Though Hanvia’s main shopping district was not officially separated into two distinct parts, it was impossible for Severin not to feel like he had suddenly stepped into a whole different part of town.

It wasn’t just that he suddenly found himself surrounded by even more people than before, more people even than had been in the already crowded trainings hall he was coming from right now, nor the fact that the vast majority of these people, by all appearances, were classbearers, but the obvious display of wealth.

Not to mention the huge, immaculate looking stores on either side of him or the expensive clothes and equipment of the people frequenting this part of town, which made Severin feel uncomfortably out of place in his plain white, long-sleeved cotton shirt, but the fact that even the smallest street stall looked more luxurious than any of the regular stores he passed his way to get here.

It was one of those stalls, or rather, the small, exquisite-looking glass bottles on display and the advertising shouts of the corresponding stallholder that caught his attention.

“Hanvia’s most efficient potions. Available for all level ranges! Fair Prices! Only while stocks last!”

The street cries stood in stark contrast to the upscale appearances of his surroundings, but given that, at least in terms of products, this booth was his direct competition, Severin decided it would be worth to take a closer look.

With some effort, he pushed his way through the crowd until he was close enough to take a look at the openly displayed tooltips hovering next to the items in question.

What he saw left him unimpressed yet excited.

Unimpressed, because the potions by his standards were just that bad. Be it the frightening low replenishing values, the basically nonexistent variety, offering only basic health and mana potions respectively, or the fact that all of those consumables had rather harsh level restrictions imposed on them. What he saw left much to be desired. Not to mention that these potions, unlike his own, most certainly all shared one cooldown and were evidentially much harder to consume in the midst of battle. The only advantage these potions might have over his own were the missing carrying-capacity restrictions.

Excited, because he realized just how much better his own products were in comparison to those things, which, judging by the number of actual customers in front of the stall, somehow were actually regarded rather highly.

Just based on this, it seemed his future was bright. Especially considering that these inferior products were sold at much higher prices than his own.

Severin inwardly complained that he couldn’t just set up his own stall right then and there. But even more than that, he was annoyed by the fact that the System, for whatever stupid reason, didn’t allow him to set his own prices.

Hopefully, this would change in the future once he earned enough experience for some main-class level-ups; or rather, once his two busy [Employees] earned him enough experience.

Severin knew that for now there was nothing he could do about this situation, but still felt the need to vent his frustrations. He turned around towards the direction where he had last seen his two travel companions.

And found that they were gone; disappeared in the mass of people.

For a good minute or so, Severin scanned his surroundings in an attempt to spot the two youths but didn’t leave the spot to actively go searching for them.

To no avail.

Severin didn’t worry.

Anticipating just how crowded the place would be, Timothy had suggested arranging a meeting place for just this kind of situation beforehand.

Given the high density of stores and stalls catering to the needs of classbearers, and thus directly or indirectly to adventurers, it was only logical that at least one of the local Adventurer’s Society branches could not be too far away either.

Or maybe it had actually been the other way round, and it was the stores that settled around said branch office, but either way, exactly this establishment had been designated as their meeting point.

And as it turned out, it was impossible to miss as one of the city’s skyscraper-like buildings with its unmistakable green windows dwarfed even the largest and most grandiose of the already much bigger than average stores in the vicinity.

The sight made Severin suddenly think of Magda, and he vaguely remember that supposedly she came all the way from the HQ. Voluntarily and per her own request.

Severin didn’t know where that HQ was located, or whether this towering monstrosity of a building actually was said Headquarter, but even if it wasn’t, the real thing most certainly wouldn’t be any less impressive.

And to think that she left such a place, because of the promise she saw in him-in his products. Severin was greatly pleased and slightly reevaluated his opinion of the woman.

With this or a similarly impressive building as the benchmark, it also explained why she insisted on renting an even larger plot of land and why she fought so hard for the right for vertical expansion. It also reaffirmed Severin’s thought that he had charged her way too little for that property.

From there, his thoughts went on yet another tangent. The angry voice of the ever-smiling woman resounded in his head and reminded him of his promise to address the issue of him advertising his elixir’s ability to work even within the Society’s buff-dispelling enchantments, which jeopardized the integrity of their advancement evaluations.

The more he thought about it, the more he regretted this promise. Just what was he to do about this issue?

Was he supposed to tweak the elixir’s recipe? Surely not; even if that was within his capabilities- which it wasn’t- that would be too ridiculous of a demand.

So was he supposed to just not advertise the fact?

But even that seemed similarly out of the question. Sooner or later, someone was bound to find out about this matter, if only by accident, anyway. And then what?

Feeling a headache coming, Severin quickly shook off the thought and focused his attention back to the wares in front of him.

Something he had earlier dismissed as unimportant jumped out to him.

To make sure he wasn't simply mistaken, he walked even closer to the potion seller's stall to get another close-up look at it, attracting the attention of the owner, who had so far ignored Severin and paid more attention to the people who looked more like potential customers to him.

"Dear customer! What you are looking at it the..."

Without giving the man a chance to finish his sales pitch, Severin elbowed his way through to a similar-looking stall. Then to another. And then towards one of the actual, but comparably empty, stores.

It didn't matter that none of these sold potions, but instead magical amulets, hidden weapons, and crafting materials and tools for the crafting oriented classbearers, respectively.

What did matter, however, was the fact that he was able to make sure that every single one of them had their wares - even the most fragile pieces of equipment - branded with their own unique emblem.

"Brand logos!" exclaimed Severin when he finally saw his suspicions confirmed.