“You know of me?” Emma asked, looking at Randal all over. He wasn’t wearing the uniform, so she couldn’t help but wonder—

“Aaah!” Betty’s screams caught the attention of many staff and customers in the shop, making them look back at him in concern. “You’re lord Randal?” she asked.

“I am,” Randal replied. “Has young lady heard of me?”

“Who hasn’t?” she asked. “Ah, my apologies. I am Elizabeth Briggs, daughter of Truven Briggs. I’m the Mayor’s niece.”

She gave a small curtsy. “You can call me Betty, Lord Randal.”

“It is nice to meet you, Lady Betty,” he said before turning toward Emma. “Lady Emma, you seem surprised by your own father’s shop. Have you not been here in a while?”

“I’ve been at the institute for the past 3 months. I do not know what has been going on around here.”

“Ah, I see,” he said. “Your father… Ning really is your father, right?”

Emma nodded.

“Well, Ning should be in the back room. If not, he should be away, teaching the young students he’s gathered,” Randal said. “Do you wish me to take you to him?”

“Yes,” Emma said. “But can you first tell me why those 3 girls over there are looking at me as though they want to kill me?” Randal turned around and watched his 3 wives glare at Emma and Betty. Randal shook his head. “Do not worry about them—”

“I was not,” Emma quickly replied.

Randal gave a chuckle. “They’re my wives. They are worried about every girl they see me meet because they know they’ll have to share me,” he said with a sigh.

“Those are your wives?” Emma looked at the three. “They’re pretty. You can tell them I’m not interested in you. If I ever do find a husband in the future, I wouldn’t be sharing him with anyone anyway.”

She walked off, leaving Randal and the others to follow her.

Emma still couldn’t understand why the room was so large, but since it was her father, anything was possible. She walked up to the backdoor, and with Randal behind her, nobody stopped her.

She unlocked the door to walk into another large room, only there were many, many weapons and artifacts, kept around in crates.

“So many,” Emma said softly when she saw the sheer amount of items that were in that room. “How are there so many things here? There is no way my father could have made so many of them.”

“Lyra?” a voice called from the side.

Lyra, who had been silently watching everything from Emma’s shoulders immediately jumped down and ran to her mother. Umbra took her child she hadn’t seen in 3 months to her embrace and started licking her to show her affection.

“Umbra!” Emma walked up to her and quickly gave her a hug. “How have you been? Where’s Lory?”

“Lory should be with Rova, who is with your father,” Umbra said. “Can you ask your father to bring him back?”

“Sure, where is he?” Emma asked.

Umbra pointed to Randal. “He can take you,” she said.

Randal immediately used his Space Essence to create a portal that led them somewhere far away. Emma’s eyes narrowed and she turned toward Betty, who was watching everything with slacked jaws.

“Do you want to come?” Emma asked her.

“Y… Yes?” Betty said, hesitant.

“Let us leave then,” Emma said and pulled Emma through the portal, arriving on the other side. The other side was a large, open island with a large grassland where people had set up tents. Outside, they all seemed to be busy with many things, most of which Emma noticed were making artifacts.

Had the crates of items in the backroom belonged to these men and women?

Ning had been next to one of the men and quickly turned when he sensed the new arrival. He waved his hands and called them over.

“You’re back?” Ning asked. “Are you on break?”

“1 week,” Emma said. “Papa, it seems you created an empire while I was away.”

“Barely,” Ning said. “It will be so much bigger later. You will be surprised.” He was about to turn when he noticed the girl behind Emma.

“Ah! Betty, right?” he asked. “I’m happy to meet you again.”

“The pleasure is all mine, sir Ning,” Betty curtsied at Ning as well.

“You can just call me Ning,” Ning said. “Why did you guys come here? I could’ve come to you.”

“I was on my way here to take Lory and met your daughter in the shop,” Randal answered. “I decided to take them here to meet you.”

“Ah, thanks,” Ning said. “Lory… is with Rova over there.”

“Why are you taking Lory?” Emma asked the man with a surprised look.

“Oh… I’m kind of indebted to your father in a way. So, as repayment, I’m to take the little cub and have him fight in the arena to help him get experience,” he said. “Can I meet him before you take him away, please?” Emma asked.

“Of course,” Randal said and walked away.

Betty was shocked by the entire thing that was happening, the location being only part of the shock. “Where… are we exactly?” she asked.

“This place? It’s an island in the west,” Ning said. “It’s large enough to fit a city, so I decided to make this the place where I teach people how to make conduits. They’re all my students, and for getting taught, I get to sell their item for a percentage of the price.”

Betty frowned a little when she heard that and looked around at everyone that was there.

“Are all of them here to learn that?” she asked.

“Yes, all of them,” Ning said. “They circle through who cooks and who does what every day, but everyone is here to learn.”

“What is the… recruitment policy?” Betty asked. “Like… how do you filter who you bring and who you don’t?” Emma noticed the eyes of the few that were around suddenly perk up, although they tried to hide it pretty well.

“Policy? There is none,” Ning said. “Whoever wants to join can join.”