Chapter 31 - I’m the Boss Here

"What do you mean you can’t give the creature to me? Just change the contract. Beast Tamers can do that, that’s how things work," Mayor Ray said, as he got up from the couch.

"Usually yes, the thing is, for some reason, this little creature doesn’t want to leave my side. I can show you."

Arthur then activated the contract. It appeared out of nowhere, floating in front of him. Magic, it was.

Ray stood next to him, seeing the contract as well. Arthur tried to change it by infusing mana into his fingers, but it didn’t work.

A message from the system appeared, and it even appeared for Ray as well.

[You cannot release or change the owner of this tamed beast]

Ray walked back to his couch, sitting on it again and grabbing more wine to drink. The man was a wine addict. Arthur already knew that. He was drinking more wine than water at that point...

"Well, it is what it is. I wanted to give this pet to my daughter Louise. But let’s rejoice, if this pet chose you, then so be it. You should take good care of it."

The mayor tapped on the couch for Arthur to sit. He did what the mayor asked him.

"I saw that some of the Chosen Ones are arriving in the city at this point. I’ll do what you said, and keep a close watch on all of them. I already have spies watching their every move and reporting it back to me."

That was new. Arthur didn’t know if that had happened in his first life, and he just didn’t know about it, or his knowledge was already changing things inside it. It was scary to think about.

"What about you? What are your plans now?"

Arthur had one clear goal in mind: level up his professions, obviously, but the main goal was to reach level 15 before everyone else.

He was behind most players, but with Yuki by his side now, things would be different. The beast would help him level up much faster and he wouldn’t have to rely on other players to form a party, exactly what he wanted.

"Get stronger, I guess," Arthur said, "do you have any missions that I could take on, maybe?"

The reputation Arthur had in Snow Pine city, and the region as a whole, was pretty high. He wanted to make good use of it and try to get some quests that other players didn’t have access to.

Ray sipped his wine again. He was clearly thinking about something.

"Perhaps I do... I noticed you are quite famous among the Chosen Ones, for some reason. One of my spies said they all gathered near the city to see you."

That had happened not long ago... How fast were Ray’s spies? Arthur was actually scared by it, but he tried to keep his composure.

"I don’t think you could say that... What do you have in mind?"

"I’m sponsoring a shop here in the city, aiming to become the best one in the region. However, as you can see, we don’t have that many customers in this area. No one wants to keep up with this cold weather."

"So I was thinking, maybe you could become an associate? There’s a crafting station in the shop for you to use, and depending on how things go in the future, I might have a house for you to buy. All you have to do is be the face of the shop and attract these Chosen Ones. I want them to spend their money in my shop."

Ray basically wanted Arthur to become a walking billboard for his shop.

The deal wasn’t bad, sure, but just a crafting station and a house in the future? Arthur wanted more than that, obviously. He could get enough money to get a crafting station for himself, and a house in other cities as well.

"What about this plus 20% of the profit?"

The mayor almost choked with his wine.

"20% profit? Calm down, kid, aren’t you asking too much?"

"I mean, I’m sure my face will boost your sales by a lot, even more in the future when the rest of the Chosen Ones get here. You’ll be the one earning way more money in the future, not me. I just want my share for advertising the store."

Ray was quite surprised by how smart Arthur was. Usually, when faced with someone powerful like him, people just gave up on demanding things, even when they had the right to do so.

"Bram chose you well, brat. And how will you advertise it in the first place?"

Arthur had the forum, so advertising the shop wouldn’t be difficult. However, there were some things that needed to change in the store.

"First of all, you need to focus on items that they might need considering all of them are weak right now. So, weaker weapons and armor, healing and mana potions, these sorts of things will be in high demand right now. If you can somehow make it slightly cheaper than all the other shops in the city, then you’ll have more clients."

"I already know all of that, but thanks for the insight. You are knowledgeable about businesses, didn’t know that."

Those were just the basics but Ray was already impressed by it.

"The shop will open in 2 days. Can you advertise it for me using your... special methods?"

"Sure. Just give me the location, and some more information about it. It would be best if I could show the items inside, and the prices too."

Ray gave him a book with all the information about the shop. Its location, current items in stock, prices, and also the employees that were working there.

Arthur was now, basically, above all of them authority wise. This shop was funded and created by Ray, who was the current ruler of the city. Arthur came as his equal now, at least on paper.

"And about your rewards for bringing the tamed beast. Things didn’t go as planned but I’ll still reward you for you hard work. Just let me talk to my daughter first and give her the information. She was expecting the pet..."

"No problem, mayor Ray."

With that book in hand, Arthur visited the shop, which was right in the center of the city next to the main square.

The building was fucking massive, four stories tall, with lots of green inside as decoration. Being inside that building didn’t make you feel like you were trapped, but more like in the open. It was nice. A modern type of decoration, something Arthur wasn’t expecting to see.

The place was still locked, but there were people inside. Arthur used the key that the mayor gave him, granting him access to the building.

Everyone who was inside thought that it was the mayor. Ray was the only one who wasn’t in the building but had the key to enter. When they saw a young man going inside, all of them frowned.

A tall man, muscular with a two-handed weapon on his back, came walking toward Arthur.

"Who are you? You’re trespassing, leave."

"Trespassing?" Arthur showed him the key, "I have the key, and also this."

He tossed a signed document to the man.

"I’m your boss now, so don’t act like this again or I’ll fire you. Now, can someone show me around?"

It wasn’t that Arthur was the arrogant type, but he also knew he had to show them who was the person in charge.

Sometimes you had to show dominance, or others might try to take advantage of you. That was what happened to him with the big guilds in the past.

The guard read the document, then passed it down to all the other employees in the shop. None of them could believe it, but the document was there in front of them.

A woman came to greet Arthur. She was pretty beautiful, even with the clothes she had on, fur clothes that covered all of her body.

"Sir, I can show you around," the woman said.

Arthur looked at her, and an idea already formed in his mind.

’I need to add a heating system to this place, and let all the good looking ladies wear more... attractive outfits. This will bring all the virgin players to buy from this shop. I’m a genius.’

One didn’t need to be a genius to think of that. It was well-known across the gaming community. There was no reason to go against it. If Ray really wanted that shop to bloom and become one of the best in the region, then that would be one of the best things to do.

Anyway, the woman showed him the shop. Each floor had different items. The first floor had weapons, the second armor, the third potions and other miscellaneous items, and the 4th floor was where all the crafting stations were.

It also had a nice balcony with tables, couches, basically a relaxation area for the employees to use when they needed to rest.

Arthur went to the balcony, taking in the view. He was already taking pictures of the shop and recording some clips for his forum post.

Then, a yell came from downstairs while Arthur was enjoying the balcony view. He knew the voice. It was Louise.

"Arthur, come down here, now!"