Chapter 7: Time to Make Our Shop a Hit!
Chapter 7: Time to Make Our Shop a Hit!
The day after the tournament, our guild crew met up after school to discuss how we could make the shop prosper.
“This thing’s pretty cool! It makes coloring a breeze, too!” Yano looked happy as a clam as she practiced with Libra’s Brush.
Using the wooden table I’d created as her canvas, she painted a rectangular flower pattern. Rectangles, circles, stars, and other shapes can be used for designs. Drawing lines of varying thickness is easy as well. Lines can also be made into preset designs. It didn’t take her long at all to cover the wooden table in patterns.
“Aww yeah! Thanks, guys! This thing makes drawing and painting a breeze.”
“It certainly seems that way. You can paint designs in an instant once you’ve saved them,” added Maeda.
“Then we could even handle mass production! As long as we have the designs, any one of us could paint our products! We’ll just have you make and save the designs, Yuuna!” said Akira.
“I’m not sure if I’ll be able to do an amazing job, but since you and Takashiro fought so hard to get this, I’m willing to do everything I can to help out.”
“Once we have plenty of items to work with, we can paint them and put them up in our shop.”
“And that’s where yours truly comes in!”
I’ll make the items, then we’ll make them all pretty with Yano’s designs and sell them as textured items! I may be out of ingots, but I still have some wooden materials to craft tables and chairs. For now, I’ll invest everything I’ve got into makin’ our products! I also ought to make a sign or something for the shop.
“What should we do, then?” Akira asked.
“For now, focus on stuff like advertising, shopkeeping, and helping out with stock.”
Advertising is definitely important. Same with shopkeeping. Fortunately, Maeda and Akira are both pretty hot, so they’ll definitely bring in customers. In fact, I have some secret plans to help with that.
“All right, time to prepare for our grand opening! Yano, keep on making up designs. I’ll prepare base items for you to work on.”
“Kotomi, how about you and I go gather crafting materials? Ren’s running really low right now.”
“Sure, I’d be happy to.”
“Oh, and be sure to get tons of ingots. I’ve got plenty of wood-based materials, but I’m all out of metals.”
“Okay!”
The four of us split up to begin our respective tasks. Akira and Maeda left to procure materials, and Yano concentrated on making patterns in the second-floor living space. Meanwhile, I locked myself up in the first-floor atelier and got to crafting.
I still have a few materials on hand. Maybe I’ll make a table first.
Crafting in the atelier grants you various bonuses. In addition to giving your crafting level a boost, it reduces the risk of failure with Material Saver, uses less materials than usual because of Material Theory, allows you to have NPCs do the crafting for you through Employ Craftsman, and so on. There are tons of other effects, which vary based on the facilities in your atelier. Naturally, better facilities lead to better effects. The public crafting room in the school comes with Material Saver, but that service is just the bare minimum.
Also, there are several different kinds of crafting skills, each with their own levels. I’m mainly leveling up smithing, woodworking, and alchemy. As for why I chose them, it was all about making hidden weapons, though I hoped that one day I could max out every crafting skill.
Smithing is for metal equipment like weapons and armor, and woodworking is for staves and furniture, so I decided to use those two for textured items. Alchemy is mainly used for making medicines and processing certain materials, so it wouldn’t be of much use for making textured items.
“Okay. First off, a wooden table!”
Furniture is perfect for making textured items. You don’t take furniture into battle, so you don’t have to worry about stats or anything.
“Wooden chair!”
A normal wooden chair for single-person use.
“Wooden bench!”
A wooden bench, if you could believe it.
“Wooden cup! Wooden plate!”
A cup and a plate. Simple miscellaneous items.
“Wooden mannequins!”
I could use this for the shop display! There’s a showcase in the shop, so I could set these up and decorate them with equipment.
“Oak shield! Oak staff!”
Obviously, I didn’t expect these to sell; they were going to show off what a custom paint job could do to players’ equipment. Players were pretty much clamoring to have their most precious weapons painted with a design of their choosing.
“Woop! I’ve got a couple designs ready! Let me try ’em out on your stuff, Takashiro!” Yano called, running down to the atelier. “Oh! Looks like you’ve got some test subjects ready, too.”
“Yep. Feel free to try out whatever you’d like!”
