“Isn’t that obvious?” Xander was already on his landing approach, but the distance was still big enough that he had to raise his voice a little. His tone revealed no hint of guilt whatsoever.

”I found a way to increase the number of items we can get out of the combinator! Just think about it. If we can get a few more people...” Being in awe of his own stroke of genius, Xander didn’t seem to notice any of the displeased expressions.

“You can’t just kidnap some random child and exhort them to do your bidding!”

“It’s neither kidnapping nor exhorting. I’m just buying their cooldown!”

“That’s not the point! It’s a lonely little child that...!”

“Well, yeah. I tried to get multiple at once, but my Flightmaster just wouldn’t lift off with too much weight. It’s a single-seater after all, you know?” As if to confirm Xander’s words, the clearly struggling flying artifact was now close enough that its creaking was clearly audible to everyone present.

As Andreas was still scolding Xander for his behavior, the approximately twenty people present instead erupted in discussions among themselves. Multiple groups, some smaller than others, some louder than others. Everyone was talking very animatedly, creating a cacophony of sounds.

“How can he just take a random child…?”

“Doesn’t he know he is casting a bad light on all of us with his idiotic…”

“Ignore the fact that it’s a child for a moment…if we take the guild’s flying ships, we…”

“Hey, Xandi! Tell us where you got…”

“That stupid, greedy…”

“Just look at the poor little thing…”

Thump

The loud sound of the flying basket finally touching the ground caused some of the discussions to momentarily quieten down. The next moment the thing got unsummoned, revealing the child in full.

A tiny figure, uncomfortably shuffling their barefooted feet, on the green grass. A lowered head with hair so muddy, one couldn’t even confidently determine its original color. The long rags reaching over the knees might very well have been an old burlap sack, used for transporting some kind of grain, in the past.

Feeling the need to take charge of things, Severin tried to be reassuring.

“I don’t know what exactly this guy has told you, but there is no need for you to worry. He just wants you to activate a harmless machine for him. Nothing that can hurt you. Okay?”

“Hmm,” was the most of an answer he could get out of the child.

Severin shot Xander a dirty look. ‘Now you’ve made me the kind of person that tells someone not to worry. I really should try out the blacklist on you.’

“I’m Severin. I’m the owner of this shop.”

“Hmm.”

“And you are…?”

“Em.”

…

Sigh

Realizing that nothing more would come out of Severin’s thorough line of questioning, Andreas decided to settle things on his end.

“What’s done is done. Can’t have you go back on your word now, so just get it over with. And bring that child back to...wherever. Then make sure you catch up with us. We’ll talk about the rest later!”

“Sure, Andi!”

“And Xander. Don’t be too stingy with the remuneration.

Now get ready everyone! Harold has already summoned the ship, so what are you waiting for? Go, go get moving! Before any one of you comes up with some other great ideas!”

Xander wasn’t the first, and certainly not the only one to come up with the brilliant idea to buy other people’s cooldowns. He just was the first one to act on it. To circumvent the store’s rules in a way like this, which clearly went against its intended spirit, was just not something the more sensible people were confident doing.

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‘We’re lucky Sev seems more concerned about the child than anything else. Maybe annoyed by that guy. Most likely even. Can’t blame him either. But the question is, does he allow it only this time, for the child’s sake? Or can we really bring other people just like that? Even if it’s classless people, though, it just makes hiding the shop from other guilds that much harder.’

Instead of seeing everyone off, Severin deemed it more prudent to not unnecessarily leave Xander alone with the child and led them both inside his store. Even with the bustling background noise, he didn’t like the silence between the three of them.

“So, what are the specifics of your deal?”

“One gold per activation. So, ten in total.” The child seemed to nod in satisfaction, hearing that Xander seemed to intend to honor the terms of their deal, clearly knowing that there was no way to enforce any of it.

Only now realizing that he didn’t actually have any clue whatsoever about the worth of a gold coin outside of his store, Severin once again fell into an awkward silence. There were many things he wanted to ask, but they all seemed inappropriate to him in this situation. Luckily after only a few more steps, they reached the inside of his shop.

Severin had no illusions about the optics of his own store. He knew that in comparison to all kinds of other shops that were catering to adventurers, even the only somewhat successful ones would dwarf his own. And not only in terms of size.

But the child had obviously never seen any of these. At least not from the inside.

Surprisingly clear and lively-looking green eyes widened in wonder, and Severin was sure he made out muffled ‘ooh's and ‘aah's as the child looked at some of the revealed tooltips while curiously trying to touch them.

It would’ve been a heartwarming sight to Severin, if not for its implications.

‘The child, born into a world of magic, has probably never really seen or even used any kind of these magical items. That’s just sad. Shouldn’t this be a world full of opportunities?’

The whole situation only went on for a few seconds before suddenly the small figure suddenly jolted as if remembering something. Or as if being hit. The eyes now revealed a panicked look as Em seemed to search the floor for any kind of dirt stains left behind by naked feet.

Not even Xander seemed unaffected by this display and quickly tried to intervene.

“Come here. See that thing there in the corner?”

“Hmm.” Visibly relieved that no one seemed upset, the child still managed to have turned even smaller than before as Em now stood in front of the combinator.

“Now watch.”

In the following Xander used his own ten activations for the day to demonstrate step by step how to activate the machine. Seeing the number of gold coins that first appeared out of nowhere, only to disappear inside a strange looking box, was enough to make the figure tremble.

“See? That’s it already. It’s just that every person can activate this thing only ten times every day.” As it was finally the kid’s turn to use the machine, Severin would’ve sworn that he saw the child fighting the urge to just run away with the coins, as Em clutched them very hard to the chest. Especially after realizing that this amount of gold wasn’t even enough to pay for all ten activation.

True to his word Xander didn’t need to be urged to hand over the agreed-upon ten gold coins. Ten gold coins! Truly, ten whole gold coins. More than the child could ever imagine owning, all at once. Just for activating this machine. A machine that then required even more coins to be inserted! Plus, a bunch of other items, which surely had to be expensive as well. How much would the items that popped out at the bottom actually be worth then? Surely enough to eat for a lifetime without ever needing to stop! Having these kinds of thoughts, Em couldn’t help hoping for a better future.

“Sir, in the future can we…” The child clearly struggled to make the request. Severin, though, didn’t intend to give Xander any chance to revel in the fact that he had been called a ‘Sir’. Instead, he interrupted with his own offer.

“Why don’t you just work for me?”