“It’s a nice little town you’ve got here,” Torath said as I quickly put on my old clothes—which thankfully were teleported out of the tower with me. “Pleasant weather.”

While I’d normally agree, after the freezing cold of the tower, the temperate weather of Byron Bay felt stifling.

“Weather doesn’t much matter to you at your rank,” Meredith said.

“A man can still enjoy life’s little joys.”

Meredith huffed. “Speaking of little joys…” She studied the nearby beach. “Come on, Harold. We’re going for a dip.” She headed toward the beach without looking back.

Harold looked at us, then after her, then grunted and followed.

Several other tower staff headed in that direction as well, seeming quite excited at the prospect.

The male-female identical twins Kaelith and Kerandia were literally sprinting toward the beach, tearing off attire as they tore down the pavement.

I wondered how long it had been since they’d had a vacation.

I also wondered if I could inspect them now that we were out of the tower.

Torath frowned at me as I tried it on him.

“Sorry, wanted to see if I could.”

“Good to know you can’t.” I felt the tingle of him inspecting me. “And to know that you took my advice and took the Fodder hobby.”

“It was a good choice.”

“Of course it was.”

“You can see my hobby? I don’t see that when I inspect people.”

“Hm,” he said absently, watching the tower staff head toward the beach. They didn’t have a bounty on their heads to worry about. “I think I’ll join them. It’s been quite a while since I’ve had free time.”

“How much free time do you think you’ll have? Any idea on when the tower will reopen?”

“I imagine they’ll stretch it out as long as they can to eat away at the grace period. Last time something like this happened it was several months. After that, they’ll be required to place a new keymaster and reopen it, at which point you’ll be allowed back in.”

“Can I stop people from entering? I mean the portal is in my store.”

He shook his head, still looking at the ocean. “Treaty of Right of Public Easement. But you have a key, yes? So it’s already going to be locked to only you three.”

“Oh, yeah.”

“Will you be in town?” Olivia asked me, looking longingly at the ocean as Torath headed off.

I nodded. “I need to check on my store. You should come by. Whitehall’s Bikes, Coffee, and Books.” I pointed in the direction of the shop. “Two blocks that way.”

She smiled. “I will. First I want to have a swim. I’ve been stuck in towers for a long time now. It will be nice to have a break in a real world.”

“I know how you feel, and I was only in there for a couple days.”

She glanced at Vyrania again, who was standing a few feet away, taking in the town.

“You have a crush on her or something?” I asked.

Olivia snapped her gaze back to me. “What? No. It’s… She’s Vyrania Trel, right? Is she that Trel?”

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Did you inspect me?” Vyrania asked, turning her attention to us.

“I mean… no?”

“Is that a question? It sounds like a question.”

“Well, as tower staff I sort of just… see your information. At least in the tower. I saw your name and thought…” She shrugged meekly. She seemed rather intimidated by Vyrania.

Or in awe of her, I couldn’t tell which.

Vyrania sighed. “Yes, but please don’t go around telling people.”

“I don’t think I’ll have to. I’m sure plenty will recognize you.”

Vyrania glared at Olivia. “No one in this civ knows me, and I’d like to keep it that way.”

“I won’t tell anyone,” Olivia assured her. “I should go,” she told me, giving me a quick hug, then darting off to follow the others.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“What exactly is it you’re famous for?” I asked Vyrania.

“It’s not important,” she replied curtly, heading over to where Koren was speaking with Mattias.

“That was weird,” I muttered to myself, then followed after her.

“I’ll do that,” Mattias said, then left to join the other tower staff, leaving only me, Koren, and Vyrania behind.

“What was that about?” I asked Koren.

“Turns out he’s a baker as well.”

“I thought you said that was a lie.”

Koren looked at me curiously. “Did I? Well, we all have our little flaws.”

“I don’t suppose you guys want to go check on my store, do you?” I wasn’t eager to be left alone. “It seems empty in town, but I’m worried about someone trying to kill us to take our spots on the Hero Board. I’m not sure how safe we’ll be in my store, but at least we won’t be out in the open.”

“Very safe,” Koren said. “You have an official deed?”

“Uh, I guess?” I pulled up the deed to show them.

Deed to Whitehall’s BBC: Books, Bikes, and Coffee

Level 3 Superstore

Type: Independent

Owner: Noah Whitehall

Employees: Noah Whitehall

Volunteers: Bob Huxley, Emma Huxley

Koren nodded. “Yes. It’s a safe zone. No one can attack you inside.”

“Seriously?” I asked. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, very.”

“Well then, what are we waiting for?”

He held out his arm. “Lead the way.”

‌

∎ ∎ ∎

I was surprised to see that all of the bikes and scooters out front of my shop were still there and hadn’t been stolen. Also by the town not looking near as apocalyptic as I’d been expecting. It was suspiciously quiet.

