Dungeon Item Shop: Volume 2: The original litRPG, item-shop light-novel! (Dungeon Item Shop - The original item-Shop litRPG!), page 50
Fresh sighs. "So…"
"So we’re selling it."
She frowns, but sees no other way out. Money is always good, but it isn’t what she was hoping for in her heart of hearts. But, if nobody needs the house, then it’s the only sensible thing to do.
Basil chimes in. "I have an idea." Fresh lifts her head, looking at the priestess. "There are others," explains Basil. "People who need a home, but can’t afford the adventurers’ guild."
Jubilee shifts. "Fuck off."
Basil crosses her arms. "How is it any different than the fairies?"
Jubilee locks their hands to their hips. "Because I have good will towards them. Those fucking orphans can fuck right off and die."
"Jubilee~!" scolds Fresh.
Jubilee grumbles under their breath, but then seems to relent. Leaning over sideways, they look at Shamrock. "Hey, meat-head," Shamrock looks over their way. "Go outside and find that little shit we met when we arrived here." Shamrock nods, setting down his toy slime. "Throw those orphans into the river if you need to humble them," instructs Jubilee, pointing at him.
"Please don’t throw the children into the river, Shamrock," asks Basil.
Shamrock looks to Fresh for guidance on this newest dilemma. She shakes her head ‘no’. Flashing her a thumbs-up, Shamrock leaves, heading out on his personal quest.
Jubilee lets out a disappointed sigh.
Chapter 196: Dress up
"What do you think about this one?" asks Basil, coming out of the dressing room of the tailor’s shop.
Fresh looks up from the shelf that she’s browsing through. "It looks really great, Basil!"
Basil sighs, but smiles. "You said the same thing about the last three."
"They all look great on you!" says Fresh, pulling out a dress to look at. By the time she looks back up, Basil has already vanished back into the dressing room. The two of them are out in the city, buying clothes to prepare for the desert. Fresh isn’t too sure what she wants, in all honesty. Maybe she’ll just ask Jubilee to make something for her, that way she’ll like it no matter what it looks like. The rings of the curtain slide along the bar as Basil comes out again.
"What about this one?"
"It looks great!" says Fresh, seeing the drab, off-green robe with golden embroidery that the priestess has on. Seeing that this answer wasn’t helping Basil make up her mind, she decides to explain her reasoning. "The muted color really makes your eyes and hair stand out more," she explains.
Basil looks down at herself. "Really?"
"Mm!" Fresh blinks, staring at Basil for a second. "Stay there!" she says, running across the shop to get something she saw before. A wide, flat-brimmed hat. It looks like a typical wizard’s hat, but squished and flatter and it has the same color as the dress.
"Huh?" asks Basil, watching her vanish into the fabric jungle. A minute later she appears back out on the other side. "How did you get there?" asks Basil, confused.
"I got lost," admits Fresh, scratching her cheek.
Basil does her best not to laugh. Fresh drags her a step away from the closet and presses the hat down onto her head. "A hat?" asks the priestess. "I never really wear hats."
"Mm," nods Fresh. "Neither do I, but the desert is super hot and sunny," she explains. "So this will stop your skin from getting burnt!"
"Huh, you might have a point there," admits the priestess, somewhat surprised. Fresh nods with pride, spinning her around and letting her look at herself in the mirror. "What do you think?" asks Basil, adjusting the hat as she stares at herself.
"It looks great!" says Fresh. Basil sighs, but then starts laughing. In truth, Fresh really is sure that it does. But it’s still missing something. The color suits her well and the cut is nice. Plus the hat makes her look very ‘adventurery’ which Fresh thinks is fantastic. But there’s still something missing to help frame her face a little more.
"Do you have eye problems, Basil?" asks Fresh, adjusting the fabric on the back of her robe.
"Eye problems?" The priestess thinks for a moment. "No, I mean, I saw better when I was growing up. But I think that’s just normal stuff. Why?" she asks, looking down at the robe. "Don’t you like it?"
"No, it’s great!" says Fresh. "I just had an idea, is all. You should get glasses, you’d look super cute!"
