“I don’t know about this…” says the guardsman, rubbing his chin.

“Pakew!”

Fresh grabs the spriggan, pulling it back towards herself. “It’s just a little spriggan,” she argues.

Today is the day of their store’s opening. They’re not open just yet, but in order to assure public safety, a man from the city as well as a guard are here to check out everything and to make sure that their home isn’t a giant death-trap. The wares, especially the medicine, had been rigorously examined and approved with a satisfied nod by the city-alchemist, who seemed very excited about both their assortment as well as its quality.

The accompanying guard however, here to oversee the process, had encountered the spriggan in between their shelves.

“City ordinances don’t allow for monsters to be taken out of the dungeon. You understand,” says the man. “You’ll have to bring it back.”

“We already tried,” says Jubilee, snapping their fingers. A shard of glass shoots out of the cracks between the stones of the floor, impaling the spriggan from below. It dies instantly.

“Jubileeee~!” yells Fresh, horrified as the spriggan leaves her clutches and is pinned against the ceiling. She looks at her sad reflection and the glass shatters an instant later, falling down to the ground as a million pieces, together with the dead spriggan’s body which thuds unceremoniously against the floor.

Jubilee lifts a hand, ignoring her. “Give it a minute. He’ll be back.” Shamrock walks by with a broom, starting to sweep the glass away without a complaint. “Anyways, we’re loaded with summoning items,” they explain, pointing at the wands and staves. “Every one and their mother is going to end up with a spriggan running after them soon,” they state.

The guard looks at the wands and then towards the alchemist. “Those are flagged as ‘pets’ though. They’re harmless,” says the older caster. “A wild spriggan is something else.”

“Pakew!” shouts the spriggan, running back up the spiral staircase and back into Fresh’s arms, where it was a moment ago.

“Curious,” says the man. “It’s a wild spawn, but it doesn’t give experience points?” He examines the creature, lifting its arms and looking beneath them. “It doesn’t seem hostile either.”

“It’s really nice!” argues Fresh, rubbing its head.

The guard looks around the room. “Is the dungeon leaking?” he considers.

“You bet your fucking ass it is,” replies Jubilee, pointing at the flowers and herbs. “We pluck these fucking things every day, but they keep coming back.”

The two men exchange a worried look. “Excuse us for a moment,” says the caster, pulling the guard away with him out of the door as they go to talk for a minute in private.

Fresh frowns, stepping to the side so that Shamrock can sweep where she was standing. “Are we gonna be okay, Jubilee?” she asks, feeling worried for obvious reasons. What if they don’t allow them to open? They’ll be ruined.

“We’re fine,” says Jubilee, crossing their arms and leaning back against the shelves. The bristles of the broom strike against their boot as Shamrock motions to sweep where they’re standing. Jubilee looks up at him and continues to stay exactly where they are. “With the shield up, the city has a big fucking proble- FUCK OFF!”

Shamrock picks Jubilee up, setting them on top of a shelf, before sweeping the spot clean.

“A problem?” asks Fresh.

Basil comes by. “Food. The shield makes sustaining the city very difficult,” she explains. “Because of the nature-based dungeon, the city can stay self-sufficient for a long time. The guards are going to be going in to gather resources from now on, together with the normal adventurers.”

“Really?” asks Fresh, looking at Jubilee who is puzzling about how to get down from the shelf. She tilts her head, pointing at them. “Hey, what does this cost?” she asks. “I want one.”

“You couldn’t afford it in your wildest dreams,” sighs Jubilee, simply jumping back down.

“Mhm,” says Basil. “But that’s only going to keep the city running on fumes after the reserves are eaten through,” she explains. “Medicine and food are going to become very important, very soon.”

Fresh considers this for a moment. It’s indeed not exactly great news for the city, but at the same time, it’s great news for them. Right when the city is facing a hard time, they’re showing up at the right place, right on time, offering exactly what is needed, as if they had been deistically ordained to be here.

The two men come back in. “Okay. We’re approving your operation,” says the guard. “But we’ll have to station a man outside during your working hours, until we know it’s safe.”

“Fine,” says Jubilee. “But he’s not getting a free lunch.”

Fresh lifts a hand. “I can make him a free lunch.”

“Stop giving away our profits!” barks Jubilee, glaring at her.

The two men stay a while longer to discuss the formalities with Jubilee. Fresh meanwhile, continues to help Basil and Shamrock get the store ready, the spriggan wobbling after her.

The store is ready.

It has taken many hours, many days. But the store is ready. The shelves are set-up and fully stocked with a decently wide enough assortment of wares to start with. The counter is ready, together with a prepared ledger and a till. The staircase has been blocked off with a little rope that simply dangles across it with a sign. The broken floor is fixed and evened out. The windows are clean and polished and all that remains is to hang up the new sign and to open the door.

There’s already one or two curious faces outside, Jubilee and Basil’s marketing apparently having drummed up some attention.

“Dungeon Item Shop?” asks Fresh, already in the middle of carving the name into the sign. It’s a rectangle of treated wood, but hollowed out with a pane of very prismatic moon-glass on the inside. She’s carving the letters out of the wood, so that the glass shapes their name.

“Dungeon Item Shop,” nods Basil, bending down and trying to teach the spriggan how to play pat-a-cake. Though it seems surprisingly proficient at the game already for whatever odd reason.

“What the fuck else?” asks Jubilee. “Dungeon Item Shop.”

Shamrock nods, adjusting a few bottles up behind the counter. “Dungeon Item Shop.”

Fresh nods, smiling. Of course, this was the only choice to begin with. But it’s good to just kind of reestablish it amongst themselves once again.

The sign is ready.

[New Venture Founded!] Dungeon Item Shop

*+~- Fresh -~+*

Jubilee

Basil

Shamrock

“Well,” says Jubilee. “Fourth time’s the charm.”

Basil sighs, getting up and rubbing the spriggan’s head. “I hope nobody gets hurt this time.”

Shamrock’s chest heaves, his strong breath blowing a page of the ledger to the side and flipping it. “Chicken butt,” says the giant man.

Fresh stifles a laugh, feeling it scratch in her throat as she gets up, composing herself. She needs to be the party-leader right now and that means being serious. She holds her hand into the circle.

“I don’t want to do your fucking ‘team’ thing,” sighs Jubilee.

Basil obliges, lifting her hand, as does Shamrock. Outnumbered three to one, Jubilee rolls their eyes and lifts their hand.

“Go team!” shouts Fresh.

Jubilee sighs. “Go team,” they say, absolutely bored.

“Go team!” smiles Basil, apparently a little embarrassed.

“Go team,” says Shamrock.

“Pakew!” shouts the spriggan.

Jubilee eyes it. “Fuck off. You’re not a part of this,” they say, taking the sign and walking around the counter.

Fresh waits until they go to the door and then bends down, whispering to the spriggan. “You are,” she nods to it. The spriggan bounces on its stubby legs, its sprout bobbing up and down in excitement.

Getting up, she walks around the counter and heads to the door together with Jubilee, opening it and looking at the curious faces on the other side. Adventurers really do make great customers. Given their trade, they’re naturally curious and willing to try just about anything, if it might help them progress further. Drawing them in is always super easy because of that.

“Hello everyone!” says Fresh, looking at the many different faces. “Welcome to the Dungeon Item Shop!” she says, holding her arms out to the sign. “We’re open for business!”