Entrepreneurial Spirit - Chapter 8

“Okay, that should do it,” I hummed thoughtfully, looking things over.

It was one of the larger ritual circles I'd created in my time. Interlocking and concentric circles of pure silver, inlaid into the ground itself while they were ringed with esoteric and cryptic text from a variety of worlds and cultures to bind and contain entities of unimaginable power. I'd also laid in empty tracks to hold the salt lines, placed separate barriers around the braziers that had just been lit, and then did a mirror of the barrier work on the ceiling.

“Wow,” Luz stated as she joined me in checking the setup. “This is... a lot more than we've studied in school.”

“It's a lot more than they teach at Hexside,” Amity breathed, her eyes wide as she swallowed. “I've sat in on a few high-level lessons, back when I was trying for the Emperor's Coven, but even they didn't do anything like this.”

Her gold eyes snapped towards me, magenta hair swaying with the motion. “Are you sure this is safe?”

“Nothing at this level of magic is entirely safe,” I replied candidly. “This is, in fact, very dangerous. But learning how to do something that's inherently dangerous in a way that is as safe as possible is a significant part of magic training. Take note of that, Izuku!”

“Ah, yes sir!” The greenette cried, snapping to attention. “Safety first!”

Luz giggled and Amity huffed slightly.

“How much is this putting Luz out, anyway?” The more savvy of the two girls asked, looking back over the various materials used, the gigantic room it had taken to house all of it, and the stores of power-dampening incense I'd stocked up on. “This has to be expensive.”

“Honestly? This kind of setup is multi-use, so I can write some of it off as an investment,” I stated thoughtfully, running the numbers in my head. “And I already had most of the materials in backstocks, so... with all of the samples and materials Luz and your group have gotten me from the Boiling Isles already, I'd say we're even.”

Amity opened her mouth to argue.

“Not counting the vial of Titan's Blood,” I preempted her. “That's worth... a lot. Even using a single drop as a focus for this summoning ritual is probably overkill. Odds are, we could just put the damn thing in the room and the whole ritual would work just fine.”

“So why not do that? If it's so valuable?”

“Because using part of the mortal remains of the subject you're summoning grounds the spirit to the material plane in a way that virtually nothing else will,” Amity stated firmly, nodding at me respectfully... then pausing. “Though, that might not be such a good thing, especially if we're summoning a Titan. The Titan, even.”

She shivered, and Luz reached out for her hand. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Amity took a deep breath. “Just... if the Day of Unity weren't coming up, I'd never be okay with this. It's... completely insane, even by the standards of your usual stunts, Luz.”

“I get that,” Luz nodded, looking briefly disheartened before solidifying her resolve. “But... the more I think about it, the more the Titan might be the key to all of this. The detector Nova loaned my mom, the spells I gave her... it barely registered anything in the human world, at least around Gravesfield. But when Mom started circling the container of blood? Suddenly magic.”

Amity grimaced, but nodded. “A lot of the old faiths of the Isles says that we owe magic to the Titan, that it's his gift to all of his children. I just never really thought they were being quite that literal.”

I kept my mouth shut while they were figuring things out.

It wasn't as if I couldn't confirm their guesswork was correct. In actuality, I knew for a fact that it was.

But I couldn't just out-and-out tell them. That was information I knew they didn't have and would dramatically change their lives and fortunes going forwards. More than that, it could mean the difference between life and death for members of their group. In other words, that made the answers they were hypothesizing about very, very valuable.

In some ways, it was essentially asking to borrow answers to their current problems from a future timeline I'd seen.

The frustration was two-fold, on my part.

Beyond the fact that I couldn't help them without trading for the knowledge, I also couldn't just directly proposition them for the sale. They had to ask. Why? Probably because some bright spark who'd been in my shoes had figured out a workaround and had the loophole snap shut on them as a result.

For all that the store was semi-sentient, it didn't exactly keep records between owners, so I was kind of on my own when it came to piecing things together from before my time.

I blinked, jerking slightly as I felt a customer enter the store.

“Ah, I'll need a moment. A few of my regulars have appeared,” I smiled at the girls apologetically. “It shouldn't take all that long.”

“Oooh! Can we come with?” Luz asked, excitement bubbling up.

“Luz!” Amity hissed, blushing slightly.

“What?” The human frowned. “Mark and his family were super nice and it was fun meeting them! You should never turn down an opportunity to make new friends, right?”

I hesitated, then decided not to speak up.

I could warn them off, but Luz was headstrong enough to disregard it, and any warning would be taken as an attempt to cover up something instead of simply spare them an unpleasant experience.

