“Things have finally calmed down a bit,” Sabina said while eating her breakfast, a slice of bread topped with scrambled eggs.

“It would seem that way,” Bandur agreed between bites, secretly relying on the minimap he had already gotten so used to, to confirm the young woman’s observations.

The other three people sitting in the kitchen were likewise chewing and nodding.

And indeed, compared to the last three and a half weeks, this morning it felt almost deserted.

Large part of it was that with the ability to spend one’s nights in a nice inn with warm beds and food back in the capital, hardly anyone still camped on mountaintop in front of the Emporium.

Another part was that with more convenient access to the store, people didn’t feel as compelled anymore to completely restock every single potion or elixir they used every single day. Especially not when depositing was a thing and allowed them to save up some of their daily combinator charges that would have otherwise expired.

Of course, this didn’t mean business was bad. Quite the contrary. In terms of absolute numbers, their customer count was higher than ever before, high enough to make any other potionmaker in Hanvia or elsewhere in Malcos turn green with envy. But with the addition of two new employees and the customers arriving more evenly spread throughout the day, the workload and pressure on the individual had become far more bearable.

Enough so that Severin had even found the time to resume his experiments in the kitchen, coming up with not just one, but two new creations, thereby increasing the counter for his Mix and Match quest that promised a mystery reward, to three out of five.

Or rather, it was old Krill who came up with the recipes-a classless person didn’t grow this old without picking up some tricks in the kitchen.

Maybe Severin could have managed to recreate Milly’s pasta dish on his own, but certainly not the egg noodles which the System titled with the very faintly familiar sounding name Spätzle.

Once enhanced by the System, the dish had immediately become one of Em’s new favorites.

Then there was also the addition of a new alchemical product; with so many customers, a level up had only been a question of time. But overall, other than in terms of increased turnover and a new wave of experimentations with the combinator, it didn’t influence the overall business operations.

In the beginning Severin had still hoped the item which came in the same shape and consistency as his health and resource jelly-potions, and in a color that was traditionally reserved for antidotes, might open up new markets and target groups, but alas, a [Status Cure] was far from being the same as a [Cure All]; able to rid the user of any and all detrimental status afflictions- even able to purge stun effects if its consumption was timed just right or applied by someone else; meaning if it was pushed down one’s throat with force- and therefore being a more than welcome addition to his product range, was it not the magic-bullet he hoped for; removing stuns and silencing effects was after all not the same as curing paralysis-not the status-effect- or regrowing tongues.

However, Severin wasn’t too disappointed. It earned him a nice chunk of money and would surely continue to do so.

Money which he could use to revive plans put on hold or to add another story to his store, the latter being repeatedly brought up by Magda as it would allow her, as per their contract, to follow suit and increase the size of her own hall accordingly.

With her own reinforcements having arrived just a week and a half prior, and the commissioning of the quest-board, which not only listed requests for this part of the Golden Mountains but also those concerning Hanvia and its surroundings, Magda too now apparently wanted to focus more on the long-term development of the business.

But for now, Severin had other plans. Plans he didn’t know were even feasible to begin with and which might easily cause him a lot of, first and foremost political, trouble if they were.

And large amounts of wasted money if they weren’t.

But it was also something Severin had dreamed of ever since he first witnessed the arrival of an annoying [Duelist] on his mountain. Dreams that went further back even than that of opening his own inn. Just that, unlike an inn, it had seemed impossible.

Until now.

Or rather, until he had successfully sneaked a certain condition into his contract with Ringald, one which granted him certain purchasing rights.

And one whose implications, if they indeed hadn’t noticed at the time, they surely must have figured by now.

Or maybe not?

On this day, with far more gold in his private inventory than he had ever owned before, and with the certainty that his shop was in good hands, after the communal breakfast he excused himself for the rest of the day and, nagging doubts and fears ignoring, headed towards the flag-waving fortress on the rim of his mountain.

…

Hours later.

Severin was now lying wide awake in his bed, staring at the floating screen above him. The red numbers that stood out from the light-blue indicated a very recent and very considerable decrease in the store’s funds.

Even after his return, he could have still changed his mind. At this point, it had only been his personal wealth he would have wasted. He could’ve probably even still returned the goods.

But he had gone through with it and proceeded to spend the shop’s funds as well. He was committed and all he could do now was wait.

Wait for the System to do the things it only ever did at night.

And this time around, Severin had the impression it took particularly long.

With nothing else to do and with no mind to sleep, he inevitably began to ponder.

Maybe he should have taken someone into his confidence, after all? Probably, yeah.

But then, this someone might have been able to convince him otherwise.

He tried to distract himself from the reality that he had made his decision a long time ago and started thinking about the day.

How he felt when he left the mountain; when he stepped back into the administration district; into the Natural Resources office; the Aviation Bureau.

To when he subsequently visited the massive and heavily guarded warehouse adjacent to the city’s wharf. The warehouse filled with spatial storage units, which in turn contained even greater amounts of the treasure he had put his hope in.

And lastly, to his work with the editor.

Had he overdone it? He surely hadn’t damaged the mountain’s integrity, right? Nah, not with those small holes and crevices. If anything, he should’ve purchased more of the crystals, and then…

And then his thoughts were interrupted.

Bing

[Work Order completed.]

[Warning! High Alert!]

[Multiple foreign and potentially threatening objects detected.]

[Isolating foreign objects.]

[Analyzing sequence started.]

[Risk assessment underway.]

..

[Analysis complete.]

[All-clear. Repeat, All- clear.]

[Foreign objects identified as [Aero Crystals].

Moderate flight capabilities and maneuverability detected.]

[Integration process initiated.]

..

[Integration process successful.]

[Congratulations, limited aviation capabilities unlocked

Major experience bonus has been provided.]

[Congratulations, your main class [Shopkeeper] has leveled up.]

[Congrat-

“Hahaha!” Severin couldn’t keep his cool any longer. The flood of System notifications had not yet subsided, but he was too busy dancing around like a fool and with a big stupid grin on his face to pay any more attention to them.