Stepping into Jack’s General Goods was an experience.

  The shop was one of the largest ones that Lucas had seen, taking up about as much size as a decent warehouse. And all of that space was put to good use as items of all kinds lined the walls, hung from racks, and took up space across the floor. It was like walking into a department store back home, only with a few more strange items like pieces of armor or glowing crystals that he wouldn’t see in the Ordinary world.

  Clothing racks filled up a whole portion of the shop with jackets, shirts, pants, and more hanging from racks. Another section was filled with jewelry and accessories while another had furniture. There was even an entire section of the shop dedicated to modern-looking appliances as well!

  “Looks pretty cool, right?”

  Looking over at Fay, he could see the girl grinning at him expectantly. She clearly knew the sort of reaction she was going to get out of Lucas from bringing him there.

  “This place is amazing!” He replied as he looked around. “There’s so much stuff; you weren’t kidding that there’s a little bit of everything. And all of it is magical?”

  “Pretty much. Stuff here is either enchanted, inscribed with runes, or made out of some special materials,” Fay clarified. “When dad was first starting his business with mom, Jack actually tried to get them both to come work for him instead. Luckily they said no and they have their own shop to run now. They don’t even compete with Jack much since most of the stuff mom and dad makes is for combat while Jack’s stuff is for general use.”

  “It’s still a real shame that they didn’t join up with me. My biggest regret is always going to be not convincing them to work with me. But your father had his own idea in mind and Lissa was going to back him every step of the way.”

  Lucas and Fay both turned to see a middle aged, lanky man approaching them with a casual grin.

  “Jack! What are you doing here?” Fay asked as the man gave her a quick hug.

  “What? Am I not allowed in my own store?” The man replied as he stepped back.

  As the two conversed, Lucas got his first real look at the apparent owner of the shop. The man was only a few inches shorter than Lucas himself and looked to be in his thirties. His long, auburn hair was tied in a ponytail that fell down his back, but it was his eyes that stood out most to Lucas. Something about those grey eyes made him feel like the man was analyzing him rather than just looking at him.

  “No, I mean why are you here? I thought you were working on a new store?”

  Jack just laughed and shook his head. “The store’s already up and running. The team I hired is likely dealing with opening week as we speak. But I still want to check up on the other locations and imagine my surprise when I see my competitor’s daughter walking into the shop.”

  “Oh, stop that. Mom and dad aren’t competing with you,” Fay grinned as she swatted at the older man’s arm.

  “That’s what they all say,” Jack joked before turning his attention to Lucas. “So, who’s this?”

  “This is Lucas! He’s a new friend of mine. I was showing him around town and couldn’t do that without showing him your shop,” Fay replied.

  “Flattery will get you everywhere, my dear,” Jack joked.

  “Actually…” Fay glanced around for a second before focusing on Jack. “Is there any chance that you can show Lucas around the shop? I needed to find a few things, and I wanted him to be able to look around. Can’t think of anyone better than you to show him around.”

  “I do believe you’re being abandoned by your friend,” Jack said as he looked over at the young man. His tone was serious, but Lucas could see the amusement glimmering in his eyes.

  Turning to Fay, Lucas joined in on the teasing. “I think you’re right. How could you abandon me like this, Fay?”

  The blonde looked between the two men in shock, then pouted angrily.

  “It’s not like that and you know it! I just need to do some boring shopping and don’t want to drag you along!” She protested.

  Lucas only lasted a few seconds before he cracked and started laughing. Jack joined in a moment later and chuckled as well.

  “I’ll keep an eye on your boyfriend while you’re gone, Fay,” Jack teased.

  While both teens blushed, Fay sputtered angrily before storming off without a word as Jack’s laughter followed her.

  “It’s really not like that,” Lucas chimed in once Fay was out of sight.

  “Oh, I know,” Jack replied. “I just thought it’d be fun to tease you two.”

  Even if he was a bit embarrassed, Lucas couldn’t help but chuckle.

  “So, what do you think of my lovely shop? You haven’t seen much so far, but I’m sure you must have some thoughts?” The redhead asked.

  “It’s like I walked into a fantasy Costco,” Lucas absentmindedly admitted.

  When he realized that there was a good chance the shop owner wouldn’t even know what a Costco was, he went to explain, only for Jack to interrupt him.

