DAY 121
AFTERNOON
I spend so much time on these side jobs I think I deserve benefits.
THE FRONTIER GENERAL STORE
THE GENERAL STORE was packed with familiar faces. Yup—the girls had the same idea I did. The day was still young, so it was time to get our shopping on!
“I don’t blame ’em either. The Beast Kingdom had only foodstuffs, and the Theocracy had no shopping to speak of. The Kingdom goods aren’t as good as their frontier counterparts. The womanly shopping pangs must be panging something fierce. Yeesh! You girls sure know how to shop.”
I thought they didn’t have any money? They’d spent days without dungeon running. And they had the nerve to blow up on me for going bankrupt in the Kingdom… The Bank of Class Rep had seized the rest of their funds for safekeeping, only to blow them all on the girls’ dessert budget. Who knew if today’s dungeon earnings would be enough to support this latest shopathon…
“Ooh! It’s so cute. Oh, hey, Faleria-san! Come over here and look at this.”
“This is the best place to get toiletries and cosmetics. Here, try this one. It’s got that Haruka-kun-made seal of excellence.”
“This toiletries kit is such a lifesaver. Haruka-kun’s bespoke goods are great too.”
“Try this! It’ll look so good on you.”
“Totes! It’s part of his hoity-toity elegant lady lineup, but it’s wicked sexy-cute.”
“Ooh! It’s perfect! Oh my god. We gotta get you an outfit to match. To the changing rooms, girls!”
“Huh? Me? I, not sure…”
“Faleria-san, what do you think of this? It’ll totally go with your slim legs.”
“Yeah! That’s so fashionable.”
Yup. Let’s leave Sleeping Beauty to the girls. She’s in good hands now. A band of girls was the best shopping assistant a dungeon emperor could ever ask for.
Oh no… The latest request list was in, and it was so long it snaked out the door…
“Get back here, boy! Do you know why I asked for so many products? Because your friends are busy buying all my stock! Make more! Make extra! Make mountains of surplus, because I’ll need it!”
I got caught before I could get far. The general store lady, I noticed, was looking much younger these days. Her old wounds had healed, and between her recent rehabilitation and plenty of healing mushrooms, she was now well enough to go off on mushroom hunts of her own. She looked healthy and trim; there was color in her cheeks and a spark in her eyes. Her brain, alas, had received no such rejuvenating glow-up. Although she did have a point—a pushy, unwanted point—as I realized a shortage of clothes would be a very big issue. I didn’t want to disappoint Sleeping Beauty. And besides, shopping was good, honest fun. That was just a fact of life.
“If I’m the one making all the stuff and the girls are the ones buying it all, why bother with a general store at all? I mean, I’m still gonna make your stuff. I assume these are all rush orders.”
“You know it! I’ll sell ’em at cost, so make extras. My inventory’s suffering from a lack of luxury goods. You know the housewives of this town want nothing but the best, and they finally have the wallets to afford it. But the local manufacturers just can’t keep up with all the demand. People are making so much damn money these days, I swear… The town’s awash in clubs now!”
Sure, the frontier was well on its way to being economically and productionally self-sufficient, but folks always liked to have a little extra on hand. There was no limit to some people’s greed, especially for the female clientele of this boutique. One look at my classmates was enough to prove it.
“It blows my mind that monsters ever used to attack the women and children in this city. Arm a housewife and goblin with the same weapons, turn ’em loose, and the housewife will win ten times outta ten. So hey, looks like the clubs are being used effectively—and scarily!”
“Less talking, more crafting! I need more, dammit! More, more, always more! More of everything, and an extra order of mushroom bento!”
People in the frontier were just built differently. Everyone was higher level than they shoulda been, even the kiddos who hadn’t trained in monster hunting. It took me the longest time to figure out why—I’d never cracked the code until one day when I was poking around in the back lot behind the inn.
See, there were little tiny bug and grass monsters running around everywhere in the frontier. They were too weak to be noticeable—I’m talking critters like a level 1 biting briar or a level 1 stinger bee—but they gave experience to ladies and kids employed in the basic household tasks of pest extermination. It may not have been much experience per pop, but it added up quickly.
“Lessee here… Blouses, dresses… Lace is popular right now, huh? I’d better make lace sewing machines for the workshops, or else I’ll never be able to meet this demand. Frilly tunics? Ah, the mean girls designed those. No wonder they’re flying off the shelves.”
Jiggle jiggle?
Going back to the level thing for a sec—considering the low levels of the Theocracy’s civilians, a low concentration of magi in the earth must have made it harder to gain levels. The frontier, which was thick with magic and mushrooms, was therefore a prime place to level up. I’d seen proof of this in the Kingdom orphans, who ate mushrooms every day and took to “landscaping” as their chore of choice. The kids’ levels shot up like beanpoles. These kids were fast learners—too fast. They picked up the art of flinging themselves at me sooner than I would’ve liked.
“Long flared skirts… Three-roll-two suit jackets… And fringes? Sure, I’ll give those a shot. Grunge isn’t in, but the locals are a fan of folksy vibes. Let’s make eighty of each variety, all sizes.”
Bobble bobble.
Book Club President had the same idea as me. We could chalk that one up to her Organization Skill, which analyzed trends and organized them into coherent conclusions.
So with this, we’d just solved the problem of disease for the entire frontier. When exposed to enough magi, one’s level would rise, thus consuming magic in the body. We’d turn the people into a legion of spellcasters ready for monster- and treasure-hunting and, in the process, increase public health. If people just ate their mushrooms, they would have nothing to fear in the way of disease. The issue was that the source of the mushrooms, the forest, had grown unchecked and had started spawning too many powerful monsters—which was what had caused the initial downfall of the frontier—but now, the balance was being restored. If anything, the monsters had the worse side of the deal. Oh well. Not my problem. Goblins came back the minute they went extinct anyway.
“Phew! Well, I knocked out the whole list. Did I make too much? Nah. This would be enough to satisfy the local housewife population, but my classmates can buy goods as fast as I can make ’em. Or faster!”