“I’ll take this one, then.”
She picked up the wooden plate and painted it white with Libra’s Brush. Next, she opened a menu in the air. After a few flicks of her pen, a design selection screen appeared. She chose a picture of several fruits, then tapped the wooden plate with the end of the pen, pasting the fruit design onto it. The wooden plate was officially decorated!
Hot dang! It didn’t even take her a minute!
“So, whaddaya think? Pretty cool, right?”
“Yeah, it’s amazing! It looks like something you’d find at a general store!”
And to think, this was originally just a boring ol’ wooden plate! It’s perfect! I bet a bunch of these would sell like hotcakes. Ooh, I can’t wait for us to open up shop!
◆◆◆
Two days later, our guild shop’s showfloor was stocked and almost ready to go. In the center of the store, we had tables, chairs, and other furniture. The wall shelves had small, miscellaneous goods like cups and plates. The display facing the road contained armored mannequins, and staves, swords, and other weapons were lined up beside them. Naturally, none of these items had their default appearance; they were all textured items decorated with Yano’s designs.
For the most part, our inventory was covered with brightly colored designs; female players would probably be more interested in these things. No surprise there, since our designer was a gaudy gal-type.
That said, there were plenty of things that would catch the eyes of male players, too. For example, we had a shield with a cute, teary-eyed girl on it. After all, who could attack someone holding up a shield like that?! Besides the shield, we had plenty of other items decorated with prints of cute girls. I mean, it’s not unheard of these days to have a car or bag plastered with anime girls, right?!
“Whew! We’ve got so much stuff here!”
Holding up a hand to shield my eyes against the morning sunlight, I nodded, feeling satisfied.
“We sure do! This little toy’s made for fast and easy work!” Yano twirled her beloved Libra’s Brush around in her fingers.
She did a great job. Even better that she had fun doing it, too.
“Now that we’ve got this much done, we should be able to open up shop soon.”
“Yeah. I really hope people like it.”
Yano had made a wide variety of patterns, and we were just about to finish stocking up the shop. The time for our grand opening was finally coming into view. That meant we had to move to the next phase.
“On that note, we’d better advertise soon, huh?”
“Advertising, eh? What’s the plan, Ren?” Akira asked.
“We’ll hand out flyers after school. I hope you’re all available and willing to help out!”
“That does seem important. I’ll be there,” said Maeda.
“Sweet! Want me to make a design for the flyers with Libra’s Brush, too?”
“Yes, please.”
All that was left was to wait for the school day to end. Still, just handing out flyers wouldn’t make enough of an impact. As the guild master, I was ready to pull out all the stops!
At lunchtime, I inhaled my food before paying the third-year classrooms a visit—classroom 3-A, to be precise. Homura was sitting in a window seat facing the hallway. I called out to her as she stared vacantly at the doorway.
“Hey, Homura! I’m here to pick up the stuff!”
“Hmm? Oh, it’s you, Takashiro. Here you go; everything’s ready.”
“Thank you so much!”
“This is supposed to be on exhibition at the museum, though, so make sure you give it back when you’re done, okay? Also, keep in mind that...”
While I listened to Homura, something unusual caught my eye. The students walking around outside were as normal as ever, but among them, there was someone who was clearly out of place. I mean, what else would you say about someone wearing a full-face iron mask and literally nothing else?!
Homura, on the other hand, didn’t even flinch.
Did she not see that?! No way, she was looking right out the window!
“Remember, this is just a loan. As repayment, you’ll be joining us on our next item hunt.”
“Uh, sure thing.”
I looked for the figure from before, but they had already disappeared.
Huh? What the...? Was I just seeing things? Maybe I’m just tired. Could it have been an illusion?
“Thanks again for letting me borrow this!”
Ah, whatever. I’m not too worried about it.
I thanked Homura again and exited the classroom.
After school, we once again assembled at the guild house.
“Okay, we should start handing out flyers. One thing’s first, though.”
“Hmm? What’s up?”
“Let’s change clothes! We need to stand out, and I’ve got just the thing from Homura!”
This may have been a sketchy way of boosting our advertising potential, but it would definitely work! I brought Homura’s “loan” out of my inventory and held it before my guildmates: three Brilliant Gothic Dresses.
