"You're back," said Pertinax, standing with a towel over one shoulder as he scanned through the contents of a notepad near the entrance part of his forge.
"We'll be needing a workshop," Carl said firmly. "It's going to take some work, but she can do it."
Pertinax frowned, making some sort of notation in his notebook before he set it on a small bench nearby and crossed his arms over his chest. "In that case, I'm definitely not helping you." He scowled up at Carl. "Get out of my sight."
Carl frowned back. "What?"
"You heard me," said Pertinax, looking to Mina and shaking his head. "Seeking victory is one thing, but foolishly jeopardizing your daughter's safety for it is something I won't be party to."
As they'd discussed, Mina remained silent, though she seemed ready to boil over at any second.
"That's why we need a workshop," Carl said in the same, firm tone of voice. Now that's a perspective I can respect. "The car's gonna need to be a lot safer before she can race. Need to test it first, too." Maybe I can find another driver to try beating it up a little before she even needs to get in it.
Pertinax rubbed a hand over his cheek, tracing a scar, and his eyes narrowed as he again looked back and forth between Carl and Mina. "I'll be the one to test the car before you attempt to race with it," he said slowly. "And you'll pay me the first month in advance."
"How much?" Carl asked, giving Mina a look.
Pertinax chewed on the question for a moment. "A thousand marks," he said at last.
"What?!" Mina exclaimed, indicating to Carl that this was a large sum of money.
Pertinax nodded. "You're needing a place to stay while you're here, too, I'd imagine, so you want something with a good roof." He looked back into the bustling forge area. "Aedinia, I'm leaving for a few minutes," he bellowed.
"You better not be!" a woman shouted back. "We're behind on—"
"Better hurry," Pertinax said, ignoring the litany of projects that the forge was apparently behind on and instead waving for them to follow as he walked quickly out into the street, moving towards the building across from the forge.
May as well see what he's offering. Carl shrugged to Mina, and they followed him to the standalone, two story red stone building.
"This likely isn't what Quintis Spurius was imagining, but here's my offer," he said, pulling a ring of keys out of his apron pocket. He walked up to the small steel door to the side of a larger set of double doors and slotted a key into its lock.
The key twisted, and he pulled the heavy door wide, gesturing to the interior. "This is a workshop we use seasonally when we get certain types of orders," he explained as they took in the scene. "I'll rent it to you for up to two months if you want it since we're not going to need it for anything now."
Mina entered first, seeming to be entranced by the space.
Carl looked around. Light was spilling in from windows set high up on the walls, though there were long chains attached to curtains that could be pulled across to darken the room. A large, wooden workbench was set against the wall on the left side, containing all manner of tools, most of which he was unfamiliar with. Towards the rear in the center was a tower of metal lockers, each with keyholes. In the back left corner was a small door that led to what appeared to be a bathroom with what was, he confirmed as he approached, a toilet, a sink, and an alcove with a nozzle and a drain which could probably be used for showering.
A metal spiral staircase was in the back right, leading up to a small second level which covered half the workshop and had a few dusty crates in a corner. The staircase continued upwards, leading to a hatch that he was already imagining accessed a rooftop that would let him have a great thinking spot with one of those comfortable recliners set up.
This place is pretty nice, I guess, considering what we want it for. Enough space to take the car out and work on it without any problems. Dunno that I'm gonna keep logging in enough to make a full month worth it, but Mina can make that—
"I believe this will do quite nicely," Mina said with the tone of an eighteen year-old girl desperately trying to conceal her excitement and failing.
"Yeah, seems good," Carl agreed.
"You're free to use anything in here that's not locked away," Pertinax said, pointing to the tool-covered workbench, "though if I find anything missing or broken when you leave, you'll have a fair number of the city's gladiators after you."
"I'm quite sure that won't be necessary," Mina said, pulling her leather coin pouch from her pocket. "Your terms seem…" She looked to Carl, who nodded at her. "Acceptable."
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"Great," Pertinax said, waving them back out. "Let's get back to the shop, and I'll write up something a little more official." He re-locked the building once they were out.
This guy's really on top of stuff. Focused, too. I like him already. Probably not too bad to have as a landlord. Huh. Never really thought about it, but this'll be the first game I've ever played—not that I'm playing a game now, of course, since I'm only here to think for a little while—where you can rent and sell property like this. Pretty cool. Still too hot out though.
"I—Would you sell me one of your sets of paper?" Mina asked as they walked across the street again.
"Huh?" Pertinax looked back over his blocky shoulder. "Oh, you mean a pad?"
"Yes, a pad. And perhaps a pencil as well?"
"Should be a couple laying around in the shop you're renting. They're cheap enough, so consider them yours." Pertinax retrieved his own pad off the bench at the front of his shop and flipped to a new page where he began scribbling rapidly.
"Decius!" shouted a woman's voice from farther back in the forge area. "Get yer ass back here! Need this plating finished by—"
Pertinax sighed. "It never ends," he muttered, shaking his head.
