?Rova's eyes were wide as a goose egg as she stood in front of the thousands of Fire Coins that lay before her. It was night and the shop was closed already. It was time for her to leave as well, but the money in front of her kept her from going immediately.
Ning smiled as he looked at her gleeful face. They were all happy.
It wasn't just her though. Even Hadden and Laila had come down and were gawking at the pile in front of them.
"14,750," the girl said with excitement. "14750!!!"
"Wait, wait," Ning said quickly. "First, let me take out Miss Laila's share. It's in the contracts."
Rova tried to calm herself down and waited for Ning and Laila to get done with their share first.
"150 coins for my month of rent," Ning pushed aside a small chunk of the money for Laila. Then he pushed out a larger chunk toward her. "And 3200 coins for the 75% you get from your husband's weapons being sold.
The old woman blinked in disbelief. "Wait, 3200 coins?" she asked, surprising herself when he spoke out the words.
"Yes," Ning said. "I sold over 4200 coins worth of your items. Those were the ones I prioritized really."
The old woman couldn't believe it. Tears filled her eyes and she quickly wiped it away. "Heeran would be happy to find out so many of his items were sold in just a single day."
Nind didn't doubt he would. From what he had heard from the woman, even selling 3 weapons a month had been a difficult task 10 years ago when her husband was alive, and now it was hard enough to sell 1 in a month.
She had been living on the bare minimum to just survive. She didn't know what to do with this much money. "I'll have to think of things."
Ning didn't say anything and looked at the excited Rova. "5%, was it not?" he asked her.
The girl gave a confused look before quickly nodding as excitement filled her once again.
"5% of the 14,750 would be…"
"What?" the girl said loudly.
Ning paused. "What's wrong?"
"Am I taking 5% from everything we sold today?" she asked. "Not… not just the ones that were yours?"
Ning looked from her to Laila, then back to her. "I promised you, didn't I? For all the sales that are done in the first month, you'll get 5%. And I meant ALL of it."
The girl's eyes could not go any wider.
"5% of that is… 750 when rounded up," Ning said. "Why don't you take 800?"
Ning gave her 800 Fire coins.
The girl could only stare at the coins that came her way. 800 Fire coins. In a city where 200 Fire coins were enough to live freely for the month, she had received 800 in a single day.
That… that was not something she had expected to ever earn. 800 Fire coins in a single day. When she first took the job, she had been happy to earn anywhere close to 100 in a single month, given the shop's status.
She was making do with what she could by making Fire Coins of her own, but the best she could do was make a dozen or so every few days it took her to fill her core again.
"Are… are you sure?" Rova asked, her hands already grabbing onto the 800 coins as if she was worried Ning would take it.
"Did you want more?" Ning asked her.
"No!" the girl quickly said, taking the coins into her storage. "Thank you, boss."
Ning said nothing and looked back at the pile of coins he still had. 4000 were gone, but that was still less than a third of the entire thing.
Ning separated around 500 coins and pushed them toward Hadden.
Hadden looked back in surprise, not understanding what was happening.
"You've worked hard enough, so you deserve some too," Ning said.
The young man was surprised to see so many coins. And unlike Rova, he didn't hesitate. "Thank you, teacher," he said, quickly reaching for the coins. However, before he could get to it, Ning took the coins back.
"You have nowhere to keep it," he said. "I'll keep it for you until the day you can use that necklace with your own power."
Hadden reached to his necklace with his left hand, thought for a moment, and nodded. "I will do as you say, teacher," he said.
Ning took away everything else. "Alright, we should go back now," he said. "You especially, Rova. Your parents will want you back."
"I am a grown woman, thank you. I can stay out as long as I want," she said with a snort. "Besides, I need to go buy something expensive to feed my parents. They will want to celebrate my earnings."
"As you say."
Once Rova was gone, Ning and Hadden went to get dinner with Laila. Throughout the dinner, Ning could only wonder what it was that he should showcase the next day.
He had made a few interesting artifacts, but most of them had been made out of sheer curiosity, and he couldn't exactly sell those ones.
'Not yet at least,' he thought. 'I'll have to start slow. If they see the other ones, I will have the empire after me.'
On that note, there was also the chance of people coming to steal from his shop at night. 'Should I keep guard?' he thought but quickly shook his head. That wouldn't be needed.
'If they do come, I hope they will be happy meeting Umbra,' he thought. He couldn't help but chuckle as he thought about the possibilities.
"Oh wait," he spoke out loud.
"What's wrong?" Laila asked.
"I just got an idea for what to make for tomorrow," Ning said.
"What will you make?" Laila asked.
"If you want to know, you can come watch me in the arena tomorrow," Ning said. "It will definitely be something no one will be expecting."
