Severin sat in his kitchen for a long time. Like paralyzed, he contemplated his own mortality. The one glimmer of hope was him remembering the dress he had bought for Emily back when she had joined him.

‘It had plus one to confidence on it, didn’t it? Then there might as well be some more useful equipment available. Something with endurance, stamina, or vitality. Whatever it’s called in this place. Or something with damage reduction on it. Please! There has to be.‘

He knew that even if the System offered such gear in its shop, it certainly wouldn’t come cheap. Worst of all, Severin was pretty much broke in terms of personal wealth, anyway.

That, however, didn’t stop him from opening the according menu and check in advance.

The further he scrolled through the list of available products, the more Severin’s face twisted in agony.

Five minutes later, he could only dejectedly adjust the slider for his wealth conversion settings. Fifteen percent of all income would now be added to his own balance. After Emily’s salary.

When Severin finally started to prepare more food, he still wasn’t able to fully concentrate on the task at hand. The images of flashing spells exploding into all directions appearing in his mind were too distracting. So much so that he didn’t even notice his first level up as a [Cook].

It was times like this where the System’s knowledge transfer showed its true frightening capabilities. Without him really noticing, Severin still performed his tasks flawlessly and without any deviation from the original recipe.

beep

Lost in his thoughts, time flew by rather quick. Only when the oven announced the first batch of bread to be ready did he finally snap out of it. Secretly, he was even a bit embarrassed.

‘Realistically speaking, it’s no different from before, right? It’s not that I’m any easier to kill than I was back on Earth. Well. Except that everyone is armed to their teeth, I guess. And with probably no way for me to retaliate. I wonder if a gun…?’

His thoughts again began to drift, and it was again the oven that snapped him out of it.

beep

Once he was finally done with his work and the bread was ready for consumption, he stored the loaves in the store’s inventory and made his way out of the kitchen.

Outside, the thoughts of building a secret passage emerged again. Previously with multiple eyes on him, Severin felt uncomfortable. Now he almost seemed skittish as he all but ran over to the main store where his assistant was waiting for him.

Curiously enough, even though everyone had to be aware of what he had been doing, no one followed him.

Apparently Markus didn’t leave it at just the few words inside Severin’s shop, but had sorted them out for good in the meantime.

When Severin saw Emily sitting bored behind the counter with nothing to do to keep her occupied and her eyes about to fall shut, a pang of guilt came over him.

He didn’t hold it against her when she didn’t notice his approach.

‘Shit. While I was wasting time wallowing in self-pity…’ He swallowed a couple of expletives directed at himself and instead called out to her.

“Hey, Em. Why don’t you take a break for today?”

“Ah!” The girl was momentarily startled and tried to hide her sleepiness as she jumped up from her chair, barely suppressing the urge to yawn and rub her eyes.

“I wasn’t sleeping! I swear! Don’t…”

“Don’t worry,” Severin said laughingly but directly continued with a more serious tone. “I’m the one who should be apologizing to you. I forgot you didn’t have much sleep last night either. I can take things from here, so why don’t you go rest? In the kitchen I have left some… never mind. Just help yourself to some fresh bread from the inventory.”

“Are you sure?” The girl still seemed to have a bad conscience for almost falling asleep at work and fiddled with her hands, but her eagerness when hearing the word ‘food’ was apparent; in comparison, the promise of rest and sleep was just a welcome bonus.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” Severin confirmed with emphasis. “Just notify Mark or Sam or someone, that the bread is ready, could you?”

The adventurers entered in rank and file.

This pretty much confirmed Severin’s suspicions that, in the meantime, Markus had further reprimanded his subordinates.

Strangely enough, Severin wasn’t all that pleased by this display, even though he appreciated the gesture and thoughts behind it; he didn’t like the feeling of distance it created between the two parties.

“Please. There’s no need to go this far.”

“It’s just a small gesture to show our goodwill as well as an apology, really.”

“I tell you, there is no need. You have already apologized earlier. If you really want to do something for me, however...”

“Oh? Do tell.” Markus was visibly curious. So was Samuel, who stood by the young man’s side.

In the end, the group decided to first conduct business and discuss Severin’s request later on in a more private setting.

He almost regretted giving Emily the rest of the day off, but with Markus and Samuel personally overseeing everything with one eye, as they tasted and discussed Severin’s latest product, everything went down rather smoothly and with no further disturbances.

If certain people back in the capital knew that Severin, the owner of a small shop, would dare to directly ask Markus of a favor, they very well might call for his head to pay for his impudence.

Markus, however, was very pleased with this situation. He obviously valued Severin and his shop very much, and any opportunity to show sincerity was very welcome. Besides, he didn’t think Severin would ask for anything outrageous.

The actual request still surprised him.

“Can you help me find a new employee?”

Severin didn’t make this request on a whim. Not totally, at least.

The moment he had first unlocked the ability to hire an [Employee] he had already played with the thought of asking either Samuel or Andreas for help.

Back then Severin had still hesitated and luckily Xander had solved the problem just in time when he brought Emily along with him in an attempt to circumvent the store’s rules.

The main reason for Severin’s hesitation had been the matter of loyalty.

He didn’t want to hire someone who was likely to be affiliated with some guild and who may have some hidden agenda.

With Markus’ identity, this would likely be even more of an issue. And by now, even Samuel himself didn’t seem all that unaffiliated anymore.

And yet, Severin still decided to ask them for help.

“So, what had changed?”

If someone asked him that question Severin might grudgingly admit that, for one, it was his trust in the System.

He still despised how it seemed to scam him at every opportunity, but remembering the contracts every new [Employee] had to sign and how Emily got punished for even just a slight, involuntary offense, Severin felt confident enough to take the risk.

The other reason was more pragmatic. If it was a person sent by Markus, he could be sure that their company, at the very least, wouldn’t be unpleasant. Doubly so if they really turned out to be some kind of spy.

Besides, Severin was getting desperate. Even just the current amount of work was getting too much to handle for just two people. And with every new level up, it was only bound to get more.

And the alternative would be to ask Xander again.