The proprietor was an older impundulu, graying feathers in his hair. Hugo guessed this was the owner, Vuitton. He looked up as Hugo walked in and scowled. He opened his mouth to say something, but Hugo beat him to it.

“Hello good sir. I am in the market for a dimensional storage device. I am looking for something in the ten cubic feet range. What do you have for me?” Hugo said happily. That size would be more room than nine travel trunks.

The impundulu seemed less grumpy now that he realized that Hugo was a serious customer. “That’s a grade B spatial enchantment,” Vuitton said and walked over to the eastern wall, “All of these should be at least that large inside.”

Hugo eagerly looked over the options displayed on the wall. The bracelet looked like it would fit him, the diamond studded handbag looked fashionable, and the vase was cleverly inconspicuous. None of them had a price tag so Hugo said, “Can you give me an idea of the price range here?”

“The ones on the bottom shelf are ten to forty platinum, and the ones on the top shelf has a range of sixty to one hundred platinum,” he said in a bored tone.

“Excellent,” Hugo said and rubbed his hands together. That should mean he could afford anything on the bottom two shelves. The three foot trunk was right out. That wasn’t convenient at all. The canteen was better, but still kind of big. Was that a golden bucket? Hugo shook his head and kept looking. He picked up a brass studded belt. It was about his size.

“That one is a bit unique. Each stud is a five cubic feet space. You can’t store anything bigger than that. The belt buckle is the interface and you have to be touching it to take things in and out,” Vuitton said.

Hugo ran his fingers along the belt. Eight studs at five cubic feet. That adds up to exactly ten square feet. The inner side of the belt was covered in softly glowing lines of magic, but the outside looked inconspicuous. He wouldn’t have to worry about it getting stolen. He didn’t want to seem too eager though so he said, “I am heading to the breadbasket in a few weeks. How would this react to a low mana environment?”

Vuitton said, “Not well. It can sustain itself on ambient mana out here in civilization, but in the barren zone of Shimmer Mountain the enchantments would run dry in a month or so.”

“That’s not very convenient then,” Hugo said and put the belt back.

“There are ways around that, you can feed it mana stones to keep the enchantments fed. One stone per stud should keep it topped off for six months or so,” Vuitton said.

Hugo was secretly elated. He was already buying mana stones in bulk, it wouldn’t be hard at all to keep the belt fed. “Eh, it’s still a bit of a hassle. Kind of defeats the point of a storage device. And you can’t put anything big in there. Still, it is more portable than that vase there. How much are you asking for it?”

“It is a durable and dependable storage device. Many of my customers appreciate items that are incognito. With the size and craftsmanship involved, the price should be eighty platinum, but I am only asking for sixty,” Vuitton said.

Hugo winced. He didn’t have that much. He said, “That might be reasonable for a ring with ten cubic feet of easily accessible space, but this is eight separate storage spaces. That really limits its usefulness. I was thinking twenty-five would be much more reasonable.”

“I am afraid reason has left you then. I couldn’t part with it for anything less than fifty,” the impundulu said haughtily as sparks of lightning danced across his hair.

“Ah, I understand. It must have some sentimental value to you. I couldn’t pay more than thirty for it, since I am not a sentimental man,” Hugo said.

“Storage items never lose value. You can buy this today and your grandson will thank you for it a hundred years from now. Why not pay the forty-five platinum now and invest in your future?” he replied.

“My grandson will need to eat. Let me keep five plat for him and I will give you the forty,” Hugo said with a smile.

“You drive a hard bargain, honored customer. Forty will suffice,” Vuitton said, “Do you have a letter of credit or coin today?” He walked over to the counter as he talked. He started wrapping the belt up.

“Hard coin today,” Hugo said as he counted out the platinum, “And don’t bother packaging it, I want to wear it right away.”

“I insist you let me box it up. We can’t let thieves see you leaving my shop with a new item of clothing,” Vuitton said.

Hugo nodded, that made sense. On the way back to the runic temple, he bought a set of travel clothes that matched the style of the belt. While he was there, he picked up a bracelet and ring. He couldn’t wait until he was back at his inn to change. He ducked into a bathroom at the temple.

As fast as he could, Hugo changed clothes. He donned the new necklace and jewelry. Finally, he got the chance to try out his new storage belt. He placed a hand on the belt buckle and willed his old tunic into the belt. Nothing happened. He picked up the tunic and tried again. Nothing. Finally, he touched the tunic to a stud on the belt.

