‘How about fuck you?’, were the most appropriate words Severin could think of, but he knew better than to say them out loud.

Instead, he fell silent. For a long time. So long, in fact, that Magda had already started wondering whether he was being childish and decided to ignore her.

In reality, he was trying his best to figure a way out of this situation. One which didn’t make him susceptible to extortion or otherwise dependent on them, while at the same time maintaining an amiable relationship with them. Or at least a neutral one; as long as they didn’t disturb him or his customers, that would be good enough, though even he had to admit that having access to the Society’s connections would surely prove to be a boon.

But what could he do? Giving up parts of his land was certainly the last thing he wanted to do. After all, that had been his reason to purchase all the mountain’s land, despite not yet having any concrete plans for it yet, in the first place. But for someone in his position, someone who was, for the most part, bound to this place, giving away his land would be equivalent to curtailing his own freedom.

On the other hand, there was a reason he had so feared the arrival of a representative of the Adventurer’s Society; one that came with actual purpose and didn’t just come across this place by pure chance. The more or less subtle threats issued by the woman in front of him only reinforced Severin’s view on the matter.

He couldn’t help lamenting the fact that Samuel was absent at this moment. Though he didn’t think the [Berserker] could stop the Society from whatever it was they were set out to do, he still imagined the man to have enough of an influence that him speaking up in Severin’s favor might make things easier for him. At the very least, his input as to how to deal with this situation, and with Mag in particular, would be very much appreciated right now.

Alas, there was nothing much he could do. Only one option came to mind that didn’t necessarily result in him having a target on his back. He subconsciously gritted his teeth before finally snapping out of it. He had made up his mind, and, as to not be totally run over in the upcoming negotiations, tried to fake a certain degree of confidence he didn’t feel.

“I’m willing to discuss a possible lease for a small plot of land.”

As soon as those words left his mouth, something unexpected demanded all of his attention.

Out of nowhere, a notification had popped up, issued by Severin’s ever-present companion. Maybe the most surprising part of this was that this time Severin didn’t get angry at the System butting in. Quite the opposite.

After quickly scanning the words that were invisible to Magda and getting the gist of its contents, he had to suppress a relieved smile forming on his face; Magda getting the wrong idea was the last thing he needed right now. But he felt truly relieved. ‘This certainly should make things easier later on.’

But that didn’t mean he was out of the woods yet. To have a fighting chance, he was still reliant on Magda agreeing to his proposal regarding the leasing of a plot of land. Only then would he be able to take full advantage of the newly acquired System-feature.

That being said, Severin didn’t expect the Society’s representative to flat out refuse him, anyway. For that, they were too concerned about their appearances as the ‘good guys’. The real threat was them trying to pull some shady stuff while in the dark; trying to find loopholes or flat out altering the contents of any previously made agreements, simply making him dependent on them, or straight up blackmail.

At least those were Severin’s mostly unfounded conjectures, as he only had Magda’s words to go by. The rest were simply his imagination and gut feelings. He had no way of knowing whether these things were actually true and if the Society really was as shady as he made them out to be. If they were, Samuel surely never mentioned it.

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“Leasing, huh? So you really claim all this land?” She looked around in an exaggerated fashion. The point she was making was very clear. The mountain was huge. Too huge for one person with a single store, a kitchen, and two small bedrooms to reasonably be able to claim the whole territory for themselves. Even if one included the training ground, the whole place still looked rather deserted; even more so when all his regular customers were currently absent. Adding to this that Severin’s entire claim to this land stemmed from his secret dealings with some mysterious, invisible, and in the eyes of everyone else but him and Em, basically nonexistent entity, one might even come to the conclusion that the Society had already been more than courteous towards him by not just simply doing as they pleased.

Severin himself didn’t see it this way. Luckily, Magda didn’t seem to expect an answer from him either.

“A lease should be fine, but we would need to ask for a plot right here in the center. This store,” she pointed over to the building with the ‘Emporium’ sign, “will be right in the middle of it all, right? In that case, we want to be right there as well. At least in the general area. A spot no one can miss, even once this whole place is further developed than it is now.”

Again, no verbal answer, but a quick nod served as the indication for Severin’s tacit approval.

“Great. Then why don’t we stake out the plot first and discuss the specifics later? No use talking about money if we don’t yet know the dimensions of the property we are talking about.” She smiled her usual smile and then raised the index finger of her right hand, asking Severin to remain silent for a moment.

“You there?”

…

“Yes. No, all’s fine.”

…

“Right. Grab a few of the men and get over here, will you?”

…

“Alright.”

Severin immediately understood that the Mag had a way to communicate with her subordinates that was similar to his own; just more conspicuous. Or maybe she only spoke aloud for his benefit.

“Sorry about that. The hands-on stuff isn’t really my area of expertise, you know. Someone else will handle that.” Magda said. And indeed, just a few seconds later, he witnessed a handful of people leaving the docked ship and heading their way.

“Quite a lot of people to simply stake off a piece of land,” he said. And in his thoughts added, ’ especially for one that isn’t even designated, yet.’

“I don’t think it is in anyone’s interest to unnecessarily delay things, no? This way, the guys can immediately get to work.”

At this time, Severin had already grown to hate her stupid smile.

He debated whether to insist on drawing up a contract first; especially now that he had the means to do so. But seeing a small group of people leave the docked flying artifact and setting foot on his premises, he couldn’t help but feel frustrated again.

‘It was all planned out. Right from the beginning. For them, there was never any doubt. One way or the other, they were going to get what they wanted. Those guys lying there in wait while that witch was working on me.

Well. Let’s see what happens when you try to drive that stake into the ground!’

Back when the training ground wasn’t there yet, Miriam and Timothy had never actually sparred within the boundaries of his property. Only ever outside of the area where the protective barrier had sprung to life. Nevertheless, he still felt he had a good idea of what might happen if someone were to damage his property. At least he was willing to bet on it.

‘Shouldn’t blow the deal, right?’ he considered for a moment, but in the end, his pettiness won. He didn’t stop them.

“Right.”