But that didn’t mean the investigation had officially come to an end. It couldn’t be. Not for at least another hundred-fifty days; only then could the theories be tested in practice. Until then, some degree of uncertainty was inevitable.


    But how to deal with that uncertainty?


    Hours upon hours of discussion and speculation were dedicated to this question, with Magda being gracious enough to allow Severin and Mylana both to also attend.


    Severin, of course, could have chosen to decline that invitation, and was tempted to do so given all the money he would miss out on, but ultimately made the right decision; prioritizing short-term profits when other people were debating his business would at the very least be negligent; no matter how great those short-term profits actually were.


    The one saving grace that kept things from turning hostile was Magda’s own admission that even if he did help them out, they still couldn’t just take his word for it.


    Still, his cooperation would have helped tremendously and as things were, he was probably the one most annoyed by these circumstances, as he now found himself in a situation that made him look more uncooperative and petty than he actually was and thereby risked to jeopardize his relationship with the Society.


    Luckily, Magda was professional enough to not let her own annoyance with the overall situation and with Severin’s perceived peculiarities cloud her judgement; while some of her staff were strongly advocating for a straight-up ban of the extraction-services, at the very least until the likes of Murat and Jett were back in possession of their original classes and could provide a final assessment, Severin still managed to convince her of a more moderate approach.


    That was the matters of security and safety.


    Who extracted which class?


    For which purpose?


    And which new class would replace the old one?


    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Especially when it came to the Society’s law enforcement side of things, Magda explained, a wanted criminal’s class, and thus his potential abilities, was an important piece of information that determined the approach to tracking down and apprehending them.


    Even more so than appearances and name, a class could not readily be changed, not without jumping through many hoops, certainly not without losing their levels and thereby their threat potential. At least, that’s how things had been.


    Now, Magda and many of her subordinates argued, without close supervision of the class-removal device and its users, this would drastically change.


    The Emporium would become a hotbed for criminals, they predicted, especially in the future, with more and more portals to the far end of the continent becoming readily available to them.


    And luckily for him, he didn’t need to be.


    Instead, he could remind Magda of their contractual agreement which not only declared his mountain a neutral zone over which the Society had no jurisdiction, but also that every attempt to circumvent this clause via a loophole, would be a violation of the spirit of their agreement; which in turn also would constitute a violation of their agreement.


    “They will be greatly sought after. Especially rare ones like … what’s his name... Timothy’s? Or, gods forbid, unique classes. What do you think will happen? Humans are greedy by nature. As are most other so called intelligent species. It’s just a matter of time until something terrible happens as a result of this invention of yours.”


    “With who his mentor is, I don’t think Timothy will have much to w-,” Severin begun defiantly, fully aware of the ridiculousness of his reply. And was harshly interrupted, “You are missing the point entirely! What will you do when, not if, something happens to one of your customers? When someone is forced to give up their class? Will you take responsibility? Because we can’t if you don’t let us.”


    “I will think of something.”


    “Well, I hope you will. I really do. And fast.” Those were Magda’s final words before she and her people left Severin’s store, her usual smile nowhere to be found.


    Sigh


    But before he could even begin to rack his brain about these matters, he was again interrupted.


    Ahem


    “Shall we then?”


    “Ah?”


    “You know? Hiring me?” The woman reminded with a raised eyebrow. “Seems to me you are severely understaffed. Now, I’m not an expert on this, but let me tell you, that is no way to run a business.”


    Severin wasn’t sure what he had expected.


    Perhaps that after all these hours, the woman would have come to the realization that parting ways with her high-leveled class orb, one which had stayed with her for many decades and one many would kill for as Magda had reminded them, wasn’t the wisest decision.


    Either way, he had been wrong. Whereas she, on the other hand, had been exactly right with her remark about him being understaffed. And so…


    “Right. Of course. Let’s do this then,” he said while making a sweeping gesture towards the device on his counter.