It worked! The tunic disappeared. He quickly tossed everything into his belt. It only took a single point of mana to place something into each of the eight studs. It took a few seconds to put things in and out of storage, but the possibilities were endless. He could be so much more effective with a belt full of tools and weapons. He was giddy with the thought of the possibilities. He quickly fabricated an arming dagger. Now he could walk around armed, and no one would know.

With a spring in his step, he walked over to the testing site and saw his golem still standing there. Excellent. He saw the attendant and the golem master walking up just then. Perfect timing. Six nox were following the pair, all of them in officious looking robes. Hugo wondered if there was going to be a short graduation ceremony.

“Hello Hugo, thank you for returning,” the golem master said, “These men here have some business with you, but before that I wanted to present this to you.” He held out a badge, remarkably similar to the metal guild badge. This one confirmed his skills in golem making.

“Thank you very much. I appreciate all of your training and wisdom,” Hugo said. He was too distracted to say anything more. He wanted to know why these nox were here.

One of the nox stepped around the golem master and the others spread out around him. Hugo narrowed his eyes and put his hand to his belt. The golem master gave Hugo a sad look and walked away. Hugo felt betrayed by the gnome.

“Hugo, I am afraid you will have to come with us right now. The mayor has summoned you,” he said and drew himself up taller.

“No thanks. I’m busy,” Hugo said. He turned to his golem and said, “Frankie, follow the sound of my voice.”

Hugo started walking away as he talked, calmly walking out of the circle the nox were trying to set up. The nox closest to him looked back at their leader, not knowing what to do.

“Hey, you can’t say no,” the leader said.

“I just did,” Hugo said over his shoulder as he continued to walk. He reached into his belt and summoned the arming dagger he had fabricated earlier. He held it in front of himself where they couldn’t see it.

“Ugh, just cuff him,” the lead nox said. He gestured and a blue barrier sprung up directly in front of Hugo.

Having expected something like that, Hugo was quick to respond. He stabbed out with his dagger. The barrier cracked, spiderwebbing out from the impact point. Hugo braced himself and stabbed again, using all sixty-four points of strength. The tiles beneath his feet cracked, and the barrier shattered.

“Frankie, grapple them!” Hugo yelled out. He raced down the hallway, glancing back to see who was following.

The golem raced forward, his hands spread out wide. One nox ducked under the blind golem’s arms but a second one wasn’t so lucky. As soon as the golem touched the nox, it jumped on him, bringing him to the floor.

The leader wasn’t idle, immediately throwing up two more barriers in front of Hugo. He didn’t pause to try and shatter these ones. Instead he gave himself a blue barrier to push off of and ducked into a nearby room. He immediately looked for a window to continue his escape.

There weren’t any windows. He swore while he threw up a trio of barriers in the doorway. It should give him a moment to think. If there wasn’t an exit already, he would just have to make one. He activated mana sight to see which wall would be the best to focus on. All of them were inscribed, magic flowing through the walls. Hugo recognized the rune for durability front and center.

Shit.

He wasn’t getting out through the walls, what about the ceiling? He could hear pounding on his barriers at the door, but he ignored it. The ceiling had runes, but none for durability. He could get out this way.

Before he could act on that thought, he was hit in the side with something metal. That really hurt. He looked down to see lead cuffs laying on the floor. They had used the lead to quickly get through his barriers. Hugo stepped out of the way of a second set of cuffs, the lead was destabilizing his partially mana body. He couldn’t let it touch him again.

Looking down at the cuffs made him miss the red cloud until it was too late. Hugo inhaled a bit and slumped to the floor. The sleeping potion knocked him out seconds later.

...

Consciousness slowly returned to Hugo. He felt a soft cushion beneath him, and smelled cookies and tea. It was quiet and calm.

“Welcome to Einang city hall, Hugo,” a voice said. “I am Mayor Jolidee and I am so glad you could join me here.”

“It’s not like I had a choice,” Hugo said. He still felt woozy. He was having problems opening his eyes.

“Ah yes. I regret the overzealousness of my guards. That won’t happen again,” he said, “I am the mayor of the most prestigious city in Pretoria. The guards of Einang are not used to anything but complete respect for my position. I will make sure they are trained properly for future encounters with esteemed guests.”

Hugo rubbed his face as he sat up. It felt rougher than it should.

He blinked his eyes and looked down at his hands. It took him a moment to fully wake up and understand what he was looking at. Bewildered, Hugo said, “Where is my left hand?”

“Sorry about that. There was an unexpected side effect to the lead cuffs my men tried to put on you. Rest assured, the culprit will be punished,” the nox said. He was sitting in a large seat, festooned with jewels and runes.

“My hand is gone,” Hugo said with rising anger.