Nyssa took Splotch with her as they climbed up the fire escape.
The little earth elemental squeaked from where it clung onto her as they climbed. Arthur tried to focus on its actions rather than the fact that Pydes had flown back up with strict orders to follow. He knew the upcoming conversation wouldn’t be pleasant, though he still wondered how he knew.
“Was it the moss? It would have been one of the few things traceable back to me.” His thoughts roiled as he climbed onto the roof and tried to piece together the issues. “So many people went nuts there. Unless Jessib sold me out? But if that was the case, why didn’t Pydes crush me?”
As they reached the roof, the first thing he noticed was that there were no signs of the other elementals. The grass didn’t shift, and the small lake didn’t ripple. Pydes alone stood there, his expression displaying his irritation for the world to see.
“Explain what you did, Arthur. Now.” His words came out icy-cold, and his tail smacked hard enough into a nearby tree to cause it to creak.
Arthur felt his fingers touching the suit, and he realized he was smoothing down the jacket. The material was soft, and he took a deep breath. With the strength he usually gained from the heat of the locket, he looked at Pydes. Even though his legs shook, he kept his tone steady.
“What do you mean, Assistant Manager?”
Beside him, Nyssa looked shocked. However, Pydes didn’t. He smiled, his teeth on full display. With one claw, he reached up and pulled the tablet out of the air. In a few swipes, he displayed a video of what appeared to be a riot. Arthur recognized most of the stalls.
“This. I know you were there. Head office has instructed me to talk to you about it. You wouldn’t know the cause, would you?” His tone was sickly sweet, though the feral grin remained.
With a deep breath, Arthur did his best to smile back. “And if I did?”
“Well, company policy would dictate that you inform me as soon as possible. We wouldn’t want anyone who caused such chaos to be let loose. Do you have any leads?” As Pydes talked, he turned and looked southwest between the trees.
Nyssa let out a snort, and she relaxed before she played with Splotch. Arthur could feel himself relax as well, and he nodded. “I know that Officer Zerreon was involved, who I suspect has been in contact with Richard Greenwire, a known criminal. You might start there?”
Pydes turned back and nodded, his face still showing signs of irritation. “Of course, thank you for your statement.”
As soon as the tablet faded away, Pydes’ smile lost its feral edge. Elementals filled the air once more, squeaking and playing as they buzzed around. Splotch squirmed away from Nyssa, running into the crowd before tumbling away with a small group.
Though Arthur noticed, the little elemental never got too far away. Pydes watched them as well, giving out a gentle hum as he did. For a moment, all was playful before the bigger dragon turned his attention back to him.
“So, what did you actually do? Off the record, of course.”
“I needed to escape the security who wanted to shake me down for cores,” Arthur said truthfully. “I meant to cause a panic, not that.”
“I figured that would be the case. Still, what did you actually do? Blow someone’s stall up.”
He shook his head. “I conspired with a pest control company and let one of their critters loose with a jar of acid and some moss attached. People made assumptions.”
“Ha!” Nyssa snorted as she looked at him. “Was this before or after you spent all your money?”
That got Pydes’s attention, and he stared at Arthur. “You’re out of money.”
“Not out. I still have about seventy golden pennies,” he said defensively. “It’s not everything.”
“Can you pay out your quests?”
“Well… no. Actually, if anyone brings a demon back, I’m in real trouble. Everyone got paid, though.”
“Oh well, you paid the children.” Pydes said sarcastically. “Do you have a plan?”
“Yes.”
Pydes looked at him expectantly. “Good, what is it?”
“That depends. I have some questions about the nearby buildings.”
***
With a thump, Pydes sat, causing the surrounding elements to scatter. Nyssa looked at him with confusion written all over her face. He tried to smile and hope that he didn’t look as nervous as he felt.
“You want to make up the money by charging people rent?” Nyssa asked to break the silence.
He nodded. “Yes. I mean, they can’t want to live in the sewers forever. Dr. Kunibert, sniping our customers away earlier, is proof of that. We know people live in the ruins of the city—at least the ones near the cultists do. Why not offer them the same thing?”
“The houses are, technically, free now that you’ve picked a business location.” Pydes said, his tone slow. “I could ask mother to unseal them, but it’ll cost if you want it done early.”
“Early?”
“You normally would get access at level twenty, and you’re level fifteen. Almost sixteen, true. Level twenty is your store’s expansion phase. Which, I suppose, this isn’t. You want to make company housing, I suppose we’d call it.” He tapped his claws on the ground. “Wait there.”
“Sure.”
For the next fifteen minutes, he played with the elementals and Nyssa, enjoying the chance to unwind. To his delight, not so much as a stray speck of dirt remained on his suit. It shocked him at how cheap they’d let the outfit go for.
Pydes let up a puff of smoke and nodded.
“Ok. I talked with the higher-ups, and we think we’ve come to an arrangement.”
“Yes?” Arthur said, getting up from under the pile of earth elementals. “What do I have to give up? Gold? A limb? Kill an employee?”
That earned him a snort from Pydes. “Nothing that drastic, though the dedication is notable. No, you’ll need to give up on any store expansion on this street.”
“Does that mean I’m stuck with what I have?” That idea worried him, especially after seeing the large amount of floors Diaboli Theatrum had.
“Not at all,” Pydes assured. “You just won’t be taking over the nearby buildings. It’ll be vertical expansion, or finding buildings around the city you can take over. So other places do it, but most try to make a mall in the area they’re in.”
Arthur nodded, considering his options as he looked over at Nyssa. “So it’d be like franchising?”
“Exactly.”