  “Huh. First time I’ve heard that one, but I guess you’re not too far off. The only difference is that I don’t sell food,” When he saw Lucas’ surprised expression, the man grinned. “I’m assuming that you were raised on the Ordinary side, huh?”

  “I guess you could say that,” Lucas agreed. “I’m new here, never knew about magic until a week ago.”

  “A new blood? Don’t see many of them outside of the real big cities. Regardless, welcome to my humble shop. Other than weapons and proper, high quality armor, you’ll find just about anything you could need around here.”

  “What about potions?” Lucas asked.

  The man raised a single eyebrow in disbelief at the question. “And compete with Granny Wren? I’d sooner fight a horde of beasts than try that.”

  Jack gestured for Lucas to follow him as he walked deeper into the shop. Lucas followed, but he took his time as he looked from item to item. Rows of stylized lighting crystals filled a shelf that they passed while a comfortable looking reclining chair vibrated underneath a customer. Modern appliances like blenders, toasters, and lamps were on clear display, things that Lucas knew were using magic rather than electricity. There were so many familiar little items and commodities that had been made magical thanks to enchantments or runes, if Fay was to be believed.

  “Feel free to ask questions,” Jack said as he glanced back at Lucas. “I imagine this is the first time you’re seeing so many enchanted items. Other than a few articles of clothing we sell, just about everything here has been imbued with magic.”

  “Do you do all the work yourself?” Lucas asked as he stopped to lean in and look at some golden earrings. Without Fay around, he had the perfect opportunity to try and shop for a gift. He just had to be quick.

  “Not all of it, but I do quite a bit. I’ve got shops all over the country, so I can’t do everything, but I hire plenty of runesmiths and enchanters who help produce a lot of what you see here,” Jack gestured towards the jewelry. “Those earrings were enchanted by my employee, Lacy, with a minor clarity effect. It’ll help you focus more when you wear them.”

  Lucas next turned his attention to a row of golden rings with different colored gemstones set into them. “What about these?”

  “Those are some very popular items that we sell. They’re different types of rings of resistance. You’ve got your classics like fire, ice, and lightning, and then some more uncommon ones like sound or poison. We have tons of those since they sell real fast.”

  “It feels like I stepped into some kind of shop from a video game or from dungeons and dragons,” Lucas joked.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Jack laughed at that and gave Lucas a sly grin. “Where do you think all those games got their ideas from? They had to come from somewhere.”

  Lucas promptly froze. “... Wait, what?”

  “Guess you haven’t been told about that yet,” Jack replied. “Yeah, a lot of the coincidences you’ll see between stuff on this side of the Mirrors and from video games or stories on the Ordinary side aren’t coincidences. Hell, I’m pretty sure the people that came up with the idea for dungeons and dragons were nonmagical children of some pretty well-known hunters.”

  Lucas’ jaw dropped and the redhead chuckled softly.

  “Broke your brain a bit with that one, huh?”

  “So, you’re telling me all the stuff in dungeons and dragons and a lot of fantasy books and video games might be real?” He asked.

  “Not everything,” Jack replied, casually waving off Lucas’ concerns. “A lot of mythical and fantasy creatures are real or have similar counterparts here, but plenty of that fantasy stuff is also just that, fantasy. We’ve got some crazy stuff we deal with here, but Ordinary people came up with even crazier shit. I mean, you ever seen that ‘Cthulhu’ stuff they came up with?”

  He wasn’t very familiar with it, but Lucas at least recognized the name from when he’d tried to get into tabletop games.

  “How do you know about all that, anyway?” He asked.

  “Oh! I run a game every week for some Ordinaries at a game shop in Philly,” The man casually said. “It’s a fun way to relax after running a business all week.”

  “I…” Lucas hesitated a moment. “I didn’t think it would be that easy to have a life on both sides of the portals.”

  “It’s not,” Jack replied. He walked over and placed a hand on Lucas’ shoulder. “It’s not easy, and you do have to choose which side you focus more of your time on. But that doesn’t mean you have to entirely cut yourself off from one side or the other. We’re mages, we can live wherever we want to.”

  The man’s words were a comfort that Lucas didn’t know he’d needed and hearing them was like taking some of the weight off of his shoulders.

