Membership Token

"Mr. Angell!"

The moment Enlise saw Angell coming downstairs, she happily ran up to greet him.

But aside from Enlise, the other children looked somewhat fearful.

After all, to children, the master of such a large Workshop was someone worthy of awe—especially when this Workshop Master looked like a Black Mage from stories who specialized in eating children. He wore a Black Robe, his face was pale, and a pitch-black Two-Tailed Cat followed at his feet. He looked terrifying.

The children did not know that this "Black Mage" was actually afraid of them too.

Angell cautiously kept his distance from the group of hatchlings.

He walked halfway down the stairs and stopped only after making sure every child could see him.

Angell said, "It's almost seven. Shouldn't you be going home?"

His words stirred up a commotion among the children.

"Is it really that late already?"

"Ah, it's dark outside!"

"Oh no, my mom's going to be mad again!"

But some playful children hid among the crowd and shouted, "Boss, why do you care what time we go home?"

"I won't care once you're adults," Angell replied coldly.

He did not want to care even now, but Enlise's classmates were far too young, only twelve or thirteen. If one of them got lost on the way home too late at night, he could not afford the responsibility.

Seeing Angell like this, Enlise looked uneasy.

She suddenly was not sure whether bringing her classmates here had been the right thing to do.

Angell noticed Enlise's disappointment. He patted her little head and softened his tone. "Besides, nothing in my shop is ready yet. What could possibly be fun here?"

"...We think this Game Table is really fun!" Maya glanced at Angell's hand resting on Enlise's head, then bravely answered, "And isn't it good that we're supporting your business?"

"That's true. You're my first batch of customers." Angell pretended to think for a moment before replying slowly, "Then, as special treatment, I'll give you a gift."

"A gift?!"

No child could resist that word.

Angell smiled at the sight and waved his hand.

A glowing white diamond-shaped Crystal appeared before every child, including Enlise.

One child immediately grabbed it curiously and found their name appearing on its crystalline surface.

Angell explained, "This is your Membership Token. With this Crystal, during business hours, you'll receive two free chances to play every day. They can't be saved up."

The clever children immediately understood. "So that means we can come play again in the future?! And for free?"

"Only twice for free," Angell said. "And only during daytime when you don't have classes."

"How stingy!" one child said.

But it was indeed quite late now, and they had received a little gift from the Workshop Master. Though the playful children were somewhat reluctant to leave, they still went home satisfied.

Watching the little brats leave, Mithril asked strangely, "Master, when did you make those Membership Tokens?"

"Standard procedure. How could a game launch without deciding where to put the paid features?" He did not just have membership cards—he also had a complete payment plan for keeping Players hooked!

Angell said this casually, accidentally revealing his tail as a scummy planner.

But they could not forget the greatest contributor today.

Angell turned to Enlise and said, "You worked hard today. Let's have something nice for dinner tonight!"

"Okay!"

Enlise broke into a brilliant smile.

As the children went home, news that the Magic Gear Workshop had an incredibly fun Game Table began spreading through the city.

Children's ability to spread news could not be underestimated, especially when it came to anything fun.

Saying they could spread the news throughout the entire city in a single evening would be an exaggeration, but covering a whole neighborhood was absolutely possible.

After all, this era had no internet, no mobile phones, and even Television was not widely available. On top of that, Charity Schools assigned hardly any homework. After dinner, children just ran wild in the alleys outside their homes—it was safer than playing out on the main streets.

So once these children returned home, their brothers, their brothers' neighbors' children, their brothers' neighbors' children's brothers, their brothers' neighbors' children's brothers' neighbors' children... all soon heard that Magic Gear in the city center had a new Magic Game table that cost only fifty cents per play.

Most people forgot about it after hearing the news, but a few idle people came over to see for themselves.

Thus, not long after Magic Gear opened the next day, Angell saw several teenagers peering inside from the entrance.

"Can I help you?"

Angell used Teleportation to appear at the entrance and asked the teenagers.

The teenagers' faces immediately filled with terror.

"Ghost!"

They screamed and fled at once.

Angell blankly watched their retreating backs. After quite a while, he asked the Workshop's guardian beast, "...Do I really look that scary?"

Hearing this, Mithril carefully looked Angell over for the first time.

If one looked closely, Angell was rather pretty—the sort who could leave people stunned if he put some effort into dressing up.

But this was not a problem with his face.

Magic Gear itself was an old building with dim lighting. Angell wore black Mage robes all day long and nearly blended into the darkness, leaving only his pale face visible. He was also too lazy to walk and preferred using Teleportation.

When a white face suddenly appeared in the shadows, Commoners would probably run away before they even saw what he looked like!

Mithril answered fairly, "It's not a problem with your face. It's a problem with your entrance."