The Brilliant Gothic Dress is pretty much a maid outfit. It’s mostly prim and proper, although it does emphasize the wearer’s chest a little bit. The outfit’s greatest feature is that it glitters with light. It’s mostly meant for fun, so it isn’t too good in battle, but it still stands out a great deal, thanks to the sparkle effect—even more so when it’s worn by a cute girl. Fortunately, this small army of girls was one hundred percent cute.
“So this is it, huh? Wow, it’s so sparkly and pretty!” Akira gasped.
“It really does stand out quite a bit. I’m a bit afraid of wearing it,” said Maeda warily.
“Oh, wow... I think I have some, uh, designs I need to work on. Maybe it’s best if I stay in the guild house.”
“Permission granted, Yano.”
“Woohoo!”
There’s no need to force our designer to advertise, anyway. Even if she was just saying that to get out of it, I’m sure she has more designs to crank out.
“Th-Then I should also—”
“Not so fast! You and Akira are in charge of sales and advertising for our guild, so this is pretty much your job. Go on and be the best saleswoman you can be!”
“B-But...!”
“Don’t worry! I bet it’ll look great on you, Maeda!”
“Oh? Really? Erm, okay. I suppose I’ll give it a try.”
Akira, on the other hand, had already finished changing into her Brilliant Gothic Dress.
“Ta-daaa! I couldn’t help myself!”
“Ooh, nice! I like your enthusiasm! And you look perfect.”
“Yep! Besides, this is nothing compared to what I had to wear the other day.”
“Angelic Charm? Hey, the crowd loved you.”
“After that mess, something this modest and cute is like a reward for the trials I’ve endured.”
“That’s my girl! Reliable as ever.”
“It’s completely your fault, Ren! How much more humiliation will I have to go through? Sniffle...”
“Whoa, we’re not here for slander.”
“It’s true, though! Anyway, those flyers won’t hand themselves out!”
“Um, I’m all ready.”
“Ooh?! Maeda, you’re looking fantastic, too! We’re guaranteed to stand out now!”
They’re gonna draw a real crowd! Let’s go promote our shop!
◆◆◆
“Hello there! Hell’s Crafters’ guild shop will be opening soon!”
“Hi! We’ll have discounts on every item for our grand opening!”
“Um, excuse me...!”
We stood in the middle of a major street and put our all into passing out flyers. Akira seemed perfectly at ease, but Maeda was shaking in her boots and tripping over herself constantly, clearly self-conscious about her outfit. Regardless, our beloved saleswomen had an incredible effect on players and NPCs alike. They could hardly keep their eyes off the girls.
In this game, the NPCs’ thought processes and actions are so refined that they’ll respond to advertising and even come to buy stuff. The alliance of companies behind the game-school combo really didn’t hold back when it came to trying out new things. The NPCs here apparently had some really cutting-edge AI.
“Kotomi, you’re looking a little uneasy. Why don’t you relax?”
“Right, well... I’d like to, but unlike you, some of us aren’t used to being gawked at. I just can’t stop thinking about what I’m wearing.”
“What...?! It’s not like I’m wearing this for fun, y’know! Blame Ren!” Akira glared daggers at me.
“You’re right. I’m sorry.”
“This is just my opinion, but I think it’s totally unfair that only girls have to wear revealing clothes like this. We should be allowed the joy of seeing boys do the same! It’s all about equality!”
“Huh?! Are you talking to me?”
“Yeah! Get half-naked and wear nothing but a bowtie on your upper body or something. Isn’t this super unfair, Kotomi?”
“I suppose you’re right. Men and women should be equal, after all.”
“Whoa, whoa. It’d be creepy if I did that. People would just think I’m some sort of perv!”
I glanced over at the guy with the iron mask. Now there was a real creep.
Wait, what?! There he is again! I knew I wasn’t just seeing things!
“Oh!”
By the time I had taken a second glance, he was already gone.
Geez, this is kinda freaking me out. If some spirit or fairy or something were revealing itself to me, then I’d be able to brush it off as a pure and mystical encounter. Instead, I just keep catching sight of some random pervert running around. Then again, why would I expect something pure and mystical to visit me in the first place?
“Could I have a flyer?”
“Oh, of course! Hey, Homura!”
“Howdy, Homura.”
