Published at 16th of February 2024 2:23 pm

Chapter 2.17 Pre opening Stress

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The next couple of days blurred by. He interviewed potential new hires, procured materials, started brewing his Noxian Brews’ best-selling products, and worked on upgrading his star. He had a solid idea of what he wanted to do but needed to iron out the spellform.

Nox completed his Animation planet during the voyage. Kris liked his runescript and also deemed his mastery well beyond the introductory course. However, she insisted he work on the star alone. It was a unique piece of spellwork, and no one understood it better than he did. After all, Nox had fused standard scripts with those used for alchemy. Given his progress, Nox expected to achieve his goal before the semester started.

During his studies, Nox encountered several articles that discussed the duality and interactions of opposing cantrips and concepts. Ordinarily, Heat and Chill neutralized each other. However, they assisted swift Shaping when used on either end of spells that manipulated metal or glass. Certain Aether Warrior techniques paired Featherweight and Heavy cantrips to wave around titanic weapons like children’s toys. Nox hoped to achieve something similar by intertwining Haste and Slow.

Most arcane attacks and phenomena have two elements: raw mana and essence. The mana is the fuel, and the essence is the body.

Nox knew of no basic-tier spellforms capable of targeting and capturing raw mana. His star focused on drawing in and solidifying essence. It first used the Slow cantrip to rob the arcana of its speed, making it easier for the rest of the spell to distinguish between the phenomena’s elements and target the relevant part. It worked just fine against individuals and entities at his current level. Nox and Kris were sure Crystallize Essence would lose its potency when they faced more powerful enemies, forcing Nox to use more Slow fields as filtration levels for the spell, multiplying the drain on his star.

Instead, Nox hoped to create filter magic by channeling it through a complex spiraling network of Haste and Slow fields. Most of his star’s mana drain would go towards setting up the multiple rotating, accelerating, and decelerating fields that separated them. Once they started spinning fast enough, they’d draw in external magic and use its raw mana to continue fueling itself, reducing the drain on Nox’s star.

The path to a working model felt achievable. However, ‘functional’ felt insufficient to Nox. He would’ve let it pass for a moon. When planets were concerned, Nox would’ve settled for decent. He wanted something as close to perfect as possible for his star. Lillin visited the university libraries and picked up Advanced Spell Weaving tomes for him. He poured over them while developing the framework for his new spell. The greatest challenge he faced was working on all the new elements around the original Crystallize Essence spell. After all, there was no backpedaling. He could only modify and tweak the core of his mana system.

Finding Diya and getting her input on his work so far was tempting. However, Nox wanted to overcome the task alone. He wouldn’t always have professors and mentors. Besides, Kris was right. His runework was a blend of alchemy and traditional spell weaving. No one understood Crystallize Essence, its inner workings, and limitations as well as him.

It took three days and interviewing close to a hundred people before Nox filled all the necessary staff positions except that of an alchemical assistant. He took in a young couple displaced by Terrastalia’s activities. Its female half was only a couple of years older than Nox. She had no alchemical knowledge. However, she had experience as a saleswoman in a high-end garment boutique. The young woman agreed to cover a porter’s responsibilities until she gained the necessary knowledge to explain and upsell the products. For the time being, she’d focus on clientele interested in cosmetics and contraceptives.

Meanwhile, the husband was ten years his wife’s senior and had never worked in a shop. He was a former soldier and had lost his foot in service to his lord. The man had worn several hats over the past couple of years while the couple saved money for a small farmstead. Unfortunately, the recent disaster took everything from them. He gladly accepted the role of custodian and handyman.

Jenny Tanner would be in charge of cleaning and maintaining the top floor and everything but the bedrooms on the staff floor. Meanwhile, Argus Stone would do the same for the rest of the building. His father was a carpenter, and he knew how to do basic repairs. He would share several responsibilities with Leanna Tanner, ensuring Nox didn’t need to worry about upkeep and stocking. The couple took the final large room on the staff floor.

Even though Jenny Tanner had an extremely heavy workload, Nox didn’t hire an assistant housekeeper straight away. He wanted to delay until the shop opened and started bringing in money, and he had another assistant. Her daughter agreed to assist in her duties when not preparing food or cleaning the kitchen. Instead, Nox got another shop assistant. She was a local and served a local noblewoman until a couple of months ago.

Hilda Dahl didn’t go into detail regarding her former employers beyond their family name. He got the impression that they had left the city in a hurry and guessed they were somehow connected to an arrested cultist. Apparently, the large families had staff in the near-triple digits, and more than a thousand individuals lost their jobs during the exodus. She had experience as a shopgirl in a spell weaver’s boutique. Nox gave her the same role as Emily Stone and granted her one of the smaller bedrooms on the staff floor, leaving four of the six unoccupied.

