Being tied to their schedule, Sakura and Sinbad missed a lot of Reim's wonders and had barely taken a tour. That's probably how they were able to miss the Coliseum, or they might have found another means to make ends meet.
The coliseum looked like a monumental center of the city, and yet it was overlooked so easily by Sakura and Sinbad as they couldn't see through their deadline and profit. It was an imposing structure, covered in travertine stone slabs, elliptic in shape, with several floors, the first three holding eight arches, decorated with statues. In the center, a ring where spectators could view from every angle above, the fights and the performances.
Everyone shoulder to shoulder, a few holding onto the fliers and anticipating the promise it made to give them a close view of dungeon conquerers.
The excitement in the air and a lot of doubt for those in Reim that haven't heard the stories. Doubt was expected though considering that the advertisement for the performance mentioned Two dungeon Conquerors revealing their stories to the world.
"I wonder if this will be real?"
"The program looks like it was put together in a rush." A man said holding the flier in his hand.
"There are many scammers after all; it may be a hoax"
"If it's something silly I'll just leave."
The crowd fell silent in awe when they felt the sudden chill in the air, specs of snow fell from the sky, a given miracle as there wasn't supposed to be any snow this time of year.
"WELCOME," Voices called out to them, clearly male and female "To the great adventure theatre!"
Everyone looked up on the top of the wall of the theatre where two figures appeared, their silhouettes taking form in the light.
Sinbad drew his sword and unleashed a bolt of lightning into the air startling the audience before dazzling them as they watched the snow fall like small crystals thanks to the lightning being reflected by the snow.
Sakura spoke loudly, "Tonight, we'll tell the story...
"Of two young dungeon conquerors; whose paths have come to cross...
Sakura unleashed Beleth's dark flames using them to move with complete control and morph into the shape of a giant bird before flying over the heads of the audience and lighting the torches.
"We hope that you'll enjoy it; until the very end!"
That night, Sinbad and Sakura's first stage performance reached the hearts of thousands and would continue to drive in more in the following days. The audience was very excited as they heard about the tales of the dungeons and witness the power of djinns. Everyone there said there had never been a play or choral symphony of hundreds that could have matched this performance.
The dungeon conqueror's reputation spread beyond Naporlia and to the borders of Reim and days, later people from many places began to come and line up outside the theatre. Just like that; they stopped being strangers to this city.
Sakura sighed happily she leaned back in her seat; after the theatre performance, they were taken to Rashid's carriage. Sakura was sitting opposite Sinbad and the king of Balbadd.
"Performing is actually quite taxing."
"It was all a success though" Rashid pointed out
Sinbad smiled "It's all thanks to sensei who recommended we do it."
Then his expression turned pouty "However, it is unfortunate that many people were not able to attend because of the limited seating. I will fix that somehow."
Sakura leaned on her hand and looked out of the carriage window "Well I'm sure people would enjoy reading your stories as much as they do watching it."
"She's right." Rashid said, "It would be wise to start an autobiography and would promote your business further."
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"Would you stop fussing!" Sakura hissed, slapping Sinbad's hands away for what was at least the tenth time. He was trying to force her into some jewelry, but she refused and stood well on the other side of the room away from the mirror. While he was almost intertwined with his reflection. Bracelets of pure gold and silver, chains dangling from his neck, showing off the exorbitant expenses.
"I just want to give you something to show my appreciation for all your hard work and because I know it would complement your beauty,"
Flushing, Sakura backed away from the necklace held towards her. "I don't need a ruby necklace, jewelry just feels like a weight on me,"
She could appreciate the beauty of items without needing to hold them to her. Sakura preferred simplicity, or rather she had been tailored that way. Perhaps something that came with the territory of being a ninja, when you would live each day not knowing if your last might be coming sooner.
Sinbad pouted, "Guess you're right, you're cute enough Sakura,"
Ignoring his compliment, Sakura gestured to everything he was wearing, "You know you're wearing more jewels than the average woman right?"
