The day flies by quickly and an exhausted, but somewhat less troubled, Basil leaves the store for the night. Jubilee and Fresh meanwhile finish up the last of their tasks for the day. The lanterns are all sold out, including the display piece and the shelves are picked clean. The two of them have made a killing today. Though Fresh doesn’t appreciate Jubilee’s calling it that, in light of recent events. By the next day, Jubilee seems to have gotten over their feud, after ‘lecturing’ Fresh on respecting other people’s privacy.

Before they open, Fresh goes to the guild to pay back more of her debt.

Repaid - {1000} Obols] !

-{ 4998 Obols Remain Due }-

Basil returns, bright-eyed, early in the morning and the three of them set to work. Jubilee and Basil hold down the store, while Fresh retreats upstairs to make more things for their stockpile. Eventually, the man from the thieves’ guild returns to check on their order and then to arrange for the pick-up of the items. Inspecting the arrows and the swords, he seems satisfied and even buys one of their lanterns. From the contract and his purchase, they made well over four-thousand Obols alone and Fresh realizes with some surprise that she now already has noticeably more than enough money to fully pay back her debt to the adventurers’ guild after these last few, very busy, days. It really is no wonder that the merchants in this city were so cut-throat.

The swords are good and attract a lot of attention, but the lanterns are really drawing in high-profile customers in droves. Apparently some very renowned mid-level adventuring parties even come to browse their items. The low-level bone-weapons are of little use to them. Same with the potions, as they already have access to much better ones, but the lanterns are real eye-catchers and much to Fresh’s delight, they even take the odd glass-chicken or two with them, if only out of novelty.

The store closes later that night, the shelves are plundered again and Fresh’s back sorely aches from the constant carrying of equipment up and down for repairs, together with her constant fiddling around with metal and wood and glass for her crafting. Once Basil leaves for the night, still as mesmerized by the money in her hands as on her first day here, Fresh looks at Jubilee, who seems fairly satisfied as well.

Wares Sold Sell Price Bought Buy Price Total Minor-antidotes (Normal) 41 15 - - 615 Minor soul-potions (Normal) 101 19 - - 1919 Bone-daggers (Normal) 1 49 - - 49 Odds and ends 0 40 - - 0 Glass-chickens 2 30 - - 60 Magical-talisman 5 51 - - 255 Bags 21 5 - - 105 Bone-Swords (Normal) 23 147 - - 3381 Enchanted lanterns 37 299 - - 11063 Services Repairs 26 23 - - 598 Purchases Orange mushroom-caps - - 40 -5 -200 Blue mushroom-caps - - 51 -6 -306 Goblin-teeth (Small) - - 180 -1 -180 Iron-bars - - 4 -20 -80 Ectoplasm - - 0 -13 0 Sum (Gross) Taxes Guild Dues Upkeep Total Deductions Sum (Net) 17279 12% 5% 10% 4665 12614 2073 864 1728 Earnings Each Basil Basil Commission Basil Earnings 6307 ! 50 2.00% 302 252

“Jubilee! I think I have enough money to pay back my debt to the guild!”

Jubilee nods at her. “Yeah, we made great time. Spring’s not even over yet, though I guess it’s only a day or two away, till summer officially begins.”

Fresh wonders aloud. “Do we get anything for paying it back?”

“You get to keep control of your body and soul for yourself, isn’t that enough?” asks Jubilee, shaking their head. “If you really want, you can go buy yourself another shot.”

Fresh ignores their remark and taps her chin. “Jubilee? Are we rich?”

“Are you stupid?” Jubilee sighs. “Look, I told you, merchants make prime-money. But even we’re probably a little ahead of the big names in town now.”

“Really?”

“Think about it,” says Jubilee. “We save money on everything. We already had a building. Our materials are basically all but free, which means we have just about no costs, apart from time and our percentages.” They shrug. “We’re probably making double what the shops down the road are making. Especially since we’re stealing all of their business.”

“Do you think they’re mad?” asks the girl nervously.

“Oh yeah, they’re furious,” says Jubilee, closing the ledger for the night. “When we left the dungeon last time, someone was scoping us out. We’re being watched,” they explain, somehow not bothered by that fact. Seeing Fresh’s nervous expression, they add on. “But we’ve been being watched since day one, so don’t let it bother you. It’s just part of the game.” They walk over to the chickens and stare at them for a moment, before moving the lowest one an inch to the left. “But no, we’re not rich. Though I guess you could call us upper-middle class now, which is pretty good.”

“Really? If making over two-thousand Obols a day doesn’t make us rich, then what does?” asks Fresh curiously, watching as Jubilee scoots the chicken back a smidge towards the right.

“Blood,” says her friend dryly.

“Blood?” asks Fresh, not understanding.

