Ravian stood in complete darkness, feeling somewhat sore from standing in this cramped space. Losing patience, he turned in the direction where Adrian was supposed to be and spoke as his voice echoed slightly.

"Hey, you are still there, right? It’s a bit scary not to be able to see anything. How much longer do we have to wait?"

Looking into the darkness, he waited for an answer. The answer came not long after, as he heard Adrian’s voice that still sounded completely calm even in this situation.

"It shouldn’t be too long now; the door above us should be opening any moment."

’How can you know that?’

After making him memorise everything written on those pages, Adrian began circling the shop as if trying to find something. And to Ravian’s surprise, he actually did find something.

It was a small door hidden from sight due to being covered by boxes. Adrian had tried forcing it open at first, but the door had proven to be quite sturdy.

But just when Ravian was about to offer his help, Adrian suddenly pointed his finger at the door. Mana began gathering at the tip, twisting unnaturally and forming strange patterns akin to constellations, and condensing into a small ball of starlight.

The next second, the ball shot forward, colliding with the door. It expanded in size, then suddenly vanished, leaving behind a perfectly circular hole in the door.

Ravian felt chills as his mind began imagining the result if Adrian had fired that ball at him instead. It was somewhat of a bad habit of his to imagine impossible scenarios in his mind.

And since then, the two of them had been waiting inside the small passage behind that door.

Ravian opened his mouth once again.

"How did you know about this place, anyway?"

The answer came soon after.

"Most shops have a back door, used for bringing the goods inside, since the front entrance is reserved for customers. Anyway, you remember everything you need to do, right?"

Ravian nodded. Though since it was completely dark, he wasn’t sure if Adrian saw him nod.

But suddenly, he heard a strange noise above his head. It sounded similar to the sound of a lock being opened. He instantly understood what that meant.

The door above their head was finally going to open.

’I can finally leave this cramped place.’

In his excitement, he hurried forward, pushed open the door, and got outside. The bright lights in the room momentarily blinded his vision as his eyes adjusted to the light after spending so long in the dark place below.

As his vision returned to normal, he saw an office-like room with many people inside, all looking at the two of them in confusion.

’Huh? This wasn’t what I was expecting. Now, how am I supposed to know who Velmar is among these people...’

After thinking for a bit, he cleared his throat and spoke after scanning the room.

"So, who among you is the man named Velmar?"

But as soon as he spoke those words, every person present in the room suddenly became tense. He could clearly sense the tense and fearful gazes directed at the two of them.

"W-who are you kids, and how did you find this entrance? It was supposed to be well-hidden."

He turned to the one who spoke. It was a young man.

"We do not have the time to discuss those things. Could you tell me who Velmar is among you? We are here to offer help."

A quiet atmosphere settled inside the room as the fear directed at them slowly turned into skepticism. Just then, a man dressed in a black coat with long hair and a thick beard raised his hand and pointed at himself.

"It is me, I am Velmar. You mentioned that you are here to offer help. Could you elaborate?"

The man’s voice sounded calm and composed, but Ravian could sense deep emotions hidden behind that calmness. Still, the man seemed to be good at restraining his emotions and expressions.

Ravian deepened his smile as he explained.

"We know your current situation. An angry crowd is outside, and this shop’s very existence is at stake. We understand how you must be feeling right now, so we wanted to help you. We are offering to calm the people surrounding this shop."

Everyone’s expression changed as they heard him, looking at him as though he had spoken something absurd and illogical. But Velmar didn’t look at them the same way. He was rubbing his beard while contemplating.

"Hmm...," Velmar finally spoke. "You don’t sound like you are joking around. Though we are strangers, you would not help me as charity, right?"

’It’s going as planned.’

"We would like our efforts to be compensated, yes. But that is not strange, is it? That doesn’t decrease the value of our intentions, and you must know that. I believe that a thousand and a hundred lux should be fair, don’t you think? After all, this shop would earn you that amount within a month if we save it."

The man fell into thought, while everyone present in the room looked at him strangely. As if they couldn’t believe he was even taking the two of them seriously.

Ravian could understand those people. After all, the two of them were children.

He briefly glanced at Adrian, and he was simply observing everything calmly, as if he wasn’t part of this situation at all.

Just then, the man raised his head and locked eyes with him. Suddenly, Ravian began feeling a very light, invisible pressure pressing down on his shoulders.

"Then let me ask you this," Velmar spoke in a more formal tone. "What gives credibility to your words? The two of you are children; how can you accomplish something that nobody in this room can? For what reason should I take you up on that offer?"

Ravian opened his mouth, but no words came out.

’That’s... I didn’t memorise an answer for a question like this...’

What was he going to do now? He would need to give some sort of answer. But what?

"It seems you don’t have anything to solidify your credibility. If so, then I have no reason to—"

"You do have a reason." Adrian suddenly spoke, cutting off the man mid-speech.

Velmar frowned as he turned his attention to Adrian. But that frown eased soon after as he gestured for Adrian to go on and speak further.

Adrian took a step forward.

"You are asking the wrong question. It doesn’t matter if we have credibility or not; you have no better choice than taking us up on our offer. More than that, you only need to compensate us if we accomplish this task, so if we fail, then you lose absolutely nothing."

The man seemed slightly taken aback. The way he was looking at Adrian also changed.

Velmar then turned back to Ravian.

"So, how are you going to resolve all this? Your confidence suggests that you already have a plan."

Ravian tightened his grip on the pages he was still holding in his hand in a folded state, which caused the man to notice them too. Widening his smile, he answered with as much confidence as he could muster.

"That is correct, we do have a plan. And it’s a solid one."

Saying that, he turned towards the door.

’Now then, it is time to greet the crowd.’

Things moved quickly from that point. They went back outside through the same method they had used to enter, because they couldn’t allow themselves to be seen having any connection with this shop.

As the two of them exited through the large hole Adrian had created, Adrian quietly parted ways with him, disappearing into the distance.

Ravian took a deep breath, trying to calm his heartbeat drumming a bit loudly against his chest.

’He said that I need to stand somewhere where most of the crowd can see me, right? Let’s look for that.’

He slowly walked to the front of the shop, where the crowd was the largest and most dense. The collective shouting no longer sounded like a simple buzz. It burrowed into his ears the closer he got.

"You bastards have no right to be here!"

"Nobody is buying your crap! Get out!"

"Drag out this clown; we need to make an example out of him!"

People were all shouting in unison. At the very front of the crowd, the ones who were seemingly leading all these people were about five men. All five of them had bulky, muscular builds, and three of them had long, bushy beards.

’Now, how do I figure out the leader among those five?’

The plan Adrian had given him had to do with the one leading everyone, so it was essential for him to understand who the leader was before he started.

He took another deep breath to calm his heartbeat, which had sped up again. Looking around, he spotted a few wooden crates piled on top of each other near the shop’s entrance.

Making his way through the dense crowd of people, he reached the carts and climbed on top of them as if he were climbing onto a stage.

From that height, he could get a better view of the crowd’s size, which left him feeling overwhelmed for a few moments before he shook off that feeling. Then he took a deep breath and... shouted at the top of his lungs.

"I HAVE SEEN ENOUGH! WHY ARE YOU ALL BULLYING THIS SHOP?!!!"