James licked his lip as he pondered. How was he supposed to make new land itself? That was something he wanted to experiment, now that he had some soul energy. Make a plot of land and some houses on it. There wasn’t really any reason for him to, really, but just the thought of being able to make land, like some sort of god… Like he was playing a game, just real life. Boy, you bet it was appealing.

But how was he supposed to do it? Did he just ask the shop for it? Say, ‘Shop, make a plot of land with a door leading to it?’

Yes.

James looked at the golden letters that appeared in front of his eyes with astonishment. Wait, was that the shop replying to him? The shop could reply to him?!

Indeed. The shop has the capability to reply and interact with its owner. However, the shop has not done so as of yet since the ex-shop owner, Archaniel, seemed intent on introducing everything to you on his own. The shop did not see any reason to ruin his wish.

Wow. James blinked. “So you’re sentient, shop?”

To an extent, yes. The shop does indeed have a consciousness.

It made sense, now that James thought about it. A shop this amazing that could do everything with nothing but verbal commands—It made sense that it had some form of a consciousness and ability to process things on its own. But why had it only spoken to him now, even though it had been almost two days since Archaniel had left?

It was only now, after two days, that you had a question related to the functioning of the shop, representative James. Naturally, the shop did not see any reason to step in until now, seeing that Archaniel is no longer present to clear your doubts, and it is no longer fully convenient for him to do so.

James nodded, a smile spreading across his face. So he could talk to the shop now?! That realization made him oddly happy. Apparently he was feeling a bit lonely.

You can explore the outer world if you feel lonely, representative James. You can return to the shop anytime you wish by saying: [Return to shop] since you are linked to it.

“Really?” James asked, surprised. But then he realized that they were on top of a mountain. Walking down from here didn’t seem worth it, so he shrugged. “It’s fine, I’m having plenty of fun here, inside.”

The shop didn’t reply to his words, so he then asked, “Shop, can you make a door down in the corridor that leads to a plot of land? A grassland, if possible.”

Processing… Request completed. Soul energy taken from reserve.

“How much did it cost?” James asked.

It cost fifty soul energy points.

That… didn’t seem all that costly nor bad, actually. Were his standards just broken?

It depends. Making a scrumptious feast of all kinds of dishes for the representative would cost around a fragment of one soul energy point. For reference, the ‘gaming console’, or as the representative refers to it, ‘laptop’, also costs only about one soul point to create.

“Does it depend on the complexity of the item created?” James questioned as he walked down the stairs before immediately focusing on the new door that had appeared in the corridor. It was right next to the door that led out of the corridor. Probably to save space in the corridor?

It does depend on the complexity to an extent, yes. Food is simpler to create than a laptop. Also, yes, the shop deemed it to be the most efficient placement.

James nodded and walked to the door, feeling somewhat nervous as he stood in front of it. On the other side of it lay a world he created.

Correction: A plot of land created by the representative.

“S-so,” James questioned, “it’s just a plot of land surrounded by endless darkness?”

The endless darkness is masked by the shop, but yes, the representative will face an invisible barrier if he were to walk to the edge.

“Damn,” James murmured and opened the door.

A gasp leaked out of his lips as he saw what lay on the other side. It was exactly according to his expectations, just… better.

A grassland stretched on and on, occasionally rolling up or down. Probably in an attempt to seem more natural. The sky was blue, the sun was clouded, and a cool, refreshing breeze struck him on his face as soon as he opened the door. He felt himself instinctively stepping into the grasslands… and then, running.

He didn’t know why, but seeing the endless grasslands, feeling the wind and the warmth of the sun, made him want to run. Run as far as he could, for he was free. Here, he was not restrained.

It took him a solid dozen seconds of running before he hit the invisible barrier. He’d forgotten about it, but luckily for him, it felt soft. It wasn’t like a solid barrier that broke his nose, more like a blanket that pushed him back.

He fell onto his butt and suddenly realized how soft and nice and amazing the grass and dirt were, and he found himself laying on it, staring at the sky. James had only a single thought left in his mind.

The shop was amazing.

—

Penelope sat out in the open space in front of the orphanage. Amelia… wasn’t there in the orphanage. She’d searched the entire building three times, but she couldn’t find her. At all. That was why she sat outside, hoping Amelia had just gone outside and would return. But… she didn’t. Even more concerning was the fact that her little sister didn’t know where Amelia had gone either. 

It had been an entire day already, yet Amelia hadn’t returned.

There was no way she’d have taken this long if she was simply roaming outside or had even gotten a part time job. Which, Penelope highly doubted she could in the first place.

Amelia would have told Penelope. Or she would have at least told her own sister, if that was the case and she’d gotten a job.

As if all this wasn’t enough, the matron had been avoiding Penelope, too. Every time she tried to talk to her about this.

