- (Anna’s POV) -

5 days passed since I hired Mary and Maya.

The sales are pretty good: we already made more than 100 gold coins of benefit! An average commoner needs to work a dozen of years to get that much!~ There are also constant number of customers and no one complained yet.

The children are way better than before, and we don’t have any problem with our supplier thanks to Mary and Maya! Both of them are really good, they are not afraid to negotiate and they know the price for everything! They are way better than me, to be honest. Also, I already made a month worth of potion so the shop can now run without me! Yesterday, I stayed in the shop to observe while doing nothing, and we didn’t have any problem!

I also gave 50 gold coins to Maya and told her that she can use it to improve the shop or negotiate with our supplier to increase our business.

I’m currently eating breakfast with Alice, Roland and Eleonora and I just finished my training with the knights. Roland suddenly talk to me:

“Anna-chan, how is your business going?” (Roland)

Mhh, it’s unusual for Roland to ask me that. However, Eleonora ask me the same question everyday.

“Pretty good, we are making a lot of money and the shop don’t need me anymore. Are you asking because you want to know if I will come to the capital in a week? The answer is yes, I should be fine to leave in a few days.” (Anna)

“I’m happy that you can come, but I didn’t ask you this question for that. I would like to talk to you about something.” (Roland)

“Y-Yes? What is it?” (Anna)

“Apparently, the rumor about your ‘miracle potions’ reached the capital. I received this morning a letter from a noble friend residing in the capital and he told me that your potion is doing quite a commotion.” (Roland)

Ahh… I’m sorry… It’s probably Roland’s jobs to calm everyone. I swear it wasn’t on purpose! Because I say nothing, he continues:

“Well, the products aren’t really imported yet but there are a lot of rumors. Apparently, there is a faction of the church that really don’t like your potions. So be careful in the future, I just wanted to warn you.” (Roland)

I see… The church… Some of my customers are saying that it’s a ‘miracle’ potion so obviously the church wouldn’t be happy.

“There are basically 2 factions in the church, and it’s only one of them that don’t like your business. However, they still hold a lot of influence, so be careful.” (Roland)

Hearing his words, Eleonora grip her knife very hard.

“Those shitty bastards are doing whatever they want under the name of the church! I really hate them!” (Eleonora)

WOW! It’s the first time I saw Eleonora angry, she is quite scary!

Roland sighs, then he continues.

“I believe you know the law and the Church’s teaching, right?” (Roland)

“Yes, I made sure to remember everything in the last few days to avoid any problem.” (Anna)

“If they harass you by breaking the laws, don’t hesitate to defend yourself. It will be annoying, but I will take care of the aftermath for you.” (Roland)

“Thank you!” (Anna)

It’s really comforting and reassuring to have a noble behind you! I should try to make more connections and gain more influence when I arrive at the capital! It would be useful to protect my shop and those I hold dear to my heart!~

After the breakfast, I head toward my shop.

**********

6 hours passed since my discussion with Roland. I’m currently in the shop observing my employees working to make sure they won’t have any problem once I’m gone. There are currently about 10 customers inside the shop looking at the products.

Suddenly, 10 peoples enter the shop, all armed except one fat man at the middle, probably their leaders. He suddenly shout:

“Bring the one in charge of this shop!” (fat man)

Here you go! The famous template that I saw in many novels!

Maya head toward him and say:

“I’m the one in charge of this shop when the owner is busy. What do you want?” (Maya)

I decided to already let Maya take this role, so she won’t have any problem in the future, but she is doing it extremely well! She is not intimidated in front of 9 armed men! On the other hand, the employees from the orphanage look afraid of them. Well, I don’t blame them.~

“I want the owner! I don’t care if he is busy! Bring him immediately!” (fat man)

Wow, how rude! How dare he order my subordinate around?! Even the customers are shocked by his rudeness! I guess I will have to step out of my hiding place. I walk toward him and take over.

“I’m Anna, the owner of this shop. Who are you and why are you here?” (Anna)

“You are being rude! Do you know who I am?” (fat man)

“I wouldn’t ask you who you are if I already knew who you were… Besides, I’m not the rude one walking around with 9 armed man.” (Anna)

Look at this stupid guy, even the customers are laughing after my words!

“How dare you laughing at me! My name is Liam, I’m a wealthy merchant and I was sent here by the Church!” (Liam)

As I thought, it’s the Church… Roland told me to only act against them if they go against the law. Isn’t what he is doing against the law already? Mhh it’s debatable… Let’s continue calmly.

