Newly Broke Heroine! [Book One Complete, Cozy Fantasy Adventure]

The one thing Fiona did not like about running a business with other partners?

Convincing everyone else to see her point of view. Which was why she had put together data to make her point, in a few short words: they were thinly staffed, and they were suffering lost business as a result.

And suffering from a moody elf, too. That wasn't on her chart, but it was indisputable.

She tapped on the projection from her datapad. "We have one cashier and attendant for the whole store. One kiosk for our level of traffic is insanity; it's far too few! Someone had to wait ten minutes in line. And with the holidays coming up in the next few weeks? That wait time is going to double, triple, even! Bored and impatient customers leave!"

She laid out the additional rationale, including the payroll and their expenditures.

Five minutes later, Greg finally nodded his head. "Were you planning this for a while?"

"I mean, yeah? Greg, you haven't worked retail nearly as long as I have. Trust me, we should be hiring part-time cashiers, giving people some skills, and also covering our shortages in manpower. Even with Tami, we're still short."

Bonnie nodded in agreement. "She is correct. At the rate I'm going through runes, I'm stretched thin. My rune enchantment station accounts for twenty percent of all income, but thirty-five percent of profits. It's huge! It's pulling almost double its weight, Greg! I need help there, too! We've just been so busy with the crisis of the week, we haven't really planned this out!" She pointed to her rune station, in standby. "Greg. We had an initial period of tightening the belt. Now we need to expand a bit."

Greg steepled his fingers, looking at the numbers. "You raise valid points. But do we want to do this now? In the middle of everything else? We have Liam running a security check for the incoming dignitaries and prepping us for our itinerary. We'll have to–"

"Add extra staff, temporarily," Fiona finished. Greg read the room and sighed softly. "Payroll could be expanded. You know it, I know it. It's not giving up coin, it's building manpower for getting more sales. Plus, we can think about bringing a few on board permanently or as part-time employees."

Darla pushed the point home. "Greg, understaffing is no fun. I actually might need to hire a new person at my little shop down the row. Now, I think we'll only get so far before we reach saturation on manpower needed. C'mon. We have some cushion."

"And a kingdom in the hole for an ungodly amount." He scrunched his brow before letting out a defeated sigh. "I also cannot deny we're scrambling around as it were. We may need seasonal help soon."

He sized up Lani, who gulped anxiously, and postured while rubbing his chin. "Miss Swiftheart vouches for you, which is normally good enough for most. But you must pass scrutiny with me."

"O-oh, yes, of course! I learned a few things while I assisted Miss Swiftheart during her stay in Vale. I'm a fast study," the avian said, her feathers ruffling. "I've tendered cash, know contracts and negotiations. Fiona indicated to me that you have set up a recurring payment system with some clientele, yes?"

"Yes, and it's too much for me to track." Greg rose from his seat and slid his glasses back on the bridge of his nose. "Describe to me what negotiation system we have for our sales, Lani. Be descriptive."

Were Fiona's eyes deceiving her? Greg was going for the cool look, now? I knew it, he's secretly a total lovable dork.

Lani left her notes tucked away, speaking from memory. "You create simple written contracts with threaded security layers with your enchantress. You agree on a price point, terms of payment, and the overall finance charge, which I believe you keep low compared to historical norms. You also add conditions for early buyout, breach of terms, and designated collateral, should the borrowers default. You define write-off conditions in the unfortunate circumstance that an adventurer is unable to pay back due to injury or death. All in all, competent. Probably not as tight as Vales' recent contracts."

Greg narrowed his eyes. "Did Swiftheart instruct you?"

"She gave me a heads-up on what questions to expect and to bring up my qualifications." Despite her young age, Lani was proving quite level-headed, and Fiona knew how hard it was to crack the threshold of Greg's satisfaction at times. "I'm detail-oriented and adaptive."

Greg dipped his chin, a subtle approval. "Perfect. Now I have a new financier and saleswoman. We will start on a provisional basis. If you have a question, I implore you to ask it for clarification." He relaxed his body and gestured to Doug. "You've spent time with her. Any objections?"

"Nope. Fiona and I are aligned on this. Plus, given the recent…events of Vale, it's probably better to set her up with something she can grow into. Now Kali won't be the lowest on the pecking order." Doug grinned as he cast a sideways glance at the white feathered avian, who sputtered out a retort.

"Lowest? Pecking order? First off, that was the lamest joke ever, and second, you're the shortest one here!" Kali ruffled his slowly growing feather crest, giving Doug an eyeball.

"Doesn't count. I'm a nine-foot-tall dragon." Doug lifted his head proudly, standing on his tippy-claws for emphasis. Kali picked up on that, and a leering grin crossed the avian's beak.