“H-Hi there...”
“Ooh, textured items? As an item-collecting addict, I can’t say I’m not interested. I’ll come check it out tomorrow.”
“Okay! Thank you!”
“Hey, wait, Homura!”
“Hm? What’s up?”
“Do you have any sexy, revealing outfits for guys in your museum? It’s super unfair that only the two of us have to dress up like this!”
“Hmmm?”
“Not to worry, gals! I’ve got just the thing!”
“Oh, hey, Yukino!”
“I just happened to overhear your little predicament as I was passing by. You can borrow the outfit our guild uses for the Century’s End Challenge, if you’d like!”
“Hey, whoa, what is that?! That sounds way too suspicious!”
“It’s when you wear a spiked leather jacket and a mohawk and get mowed down by horses! The people who get trampled the most lose, so it’s kinda like tag, in a way. I’d say the outfit is plenty revealing.”
“You meatheads make no sense.”
“Hmph. It’s not my fault. Even if it’s weird, it’s pretty much a tradition in our guild. Plus, it’s mimicking a manga we all love dearly. It only makes sense that a bunch of PvP-freaks are into that kinda stuff, right?”
“Yeah, yeah. All the Martial Artists in this game probably love it.”
“Can we please borrow the outfit, Yukino? Then we can be even, Ren!”
“Fine, whatever.”
Not like I can refuse, anyway. Plus, I also happen to like that manga. My parents have it at home. But man, do I really have to do this alone? I’d feel better if I had another guy with me.
Maybe the guild is too feminine. Draco and I are the only guys, after all. I wasn’t worried about it before, but now... Oh well. Guess I’d better suck it up and get changed.
“Yeehaw! I’ve come to advertise, baby!”
If I get embarrassed now, it’s all over! I have to push through with all I’ve got! Become a complete idiot, Ren! Don’t let a single thought enter your mind! You are just a vessel for the Century’s End!
Akira and Yukino giggled as they watched me. Maeda, on the other hand, was clutching her sides in pain, as if my act had been a direct hit to her funny bone. Her shoulders quivered, and she was struggling to breathe.
“Hey, are you all right?”
“I-I can’t take it! Please, don’t look at me! Oww, my sides hurt!”
Well hey, if it’s that funny to her, I’m happy to be of service.
Afterward, she was off pitching the shop like she’d been born to do it.
With that, our mission to advertise was complete!
◆◆◆
“A flashy centerpiece?”
“Yeah. Prep for the shop is done, and so is the advertising. Now I’d like something that really symbolizes us as a guild. Whether it actually sells or not is a different matter.”
As we waited for class to start the next day, I proposed this idea to my three guildmates.
“Got something in mind, Ren?”
“Sure do. Check this out!”
I revealed a brown bottle with a special liquid inside. It was Merlin’s Finest Taxidermy Solution.
“What is that?”
“It lets you stuff monsters. I made it with alchemy.”
“Takashiro, what does the ‘finest’ part mean?”
“This one lets you stuff boss monsters, too! Y’know, the ones with the crown.”
“Oh, really? Nice job!”
“This baby happens when you flawlessly craft a normal taxidermy solution. With this, we could preserve super-rare monsters, paint them, and stick ’em in our shop. It’d be like a huge, in-your-face catalog!”
A monster display would make one heck of an impact on buyers, and it’d be great advertising for our painting service.
“Interesting idea, bud! It just might work!”
“Oh my. That could have quite a positive impact on our reputation.”
“Does that mean we’re going hunting for rare monsters? It’s been a while since I had a good scrap!”
“For real, Yuuna. We’ve been so busy with the shop.”
“What should we search for, Takashiro?”
“Well, I’ve already got one idea...”
After school, we boarded an airship. Our destination was the Gelkael Battlefield on the Mishr continent. It’s pretty far east of Almishr’s Burial Ground. This location was the site of the greatest battle in a war of independence that led to the founding of Mishr’s biggest country, Mishuria. Even now, rusty weapons and siege engines littered the area. If you ignored those, it was a peaceful plain filled with lush vegetation.
“Oh! There it is!” I said, pointing at a monster roaming about the area.
Bloody Ooze: Level 35
It was a formless red monster, practically a reskin of your everyday slimes. Bloody Oozes are normal mobs, not worthy of Merlin’s Finest Taxidermy Solution. However, they have a very special gimmick, one which makes them quite valuable.