“May I know what the Church want to do with my shop?” (Anna)

“The Church stated that all the potions of this shop are confiscated, they have to be handed to me!” (Liam)

Wow, this guy is a hardcore, he really thinks that I will accept that easily?

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“May I ask why?” (Anna)

“Fabricating them is a sin! It goes against the Gods!” (Liam)

What a load of bullshit! So cliché! Even some customers start to get agitated:

“It’s wrong! This potion saved my daughter!” (customer 1)

“Exactly! There is no way that it’s a sin! My wife is living thank to it!” (customer 2)

Wow, my customers are trying to help me! Thank you very much! However, the fat man doesn’t like their reactions and starts to get angry:

“Shut up! It’s not your problem! If I say it’s a sin, then it’s a sin!” (Liam)

“As far as I know, there is nothing about potion written in the Holy Book. It’s also not against the law.” (Anna)

“I don’t care about the law! If the Church says something, you have to obey!” (Liam)

I really can’t stand this guy anymore; I really want to punch him right now but it’s better to stay calm for now.

“Aren’t you the one going against the Church? You are currently talking about something that isn’t in the Holy Book and you are using the Church as a support. Besides, the Church still has to follow the law as far as I know.” (Anna)

“I don’t care! Shut up and give me those potions!” (Liam)

“I refuse.” (Anna)

Even if he really was sent by the Church, it must be a corrupted Church. Probably the faction that Roland talked about.

“Give them immediately! Or else… I will kill everyone here!” (Liam)

Wow! Threatening to kill everyone? What a righteous Church!

“I still refuse.” (Anna)

Hearing my words, the customers are starting to shiver.

“A-Alright, kill everyone and secure the potions!” (Liam)

The customers and my employees are all starting to scream. I can understand them, but don’t worry, I won’t let them do anything to you!

The 9 armed men start to move toward me, the customers, and my employees with a weapon in their hand. I instantly dash and knock out the first guy going toward me. I dash again and knock out two more peoples on my left using my bare hands. I look on my right and see 3 more going toward my employees, I instantly punch two of them on their belly and knock out the 2 others with a single aerial kick on their face.

The 3 remaining men turn toward me, surprised, then dash toward me. I knock out them all with a series of punches and kicks. The most difficult thing is to avoid breaking my shop!

I grab each unconscious body and throw them one by one toward the surprised fat man. I want all those bastards to stay together under my watch because I don’t want one of them to take someone hostage.

The combat lasted not even half a minute. The customers, Mary and Maya are looking at me with sparkles in their eyes while the children from the orphanage have a face stating ‘it was expected’; they saw me fighting against 40 bandits after all!~ On the other hand, the fat man fell on his butt, sweeting. Haha, serve you right!~

He threatened me and even dared to try to kill me, my customers and my employees. I won’t forgive him that easily!~ Hehehehehe~

“You wanted to kill what? Sorry, I didn’t hear, can you repeat?” (Anna)

I turn my head and point at my right ear while saying that. The fat man didn’t answer, trying to back off, but he trips again on an unconscious man. I follow him slowly while he is backing off until he reaches a wall. Then I bring my head closer to him and say:

“I think I heard that you didn’t care about the law, right? Do you want to know what happen when I also don’t care about the law?” (Anna)

I punch his face but not hard enough to render him unconscious. I smile at him while he looks at me with a face full of despair. I can feel the stare of the customers and my employees behind me. I start to smile at the fat guy and continue:

“You also said that you want my potions, right? Do you want them that much?”

I take his arm with my right hand, then I close my fist with his arm inside. I can hear the sound of bones breaking under the pressure.

“ARRHGHHHH” (Liam)

He starts to cry loudly because of the pain. Then I take a potion from a nearby shelf and make him drink it. His wounds are instantly closing, and his bone is repairing. Looking under him, I can see some pee, he dared to pee in my shop!! Then I bring my face even closer to him and say with a sadistic smile:

“So, what do you think about my potion? Do you like it? Do you want another one? Of course, you need an injury, or it would be wasted, right?” (Anna)

I punch him 3 times in the face, I kick him on his chest until he is blooding. Then I give another potion to heal him immediately.

“Was this one good aswell? Do you want another one?” (Anna)

“Mhnooo plizzz stoppu!” (Liam)

He tries to say something, but he is too shocked to form the word, I know that he wanted to say something like ‘No please stop’ but I still want to play with him!~

“Ohh sorry, I don’t speak the language of a bug, but I suppose it means ‘yes’, right?” (Anna)

I injure him again and heal him immediately 3 more times in a row. Now, even though he is healed, his eyes are void of life, like a doll. I think the pain and the shock was too much for his brain to process…

“I suppose you liked my potion very much! Thank you! It makes me very happy!” (Anna)

Then I hit him on the neck to knock him out. Ahh, it was so freaking satisfying!!! Oh shit, I kind of forgot that I have a public behind me… I don’t want them to think that’s I’m a demon or something, haha~.

