The next morning, the bell above the shop door rang softly as Reinhard stepped inside.
The shopkeeper barely looked up as Reinhard moved through the shelves, letting the Merchant King’s Lens inspect each item.
A vase was worth $40. A watch inside a glass case was worth $120. An old painting hanging crookedly on the wall was worth $300.
None interested him.
Then he reached the shelf where the object he’d spotted through the window sat among several other antiques.
The Lens reacted immediately.
[Awakener Artifact.]
[Current Market Price: $50.]
[True Market Value: $4,800.]
[Recommended Buyer: Valen Auction House.]
Reinhard’s eyebrows lifted slightly. Fifty dollars to forty-eight hundred. His first find had already earned him over four thousand.
A faint smile crossed his face as he realized the Lens wasn’t simply finding bargains. It was finding opportunities.
"How much?"
The shopkeeper glanced at the artifact. "Fifty dollars."
Reinhard pulled out the money. "I’ll take it."
There was no haggling. He paid, tucked the artifact under his arm, and walked back outside.
...
The Valen Auction House was several blocks away and considerably more polished than the small shop he’d just left.
Reinhard walked inside and placed the artifact on the appraiser’s counter.
The appraiser gave him a skeptical look before picking it up.
That skepticism disappeared almost immediately.
He examined the artifact again, then looked at Reinhard. "Where did you find this?"
"In my room."
The appraiser stared at him before running a few more checks and eventually, he looked up. "Four thousand eight hundred dollars."
Reinhard nodded. "I’ll take it."
"You’re not even surprised?"
Reinhard glanced at the payment confirmation. "Should I be?"
The appraiser opened his mouth, thought better of it, and said nothing. A short while later, Reinhard walked back onto the street with $4,800 in his account.
He already knew what he wanted to spend it on. "One wheelchair."
He spent the next hour searching until he found one designed specifically for Awakeners with mobility issues.
[$3,400.]
He didn’t hesitate.
He bought it.
...
When Reinhard returned to the apartment, Maki noticed the wheelchair first.
"What’s that?"
He didn’t answer, wheeling it toward Emily instead. She looked up, and the moment she saw it, her expression changed. "That’s..."
Maki stepped closer and examined the mechanism. "Mana-assisted movement?"
"Yep."
She touched the small mana-stone housing built into the frame. "These aren’t normal wheels."
Emily reached down and pushed one. The wheel moved almost effortlessly. "No grinding..." she whispered.
For years, even moving forward had required effort. This chair responded to the slightest movement.
Maki examined the rest of it. "Adjustable positioning. Remote control. Better spinal support. Lightweight frame..." She looked at Emily. "This is an Awakener support chair."
Emily looked at Reinhard. "How did you even–"
"Bought something cheap and sold it for more. You could say I have a talent for that," he said with a grin.
Maki eyes widened. "But why would you pay for it–"
"Because my wife needed it."
Maki fell silent.
Reinhard crouched beside Emily’s old wheelchair.
"It’s yours."
"You... don’t have to go so far."
"But I want to."
He helped her transfer into the new chair, then stepped back. "Try it."
Emily hesitated before pushing.
The chair moved forward almost silently, the mana stone beneath the frame giving off a faint hum. She pushed again and then a tiny smile appeared on her face.
"Better?" he asked.
She nodded. "Much."
Maki gently pulled him aside while Emily tested the chair. "Thank you."
Reinhard blinked. In all the memories he’d inherited, Maki had never once thanked him for anything.
"Don’t think this means I trust you completely," she added quickly.
He smiled. "So you’re saying I have a chance?"
"No."
"Ah. So I’m close. I just need to try harder."
"Stop assuming." She turned away, but he caught the small smile on her face.
...
Later that afternoon, Emily began moving through the apartment on her own, taking small trips from room to room simply because she could.
For once, she wasn’t fighting the chair.
The chair was helping her.
Reinhard was sitting farther down the hallway when a knock came from the front door.
"Emily! Open the door!"
Emily stopped.
Another knock followed.
She slowly made her way toward the door, but something about her reaction caught Reinhard’s attention. Her excitement disappeared and her fingers tightened slightly around the wheels.
Reinhard frowned as Emily opened the door. And there was a man in jeans and a jacket. The moment Reinhard saw him, memories surfaced.
Carl was the landlord, and he’d spent years reminding the family that they were only still living there because he allowed it. Whenever the rent was late, he would make Emily apologize repeatedly and remind her how lucky she was that he hadn’t kicked them out.
The original Reinhard had seen it happen more than once.
He simply hadn’t cared enough to interfere.
Carl gave Emily a quick glance before looking past her. "You’re still here."
Emily frowned but said nothing as Reinhard approached.
"You know why I’m here," Carl continued. "The rent is overdue again. I’ve been patient with you people for months. If you want me to extend it again, you can start by bowing—"
"I can pay for it."
Reinhard stopped beside Emily.
"I’ll take care of it."
He reached the back of her wheelchair and gently began pushing her away from the door.
"Go enjoy your new chair. I’ll handle this."
Emily looked back at him.
"But..."
"It’s fine. I’ll be back inside in ten minutes."
She hesitated before slowly nodding. "Ten minutes."
...
Reinhard waited until the soft hum of her wheels faded into the living room before turning back toward Carl.
Carl looked him up and down with a smirk.
"Handle this? You couldn’t handle a bottle without dropping it."
"That’s fair. I dropped a lot of bottles." Reinhard leaned against the doorframe. "So, how much do we owe you?"
"Everything." Carl laughed. "You think you can suddenly pay me?"
Reinhard pulled out his phone and scrolled through it without looking up. "I think I can pay you, and I’m also considering compensating whoever sold you that jacket, because someone should be paid for that kind of damage."
