Dungeon Item Shop: Volume 2: The original litRPG, item-shop light-novel! (Dungeon Item Shop - The original item-Shop litRPG!), page 14
Fresh gasps. Basil’s body falls limp and she falls down forward "Ah! I’m sorry, Basil!" says Fresh, running over to her two friends. "Are you okay?
Basil doesn’t respond with more than a mutter as she lays there motionless. Jubilee kicks, trying to pull themselves free from beneath the woman. "Fuck’s sake, get the fuck off of me, you shit-head!" Fresh grabs Jubilee, pulling them out from beneath the priestess. The two of them take a deep breath, as they stare down at their handiwork.
"Where’s Shamrock?" asks Fresh nervously.
"Get out," mutters Basil as if half-asleep.
"Shut the fuck up!" barks Jubilee, lifting a leg to kick her. They freeze, taking a deep breath and then lower their boot back down to the ground a second later. "Come on. I’ll bet you anything he’s in the basement."
"Why?" asks Fresh, looking around nervously as she tries to peer up the stairs.
"Because it’s a ghost, slime-brain. Of course it’s going to be in the creepiest fucking place."
"Ah, what about Basil?" asks Fresh.
"She’ll be fine," says Jubilee, waving her off. "Ghosts can’t possess someone more than once," they explain, grabbing the door handle to the basement. "I mean, maybe someone will kidnap her while we’re downstairs. But I’m willing to take that risk."
"Stop being so horrible!" shouts Fresh, walking after Jubilee since she can’t let them go alone, but still looking back at the slumped over Basil who is bleeding a little from her head.
"I get cranky when I don’t sleep, okay?" Jubilee yanks the door open and looks. "Coast is clear. Come on," they say, heading in without her. Fresh yelps and runs after her friend as the two of them head down the stairs to the basement. Jubilee keeps going, as Fresh opens the washroom door and peers inside.
Nothing but the usual sights, together with the trickle of water from their bath.
Something laughs and Fresh’s hairs stand on end, as she thinks that it’s the fountain again, playing some cruel joke on her. But as she turns around, she sees that it’s Jubilee who stands down near the middle of the railing-less stairway and clutches their stomach as they howl.
"Jubilee?" asks Fresh, walking down the stairs to look. "AH!" cries the girl, distraught, running down the staircase and towards the fireplace as fast as she can. "Shamrock!"
She stops, looking at the legs of the giant man that jut out of the hearth, his upper body is pressed tightly inside of the chimney. He is firmly stuck.
"Oh my fuck," laughs Jubilee, walking across the room. "Fucking ghosts, I swear. They get a little loopy with time, you know?"
"Why is he in the fireplace, Jubilee?!" asks Fresh, worried. "We have to get him out! What if he can’t breathe?!"
"Sure, sure," says Jubilee coyly. "We could also pull down his pants?" they suggest. "Can you imagine?"
"JUBILEE!" snaps Fresh.
Jubilee sighs. "You’re no fun sometimes, you know?" They wave her off. "Loosen up a little."
"How are we going to splash him with the water?" asks the girl.
"I just told you."
"NO! We’re not doing that. Just…" Fresh scratches her cheek. "Just pour some into the gaps of his armor."
"Fine! Fine!" Jubilee grabs one of her flasks, despite still having some of their own that didn’t break before. "I swear, you people would be the worst at parties." They lift the bottle, hesitating for a brief second as they decide on a spot, before jamming the neck of the flask into Shamrock’s knee.
[Moonwater: Haunting Spirit (50%)] {Success!}
His legs become limp. "Come on, you grab that one. I’ll take this one. Let’s get him out."
It takes a few tries, especially since Fresh barely manages to lift his limp, armored leg up even an inch. But eventually, the man slides loose, flopping down into the base of the hearth and blowing a large cloud of old ash out in all directions as he lands.
Fresh sighs in relief, as she sees the particulate wafting past his helmet start floating the other direction, as a heavy breath pushes it away. "Thank goodness, everyone’s alright," says Fresh.