"Oh, you know who you sounded like there? You sounded like Fiona." Even the elven glare of doom couldn't put the youngster in his place, and he gave her a puzzled look in response. "It's just an observation."

"Yes, continue to observe," Fiona said with a light growl to her words. "Kali, how's our security upgrade going?"

He pointed to a half-finished arcanist panel. "Look, no offense, Miss Swiftheart, but this is a detailed job, and I have to stop and research as I go to do the job right. Bonnie upgraded the security wards. I need to route some more amplifier runes and install a capacitor crystal for redundancy. You know, in case another dragon decides to melt our front door."

"I can't make any promises for what other dragon bullies may attempt," Fiona sighed. "Alright, everyone, let's get to work. Lani, you're with me and Greg. We'll fast-track your orientation. But first, one small, cursory thing. Because everything about Vale makes me slightly paranoid. Not you, though."

Lani breathed a sigh of relief. "Believe me, not all of Vale is as bad as the capital. But it certainly drags down the rest of the country. What's this cursory thing?"

"Making sure they can't like, drag you back through devil contract shenanigans," Fiona explained.

"Hey, I heard that!" Darla shouted from afar, grinning as she shook a fist. "I know where you live, Swiftheart! I might have to borrow the therapy tub for a weekend!"

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After several diagnostic spells, Bonnie confirmed Lani was not under any contractual obligations to Vale or any of the contract houses. The kitsune spent about an hour examining the young avian with every diagnostic spell she had at her disposal, and could find nothing. Lani seemed to be relieved at that notion, too.

"Well, clean bill of health. Minus the fractured fingers," Bonnie concluded. "I'm not a healer, but that regen potion I cooked up should mend the bones in a day or two. It's always tougher to heal bones."

"Yes, that is one thing they get right: avians have lighter bones." Lani sighed and set her clawed feet on the ground after sitting at the bench for a while. "So they didn't trick me into a false sense of freedom. I was ninety-five percent sure, but it did help to check."

"I can imagine if the government changes hands again in Vale, we'll get a round of refugees," Fiona murmured. The fact that they had to have this discussion at all bothered her. "Alright, let's get back to it."

Afterward, things settled into a regular pattern until the weekend. An uptick in customers was now looking for gifts for the holidays, and Fiona found herself scrambling not only to sell inventory, but to start ordering new ones.

"Kali, did you update our order slips?" she asked as she worked on cashing out a young catfolk, now sporting a pair of ornate bracers they seemed excited about. "I think at the rate we're going, in a few months, we might very well go through our initial inventory. Minus the albatross."

Kali gave her a frazzled look. "This may be the worst bird joke, ever. I know where this is going."

Fiona chuckled softly, surprising him. "Well, yes, an albatross is a bird, but this is more of a literary idiom. I'm talking about that thing," she explained while pointing out the Armoire of Invincibility. You probably have never heard of that idiom, have you? It's from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Basically, it's bad luck for a sailor to kill a seabird, and as punishment, the guy got to wear the dead animal as a macabre memento. It's a massive burden around your neck."

Kali peered at the armoire that showed no signs of being offended. "I don't think you'd be able to put it around your neck."

Fiona groaned and buried her head in her arms. "Forget it. That thing isn't going anywhere. No one wants it, it'll cost money to get rid of, and there's no doorway to another world at the back of it, either. Worst part is, I have two of those kinds of things."

He snapped his fingers in response. "You mean that giant golden statue still sitting in storage? No one on Cepalune can afford that. How did Doug afford it?"

The kobold in question wandered over. "It's actually not as expensive as you might think," Doug corrected. "That piece was sort of a joke gift to Thameson the second, up in the Arkantines. A dwarf wanted something fancy, but something so difficult to steal that no one would bother with it. So, they made it very heavy. I think it has a minor gravity rune embedded in it."

"It took a dozen guild members to lift it, and Bonnie helped lighten the load," Greg pointed out. "I hate that statue. It'll be sitting in there forever. It's not in great taste either."

"Oh, you've peered at the writing?" Doug wore a toothy smirk. "Like what you read?"

His response was an eye roll. Kali put his hand out as if he expected a better explanation. Doug let out a soft chuckle. "It's a bunch of lewd stories in runic form, kid. Hence, the joke gift."

"Sheesh, and the adults are the ones running the show?" Kali chuckled before turning to the kitsune. "Bonnie, any more runic material precursors that you need? I have to place this order this afternoon, or we'll be buried under the holiday rush jobs."

Bonnie glanced at her datapad. "More metal flux, six dozen rune blanks for the kiln, and…eh…throw in some more magical gemstones, low grade. Hank will know what I mean on the form." Bonnie smoothed her fur mane and let out a soft sigh. "I keep saying that magical armor and weapons should not be holiday gifts. Or grappling hooks. Especially those. Every year, kids want to play guards and thieves, and guess what? Someone always ends up getting hit in the eye by one. Every year. Like the label on the package isn't enough warning!"