"Including you, only because you don't want anything,"
"Why does it seem like you're taking such an unnecessary offense,"
Sinbad had been trying to buy her an assortment of extravagant items lately since they took off with their performances and were able to get Sindria Trading Company a base for their business. Even when she insisted that she didn't need those kinds of things, he couldn't even get her new clothing because she found his taste, gaudy.
He came up to her, catching a strand of her hair, with an intense look in his eyes that made her heart stop. "Because I want to do something for you to make you happy,"
"I-I don't need it!" She said quickly, shoving him away and rushing out. "Let's go, they're gonna be here soon,"
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The fate of Sindria Trading Company was left in the hands of Sakura and Sinbad, more than a few months had passed before Viteel, Mahad, Ja'far, Hinahoho, and Rurumu were able to return from Imuchakk, restocked. It hadn't been a pleasant voyage, at least not for Ja'far who tried to jump overboard multiple times. Especially after he realized Rurumu would continue her lessons even without her other students.
Someone met them at the docks and brought them to a magnificent building, newly formed, set with several floors, with a bright banner displaying the name of Sindria Trading Company.
Hinahoho was picking up his jaw, staring up at the building, "What the heck is this!?"
Sinbad walked out of the building, gold and silver jewelry adorning him.
"Sinbad?" Hinahoho choked on his shock. He knew his master was able to perform amazing feats and he didn't doubt that this venture would succeed, but to this degree was beyond anything he thought possible given the time frame.
"Hey everyone." Sinbad greeted in a drawn-out tone, "How is it? Not bad right? With this, we can also trade in Reim and worldwide."
Rashid then gestured to Sakura to join Sinbad on the stairs to the entrance; when she did he started speaking.
"Sinbad, Sakura you've both worked hard."
Sinbad shook his head "It's all thanks to you sensei."
Sakura nodded "If it wasn't for your help, we would still be at square one. Thank you."
"No need to thank me," Rashid insisted "I also quite enjoy watching your efforts; the way the two of you worked together as a unit...Sinbad now as both an adventurer and a merchant make an effort to do business. And Sakura, I hope that you continue to grow in strength and beauty and continue to support Sinbad as a future queen should."
In an instant Sakura turned red and held out her hands "N-No; that-that's um..."
Sinbad chuckled though a light blush dusted his cheeks "Now who can't use words?"
Shooting him a deadly glare Sakura decided to just drop the subject; Rashid was obviously teasing her anyway since he was there when Sinbad had offered her half of their earnings for their story; so he would know that Sakura didn't plan on staying permanently.
"My official business is now over in Reim and I must return to Balbadd. If you come one day, visit the palace. Of course that includes trading with our country."
"Yes sensei."
They all watched as Rashid took his leave giving them a final farewell before he headed for the docks; as soon as he was out of sight the two teens were bombarded with questions.
"Who is your sensei?" Hinahoho asked
"He's not a normal person right?" Ja'far asked
"He taught us many things and he's the king of Balbadd," Sinbad told them casually
Sakura smacked her forehead at Sinbad's nonchalant attitude but at this point, it shouldn't surprise her.
"THE KING?!"
"What exactly have the two of you been doing while we were gone?" asked Hinahoho.
Sakura sighed "So many things, but let's leave the details for later I beg of you."
"B-But-
Sinbad interjected "She's right, we have to make up for lost time after all. The cargo's already unloaded, right? Let's start doing business again. After all, we cannot waste time here. Trading is only necessary to raise money for our country; that is our goal after all!"
Hinahoho grinned and slung his arm over Sinbad "You really are one heck of a guy!"
Sakura scoffed softly but smiled "I'll say."
The Ja'far spoke, "By the way what's this about Sakura being queen?"
"SHUT UP"
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In light of events, Sindria Trading Company was able to start building its legacy. With the rare goods they traded from Imuchakk, their second attempt was far grander and went much smoother than the first. In which they were able to completely sell out within less than a week, and had to restock, Sinbad had a second ship ordered just for that purpose.