Carl tugged at his collar. "This is imported."
"From where, a lost and found?"
Carl’s face went red, but before he could answer, his phone buzzed in his hand, and the smirk slid off his face the moment he looked at the screen.
$28,000.
Paid in full.
"Go ahead and screenshot it," Reinhard said, finally glancing up. "It’s probably the most money anyone has ever sent you."
Carl stared at the screen, trying to comprehend all those zeros.
Reinhard smiled. "Take your time. I know this is a big moment for you."
Carl’s fingers trembled. "You actually..."
"Yes."
Reinhard slipped his phone into his pocket. "You’re welcome."
"How! How could a stupid drunken–"
Something closed around Carl throat.
His eyes bulged as an invisible grip squeezed his neck, and he clawed at the empty air while stumbling backward, his fingers finding nothing at all. Then he looked up. A monstrous face hung over him, its features twisted into something barely human, its enormous eyes fixed on him with a terrible, patient calm, and his legs gave out beneath him.
Carl blinked, and the monster was gone.
Only Reinhard stood in the hallway.
He looked down at the landlord sitting on the floor, then slowly checked over his own shoulder. "What are you staring at? Is there something behind me?" He turned back with a frown. "Don’t do that. You’ll scare me."
"Y-You didn’t see that?" Carl wheezed.
"See what? You just sat down in the middle of the hallway." Reinhard shrugged. "I figured it was a landlord thing."
An old neighbor peeked out from across the hall.
Reinhard gave her a friendly wave. "Afternoon. He’s fine. He just got some good news."
She studied Carl for a moment, nodded with deep satisfaction, and closed her door.
He crouched until he was eye level with Carl. "Now, here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to go inside and apologize to Emily, Maki, Yuna, and Lily."
Carl swallowed. "L-Like I would ever..."
Reinhard’s hand closed around his jaw and his blue eyes glowed brighter. "I’ve noticed what you’ve been doing to my family, and it ends today." He tilted his head. "From now on, you’ll send the rent request through the phone, I’ll pay it in advance, and you’ll never come to this door to harass anyone again."
His voice dropped even lower. "Or you won’t be part of this world anymore." Carl trembled. "And if you’re wondering whether I can actually do that, remember what kind of disaster I’ve been these past few months. You just never experienced it personally."
He lowered his voice even further. "Trust me. My drunkenness has ended lives."
Carl’s face drained completely white.
"So." Reinhard held his gaze. "Do you want to be the next body?"
Carl shook his head so fast his cheeks slapped against Reinhard’s fingers.
"Great." Reinhard let go, patted Carl’s cheek twice, and stood up with a bright smile. "Great talk. I really feel like we connected."
Carl scrambled to his feet. As he turned toward the stairs, Reinhard raised a finger. "Oh, and one more thing."
Carl froze.
"You mentioned bowing earlier." Reinhard smiled. "I loved that idea, so let’s use it."
...
Carl stumbled into the living room and found Emily near the window, and before anyone could say a word, he folded himself in half so fast his forehead nearly hit his knees. "Emily, I’m sorry for everything! I shouldn’t have treated you that way!"
Emily’s hands stopped on her wheels. She stared at the top of his head, then looked past him toward the doorway, where Reinhard gave her a small thumbs up. "...Okay," she said faintly.
Maki walked in from the kitchen, wiping her hands on a towel, and Carl spun toward her and bowed again. "I’m sorry to you too!"
Maki didn’t look at Carl at all. She looked straight at Reinhard with her eyes narrowed. "What did you do to him?"
"I paid the rent."
"That’s it?"
"And we talked."
"About what?"
Reinhard counted on his fingers. "Life, responsibility, and his jacket."
Maki’s eyes narrowed further, and Carl, still bent at the waist, whispered, "I’m very sorry."
"Stand up," Maki said flatly. "You’re blocking the TV."
Yuna came out of her room next and found Carl bowing in her direction. She raised an eyebrow, stepped around him, went into the kitchen, and came back with an apple. "Are you still sorry?"
"Yes!"
She took a bite. "Okay."
Lily was last, and she stopped dead in the hallway, taking in the whole scene: the landlord bowing, Maki glaring, Yuna eating, and Reinhard leaning in the doorway with his hands in his pockets. "Did he hit his head?"
"No!" Carl bowed toward her. "I just realized I was wrong!"
Lily pulled out her phone and held it up. "Say that again, but slower."
Carl said it again, slower, and then he promised all of them that the rent could be paid through the phone from now on.
He backed toward the door while bowing, bumped his shoulder hard against the frame, bowed to the frame out of pure panic, and finally fled down the stairs.
The door clicked shut, and four sets of eyes turned toward Reinhard.
"He had a spiritual awakening," Reinhard said, resting a hand over his heart. "It was very moving, and honestly, I cried."
Maki didn’t even look at him. "You did not."
"I cried on the inside, which is where it counts."
Lily was still staring at her phone. "I’m setting this as my alarm."
Emily rolled over to him while the others argued about whether Lily was allowed to post the video.
She stopped beside him and looked at the door for a long time, her fingers slowly loosening on the wheels. "That was eight minutes," she said quietly.
"I said ten." He smiled down at her. "I like to under-promise."
Her eyes stayed on the door. "He used to make me..." She stopped herself before she finished.
"I know," Reinhard said, and he didn’t smile this time. "He won’t anymore."
Emily didn’t answer, but she didn’t roll away either, and she stayed beside him until Maki called everyone to the table.
Reinhard followed a moment later, flexing his fingers and thinking about the look on Carl’s face in the hallway.
He had only meant to scare Carl a little and he hadn’t expected a grown man to collapse on the floor gasping. The realization left him more excited than he wanted to admit.
So this is what an Awakener can do? And what else can I do?