I stand up and turn toward them, and they look at me with a different expression on their face. Some of them have sparkles in the eyes, some others are looking with an amused face. Uhh? No one is looking at me with disgust or fear?! I bow my head slightly and say:

“I’m sorry for the commotion! As a compensation, each of you can take the product of your choice for free. Only one per person though. Oh, don’t worry, I only do this kind of thing toward those that try to harm me or my friends.” (Anna)

One of the customers walks toward me and taps on my shoulder, it’s a middle-aged man with a small beard.

“Hahaha! What a show! I’m happy to be here when it happened to see that! Don’t worry, it was quite satisfying to see someone from this shitty faction of the Church getting fucked! Hahaha!” (middle-aged man)

Wow! It doesn’t look like he like them!~ I smile at him and say:

“I can see that you don’t really like them too.” (Anna)

“Well, they are quite infamous. There are many rumors about them stating that they are doing illegal stuff but it’s hard to act against them because they have a lot of influence and are not letting proof behind. It’s the first time that they are acting so openly like this, though.” (middle-aged man)

“I see, I’m happy that no one think that I’m a demon or something after this scene, haha~” (Anna)

“Hahaha! Don’t worry, we all saw that he was the one that started. Besides, you protected us from his minions, so I’m quite grateful aswell.” (middle-aged man)

“Well, it’s because I refused him in the first place.” (Anna)

After those words, I turn toward my employees.

“Maya, can you go to the Lord’s house and tell him that I need him here? He will understand once he hears my name.” (Anna)

Maya nod and exit the shop. Then, I turn toward the customers.

“If some of you want to help me by staying here as a witness, you can stay. For the others, feel free to leave anytime with the free product chosen!” (Anna)

The same middle-aged man looks at me, surprised.

“Oh! You can make the Lord move with only your name? I knew that you were quite extraordinary after this show, but not this much!” (middle-aged man)

“Well… I kind of eat and sleep in his house everyday…” (Anna)

“Hahaha! I see, I see! I will stay as a witness!” (middle-aged man)

“Thank you!” (Anna)

I go back to the fat man, lift him with one hand like a potato bag, and throw him toward his minions. I make sure that everyone is correctly knocked out and start to restrain their arms and legs with some ropes that Mary brought me, so effective!~

Then I wait for Maya to come back with Roland while chatting with the middle-aged man and the 5 other customers that stayed.

*******

Half an hour later, Maya finally come back along with Roland himself and 10 knights. He freezes when he sees a pile of 10 unconscious man in the middle of the shop.

“So, Anna? Can you explain why there are 10 unconscious men here? And why did you call me suddenly?” (Roland)

I explain to him everything. Sometime, one of the customers add some details to complete my story. It takes around 5 minutes for everything to be told. He makes a strange face when he heard what I did to the fat guy, haha~.

“I see, so that’s what happened…” (Roland)

“Will I get some problem with the church? Will I be arrested?” (Anna)

He smiles after my words.

“And what would you do if I tell you ‘yes’?” (Roland)

I think that he is joking, so I will play along~.

“Isn’t it obvious? I would take my belonging and my subordinates, then I would run away from the country while destroying everything that stand in my way.” (Anna)

“Hahaha! Yes, it was obvious, sorry! Well, it should be fine. If what you said is correct, the faction of the Church that sent him will never admit that it’s them that sent such an idiot so you should be safe. He is only one of their pawn, a random merchant, and he probably went farther than he was told to. Besides, it’s good that you did it with a lot of witness so they can’t lie about the event. However, they will still be hostile toward you; and this incident won’t help. I don’t think they will try something else before you come to the capital though.” (Roland)

“I see, I’m glad.” (Anna)

“By the way, it’s good that you listened to my advice and waited him to do something illegal before knocking him out. I will take care of those unconscious men; you can resume your business if you want.” (Roland)

“Alright, thank you!” (Anna)

He nods then he turns toward his knights and say:

“Bring them all out! Each of you take one, we are going back to my house!” (Roland)

The knights move after his orders and they all leave my shop.

Ahh, this faction of the Church looks really annoying… I can already feel a headache when I will have to deal with them once I’m in the capital…