Silas walked through the tunnel and eventually reached the exit. Luckily, Thomas hadn't returned yet from the errands he had gone to run, so he didn't see the secret entrance Silas had discovered.
He quickly closed everything up and promised himself that he would keep this a secret.
"I need to figure out why the hell this store has an entrance that leads straight to the castle… Who the hell was the previous owner?" Silas wondered.
Not to mention, he was still incredibly curious about the dragon-woman he'd found tied up down there. No matter how hard he tried, it was impossible to stop thinking about it. He just hoped none of this would get in the way of opening his store. His mind needed to focus on that.
It didn't take long for Thomas to return, carrying a few tools and some buckets they would use to collect all the debris and trash. He also brought a few magic torches that could light up the place for a good while before needing a recharge.
"Did something happen?" Thomas asked the moment he saw Silas.
Silas was deep in thought about everything that had happened, which is probably why Thomas noticed he seemed a little off.
"No, nothing. I was just thinking about how filthy this place is and how much work we have to do before opening the store," Silas replied.
"Yeah, for sure. But hey, we'll reap the rewards afterward. If this store takes off, we'll be rich."
He wasn't wrong. The two of them started by placing the torches in the right spots to make sure the basement was well lit. After that, they grabbed the tools and got to work cleaning the place.
There were plenty of spider webs to get rid of, along with the old furniture still sitting in the basement.
The furniture was pretty heavy, so they had to carry it together—each one grabbing a side—then hauled it upstairs.
The workers who were fixing up the main store looked at the old furniture and asked, "What should we do with this? Throw it away?"
"Yeah, toss it. I don't think there's any way we can sell this. But hey, if you find someone crazy enough to buy it, let me know," Silas said.
"Got it."
With the furniture out of the way, all that was left to do was clear out the spider webs, bugs, and the smaller bits of debris scattered around the basement.
While they were cleaning the basement, Thomas asked, "So, when are we going to start getting the stock to sell? I mean, what contacts do you have to get the items for resale?"
Thomas wanted to know who Silas's suppliers were. After all, anyone planning to open a store needed to know what they were going to sell before opening.
Silas's plan was to run a general store—something that sold a variety of magical goods. The reason was simple: his system allowed him to buy pretty much anything.
In other words, there was no point in specializing when he could sell a bit of everything. Of course, Silas couldn't exactly tell Thomas that his supplier was a mysterious system. He had to lie.
"Unfortunately, I can't share my supplier information. I hope that's okay with you," Silas said.
"No problem," Thomas replied. "Don't worry about it. But… can you at least tell me if we'll actually have stock to sell when the store opens?"
Silas thought about it. He'd earn some money from the mission reward once the store opened, which would allow him to buy some items, but filling the whole shop? That was definitely impossible for now.
"I think I can get some decent items, but I won't be able to fully stock the place. Do you think that's going to be a problem? We also don't have enough capital to go buying tons of stuff upfront. We need to get the cash flow going first."
"I don't think it's a problem," Thomas said. "But you should focus on selling magical items that are cheaper to acquire. That way, we can have a bigger quantity and make the store look fuller. Enchanted jewelry is usually too expensive. The cheapest things are probably basic magic weapons and wands. That's the safest bet."
Thomas clearly had more knowledge about the business side of things, which was exactly why Silas had hired him.
"Makes sense. We still have a few days before the grand opening, so we can figure this out," Silas agreed.
They kept cleaning the basement for quite a while. The workers upstairs had finished tidying up the main floor, but bringing in the furniture and setting everything up would still take a few more days.
By the end of the afternoon, Thomas headed home. Silas was left alone. He locked everything up and left as well, returning to the hotel to rest. There wasn't much else he could do for now.
Once again, as he walked through the streets of New Castle, he felt like someone was watching him. He wasn't sure if it was just his imagination at this point… or if someone really was following him.
The feeling made him uneasy. If it was a mage, Silas had no way of defending himself.
"Maybe I should hire a private guard too…" he thought.
But he didn't really want to spend that kind of money. Plus, walking around with a personal bodyguard would just draw even more attention—exactly the opposite of what he wanted. Silas was torn.
Fortunately, the hotel he was staying at was very secure, located right in the city center. The streets there were heavily patrolled, and it was nearly impossible for anyone to attack him.
As long as he stuck to those busy, guarded areas, he'd be fine. The real danger lay in the outskirts—alleys with no guards, no lighting, and no witnesses.
Before heading up to his room, Silas had a good meal at the hotel restaurant. Then he went upstairs to his room. After all that work in the basement, he was exhausted.
His mind kept drifting back to the dragon-girl he'd found. It took him a long while to fall asleep, but eventually, his eyes closed and his restless thoughts faded away. He finally got some rest.
The next morning, Silas woke up early. He had breakfast at the hotel and then went out looking for a shop where he could buy a knife—and a new bucket to collect the dragon-woman's blood.
This time, he didn't feel like anyone was following him, which was a relief. Shops in New Castle opened early, so he had no trouble finding a place to buy what he needed.
After that, he returned straight to his store… and went directly down to the basement.