“Izuku, this trio is coming from a medieval China variant,” I sighed, turning towards him. “You know what that means, right?”

“Chi-na?” Amity muttered, frowning at Luz, who raised a finger to her lips.

Izuku, on the other hand, pulled an uncharacteristic grimace and looked away. “R-right. I-I'll run interference, sir.”

“Interference?” Amity asked, pressing the issue with a frown. “What's going on? I thought all of your customers were barred from committing violence on each other.”

I shook my head and sighed as I walked towards where I felt them looking about. They'd appeared, as usual, in one of the more rustic areas of the store. Even if Amity appeared more confident in these areas than in the more futuristic ones she and Luz had toured out of curiosity, she was still as tight as a coiled spring in light of the change in the meeting's tempo.

“Luz, do you happen to know anything of ancient or medieval China?” I asked, my tone conversational to lower the anxiety in the hall.

“Uhh... not much?” Luz muttered, frowning. “I was never big into Three Kingdoms stuff.”

“Sengoku Jidai nerd?” I asked, genuinely curious.

“Samurai and ninja are way too mainstream these days,” Luz shook her head, then grinned. “I was a Persia-boo! Archaemenid Empire for the win!”

I stared at the girl for a long moment. “Your hobby is finding molds and breaking them, isn't it?”

Luz just grinned and giggled.

“Uhh... what's this... Archy-archee-ah...” Amity stuttered and tripped on the name.

“Arch-ae-menid Empire,” Luz pronounced carefully and slowly. “It was a multi-ethnic political organization that stretched across three of the large landmasses in the human world about two and a half thousand years ago. It was crazy-advanced from a logistical and bureaucratic standpoint. They had a civil service, a professional army and navy, and religious tolerance that eclipsed almost every other nation, state, or empire in history up until the modern age. Heck, they even outlawed-”

Amity blinked as Luz jerked, her gaze snapping towards me. “Luz, what's wrong?”

“You said... they were from medieval-period China?” Luz asked weakly, grimacing.

I sighed heavily. “They're a better world-line than some. The previous Empress-Regnant has formally freed all slaves and criminalized the practice.”

For a moment, I let that pronouncement hang, then added, “Officially.”

Luz clicked her tongue and looked away. “Right.”

“Whoa-whoa-whoa!” Amity cried, looking between myself and Luz. “Humans keep slaves?”

“De-developed nations don't!” Luz squeaked out, ducking her head. “Mostly.”

“Mostly?” Amity asked, her eyes wide.

“Human nations and empires throughout history have kept some manner of bonded labor, it's true,” I replied to Amity, cutting through the pending argument and wondering when the store would finally let us get where we were going. Probably not until this got hashed out. On occasion, it decided it needed to put a finger on the scales of what was happening, usually by manipulating the layout of things.

Though, the other end of that 'favor' it was paying forward was that whoever had just entered had come with valuable trade goods.

Something – or someone – it wanted.

And I knew enough not to ignore the feeling I was getting from my connection with the ethereal realm I oversaw.

If I tried to fight it, I'd probably have a lot less leeway when I wanted to give out food or tools using my little tricks.

“You'd probably be familiar with the way that modern nations justify it, too,” I commented. “Belos seems familiar enough with slave labor via the inmates his government convicts. That's an old, old human tactic. As long as someone's guilty of something, no one cares what's done to them.”

“Right,” Amity nodded, sighing. “Because Belos is human. It's still strange to think of him like that. He's been alive and ruling the Isles for hundreds of years, everyone thought he really had the Titan's favor. That kind of power isn't something that most witches ever achieve.”

I hummed, not sure if Amity would actually know or not.

One of the first things a tyrant did was selectively prune the history books, after all.

I looked over to where Izuku was following, thoughtfully silent. At the weight of my gaze, his head snapped up and he drew in a quick breath. “Nova, sir? Something the matter?”

“I feel like we're almost here. Just remember what your job is,” I nodded at him. “And that, if you really want to run the store while I take a vacation, you'll need to deal with some of this.”

Izuku twitched and looked away, nodding absently. “Yessir.”

He's been here for... almost a year now. I suppose he might be feeling the store push him a little, too. Yeah, kid, this isn't all fun and games.

I threw open the final set of doors and put on a plastic smile as I saw the three men standing around with a large woven basket.

“Fox Lord!” The foremost one said, stepping forward and bowing respectfully. “We've come to bargain.”

