Mythran's Master Of All

Ren ran back to the Main House and went inside, greeted Princess, and went up the stairs to tell Janice he was ready to go.

“Holy crap.” Ren said when he saw what was waiting for him.

There was glassware everywhere. Vases, bottles, bowls, glasses, and mugs littered the floor, workbench, and the top of the forge.

“I'm sorry.” Janice said. “I started out slow, just so I could get a feel for it again... and then I leveled the skill up.” She smiled. “I went a little overboard after that.”

Ren snorted a laugh. “I think you've doubled what's in your old house.”

“I used up quite a bit of sand, too.”

Ren looked inside the cart and saw it was only down by a quarter. “It looks to me like you've got a lot left.” He said. “You shouldn't need to order more for at least a couple of days.”

“All right, I used up a lot.” Janice chuckled. “How much do I owe you for it?”

“Hm.” Ren said and rubbed his chin. “How about giving me a good discount on all of this glassware?”

“Wh-what?”

“I know I'm kind of taking advantage of you like this.” Ren said and started to stack the bags of sand a few feet away from the glass furnace. “But, you are using my glass furnace and my sand. The least you can do is cut me a deal on the price.”

Janice looked at him like he was crazy. “Are... are you serious?”

“I was thinking 70% off... but, since I don't know if I can turn it over right away... how about 60% off the value?”

“Ren, you can't possibly think...”

“Okay, okay. You drive a hard bargain.” Ren said and kept emptying the cart. “If you give me 50% off the value, I can still make a profit selling them in my store.” He said. “I'll even post a sign telling customers who made them and to come here when your shop opens tomorrow.”

Janice stood there and stared at him, because she couldn't believe what he was saying.

“What do you say?” Ren asked as he dropped the last bag of sand on the pile and stored the cart. He held a hand out for her to shake. “Do we have a deal?”

Janice took Ren's offered hand and shook it.

“Great!” Ren said and used Appraisal on everything. “Apparently, there's 163 gold worth of items here.” He said and took out 86 gold. “Here's 81 gold and 50 silver for the items, and 4 gold 50 silver for the tip.”

Janice stared at the pile of gold in her hands as Ren stored all the glassware.

“Do you need a hand with that?” Ren asked and motioned to the money. Janice nodded wordlessly and he took it from her. She opened her coin pouch and he dumped the money into it.

“Ren...”

“Are you ready to go?” Ren asked and looked inside the glass forge. “Nope, just a minute.” There was quite a bit left in it, so he made a mold on the floor for a standard pane of glass and poured out enough to make it. He absorbed the heat from it, stored the pane of glass, and did it again. He managed to make 6 panes before the molten glass ran out, then used the last of it to make a glass ball the size of a baseball and stored it.

“I can't believe you did that in the space of only a few minutes.” Janice said.

Ren chuckled. “Not having to wait for things to cool off is a definite advantage.” He said and smiled. “Come on. We have to go before we starve.”

“Lead the way.” Janice said and smiled back.

Ren deactivated the forge and walked down the stairs, and Janice followed him.

He sure is something. Janice thought as she put on the Helm of the Eagle and Ren prepped Princess for carrying 2 passengers. With just that purchase and what he paid me the other day for today's lesson, I've made enough to pay my rent.

Ren led Princess outside and hooked the straps around Janice, then turned around so that he could tie the straps around his shoulders, which made her like a backpack.

“You know this is really weird, right?” Janice asked as she wrapped her legs and arms around him to complete the illusion.

“It was your idea.” Ren said and laughed as he took out the step ladder, climbed up it to sit on Princess, then stored the ladder. He took out the Giant Strength and Haste wands and cast them on her, and she waited until he stored them and held on, before she ran as fast as she could.

*

Patty had been stunned at having been given the job of Mayor for a city. She walked slowly back towards her farm house, where the town council was waiting for her and their scheduled meeting. She'd never regretted giving up her living room for council meetings, and it was a nice and comfortable place. She reminisced over all of the meetings they had over trivial things, then remembered that the last few had been about Ren.

Those meetings she had been tempted to skip outright, just because she was scared that he was going to do away with her completely. With all of the changes he was making, she didn't want to face the fact that she was going to be redundant. It never once occurred to her that he'd actually want to keep her, despite what he had said before. She remained lost in her thoughts until she arrived at the Main House.

The gold key around her neck marked with an 'M' was a solid weight against her skin, and Patty thought about ignoring the feeling so she could keep walking. She sighed as she realized she had better face her fears and see what it was like inside, since she was going to be spending a lot of time there from now on. Patty walked over to the Main House and the key unlocked the front door.

“You've got a key now!” Russell nearly yelled from behind her.

“AHHHH!!” Patty screamed and jumped towards the door. It swung open and she grabbed the door handle in an attempt to stop her fall. Instead it swung her around and she fell backwards as her hand slipped from the door handle and she fell to the floor.

“Miss Patty!” Russell said and ran inside to see Patty was laying down on a mattress. “I'm really sorry, Miss Patty.” He said with his head down. “These boots don't make a lot of sound when I run.”

Patty's breathing had sped up considerably from the scare and then the fall, and she had been surprised that she hadn't hurt herself on the stone-like floor. She thought she might be in shock and could actually be hurt, until she put her hands down to push herself upright. A soft surface greeted her touch and she sat up on the comfy mattress.

I'm really lucky this was here. Patty thought, and then she stood up. “What are you doing here, Russell?”

“I was going to the town council meeting like you were.” Russell said. “I usually show up late; but...” He grinned. “...not anymore.”

“Well, you can go on to the meeting and tell them that I'll be along soon.” Patty said, and Russell left almost before she had finished speaking. “That boy...” She shook her head and shut the door.

Beside the small lobby was another door. Patty walked over to it and saw 'MAYOR' written on the door, took a deep breath, and opened it. She gasped at the clean neatness of it. It was as far from an old farm house as possible with it's thick stone-like walls and floor. It had a heavy and dark brown wooden desk with lots of drawers, a nice comfy upholstered chair, and a window. She walked around the desk and stared at the chair, took two quick breaths, and then sat down in 'her' chair in 'her' office.

Patty sighed as the comfortable chair supported her well and almost hugged her, and she looked through the drawers. She didn't feel bad about rooting, since it was her office anyways. Nothing was inside, and she wondered what she could possibly put in them. She remembered Ren telling her she should have a Mayor menu, and took another breath before she spoke.

“Open Mayor menu.” Patty said, and the Mayor menu popped up in front of her. She gasped at all of the things it showed her, and she didn't know what to look at first. “Um... um... parchment! Yes, parchment!”

Patty read all of the tabs, and one said 'Item Orders'. She smiled and picked that, and inside was a list of all the things she could order for the city.

“Oh, my.” Patty said, and eventually figured out how to scroll through the list, and went down to the 'P' section. “There!” She said and picked parchment from the list. Another popup appeared that asked for the amount to order. She put 10 for the amount, and then it asked if she wanted writing instruments. She picked one and chose the 'Order' option.