"Glasses?" asks Basil, turning her head around to look over her shoulder. Fresh ducks under the wide brim of the hat, spinning her way. She seems intrigued, but uncertain.
"Glasses," repeats Fresh, rolling her index fingers and thumbs together into two ‘O’s and placing them in front of her eyes. Basil stares at her, confused. "Don’t you know what glasses are, Basil?" asks Fresh. Basil shakes her head.
Fresh gasps. She hadn’t accounted for this. Maybe glasses don’t exist here? She frowns, thinking for a second. It makes sense to her. If telescopes are rare and super-expensive, that means lens-crafting is probably a very specialistic technique. Maybe for normal adventurers, things like glasses just don’t exist. She’d be surprised if the nobles didn’t have them though.
She nods, determined now. Dragging Basil to the counter by her hand, they pay for her clothes. They fit off the rack and don’t need any adjusting.
"What about you?" asks Basil as they leave. "Your robe is going to be way too hot there with all of the fluff."
"I didn’t see anything that really did it for me," admits Fresh, dragging a confused Basil back home.
The shop is closed, they had hung up a sign to tell any customers just as much. Only the fairies are inside, together with Jubilee and Shamrock. They’re undergoing the last of their education, before they all depart from the mountain. Having abandoned the teaching of business techniques, they’re now teaching them about survival out in the wilderness and about what they can expect in the other cities. "Hey guys!" says Fresh, scooting past everyone with Basil in tow. Jubilee is busy cursing at some fairy who had asked a question and Shamrock nods to them. Fresh suddenly stops in her tracks, standing behind Shamrock.
"What’s up?" asks Basil, confused at her sudden stopping.
Fresh turns to her, opening the shutters for the repair slide. "Meet me down in the basement, Basil!" says Fresh to the confused priestess, before pushing herself into the hole in the wall.
She had always wanted to do this.
Sliding down the rollers with her hands out in front of herself, she rushes down the incline of the slide, the construction rattling noisily as she shoots around the bend, just a little too fast. Fresh yelps, spinning around in an attempt to slow herself down. She reaches the end of the slide, scooting off of the sorting corner and falling bottom-first onto the floor.
Fresh rubs her back, scooting away a little and laughing, surprised she didn’t take any damage from that fall. "Ow…"
Her lamentation is interrupted as a moment later, Basil’s voice comes down from the staircase as well, her wordless shout sounding oddly bumpy, as if she were being shaken up and down. Fresh only realizes a second too late, as she sees the priestess coming around the bend, that she too had opted to try out the slide, her wide hat clutched against her body. "Look out!" calls Basil, but before she can escape, the priestess flies down and crashes into her.
Fresh yelps as Basil flies down against her as she half-manages to catch her, falling onto her back. "Are you okay, Basil?" winces Fresh, feeling the return of the painful pulling sensation in her lower spine.
"It was faster than I expected it to be," says the voice, stemming out from the face that is pressed down next to her head. One of her legs is still hanging up on the edge of the table. "Sorry, I’m fine, are you?" asks the priestess, dusting herself off as she pushes herself up. "It seemed like a fun idea," she laughs, placing her hands on the stones above Fresh’s shoulders and pushing herself up and off of her.
"Mm," nods Fresh, opting not to tell Basil that her back really hurts now. It was a lot of fun, even if it was kind of scary. She’s surprised that Basil wanted to slide too. Fresh can’t help but wonder if she isn’t a bad influence on her friends sometimes. She tilts her head, looking past Basil for a moment, as in a brief instant of terror, she expects Shamrock to come down the slide next. But nobody else ever shows up. She sighs in relief, turning her head back forward and looking back up to Basil, whose face is still there, hovering over hers, her long hair draped down around them as she stares with a look that Fresh can’t make heads or tails of.
"Basil?" asks Fresh, blinking.
Basil blinks too, jumping up rather quickly a second later. "Sorry!" she says, sitting upright and climbing off, helping her get up. "Is your back okay?" she asks, seeing Fresh wobble up to her feet.
"It’s fiiine~" moans Fresh, holding her back with one hand, as she hobbles over to the workbench.
"Oh no, I’m sorry! Should I get Shamrock?"