“Akira, how’s your AP looking?”
“It maxed out while we were on our way here.”
Nice. Sure wish I had Breath of Ares.
“All right. You’re up, Yano. Draco, stay with Yano, okay?”
“Okay! C’mere, boy!”
“Chirp!”
Draco flew over and nestled in her arms.
“Enervating Circle!”
I cast the spell on Draco.
“Cool! Off I go!”
Yano dashed off, enveloping several Bloody Oozes in my Enervating Circle. As we chased after her, I placed new circles as needed. Soon we were running all over Gelkael Battlefield, bringing hordes of enemies into the fold.
I’d say this is the finest train of Bloody Oozes I’ve ever seen!
Yano’s little army now consisted of dozens of red slimes.
“Should I keep going? I’m getting grossed out by their sound effects!”
“We should be good soon! Maeda, let’s do the thing!”
“Okay!”
Maeda and I joined hands as our voices overlapped.
“Joint Magic!”
Time to use some of the strongest magic out there to mow down some mobs!
I cast Enervating Circle while Maeda cast Diabolic Howl. Our combined magic spread out into a wide circle, with Draco at the center. Yano slowed her pace a bit as the dragon’s head from Diabolic Howl appeared within the magic circle. It chomped down on all of the Bloody Oozes, reducing their HP by 75% each. This combined magic cuts down regular mobs’ HP in one hit. As a result...
The Bloody Oozes combined!
The Bloody Oozes combined!
The Bloody Oozes combined!
The Bloody Oozes combined!
The Bloody Oozes combined!
The Bloody Oozes combined!
The Bloody Oozes combined!
The Bloody Oozes combined!
Messages poured into my log like a waterfall of gushy oozes!
These monsters will try to combine with other Bloody Oozes when their HP gets low in an attempt to recover their health. After being weakened by our combined magic, they were fusing together over and over, growing bigger all the while, until the resulting mass towered above our heads.
“Ooh! It worked!”
“Whoa! It’s huge!”
“Incredible...!”
“Blegh, this is grossing me out!”
In order to get to our true target, we had to force all those Bloody Oozes to combine. They call him... King Bloody!
Apparently, when you stuff amorphous monsters like slimes, you can change their shapes whenever and however you like. It becomes a totally dynamic decoration that never gets boring. Hence, I’d decided to come for this guy. But now that it was here in front of me, I noticed something strange.
Draconic Bloody: Level 60
Crown Icon (rare monster)
“Huh? That doesn’t seem right!”
“Shouldn’t they normally form a King Bloody?”
“Yeah, and it should be level 45.”
“It has ‘Draconic’ in its name, and it’s a really high level! What the heck happened?!”
The humongous red mass in front of us began to twist and bubble as it changed shape. Finally, a giant dragon’s face floated up from within the slime.
Skreeeaaahhh!
It roared like an actual dragon, spewing fire breath from its mouth!
“Aaaahhh!”
The Draconic Bloody breathed fire!
Dealt 385 damage to Ren!
Dealt 298 damage to Akira!
Dealt 260 damage to Kotomi!
Dealt 277 damage to Yuuna!
The reason I took the most damage was because of my Fanatic’s Staff. Evidently, it wasn’t done with us yet.
Groooaaaawr!
The Draconic Bloody is enveloped in a Blazing Aura!
The flames dealt 10 damage to Ren!
The flames dealt 10 damage to Akira!
The flames dealt 10 damage to Kotomi!
The flames dealt 10 damage to Yuuna!
“Ouch! It’s really hot!”
The Draconic Bloody’s body was covered in a flame effect. I could feel the heat singeing my skin.
“Looks like you take fire damage if you get too close!”
“So, it’s making a flaming damage field...”
“What do we do?!”
“We have to run for now! Draco, stay next to that thing!”
“Chirp!”
“Enervating Circle! All right, girls, let’s get away!”
The monster was slowed down as Draco stuck to it like glue. It was actually so big that part of its body was poking out of my circle, but the slowing effect still worked. We ran as fast as we could, putting a fair distance between us and the ooze. Akira occasionally cast Healing Dance+, replenishing our HP.