A second loud thud can be heard, as something heavy falls from above, striking against Shamrock’s head. A pile of old bones that lands squarely in his lap, before shattering out in all directions. The skull rolls towards her feet, stopping just before herself, as it stares up her way with two large, empty eye-sockets, as if they wanted to tell her something. Something truly important.
Jubilee grabs the skull, lifting it up into the air. "Aaah, you spooky fuck! Nice try!" They think for a second. "I guess dying in the chimney doesn’t count as dying inside of the house?" Jubilee shakes their head. "Is there truly any creature more scummy than a real-estate salesman?"
"Jubilee! Have some respect for the dead!" argues Fresh.
Jubilee rolls their eyes. "What? He started it." They grab a flask from their belt, setting the skull down onto the ground. "Good night!" says Jubilee, jamming the neck of the open bottle into the eye-socket. Water dribbles down the sides, leaking out of its teeth.
[Moonwater: Haunting Spirit (50%)] {Failure!}
"Ah, fuck," mutters Jubilee, grabbing another bottle from their belt. "Hold on." They take out a second one, pressing it into the other socket. "Good night!" they repeat. This time it works.
[Moonwater: Haunting Spirit (50%)] {Success!}
Fresh clutches her arms as a sudden chill fills the room, as the temperature drops to clearly below freezing, as she sees her breath leave her own face. The puff of loose vapor flies away and it wraps around the skull at their feet and begins to swirl around it. Fresh frowns, as she stares at the thing and bends over, grabbing the two bottles and pulling them free from its eye-sockets, setting them to the side as she looks at the rattling skull. The impossibly strong wind that surges around the basement blows her hair past her face. It is as if all of the air in the room were being pulled up the now unblocked chimney, having finally found a way to escape.
She sees the eyes of the skull still looking up at her as if transfixed. It knows something. But she shakes her head, putting the palm of her hand softly against its forehead as she looks at it with a warm smile on her face that contrasts the icy winds piercing her still wet clothes. "Sleep tight, okay?" says Fresh. "Don’t worry, we’ll put you somewhere nice. I promise."
The skull opens its mouth. "Run-run-run-run-ru-"
It stops and clatters back down to the ground, falling out of her hands. The wind stops as well. The temperature rises in an instant, as if a switch had been flicked and as her hair falls back against the skin of her clammy, cool neck, she notices that the skull seems to feel somehow less ‘present’ than it had just a moment ago.
She sighs in relief, looking up at Jubilee and then at Shamrock who begins to stir.
Chapter 132: Home-made
Both Basil and Shamrock are fine, though one of them ends up being far more distraught about the situation than the other. Neither of them remember what happened, having no memories of anything between their having fallen asleep and their waking up the next day; one of them half-naked on the floor and the other covered in old ash. Shamrock takes the news of his possession in stride, as expected, simply asking if the ghost still needed to be killed. Basil however is more flustered and refuses to stop profusely apologizing, despite being told that it wasn’t her fault. Though Jubilee does yell at her and tells her to buy some pajamas so they don’t have to ever see the things that they saw again.
Fresh decides not to tell Basil that she had been killed by ‘her’. Another secret for the list. Somehow they keep piling up, but this one she feels is worth keeping. Right now, Basil is only embarrassed. But if she knew the truth, she’s sure that the priestess would never forgive herself for it. As far as anyone knows it, Fresh’s story is that she was outside because she couldn’t sleep and she stumbled into the river. By the time she got back Shamrock and Basil were outside of Jubilee’s door.
"How come the ghost only possessed you two?" asks Fresh.
Basil shrugs. "Ghosts can be odd. It’s hard to say what its intentions were." She looks around and Fresh notices that she pulls the cuff of her robe up higher to hide more of her neck. "Being trapped for a long time will make one stir-crazy, you know?"
"Hmm…" Fresh thinks, scratching her cheek. "It was telling us to run when we chased it away."
"You mean when you killed it," throws in Jubilee from the side.
"I didn’t kill him!" argues Fresh. "We… put him to rest," mutters the girl, looking away.
"Yeah, yeah." Jubilee rolls their eyes.
