After spending a couple of days in town, everyone was ready to return and face whatever Storm had for them. Luckily for them, Storm had no intention of continuing their training in any way. With the sudden free time, everyone took their time to explore Evergreen for the first time. Soral went headfirst into projects but quickly became bored.

He found himself eyeing the gray tower that he had entered once before in the distant past. The past… Soral got the feeling that he was forgetting something important he should be doing. Everyone else had gone out to town since they came back, but he had just kept busy. Maybe there was something in town he could do as well.

Soral suddenly remembered the clothing shop he had forgotten. He had rescued Janon and introduced Kiera so it was probably time to officially open now that she had time to acclimate! Soral rushed over there to find a long line of people and a neat ‘Open’ sign hanging from the door.

Oh. Kiera had beaten him to the punch. At least things seemed to be going well? Soral slipped past the line to get a better idea of what was going on to make sure a horrible hijacking had not occurred. To his surprise, everything was exactly how he had imagined it. Convenient enchantments on clothing could be enchanted custom or bought ready made. Most items were the truest form of one size fits all.

“Soral? You stopped by,” Kiera commented. She seemed both surprised and confused by his visit, “I thought you were busy working on projects for Belleas.”

The last bit about Belleas had a hint of disapproval to it. It made Soral realize something else. He needed to complete the plan with Belleas. Now that they had passed the test, neither Ruena or Belleas could risk being seen as connected. He needed to speak to Sibel.

“About that, I’ve actually been working on breaking free of them,” he told Kiera. That should be good enough for now.

“A wise choice. This shop is such a success we could easily expand it, but if you continued to rely on Belleas all of my efforts would be credited to them and I refuse to live such a life,” Kiera approved, “I actually have my eye on some land in Altea.”

“Wow,” Soral said, a bit overwhelmed. It seemed like if you found talented enough people they just did the job for you. He would have to remember that. “Go ahead,” Soral approved, “Just make sure you set aside the profit we agreed on earlier for the Alodan Warriors.”

“Of course,” she promised, “I never break a contract.”

Soral didn’t remember ever signing any contracts with her, but the assassins of Qilin were rather unique. “Right,” he said, “Good job. This is exactly what I imagined. Can I ask about the name?”

The sign outside the shop read ‘The Disguise Clothing Shoppe’. It wasn’t something Soral remembered deciding.

“A shop needs a name before it can open,” she replied with a smile, “I came up with it together with the others. The bakery has an official name now as well.”

“What is it?” Soral asked. He would have to drop by there as well. He knew that as Mr. Mischief he had been sending regular shipments of faerutil there. Hopefully the name wasn’t too bizarre. Maybe he could pick up some cupcakes and give them a taste test, too.

“It’s a fairly simple one,” Kiera replied, pausing to think for a moment, “I believe it was ‘A Baker’s Dream’ or something similar.”

That sounded more like a book title than a shop title, but he was standing in ‘The Disguise Clothing Shoppe’ right now. “I will go check it out,” Soral decided.

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Kiera bid him farewell, her bracelets jingling as she waved. Now it was time to find the bakery. If he remembered correctly it should be nearby. He found the bakery easily but it was a bit different from what he remembered. The name in shimmering pastel letters was a bit different from what Kiera had said as well.

‘Dreamcakes’. It was one word, and then some art with frosting falling onto the top of a cupcake. Had she renamed cupcakes, or were they dream cakes because of the secret ingredient? He would have to ask her, if he could get past the crowd. The crowd in question had an odd reaction to his approach.

“Is that him?”

“I heard he invented the dreamcake.”

“I wonder if his is even more amazing?”

“Will he sell us one if we ask?”

That was a lot of questions from people that were whispering as if he couldn’t hear them. It seemed that these dreamcakes were really popular. He really needed to find out what that meant. For now, he pretended not to hear their comments and pushed through. What had happened while he was away?

“Oh, welcome back,” the baker said with a cheerful smile, “The dreamcake recipe you gave me was amazing! I have made a few more varieties as well.”