Once we had gotten far enough away, we no longer took damage from the flames.
We’d better fight from a distance! If we get too close, we’re gonna keep taking damage from his flame aura. Plus, we’d be in range of his fire breath. Too dangerous.
“Let’s fight him from outside of his attack range!”
“Okay! Hah!”
Akira swung Skyfall, sending a shockwave at the slime. It reached him, successfully dealing damage.
“I wonder why this happened, though?”
“Things like this just happen sometimes! I don’t know if this makes us lucky or unlucky!”
“It might have to do with how we hurt the Bloody Oozes. Maybe this is what happens when you use draconic magic on it! Either way, this guy might be really rare!”
At least, I didn’t know about him!
“A rare boss is perfect for attracting customers! C’mon, girls, this is like a blessing in disguise!”
“If we win!” the three of them shouted.
Shot down by all three at once?! Ouch!
“Don’t worry, we will! I’ll make sure we don’t lose him!”
I used Merlin’s Finest Taxidermy Solution on the Draconic Bloody. Or, more specifically, I lobbed it at him.
It worked! Now we’re good to take him down! Unfortunately, though, I’ll have to lock away the drama cannon for now. If I try to use Dead End, the flow of events will be Dead End -> 1 HP -> Die to flame damage. Instead...
“Ultimate move! Soul Spear!”
Psheeeew!
My purple laser pierced the Draconic Bloody.
Ren activated Soul Spear.
Dealt 251 damage to Draconic Bloody!
Draconic Bloody is now poisoned.
All right, great! Now we’ve got poison damage on our side!
Soul Spear’s poison does about 80 damage every 3 seconds. Over a minute, that makes 1,600 damage. It’s the perfect strategy for super long battles.
“All right! Stay back for now!”
But our enemy wasn’t about to go down without a fight. The slime once again changed forms, this time becoming the torso of an armor-clad knight. He had a massive bow, too.
“It changed shape again!”
“Yeah!”
An arrow made from some of the slime’s body whistled through the air. As it flew toward us, it split into countless tiny arrows, showering us with a rain of pain.
Grrrrr! Each hit only deals a few dozen points of damage, but there are a ton of ’em. Even moving away from him doesn’t guarantee our safety!
“I’ll heal us! Healing Dance+!”
“Me too! Exheal!”
Akira and Maeda recovered our HP.
“Thank you both!”
“No prob! But if we keep taking damage like this, we might not be able to pull through!”
“Should we split up? That should reduce the amount of damage we take at once!”
“What to do?!”
If we split up, it’ll be harder to coordinate. That presents its own problems.
The monster was difficult to fight up close, so trying to go that route would be really risky. This particular foe was the type that could fight well both at close range and at a distance. Because he had no clear weaknesses in either case, it was tough to choose either strategy.
Long range or short range? Wait, no! We have a third option!
“Maeda! Give Yano your Sniper’s Ring!”
The Sniper’s Ring raises the effective range of bow, gun, and magic projectiles. This was yet another treasure from Almishr’s Burial Ground. Maeda had taken this one for herself.
“Understood! Here, Yuuna!”
“Gotcha! So we’re gonna go long, then, Takashiro?”
“You guessed it! We’re going for super-long-range fire!”
Put simply, we were going to fight from beyond even the enemy’s arrow range.
“Sonic Arms!”
Maeda cast a spell on Yano. This buffing magic increases the range of projectile weapons. With the combined effects of the ring and the buff, her attacks had double the range.
“Longshot!”
Yano’s skill also increased the range of her projectiles. The effect lasted for two minutes, while the skill had a cooldown of five minutes. Now we had triple the attack range! We continued to run further and further away from the slime until we hit a point where his arrows could no longer reach us.
From this position, Yano attempted to fire a bullet at it. At least she could land a hit, even if none of the rest of us could.
“Okay! I can hit him!”
“Nice! Now, fire away! Akira, use Sword Samba to reset Longshot’s cooldown!”
“Got it!”
Using Yano’s attacks to outrange the enemy, we continued our long battle. I recast my Enervating Circle and Soul Spear as needed, further reducing the monster’s health.
Once the boss’ HP fell below 20%, it changed form one more time. This time, it was a huge red bird. It rose high into the air and then took a sharp dive, hurling itself at us. Because Yano was our main firepower, she had the most aggro, making her the target.