  “Thanks for that. I’ll remember it.”

  Jack gave him a comforting smile and turned away. “Anytime, lad. Now come on, you’re looking for something to buy that friend of yours and I’ve got product to sell,”

  Lucas blinked in surprise. He hadn’t said anything about shopping for Fay to anyone, yet. “How’d you know that?”

  “Don’t you know?” Jack grinned playfully. “I'm simply a genius.”

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Shopping for Fay turned out to be harder than Lucas expected it to be. And it wasn’t like he was short on options, either. No, the problem was the opposite issue as he had too many options that he thought the blonde would like. Though Fay didn’t wear much jewelry, the idea of enchanted or rune covered rings, earrings, bracelets, or necklaces seemed like an easy choice for a birthday gift.

  Jack was incredibly helpful with that. While the man didn’t know what sort of things Fay would and wouldn’t have liked, he was able to explain what each and every item in the shop was and what it did. Some were added to the growing list of items that Lucas was considering buying while others, like all of the appliances, were tossed aside.

  Looking for something different, Lucas eventually wandered towards the various accessories that the shop sold. Jewelry didn’t seem like something Fay wore often, but something like a scarf or cloak was far more usable for a future hunter.

  “What about this one? What does this one do?” Lucas asked.

  The latest item to catch his eye was a pair of stylized aviator-style goggles. The leather around the lenses was a dark black and the clear lenses were framed with some kind of golden metal. It looked both stylish and functional without being too bulky.

  “That’s a new one I made recently. I call them ‘goggles of clear sight’. What they do is rather self-explanatory. The lenses themselves are enchanted to repel any sort of dirt, dust, or liquid that gets on them, so your vision always stays perfectly clear. Both the lenses and the strap have runes on them to improve their durability as well. There are also some runes on the leather that’ll allow it to repair itself if it’s damaged.”

  As Jack explained the goggles, he picked them up and handed them to Lucas so that the young man could look them over. They were lightweight as well, and when Lucas put the goggles on as a test, he found that he could see perfectly fine through the thick glass and the design even kept him from losing too much of his peripheral vision.

  His mind drifted back to the previous night and the conversation that he and Fay had shared under the moonlight. She’d told him how much she wanted to fly, and something like a pair of goggles to protect her eyes while flying seemed like a good idea for a gift. It helped that it was also something that he thought Fay would genuinely find useful as well.

  “How much is it?” He asked.

  “Finally found something you liked, I see. Nice choice,” Jack said. “Those goggles are going for five gold at the moment, though I’ll drop it down to four gold and five silver for you, lad.”

  Four gold and five silver, or four hundred and fifty dollars for the goggles. It seemed like a lot of money, but almost all of the other enchanted or rune covered items in the store were also sold for at least a single gold coin.

  “Deal.”

  He didn’t know if he was getting ripped off or not, but since he had ten gold to work with, only spending four and a half seemed pretty good. Handing over five of the gold coins, Jack grabbed five silver coins from his own pocket and handed them back to the young man.

  “Pleasure doing business with you, lad. Though, you might want to hide those goggles. I think your lady friend is on her way back,” Jack warned.

  That warning came just in time. When Lucas turned to look behind him, he could see Fay walking towards them. In a rush, Lucas rolled the goggles up as best he could and stuffed them into his pocket. Jack had said they were made much more durable, and he really hoped that was true.

  “Hey! I’m so sorry that took so long,” Fay apologized as she walked over carrying a bag. “It took me a while to find what I wanted.”

  “It’s ok,” Lucas replied. “It gave me time to check the store out. This place is awesome.”

  “Thank you, thank you. Your words are too kind,” Jack replied as he gave an exaggerated bow.

  “Well-”

  Before Lucas could voice his next thoughts, his stomach chose to interrupt him as it loudly demanded food. His cheeks gained a bit of pink as both Jack and Fay chuckled in amusement.

  “Do you have some more of those apples?” He asked.

  “How about we go get some actual food instead,” Fay offered.

  “Yeah, that sounds great,” Lucas replied quickly.

  “Well, I have to get back to work, but I hope you two have a great day. And Fay, tell your parents that I said hello, and let them know I’d still love to go into business with them,” Jack called out as he went to walk deeper into the shop.