The other two followed his lead, dipping lowly into bows as I refrained from sighing and dipped into my own – much lesser – bow. “Be welcome in my store. The boy is my assistant, the women are customers and guests from a distant land. Their mode of dress and speech is foreign, know that their presence does not mean offense, it is just their way.”

The one in a tattered blue jack, the leader, rose up and scratched at his stubble as his eyes lingered momentarily on Amity and Luz, something between lust and disgust flitting across his face before his eyes tracked back to me and noted my narrowed gaze.

“Barbarians will be barbarians,” he nodded.

“Barbarians-” Amity hissed, her temper rising, but I cut her off with a wave of my hand.

“Just as you are guests and customers, so are they,” I told her seriously. “Their customs are their own, no matter how disagreeable they are to you. Keep your peace if you do not want to interact with them.”

Stepping forward, I once again donned my customer service smile as I opened my hands wide and snapped a more traditional robe for their time and place over my body, the cloth manifesting in a shimmer of light. The blatant act of magic drew both their attention and their respect, an implicit reminder that I could take supernatural action against them if I felt it was warranted.

“Noble Fox Lord and Great Merchant,” the leader cleared his throat and waved to the woven basket at his side. “We come with a laborer to bargain her services. She is our cousin and has disgraced the family, but may still be of use in generating income for her people. We had thought to sell her labor to the palace as a maid, but wish to give you fight of first refusal. As patrons of your establishment, we understand that not doing so would be a sign of disrespect.”

“Very well, let us see what you have brought to my store,” I waved them off and stepped up to the woven cage large enough to fit a young girl.

The leader of the gang of kidnappers – I wasn't a moron, thank you very much – lifted off the lid of the container in what he felt was probably a grand gesture to unveil their hostage.

Royal-blue eyes stared up at me for a long moment, and I knew what they saw as they widened slowly. Curiously, they'd left her mouth completely unobstructed, allowing her to form a small 'oh' of disbelief as they took in the orange-haired fox-man looming over her.

I could see the instant she realized this wasn't a dream, her body jerking as if she'd been electrocuted. “Ah!”

I held up a single clawed finger and pressed it to my lips wordlessly, my eyes tracing along her dull green hair tied up with blue fabric, a trailing lock of hair on either side with small beads on them. The pink Chinese-cut peasant's robe she was wearing atop a long skirt made of more muted brown material. All of it was rough-hewn and patched in various places with off-color thread. Still, she was cute, beautiful even, if one accounted for the fact that she had deliberately speckled tiny pieces of clay onto her face as a primitive cosmetic to imitate freckles and pockmarks.

My ears shifted and her eyes flicked up to lock onto them.

Briefly, I wanted to refuse them. To tell them to take their slave-trading bullshit out of my store and anywhere else.

But that wasn't the deal I'd made. Those weren't the terms I lived by.

“How much are you asking?” I turned to the bandit instead.

He bowed again, “We know that the Fox Lord and Great Merchant offers respectable deals and sells goods that are hard to acquire among our lands. We had hoped to sell her labor for as long as you wish to have it. In exchange, perhaps...”

He hesitated visibly, not wanting to offend me or get a lower price than he could.

“...a quarter of a small chest of the dreaming drug for each month's wages?” He asked tentatively.

I hummed, turning to look at the bound girl still in her basket-cage.

“I will, instead, offer a fifth of a small chest, but of something more potent than the flower's extract,” I stated. “That way, you might cut it with lesser herbs and those you sell it to will not be able to tell.”

He perked up at that, turning to look at his friends before freezing. “I-I would not think to debase-”

“Peace,” I stated, holding up a hand. “I am not unaware of how mortals do business in the lesser realms.”

If my eyes strayed to meet the girl's and give her a meaningful nod, then that was just chance. “I care not for what business you conduct yourselves by outside of my store. Do we have a deal?”

The three hesitated... then the two others behind him nodded.

“Very well. Assistant, cut the girl's bonds,” I ordered Izuku, then turned to the girl. “You are bound within the store, do not attempt to leave or there will be consequences.”

She flinched, then nodded jerkily.

“Now, come. I will get you your drugs and instruct you on their proportions. Beware, this powder is much more powerful than what you are used to working with. Here are the instructions you must abide by...”

It took some time to run through the use and measurements of the wooden-cased block of white powder, but eventually they took their bounty and left happily.

I sighed and leaned back in my chair as they were gone and the door shut behind him.

There was a moment of silence as the four teens looked at each other. Well, no. Izuku was studiously staring at a wall and trying to not make it obvious that he was sneaking glances at other green-haired teen. Luz and Amity, on the other hand, were pinned down in a... rather heated discussion, practically hissing at each other.