“Noble blood. We’re just dregs. We’re at the top of the shit-heap, but we’re still on the shit-heap,” says Jubilee, turning the chicken a few degrees. “Money will buy you just about anything, up to a point. And at that point, you’re done. There’s nothing you can buy that will give you more power than being born to the right blood-line will.”

Fresh thinks about it. Jubilee had mentioned something about nobles before, back when they first started talking about witches. But now that she thinks about it, she’s never seen any of them. Perhaps they didn’t come near the city, or at least this part of it. But that’s fine for her. She likes the dirty, rough and rowdy adventurers more than the concept of some snobby high-born.

She spends the rest of the night expanding their inventory of bone weapons, as they were quickly becoming a signature ‘look’ for their store. Along with the daggers, the swords and the arrows, Fresh focuses her efforts on making some other popular equipment that she’s seen, with some instruction from Jubilee on the ergonomics of the weapons. Axes, spears and even a shield.

(Fresh) uses: [Witch-crafting: Bone-axe] [Bone-axe](Normal)

A large axe hewn out of solid bone. The horrifying weapon carries a dark, ominous tinge to it.

+6 DMG

+2 DARK DMG

Weight: 1.1kg

Durability: 24/24

Value: ???

(Fresh) uses: [Witch-crafting: Bone-spear] [Bone-spear](Normal)

A long spear, hewn out of solid bone. The tip of the light weapon carries a dark, ominous tinge to it.

+4 DMG

+3 DARK DMG

Weight: 1.0kg

Durability: 24/24

Value: ???

(Fresh) uses: [Witch-crafting: Bone-shield] [Bone-shield](Normal)

A large, heavy shield, hewn out of solid bone. The object carries a dark, ominous tinge to it.

+2 PHYSICAL RESISTANCE

+3 DARK RESISTANCE

+1 ICE RESISTANCE

Weight: 1.6kg

Durability: 30/30

Value: ???

Seeing the shield, impressed, Jubilee looks around the store, realizing something. A moment later they ask Fresh if she sold a shield a few days ago and if so, for how much. Fresh doesn’t really remember, so Jubilee looks through the ledger and then shoots the girl a glare similar to the one from the day before.

“You goo brain! That was a rare drop!”

“I’m soooorry~” yells Fresh as Jubilee chases her around the bins on the floor of the store.

Much to Fresh’s frustration, her crafting and witch-crafting levels seem to have stagnated both at level six, which apparently puts her slightly above average. According to Jubilee, the further road as a craftsman will be a long grind. Though, much to the girl’s delight and much to Jubilee’s as well, she finally manages to make a real soul-potion. One that isn’t considered ‘minor’.

To commemorate the occasion and to have them stand out from the rest, Fresh sets to work making a special bottle for them. Jubilee’s eyes twitch, as they stare at the small, hollow glass-chicken that is the size of a normal potion, filled with the bright blue liquid and capped with a cork in its open beak.

“You couldn’t just make a bottle?”

“Bakaw!” yells Fresh at Jubilee, holding out the chicken-bottle out to face them.

(Fresh) uses: [Witch-crafting: Soul-potion] [Soul-potion](Normal)

A soul-potion that restores some spiritual energies if drank.

This potion is glowing with a bright aura.

+ Restores 35% of SOUL

+5% SOUL Regeneration - 12 Hours

+10% SOUL - 12 Hours

+ Purges Corrupting Spirits

Normal

- No side effects -

180 mL

Value: ???

The next day, the store erupts into a cacophony of voices and giddy squeals as their new wares are discovered.

“What’s with these bottles?”

“They’re… chickens?”

“Why?”

“I don’t like them.”

“I do!” says the muscular dark-elf, who pushes her way through the crowd to grab a fistful of them, bringing them to the counter together with their usual load of orange-mushroom-caps. Setting them down with a wink to a very grateful Fresh, she pays for them and makes a large scene of it as she leave. Fresh wonders, isn’t the woman a fighter? Does she even use soul-points?

Once the ball starts rolling, the bottles start flying off the shelves and soon enough, word spreads of their new potions.

Excited casters run into the store, dragging in their bored fighter and warrior companions by their literal hands. Though their attention is quickly diverted to their new range of equipment and Fresh smiles, explaining to Basil how important it is to cater to a broad customer base.

“If we only sell caster things, then we’ll only get money from casters.” She raises a finger. “But if we sell a little of everything, we’ll attract everyone and we’ll always have customers!” Basil nods, understanding and Fresh notices that the woman is wearing small silver earrings, shaped like small stars. “I like your earrings, Basil!”

