It was high noon in the market district of Nors. People walked the streets, coins in their pocket looking to spend it on whatever catches their eye. The people of the Baltharus Empire are known for their decadence and overindulgence in the finer things like wine and fine clothes. If there was one thing most imperial people of even the middle class had on their minds, it was “spend, spend, spend”. Business was booming for the shops in the marketplace, though one in particular saw less traffic than the others. A small, two floor building, painted a pine green. A sign hangs by the door that reads “Mavis’ Mystical Musings” in the common tongue, but written in a font commonly used in ancient elvish scripts. Inside, Paulie swept the dusty shop floor, while Mavis sat at the counter close to the back wall, her feet kicked up casually on the tabletop while her eyes were glued to a gossip magazine. While it had annoyed Paulie to some extent that Mavis was just stilling on her butt and lazing away, while he was doing actual work and keeping the shop clean and presentable, he kept his mouth shut on the matter. He had only been working this job for two days now, and he wanted to prove to his new boss that he has a good work ethic so he can help lessen the load on his parents to feed him and themselves. Still though, he felt maybe if he said something to get Mavis moving, there would be some more work to make the boring day more bearable.
“Hey, shouldn’t you be outside advertising? How are you supposed to make money if we just sit inside all day and do nothing?”
Paulie was careful with his words, trying not to upset his new boss who was also a fairly powerful mage. Someone that could kill you with just a wave of the hand or even a few soft spoken words is not someone you would want to anger. However, Mavis just shrugged, not even looking up from her reading material.
“I put up posters yesterday. Besides, I need to be in here in case a customer comes in. While you might be good at haggling with merchants as a customer, you don’t have any experience in being the seller. And I’m doing research.” Paulie’s eyes glanced to and from Mavis and the gossip magazine.
“Research? You’re just reading a trashy tabloid.” Mavis put the magazine down on the desk she had her feet kicked up on, looking at Paulie like he was the town fool, saying something borderline absurd and ridiculous.
“This is research on what’s currently trending. If I know what people are taking an interest in at present, I know what to put at the forefront of my store to grab people’s attention.” While the logic, at first glance, was sound, Paulie couldn’t help but feel that it was just an excuse for her to just laze around. Besides, a general store doesn’t exactly deal in what’s currently trendy anyway, but everyday needs.
“You can’t be looking to expand your inventory already? You opened just yesterday and even then the only people who even entered this store were myself and a robber. Shouldn’t you focus on trying to make a profit with what you have first?” Paulie was smart for his age. Having adult responsibilities while being as young as he is would make someone, for better or worse, grow up faster. He could tell when someone was trying to swindle him more easily than other fourteen year old boys. Mavis just shrugged at his analysis.
“It doesn’t hurt to think about the future…” Her response only annoyed Paulie to the point he raised his voice.
“Are you kidding me? How can you think about the future if you’re not doing anything right now? Do you think your shop is going to survive if you don’t actually do any work?” Mavis was going to rebuttal him, but before she could, the chime of the bell on the door rang, signaling someone had entered the shop.
“Are you Mavis Millwood?”, a friendly voice said. A young man standing around 6 feet tall with combed, black hair sands in the doorway. Wearing glasses and a nice, formal two piece blue suit, black tie and a white dress shirt, anyone giving him even a quick glance could tell that he either had a high paying job, or came from money. He addressed the woman behind the counter with a smile that the average person would see as friendly, however, as the two in the store looked at him, they could immediately tell that something was off about it.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Paulie thought to himself. Something about him is telling me he’s here to cause trouble, but I can’t tell what it is. It’s that feeling you get in your gut when something is wrong but you can’t figure out what it is. Mavis had the same thoughts running through her head. The way this guy carries himself. He’s definitely not a customer, but he doesn’t seem like another robber either. Still, I should be careful. She gets out of her chair fast as a lightning bolt, springing to her feet with enthusiasm, ready to give her usual sales pitch.
“Yes, that is I, the Marvelous Mavis Millwood! Proprietress of the lovely shop you have the honour of standing in! We have everything you need from the mundane to the magical. So how can I be of service?” The well dress man seemed to be amused by her performance, there now being a twinkle in his deep blue eyes as his expression turned to one of amusement, like a child watching a circus performance.
“Oh, marvelous indeed! You sure know how to entertain your patrons.” Paulie stares in disbelief. He… genuinely enjoyed that. He’s definitely a weirdo. The man continued.
“But as entertaining as you are, I still have my own business here to attend to.” His eyes narrowed as he looked at Mavis, his voice sounded unnervingly sweet and silky as he spoke now while still maintaining a smile. He approached Mavis with a confident stride, reaching into an inner pocket of his suit and procuring a business card from within, gracefully offering it to Mavis.
“My name is Matthis Edenz. Number Seven of the Twelve Roundtable Knights. I’m sure you’ve heard of us.” The Twelve Roundtable Knights, commonly referred to as just The Twelve, are the twelve strongest knights in the Imperial Court. Each one numbered from one to twelve in descending order of their strength and achievements, it’s a position any knight aspires to achieve due to the prestige as well as having a celebrity status. Some of the Twelve have even gotten statuettes made in their likenesses that are sold as collectables in toy stores.
“I need you to come with me to the Imperial Courthouse.” Mattis continued, “You’re being summoned as a prime witness to last night’s incident here in this shop. As well as on suspicion of providing misleading or false information on your Adventurer’s Union application.” There it was. The sinking feeling Mavis and Paulie both had was vindicated.
“I don’t think I need to explain that if you refuse to cooperate, either by refusing to come with me or by attacking me, I am authorized to use any force I deem necessary at my own discretion.”
As Matthis gave his speech, both Mavis and Paulie clearly could see a slight smile flit across his face when he mentioned use of force, almost as if the thought of getting to use force on Mavis was appealing to him. With every subsequent word Matthis said, it became more clear what kind of person they were dealing with. Not only was he someone who relished in the thought of getting to use violence on someone, he was also ranked seventh in strength out of the entire imperial army. Even if Mavis was going to force him out of the store and refuse to go with him, he wasn’t an opponent she could take lightly. Without a word, Mavis walked out from behind the store counter.
“Alright,” she said. “Might as well make your job a little easier. Besides, if I resisted, it would only make it that much harder for my appeal to go through.” She ran the tip of her finger over the point at the end of her ear as she said that. She knew due to the prejudice half-elves still face, any kind of resistance to the arrest would only make things ten times worse for her. Matthis looked at her disappointed, however.
“Ahhh you’re no fun. I was sort of hoping to see for myself what you did to take out that burglar. It’s very interesting how he came out of it alive, seeing how you used a spell that normally destroys whatever it touches.” As Matthis made his true motives known, Mavis didn’t utter another word as she exited the shop ahead of him, as he followed behind her while keeping an eye on her to make sure she didn’t run. Paulie, still in the shop, was shaking. What should I do? It’s my first day and my boss already got arrested, and by one of the Twelve. The looks he gave us too. He was trying to find an excuse for violence. Why did they let someone like him into the Twelve!? These thoughts ran through Paulie’s head while he stood alone in the shop. Taking deep breaths, he calmed himself. He knew he had to do something. Matthis mentioned they needed to question her about the incident with the burglar. He was there. He could be a material witness and attest to the incident being self-defence. But there was one other thing, there was also mention of Mavis falsifying or providing misleading information on her Adventurer’s Union application. Paulie didn’t know very much about anything to do with the Union, so he didn’t know how much help he could be regarding that, however he did have motivation to go and help Mavis out anyway. I still haven’t gotten my paycheck yet!