Hearing Krey’s question, Severin didn’t immediately reply. Instead, he turned towards Emily, intending to give her a prompting look. The girl, however, was busying herself by tending to the excited [Monk’s] needs as she gathered the demanded potions for him; The way the girl moved made Severin slightly suspicious whether she was trying to avoid his gaze on purpose.

‘What did I teach her all these sales pitches and presentations for, if in the end, it’s up to me, anyway?’ He reluctantly made his way over to where his counter ended and the advertised combinator stood. He was just about to clear his throat and give the explanation himself when he had an idea.

“Excuse me for one moment, please.”

Instead of stopping in the corner, Severin continued on and headed towards the door, leaving behind an impatient and confused Krey.

“What a surprise seeing you here.” When Severin opened the wooden door of his store, the first thing he saw was a bunch of adventurers with surprised expressions on their faces, looking as if they had just been caught doing something naughty. With Andreas right at the forefront.

Severin’s appearance came without any warning. They weren’t able to hear anything through the closed door. His flushed face betrayed the officer’s embarrassment. Neither he nor his fellow adventurers noticed Severin’s dry tone. Otherwise, they might’ve thought that the [Shopkeeper] didn’t really seem as surprised as he had claimed to be.

Severin didn’t mind these people trying to satisfy their curiosity and therefore didn’t make things hard for them. He didn’t give any one of them the time to further embarrass themselves by stuttering some nonsensical excuse, and instead directly got the point and addressed Andreas.

“Would you mind doing me a favor and show our newest customers how to use the combinator? Preferably showing them some of the possible combinations as well.”

Andreas was momentarily out of words and blanked while processing the information.

Most importantly, Severin had called Ingar and Krey customers. That meant there shouldn’t be any trouble with the Adventurer’s Society, which in turn meant no problems with their future supplies. Andreas wasn’t the only one relieved by this thought.

“Sure thing! No problem.”

The relief paired with his sense of shame was enough for him to accept the request with no delay. It wasn’t a big deal, anyway. If anything, it was actually the opposite, as it most certainly wouldn’t hurt to get to know someone who was able to officially represent the Society and its interests. Krey was obviously not just some random employee. Without much ado, he followed Severin inside, and with a sheepish smile, closed the door in front of his guildmates.

This short exchange drew a lot of attention even from the group further away from the store. A certain person who only witnessed everything out of the corner of his eye was especially pleased with what he saw.

“Ha. I knew it! See what just happened? After finally getting the truth out of that dirty bastard, they called the treacherous scum inside as well. Did you see his face there in the end? Too scared to put up any resistance. Even closed the door so his subordinates don’t get to see him when he starts breaking. Doesn’t even try to run for his sorry life. Pathetic. Makes you wonder where these guys even got the nerve to try to pull something like that from. What did they think would happen?” The disgust in his voice was impossible to miss; Even if besides Ed, no one understood what exactly the White Squall’s scion was talking about. Of course, they didn’t bother asking him either. Instead, they left, one after the other, to inquire what was actually going on, now that there was some change happening.

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In the end, even Xander couldn’t endure Simon’s nonsense and had to retreat. That wasn’t enough to stop Simon, though. With only his resigned assistant for an audience, Simon kept on rambling.

“And that Ingar guy. Hahaha. When the door was open, I could see him jump around in a rage. He looked so mad. They’re done for, I tell you.”

Twenty minutes later, there was another change, and the door opened once again. This time, someone actually stepped outside. The crowd of adventurers made way and revealed a very serious-looking Krey. The man seemed to ignore the people surrounding him and just put his right hand up to his mouth. The next moment, the shrill sound of a high-toned whistle could be heard all over the mountaintop and beyond.

Almost immediately, eight more people, all dressed in the same emerald-green uniform, came rushing over from the spot the airship had previously been docked at; Now the artifact was suddenly gone.

After only a few breaths’ time, these reinforcements were standing in front of Krey. With a few gestures, the latter split this group into two. One of them was apparently ordered to follow Krey back inside. The other four people took position outside.

Observing this situation play out, a self-righteous grin appeared on Simon’s face. “See?! That’s what you get. One squad as reinforcements to subdue the scum inside, while the other secures the perimeter outside they’re done for.”

Simon was having the time of his life. He didn’t even mind Edward remaining silent; Not that he noticed.

The grave injustice that had been done to him by Severin and the Lion's Head guild was about to be set right. Finally. At this moment, that was all he cared about.

“I still don’t understand why the rest of them aren’t trying to flee. I guess they realized it’s futile and hope to be granted mercy if they remain obedient. Or they still don’t realize what situation they’re in. Pah.” Simon spat onto the ground. “Either way, don’t think you’ll get off the hook that easily. Not after humiliating me! I’ll make sure your heads will roll.”

Then something happened. Once again, for the third time in a row, the shop’s door opened. The group of four that had gone inside just some minutes ago all stepped back outside. That much was still within Simon’s expectations. After cutting down the few people inside, there was no need to stay any longer. But. It was just them. Neither Krey nor Ingar followed. The strangest thing, however, was how excited the group seemed, even from this distance.

Simon didn’t expect them to take that much joy in their task.

And why would they send their colleagues back inside while they themselves were now the ones waiting outside? Unless the one group was responsible for cleaning up the mess left behind by the other, the whole thing didn’t make any sense. Worst of all, they now animatedly discussed something with the remaining adventurers, seemingly pointing at different items in their hands. Some of the adventurers even grew bold enough to dare and also enter the wooden hut. Things clearly didn’t add up.

Simon could barely keep his composure.

“Someone tell me what’s happening here?! Edward! Go check it out.”