"No!" replies Fresh quickly, not wanting to be shaken out again like last time. It helped, but it really did hurt a lot. She hovers over the workbench and the few materials that still remain. Copper seems like the right material for this.
Grabbing a copper-bar, she cuts off four long strips lengthwise from it, as well as one shorter one. All of them are only a few millimetres thick.
(Fresh) uses: [Craftsman {Cut}] x5
Taking one of the long ones, she holds it against the side of Basil’s head, figuring out the length that she needs. Once she’s figured it out, she bends both of the two metal ‘twigs’, down near the end, with just her hands. So that there is a slight downward hook.
Then, taking the other two long pieces, she uses her abilities to cut out a tiny channel along the length of both of them.
(Fresh) uses: [Craftsman {Extract(Rectangle)}] x2
Next, she takes those two strips and bends them into a circle, so that the small channel groove is on the inside of them. She grabs one, holding it up to Basil’s face, against her eye, trying to see if the size is right. It isn’t, so she adjusts it again, bending it on the sides to make it more inwardly squished.
As for the lenses, she still has a whole box of various glass lenses for her telescopes, so she slides that over to Basil. A lot of them she had made ‘wrong’ so they weren’t suited for the purpose of being a telescope lens. But it seemed like a shame to throw them out. "Look through these, tell me which one helps you see the best," she says and Basil, still confused, obliges, picking out two a minute later and handing them to Fresh. She nods, taking them and cutting their edges down so that they fit into the squished circle-frames. She notices that Basil has chosen two lenses that she had made out of moonglass.
With a dab of glue, she carefully wedges them into the channels that she had carved and then, presses the circular frame back shut around them, closing it up with her abilities.
(Fresh) uses: [Craftsman: Blacksmithing {Join Metal}]
Fresh beams, they’re starting to take shape. Now she just needs to combine the ‘wings’ and to make the nose-bridge. The flappy ‘ear-sticks’ are easy enough. She doesn’t know what they’re supposed to be called. But she knows what she means. She just uses a tiny hinge to attach them, one on each side, to the circular frames. Basil stares curiously over her shoulder meanwhile.
Finally, taking the tiny strip of copper that she had cut off before, she cuts that in half again and sands it, leaving only a tiny, smooth wire.
(Fresh) uses: [Craftsman: Blacksmithing {Cut Metal}]
(Fresh) uses: [Craftsman: Sand {Smooth}]
With some glue, she glues on two tiny nubs of crystal-drakonium, so that they won’t slide and then she puts it all together.
(Fresh) uses: [Craftsman: Blacksmithing {Join Metal}]
[Moonglasses](Holy){Excellent}
A pair of large, round spectacles with low strength lenses. Helps the wearer see marginally better.
While equipped:
-) Vision: -0.75D
-) +1 INT
-) +1 WIS
Quality Effect:
-) Lenses are resistant to bright sun-light
-) Lenses are resistant to oil smears
-) Lenses are non-reflective
Weight: 0.06kg
Value: ???
"Ta-da!" says Fresh, holding out the glasses to Basil who takes them, looking at them curiously.
"What are they?"
"They’re glasses."
"What do they do?"
"You wear them," explains Fresh, making the gesture around her eyes again with her fingers. Grabbing the glasses, she unfolds them and sets them onto Basil’s face, adjusting them.
"Oh, Wow," says Basil in quiet bewilderment as she looks around the basement. "Everything looks so sharp!"
Fresh gasps, seeing her. She reaches over the table, grabbing Basil’s hat and sets it back on top of her head, adjusting it. She gasps again. Quickly, she runs across the basement, grabbing Basil’s adventuring bag from the corner and slinging it over her shoulders. "Basil!" calls Fresh excitedly.
"Y…yes?" asks Basil, blinking a few times as she stares through the glasses at her.
Fresh clenches her fists, leaning in towards the nervous priestess. "You look great!"
"Really?" asks Basil, grabbing the straps of her bag. "You think?" she asks, embarrassed.