  Fay rolled her eyes, but she was smiling as she grabbed Lucas’ hand and led him out of Jack’s shop.

  “So, where to?” Lucas asked as they rejoined the people wandering the second ring.

  “There’s this shop a few minutes away that makes the best burritos. How’s that sound?”

  Given how good all the rest of the food he’d had in the magical world had been, Lucas was really looking forward to seeing how good a burrito could be.

  “That sounds awesome. Lead the way,” He agreed.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  The burrito turned out to be just as delicious as he had hoped. Magic did a lot of amazing things, but Lucas’ favorite thing was swiftly becoming how much tastier magic made everything taste. Animals, herbs, and plants exposed to enough mana for a long enough time were improved just like how mana would improve a human’s body. And while that did plenty of things, it also brought out even greater flavor when cooked.

  “So,” Lucas spoke up between bites of his steak burrito. “What did you end up getting from Jack’s?”

  “Ah, well…” Fay trailed off, the faint hint of a blush on her cheeks as she put her own burrito down. “I should probably just show you.”

  She pushed her food aside to make a bit of space on the bench the two were sitting at and reached into the bag at her feet. When she pulled out a small, rectangular black box and a sturdy-looking black and silver backpack, Lucas was a bit confused.

  “I don’t think I saw these when Jack was showing me around. What’s up with these?” He asked.

  “Well, the backpack is Jack’s personal spin on the classic ‘bag of holding’. It works the same way, expanding the amount of space that the bag can store and making it easy to grab what you want, but he decided to use a backpack as the base instead of a simple bag. It works pretty well!”

  “As for this,” She held up the box and opened it, revealing a gorgeous silver metal watch. When Lucas took a closer look, he could see the inner workings of the watch. The design was bare and simple, showing off the gears ticking away within, but it added a certain flare to the watch as well.

  “How’d they get the watch to work? He asked.

  “The gears are enchanted to keep turning. Put everything together just right and the watch works just like a normal one,” Fay explained.

  “That’s cool. I might have to try and get one when I get the chance.”

  As he went to hand the watch back to Fay, the blonde smiled and pushed it back into his hands, wrapping his fingers around the watch.

  “No, you keep it,” She stated.

  “What? Seriously?”

  Fay nodded and smiled before pushing the enchanted backpack forward as well.

  “Yup. I wanted you to have these. I realized that, when we met, it was your birthday. But it’s not like I was able to get you a gift that day, so I decided to get you one today. The watch and bag are my birthday gift to you, just a little bit late,” Fay explained.

  Lucas was stunned, staring at the watch and backpack before looking at Fay. He didn’t know exactly how much the two items had cost, but he couldn’t imagine it had been any less than two hundred dollars’ worth.

  “If you don’t like either of them, I can return them too and get you a different one,” Fay added sheepishly.

  “No, no, no!” Lucas quickly disagreed, realizing that Fay thought he didn’t like her gift. “I love them both so much, I just wasn’t expecting it.”

  Fay visibly relaxed and sighed in relief when she heard that. “Thank the gods. I was worried you’d hate them.”

  “No way! They’re both so cool, you gave me an amazing gift, Fay,” Lucas responded.

  “Well, happy late birthday, Lucas,” Fay said as she leaned in and pulled Lucas into a hug.

  “Thank you, so much,” He replied softly, hugging the blonde back and looking down at the watch in his hands.

  Suddenly he was very glad that Fay’s parents had given him the funds to buy her a gift.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  "There are two tragedies in life. One is not getting what one wants. The other is getting it." — Oscar Wilde

  Harwin, an ordinary corporate employee, finally reaches a point where he can support his family — yet a small wish constantly troubles his heart. Everything changes when he is suddenly teleported to another world by self-proclaimed divinity.

  Powerless and alone, Harwin now must navigate a land filled with ancient magic, conflicts, and deadly secrets whilst searching for a way back home. He trains to master not only the blade but also the mysterious essence that breaks all laws of physics.

  What to Expect:

  ? A weak protagonist who progresses slowly through sheer hard work

  ? A grand, mysterious fantasy world

  ? Multiple races and rich-lore

  ? Wars, Politics, and History

  ? No harem