"Why was he even in the chimney to begin with?" asks Basil, shuddering. "Was he… you know…" she lowers her eyes to the ground as she quietly mutters. "- murdered?"
Jubilee waves her off. "In the chimney? The dumb-ass probably just wanted to clean it and decided to climb up inside and got stuck."
"Huh…" says Basil, clearly not convinced.
Fresh shrugs, returning to her work. She’s exhausted, not having slept a wink, but there is too much to do as always. She can sleep tonight, assuming they don’t have a second ghost.
She runs around downstairs, jumping from construction site to construction site as she sets up a counter and the shelves. Having learned from their old store, she adds some more inner shelves to the inside of the counter, as well as a few small cabinets with doors and one with a lock. The most exciting project for her is when she works on a single, long drawer for their money, so they don’t have to use a bowl anymore.
"See?" Fresh points to the dividers that she’s stacked a few different coins of hers inside of, to show by example. The silver Obols, worth one-hundred and the gold Obols, worth one-thousand, are lined up neatly in two individual rows. "This way we can make change faster and it will be easier to count at the end of the day!" says Fresh excitedly. Jubilee looks skeptical at first, but then nods approvingly. There is a further empty row for the giant skull-engraved ten-thousand Obol coins, but that one sits empty now, as they spent all of those on the house. The section for the single Obol coins is by far the widest and they aren’t neatly stacked, but rather haphazardly thrown into a pile. This section serves as the spiritual successor to the coin-bowl.
"Good work. I like this," says Jubilee, pulling the drawer in and out, listening to the coins rattling. They point back at the wall behind the counter. "Can we get some shelves there too, for your poisons?"
"I don’t make poison!"
"Anyways," starts Jubilee. "I have a bigger question. Why is the counter here, goo-brain?"
Fresh looks around the room. The counter, rather than being opposite the front door like in the old store, is now adjacent to it. If someone comes inside, they could basically already touch it with their left hands.
Fresh nods excitedly. "This way, the stairs and the basement door are both blocked off and even better, people will buy more things!"
She starts explaining how the room is a square, not like the old house which had an ‘L’ shape, so she uses the same principles of floor-design, but carried over to this form.
"The things people will want a lot, like the snacks, they’ll be more towards the back right," explains Fresh.
"Isn’t that inconvenient? Shouldn’t they be by the door?" asks Basil.
Fresh smiles a smug smile. "We’re not about convenience, we’re about making money!" Jubilee nods, signaling a deep approval. Basil pulls on her sleeves however, apparently not convinced about this either. "See? Look," says Fresh, walking around the room. "If I want a snack, then I’ll have to walk past aaaaall the other shelves to get it." Basil watches her, still confused. "But on my way, I might see a lot of stuff that I like, so I’ll grab that too, even if I didn’t want it at first!"
"Hmm…" Basil thinks. "Sure. I think that makes sense. And since they already walked this way, they’ll keep going through the rest of the store too?"
"Exactly!" Fresh goes on, raving, explaining every little detail to Basil that she had explained so excitedly to Jubilee back before their first opening.
The next day comes and Fresh finishes making the last of the shelves and bins for the store. In a strange thought, she notices that the layout reminds her a lot of something from her old life. Some layout of some over-priced place that she can’t really remember. Her old life is becoming deeply blurry, so much so that she really only remembers that she had one. But everything more than that is simply not available for her to remember. But she isn’t really sad about that. She spends the rest of the day upstairs, making furniture for their room, Jubilee’s room and the pantry.
For Jubilee, she makes a simple dresser and with a mischievous smile, she carves down a brick into a cylindrical shape.
(Fresh) uses: [Crafting: Carve{Cylinder}]
Then she sands down the neck and the base, sinking them both deeper inward.
(Fresh) uses: [Crafting: Sand{Coarse}] x2
Then, wondering if she should have perhaps done this part first, she begins hollowing out the inside, going in through the top.
(Fresh) uses: [Crafting: Hollow]
And then with a final smile, she sands the brand new vase down with a smooth finish, to make the thing turn out surprisingly glossy, despite being made of such rough material.