"Let me guess, all parents say 'you'll gouge your eye out' in some demented singsong voice?" Fiona asked in an amused manner.

The kitsune snapped her fingers and grinned. "Damn, you pick it up quick! That's basically what they say. Anyway, what are you doing this holiday?"

"Me? Well, I dunno. Hanging out with you guys, I presume," Fiona proposed. "And certain select miniature dragons."

Doug glanced around, playing into it with a smug expression. "Who, me? Do you know anyone else like that? Can't be many of those around. Are we going to close the store for a few days?"

"I don't see why not. Everyone will be chilling for basically an entire week, according to Greg." Fiona shrugged. "It would be minimal business anyway, but right now? It's a rush."

"And, we still have a new arrival next week." Bonnie's stark reminder brought reality back into focus, and Fiona sighed.

"Yeah. That's going to be an adjustment."

Fiona finally had more than two days in a row without drama. Lani proved surprisingly competent at picking up things as she went, now assisting Greg on the floor with setting up contracts and financing.

She was a fast study, as she'd stated. Before long, Greg's supervision was limited to cursorily checking her work and giving smaller pointers.

In the meantime, things got busy as the end of the week neared. She couldn't remember the last time there'd been a waiting line at the little cashier kiosk, and she went as fast as she could, now working on a datapad to speed things up.

"So, we have a dozen mana potions, a wand of lightning, shock-resistant gloves, alchemical distillate, tubing, various beakers and flasks, a fire elemental burner for chemical heating…" She narrowed her eyes at the list of items her customer had. "...and a hundred field matches."

"Yeah, in case the elementals go out," the young man said quickly, flipping coins through his fingers like he was a street magician trying sleight of hand.

She often wondered why people bought what they did. She'd always constructed a theory in her head about why people needed what they needed, if it wasn't obvious.

Her theory right now? This young, anxious man in front of her was either a new student at the alchemist guild…or he was about to go off the reservation and start brewing bad.

Especially with that many mana potions in one go. "Kid? Be real with me? Are these all for you? Taking one of these is like…an alchemical hangover for you if you drink the whole thing. Why so many?"

"I uh…"

"And the Redcap mushrooms?" she narrowed her eyes. "Kid, those are dangerous when not properly processed. Whatever harebrained idea you or your friends have? You might want an expert to help you."

"B-but…I uh…"

"Actually, on that note, can I see your alchemical license, please?" she demanded.

His pockets seemed to have magically emptied as he fumbled for an ID he couldn't find. "I must have left it in my other pants," he said, sweating slightly.

"No license, no potions," she stated. "Mana potions have to be sold to an adult eighteen years or older. No exceptions."

"But it's not like I'm gonna–" he cut himself off, sighing softly. "But I didn't have to show my license last time!"

Her brow twitched at that statement. "Can I ask who was at the cashier?"

"An avian kid? Tall, white feathers, blue eyes?"

Fiona sighed as she noted Kali taking inventory suspiciously close to Lani and talking to her as she filled out paperwork. "I can assure you, the policy is that certain items need an ID. You don't have one, I can't sell you these items."

"Not even paying over market price?" he said, wearing a nervous smile.

"No, kid, I can't just sell them to anyone. There are rules in place. You can buy the rest of the items, but the mana potions require an ID," she said flatly. Then, her ears went on edge, and she leaned in. "And if you're cooking anything you shouldn't be, rethink your life choices. Rapidly."

"Yes, thank you, truly!" If his flop sweat were any more profuse, he'd have needed a hand towel to wipe it off. He hastily left without the dozen potions.

"Kali, got a sec?" Fiona called out. He looked up from his datapad and walked over. "I have a question for you. Did you sell any potions without checking for ID?"

"Uh…no? I mean, I don't think so," he said, rubbing his beak with one hand. "Why?"

"Some kid said you sold him mana potions yesterday without checking his ID."

He squinted at her, beak half-open. "What? No, no way. You ingrained that from like day two, Fi–I mean, Miss Swiftheart," he corrected hastily. "Why? Who said that?"

"Some pasty-faced kid sweating bullets, dark hair, dark eyes was buying enough cookware to make a medicinal mana lab, if you get my meaning," she said irritably. "Sound familiar to you?"

His beak gaped open, and he let out a groan. "Oh, crap."

Fiona grimaced, glanced over at the wall next to the cashier, and the erasable marker board. She wiped away her tally of drama-free days, all the way back to zero.

She should have known better by now that drama was a daily promise, not a probability.