Penelope was beginning to get concerned. The matron seemed to know something about where Amelia had gone, or she’d be panicked too, trying to find her. If that was the case… Why was the matron even avoiding Penelope…?

She’d never done that before.

Matron Anna always greeted her warmly and had never avoided her, even when the matron had been genuinely busy.

By now, Penelope had more than a few theories as to what might have happened. All of them pointed in the same direction. Something had happened to Amelia, something the matron knew, and the matron was afraid to tell them about it.

Perhaps Amelia had fallen ill with some serious disease, something serious enough that she was being treated in a cathedral, and the matron didn’t want to worry them about it by telling them that?

But… that made no sense. They’d be less worried if the matron just told them what happened directly.

Biting her nails, Penelope came to a decision. Yes, she couldn’t just sit outside like this indefinitely. She needed to confront the matron, ask her what had happened.

So she stood up, walked into the orphanage and to the matron’s room, then pushed the door. It was locked…

The matron was inside. Penelope banged at the door, but there was no response. Once, twice, thrice. No matter how loudly she banged the door, the matron… didn’t respond?

“Oye!” a boy’s shout stopped Penelope from continuing. She turned towards the source of the noise. Jack, a fourteen year old boy, one of the more nice and friendly ones, was looking at her with confusion. “What’re you doing? Do you want to break that door down or something? You’re being rude, Penelope. Maybe the matron’s napping?”

Penelope looked at him with a skeptical gaze—a gaze that made the boy blush. “If she was ‘napping’ as you said,” she questioned, “she should have woken up by now, yeah? When I’ve been banging on her door so rudely and loudly?”

Her words made the boy’s blush fade and a contemplative look appear on his face. That contemplative look soon turned into one of nervousness as he spoke. “Do you think she’s unconscious? Did she faint? Or is she ill?”

The boy’s words made Penelope feel a bit anxious too. She’d only thought that the matron was purposefully ignoring her and not opening the door but hadn’t considered she was genuinely unconscious or had fainted.

Jack moved to the door swiftly. He was a bit bigger in size than her, even though they were both of the same age, and began directly slamming into the door. This made Penelope back away, caught off guard.

But a second later, she realized that was indeed the best course of action. Might as well break the door and enter in case the matron was unconscious.

The doors of the orphanage were practically falling apart already. The door had shook a bit, even at Penelope’s violent knocking, let alone Jack’s full effort slams. It didn’t last for even a few seconds before the lock on the other side snapped and one of the door’s hinges broke along with it. Barely attached, the door swung open, and Jack nearly fell over. He caught himself from crashing onto the floor with his hands.

The noise was enough to attract a few of the children who were still in the orphanage. Usually, around this time, most kids were playing outside or roaming nearby, exploring. It was only the older, somewhat more restrained kids who stayed inside the orphanage around now, and thus, when they saw that it was Penelope and Jack making the ruckus—both fellow kids who were seen as the nicest troublemakers around—simply shrugged and either went back to what they were doing or continued watching.

The matron would deal with it, so they didn’t need to confront the kids.

But Penelope couldn’t care less about the other teens who were peeking from the sides of the corridor or the fact that Jack had almost slammed his head on the floor, because as soon as the door opened, she saw the matron lying on the desk, blood trailing down both her nose and mouth.

Her eyes were open, yet her pupils were hollow, and a small bottle lay on the floor, right below her hand—

The matron had… poisoned herself.

Jack, too, froze as he looked at the matron, his eyes turning wide and expression turning blank.

Penelope cupped her mouth with her hands before stepping back, crashing into the wall. She didn’t even notice as she slipped and fell onto her butt. Her gaze was solely focused on the matron.

Jack, however, was seemingly a bit more composed. He, unlike her, noticed the folded paper next to the matron. He stood up shakily and grasped onto it gently, before opening it. Penelope didn’t even process that Jack was doing so.

She simply stared at the matron.

It was only when Jack physically shook her did she notice him and the sheer terror on his face. He handed her the letter, and she opened it.

Black mages. Amelia was taken. They gave me a gold coin for it. They equated a kid’s life to a gold coin. I can’t live with myself after this.

I’m sorry, kids.

It seemed Penelope’s state finally tipped the watching kids off that something was wrong. They approached the door curiously before either gasping or going wide-eyed.

Penelope read through the letter blankly, again and again, before her mind finally kicked into action.

Black mages. They’d taken Amelia.

They’d taken Amelia.

She had to do something.

She had to do something!

But what? How? She had to save Amelia. Every second counted, and the more she delayed, the more the chances of Amelia either dying or being in pain. Already, Penelope had wasted an entire day—

“T-the city guards,” Jack murmured. “Let’s go to the city guards.”

Penelope lifted her head to look up at him, before nodding. “Y-yes. Right. Yes. Let’s go to the city guards.”