“Don’t even think about it,” Nyssa said from her spot on the ground. “I’m not doing it.”
Pydes snorted again, and Arthur laughed. Though, her reaction disappointed him somewhat. She would have been an excellent candidate, and he’d trust her to run a store.
However, he knew her heart wouldn’t be in it. Her world was her paintings, and he wouldn’t be the one to change that.
“We’ll see, I guess,” He said with a smile as he turned to Pydes. “Tell them I agree.”
“In that case. Behold! Employee housing!”
Arthur moved to the edge of the roof, and even Nyssa disentangled herself from the elementals to join him. Below was a madhouse of lights, and he could see fireworks and other things flying into the sky.
“I’m glad we’re in the time stop,” he whispered to Nyssa, who nodded with wide eyes.
Below them, light washed over the buildings as boarded-up windows sprung loose, and paint once more covered the walls. The power even repaired the street, as it hung banners bearing the shop’s insignia between the lampposts.
With another explosion of light, the repairs ended, and Pydes strode up next to him, his expression smug. “What do you think?”
“It looks great. What’s the catch?”
That earned him a laugh. “Each house comes equipped with a generator, so they’ll need radiation crystals to keep their lights on. All of them come with some basic furniture as well. There should be enough for three to four people in a home, so I hope they all get along.”
“What about appliances?”
“Nope. They want to cook; they can start a fire.”
Arthur nodded as he looked down at the fifteen new houses below them. All were basic, but functional. The magic had patched all the holes and repaired every window. He wondered if it was the same glass he had.
“Can I buy defenses for them?”
“You can,” Pydes admitted. “Though they won’t be cheap. Also, any rent they pay will not count towards your experience.”
“And there it is,” Arthur said with a sigh.
Nyssa shrugged. “Does it matter? They have places to live. I wonder if I can call dibs on one.”
“Who would you share with?” He looked over at her and saw her playing with Splotch again.
“Hmm? Oh. Lucy and Jemima, probably. There’ll be someone. Dad will be happy he gets his own space, and it’ll be nice to not share a couch anymore.”
“Speaking of,” Arthur said. “I did actually end up buying you a bed. Though I guess you won’t need it. Still, it should fit in the basement. Maybe Leo or Theobold can use it when your dad isn’t.”
Pydes raised a claw. “Before you go off on that tangent. Is there anything else you need from me?”
“Any news on bringing the cultists to light?”
Smoke rose from Pydes’ nostrils as he shook his head. “Still nothing.”
“In that case, I don’t think so. Nyssa?”
“None from me,” she said as he placed Splotch on her shoulder. “Shall we go down? I can’t wait to tell people the good news.”
“And you want to scope out the houses?” He smiled as he waved at Pydes, who was already turning to watch the city skyline.
Nyssa didn’t even bother to sound contrite as she climbed down the ladder. “True.”
***
Arthur had expected a reaction, but not to this extent.
He stood outside the store, flanked by Leo And Theobold. Augustus moved about nearby, moving close to anyone who even hinted at starting an argument. They all broke up fairly quickly. All around him, people checked out the houses as they chattered together in small groups.
“How did you manage this?” Jeff asked him as he walked over.
“Magic. Though being at the right level helped. Did you see the new guns inside?”
Jeff nodded. “And the charging port. One golden penny for a full recharge is great. Jemima tried her gun on the slime creatures before, and it wasn’t great. We’re hoping the lightning will work better.”
“How is that going?” He asked, while watching Jemima and Nyssa talk to another woman in front of a house across the street.
All of them were laughing as they watched the kids argue about how they should decorate. It brought a smile to his lips, almost as much as the people who wandered both ends of the street. All were well-equipped with the new lightning guns he’d handed out free of charge. Some had also taken a shield.
They looked dangerous, and he hoped that would be enough to make the cultists think twice.
Jeff made a so-so motion with his hand. “They aren’t hard to kill, but if they touch you, it’s game over. We’ve lost a couple of people, and we’ve found a few...” He paused. “Sacks? Yeah, sacks on the walls. Dr. Kunibert is still mentioning that his rats are going missing. Plus, the other signs of pit fiends we’ve seen in there.”
“Theobold? How much do you know about those?” Arthur asked, turning to look up at him.
“The Watchdog Knights trained me, boss.” Theobold snorted and rolled his eyes before adding quietly. “Though it’s strange you’re finding them so often around here.”
“True. Can you give a brief overview to Jeff and the others? I’d love to get the knights back in there. Now that you have the gear, they’d be great guides and experts.”
For another ten minutes, they chatted about the monsters they found in the sewers as people milled about. Though swarms of people interrupted their conversation over and over to ask the same set of questions.
“Was this real?”
“How much and how often was rent?”
“Could people who didn’t dive stay here?”
To which he gave the same set of answers.
“Yes.”
“Five Golden Pennies per person once a week.”
“Yes, provided they could cover the rent.”
People were more than happy to shove coins into his hands. By the time everyone had paid up, he was one hundred coins richer. It would have been more, but he refused to charge either the children or Nyssa rent.
“Are you going to open now?” Jeff asked as he watched Arthur count the coins.
Arthur nodded. “Yup, it should be fine. Come on, if you come in with me at the front of the queue.”
With a happily chattering crowd behind him, he moved in, ready to start the day’s trade. His smile was genuine as he walked between the shelves. It’d been a good day, though it gnawed at him that no one had completed the Smite quest yet.
Still, he knew some groups were out looking, so he figured it couldn’t be long.
Until then, he’d have to work with what he had.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtnpnczZUNh
