Silverfall City, otherwise known as The Emporium, is the primary hub for everything anyone could possibly want in the Barlton Kingdom. Whether it be weapons, armor, technology, resources, properties, etc., all they need to do is come to Silverfall City, and chances are, they’ll find what they’re looking for; for a price, of course.

Since all the headquarters of major corporations are located here, including the Mercenary Guild and the Merchant Guild, that would naturally increase the quality of the products and, consequently, the price of things.

As its name suggests, the Emporvas family has their hand in the inner workings of the City. While Darius isn’t the official “leader” of the city, he is the one with the deepest pockets. If he wanted a business to be implemented in the city or one to disappear, there aren’t many people who would tell him no.

As Katherine explained some of the inner workings of the city to Mika, her eyes shook as she stared at the two Emporvas’ in the car.

“Wow,” Mika muttered in astonishment, “Just how rich are you guys?” While she knew that they were wealthy based on their house size, she didn’t understand the full scale of Darius’ reach.

However, now, Katherine was telling her that a word from Darius could essentially make the Kingdom move. She might not be the smartest tool in the shed, but she at least understood that people follow the money. The King might control the Kingdom, but a merchant?

They control the people.

Katherine just chuckled but didn’t answer her question. Some things were better left unsaid.

“Anyways, as I was saying, Silverfall City, unlike many others, is the safest city throughout the entire kingdom. The crime rate is low, and the Black Market and Black Mask Guild don’t have their greedy little hands in the City, so you don’t have to be worried about getting kidnapped.”

Mika was surprised to hear this, “Really? But I thought you just said that all the major corporations and guilds were located in this city.”

Katherine chuckled again, but this time, it was much colder, “Heh~! They wouldn’t dare to try and do business in Silverfall! There are several reasons why, but it mostly just comes down to it being a conflict of interest. There are many influential people in Silverfall, all of whom want a safe, clean city they can do business in.”

Katherine’s words held several meanings, but the takeaway Mika got from her explanation was that having a black market in a city ‘dirties’ it.

“I see.” Mika nodded in understanding.

The three of them chatted for a few more minutes, with Katherine giving her a bit more information about the city, but she left out most of the details as she’d experience it for herself soon.

Not even 10 minutes later, Bernard descended from the sky onto a private landing strip, surrounded by what Mika assumed were Emporvas Family Knights, as they had the same symbol on their clothes.

Mika, Aurelia, and Katherine stepped off the flying car and soon made their way onto the bustling streets of Silverfall City. The first thing that caught Mika's eye was the towering buildings made of gleaming metal and shimmering glass. It was a stark contrast to the medieval castles and cobblestone streets she was used to.

“Woooow!” Mika exclaimed in amazement. The whole city reminded her of Avalon back in Elysium, her home country. However, she never got to get a good look at the city when she was there, as she spent most of her time in the King’s castle.

"Welcome to Silverfall City," Katherine said with a smile, allowing Mika to take in the sights.

After a minute or so, Mika calmed down a bit, but her eyes were still wide in amazement! She simply couldn’t believe how advanced and futuristic everything looked!

‘Well, I guess I kind of am in the future,’ Mika thought while looking around, admiring the beauty of the city.

However, she was interrupted by Katherine grabbing hers and Aurelia’s arms and saying, "Let's go do some shopping!"

Katherine dragged them along one of the streets in the heart of the city, where all the major businesses were, with Bernard tagging behind them.

Mika’s eyes wandered, staring each skyscraper up and down, wondering how humans could build buildings that tall! She came from an era where people struggled to make places more than a few stories tall, yet these were dozens!

As they walked down the street, taking in the sights and sounds of the city. Mika noticed that everyone seemed to be walking around with a small device in their hands.

“Are those phones?” she asked, pointing to a nearby person.

“Correct,” Katherine replied. “While they have many features, the primary ones are that they allow you to communicate with people over long distances, access information, and even make purchases. They play an integral part in our society; if you don’t have one, you are losing out on what humanity has to offer!”

Mika’s head swiveled toward Katherine, staring at her in bewilderment.

“That small thing can do all that?!”

“Mhmm.” Katherine nodded. “In fact, they can do much more than that, but before I explain to you its uses, let’s get you one first.”

Mika nodded absentmindedly, excited at the thought of having a piece of this ‘new’ technology!

Katherine dragged Aurelia and Mika along until they reached a nearby store.

*Ding Dong!*

“Hello, welcome to Mythic Mobile! How may I-Ah!” The receptionist, a cute petite brunette, greeted them with a smile before her eyes widened, recognizing Aurelia and Katherine, “Good morning, Mrs. Emporvas, Aurelia! How are you doing today?”

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Katherine and Aurelia returned the smile and nodded.

“We’re doing good, Harper. Darius and I just returned from our trip, so I decided to take Aurelia and her little friend out shopping.” Katherine said, giving Mika a few pats on the head. “How have you been, Harper? Have you found yourself a husband yet?” She chuckled.

Harper blushed and shook her head, “No, Ma’am. I did go on a few dates, but nothing seemed to click.”

Katherine chuckled and stepped closer to Harper, “Oh? How surprising that nobody has captured a cute little bunny like you!” She pinched the girl’s cheeks, causing the receptionist to blush even harder before shaking her head and letting go.

“Anyways, can you show us your latest and greatest phone model?”

Harper quickly snapped out of her thoughts, returned to her regular, professional expression, and nodded, “Right this way.”

As soon as Harper left the reception desk, someone else took her place.