More employees were admitted, advertisements were made and things were finally running as they wanted.
"DAMMIT SINBAD WAKE UP. IT'S NEARLY TEN AND YOUR WERE SUPPOSE TO BE AT THE STORE AT EIGHT" Sakura shouted grabbing the covers of the bed and pulling them off of the snoring figure. "I told you not to stay up late last night drinking and-
Sakura stopped mid-sentence as what she saw had her wide-eyed; face red; speechless and nearly passing out. Sinbad was lying in bed completely naked; his hair sprawled out on the pillow. Sinbad's eyes slowly opened as he sat up and let out a yawn stretching his limbs without a care about his current form of dress.
"Oh, morning Sakura...man my head killing me-
SMACK'
"Why, aren't you wearing any clothes!?" Sakura demanded covering her eyes; she could feel her face burning. Sinbad however wasn't able to answer her because he was still trying to pick himself up from the hardwood floor and wipe the varnish he was certain had transferred to his face.
"I-I..."
"Whatever just get dressed and come down for breakfast!" Sakura said before running out of the room and slamming the door shut.
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"Sorry about that..." he said sheepishly smiling, "Thought you'd be used to this by now since we shared a room,"
"And you still had the indecency to strip at night," Sakura finished, grumbling under her breath something incoherent, but Sinbad could feel there was a lot of offense meant to be taken. They were the only ones at the table that morning, as everyone else who lived at the Trading Company already left the floor to go to work.
"I don't think there's any shame in it. If you want to make it even….
"Just eat," Sakura said crossing her arms over her chest. Even as time passed, knowing Sinbad's compliments should be taken with a grain of salt, she still became heated either in anger or embarrassment. "You need to get down to the store, you have three meetings set with some merchants,"
"I thought we agreed we weren't going to expand to a third party? I don't want the prices for our stock going up,"
"Then formally decline, because I've already sent out letters to them politely saying no and they can't take a hint," Sakura hissed. There were a lot of trading companies more familiar in Narpolia looking to muscle in on their trade. Since their goods were a range no one else could get hold of, they wanted to know the man behind it. So when most found out it was just a fourteen-year-old boy, they believed they could placate and manipulate him into giving them access to his trade.
Sakura wrote the letters of declination, but many still wanted to see Sinbad try and change his opinion on the matters.
"Fine, I'll deal with them,"
"Good because you'll be meeting with them in an hour,"
"Why didn't you wake me up sooner?" Sinbad asked before shoving a spoonful of food in his mouth. He didn't want to start his day handling people outside of his business. He wanted to go around, speak with his employees, and hear what was happening.
"I did." Sakura said narrowing her eyes at him "At seven this morning but you wouldn't budge so I let you sleep and went to the store myself to help deal with things, but there are some things that only you-the store owner can do! So I came back now to call you. You're lucky Ja'far didn't come to get you, he's gotten good at using his household vessel."
Another stunning discovery Sakura and Sinbad had made about djinn metal vessels. They were able to transfer the power of their djinn to others through what was called 'household vessels,', as long as it could be taken into something metal. It was granted to whomever the djinn felt was loyal to their metal vessel holder, who they believed would fight in the name of their king.
'Makes sense that any king's candidate would need subordinates,' Sakura was just amazed at how far that reach extended.
Sinbad gulped before continuing to eat, no matter how painful Sakura's smacks might be, it was better than getting hit with lightning first thing in the morning. However marginal the thresh hold of pain was.
"I prefer seeing you first thing in the morning," Sinbad winked. He enjoyed getting a rise out of Sakura, it had become a routine. When he was mid-bite, she threw him with a piece of bread, the flower spluttering over his face.