"My entrance?"

"Forget it. I'll welcome customers next time, meow," Mithril said with a headache.

Angell readily agreed.

Every shut-in had a considerable amount of social anxiety in their genes. Naturally, he was happy not to deal with strangers.

However, "next time" made them wait three hours.

Angell noticed that quite a few people passing Magic Gear curiously peered inside, but most did not dare approach. For them, the luxurious storefront from the Legacy Magic Era had instead become a deterrent today.

"Maybe we should advertise," Angell said, looking at a distant newspaper boy. "I wonder how much it would cost to have those children hand out flyers for us."

"You can't afford it no matter how much it costs," Mithril said bluntly. "You need customers before you have money."

Just after the Black Cat said that, voices came from the entrance.

"Are you sure this is the place? It doesn't look like somewhere we can enter to read books."

"But it really is an Alchemy Workshop, right?"

"But it doesn't look like a place where you can play games at all. Your little brother wasn't kidnapped, was he? I heard rich people are all perverts."

Angell and Mithril exchanged a glance.

Mithril became even more determined not to let Angell receive customers.

"I'll greet them," Mithril said. "Wait here, and don't show yourself no matter what!"

For a moment, Angell felt discriminated against.

Kata and his friends were nervously peeking through the doors of Magic Gear.

Kata had heard about this Workshop from his little brother.

As a seventh-year Charity School student, his courses were much easier than those poor little brats'—provided he had no plans to continue his education—so he had plenty of time to waste.

Today, however, Kata had not found anything fun to do, nor did he want to take on odd jobs. While bored out of his mind, he remembered the "super, super fun Game Table" his little brother had mentioned the previous night and suggested they come take a look at the Workshop.

Of course, Kata did not have high expectations. Who would take a little brat's words seriously?

But when he actually arrived at Magic Gear's entrance, he was startled.

Wasn't this the largest Alchemy Workshop in the city?

Although Kata could not remember the Workshop's name, as a native of the Magic Capital, he knew of it. He even knew that it had nearly gone bankrupt some time ago.

But whether this Workshop had gone bankrupt or not, it was not somewhere Commoners could enter.

Could his idiot little brother have gotten it wrong?

Kata wondered suspiciously.

His friend peered into the Workshop and said, "It's empty inside. It doesn't look like it's open for business—"

"Welcome to Magic Gear!"

At that moment, a sickeningly sweet voice rang out.

Along with the crisp jingle of bells, a black cat with two tails walked into the light at the entrance.

Kata's friend immediately cried out, "A cat, a cat can talk..."

His voice gradually faded.

As residents of the Magic Capital, seeing a magical cat did not seem like something worth making such a fuss over about. Probably.

Besides, being stared at by the Black Cat's gold-and-purple heterochromatic eyes while shouting like that made him feel rather foolish.

Kata's friend reflected on this.

Seeing that it had successfully intimidated these stupid humans, Mithril nodded in satisfaction.

At least they had not run away.

Though Mithril thought this, it asked in a cloyingly sweet voice, "Honored guests, have you also come for this Workshop's new product?"

As it spoke, its Black Shadow-like tail slapped the heavy Workshop doors.

The doors opened wider than before, and the light shining in from outside landed perfectly on the "Arcade Machine" in the hall.

Kata and his friends nervously looked at the table as though it were a bomb.

They seemed to want to say something.

But Mithril gave them no chance to speak and continued sweetly, "You are truly very fortunate, meow! The Workshop's new product is currently in its testing period. You can try it once for only fifty cents."

Hearing the Black Cat say this, the teenagers finally calmed down.

Of course the largest Alchemy Workshop could not possibly be that cheap. So it was only so cheap because they were testing it?

Kata thought.

Humans were like that. As long as they had a suitable explanation, they could get used to any strange occurrence.

They even began imagining things.

So once testing was over, the Workshop would sell this magical tool at a high price?

If they wanted to play it, they had to do it now?

Kata and his friends exchanged looks, suddenly feeling that they really were lucky.

Still, Kata asked to confirm, "It really only costs fifty cents?"

"Of course. Magic Gear never deceives its customers," the Black Cat said proudly. It stepped back a few paces, jumped onto the table, and looked levelly at the customers. "Won't you give it a try, meow?"

The teenagers were finally persuaded.

They carefully entered the Workshop and asked curiously, "How do we play?!"

"First, you must drop a coin into this slot..."

Mithril guided them step by step.

Before long, the game had conquered the teenagers.

And with several ordinary teenagers there, later customers became much less wary. They entered the Workshop voluntarily without even needing Mithril's guidance, and once inside, they could no longer bear to leave.

By the time Enlise and her classmates finished school and returned to the Workshop, the area around the Game Table was already packed with people.