He was right. It was cupcakes. Everything sold there was cupcakes of different flavors. There were a few cheaper cupcakes that were labeled as mystery cakes that seemed a bit odd. Was this how she tested her experiments?

“So you call them dreamcakes?” he asked, “Aren’t they cupcakes, though?”

“These can’t be compared to ordinary cupcakes,” she replied with a wave as if he were being silly, “These are made with a rare treasure that only you can provide. I almost named the shop something else, but I didn’t want some other baker to steal my spot after seeing it.”

So Kiera had been right about the other name. He could see how that might cause problems with other bakers. He took a couple of the mystery cupcakes and headed past the eager crowd. He really needed to talk to Sibel soon before things got out of hand. He couldn’t have his businesses mistaken for Belleas operations.

Sibel was waiting for him when he arrived at the Belleas Guild. He seemed to have been waiting, and before Soral could say a word, he spoke.

“Soral, it is time.”

They had been thinking the same thing, then. Soral nodded. “It is. How should I do it?”

“I do have a recommendation,” Sibel told him, “You see, Belleas needs a rival. I believe you are the perfect fit.”

“Belleas needs a rival?” Soral asked, recalling the massive scale Belleas operated it, “Can anyone ever rival Belleas?”

“You might be able to,” Sibel told him, “That is why you should publicly denounce me and stand on your own. Tell the truth. You don’t need me anymore.”

Soral recalled the crazy success he had seen in the two shops he had all but forgotten about. It seemed that Sibel had been keeping track of those things. What kind of situation would cause him to announce those things publicly, though?

“You like attention,” Sibel told him, as if hearing his thoughts. Soral felt genuinely uncomfortable with the realization that that was entirely possible. “Make it a show. Show me your worth and cast me aside in front of a crowd.”

That sounded a bit cruel, but Sibel was the one who suggested it and Soral had to admit it did sound fun. “Then I will take you on a tour of my shops. The Dreamcake bakery had quite a crowd earlier.”

The two smiled at each other and set off to start their dramatic play. First, Soral showed him around The Disguise Clothing Shoppe. People watched as Soral bragged about things he technically did almost none of. Soral quickly left after he spotted Kiera eyeing Sibel as if he was her next target.

Then they made it to Dreamcakes. Just to show off a little more, Soral took a cupcake from the display and gave it to him.

“Try it,” he prompted, “It’s amazing, right?”

The crowd that still lingered watched with trepidation as Sibel took a bite. “It is,” he agreed, seeming impressed despite himself, “A business like this is bound to make a fortune.”

“I thought you would see the value here,” Soral announced with a smile, then handed him an envelope, “That is why I am returning the investment you gave me. I don’t need you or Belleas anymore.”

“Do you have any idea what you are sacrificing?” Sibel asked, not moving to take the envelope, “If I take my investment back, you will be barred from every Belleas Guild, from every establishment. Are you prepared to face that?”

Soral continued to smile. Just him, right? Ruena had that whole contract with the magic batteries going on. Even Janon had joined in on that one. Well, if need be, he could market those on his own as well. “So? I would rather support the locals than feed greedy merchants like you money you don’t need anyway. One day, I will grow enough to threaten Belleas’s great monopoly in the commerce of Althaedor.”

“Those are incredible aspirations,” Sibel replied with a somewhat evil smile of his own, “I look forward to saying whether or not they bear fruit, or whether you falter and fall the moment you lose our backing.”

As Sibel turned away with somewhat villainous parting words, someone from the crowd spoke out.

“I will support you, Soral!”

“That’s right! You don’t need Belleas!”

“Belleas controls too much!”

“Free merchants from Belleas!”

Had his words been a little too inspiring for the townsfolk? Soral knew he was meant to publicly betray Belleas, but it wasn’t supposed to be real. At this rate he might actually do some damage. Oops? But Sibel had claimed that Belleas needed a rival so he would do his best to live up to those words.