(Fresh) uses: [Crafting: Sand{Fine}]
Fresh admires the small, stone vase and sets it down onto the dresser before quickly running to her bag and digging through it. Triumphantly, she returns, running back to Jubilee’s room with the little, yellow flower in hand. Dried out, but not entirely flattened just yet. Still carrying that bright, warm smile, she sets it inside of the vase and then sneaks out of the room, closing the door tightly behind herself. This was a surprise for Jubilee to find later.
The pantry is simple enough, just a few shelves and boxes with lids. Though she had already made most of those while building up the kitchen the other day. All that’s left now is the bedroom. She makes a promise to herself that she’s going to have more clothes and she’s sure that Basil would appreciate the same luxury, so she sets to work making a pair of tall, but thin wardrobes that sit to the left of their respective beds. They’re perhaps more ‘lockerish’ than she was hoping, but space is at a premium, after all. They’ll have to do. But with that fact in mind, she does her best to make them look nice.
Fresh does eventually find herself frowning though as something bugs her, but she isn’t sure what. Then, after a look around the room, she realizes what it is and rubs her tired eyes before setting to work to make a third one for Shamrock. She’s sure he will never use it, but she wants him to have one too. She doesn’t want the giant man to think that he’s been forgotten or ignored. Despite being exhausted, she also extends the man’s bed out another foot, but then realizes that the sheets and the bedroll are now too small for the frame. Fresh spends her last very productive hour of the day begging Jubilee to fix it, who only after the hour comes close to an end, ‘willfully’ agrees.
Basil returns, carrying a load of monster drops on her back, strapped to her full bag. She flops down, setting it onto the floor. "I’m back," sighs the priestess, leaning against the railing.
"Welcome home, Basil!" says Fresh excitedly as she stands in the kitchen, making them dinner. Though, ‘dinner’ is just her failed attempts at cooking snacks and treats for the store. She hasn’t quite figured it out yet, but takes inspiration from her bad dream the other night.
"Those smell really good," says Basil, walking over to her, looking at the batch of colorful, but misshapen snacks on a plate next to her.
Fresh beams, lifting a fork as she explains. "That’s because they’re made with - "L-o-v-e," she says, wagging a finger with every letter.
"Huh? Ah, is that so…" asks Basil, leaning over and poking one with a finger before picking it up and popping it into her mouth.
"Actually," says Jubilee from inside their room. "They’re made with some monster gunk and river-water."
Basil coughs in the middle of swallowing, already too far gone to spit it back out and Fresh drops the fork, rubbing her back.
"It’s fine, Basil! It’s just mushroom powder from the forest," explains Fresh. "It’s okay to eat, remember?" She grabs a bottle of water and hands it to the priestess, who takes it gratefully. "Here, drink something." Basil downs the water, clearing her throat. Jubilee comes out of the room, staring at the commotion.
+ [Stat Boost] - [Mushroom Doughball]{Green}(Normal)
+ [5 DEX]
Basil opens her eyes, taking a deep breath as she sets the bottle of water back down.
"And? How was it?" asks Jubilee sarcastically.
"Pretty… good," says Basil with a surprised nod, still clearing her throat. "Uh… I think it could use some salt." Fresh nods excitedly, grabbing the box of salt that she had gone out of her way to buy.
Chapter 133: Product Development
Fresh plays around with a ball of kobold fluff, trying to figure out what to make out of the material. But she can’t really think of too much, honestly. It’s soft and fluffy and warm, so it’s great for tailoring with. Maybe Jubilee can make some clothes out of it? Should they sell clothes?
"Jubilee?" she asks. "Should we sell clothes?"
"What? Like robes and stuff?"
"Mm," nods Fresh as she nods back at Jubilee, who is standing next to her, just behind the counter. "What’re you doing?" she asks curiously, watching as Jubilee walks along the ‘wall’ of the solid stone staircase that leads upstairs and knocks on it.
"Looking to see if we can't bust this up a little," says Jubilee.
"Why?"
