Chapter 314 – Where to Look

No one was bewildered by my arrival, or at most only a little because of my species. It was clear that my level of injury was nothing special here. I was taken care of professionally and in record time by the first rank 6 life mage available. A few minutes later, my hand was glued back together to the rest of my arm, as if nothing had happened. The only difference was my lighter purse. 3 golds for those few moments of treatment.

A big sum for normal people, very cheap for the life of one of the three great merchant companies’ heads. If anyone said they could get rid of him for that price, there was no doubt the line of people interested in the deal would go from Geola to the bunnies’ village.

He was now in space, unable to bother innocent merchants anymore. It was said that in my world, tens of thousands of such people orbited around the planet. A funny anecdote was when a spaceship collided with one of those bodies, causing a lot of trouble and creating a sort of horror-like story. There were even jokes that said that if someone suddenly disappeared, they should look in space first.

I had no doubt some people in the know would think me responsible for this attack. However, just like no one had evidence of Miwai burning my house, the same applied to me. It was impossible to prove that I did it. If stretching things a bit, it could even have been the work of a powerful shadow mage.

Now would be the start of the show, though. No matter what, Miwai wouldn’t be able to hide the “disappearance” for long. And when it became clear Fradorant wasn’t coming back, all hell would break loose. Whether internal or external problems, they would all explode at the same time, because a weakened prey was the juiciest. Meanwhile, I would be far, very far from all of these people’s minds, which meant I should be safe for a long time. In fact, if I were stronger, I could even fight to take over the company myself. That was impossible currently, unfortunately.

Just to be safe, I waited a couple more days before resuming my activities in Geola. Nothing had changed much in the meantime. Due to my previous deal with Miwai, the harassment had stopped for the time being, yet another proof of their culpability.

I first made a round of all the people I couldn’t see during this half-week, reassuring them that everything was fine. Next, I worked toward rebuilding my destroyed house. The land was still mine, and the stables were still intact, too. As such, only the main building needed to be rebuilt. I contacted the same construction company that created the first version and hired them again to rebuild it the same way.

This was when I learned how much it had cost. Nothing less than 350 golds, a small fortune. The city hall certainly hadn’t tricked me with a cheap reward. Of course, it was now all my expenses. At least, I was earning so much these days with selnic items that such a loss wasn’t too hard on me.

The building company gladly accepted my request. Since they had already done it once just a few weeks prior, they didn’t need any instructions and began the work immediately. On that note, I was extremely glad of how supportive the bunnies were. I was afraid some would hate me for being in the village since I was such a clear target. However, it was exactly the contrary. As people hunted by slavers, they knew well how I felt and gladly accepted my presence back in their village. I felt my chest tighten a little at their generosity. Bunnies truly were good people.

While the house was being constructed, I decided to take a break for a day. Too much happened in too short an amount of time. I even felt like this world was transforming me into a more ruthless person. I closed the shop in Geola and gave unexpected paid leave to all my employees. I invited them to join me for a one-day vacation, making it clear it absolutely wasn’t related to work, and that they could refuse without any backlash.

Only my manager, Poitr, accepted, all the other employees preferring to stay with their families or friends. Next, I invited anyone I could think of. Suuru gladly welcomed it, as usual, while Minsto refused, no matter how I insisted. The children were included by default, and I even invited Kuini, who nervously declined after hearing there would be strangers and it would happen outside of the village. Instead, I invited Crali without too much thought, thinking she would refuse. To my surprise, she immediately agreed, looking forward to it. I later heard how she was scolded for this decision she took without consulting anyone, but that was only business as usual in the Vejas family.

The destination was close to Geola. It was the forest located between the city and the dome, the one that I initially traversed when I first came to the outside world. The goal wasn’t to enter the forest but to have a picnic on the edge, to enjoy both the shade from the trees and a nice view of the plains at the same time.

I bought a lot of food, diverse drinks, some games for the occasion, and assembled all participants at the south gate.

I arrived first, together with Suuru, while the children were the next to make an appearance, coming directly from their inn. It was the first meeting between most of the participants here, so I put myself in the role of introducing everyone.

“Good morning. Kids, this is Suuru. She’s my friend and business partner. Suuru, this is Erin, this is Aren, and the younger one is Orun.”

The children eyed the woman warily, while Suuru was more friendly, smiling at them gently.