Chapter 702 Cap 700: Commercial Competition Part 1

I was leaning back while sitting on a tree branch with Layla sleeping on my head and Hinata reading a book sitting on my lap.

Sakura and Ragnar were having a card game under the tree while Orion was chasing Nix as training for his tracking skills.

Soon Freya comes bringing a large floating tray with Nira beside her, they stop under the tree and I get down while holding Hinata in my arms.

"I brought you a meal." (Freya)

"Do you know where érica and the others are?" (I)

"érica, Irina, and Lilith went looking for books, I saw Ibuki going to the Adventurer's Guild with Diana and Kira went to the Assassin's Guild." (Freya)

"Diana and Ibuki are going to find some monster to fight, I'm worried about what kind of book érica and Lilith want, but why was Kira the Assassin's Guild?" (I)

"She didn't tell me." (Freya)

"She wants to get some scoundrels to kill, she thinks we've spent too much money without having a steady financial income, so she's going to rob the person she kills." (Nira)

"Fine, I'm sure whoever she agrees to kill will be garbage in humanoid form, but we've got a lot of money." (I)

"I could fill a small lake with that much money and swim in it, that's actually an interesting idea." (I)

"No swimming in money, furthermore I disagree with you, as traveling merchants, we have a better monthly income than some small towns have in 1 year." (Nira)

"Products made at Dungeon are of high quality at a considerable price, plus we always have plenty of materials and food to sell." (Nira)

"Whatever big city we stop in I can always get a large sum of money if I don't spend it all buying the endless shopping list on my desk." (Nira)

"Speaking of shopping, how are the 6 stores doing?" (I)

"The renovations will be completed today, tomorrow the stores can open." (Nira)

"Excellent, I've been thinking about the rules of this competition, it's time to call these 6 to say the rules." (I)

"I'll ask Alice and Nolan to fetch them." (Freya)

"Okay thank you..." ()

"HOW ARE YOU DOING THIS!?" (Sakura)

"..." (I)

"I'm not doing anything, it's not my fault for being better than you at this game." (Ragnar)

"You're cheating, I'm sure of it." (Sakura)

"Then prove it, until then you'll still have to pay the bet." (Ragnar)

"You bastard, I'll find out your trick." (Sakura)

A branch grows on Sakura's back and within seconds a white fruit appears, she rips it off and throws it to Ragnar who has a delighted smile as he starts to eat.

This fruit is something that only an Incarnation of the Forest will tread produce, each bite comes with a myriad of delicious and sweet fruit flavors, the fruits Sakura produces are all the better for being unique in their kind.

"Are you going to call everyone?" (Nira)

"Not only these, for now, I've also been thinking about the prize of this competition, I finally decided what it will be." (I)

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In the late afternoon, I was having a barbecue in the garden of Lilian's mansion, her servants were helping me along with Alice, I let the others make the simple barbecue become a party when Anton and Diana started bringing kegs of liquor.

But before people got drunk, I gathered the six who are going to open their stores starting tomorrow, we were all sitting on the floor around a big fire.

"Now I'm going to talk about the competition rules." (I)

"The first rule is to have fun, we're having a competition between friends just for fun, so try to be friendly." (I)

"Now seriously, those who will participate in this commercial competition will be Anton, Tania, Nicolas, Lyra, Leonardo, and Rakan." (I)

"Each of you can have 5 assistants inside the store to help with whatever combo you want, as long as the assistant accepts." (I)

"You can't interfere in each other's affairs." (I)

"You'll all be opening and closing stores at the same times, no staying longer than others." (I)

"You can sell any way you want, but you can't force a person to buy, it has to be the person's own will." (I)

"I know you all speak the common language, but I also know that you don't know the Demon language, so I suggest you find people who can interpret if necessary." (I)

"You will have freedom of what you will sell and how much you will sell for, but try to maintain fair price margins, no pricing too low to sell in large quantities or prices too high to extort interested customers." (I)

"Ultimately, the winner will be the one who manages to raise the most money from the store in the next 7 starting tomorrow." (I)

"Does everyone understand the rules?" (I)

"Yea." (all)

The rules I've come up with are pretty obvious and simple, they'll have a great deal of freedom in their stores to make almost anything they want, but I can't let them force others to buy, I'm sure one of Lyra's potions would do that.

Nicolas created a magic item with the help of Hela allowing him to use the spectral body skill, with that he created a ghostly androgynous body.

He is also using a second illusion magic item to make this appearance seem more real.

"I can already imagine what kind of stores you will open, but say so anyway." (I)

"Of course, it will be a potions shop." (Lyra)

"A magic item shop, obviously." (Nicolas)

"An art store, I have a lot of things I make in my spare time to sell." (Leonardo)

"A weapons and armor shop, maybe a little repair if you're in the mood." (Anton)

"A clothing store, I will sell everything from normal clothes, to combat clothes and maybe some clothes to wear on more intimate occasions." (Tania)

"(She's not planning on selling those perverted things, is she?)" (I)

"I'm going to make a magic shop with books I've created and magic scrolls I've been making, I have a lot of them since dungeon people don't like to rely on disposable items." (Rakan)

Just as I imagined, they all went to their specialties, to be honest, I'm not sure how skilled they are in their respective areas of work, but from what Nira says, they must all be pretty good.

"The reward that the winner will receive will be..." (I)