"You’re gonna do your work in the basement, right?" they ask. "So I figured we could just put a shaft here that slides down," they explain, gesturing down to the floor. "That way we won’t have to carry armor and weapons down the stairs a hundred times a day, we can just chuck it into the hole and it will fall down into the basement, which we’re going to lock you down in, by the way."
Basil doesn’t respond with more than a mutter as she lays there motionless. Jubilee kicks, trying to pull themselves free from beneath the woman. "Fuck’s sake, get the fuck off of me, you shit-head!" Fresh grabs Jubilee, pulling them out from beneath the priestess. The two of them take a deep breath, as they stare down at their handiwork.
"Where’s Shamrock?" asks Fresh nervously.
"Get out," mutters Basil as if half-asleep.
"Shut the fuck up!" barks Jubilee, lifting a leg to kick her. They freeze, taking a deep breath and then lower their boot back down to the ground a second later. "Come on. I’ll bet you anything he’s in the basement."
"Why?" asks Fresh, looking around nervously as she tries to peer up the stairs.
"Because it’s a ghost, slime-brain. Of course it’s going to be in the creepiest fucking place."
"Ah, what about Basil?" asks Fresh.
"She’ll be fine," says Jubilee, waving her off. "Ghosts can’t possess someone more than once," they explain, grabbing the door handle to the basement. "I mean, maybe someone will kidnap her while we’re downstairs. But I’m willing to take that risk."
"Stop being so horrible!" shouts Fresh, walking after Jubilee since she can’t let them go alone, but still looking back at the slumped over Basil who is bleeding a little from her head.
"I get cranky when I don’t sleep, okay?" Jubilee yanks the door open and looks. "Coast is clear. Come on," they say, heading in without her. Fresh yelps and runs after her friend as the two of them head down the stairs to the basement. Jubilee keeps going, as Fresh opens the washroom door and peers inside.
Nothing but the usual sights, together with the trickle of water from their bath.
Something laughs and Fresh’s hairs stand on end, as she thinks that it’s the fountain again, playing some cruel joke on her. But as she turns around, she sees that it’s Jubilee who stands down near the middle of the railing-less stairway and clutches their stomach as they howl.
"Jubilee?" asks Fresh, walking down the stairs to look. "AH!" cries the girl, distraught, running down the staircase and towards the fireplace as fast as she can. "Shamrock!"
She stops, looking at the legs of the giant man that jut out of the hearth, his upper body is pressed tightly inside of the chimney. He is firmly stuck.
"Oh my fuck," laughs Jubilee, walking across the room. "Fucking ghosts, I swear. They get a little loopy with time, you know?"
"Why is he in the fireplace, Jubilee?!" asks Fresh, worried. "We have to get him out! What if he can’t breathe?!"
"Sure, sure," says Jubilee coyly. "We could also pull down his pants?" they suggest. "Can you imagine?"
"JUBILEE!" snaps Fresh.
Jubilee sighs. "You’re no fun sometimes, you know?" They wave her off. "Loosen up a little."
"How are we going to splash him with the water?" asks the girl.
"I just told you."
"NO! We’re not doing that. Just…" Fresh scratches her cheek. "Just pour some into the gaps of his armor."
"Fine! Fine!" Jubilee grabs one of her flasks, despite still having some of their own that didn’t break before. "I swear, you people would be the worst at parties." They lift the bottle, hesitating for a brief second as they decide on a spot, before jamming the neck of the flask into Shamrock’s knee.
[Moonwater: Haunting Spirit (50%)] {Success!}
His legs become limp. "Come on, you grab that one. I’ll take this one. Let’s get him out."
It takes a few tries, especially since Fresh barely manages to lift his limp, armored leg up even an inch. But eventually, the man slides loose, flopping down into the base of the hearth and blowing a large cloud of old ash out in all directions as he lands.
Fresh sighs in relief, as she sees the particulate wafting past his helmet start floating the other direction, as a heavy breath pushes it away. "Thank goodness, everyone’s alright," says Fresh.
A second loud thud can be heard, as something heavy falls from above, striking against Shamrock’s head. A pile of old bones that lands squarely in his lap, before shattering out in all directions. The skull rolls towards her feet, stopping just before herself, as it stares up her way with two large, empty eye-sockets, as if they wanted to tell her something. Something truly important.
