It had been several days since I started working at the orphanage, and I was now being tasked with going out to buy Christmas gifts for the children.
“Sorry, we don’t have a lot of money. I feel awful, but would you be able to do something with this amount, Abel? I know it’s not much, so I won’t expect anything fancy. Any gift will do so long as they all get something.”
I held in my hand some copper coins that amounted to about a thousand cols. Hm, this is their budget? It’s really quite small. With this amount of money, it’d be hard to get each child a gift.
But that was only thinking conventionally. If I thought out of the box here, this amount of money was more than enough for me to get some quality presents.
I arrived at my destination, Edgar’s Recycle Shop, owned by the very same person who’d given Noel, Ted, and I the warehouse cleaning quest. In a lot of different ways, we really owed him for what he’d done. Specifically, he’d locked us inside a warehouse infested with rats and shorted us on the reward. Edgar truly was a shady guy, but he had his uses.
“Urk! You’re that brat from back then!” Guilt filled Edgar’s face as he saw me. “What do you want? Let me guess, you’re here to get in the way of my business! Get outta here!”
How rude.
He stood at the entrance of his store, effectively blocking it, and proceeded to mimic throwing salt at me as if I was some kind of evil spirit to be exorcised.
“Don’t be so quick to jump to conclusions. I’m here purely as a customer, and good customer service is important,” I said, before slipping past Edgar and entering his shop.
“Whoa! How’d you do that?!” After I’d gotten past him without him noticing, Edgar was shocked.
Hm. As I thought, nothing’s good here. And the inside itself looks just as bad as what’s for sale. The products were things that regular stores would never sell: dirt-cheap pieces of garbage.
“Oh?”
Once I entered, I spotted something that was perfect for my purposes—a box of toys. Edgar had most likely just gotten these. The toys inside were a mess, not in great condition at all. But with some work, they could be fixed up as presents for the children.
“I like the stuff in here. How’s a thousand cols for all of them?”
“Hmph! Why should I sell them to you for such a cheap price?! Listen, I bought all these from a big-name noble for two hundred thousand cols! Each one is a precious, one-of-a-kind item, and they’re all going for a premium,” Edgar spoke, uncharacteristically loquacious.
“Yeah, right. I bet you got them from some random family for free.”
“Ha ha ha! Where’s your proof that I’m lying? Show me!”
Good grief. He’s as abrasive as usual. Zero hesitation in showing who he really is.
“Fine. I’ll show you proof. I’ve recorded all your evil deeds from start to finish on this Regalia. Might be fun to release this to the world.”
Edgar gasped as I pulled out a Regalia equipped with a recording function. The last time Edgar and I met, I had actually recorded him, thinking that it’d come in handy one day.
“The school told me you were coming. The name’s Edgar, and I’m the owner of the neighborhood Regalia recycle shop.”
“Sure. So, as you know, I need you kids to clean the warehouse. If you can clean it all up by the designated time, and leave it sparkling clean, then I’ll give you the money I promised.”
“Okay, well in you all go!”
“Ha ha ha! Later, kids! Don’t worry, I’ll let you out at sunset. Work hard, ya hear me?”
I’d recorded what he’d said to us when he’d locked us in the warehouse. Since the details of the job were already suspicious, I decided to record him since I figured that something like what had actually happened to us was likely to occur: he’d locked students in his warehouse to exterminate rats. If this truth got out, it was hard to imagine that he’d come out unscathed.
“Wh-What?!” Edgar stuttered, surprised, his face going pale as he heard his own words recited back to him. Apparently, he hadn’t expected that he’d be recorded. “Hmph... Fine. You scratched my back, so I’ll scratch yours. Listen, this is a once in a lifetime act of generosity from me! I’ll let you buy the contents of that box for a mere thousand cols!”
How transparent. But his profit-first personality makes him pretty easy to manipulate. This deal is a win-win for both of us.
“All right. Sounds good. We have a deal. Oh, by the way, there’s a bag charge. After all, I’m a recycle shop. Gotta look out for the environment. Gah ha ha!”
I fell silent, in disbelief over this man’s greed. I had doubts that charging a fee for a bag would do anything to really help the environment. But since I’d practically strong-armed him into this trade, I figured it’d be okay to just pay for the bag.
Well then. Now that I have the toys in tow, I’ve completed my objective. All that was left was to bring them back, fix them up, and then we’d have toys for the kids.
“Hm?”
As I went to leave, another item caught my eye—a ring, dull and set with amber. But with some polish, it’d be pretty nice.
Hm. It’s a hundred thousand cols? A bit too much for a student, but if I use the money I’ll get from this quest, I’ll have just enough.
“Hey, so this ring...”
“Oh, yeah, that? Just so you know, I can’t sell that for cheap! Unlike the other stuff, I actually paid for this, so I’m not gonna sell it at a loss.”
I didn’t respond. You pretty much just confessed that you got these toys for free, but whatever.
“I’ll come back to buy it when I have the money. You mind placing it on hold for me?”
I’d have my reward money from my quest soon, so I could use it to buy this ring. It’d make for a good present for Lilith.
“Hmph. Sure, I guess. What’s a student like you need with a ring anyway?”
I fell silent. It was a hard question to answer. Even if I didn’t answer him honestly, guys generally didn’t have many uses for rings.
“Oho. I got it. It’s for a woman, isn’t it?” Edgar asked, sounding as if he was making fun of me. He stuck up his pinky.
A woman, huh? Well, I guess she might be a demon, but Lilith is a woman. He’s right, so there’s no point in denial, but it’s annoying that it’s Edgar, of all people, pointing this out.
“Shut up. Pry anymore and you die.”
“Wh-Whoa. I was just joking around! You’re oozing killer vibes right now...”
Good grief. After many twists and turns, I’m finally set for Christmas. Hm... I doubt she’s expecting that I’m getting her anything. I can’t wait to see her surprise when I give her this.