Peak hours started up around sundown. I stood there waiting for the adventurers to return to the surface, like a dad waiting for his kids to come home from primary school. Word had gotten around about my shop and soon enough, I had several customers buying my goods. It was around then that I spotted a familiar pair walking from afar. They were my two regulars, Meryl and Mira. But something was off. Meryl, who was usually so lively and cheerful, was holding on to Mira’s shoulder and dragging her feet.
“What’s the matter?” I called out, jumping up and rushing over to them.
“Meryl was caught in one of the dungeon’s traps,” Mira explained. “Now she’s under a dizziness spell.”
Dizziness spells were pretty mild and not life-threatening on their own. Still, the physical exhaustion they caused, as well as how they could immobilize you, could spell serious trouble if you were inside the dungeon.
“I’ve got just the thing for you. Come with me.”
I helped Mira bring Meryl over to where my shop was.
“Do you have a cup?” I asked Mira.
“I do.” She paused. “Oh, will you be giving her some medicine?”
“No, not medicine. I’ll be giving her a beverage.”
“A beverage?”
This was what I’d have Meryl drink:
Product name: Powdered Drink Mix (Grape flavor)
Description: Dissolve in 120 milliliters of cold water and drink. No fruit juices included. Effective against curses.
Price: Thirty rims
In addition, there were five other flavors, each with its own individual effect: grape was effective against curses, orange was an antidote, strawberry reduced mana cost for fifteen minutes, melon gave ten minutes of twenty percent EXP gain, and pineapple gave twenty percent rim gain for ten minutes.
“Mira, do you have any water?”
“I’ll make some right away.”
Mira produced a ball of water out of thin air.
“We don’t need that much,” I told her. “If there’s too much water, it dilutes the taste and ruins it.”
If I was going to have Meryl drink this, I wanted her to actually enjoy it. I took the metal cup Mira handed me and mixed in the fine powder to make a grape-flavored beverage.
“Here. Drink up.”
“Mm-hmm...”
Meryl seemed to be struggling to breathe, but she opened her mouth a little. I slowly tipped the drink in. She swallowed and swallowed, drinking faster and faster, until she had drained the entire cup.
“Well?” I asked. “How are you feeling?”
“Isn’t there any more?” Meryl was now completely alert and well enough to demand a refill. The color had also returned to her previously pale face.
Whoa! The drink was unbelievably effective!
“Each packet only has a little bit of powder in it,” I said. “My dream as a kid was to use five of these things at once and throw them down the hatch.”
“I totally get that!”
As Meryl and I shared a good laugh, Mira remained astonished.
“Meryl, are you sure you’re all right now?” she asked.
“Yeah. I actually feel really refreshed!”
“That’s amazing...” Mira then turned to me. “Um, there seem to be five different flavors of that drink mix. Do they all have the same effect?”
After I explained the powdered drinks to them, Meryl jumped on the pineapple flavor. “Hey, wait a second. So, suppose I take down a giant bee. Giant bees usually drop at least a hundred rims. If I drink this beverage beforehand, I’ll get 120?!”
“Yeah, that sounds about right.”
“Gimme all ten of them!”
Wow, she just bought my entire stock.
Now I was all out of pineapple. Meanwhile, Mira was interested in some of the other flavors.
“I’d like three each of the grape and orange packets, please,” she said. I could guess she was a cautious person based on her choices—she’d chosen the flavors effective against curses and poisons.
“Now then, let’s try again at the Ten-Rim Chocolate Coins!”
After buying up all the pineapple-flavored packets, Meryl was sticking her hand in the Ten-Rim Chocolate Coin box. It was hard to believe that she’d been under a curse mere moments ago.
“Oh, I see you’ve come again.”
The young adventurers who had bought my Curry Rice Crackers had appeared. Somehow, it felt like there were even more of them than before.
“Welcome. How were the Curry Rice Crackers?”
“Thanks to them, I didn’t run out of stamina at all. I was skeptical at first, but they actually are the real deal. And the candy made it easier to move around. The boss had nothing but praise for me today!”
“So I assume you made a lot of money then?”
“Yep. That’s why we’re back to buy more stuff.”
The lively young adventurers noisily browsed through the goods.
“Hey, mister, what’s this?”
“That’s Magic Flute Ramune Candy,” I told the boy. “If you blow into it, it makes a high-pitched sound that attracts monsters.”
“What the hell? That’s super scary!”
“But wouldn’t it be great for luring a monster into a trap?”
“Oh yeah! Then I’ll buy one.”
“Just make sure you don’t use it in a place with too many strong monsters around,” I warned. “That’ll be sixty rims.”
My sales today were looking pretty good.
“Ugh! I lost again!” Meryl cried, indicating that she had lost the chocolate lottery yet again.
“Just give up already.”
Meryl brushed me off. “Shut up, I’m not done yet! I need another one!”
She was probably the type to lose big-time when it came to gambling, but it wasn’t so bad if all she was betting on were some Ten-Rim Chocolate Coins. Still, I was worried for her future.
“Meryl, you’re getting way too fired up. Buy this and eat it.”
“What is that?” she asked.
“It’s a Mini Mini Cola.”
The dagashi I showed her was a small plastic case packed with cola-flavored candy tablets. I personally really liked their superhard texture.
Product name: Mini Mini Cola
Description: Cola-flavored ramune candy. Has a calming effect.
Price: Forty rims
“It may be good for you to always have one on you, Meryl,” said Mira with a cute smile, “so you don’t ruin your own life.”