“-Luz, I just don't think we can trust this guy!”

“I mean, I get it, but Eda's done... well, okay, she's done the drug deals, but I've never seen her buy a sentient being – well, except for that one time with the pixies. Do they count? I've never been sure.”

I cleared my throat pointedly and both girls jolted, turning to look at me.

“Part of the agreement I make as the shopkeeper is that I can't turn down a good-faith sale or purchase,” I explained. “And when I say 'can't,' I mean that I lack the ability to. The store will inflict pain and cripple my abilities until I comply. As long as a customer comes in here seeking to buy or sell goods honestly, I can't refuse them. Which, yes, is magically-enforced.”

Amity clicked her tongue and frowned. “This sounds more like a curse than a job.”

“They're actually pretty similar, if I understand my Mom's work schedule correctly,” Luz interjected.

I opened my mouth... then closed it and shook my head. “Yeah, sure, that works. Now... let's talk about my new...”

The Chinese girl's head dipped as she bowed, her sleeves connected as she put one hand atop the other and put the combined length of her forearms between us in a formal bow. “This humble one will serve in any capacity she is called upon, Great Spirit.”

I sighed deeply. “Name?”

She twitched. “...respectfully, Great One, the legends of this humble one's people have told her not to give her name to beings of power and magic.”

“Why didn't I think of that?” Luz asked, frowning.

“Uhh... Miss, it's really not like that,” Izuku stated. “This is Nova Sterling. We just run the store, here. W-we might have magic and stuff, but we're not expecting you to worship us or anything! We're mostly just normal people, I swear!”

“It will be as the Great One's Assistant wishes,” she stated, not having risen from her bow.

“Okay then,” I sighed again. “Maomao.”

Another twitch, but her resolve was brutal as Izuku blinked in... mild surprise. I'd pulled off enough bullshit in front of the kid that he knew better than to ask how I pulled a trick like this.

“You can read and write?” I asked, treating it like a question.

“Yes, Great One,” Maomao replied.

“Do you know a trade?” I pressed further.

She paused, then dipped her head a little lower. “This one has some mediocre skill in handling medicines and poisons.”

I waited for a moment to see if there was anything else, then nodded. “Alright, rise. I'll show you to my pharmacy – the room where I store herbs, poultices, and other medical supplies.”

The word 'pharmacy' hadn't exactly translated correctly, and the confusion was obvious, before her eyes lit up in realization and no small excitement.

“You will work there to earn your keep. Today, simply familiarize yourself with the rules of the area that I will supply to you, consider if you have any questions, and ensure you understand the layout. You are not to handle any medicines, open any sealed containers, or leave your assigned area. Am I understood?”

She dipped her head again. “This humble one understands.”

“I will take over training you tomorrow once I have finished my business today,” I instructed her. “If you finish your assigned tasks before I return, you may sit and rest or read one of the medical texts stored in the room. Afterwards, I will show you to the bathing quarters and your sleeping area.”

“This humble one understands.”

Knowing I wasn't going to get anything else out of her in the short-term, I simply turned to open the nearby door we'd come in through, finding the pharmacy on the other side and showing her into the expansive space. “If you become thirty, there are small cups and you may drink from the silver faucet near the sink. You should also wash your hands thoroughly and dry them before handling anything in here. Should you need to relieve yourself, there is a... waste-pot with a switch to cleanse it using running water. It is stored in that room-”

I pointed at the bathroom, and she nodded as her wide eyes rapidly took in everything.

“Busy yourself until I return,” I waved her off and walked back through the door, shutting it behind myself. I hadn't asked if she was hungry, but that could wait at least a few hours as long as she had plenty of water.

“Sir, what are we going to do...” Izuku asked plaintively, wringing his hands.

I waved him off. “I'll take care of it. I'm familiar with her type.”

“If you're sure,” Izuku whined, looking back at the door I'd just come through.

“I'm sure,” I replied, then clapped my hands loudly. “Okay! Now that that's over, let's go on to something much simpler and less morally-objectionable!”

“Woo! Time to summon a dead elder god!” Luz shouted, throwing her hands up in excitement.

Izuku and Amity stared at her in disbelief.

I crossed my arm and gave her a level glare. “I can't decide if I'm psyched that we're on the same page or pissed that you stole my punchline.”

Luz just giggled bashfully, looking far too proud of herself. Then she paused. “So, umm… they were trying to trade for opium, right? What’d you give them?”