“Eeeek!”
“Yuuna!”
Akira and Maeda immediately used their healing abilities, bringing her dangerously low HP back up to full.
“Tch! That form’s annoying as heck!”
Since he’s not on the ground, my circles won’t affect him anymore. What a pain! Now we don’t have a way to stop his attacks on Yano.
“Yano, are you okay?!”
“Yeah, I’m fine for now!”
As we spoke, I realized that we weren’t taking damage from its Blazing Aura any longer. I didn’t know whether it had stopped because the monster changed forms or just because enough time had passed, but one thing was for certain: I could safely use Dead End!
The giant bird-shaped slime ascended before once again heading straight toward Yano. That girl was really putting in work. I stood next to her and took aim at the dive-bombing Draconic Bloody.
“Time to finish this! Ultimate move! Dead Eeeeend!”
And end the fight it did. We safely acquired one stuffed Draconic Bloody. Unfortunately, that meant we didn’t get any EXP or item drops.
Still, I have a feeling that this’ll make an incredible attraction!
◆◆◆
The next day, I woke up at 5:30 AM.
Woohoo! Today’s the day! It’s the grand opening of our guild shop!
Once I finished getting ready, I logged in at six o’clock sharp. Business hours start at 6:00 AM and continue through class time. You can hire employees to work for you during school hours, but we didn’t have the money for that—not yet, at least. If operations went smoothly, though, we’d be willing to hire.
“Woo! First login goes to me!”
When I popped in the guild house’s second-floor living space, Draco jumped out of his ceiling hammock and flew down to greet me.
“Chirp chirp! Chichirp!”
“Good morning! Have you been a good boy?”
“Chichirp!”
As we played around, Yano logged in.
“Morning...”
“Hm? Hey there. Man, could you look any less excited?”
“I’m just feelin’ nervous, that’s all.”
“Oh?”
“Well, if our shop is a flop, I’m the one who goes on trial, yeah? I’m the one who customized all of our stuff.”
I get it. She’s shouldering all the responsibility and pressure. Beneath all the heavy makeup, she’s an honest, genuine person. Err, not that I have a thing against all the girls out there who do wear heavy makeup. What I mean is, Yano’s a lot more anxious and self-aware than she appears at first glance. Compared to her, Akira’s more headstrong. Well, I guess that’s kinda the pot calling the kettle black, heh.
“Don’t worry about it! That shield was all me, and that armor is Akira’s fault.”
The shield I was referring to was the one with the teary-eyed girl on it, while the armor was printed with muscles. I didn’t exactly have the best artistic skills, so I’d had Yano draw the cute girl for me. Akira, however, was perfectly happy to draw her own design herself.
Is there nothing we can do about this girl’s obsession with macho men?
“I suppose...”
“I think it all turned out pretty darn great. But either way, there’s nothing we can do about it now, so fretting over it won’t do you any good.”
“Mmm... Yeah, you’re right. All right, I’m done stressing out about it.”
“There you go. And hey, if people don’t like your stuff, that still gives you feedback to incorporate into future designs. Even in the worst-case scenario, our efforts weren’t wasted.”
“Hahaha. You’re like a broken record, Takashiro.”
“I think it’s important to stick to your guns.”
“Well, I’d say it depends on the time and place.”
During our conversation, Akira and Maeda arrived.
“Good morning! Finally, it’s opening day!”
“It is! I’m really looking forward to it.”
Now everyone was present.
“Thanks for coming, girls. Let’s open up shop, shall we?”
Thus, our guild shop opened for business! We didn’t have to wait long before customers started trickling in. Maybe our advertising was worthwhile after all.
Our stuffed Draconic Bloody outside the store stood out, too. As planned, we had decorated it with all of the patterns offered by our painting service. It also served as further advertising. Today, the slime was in the form of a dragon head and positioned on our roof.
Even our classmates showed up to check out the shop, along with Homura, who was a sucker for new items. Our goods sold well, making Yano happy as a clam. Altogether, I think our miscellaneous goods sold the most. For early-morning business, I’d say it all turned out pretty great.
By the way, the shield I designed and the armor Akira designed were both completely ignored.
Oh, well. We’re only just getting started!
