72 The Northern Star Commerce Opening and the Pair of men

The opening was not something grand, with no fancy advertising or extra decorations to increase publicity, but instead, the shop opened early in the morning like any other business in town.

The clerks and employees were dressed in the colors of commerce. While the knights hid themselves throughout the whole area, the weaker ones were spread out across the first floor, while the peak Man-at-arms (Tier 1) knights protected the second floor.

The Squires (Tier 2) were hidden away in the backrooms; they were not needed for ordinary protection.

The employees were already making slight adjustments as they awaited the customers while the three merchants, Caspian, and his apprentices took leisure time off.

Customers started to wander in one by one as the winter sun climbed higher into the breathless blue of the heavens. They were the normal passersby of each day, and now they were the first to be shown the splendor of the Northern Star Merchants.

***

"Young MasterMaster, we should return to the house. Your father explicitly said for you to return when we have finished with our errands." A man dressed in fashionably good-looking black and white clothes followed a young man dressed in pale green and light blue clothes that only those from noble families could wear.

The man in white and black is the family butler, and he is pleading for his young mastermaster to return. "There is no need for that. I normally don't get to go out. Now that I finally get the chance, there is no way I am not exploring a bit further," the man said in a soft voice, gentleness hinting all over.

The butler could only sign in response and keep trying to persuade his young MasterMaster. The two walked through the city with ease and lightness. The occasional sigh of reluctance was heard from the butler as the young man continued on with his journey.

And as luck would have it, the two arrived at the street of the Northern Star Commerce. It was just past midday when the two turned into the street, and the shop started to have quite a few more customers coming and going.

The wandering customers did not go unnoticed by the pair of men, and with a soft voice, the young man asked, "Was there always a shop like this in this area?" 

The butler took his time pondering, and only after a while did he answer, "No, young master. Not to my recollection, this must be a new business that opened," he said respectfully.

"Great! Then why don't we see what this shop has to offer!" The young man spoke with interest in his voice and started walking faster and faster until they arrived at the front door of the building.

A notice board stood in the windows. "Grand Opening! Limited Stock for sale" was the word that attracted most people's attention, including the two men.

'Why would they do that?' the butler wondered. It was not typical for a business, especially on opening days, to have only limited stock. Usually, they would try to sell everything they had and tell the people there was always more.

'Now, it is not wrong to use such a strategy, but for a shop in its early stage without much renown, it was somewhat wasteful and redundant,' the butler thought. Nonetheless, he did not think there would be anything of value in the shop since it had only opened today.

The pair of men slowly made their way into the shop past the beautiful gold-blue doors. The scene before them stumped the butler. He stood, and his eyes wandered around the room, taking in everything. 'A fireplace?' he asked. 

The things he saw were strange to him; he could not believe such a feature would have been put into the room. He wondered where the smoke would go and looked up. There, a beautiful skylight appeared, bringing the resplendent sunlight into the room.

The features were strange, and the butler had no idea how they would be able to do such things, especially in this hinterland where the weather was somewhat unpredictable. Even with taking into account the practicality of the features, it was really something to behold.

He made his way down the off-ramp on the sides of the fireplace, and just like Eamon predicted, all eyes immediately turned to the star-designed chandelier hanging from the ceiling of the second floor.

The sunlight shone on the chandelier, and different colors spread through the second floor; the colors appeared warm and ethereal, something akin to the northern lights in Montania.

The scenery left him without words, but the next thing his eyes were attracted to was underneath the chandelier. Inside a large glass cabinet, the beauty called the [Frostforged Hammer] stood proud and tall.

The designs on the weapon were exquisite and breathtaking. Those with keen eyes would, at first glance, realize the weapon was a Rank 3 weapon, while others would be captivated by its beauty.

"Rank 3 weapon!" the butler softly exclaimed; his words attracted the attention of the young man. "Where, where is it?" his excitement was written all over his face.

The butler pointed out towards the second floor, right at the glass cabinet, "There young master."

The young man followed his butler's direction, and immediately, his eyes shone brightly with stars. "Come, let's look around. We'll leave that for last," he tried to calm down.

His excitement was plenty, but he refrained from acting up and patiently looked through the store. The products on the first floor were the best products and the various ores and crops, which, in all honesty, were rather ordinary. The exceptions were the Dire Novice's best products and the salt from the mines, which attracted the attention of most.

The butler and the young man first walked into the section where the crops were but were somewhat dismayed at the pitiful amount in both variety and stock. They shook their heads and walked to the next section, where the different ores and minerals were found.

The butler quickly realized what they had in stock without having to ask or look at the labels: "Iron, coal and …!" His attention was immediately attracted to a rather rough, small, and white mineral: "Salt!"