Most surprising however was the tower jutting out the back of the store. It stretched high into the sky, though didn’t seem big enough around for how big it was on the inside. Given how large it was, it was remarkably hard to see, somehow blending in with the sky.

“That… looks like more than three floors.” I said, staring up at it, Koren and Vyrania beside me.

Koren shrugged. “You can’t tell from the outside. Floors can be any height, and it’s not a one-to-one correlation in any case.”

I shook my head. “What is it even made of?”

“Mana, mostly, I’d assume,” he answered.

“So this is your store,” Vyrania said.

“Apparently,” I answered. I pulled my gaze from the tower and tried to enter my shop, but the front door was locked. I specifically remembered locking the rear, and despite having my clothes, I didn't have my keys with me.

“I can break the door if you like,” Koren offered.

“That’s okay,” I said. “I’d rather not damage it. I’ll find another way in.”

Vyrania pointed at the roof. “That door doesn’t seem locked.”

I squinted up at the balcony, shaking my head. “You can see that from here? Man I can’t wait to reach Iron.”

Thankfully I didn’t need an Iron body to get up there, my new Copper one was more than adequate. I climbed up onto the roof—nearly able to jump the height now—and entered through the unlocked door on an upper balcony, of which there were a few. I locked the door behind me as I entered, then went around and locked the rest of the doors and windows on the floor.

I wasn’t sure it would do any good against monsters or corrupted, and it certainly wouldn’t stop a determined normal person, let alone someone Copper rank or above, and I probably didn’t need it with the store being a safe zone, but better safe than sorry.

Downstairs everything was as I’d left it, down to the TV still being on, still showing the same message as before:

Busy. Sorry.

Sincerely, your favorite system, System 3121-111

I was a little surprised we still had power, and wondered who was running things.

I had a much easier time now moving the bookcase from out in front of the door. I opened it and let Koren and Vyrania in, then pushed the bookcase back in front of the door, this time right up against it, marveling at how easy it was.

“This is nicer than I was expecting,” Koren observed as he looked around. “A little stuffy, but nice.”

“Thanks,” I muttered, walking past him and grabbing three beers from the fridge, which was also still running.

I handed one to each of them, then plopped down in the chair behind the counter. I wasn’t tired either physically or mentally, but emotionally I was drained.

I cracked open the beer with my teeth—something that would have risked cracking a tooth in the past—spit out the cap, smiled, and took a long pull.

I ran my tongue over my teeth, noticing they were straight. Before, my two front teeth had been slightly misaligned. Not by a lot, but enough to feel. But now they were perfect. I felt for my wisdom teeth and discovered that the one on the bottom right was straight now, whereas before it had been pushing against the other molar.

Interesting. I hadn’t even noticed that happening.

I saw Koren and Vyrania were watching me.

“My teeth are straight.”

“Congratulations,” Vyrania said.

“No I mean, they weren’t, now they are.”

“What a wonderful turn of events,” Koren said.

I sighed, looking at their unopened beers. “I know you guys don’t need to drink, but you can, right? The townsfolk— the tower staff sure did. And ate. A lot.”

Koren popped the cap off with the tip of his finger and sniffed. “We can.” He frowned. “This smells like poison.”

“That’s the idea.”

“You drink poison?” Vyrania asked.

“It’s not really poison unless you drink way too much. Or drink it all the time.” I considered this, looking at the warning on the bottle against drinking while pregnant. Then I shrugged and took another swig. I was Copper now. If I could heal from getting punched by an undead giant, I could heal from this.

Koren was reading the label. “Ah, it’s alcohol.” He looked at Vyrania. “It’s how you get drunk here.”

“I got that much,” Vyrania said.

“You have no sorthanol?” Koren asked me.

“Sorthanol? No. And the interpreter isn’t helping me understand what that is. It sounds like a different kind of alcohol. Ours is ethanol.”

Koren shrugged. “When in other civs…” He took a large swig, then grimaced, his mouth puffed out like a chipmunk’s. He swallowed audibly, then carefully set the bottle down on the counter. “Thank you for the hospitality, but I don’t think I’ll be having more.”

Vyrania set her own unopened bottle down.

I laughed. “I guess it’s an acquired taste.”

“This is where the portal was?” she asked. “I don’t see it. You said you stumbled into it?”

“Oh right!” I set my beer down and hopped up.

My chair went flying across the room, crashing into a wall and toppling over. Luckily it didn’t break.

“It’s not that exciting,” she muttered.

“Wow I’m really strong now.”

Koren pursed his lips. “I wouldn’t say that.”

“Compared to a normal human,” I said.

“Or a baby.”

I grunted, heading toward the bathroom.