"What if I've lost my power?" Luck was scared out of his wits at the thought.
He knew that the success of his shop was not his own, it was all down to the flavor of the star beast meat he had brought back from Gliese.
He clenched his fists when he remembered the happiness in his mother's eyes as she worked in his shop.
"I can't let my mum down!"
"If I can't go to my shop, it doesn't mean I can't go anywhere else... I guess."
He thought of Halt's shop as he passed through the door this time, albeit skeptically, and experienced the familiar darkness and the feeling of stepping into the void.
Seeing the familiar surroundings of Halt's shop, he felt a great relief.
"I did it!"
Luck realized that he had passed through the dressing room door and when he realized that no one was in the shop, he wanted to open the door and go out, but the door was locked.
Looking blankly at the door that did not open despite forcing the door, Luck said, "How am I going to get out of here now?"
As far as he could see out of the shop window, a group of people were running towards somewhere as if they were in a hurry.
"They must be in a hurry," he thought
He then returned to the door of the dressing room, realizing that there was nowhere to go out of the shop except the entrance door.
"I can go through the door of the inn in town." Thinking, Luck made his move.
Feeling that he had stepped into the void after a moment of blinking, Luck had stepped outside the inn in the town when his vision came back.
"Breathing a sigh of relief, Luck started to walk towards his shop with the bags in his hand.
Wondering why he couldn't use the doors in the shop, Luck said, "What are they doing in the shop at this hour?"
On the way to the marketplace, Luck's attention was attracted by the people running around.
"Run, there's a fire!"
"We must put out the fire before it spreads to other shops!"
"If anyone knows a water elemental user starfighter, call them now!"
"There are injured people! Call a priest!"
"A priest? Can you afford it?"
Luck got a bad feeling when he heard the people rushing towards the marketplace.
"The reason I can't use the doors... or else!" Dropping the bags in his hand, Luck started to run at full speed.
"Please don't let it be what I think it is!"
As he approached the marketplace, people could be seen running left and right, trying to put out the fire by pouring water on the fire to protect their shops from the fire.
When he finally reached his shop, Luck's fears came true.
His shop was in flames and collapses could be seen in some places.
Putting his head in his hands, Luck fearfully said, "No!"
His eyes began to scan the people around him anxiously.
'If they weren't caught in the fire at the shop, they must be around here somewhere'. Luck started to get worried as he couldn't see any of Can, Liam, Devi, or Velma around.
"Boss..." A shaky voice full of fear sounded from behind Luck.
"Velma?" Luck turned to the familiar voice and saw a frightened Velma, covered in soot and burn marks.
When she realized that it was Luck, Velma ran and hugged Luck's neck.
"Boss... Where were you?" Velma's voice was barely audible as she sobbed. "Boss...Liam..."
Velma began to cry, unable to continue speaking.
"Liam? What happened to Liam?"
Velma hugged Luck tightly "He got hurt protecting me...he's badly hurt, boss! You have to save him!"
Luck didn't realize what was going on. Was Liam hurt protecting Velma, why? What was he protecting Velma from?
"How'd he get hurt? Take me to him quickly!"
Taking Luck by the hand, Velma passed through the people and went straight to the Church tent where the wounded were gathered.
Among all the injured people, Luck noticed a group of people, Devi and Can standing next to Liam, who was lying on a sheet on the floor.
Liam lay dying with severe burns on his face and chest.
Luck's eyes widened in surprise when he saw Liam's condition. "What the hell happened to Liam?"
"Boss?" Devi and Can couldn't take it anymore when they saw Luck and started crying.
All of their deep sorrow and concern for their friend came out.
After he finished soothing his employees, Luck couldn't take it anymore and asked, "What happened to Liam? Why is he so badly hurt?"
Velma, her head bowed, sobbed again, "Because of me... He got hurt trying to protect me."
"Because of you? Tell me what happened properly."
"We were going to close the shop... sob sob... someone came asking for you boss...sob."
"Someone asked for me?" Luck couldn't make a connection between Liam's injury and himself.
Velma nodded as if to say yes.
"Yeah boss, a bloke asked about you. I thought it was someone you knew because he asked about you and I wanted to help..." Velma was trying hard not to sob.
"He asked me to give you a message... you were a bad guest... you left without your host knowing... There must be a price for that..." Velma, whose eyes shifted to Liam when she remembered what happened later, could not stand it anymore and started crying again.
Luck was shaken when he listened to Velma's story.
'Because of me... he attacked my workplace... they were injured because of me...' thoughts were spinning in his mind.
Velma, who was crying while hugging Can, raised her head for a moment and when she looked at Luck, the guilt in her eyes was palpable.
"That man formed a ball of flame in his hand and threw it at me... If Liam hadn't pushed me at the last moment and taken my place, I would have been dead by now..."
"It wasn't your fault... stop blaming yourself," Luck soothed Velma by patting her head.
"But boss..." Velma wanted to protest, but when she saw a priest, accompanied by a well-dressed woman, healing one of the injured people lying on the floor, she couldn't continue.
Luck watched open-mouthed as the man with burns as severe as Liam's was restored to healthy skin in seconds.
Meanwhile, the elegantly dressed woman was holding the recovering man's hand and shedding tears of happiness. "Even if it costs me all my savings, it's worth it."
The Luck Priest, who had been waiting with hope for the priest to heal everyone injured in the tent, did not stay still when he realized that the priest was about to turn around and leave.
"Hey! Heal Liam too!"
Realizing that Luck was calling out to him, the priest turned to Luck, "Of course, I will heal him if you pay me."
Luck said without thinking, "Fee? Okay, just heal Liam!"
"Boss, are you sure about this?" Devi asked hesitantly.
"Sure of what? Can't you see Liam?" Luck asked angrily.
Sensing Luck's anger, Can said, "Boss, the price of a service from the priests is not cheap, are you sure you want to pay that price for Liam?"
Devi shook his head sadly "I heard that even the cheapest healing spell costs 500 gold, in that case, Liam..."
Luck silenced them both with a wave of his hand.
"Whatever the cost, Liam's life is more important! I can get the money back..."
In a time when people were mercilessly killing each other for money, it was unthinkable that someone would agree to pay a fortune for the life of a person he had only known for a few months, but that's exactly what Luck was doing!
In a corner, listening to their conversation, the priest waited with a neutral face.
"Fifteen hundred gold pieces, in advance." The priest's cold and emotionless voice fell on their ears.
Devi and Can's eyes widened and they looked at Luck in despair. This price was even more than they thought. They didn't expect Luck to have this much money.
Luck nodded with determination. "OK, I'll be here soon with the money, wait for me here for a few minutes."