Chapter 176 Brilliant Light City (3)
The carriage only took a few minutes to reach the second business street.
This second business street was the second most popular business street in Brilliant Light City.
However, there was still the first business street that was about it.
The first business street was a place that only nobles could get a permit for, so since they weren't nobles of the empire, it was impossible for them to get a permit to open a store there.
Since she had no other choice, Yue Lan could only open a store in the second business street.
But even though it was the second business street, it was more than ten times livelier than their store back in Sunset City.
As expected of a main city, the number of people that came and went was far from what Sunset City could compare to.
When they arrived at the store, Lin Fan was surprised by the size of it. It was easily three times bigger than the store in Sunset City and it was already completely refurbished.
It seemed like Yue Lan really didn't move slowly.
She had prepared all of this without him knowing and she was running the dungeon town for him.
As well, he remembered hearing her day that she was also setting up other branch stores…
And then there was the iron business as well…
Lin Fan couldn't help feeling a bit ashamed when he thought of these. It seemed like he really was pushing a lot onto Yue Lan and she hadn't even said a word about it. She had just accepted everything that he gave her and took care of it by herself…
He decided at that moment that he would do something for Yue Lan when this was all over. He didn't know what he would do, but he knew that he wouldn't be able to ease the guilt in his heart unless he did something.
When it came to helping out in the store, there really wasn't anything that he could do.
He didn't even know this store's placement, so he couldn't help with the arrangement. In fact, if he had insisted on helping, he would have just made it worse for them.
So Lin Fan had no other choice but to watch on the side.
When Ouyang Qian came back from handling some paperwork, she was surprised to see Lin Fan just standing around in the store like he was a lost little boy.
She came over and asked, "What's wrong?"
Lin Fan revealed a bitter smile as he said, "Well, there's not much that I can do to help here, so I was just standing to the side and making sure that I wasn't in the way."
Ouyang Qian couldn't help breaking out in laughter when she heard this which made Lin Fan's smile even more bitter. She could see this, but she didn't stop herself from laughing because she really couldn't help thinking that Lin Fan was cute.
Once she was done laughing, she wiped the tears from her eyes and said, "Young master, there's no need for you to stay here and help."
Lin Fan still had the same bitter smile on his face as he said, "But it feels wrong if I just run off by myself. After all, this is my store."
Ouyang Qian's expression became serious when she heard this and she said, "That is right, this is your store. When does an owner work in his store? The owner hires people to take care of business for them while they do what they need to do and what do you need to do right now?"
Lin Fan thought for a bit before nodding in agreement.
He looked at Ouyang Qian with a grateful look and said, "Thank you."
Ouyang Qian was a bit caught off guard by these sudden words and her face couldn't help blushing a bit. But then she gave a cough and said with a smile, "If you really did stick around and try to help, you would be fighting me for my job."
Lin Fan couldn't help laughing when he heard this. After he finished, he said with a smile, "Then I'll leave it to you. I still have other things that I need to take care of."
Ouyang Qian nodded in response to this.
Lin Fan turned to leave the store, but before he could leave, Ouyang Qian suddenly remembered something and called out to stop him.
Lin Fan turned back with a confused look and asked, "Is there something else that you need?"
Ouyang Qian nodded and dug into her pocket to pull out a set of keys that she handed to Lin Fan. While Lin Fan looked at these keys with a confused look, Ouyang Qian explained, "These are the keys for your residence here. We've already bought a manor for you to stay in."
Lin Fan looked awkwardly at everyone else and said, "Is it one that everyone is sharing?"
Ouyang Qian shook her head before saying, "Naturally we have an employee dorm prepared for all the other staff members. This is a manor that has been prepared for you alone."
Lin Fan's awkward look became even more awkward, but he still accepted this in the end since he knew that this was the natural course of things. He was the owner of the store and the boss, so it was natural that he would receive this manor.
Though it did feel a bit lonely living in such a large manor alone…
Still for security sake, it was better if he did live alone.
He was certain that he would be targeted eventually, so it was better if he lived alone so he didn't endanger anyone.
With these keys in hand, Lin Fan headed off into Brilliant Light City.
The first place he headed was naturally the Mercenary Guild.
While he wasn't able to officially get the Mercenary Guild's help through Tian Tian, the Mercenary Guild was still a very good place for him to gather information from. At the very least, he was still an A Rank mercenary and that gave him a bit of influence in the Mercenary Guild.
So the Mercenary Guild was still the best place to start with.
When he arrived, he was surprised by the scale of this place. It was several times bigger than the Mercenary Guild in Sunset City, it was even several times bigger than the Mercenary Guild in Inferno City.
As expected of one of the five main cities, everything in this place was much grander than he imagined.
But to his surprise, he found that even though the building was bigger, there were actually less people in the Mercenary Guild than in Sunset City. This place was practically deserted.
There were only a few mercenaries walking about and there weren't many people who were drinking at the bar. There were only a few people who sat there drinking alone.
It was completely different from the Mercenary Guild branches that he had been in before.
Even the receptionists looked bored as they stood behind the main counter.
Just what was going on here?
After watching for a bit, Lin Fan noticed a young group of mercenaries who were about to head out.
He walked over to intercept them and they looked at him with wary looks. He raised his hand which had a purse in it and gestured at the bar to the side before saying, "I'm just looking for some information."
The young mercenaries looked at each other before heading in the direction of the bar while also gesturing to Lin Fan to follow them.
After they sat down, they looked at Lin Fan as if they were waiting for something.
Lin Fan naturally knew what they were implying, so he said, "It's my first time here, so you can order whatever you want. I wouldn't even know what to get in the first place."
The young mercenaries immediately revealed wide smiles before the leader of their group raised his hand to call the waitress.
He quickly listed off a list of different dishes and ordered some drinks. As the waitress heard his order, she couldn't help looking at him with a strange look. But then when she saw Lin Fan sitting with them, she understood what was going on and quickly wrote down their order.
Lin Fan sneaked a peek at the menu on the side and he found that all the dishes that these young mercenaries had ordered were all the most expensive dishes.
He couldn't help revealing a bitter smile when he saw this, but he didn't stop them since money was the one thing he didn't lack right now.
There wasn't much talking while they were waiting for the dishes, but once the dishes came with their drinks, the atmosphere quickly changed.
Once they got a bit of alcohol in them, the young mercenaries became much more friendly.
They quickly introduced themselves to him.
This was a group of three with two boys and one girl.
The two boys were called Xiao Huo and Xiao Lei while the girl was called Yan'er.
The one named Xiao Huo was the leader of their group, so he was the one who took the lead in asking, "So mister, what questions do you have for us?"
Seeing that they were getting into the main topic, Lin Fan didn't hesitate at all to ask, "What happened to this place? Why is it so empty?"
When the three young mercenaries heard this, they couldn't help revealing down looks as they looked at each other.
After a while, Xiao Huo said with a sigh, "It didn't use to be like this. This place used to be packed with people, but now that's all changed since the president of this branch changed…"