Jubilee grabs the skull, lifting it up into the air. "Aaah, you spooky fuck! Nice try!" They think for a second. "I guess dying in the chimney doesn’t count as dying inside of the house?" Jubilee shakes their head. "Is there truly any creature more scummy than a real-estate salesman?"
"Jubilee! Have some respect for the dead!" argues Fresh.
Jubilee rolls their eyes. "What? He started it." They grab a flask from their belt, setting the skull down onto the ground. "Good night!" says Jubilee, jamming the neck of the open bottle into the eye-socket. Water dribbles down the sides, leaking out of its teeth.
[Moonwater: Haunting Spirit (50%)] {Failure!}
"Ah, fuck," mutters Jubilee, grabbing another bottle from their belt. "Hold on." They take out a second one, pressing it into the other socket. "Good night!" they repeat. This time it works.
[Moonwater: Haunting Spirit (50%)] {Success!}
Fresh clutches her arms as a sudden chill fills the room, as the temperature drops to clearly below freezing, as she sees her breath leave her own face. The puff of loose vapor flies away and it wraps around the skull at their feet and begins to swirl around it. Fresh frowns, as she stares at the thing and bends over, grabbing the two bottles and pulling them free from its eye-sockets, setting them to the side as she looks at the rattling skull. The impossibly strong wind that surges around the basement blows her hair past her face. It is as if all of the air in the room were being pulled up the now unblocked chimney, having finally found a way to escape.
She sees the eyes of the skull still looking up at her as if transfixed. It knows something. But she shakes her head, putting the palm of her hand softly against its forehead as she looks at it with a warm smile on her face that contrasts the icy winds piercing her still wet clothes. "Sleep tight, okay?" says Fresh. "Don’t worry, we’ll put you somewhere nice. I promise."
The skull opens its mouth. "Run-run-run-run-ru-"
It stops and clatters back down to the ground, falling out of her hands. The wind stops as well. The temperature rises in an instant, as if a switch had been flicked and as her hair falls back against the skin of her clammy, cool neck, she notices that the skull seems to feel somehow less ‘present’ than it had just a moment ago.
She sighs in relief, looking up at Jubilee and then at Shamrock who begins to stir.
Chapter 132: Home-made
Both Basil and Shamrock are fine, though one of them ends up being far more distraught about the situation than the other. Neither of them remember what happened, having no memories of anything between their having fallen asleep and their waking up the next day; one of them half-naked on the floor and the other covered in old ash. Shamrock takes the news of his possession in stride, as expected, simply asking if the ghost still needed to be killed. Basil however is more flustered and refuses to stop profusely apologizing, despite being told that it wasn’t her fault. Though Jubilee does yell at her and tells her to buy some pajamas so they don’t have to ever see the things that they saw again.
Fresh decides not to tell Basil that she had been killed by ‘her’. Another secret for the list. Somehow they keep piling up, but this one she feels is worth keeping. Right now, Basil is only embarrassed. But if she knew the truth, she’s sure that the priestess would never forgive herself for it. As far as anyone knows it, Fresh’s story is that she was outside because she couldn’t sleep and she stumbled into the river. By the time she got back Shamrock and Basil were outside of Jubilee’s door.
"How come the ghost only possessed you two?" asks Fresh.
Basil shrugs. "Ghosts can be odd. It’s hard to say what its intentions were." She looks around and Fresh notices that she pulls the cuff of her robe up higher to hide more of her neck. "Being trapped for a long time will make one stir-crazy, you know?"
"Hmm…" Fresh thinks, scratching her cheek. "It was telling us to run when we chased it away."
"You mean when you killed it," throws in Jubilee from the side.
"I didn’t kill him!" argues Fresh. "We… put him to rest," mutters the girl, looking away.
"Yeah, yeah." Jubilee rolls their eyes.
"Why was he even in the chimney to begin with?" asks Basil, shuddering. "Was he… you know…" she lowers her eyes to the ground as she quietly mutters. "- murdered?"
