Jiu Ming felt much more at ease. Even though Panel-kun had rejected him, it had still achieved some of the results he had anticipated—for instance, confirming that if his "authority" rose to a certain level, at the very least to the level of the first generation, then even if he could not alter the Mysterious Shop as a whole, he could still add certain things to it.
That had only been Jiu Ming's guess before; now it was simply confirmed. As for exactly what the situation would be like when the time came, that could only be discussed later. Why had he had such an idea?
It was because Hairball had inspired him... That thing had been created by one generation of shopkeepers, right? Since it could be recreated here, that meant the purification mechanism known as "Hairball" had been preserved within the Mysterious Shop's core... Even if it was not part of the core, it must surely have been kept in the records.
To reach that point, he must already have touched that level... But Jiu Ming was not sure whether that level was the one he needed to reach, or whether he needed to go even higher.
"Oh? It's already done." That evening, the now-spirited Evangeline looked at the "villa" Jiu Ming had moved over, her tone carrying a hint of delight.
"Too bad it's only temporary." Jiu Ming shrugged. This thing was still being sustained by his power. "Once I leave this world, it'll definitely disappear."
"...Leave... Oh, is that so?" The corner of Evangeline's lips twitched almost imperceptibly before returning to normal. Seemingly casually, she pushed the documents at hand aside. "It's not as if there's no way to deal with that."
She reached out and patted the transparent bottle containing the Time Villa, nodding. "Just