<<Sev? Where are you?>>


    <<Was the deal successful? When will you be back?>>


    Severin’s two [Employees] answered immediately but skipped right over the pleasantries. For the moment, he didn’t think much of it said,


    <<Yes, everything’s alright. I’m still in Hanvia, but if everything goes as planned, the portal should be ready by tomorrow. Day after at the latest.>>


    <<Great, but please hurry.>>  This time Severin picked up on the urgency and the hint of desperation in the voice. And he didn’t believe it was because the dwarf had missed him that much.


    <<What’s going on over there? Are you two okay?>>


    <<We’re okay, just…just…hurry.>>


    <<It’s hell over here.>>


    <<Everything was fine when you left. Then, a few days later, one of your old customers returned. With his whole raid group.>>


    <<Andreas>>Em clarified


    <<Right. Called themselves part of the Lion’s Head guild I think. Kept us busy-specially on the first day. Should’ve seen him. Was going on about how his V.I.P. card kept notifying him about new products and how he almost canceled their raid because of it on multiple occasions.>>


    <<Are they well? All returned in one piece?>> Severin interrupted.


    <<Yes, they did. Thanks to you, they claimed. Though a bit too well for my taste. Especially that one guy.>>


    <<Xander?>>


    <<That’s the one! But either way. They kept us busy, but it was still manageable.>>


    Severin picked up on the word still but didn’t interrupt the dwarf.


    <<Then came the others. Emily didn’t know them either, and it were only a handful of people in total. Most actually came alone, all on some expensive high-speed artifacts. In retrospect, that’s probably the reason their numbers were still so little at the time.


    But I didn’t think much of it. Still too busy to really think about it, you know? Andreas and his people hadn’t left yet; and still haven’t.


    Well, in reality, even just one new customer should’ve made us suspicious, given our location and all that.


    Again. Still manageable up till this point.>>


    Not inhibited by the same restrictions as regular speech, Bandur''s transmitted voice became faster and faster, his pitch higher and higher.


    <<But then came the day after. And the one after that. I’m glad business is going well, you know, BUT SERIOUSLY!? THE [SLAUGHTER KING]? WHAT DID YOU EXPECT WOULD HAPPEN?>>


    <<Even I heard of him before.>> the girl said.


    <<We just can’t keep up. There’s only so many pizzas that fit into the oven at once. Only so many salads I can toss. And most importantly, only so many customers the poor girl can serve while trying to maintain a steady supply.>>


    <<It is not that bad.>> Emily said meekly.


    <<Yes. Yes, it is! You hear Severin? Our supplies. The customers. It just doesn’t add up. You need to do something. Either sent help or raise the prices. Double them. No, increase them tenfold. Just maybe that will give us enough air to breathe. Better yet, do both. But do something. For the girl’s sake.>>


    The dwarf’s verbal assault left Severin speechless. That was unexpected, to say the least. He was still the boss, right?


    ‘Besides, it surely can’t be that bad.’


    For the first time in the last couple of days- he had been quite busy himself, and during that time the exact amount of money the shop was making in his absence was not really all that relevant - Severin opened the System screen, navigated towards the store’s balance sheet, and let himself be overwhelmed by what he saw.


    Turned out it was that bad.


    Even now, during this brief exchange, the two had been busy making multiple sales.


    And it was true Emily was taking the brunt of it.


    <<I’ll come up with something.>> Severin tried to assure them after regaining his composure, acknowledging their troubles. Though at the moment he had no clue what he could do to alleviate the situation, other than, <<I’ll try to be back tomorrow. Then I’ll help you out.>> Though that was a rather short-term solution.


    <<Until then, remember to blacklist anyone who makes trouble.>> Maybe that would ease some of their burden.


    <<And Severin?>>


    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.<<What is it Em?>>


    <<Uhm. Magda also wanted something from you. She seemed angry.>>


    ‘What is it now?’ Severin thought, holding his head, already feeling another headache coming.


    <<Any idea why?>>


    <<Not sure exactly. Something about our consumables and people lining up for her rank evaluation exams.>>


    <<She has her hands full as well.>> Bandur added.


    <<I understand. Shit. I’ll come up with something! >> Severin repeated himself- this time with even less of a clue as how to handle the matter. During his trip he had completely forgotten about his promise to Magda and the issue of his products not being affected by the Society’s dispelling enchants.


    ‘Not really an issue for me to begin with, though.’


    <<Was there anything else you wanted? We’re still pretty swamped right now, soo…>>


    <<Ah, right. Just a small thing. I’ve just put some items into the shop’s storage. If you could take a look whenever you find the time. Just some branding stuff.


    Like some new molds for the potions. So once they solidified, they’ll have the store’s initials S.E. engraved into them. Stuff like that. There is also…>>


    <<Severin!>>


    <<Yes, Yes, I know you’re busy! I’ll just leave you to it. And I’ll think of something!>> Severin repeated his promise a last time and left his [Employees] to their work. Emily didn’t even reply; to Severin, that detail emphasized the urgency of the matter more than any of Bandur’s words had.


    With the intention of returning to his room as soon as possible, he quickly finalized what he originally came to do here in the first place.


    In less than a minute’s time, using the System’s map editor, he had properly aligned the counterpart of the portal terminal waiting back home.


    He confirmed the purchase and realized that his new balance still amounted to quite the sum of gold; no matter how much Bandur and Emily complained about their work-even if rightly so- it most certainly came with tangible benefits.


    In fact, now that he took a closer look at it, he projected that if business kept running like this, then in just a few weeks he might be able to realize his original plan of building his own inn, after all. But though the prospect was tempting, he realized he was getting ahead of himself.


    Severin double-checked everything one last time and turned his attention back to the onlooking pair.


    “I’m done. Everything looks good.”


    “Good. But what exactly does that mean? When will you, or your people, start the construction?”


    “Tomorrow.”


    …


    After excusing himself, Severin returned directly to his room. He had a lot on his mind as he threw himself onto the bed. For the next couple of hours, he kept staring at either a semi-transparent screen floating above him or at the wooden ceiling behind it.


    The most pressing matter was to ease Emily’s burden and while by tomorrow he probably would be able to help her out personally, he was hoping to find a different, more sustainable solution.


    Like maybe that one thing he spotted in the System’s store, which he figured, or rather hoped, was a largely automated crafting station- an upgrade to the so called advanced alchemy station they were using right now. Sadly, the item was still grayed out for him, which meant he not only couldn’t access its description to actually make sure, he couldn’t even see its unlock requirements, or check its, even at this point, undoubtedly prohibitive price.


    ‘Either way, I should be looking into hiring more [Employees]. Too mad I only have one slot left.’


    But he soon realized even filling just that one slot and hiring a single person would not prove to be easy. Not if he didn’t want to rely on others once again. And given that in this context other people translated into his contract partners, he was very much disinclined to do so.


    ‘Maybe I can go downstairs and ask Milly’s boy’, but this thought was also quickly dismissed. Trying to rob this small, friendly family business of half their manpower didn’t seem right to him.


    ‘And people might get the wrong impression if I only hire people that are at least four heads smaller than me. But... maybe it doesn’t have to be actual [Employees]. Can’t have them do any of the crafting work, sure, but working as regular servers and cashiers…’


    Seriously considering this option, Severin didn’t notice that it was already in the middle of the night by now.


    Similarly, he also didn’t notice the ruckus outside. Only the three heavy knocks on his door and the blowing open of the same brought him back to the present.


    “You. Come out. And tell us what’s the meaning of this.”


    Confused, Severin found himself faced with an unamused Sir Singerton and a very unprincesslike-looking princess Jasmin.