"Save it for the barmaids," Sakura hissed, "And you are not going to that pub again,"
Sinbad whined, "You just said save it for-
"I am not dragging your ass back at three in the morning,"
Sinbad cocked his head, almost innocent if not for the hint of mischief in his eyes. "But I was coming back from the red light-
Slamming her hands on the table, blood boiling up through her skin, Sakura dashed away, "Just be ready to work!"
Sinbad eyed her as she left the room hurriedly. Sakura usually professionally conducted herself when she was working, and changed to a kinder tune when it came to her comrades, but Sinbad's favorite was when he made her flustered.
She was rather unusual to him like he got this strange feeling about her, yes she conquered a dungeon on her own and had this unusual strength and healing abilities yet he felt that there was something about her something she didn't want anyone to know. And though subtle; she gave him this odd feeling which was unexplainable.
'Though not exactly unpleasant,'
He couldn't help but notice how captivating her emerald green eyes were; they held so much strength and wisdom and kindness that he had seen from her display many times but now and then; they would hold sadness, hurt, and longing...longing. It only happened when she thought no one could see.
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"Eh Sakura...Vittel and I are having some trouble with these numbers, they aren't adding up." Math was one of his better subjects, so Ja'far was understandably embarrassed that he needed to turn to Sakura for assistance, especially when she was finally able to take a break.
The pink-haired girl turned around from the window she was currently perched on, a bowl of fruit sitting pointedly in her lap, she spoke with her cheeks still stuffed full of the apple she was munching, making her look younger than she was. "Sure..."
As Ja'far held up the sheet of paper Sakura's eyes scrolled over it a couple of times and then pointed to a few digits on the page "You made a little miscalculation over here that's why, it's not supposed to be 354 it's supposed to be 345, and you're not supposed to include this in the deductions. Hang on.
Sakura moved to a desk with Ja'far and Vittel on the opposite side peering over her. Ja'far-though young had turned out to be bright and great at handling the paper work-which was good because Sinbad didn't enjoy that part about running a business. Vittel was also the business accountant so he helped Ja'far but from time to time when they got stuck Sakura would pitch in and help them.
Sakura's duties had somehow fallen into personal assistant to Sinbad, which felt more like babysitting, but she proved to be the only one that could keep him in line and on schedule. She was also in charge of secondary finalizing of documents before they went to Rurumu. However she and Hinahoho also wanted to give attention to the new addition to their family, Kikiriku, so everyone tried to lighten their load.
"Business went well this month." Ja'far said "It's harder to keep track of everything though,"
Vittel nodded "Yes, Sinbad-sama and Sakura-san did a really good job with advertising the company."
Sakura sighed "It was mostly Sinbad, I didn't do much...here; it's fixed."
Ja'far went over the paper before smiling "Thank you Sakura."
She smiled at him, out of everyone she thought Ja'far was the one who had improved the most. He was very intelligent and worked hard. Although, he was still having some trouble overcoming the trauma of his past and from time to time would crawl into Sakura's bed and sleep by her but she didn't mind since she told him she welcomed him with open arms.
Vittel came around the table to Sakura's side "Um, Sakura-san there's another miscalculation here it seems."
Sakura took the parchment and began reading through it "I see, don't worry it's fixable."
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"It might be a good idea to think about other branches," Sakura told Sinbad as he glanced over the papers in his hands. He had managed to keep away from his office for ten minutes before Sakura found and dragged him back.
"These currency exchange rates are such a pain," Sinbad said as he skimmed over the papers before tossing them aside only to move on to the next. "We're trading with silver only so why are we going through this?"
"Silver content is extremely high which is why it is popular within trade" Sakura stated, "The reason you are going through these is to avoid another major loss, you're lucky we picked it up."
"Well, how was I supposed to know the content of silver in those coins was decreased?"
"Exactly and you weren't able to complain about it because it'd be in bad taste to become upset after allowing yourself to be deceived." Sakura lightly scolded waving a sheet of paper around "You need to take precautions with this especially if you're planning on ruling your own country one day. The strength of a country is epitomized by its currency regardless of the period. When the local market is dominated by a foreign currency; the country's economy will become dependent on it. You wouldn't want something like that to happen to you right? It's the same as losing a war"
Sinbad's expression turned serious and he nodded "You're right; there are still many more countries I want to establish an alliance with."
