Chapter 343 – New Orders?
When morning came and Damion awoke with Elicia snuggled in his arms, he almost thought for a moment they were still at Silver Spire Magic Academy. Once his eyes focused and he recognized the bedroom of his house, he remembered where he was. While he had been apprehensive at first to have Elicia staying with him, now he could not deny how happy it made him.
After she made him breakfast, Damion cast Portal and let her head to his parents’ apartment. Once she was gone, he then cast Portal again to take himself and Phil back to the point they were exploring. He still had time to kill while Leland distributed the auto-mappers he had upgraded. As such, Damion disguised himself with the Metamorphic Bracelet and used the time to run along the ground for his morning exercise, while Phil flew far and wide, mapping out large swaths of the area.
Despite Phil venturing far and wide, no more Realm Breaches were located in the area. What the Blizzard King did find was herd of antelope looking Ferocious Beasts that became its prey for the next week. Every day, Phil would return to Damion to be transported home with a fresh kill.
Damion’s and Elicia’s routine became set, and they were both quite happy with being able to spend time together. Damion would Portal to his parents’ apartment, and they would eat dinner as a family before he and Elicia would return home. If not for him setting out every day to explore dangerous areas of the wild, they almost had a normal life.
Eventually, it came time for Damion to head back to Saung. According to the timeline he had laid out, he should be almost done upgrading the auto-mappers. After sending Elicia to Levande and letting Phil loose along their exploration path, he opened a Portal directly to Saung, stepping through as James Picard.
It did not take long for Damion to reach Leland and Flannery’s Artifact Emporium and what he found was quite amusing. The day was still young, but outside the shop was a line of people all clamoring to get into the shop. As he approached, he tried to figure out why so many people where there so early in the morning, but he had no luck.
“Hey! You there! Back of the line!” Someone shouted at Damion as he moved towards the entrance.
Damion ignored the first outcry, but then a second came and a third. Soon the entire line was calling for him to go to the back of the line and those near the doors were actually moving to try and block his entrance.
“Back of the line buddy,” a C Rank knight told Damion when he reached the doors.
“I’m here just to pick up a previous order that was ready some time ago, but I have been unable to return to Saung for a few weeks,” Damion said, making up a reason to set this knight who was obviously hired as a guard at ease.
“Sorry, the bosses have already said, everyone waits in line today. No one gets in without their say so,” the guard replied.
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“Why is it that there are so many people here?” Damion asked. He could easily overpower the guard and walk through the doors, but he did not want to hurt anyone or cause a bigger scene, at least not without understanding the situation.
“Mage Wells is supposed to be coming out of seclusion today and rumor has it that he will start taking new orders to upgrade people’s artifacts.”
The answer was not what Damion was expecting. How could he be taking new orders today and not know it. Had Leland or Flannery volunteered him?
“That is all well and good, but like I said before, I am picking up an order from some time ago. It has nothing to do with Mage Wells.”
“Sorry, I really can’t let you in,” the knight said, sounding sincere.
“I understand. I’ll go in now and I promise, it won’t affect your pay.”
Before the knight could question what Damion meant, he vanished. With a simple Blink spell, he teleported himself inside the shop, all the way to the second floor outside the small room that was his when he stayed at the artificing shop.
Now that he was inside, Damion released the disguise from the Metamorphic Bracelet and looked around for Leland or Flannery. Inside the small room he once used was a box stuffed with core. There was a note from Ethan on the box:
506 C Rank cores as owed. Thank you for helping me get rich.
Damion smiled at the note. Ethan was not the only person getting rich from his upgrade service. There were plenty of people reselling the artifacts he had upgraded for huge profits. Damion did not mind, after all, he was profiting in his own way and what people did with the artifacts after he upgraded them was no concern of his.
Once the box of cores from Ethan was stored in the Magic System Inventory, Damion headed downstairs to search of Leland and Flannery. He found the pair with the Saung branch Adventurer Association manager, Edmund Halsey. When the trio saw him, their faces lit up, clearly they were trying to figure out what to do if he did not show up today.
“Damion, my boy! I am so glad to see you,” Leland cried out.
“Oh yes, we have been absolutely swamped with requests from all over for you to upgrade people's artifacts,” Flannery pipped in. “When we told them you were doing a special request for the Mage Association and would be available for more orders today… well we had no idea everyone would show up.”
“I guess I have become quite popular,” Damion smirked. This is what he started by upgrading artifacts. He was glad he was getting a name for himself, but if he spent all his time upgrading artifacts, how would he have time to train.
“That is an understatement,” Manager Halsey said. “There are very few artificers that can do what you do. In fact, I don’t think any of them can do what you do. They can improve an artifact. Sometimes even improving it to a fair degree. But those artifacts they work on are usually not that promising of artifacts to begin with. But you, you can promote even a perfectly crafted artifact to the next Rank.”
“I had a good teacher in Silver Spire,” Damion told them.
“Hmph. What you do is not something you could have learned at Silver Spire,” Manager Halsey huffed. “However, I have no right to question you since it has been proven your works are the genuine article. What I want to know is, how are you going to solve the issue of all these people wanting your services?”
“I don’t recall agreeing to take more requests after the order I took for the auto-mappers. How is this my problem?”
“It is your problem, because they are here for you, whether you want them here or not. I already had to bring a guard to keep order outside. But if you refuse to upgrade these people’s artifacts, you could very well start a riot.”