A bit late, but here's da chapter.
Throw some stones while you're at it.
—
Their reunion was brief but heartwarming, as Flamme met her grandchild from the future timeline.
To her, there's little difference between her Frieren and the future one; they are both her disciples and daughter.
Later, she used the shop to buy gifts for missed birthdays for Emilia.
Like her mother, the child loves magic, so she gifted her a bunch of grimoires that aren't particularly dangerous; most of them are for entertainment and daily convenience.
Anything more than that is irresponsible, unless she's supervised.
After that, they went back to their respective worlds after saying goodbye; after all, they couldn't stay long in this place, even half an hour in the shop is equivalent to a month back in their worldline.
That's why they have to carefully manage their time back in their world before coming here.
Or else people would wonder where they ate.
–
After the small interlude, I sat in the chair inside the counter with a coffee in hand, drinking leisurely as quite rare nowadays, with no customers in the shop.
Or at least every time I go, there's always a customer.
Then I leaned back in the chair with a lazy posture, which would surely get me killed by my sister for daring to do so.
A passing thought appeared in my mind, and I spoke. "So far, my customers are either neutral or good people; Salem and D are an exception, considering that they were brought here by someone rather than invited by the shop. Alaya isn't evil either, as its sole existence was to prevent human extinction, even if its solutions are borderline ruthless and don't align with human morality most of the time."
"I wonder if the shop has some sort of mechanism that prevents those kinds of people."
[ You're right, the shop does prevent those who are evil from getting invited to host. ]
I jolted in my chair upon hearing a long-forgotten entity. "Oh, Blake…it's you."
[ You have forgotten about me, haven't you? ]
I lied almost immediately. "Of course not."
[ Really..? Then when was the last time you talked to me? Which chapter was it? ]
Sweat started pouring out of my forehead, not knowing why I was even nervous about it. "Oh, I know. Why would you ask such a simple thing? And also, what chapter? You talk as if we're in a story or something."
[ In a manner of speaking. ]
"Wait, what? For real?" I said, surprised.
"Can you clarify that to me?"
[ No, there's no point talking about something completely irrelevant to you. ]
I was about to argue that, but then replied later. "Point."
[ Anyway, aside from the fact that you, of all people, forgot about me, this establishment has its own spirit and A.I., as you mentioned before. The shop has that function, which prevents those who have evil alignment from being invited here. ]
[ However, as the owner of the shop. You can freely turn it off if you want to. ]
That immediately got my interest. I couldn't care less about their alignment; the fact that it could give me another set of customers was enough for me.
"Then, turn it off! I want to have more customers!"
[ Aren't you worried about the consequences when that specific villain makes their universe worse? ]
I snapped both of my fingers and replied. "Not my problem! Anyone and everyone can visit this shop as long as they have enough money to buy something!"
[ You truly are irresponsible; you're the boss. I can't refuse you, but know this. Don't ever ask me for advice if you feel guilty later. ]
"Hah! That won't happen; even if it did, I'm confident of fixing my own mess!"
[ Fine. ]
[ Protocol Red - Deactivated. ]
I waited…
And waited…
But nothing happened, making me feel disappointed.
Here I thought there would be some sort of change in the shop, but no. There isn't anything aside from the slight blimp that I heard after the deactivation.
Then I heard the door opening alongside the bell ringing and saw a tall, purple, bald alien.
Upon seeing this person, my eyes widened. "This isn't just a villain, but a Villain with a massive V at the start."
The first villain customer is a heavy hitter at the start, like his quote, 'I am inevitable,'. He indeed is, and he has arrived.
Thinking of this, I started to feel pity toward the Avengers because his being here means their chances of winning turned into 0.
No chance of coming back at all.
Then Thanos looked around the place, not with fear or wariness, but curiosity.
His eyes landed on me, and he said. "You're the owner of this place."
It was not a question, but rather a statement.
Which I didn't refute, as it is true; I am the owner of this place.
"That's right, Thanos. Let me welcome you to my establishment, where anything you desire would become reality, but in turn, can you afford the price?" I must sound mysterious after saying that, but regardless, what I said is truer than gold.
For a moment, there was a glint in his eyes, then he smiled gently like an uncle seeing his favorite nephew after a long time. "I would give everything to achieve it, regardless of the price."
Looking at this alien, if I didn't know he was mad, I would have thought of him as a kind person, but I know damn well this person is crazy.
After all, what sane person would kill half the universe's population just to prove a point.
I know damn well that there are a lot of solutions for overpopulation.
Killing half of the population is a no-brainer, no logic, just pure madness, simply because he thought that his 'solution' was the right one.
Can he even fathom how big the universe is? Overpopulation isn't the only thing that could destroy a civilization; in fact, it's on the lower end of why a civilization falls.
On his planet, overpopulation was merely part of the reason why his people fell.
Either way, there's no reasoning with a crazy person.
It makes sense why he's called The Mad Titan.
"Perfect, then I shall introduce you to the wonders of my shop." Regardless of his reasons, the fact that he's a big customer immediately makes him a priority.
There are a lot of things he could exchange in his world, which means he will be giving me more money.
Thanos got closer to the counter and sat in the small chair that could barely fit his frame. "I'm listening."
Thus, I started explaining to him the rules of the shop, what it does and how it works.
Upon listening, the look of surprise on his face was apparent; he wasn't even trying to bother hiding. "So, I just need to exchange something of equal value to access the numerous things that are available in this shop?"
He was surprised because of how simple the rules were; it didn't require him to sell his soul like he initially thought, but rather a simple exchange of value.
Although he didn't know the rates of this M.C., he could tell that the prices of some of the ridiculous things available in the catalog were unbalanced.
Normally he disliked 'unbalanced' exchange, but this wasn't against him; rather, it was an advantage.
Upon realizing this, his brain worked at high speed. Although he was mad, he wasn't stupid.
Right now, he doesn't have anything of value in him, and he wasn't comfortable exchanging his talents or abilities; who knows the consequences of losing those, especially knowing that he could just exchange some materials.
However, he wouldn't just exchange some random items; it should be priceless and the most valuable thing he could get.
Then it hit him.
The Infinity Stones.
Originally, he wanted to use them for his plans to kill half of the universe's population, but he felt like it wasn't enough, insufficient even.
Now that he had a better alternative, he shifted back to the catalog; some of the items listed are borderline ungodly, making his plans from before undergo a massive shift in processing.
Because it made him see how 'mediocre' his plans were before arriving at this place, it's like seeing yourself as a toddler, then bragging to the adult version of you about how much better you are at it, but in reality than adult version is a hundred, if not a thousand, times better than the immature you.
Thanos felt like his decision to come here was the best decision he made, even if he made a risk of going into an unknown location.
Even when his 'children' advised him not to go, it turned out to be the correct one.
With a smile on his face and a thought. 'Why stop at a single universe, when I can save the entire multiverse from overpopulation?'
A grand plan was brewing inside his mind.
—
A/N: The entire MCU is fucked in every direction.
No matter how much I think about it, changing Thanos' mind is impossible. With how many planets he's killed off, there's no way someone didn't tell him that his plan was unbelievably illogical.
Hundreds must have tried convincing him, but none succeeded.
Originally, my plan was to turn him into a redeemed person, but thinking further… yeah, changing his mind is IMPOSSIBLE unless I break his character.
Completely OOC.
I decided that villains will always be villains, unless they're misunderstood characters or redeemable.
But Thanos was neither.
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