Jubilee waves her off. "In the chimney? The dumb-ass probably just wanted to clean it and decided to climb up inside and got stuck."
"Huh…" says Basil, clearly not convinced.
Fresh shrugs, returning to her work. She’s exhausted, not having slept a wink, but there is too much to do as always. She can sleep tonight, assuming they don’t have a second ghost.
She runs around downstairs, jumping from construction site to construction site as she sets up a counter and the shelves. Having learned from their old store, she adds some more inner shelves to the inside of the counter, as well as a few small cabinets with doors and one with a lock. The most exciting project for her is when she works on a single, long drawer for their money, so they don’t have to use a bowl anymore.
"See?" Fresh points to the dividers that she’s stacked a few different coins of hers inside of, to show by example. The silver Obols, worth one-hundred and the gold Obols, worth one-thousand, are lined up neatly in two individual rows. "This way we can make change faster and it will be easier to count at the end of the day!" says Fresh excitedly. Jubilee looks skeptical at first, but then nods approvingly. There is a further empty row for the giant skull-engraved ten-thousand Obol coins, but that one sits empty now, as they spent all of those on the house. The section for the single Obol coins is by far the widest and they aren’t neatly stacked, but rather haphazardly thrown into a pile. This section serves as the spiritual successor to the coin-bowl.
"Good work. I like this," says Jubilee, pulling the drawer in and out, listening to the coins rattling. They point back at the wall behind the counter. "Can we get some shelves there too, for your poisons?"
"I don’t make poison!"
"Anyways," starts Jubilee. "I have a bigger question. Why is the counter here, goo-brain?"
Fresh looks around the room. The counter, rather than being opposite the front door like in the old store, is now adjacent to it. If someone comes inside, they could basically already touch it with their left hands.
Fresh nods excitedly. "This way, the stairs and the basement door are both blocked off and even better, people will buy more things!"
She starts explaining how the room is a square, not like the old house which had an ‘L’ shape, so she uses the same principles of floor-design, but carried over to this form.
"The things people will want a lot, like the snacks, they’ll be more towards the back right," explains Fresh.
"Isn’t that inconvenient? Shouldn’t they be by the door?" asks Basil.
Fresh smiles a smug smile. "We’re not about convenience, we’re about making money!" Jubilee nods, signaling a deep approval. Basil pulls on her sleeves however, apparently not convinced about this either. "See? Look," says Fresh, walking around the room. "If I want a snack, then I’ll have to walk past aaaaall the other shelves to get it." Basil watches her, still confused. "But on my way, I might see a lot of stuff that I like, so I’ll grab that too, even if I didn’t want it at first!"
"Hmm…" Basil thinks. "Sure. I think that makes sense. And since they already walked this way, they’ll keep going through the rest of the store too?"
"Exactly!" Fresh goes on, raving, explaining every little detail to Basil that she had explained so excitedly to Jubilee back before their first opening.
The next day comes and Fresh finishes making the last of the shelves and bins for the store. In a strange thought, she notices that the layout reminds her a lot of something from her old life. Some layout of some over-priced place that she can’t really remember. Her old life is becoming deeply blurry, so much so that she really only remembers that she had one. But everything more than that is simply not available for her to remember. But she isn’t really sad about that. She spends the rest of the day upstairs, making furniture for their room, Jubilee’s room and the pantry.
For Jubilee, she makes a simple dresser and with a mischievous smile, she carves down a brick into a cylindrical shape.
(Fresh) uses: [Crafting: Carve{Cylinder}]
Then she sands down the neck and the base, sinking them both deeper inward.
(Fresh) uses: [Crafting: Sand{Coarse}] x2
Then, wondering if she should have perhaps done this part first, she begins hollowing out the inside, going in through the top.
(Fresh) uses: [Crafting: Hollow]
And then with a final smile, she sands the brand new vase down with a smooth finish, to make the thing turn out surprisingly glossy, despite being made of such rough material.