After class, we opened the shop once again. While Yano and I worked in the atelier to replenish our stock, Akira and Maeda worked the floor. Once our stock was replenished, we took shifts working in the front to give each other some breaks. While it was okay for us to focus entirely on the shop for a while, we’d have to go adventuring again someday.
I wonder how much it costs to hire NPC workers?
Akira and I chatted leisurely during our shared shift.
“Arena tournaments are great and all, but this kinda thing is nice, too.”
“Definitely.”
“The shop feels so realistic. It’s just like the real thing! This is a new experience for me.”
“We’ll probably be busy with the competitive guild mission soon, so we may as well have fun making sales here until then. Making a profit is important, too.”
Especially for a playstyle like mine, which by definition required constant spending. Getting my crafting level up was essential to making better hidden weapons, and I needed funding equivalent to that of a small army. Loading up the drama cannon took both time and money. If possible, I would love to stock up on Peregrine Stones so I could fire off some Dead End Vs in a pinch. You can never have enough money, really.
Yukino said the road ahead would be difficult. I’m sure it would be, if I didn’t care about crafting or fundraising. You have to be the kind of guy who enjoys all aspects of a game. Doesn’t that describe me just perfectly?!
“The competitive guild mission, huh? I wonder what it’ll be like!”
“Who knows? According to Yukino, it changes every year. You never really know until it’s announced.”
The front door opened as another customer walked in.
“Yo.”
Ooh, it’s Akabane and Kataoka! I guess the Hime-chan deigned to bring her follower along. This Hime-chan is looking to be good friends with Akira, but she’s pretty bad at being legitimately friendly, thanks to her celebrity upbringing. Wonder if they’ll manage to fight over something stupid again today? Anyway, good luck! I’m rooting for you two!
“Ew!”
Akira made a sour face as soon as she saw her. Akabane really was less than zero on the friendship scale. After a brief wince, Akabane quickly pulled herself together and tried to talk to Akira.
“I’m not here to pick a fight with you. I’m just here to take a look at the new shop that everyone’s gabbing about.”
“Ahaha... Sorry, it’s just a reflex. I didn’t mean anything by it.”
“Is that so? Well, no matter. I’d like you to show me around this place.”
“Oh, of course!”
“Enjoy!” I called out after them.
That was relatively peaceful. I believe in you, Akabane!
Thus, Akabane started strolling around the sales floor.
“These designs are surprisingly decent.”
What incredible praise! I wish Yano were here to hear that.
She stopped to stare at a poster that advertised our painting service.
“Excuse the abrupt inquiry, but you’re willing to paint a design on any item of my choosing?”
“Yep! Just give us any item, choose a design, and—”
“Would this be acceptable, then?” Akabane held up her fingernails.
Oh, I see. She wants us to paint her nails. I don’t see why not. We should be able to do that.
“I think so, yeah.”
“Then I’d like to do it now, please.”
We had Akabane sit down at the front counter so Akira could do her nail art. Even though we both knew how to use Libra’s Brush, I’d decided to leave it to her. We opened up the color-picking menu and had Akabane choose one.
“I’d like to use this shade of red as a base. For my accent nail, I would like some sort of art. You can handle the design.”
“Oh, me? Okay!” Akira’s eyes sparkled with excitement.
I’ve got a bad feeling about this.
Akira painted Akabane’s pointer finger a deep red color. Once this layer had been neatly applied, she picked a design from the menu and pasted a tiny version of it onto her customer’s nail. Obviously, the design Akira chose was...
Argh! Of course it’d be a demon guy with loads of muscles! Wait, I recognize that beefcake... It’s the one that lost the right to be on our guild emblem! When did she add that design to the list?!
“All done!”
“What the...? What is this outlandish design?! Are you trying to insult me?!”
“Whaaat?! But, um, you said I could choose...”
“Don’t sweat it, Akabane. This is what Akira is genuinely into. I mean it.”
“Really?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Akira asked, pouting.
“Erm, okay then. I suppose it’s my fault for asking you to choose. Could you please erase it and show me the list so that I can pick one of my own?”
This time, Akabane’s pointer finger was stamped with a much more tasteful design.
I wish this icy atmosphere would thaw just a bit, though. I’m still in your corner, Scarlet!