Ahem

“Never mind that. We still have some time until we reach that point. First things first.

I have no idea how long until the others return, and I’d prefer to have things stocked up until then.” As much as he was tempted to just play around with the System’s modeling tool to sketch out the specifics of his planned new establishment, risking to once again be overrun by a feral bunch of adventurers he couldn’t keep up with just wouldn’t do. Especially if it was so easily preventable.

“And there’s always the possibility of some random strangers finding their way up here as well.”

…

As it turned out, the worry was unwarranted.

With the shelves as full as the limited, System provided, materials permitted, Severin found more than enough time to play around. Of course, the girl wasn’t neglected either. When she didn’t peek over his shoulders or explore the vast number of items available in the System’s store, the two of them spent much of their time together. Like that, Severin managed to learn a bit more about the girl and her past.

It turned out that Em’s age was somewhere between ten or thirteen years old. She wasn’t too sure about that. Either way, she was older than Severin had initially expected her to be. Only after a couple of days under the influence of the System did the girl somehow appear more her actual age. Severin couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but he felt that the girl must’ve magically grown a few centimeters while also gotten a bit more meat on her ribs. He could only speculate that over time the System transformed the constitution of every affected person into their optimal state. A thought he quickly dismissed as he patted his somewhat chubby stomach.

He also learned a bit more about her past, though he knew better than to pry.

Talking in detail about presumed dead parents and her daily struggles to survive wasn’t something he wanted to subject her to.

Still, he managed to learn that she originally came from Malcos, the Kingdom to the south and that she had apparently followed one of the many caravans into the Golden Mountains until they reached one of the bigger outposts. It had been a desperate move on her part. Though the journey was considered relatively safe, it still involved a certain amount of risk. Especially considering her rather poor condition of health, and the fact that she was somewhat of a blind passenger; Following behind the group rather than traveling with them. Still, the risk had been worth it, she claimed. And not just because it allowed her to meet Xander and consequentially Severin. Even if the people at her destination weren’t any more generous than anywhere else, just the fact that they were more well-off and liberal with their spendings made things easier for people like Em.

Severin also deemed it necessary to work on his [Employee’s] education. He was particularly set on further improving the girl’s math skills. Even if it was pretty much guaranteed that the System wouldn’t let itself get cheated, the ability to add up the total cost of a customer’s purchases and to be able to calculate their profits was something he expected of her. And rather sooner than later.

For that reason, Severin had begun to teach the girl every now and then. Usually, while they were sitting outside.

It was during one of these lessons when Em, who turned out to be a rather diligent student, excitedly jumped up as she noticed a few dots appearing in the sky behind Severin’s back. “They’re here!”

About a week after leaving, the group of adventurers had returned.

…

“Welcome back. The hunt was a success, I take it?” The overall mood, as the group of returning adventurers settled in, was way too exuberant to allow for any other conclusion. While most of the adventurers still seemed disciplined enough to set up their temporary camp without causing any trouble, that didn’t stop them from shouting and bickering. Apparently, not everyone was completely sober.

“Haha. That obvious, huh?” Andreas stepped forward to clasp Severin’s wrist in greeting. “You missed the worst. Should’ve seen the guys yesterday,” he shook his head in amusement. “We already disposed of the core the day before yesterday. After that, we only had to deal with some scattered stray monsters, for the most part. Meaning yesterday most of them spent their time in a drunken stupor. They earned it though.

Not least thanks to you either. We’ll keep relying on you in the future!” The man was obviously in a great mood. The gains not only for himself but the whole guild must’ve been aplenty.

“And you! Could hardly recognize you, but it seems Xander was telling the truth, after all.” The addressed girl had been very excited when she saw the group of flying artifacts appearing on the horizon. Not only was she looking forward to some action after these couple of rather slow days, but most importantly, she felt, this would be the occasion to finally prove herself. An absurd thought in Severin's mind, as he was of the opinion that the crafting part was the real work, not the selling part. Work she had already proven herself to be very capable of doing.

Now exposed to the real deal, though, a lot of that excitement had vanished. As it turned out, it wasn’t all that easy to shake off her mindset concerning adventurers. Nevertheless, she somewhat held her ground and nodded determinedly in response, as she felt Severin’s hand on her shoulder.

“I will do my best.”

“Hahaha. That’s reassuring to hear.”

Severin offered the guest a seat and started asking some questions of his own. Partly to take the spotlight off of his young employee, partly out of real interest.

“So you managed to destroy the core?”

“Yeah,” Andreas answered as he shook his head in regret. “The original plan was to try fixing the thing. After all that time and all the changes to both the core as well as the environment itself, if we had managed to stabilize the core successfully, that whole thing we would’ve become a pretty profitable dungeon, I assume. Sadly, the White Squall’s [Artificer] failed. Well, it was only a long shot, anyway. But I guess it was worth the risk.”

Sigh

“Haha, though the sight of Harold being overrun by monsters when he tried to buy some more time with his barriers was quite something. Went down like a real hero!” Without anyone noticing Xander had appeared next to Andreas and commented.

“Ehh?”

Both Emily and Severin gaped dumbfoundedly at his words. Was he still drunk? Even for Xander’s standards that was…

Andreas was about to say something in response as he noticed the expressions of the two people in front of him.

“You misunderstand! Haha.” He had actually been about to agree with Xander, though more earnestly. “Harold is the guild leader's son you see. He was safely bound at the cathedral in Sina. He’s probably on his way back already.”

“After spending a fortune to rebind himself, I presume. Must be great being rich.” Severin didn’t even want to know what ‘being rich’ meant in the mind of these people. Instead, he was somewhat relieved hearing the explanation and learning that Xander didn’t actually celebrate a guildmate's death. At least not a permanent one.

It was Emily who broke the following awkward silence. She had already heard the story about the dungeon break and had naturally listened in to the previous conversation.

“What happens with the broken core,” The girl asked curiously.

“Hah! Good question. It’s actually pretty useless now, so as the ones to first report the break, we got to keep the thing. Makes for a great trophy and proof of achievement, though.”

With a quick hand movement, a dull crystal, slightly bigger than a tennis ball, appeared in Andreas’s hand. There was a large crack on it. One so deep that everyone seeing it had to wonder how the thing wasn’t split into two separate halves. Besides that, the thing looked rather unspectacular to Severin.

[Urgent task: Obtain the damaged dungeon core.]