“Stop it you two!” Samuel bellowed. “Give the man some space. Besides, Severin hasn’t joined us for the Games. And even if he did, not everyone is so obsessive as you two.”

Timothy and Miriam didn’t even listen to the end. As soon as they heard that Severin wasn’t joining them to watch the fights, the two looked at him incredulously.

“Wha~?”

“But why else would…?”

“I plan to expand my business,” Severin answered honestly.

“Oh? Like opening another branch?”

This time he hesitated for a bit, but then decided to answer truthfully; not least because he still had to ask Samuel for his support. Hiding the matter wouldn’t to him any good.

“Not directly. What I plan is to…”

“Then do you have any promotional offers? Some new products?”

“No, what I…” Mid-sentence, he realized that the two had already stopped paying him any attention. Half-amused and half-annoyed, he shared a look with Samuel, who wore a similarly helpless expression on his face.