----------------------------------------
Carl and Mina stood at the doorway to the workshop they'd—though it had really just been Mina doing all the legwork and also paying for it—just rented, gazing into the interior.
"I've always dreamed of having my own workshop," Mina said, her voice filled with awe. She walked in slowly as though seeing everything anew.
"This is a pretty cool spot," Carl commented. Even has vents at the top so the heat can escape because of course we need full immersion. Hm. Kinda thirsty now that I… Must be some kinda thing that ties it into how hot you are to make it annoyingly realistic. "Inventory." He flipped through the pages until he got to the mug that the potter had given him way back when and retrieved it. "Dismiss." Alright, I can do this. He held his hand over the mug and began to focus. Just a little water. Just a tiny bit. A couple drops is all I want. He heard a quiet splashing sound and stopped focusing.
The mug was halfway filled with water.
Carl grinned. "Hey, I did it," he said to himself, taking a sip of what was undoubtedly the purest water he'd ever tasted.
"What have you done?" Mina asked, looking back to him from her surveying of the workbench's stock of tools.
"Filled this with water without overshooting like I usually do," Carl said, raising the mug to take another sip.
Mina stared. "You've…learned magic?" she asked.
"Just a little," Carl said, holding up his free hand with his fingers spaced slightly apart. "Ir'alith did this mind meld thingy and gave me some kinda skill for it." He put his hand over the now-empty mug again and focused just as he had before, now imagining that he wanted a couple more drops than he had the first time. There was another splash, and when he moved his hand, the mug was nearly full. "Haven't really played around with it much yet, but it's pretty cool so far."
"Yes," Mina said slowly, "cool. And how long has passed since you've begun playing around with magic?"
"Hm." Kinda hard to say? I guess if we're going by game time, it's been… Ugh, I have no idea. "Maybe a day? Not too long," he said, knowing he definitely hadn't spent more time than that in the game since he was a responsible adult with a career, and a family, and goals. How the heck has that logout timer not gone off yet? I'm gonna have to log out soon just to check on it. Which feels really stupid to do. Everything related to time and this game is starting to get confusing.
"A day. Fascinating," Mina said offhandedly before returning to her inspection of the tools.
Maybe I'm slower than most people? Really a one-track mind though. Now she's going full Bobby. Gonna be the kinda thing where I'll have to call her for dinner a whole bunch of times, and she'll just be sitting there working on her car or something, not paying attention. Too cute. "I'm gonna put your car over here," he said, opening his inventory again.
"Sure, anywhere will do," Mina said, seeming distracted as she picked up a giant pair of pliers.
Carl pulled the girl's car out of his inventory after tossing his mug back in, setting the vehicle in the middle of the workshop with a thud. He looked it over, trying to imagine the amount of changes that would need to be made for him to feel even remotely comfortable letting Mina race in it. Needs seatbelts. Mirrors. A top and sides. Windshield. Roll cage. Helmet. Padded—no, armored suit since we're right next to this armor place. Maybe armor plating of some kind for the car itself? Is there some kinda force-repelling spell thingy we could cast? What if we just make the car fly so nobody can reach her?
He stopped rubbing his beard, his mind starting to present more and more fantastical options. It's Mina's car, I better not get too overprotective. Already feeling like I've gotten too "dad" on her without actually being her dad. He sighed. So hard not to though. Better focus.
Eyeing the staircase reminded him of the idea he'd had earlier. "Hey, I'm going up on the roof for a bit," he called. "Give a yell if anything happens." Seems like she's gonna want some time to go over all her new stuff before we actually do anything.
"Yes, of course," Mina said, still seeming distracted as she continued to write in a notepad she'd found somewhere.
Carl gave the area one more check, verifying that he'd closed the front doors before he ascended the stairs. The hatch at the top was secured by a thick, rotating lever mechanism, and once opened the hot light of the suns again covered him. Gonna have to get some sunglasses. Fishing here's gonna be a nightmare otherwise. I bet if I was better at magic there's some kinda spell for it. Should ask Ir'alith sometime; I bet she'd know.
He stepped up onto the stone rooftop and found the surface to be hot, but not too hot beneath his feet. Nice. "Inventory." The wet recliner came out first, its side still moist from where he'd attempted to use water magic to silence the dungeon core back when it had been less cool. Wonder how that thing's doing anyway. It said it was gonna find treasure, but then it was just sitting there. Was it lying about being a moderator the whole time? It was just lazy? So disappointing after all that talk. It said it was gonna come visit me, but there's no way…
His musings continued as he brought out another recliner and fell into it, stretching out and leaning back. This is like being at the beach, but way more comfortable. How the heck are these chairs so awesome? The cushioning is in all the perfect spots. He leaned back further, testing out the flexibility of the chair. Whoa, they go all the way back? These things are all-purpose! You can sit or sleep in them!