Random Merchant’s Son Pov.

“Thank you for shopping here, come again.” I heard my wife say to the last customer of the day as I was cleaning up an area of the shop. 

‘Finally, they’re gone.’ Those people took a long time. I finished cleaning up and went to the hidden lounge area to settle down and rest for a bit.

‘Ahhh, finally.’ I closed my eyes for a brief rest before I heard my wife come in. 

“Tired?” I opened my eyes to look at her as she came and sat down beside me. 

“Very.” I replied. 

“Don’t worry, things will settle down soon. We just have to push through this period of time.” She said with a smile.

“Do you really think so? Those dragons came immediately after the place was finally settled down and we’re having to accommodate their appetite by supplying food to the restaurants they frequent.” She chuckled at that.

“Well, there is that.” I chuckled back at her reply. 

We were living in a large, very large building with three floors and two basement levels. The ground floor was the main grocery store with the storage being in the first and second basement. We also had those new whitefyre orb powered freezers and stasis rooms for storing goods that need to be fresher. The second and third floor, on the other hand, were our living space. Large living spaces. So large, in fact, that I was surprised when I heard of how cheap, well, ‘cheap’ it was. 

“This is the best place we have ever lived, specifically, it’s the best place for our children. The schools here….having our children attend the schools here are worth anything we go through. They will come out as wizards. Imagine, the first wizards in our family. We-”

“I know.” I replied. I knew exactly what she meant. 

The schools here….really were worth everything we go through. They were free, and taught things that would never be obtainable to a normal commoner in the empire. No one really knew how the lord was able to pay for it all, but all the city council said about it when asked was taxes. This was not how other territories were run. At most, they were kept clean and had a sort of security force, but that was it. 

‘In those other territories, the taxes are probably going to the ruler of the land. The lord of this land doesn’t do that, I wonder why?’ 

“I’m glad father put us in charge of the branch here.” I mused. 

“Only because your brothers didn’t want to leave their affluent lives to come and set up a new life here” She replied and I hummed.

‘That is true as well.’

“Do you think they would have wanted to come here, if they had known how good it was here?” I asked, wanting her opinion.

“Hmmm, maybe, maybe not. They have very good lives in the branches they are managing and may not want the….trouble of managing another branch so far away.” I nodded at that. 

‘Again, good point.’ 

“They will think you want control of the whole company if they catch wind of our full success.” She added. 

My father gave us branches to manage in order to see how we would do when he was no longer with us. The best, that is, the one that makes the most profit will be the frontrunner of inheriting the company and all the major investments. All the other children will be left with the branches they manage, which will be separated from the main company and given to them. So we were incentivised to do well no matter what because this is what will be given to our children no matter what. 

‘And I have the best branch.’ I smiled. 

I wasn’t sure if I wanted to compete with my brothers yet because I finally had a taste of all the work that will entail. Because of that, I’m leaning more on the side of just letting my brothers fight it out without me.

‘Besides, my children will be wizards when all is said and done.’ 

We had been extremely busy since moving to this new land because we were one of the only grocers in the whole city. We had made a lot of gold, so much gold, in fact, that we had already paid off all the major costs of moving here. 

‘I should know, I’m the accountant of the business.’ 

Father had been one of the lucky few commoners who was on time and had enough money to buy a building closer to the world tree than most commoners could ever dream. Fortunately, father was a very successful merchant and he had dealings with some nobles who let him know of the opportunity. 

‘And now, we’re reaping the benefits.’ I smirked. 

Father made the decision to buy a building rather than rent from a noble who got there earlier and that was the decision that changed everything. Now, we are reaping the benefits of that decision as a lot of our ‘neighbours’ are having to pay an increased amount of rent to keep up with the surging property prices in the area. There were no rules to protect them from that, yet. We, on the other hand, only had to contend with property taxes of the buildings we owned which while high were, fortunately, not the highest we had experienced. 

‘That reminds me.’

“Want to follow me to the bank, I have to deposit this week’s earnings and pay the taxes.” I asked her.

“No, you go on ahead.” I nodded at her. 

I went to the built-in vault that held the money and transferred all the money into an intraspatial ring that had the capacity to hold everything. It was the latest technology on the storage market from the Udonavon family and father had already bought and shipped multiple to all of us. Most of our customers have an account with the banks here so there was no need for physical money to change hands when the transactions were made. But there were a few stubborn ones who stuck to the old ways. 

I took my id card and the ring and made my way to the closest bank which was fortunately a few blocks away. I entered and occupied one of the self service terminals. I deposited the money and paid the requisite taxes before leaving to go home. Every step of the process was made so easy.

‘I’m glad I live here.’