Miralen closed his eyes as he silently contemplated everything that had happened in the past few minutes.
It was just another random day where the elf who won the recruitment event for the cycle was supposed to drop by his shop and purchase something.
Naturally, he was well aware that this purchase wouldn't be of anything significant, just like it had been for the past several decades and the decades before that and before that.
When was even the last time something significant had been purchased from his shop? He couldn't remember.
His mood became worse as he thought about these things. He let out a deep sigh as he stared at the disastrously bad rank his system shop currently had.
Heck, even shops from newly minted trash tier worlds were doing better than him.
Thanks to the bastard elves his once prestigious family name had lost all of its meanings. They went from riches to rags, now literally standing on their last legs.
If this situation persisted for a few more decades then he would truly have nothing left and simply have to give up the lease that his family had had for generations and return to their world to start all over again.
While this might have been possible when he was younger, something was only laughable with the situation he was currently in.
Miralen bitterly smiled. This was not something new. This was old news. He had been rambling about this for years and years. However, he also knew that nothing was going to change.
The elven empire had effectively sealed him and his family. These bastardly dastardly pigshit pepper heads... Miralen let out another sigh.
Countless he had wished for the damned elves to get destroyed, be massacred, and even for the entire world to get blasted off into oblivion. But it was all useless.
Every time he cursed them only his blood pressure was increasing and his mana went haywire. But everything was useless.
The contract for a shop is permanent unless one forfeits everything and the elven empire also looked quite permanent. They had built an unshakeable foundation.
No matter how much he willed for it the empire was not going to be shaken, not by anyone, and his shop and his clan were also going to die just like that without ever seeing the light of the day.
Every recruitment cycle came and went. Miralen had also watched eager young elves enter his shop one after the other, but nothing at all changed.
At most there were one or two skill book purchases.
The worst part was he was forced to be thankful for even these few purchases. Well, thankful was a big word. Would one rather prefer to die quickly or slowly bleed to death?
Miralen was currently slowly bleeding to death and he was on his last leg. He had very little patience for the elves at the moment and the elf standing in front of him seemed to have a bad sense of humor.
"Listen, Miss Elira. There is a small problem with your plan."
"You are simply not qualified to access anything high-leveled in the system shop. And with whatever you can access currently, it would be a waste to attempt something this risky."
"Your plan makes no sense. So I suggest-"
Elira interrupted the fairy. "You are correct. I don't have access to anything but my master does."
"Master?" Miralen was surprised. "That means you are a slave?" The fairy was instantly shocked. How could someone this high-leveled become a slave?
"So I can access the system shop on behalf of my master?"
Miralen immediately perked up. "Yes. Yes. That should be possible. I don't see why not? Is it an official system-slave contract? And by the way, who is your master?"
The fairy could only hope and pray that her so-called master was someone with backing. Otherwise, this sudden flickering hope in the sea of his doom would be extinguished without ever seeing the light of the day.
Come on. Come on. Please don't disappoint me. He muttered as his excitement grew every second. His day had begun like a normal day but now it looked like everything might change today.
He quickly accessed various system screens and opened up everything in front of Elira. Soon, the two of them became utterly shocked as they both stared at the qualifications of Elira's so-called master with wide eyes.
"Grandmaster… Grandmaster blacksmith?" The fairy gulped. His gaze then shifted down to see the next title which was… equally shocking. "Grandmaster alchemist?"
"How? How could this be possible?" Miralen couldn't believe his eyes.
"Who is your master?" The store manager can access a customer's details to some extent so he immediately pulled up everything that he could.
"Liam Chang… human being?" He became even more shocked.
"Is your master from another world?" Miralen inquired, feeling a mix of disbelief and burgeoning hope.
Elira nodded. "Yes, he comes from the human world. He's not bound by the prejudices of this place, and he's incredibly talented."
Miralen's eyes gleamed. This was more than he had dared to hope for. "But… with just the token…"
Now that everything was becoming real too fast and too soon, the fairy started to think about everything else. He started to seriously weigh the pros and cons of the whole thing.
The young elf has painted a pretty picture but was it really worth it for him? There could be some hidden consequences.
Seeing that the fairy was hesitating, Elira quickly took out the other item. Her master had already foreseen something would happen, so he had given her a backup item.
Elira carefully reached into the storage ring that she had borrowed from the hateful Eldrin and from within retrieved the small flimsy herb.
"Maybe this will help you make a decision?" She eagerly asked, extending her palm to the fairy who was busy making some mental calculations. "I would like to sell this herb to your store."