I snorted. “Something powerful enough that, should they get too much on their skin, they’ll die from an overdose.  I did warn them, however.”

Amity narrowed her eyes, then tracked to where the door had been moments ago, before nodding judiciously. Luz just met my gaze and gave a tight little smile that showed more than a few teeth.

Because, as much as I was limited by my duties, there were still loopholes I could exploit, if one could call them that. Upselling was practically a duty of a retail salesman, after all. I couldn’t exactly sell someone on a piece of shit like some shady used car salesman, though. The product had to be genuine and my warnings had to be sincere and complete.

But, at the end of the day, it was the buyer’s duty to be sure of what they were receiving.

Any… mishandling of my products outside of the confines of the store just weren’t my problem.

I had a feeling Maomao wouldn’t mind all that terribly, either.

…

Comparatively speaking, calling up this particular dead eldritch god was actually a lot easier than dealing with Maomao would be, I knew.

Honestly, when it came to someone who hadn't yet passed on, was willing to respond to the summons, and wasn't even attempting to break the bindings, this was a cakewalk.

The only reason I'd rolled out such elaborate safeguards for the ritual, in fact, was because the Titan’s very presence as the ancient soul manifested was stressing some of my most powerful wards and runic circles.

As the wispy ghost of energy began sliding into my little corner of reality, it began to take shape, slowly forming into a leathery-winged monster with a bony skull for a face and a single gleaming yellow eye. The other one was dark and empty, a long and sinuous worm poking its head out and wriggling slowly. It's body was... an open bathrobe, a shade darker than the rest of his body, a heavy gut paunch sagging in a pink T-shirt that had a picture of a younger Eda Clawthorn riding her staff, reading 'Bad Girl Coven' beneath a overlarge beard that hadn't been trimmed in a great while. His pants were a plain black affair with various colorful magic circles stenciled on them.

Despite all that, the magic in the air bore the weight of ages, heavy with the promise of sleeping power.

“Ah... I have to say I'd hoped something like this would happen when I felt you connect to my world,” the Titan stated, reaching out to scratch at his gut with a clawed hand.

“Y-you... you look just like...” Luz started slowly, her eyes widening.

“King? My son?” The Titan laughed merrily. “Yes, Luz, and I'm grateful for what you've done for my boy. Grateful beyond words.”

“K-King is a...” Amity whispered.

The Titan chuckled again. “Yes, Amity, he is. Though please don't bow down before him, my boy's got a big enough head on his shoulders at the moment, I don't think it needs any inflating. But, I'm glad you're in his life as well. You've done good work turning your own around in the last few months.”

“Th-thank you,” Amity bowed lowly.

“Soooo~Coool,” Luz whispered gleefully.

“I try,” the Titan nodded, then turned to me. “Now... Nova Sterling, wasn't it? I've seen a few like you come and go... usually the latter, making deals they can't or won't follow through on. The beast you serve is a hungry one indeed, more ravenous than even I was in my youth.”

I grinned, “Capitalism can be like that, yes. It's a pleasure to meet you, Titan of the Boiling Isles.”

“A pleasure to meet you as well,” he nodded, reaching up to stroke his beard. “Now... I think you called me up to make a deal, didn't you?”

“Eighty percent of the remaining blood and bile in your heart goes to Luz,” I opened bluntly. “Ten percent remains with you in whatever body we agree to manifest for you. The remaining ten percent goes to me as a finder's fee and for facilitation of this transaction.”

Luz and Amity both gasped.

“Hmm...” The Titan considered, squinting his eye at me. “Fifty percent to Luz, contingent on her agreeing to kill that pit-stain Belos. Thirty five percent to Amity, so that my new adopted daughter won't be alone in a century. Ten percent to you, and five percent to me for my body.”

I blinked, cocking my head and turning to the girls. “That sound good to you two?”

Their opened jaws worked silently.

I taken one look at him and known it would end this way. Whatever realm between life and death he'd been trapped in, he could look out and see the world through the black abyss of death. And when you stepped beyond life, when you closed that door behind you, time became a lot more malleable.

We both knew how things were going to end.

~~~

So, Thanksgiving ate more time than I was expecting, and then some friends wanted to do some holiday stuff on Sunday and I was just dead tired after that.

But, here it is! The last chapter for November!

Anyway, I'll have the polls for December up in a bit.

Thank you again for your patience and support! I couldn't do this without you and it's great to see so many people enjoying a lot of the stuff coming out lately!

As far as the next update... not sure. I'll go crash and think it over.

Until then, have a great week!