Basil fidgets. “I’ve never had spending money before, so… is it gaudy? Maybe I shouldn’t be wearing jewelry as a priestess…”

Fresh shakes her head, placing her palms to her own cheeks. “You’re a merchant right now, Basil, so it’s important to take care of your appearance! It’s just like the house -” Fresh gestures around the store-area, which has been in a constant state of semi-repair, as there just always seems to be more work for her to do. “- If the store looks like it isn’t taken care of, people will think we don’t put love into our wares!” She raises a finger, lecturing to the woman as if she were a school-teacher. “And if we don’t take care of ourselves, people will also think we don’t have the energy to make our things with love either.”

“Isn’t that a little superficial?” asks Basil.

“Maybe. But that’s how people are,” explains Fresh to Basil, who seems both satisfied and unsatisfied at the same time with that answer, yet somehow also just as surprised that it was Fresh who gave it.

“You really have a knack for this merchant stuff,” remarks the priestess to a beaming Fresh.

After a few days of this, Basil is able to run the counter entirely on her own and the priestess’ tired, worn out face seems to fill just a little more. As if she were eating and sleeping more, having had some time to grieve and the distraction of her work to keep her mind busy during the day. Apparently from her wages, she was ‘encouraged’ to give twenty-percent to the church, which still left her with far more money each day than she ever had before.

The red-wizard returns day by day and quickly becomes a familiar face to Basil as well, who initially shares Fresh’s concerns about her health, but is equally scolded by Jubilee just as Fresh was by them back then. The red-wizard seems to be doing fantastic in the dungeon on her own and Fresh can’t help but be impressed that she seemingly is near floor thirty now, entirely by herself. This is further accentuated by the high praise the wizard receives from the unusual source of Jubilee. Apparently, for a single person, going so deep is a very impressive feat. The wizard must be a real power-house.

“Can I start selling my items here?” asks the red-wizard.

“Items? Like what?” asks Jubilee. “We already buy your caps.”

The wizard shrugs. “Everything, you guys sell a little of everything, right? So why not buy it? It’s a real pain having to walk around town.” The wizard sighs. “Weapons at the forge. Fabric at the tailor. Mushroom-caps to you guys and so on and so on. It would be really convenient if you just… bought everything?”

“And what would we do with it? We can only process the materials we need for our equipment,” asks Jubilee, handing the wizard their bag, refilled with potions.

“I don’t know? Make more things,” suggests the wizard, ogling the new chicken bottles.

“We’ll look into it, but don’t get your hopes up,” replies Jubilee, apparently at least willing to consider the idea, much to Fresh’s surprise.

Soon enough, a group of men come in to pick up the order for the thieves’ guild and Fresh can’t help but notice Basil’s unease, as she clearly recognizes the hooded figures. Or at least what organization they belong to.

“We’re merchants, Basil,” says Fresh, reminding her and Basil relents, though her posture does remain somewhat stiff until they leave, apparently more than satisfied with their work.

A cloaked man nods to Jubilee. “We look forward to working with you in the future.”

“Yeah, yeah. As long as you cloaked-fucks pay in advance.” The man doesn’t respond, simply loading the last box onto their cart and climbing on, before they ride off down the way.

Wares Sold Sell Price Bought Buy Price Total Minor-antidotes (Normal) 36 15 - - 540 Minor soul-potions (Normal) 60 19 - - 1140 Soul-potions (Normal) 76 24 - - 1824 Odds and ends 0 40 - - 0 Glass-chickens 1 30 - - 30 Magical-talisman 3 51 - - 153 Bags 20 5 - - 100 Bone-daggers (Normal) 3 49 - - 147 Bone-Swords (Normal) 23 147 - - 3381 Bone-axes (Normal) 14 149 - - 2086 Bone-spears (Normal) 8 119 - - 952 Bone-shields (Normal) 12 199 - - 2388 Bone-arrows x32 (Normal) 9 96 864 Enchanted lanterns 37 299 - - 11063 Services Repairs 26 23 - - 598 Delivery, T. Guild 1 4000 - - 4000 Purchases Orange mushroom-caps - - 80 -5 -400 Blue mushroom-caps - - 73 -6 -438 Goblin-teeth (Small) - - 220 -1 -220 Iron-bars - - 6 -20 -120 Ectoplasm - - 0 -13 0 Sum (Gross) Taxes Guild Dues Upkeep Total Deductions Sum (Net) 28088 12% 5% 10% 7584 20504 3371 1404 2809 Earnings Each Basil Basil Commission Basil Earnings 10227 ! 50 2.00% 460 410

Another day ends and Fresh throws her coins into her bag, which is growing more than heavy, as it is filled with a mountain of clanking metal. She makes a note to go to the guild tomorrow, to finally pay her debt off. Maybe Jubilee will even come with her?

She smiles, as she goes back downstairs to ask them.