"That's smart, practicing trade across borders allows you to be on top of any fluctuations in the value of a currency not to mention it gives you an edge over the competition due to your larger target market."
Sinbad rose his eyebrow at the pink-haired ninja "Sakura, you know I'm only doing this to raise money for my country and establish an alliance with other countries that will strengthen my own."
"I know that." Sakura said rolling her eyes "But take the king of Balbadd for example; he still does trade and that strengthens the bonds between the countries he does business with. Even after you become king you will still be trading."
"I get it; I'm going to do my best to establish an alliance with those countries that are still untouched like Imuchakk."
"Gluttony may be destructive but that doesn't mean abstinence is constructive," Sakura said
"You're implying I'm greedy?" Sinbad asked smirking
"Well...you do want the power to change the world and that's a lot," she said in a matter-of-fact tone; after that, she went back to the other pile of papers and scrolls sprawled around. Some were old and some were new. It seemed that Sinbad was not only a novice to trade but to the arrangement as well.
"You know, you're good at this sort of thing," Sinbad said offhandedly
"No; you're just lazy which is why you're so behind with your work hence why I am trying to sort out all of these documents."
Sinbad slumped as Sakura continued sorting through creating different piles, one of the old documents that weren't important, documents that needed immediate attention, and...fan mail which was an ever-growing pile.
"Aren't you mister popular?" Sakura asked with a small smirk "You've got quite a bit of admirers."
Sinbad smirked back at her leaning back in his chair "Is that jealously I detect?"
"Actually, I hope you live a happy life with your fan girls showering you with gifts and letters of affection for the rest of your days," Sakura said fanning herself with one of the letters before tossing it in the pile; she went to pick up another one but stared at it strangely.
"Huh? One of them is addressed to me..."
Sinbad's face fell before he shot up from his desk and ran around to grab the letter from Sakura but she stepped away in time causing Sinbad loses his balance and knock into some boxes causing even more papers to fall out however when Sakura looked at the messy batch she saw that they were all letters and small gifts addressed to hers.
"Um, Sinbad..." Sakura trailed feeling her brow twitch in irritation "What the hell is this?"
"Fan mail, that's all," Sinbad said standing up slowly, a nervous glint in his eyes
"I can see that but they all seem to be addressed to me..."
"Well...
"So you can't arrange your other documents, files, and scrolls but you can take the time to hide every single piece of fan mail sent to me?"
Sinbad fell silent, not sure what to do, he didn't know to what degree Sakura's anger was spiked but he didn't want to make any sudden movements or it would be equivalent to poking a hibernating bear. The results would be catastrophic.
"Um...I was going to-
"Get rid of it before I could see any of them?" Sakura finished for him
"Yeah..." Sinbad said carefully taking a step back and looking at the door- that he wouldn't reach before Sakura clobbered him. "I mean it's all just junk mail that would take up too much of your time; so I wasn't going to bother you with it."
Sighing Sakura began to pile all of the mail together with the fan mail Sinbad had received.
"What are you doing?" Sinbad asked nervously
"I'm tossing it." Sakura stated, "They're all junk mail so they're going in the trash."
"That's it?"
"That's it."
Sinbad let out a sigh of relief "Okay...hey wait; my fan mail too!?"
"Of course." Sakura said picking up one of the letters "Oh this one's an invitation for you from a popular girl in an entertainment industry...oh seems like a VIP invite too. Oh well, like you said it's all just mail that takes up way too much of your time and isn't worth bothering to read right?"
Though when Sakura said that she had a glint in her eyes that shone with a malicious gleam as she ignored Sinbad's pleads to let him at least indulge in some of those letters.
"If you have time for that finish your work. Stupid future king!"