What Sibel did not realize was that Soral did not usually change his mind once he got attached to an idea. Since no one else was against it, the Disguise Clothing Shoppe became the official plan.

Howler came to check in on them after Sibel had left, and showed Soral that a few more fruits had grown. “They produce quickly once they start,” Soral noted happily, “That means we can get started on the orchard soon once we have enough seeds.”

“You still need to get the trystalis from Densooth,” Howler pointed out, “We can’t do anything until we have them. Ideally, we would cultivate the trystalis first so we have a safe environment to start the orchard in.”

“I’ll get right on that,” Soral promised, and went to bother Densooth immediately. Things like this couldn’t wait until the next day, since it could take ages for the old man to actually follow through.

Densooth greeted Soral before he could approach the tower. “I see you have been using magic freely again,” he noted, “I’m surprised you were able to resist so long until you actually reached full recovery.”

Soral scowled. “I knew you were watching,” he replied, “But more importantly, you promised trystalis.”

“I promised to obtain what you need,” Densooth corrected, “Are you ready for trystalis?”

“Howler says we need to start cultivating it before we can grow the faerutil,” Soral reported.

“I see. And what about that suspicious device you gave Sibel Toll?” Densooth asked.

“The magic battery?” Soral asked. He had known Densooth was watching, but he hadn’t expected him to care about that, “I invented it to sell so we have more money.”

Densooth didn’t seem to pleased by the idea, but stopped himself from saying anything against it. He knew that Soral was the type to do the opposite of whatever he advised. “Finish cleaning up that mess you made and then I will give you the trystalis,” he decided.

“Fine,” Soral said. That was probably for the best, not that he would ever admit that to Densooth.

And so he left to further formulate his plans for the shop, keeping in mind that he couldn’t waste too much time there with the orchard he needed to cultivate. Instead, he grabbed a nice pad of paper and began sketching out various designs that could be sold there. Designers didn’t necessarily have to be the ones to make their designs, right? Soral decided that was how his shop would run, at least.

He spent the whole night drawing up various designs, not afraid to approach the more wild or bizarre. After all, this was going to be the ‘disguise’ shop, meaning that normal clothes just wouldn’t cut it. While he was at it, he started on a design for his own second disguise. His green Mr. Dehd Lee outfit had been fun, but it lacked the pop and pizazz he was looking for. Insanity added her own thoughts on the designs as he drew them as if she was watching every pen stroke.

The next morning after breakfast, he found Ruena, and took her to the guild to see Sibel. He needed her there for any negotiations about the magic battery and shop that might take place. As much as Soral liked Sibel, he didn’t completely trust the man not to sneakily bind him in contracts. He did bring his sketchbook along, just in case.

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Sibel was available as soon as he heard Soral had arrived, but for the first time, Soral saw his previous appointment being hastily ushered out. The man himself greeted them like nothing was out of the ordinary.

“Have you come to a decision, or did you wish to finish the contract for the magic battery first?” he asked.

“The contract first,” Ruena answered, carefully looking it over once he produced it.

Soral peered over her shoulder, and immediately spotted a flaw. “The invention rights should mostly go to Ruena, not me. I just filled it.”

“Are you sure?” Ruena asked, “The idea was yours to begin with.”

“I will give the rights to this invention to Ruena,” Sibel decided, “I am sure Soral has many more inventions to offer us in the future.”

Ruena backed down at this, and signed the newly altered contract. Soral did as well, since he was still listed as a contributor.

“I also wanted to discuss the shop,” Soral said, “I know what it should be, but there are a lot of things I need to do, so I’m not sure I can run a shop.”

“There is no rush,” Sibel assured him, “but if you can find employees you trust, they can always run the place for you. Your pay would decrease compared to actually running the shop yourself.”

“That’s fine,” Soral replied, “but I don’t know anyone I trust as a tailor. There were a couple people in the Oasis, but they already have their own shops.”

“Then what you need is to buy a current tailor shop and convince them to work for you, or take a risk with new talent,” Sibel advised. Both of those options sounded risky. It would be different if a talented tailor was in financial trouble of some kind, but anywhere with a strong Belleas presence took good care of their merchants. Or else.

“Does it have to be in Evergreen?” Soral asked.

“It does not, but I thought it would be more convenient for you. Feel free to look at any of the freelance tailors currently working with the guild. Don’t forget you will need those with embroidery and bookkeeping skills as well.”

Soral was already feeling overwhelmed by all the complexities of owning a business. Was this really a good idea? But he needed to, for Ruena’s dream. Besides, Soral didn’t think he had the skills to make the design he had fashioned for his second disguise.

He decided to go location shopping first, see what areas, land, and buildings were free. He could also scope out the competition on the way. Soral didn’t know too much about what clothing shops were like outside the Oasis, or what kind of talents the average shop showed.

What he found was a lot of variation. The few shops in Evergreen were completely different in terms of style, quality, and skill. Not that any of them had terrible skill, but each stitch was unique to the tailor or seamstress who made it. The shop he had visited before made cheap, premade clothing for commoners. Another made custom clothing for the rich, and the third had a business sense somewhere in between.

Soral liked that option the most, but could already tell his idea was far different from any of them. For starters, he hadn’t stopped at just making the designs. He had messed with some of the baggier clothing of his with a size altering spell and created an enchantment that would make any clothing a true one size fits all. Unfortunately, it required a lot of magic, and he was sure that he would have to personally enchant all of the clothing sold there. That was, unless he found an expert enchanter and convinced them to work at his store too.

There was always the option to give up on his idea and choose a more common approach to a clothing store, but Soral found himself unable to give up on his ideal. The major problem this left was time. The store would never become what he wanted if he wasn’t in it, but if he was spending all his time in the store, the faerutil orchard would never grow. No matter how talented Howler was, he couldn’t grow faerutil. If only he could be in two places at once.

Or could he? No, he would need to focus on that later. First, the location of the shop. There were some old shops for sale, but they all had such tight and small storefront areas, focusing mainly on the backrooms. Soral envisioned the opposite, a large and open area to greet the customers, maybe a room for VIPs like Meal Chime, and storage kept to the minimum. He wasn’t sure how realistic it was, though.

He finally spotted a building that fit his ideals, an old mill right off the river, complete with waterwheel. The entrance was large and open like a warehouse, and the mechanics were tucked in the back, out of sight. There was also a nicer looking second floor. The issue was, the price. It was about three times more expensive than the others, and not really in an area with other shops.

Ruena was against it for that reason. “If you make a shop out of the shopping district, you won’t have the same protections that the other stores have,” she pointed out, “Not to mention, no one will come over here.”

She had a point but he really liked the looks of the building. Then Soral remembered, he could just build his own! “Let’s look at empty lots,” he decided, and headed back to the market streets of Evergreen.

That was a much easier shopping trip, and he found a nice lot in a prime location for a decent price. He got permission to build there, and immediately erected a building in a similar style to the old mill, without the waterwheel. The windows were a little difficult, but he managed to make some large ones on either side of the doorway.

With the building in order, now all he needed was some people and some merchandise.