Chapter 197: Make it weird
"Come on. Chop, chop," barks Jubilee at Shamrock as he passes by and heads out of the front-door with several boxes in his hands. He spares a glance down towards Jubilee, opting not to say anything as he loads the contents into the tiny half-carriage. Dried provisions, materials, blankets, all sorts of those traveling necessitates that they’ll need on the road have already been bought by Jubilee and loaded into the small wagon that they’ve also arranged.
Basil is in town, securing an adolescent Anqa. Though Jubilee had insisted that the three of them just take turns pulling the wagon. Everyone declined that offer, opting rather to pitch in a bit of all of their own personal funds to just buy an Anqa and be done with it. Basil, having experience with the creatures, is in charge of that. Shamrock, Fresh and Jubilee are loading up the cart.
As for the house, Jubilee begrudgingly agreed to give it to the party of children who had accosted Shamrock on several occasions. They obviously seemed skeptical at first, especially the feisty, black-haired boy, who is apparently the leader of their party. They only ended up believing them after Shamrock confirmed that their offer was real.
Fresh isn’t sure why the kids trusted Shamrock blindly, especially after he had rejected them and their invitations so often, but to them, his word was law. Maybe there’s something to be said for the sheer effect that a strong, stoic presence like his has, especially on wayward children. Shamrock is a bit of a silly person, but she can imagine how he would appear as a lawful authority figure to the lost. After all, he had been the same for her.
It’s a wild world, apparently. Orphans here don’t even need legal guardians. Things such as the orphanage that Basil used to work at, are a luxury. Most ‘lost’ children ended up either disappearing or banding together in small packs, much like the fairies. There’s safety in numbers. That’s what the group of kids here had been doing. Apparently, the six of them, classless, have been making ends meet for over a year by just grinding the few levels of the dungeon that they can manage within every reset.
Everyone tries so hard to survive in this world and she’s just living a life of love and comfort, realizes Fresh. It makes her feel bad, in a way. Even if she knows that it isn’t something to feel bad about. Fresh makes a note to tighten up the locks on the windows and doors before they leave and to build a few extra beds. Maybe she could make some bunk-beds? That would save space for them. Jubilee is going to take care of the paperwork after this. Speaking of space…
"Jubilee?" she asks, carrying the soft, sky-blue blanket that Jubilee had made for her, folded up and close to her chest.
"What?" asks Jubilee, watching as she carefully stows it away, tucking it tenderly into a box.
Fresh looks over her shoulder. "When we leave, do you want to sit on my lap?"
Jubilee places their hands on their hips. "What is wrong with you?"
Fresh frowns. "I’m just asking! It’s going to be cramped," she says, patting the small cart. "It’s such a little thing."
"It would be less cramped if you had stopped eating all of those candies," replies Jubilee, rolling their eyes.
"I haven’t had any candy in weeks!" exclaims Fresh. "Right, Shamrock?"
Shamrock nods, poking a finger against her stomach. "Like steel," is all that he says, before walking back inside to get another box. Fresh beams, making a show out of flexing her arms.
"Anyways," sighs Jubilee. "The biggest piece of dead-weight here is this guy," they add on, pointing over their shoulder towards Shamrock. "He’ll take up half the cart by himself."
Shamrock turns his head around, looking at Jubilee. "My lap is also free."
"Fuck off!" barks Jubilee. Shamrock shrugs and leaves. "I’m not sitting on anyone’s lap, you degenerates!"
"But Jubileeee~" argues Fresh. "We can make a lap-stack!"
Jubilee stares at her for a moment. "A what?"
"A lap-stack," explains Fresh, gesturing with her hands. "We’ll arrange ourselves from biggest to smallest and then we’ll sit on each other’s laps together in one spot." She scratches her cheek, considering the merits of this idea. It would really save a lot of space. Plus she bets it would be fun.
"Here’s a better idea; we’ll make a noose and then drag my dead body behind the cart," counters Jubilee. "Because that’s a preferable alternative."
Fresh sighs, going to get another box. "So you don’t like the lap-stack idea?"
"I do not like the lap-stack idea."
Fresh tilts her head, moving on to her next question. "Do you want to share a room in our next house, Jubilee?" asks Fresh. "We can have a sleep-over every night then!"