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All staff except Leanna Tanner would have Second and Third days off while the shop remained closed. Most students would be busy with classes, and the nobility held their soirees between Fifth and Sixthday evenings. Jenny worried cleaning duties would pile up, but Nox insisted that everyone else would need to clean up after themselves to ensure things didn’t get dire.

Since Advanced Dungeon Combat and the remaining classes would keep Nox and his peers busy between the First and Sixth days, he didn’t want breakfast and dinner to be a concern. He wanted her to have two days off like everyone, so he gave her Thirday off—staff would prepare their own meals on the day. They would cook their own food, settle for leftovers, or buy something. She’d also get Seventhday off, giving her the opportunity to enjoy the city and get some time away from her parents.

“You’re giving them housing yet paying the same wage as businesses that don’t do so,” Caitlin said over dinner one evening after Leanna had descended to her floor. She still needed to finish cooking for the staff. “Are two days off a week really necessary? Use a day for general maintenance, upkeep, and other tasks. You’re being far too generous for a small, independent business that’s just starting out.”

“There were two types of successful production houses in the Trade Empire,” Nox said. “The first lured in outsiders with tempting but binding contracts. Everything would start fine, but the facade never lasted long. The work conditions were often beyond horrid, with long hours, no time off, and pay deductions for the most minor mistake. These people would leave the Trade Empire as soon as their contracts ended, telling terrible tales about us and leaking everything they learned about our secrets.

“Then there were employers like Mou. She paid her people above the standard, limiting their daily and weekly working hours and ensuring they had time outside of work. Her staff didn’t just stay in her employ for the duration of the initial contract. Some individuals have worked for the Ratras since before I was born. Most leave Mou’s employment only because they want to settle elsewhere and use their savings to start an independent business. I’d like to be the latter breed of employer.”

Lillin chuckled.

“What’s so funny?” Nox asked.

“Just the fact that you have future plans beyond destroying Sundarshahar amuses me,” she answered.

“So what you told Annabelle wasn’t the complete truth,” Michelle said. The Beauforts had joined them for dinner. She wanted to spend time with Caitlin before the semester began, and Ernest needed to drop off the elite myconid corpses necessary for Nox’s research.

“I don’t think I ever lied to her,” Nox replied, regretting giving his friends an open invitation to dinner. “About my future ambitions, at least. Life is going to get expensive once we advance past adept dungeons. I hope to use the business to fund us, keeping us free of employers with political agendas.”

“You’re incorrigible.” Michelle rolled her eyes.

“I think he’s deflecting,” Caitlin told the Beaufort woman, and the pair chuckled.

Even though the pair were attempting to antagonize Nox, he felt glad that they weren’t just keeping to themselves and joining group discussions and banter. He ignored the jibe and continued. “Either way, I want to cultivate and invest in staff who will keep the business running while we’re away delving. I’ll need to keep my storerooms stocked and find someone trustworthy with its key.”

“Oh my. Why work so hard to justify bedding Aria Edelweiss?” Caitlin chuckled. “Annabelle ended the relationship. No one will judge you for spreading your seed.”

“I think you’re going too far, Kitty,” Alexander told his sister, nudging her. “Perhaps we should change topics.”

“Right.” Michelle wiped the grin off her face and leaned towards Nox. “How is preparation for opening going? Isn’t it too much work for one person?”

“It is.” Nox sighed. “I started mass brewing last night, an apprentice or assistant would certainly make life easier. Finding time for spell weaving or research for Baron Edelweiss will be challenging.”

“You need to save time for us, too,” Caitlin said. “A party needs to train together and bond. Just doing it in Wolfheart’s class won’t be enough.”

Nox didn’t want to admit it to his friends, but he didn’t want time to idle and bond outside of training. He worried his mind would drift to thoughts of Annabelle. They bothered him a fair deal during the voyage, making it sometimes challenging to focus. Caitlin's teasing and discussing his night with Aria didn't help either.

“Once Aria Edelweiss is in town, you’ll need to spend time with her, too,” Lillin said, nudging Nox. She faced the other women at the table. “The baron requested Nox escort her to the start-of-semester balls and appear with her at a few dinners.”

“And you agreed to it?” Caitlin raised an eyebrow.

“He’s sponsoring my research,” Nox replied, mentally cursing Lillin for circling back to the topic. “I didn’t want to deny the request and risk angering him.”

“Her being drop-dead gorgeous probably helps.” Michelle grinned. The Beaufort woman shuffled in her chair and placed a hand on his shoulder. She leaned closer and all signs of amusement left her face. “In all seriousness, if you need help with the initial big brews, I’d be more than happy to help.”

“Are you sure?” Nox felt taken aback by the sudden offer.

“Of course! After everything you did to make my life easier the past couple of months, it's the least I can do.”

“Thank you, Michelle. That would be great.”

It was nice to have friends.

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