The four of them got in an elevator and went up to the 5th floor, which was reserved for VIPs. Since it was early in the day, there weren’t any other people.

Harper then picked up a silver wristwatch with a small screen where the dial should be.

“This is our latest phone, the HoloMyth Touch 2.0. It’s made out of Titanium and Orichalcum, giving it exceptional strength and lightness while also having high mana conductivity. We’ve added nano-bots to it, allowing it to change shapes. The last major feature is that you can store mana inside it, which can be released at any time, creating an energy shield around you.”

Once Harper finished explaining, she injected mana into the watch. The nanobots shifted around, and a second later, the watch turned into a rectangular hand-held tablet.

“Oh! One last thing. Like the previous generation of HoloMyth Touch, you can select the hologram function on the phone, inject mana into it, and produce a 3-D render of whatever you want to see or do. You can create a hologram of almost everything, whether it be video-calling, gaming, typing, or watching videos!” Harper explained and did just that.

She pressed a few buttons on the phone, sent a sliver of mana into it, and instantly, a blue transparent 3-D render of a tree appeared before them.

Mika was fascinated by this! She reached out her hand to touch it, curious about what it felt like, but to her dismay, it just went straight through!

“What?”

She frowned in confusion, not understanding what had just happened.

Katherine, Harper, Bernard, and Aurelia all chuckled at this.

“A hologram is a 3-D image formed by the interference of light beams from laser sources etched onto the mana you provided. The image produced isn’t actually real. Earlier forms of holograms used holographic films or plates to create a picture, but we’ve come far enough to merge it with magic, allowing us to create this compact piece of advanced tech.” Harper explained with a smile.

Mika didn’t understand a word of what she said but remembered it nonetheless.

“Sounds amazing! We’ll take it!” Katherine exclaimed, not caring about the price.

Harper’s smile brightened, showing off her pearly white teeth when she heard that, as illusory dollar signs shone in her eyes.

‘The commission I’ll get from this will last me years if I use it right!’ She thought inwardly.

Harper put the phone in a box that had a Griffin logo and rang it up at the cash register. Katherine handed her a black card and scanned it, finishing the transaction.

Mika looked over, curious about what was going on, but just saw a whole bunch of zeros on the screen! Her eyes widened at what she saw, and her body trembled for a moment.

‘Holy shit! That phone cost over 100,000 Initial-Stage Mana Stones?! Th-That’s 10 million USD!!’

Mika thought of the salary that she and Darius had agreed upon and realized that even if she were to work for an entire year, she wouldn’t be able to afford a fraction of that watch!

The more time she spent with the Emporvas family, the more she realized how rich they were and how poor she was.

‘To think I thought that 100 Initial-Stage Mana Stones was a lot. Yet, here these people are, throwing around hundreds of thousands like it’s nothing!’

Of course, Katherine isn’t actually spending Mana Stones to buy the phone; she’s just paying the USD equivalent. That also doesn’t mean that Mythic Mobile will use the 10 million USD to purchase that many mana stones.

After they purchased the phone, they said their goodbyes to Harper and left the shop.

“M-Mrs. Emporvas,” Mika said after they left, “That… You really didn’t have to spend that much on me.”

“Nonsense!” Katherine refuted, “How can I, the wife of Darius Emporvas, be stingy with my gifts to my daughter’s friend and physical trainer!?”

Aurelia scowled at her mother’s words, as not once had she considered Mika a friend, nor did she like the fact that the “Devil Instructor Mika” was her trainer! However, she did agree with her mother on one part.

“That’s right!” Aurelia nodded firmly, “ Aren’t you looking down on my family too much?” She said in disdain.

Mika wasn’t sure how to answer that and just shut her mouth.

‘Fine! Since you want to spend money so badly, then be my guest!’ She thought and stopped thinking about it. From how they were acting, 10 million USD was just chump change to them.

“Then… Thank you for the gift.” Since they weren’t worried about money, she shouldn’t be worried about it and humbly accept their ‘donation’.

“See? Was that so hard?” Katherine chuckled.

“Now, let’s go get you some new clothes!”

***

A few hours later.

Mika walked out of a clothing store, looking exhausted. Not physically, but mentally. She was no longer wearing her red cherry blossom kimono, much to her dismay, and was instead wearing a maroon knee-length skirt and a black long-sleeved shirt with boots.

Feeling the cold breeze brush against her inner thighs, Mika shivered and closed her legs. She felt exposed wearing this sort of clothing and hated it! While she had to admit that the clothing was lightweight, flexible, and airy, she didn’t like how revealing it was.

Although she did look cute, Mika had never cared about those sorts of things. She’d take functionality over aesthetics any day.

Next out of the store came Aurelia and Katherine, who both wore smiles on their faces, then finally, Bernard, who carried all the bags full of clothes.

“Please tell me why I need to wear these kinds of clothes again,” Mika said in a dark, tired tone.

“Because you’re too cute not to!” Came Aurelia and Katherine’s simultaneous reply.

“...”

Mika didn’t bother responding to those two lunatics.

‘What am I? Some doll?’ She thought before shaking her head, ‘As soon as we get back to the villa, I’m changing into my kimono.’

Seeing that Mika was ignoring them and seemed to be sulking, Katherine cleared her throat and decided to lighten her mood, “Ahem! Now that we’ve gotten the basics out of the way, why don’t I take you to the place you might find the most interesting, Mika?”

At those words, all the exhaustion left Mika’s body as if it were never there, and her eyes lit up, “Really?! Where are we going to go?!”

“Why, the Mercenary Guild, of course!”