(Fresh) uses: [Crafting: Sand{Fine}]
Fresh admires the small, stone vase and sets it down onto the dresser before quickly running to her bag and digging through it. Triumphantly, she returns, running back to Jubilee’s room with the little, yellow flower in hand. Dried out, but not entirely flattened just yet. Still carrying that bright, warm smile, she sets it inside of the vase and then sneaks out of the room, closing the door tightly behind herself. This was a surprise for Jubilee to find later.
The pantry is simple enough, just a few shelves and boxes with lids. Though she had already made most of those while building up the kitchen the other day. All that’s left now is the bedroom. She makes a promise to herself that she’s going to have more clothes and she’s sure that Basil would appreciate the same luxury, so she sets to work making a pair of tall, but thin wardrobes that sit to the left of their respective beds. They’re perhaps more ‘lockerish’ than she was hoping, but space is at a premium, after all. They’ll have to do. But with that fact in mind, she does her best to make them look nice.
Fresh does eventually find herself frowning though as something bugs her, but she isn’t sure what. Then, after a look around the room, she realizes what it is and rubs her tired eyes before setting to work to make a third one for Shamrock. She’s sure he will never use it, but she wants him to have one too. She doesn’t want the giant man to think that he’s been forgotten or ignored. Despite being exhausted, she also extends the man’s bed out another foot, but then realizes that the sheets and the bedroll are now too small for the frame. Fresh spends her last very productive hour of the day begging Jubilee to fix it, who only after the hour comes close to an end, ‘willfully’ agrees.
Basil returns, carrying a load of monster drops on her back, strapped to her full bag. She flops down, setting it onto the floor. "I’m back," sighs the priestess, leaning against the railing.
"Welcome home, Basil!" says Fresh excitedly as she stands in the kitchen, making them dinner. Though, ‘dinner’ is just her failed attempts at cooking snacks and treats for the store. She hasn’t quite figured it out yet, but takes inspiration from her bad dream the other night.
"Those smell really good," says Basil, walking over to her, looking at the batch of colorful, but misshapen snacks on a plate next to her.
Fresh beams, lifting a fork as she explains. "That’s because they’re made with - "L-o-v-e," she says, wagging a finger with every letter.
"Huh? Ah, is that so…" asks Basil, leaning over and poking one with a finger before picking it up and popping it into her mouth.
"Actually," says Jubilee from inside their room. "They’re made with some monster gunk and river-water."
Basil coughs in the middle of swallowing, already too far gone to spit it back out and Fresh drops the fork, rubbing her back.
"It’s fine, Basil! It’s just mushroom powder from the forest," explains Fresh. "It’s okay to eat, remember?" She grabs a bottle of water and hands it to the priestess, who takes it gratefully. "Here, drink something." Basil downs the water, clearing her throat. Jubilee comes out of the room, staring at the commotion.
+ [Stat Boost] - [Mushroom Doughball]{Green}(Normal)
+ [5 DEX]
Basil opens her eyes, taking a deep breath as she sets the bottle of water back down.
"And? How was it?" asks Jubilee sarcastically.
"Pretty… good," says Basil with a surprised nod, still clearing her throat. "Uh… I think it could use some salt." Fresh nods excitedly, grabbing the box of salt that she had gone out of her way to buy.
Chapter 133: Product Development
Fresh plays around with a ball of kobold fluff, trying to figure out what to make out of the material. But she can’t really think of too much, honestly. It’s soft and fluffy and warm, so it’s great for tailoring with. Maybe Jubilee can make some clothes out of it? Should they sell clothes?
"Jubilee?" she asks. "Should we sell clothes?"
"What? Like robes and stuff?"
"Mm," nods Fresh as she nods back at Jubilee, who is standing next to her, just behind the counter. "What’re you doing?" she asks curiously, watching as Jubilee walks along the ‘wall’ of the solid stone staircase that leads upstairs and knocks on it.
"Looking to see if we can't bust this up a little," says Jubilee.
"Why?"
"You’re gonna do your work in the basement, right?" they ask. "So I figured we could just put a shaft here that slides down," they explain, gesturing down to the floor. "That way we won’t have to carry armor and weapons down the stairs a hundred times a day, we can just chuck it into the hole and it will fall down into the basement, which we’re going to lock you down in, by the way."
