CH.384 Visiting Familiar Stores

CH.384 Visiting Familiar Stores

As we continued our walk around the town, Lua noticed something and brought it to our attention.

“Oh. Lawrence is closing his store. That’s a shame.”

I looked at the store and it did indeed have a ‘closing sale’ sign on the front.

“Too bad the influx of new people didn’t help him enough.” Lua said.

“Or maybe he has difficulty getting the product?” I wondered.

“Could we do something about it?” Alice asked. “Brian bought my staff from him, so I don’t really want to see the store close.”

“We could do plenty. I can sell him stuff for cheap, but that is just us artificially keeping his store running. I’m not sure Lawrence would want that.”

“... Yes. We probably shouldn’t do that.” Alice said. “... anything else?”

“Nothing that isn’t us artificially boosting him.”

“... shame. Let’s still go in. Maybe we can find something cool.” Alice said.

“Welcome.” Lawrence welcomed us as we walked in. “Oh? If it isn’t the young Lady Watchman, the dungeon founder and the vampire witch. Welcome. What may I get you?”

“Please don’t call me that.” Lua commented.

“Why not? It’s cute.” I told her. “Or should it be dhampir witch?”

“... are you two ... no. You all three are together, aren’t you?” Lawrence asked.

“Yes.” I confirmed. “So, what’s happening with the store? Why are you closing it down? Haven’t you been able to make money with all the new people in town?”

“No. That is not the issue. It is actually quite the opposite.” Lawrence answered. “As you can see, I’ve basically sold out.” He said, referring to the empty shelves. “And while I could get new stock, my son decided to start working for the Bakula company instead of keeping our little store running, so I decided to take the money I made and retire.”

“That’s a shame. You always had the most interesting wares.” Lua said.

“Perhaps. I did take bigger risks than most merchants would. Sometimes they paid off, sometimes not.”

“Kind of like playing the stock market.”

“... what is that?” Lawrence asked.

“... forget it.” I sighed. “So, any plans for your retirement? I know the people in this town are kind of bad with it, so how long do you think it’ll take until you are working for someone because you are bored?”

“Me and Lex are not the same. ... but I do admit, I’ll miss the excitement of the trade. And out of all the gambles I took, getting to know you might have been the most profitable.”

“I see.” I said, as I got an idea. “Then, would you want a new job? Or more like a new store? It will be at a special place, and while I’ll be the technical owner of the store, you’ll be able to run it in any way you want. And you’ll directly get requests from your customers, you just have to get them.”

“Your personal merchant, huh? Intriguing, but I’m not as young as I used to be. Traveling does take a lot out of you.”

“Really? What if you get to travel in an airship?” I asked.

“An airship? You really would just give one out to a random merchant you barely know?”

“Perhaps I would. So, interested?”

“... I won’t say I’m not, but I still don’t think it is something I can do alone.” Lawrence answered.

“Then get yourself an assistant. I don’t mind paying the salary of two people, or even three. I just ... I don’t really know many merchants and I could really use one working for me. And based on what you said earlier, I think you are trustworthy.”

“If that is the case, it doesn’t take much to get your trust.”

“That is what I’ve been trying to tell him for months now.” Lua said. “But you can’t change Brian.”

“Of course. You can’t improve perfection.” Alice added.

“... excuse me but I need to confirm. You are being serious, right?” Lawrence asked.

“Yes. Why would I not be?” I told him.

“You will give me a new store. And all I need to do is run it. And I can take anyone that I want to be my assistant.”

“You can take multiple people if needed.” I added. “As long as the total number is five or less.”

“... what about profits?”

“I don’t really care, so you can keep them. Or we can split them in some way, since I feel like you won’t feel correct keeping it all.”

“You really are strange, you know that.”

“Fifty, huh. Yeah, how about 60 so we can just trade the items?” I asked.

“... Haah. If it was anyone but you, I wouldn’t. But I know you will bring me more profit, so fine. I’ll trade them for each other.” Bakula agreed.

“We have ourselves a deal.”

“Just please wait a moment. I’ll write up a receipt.”

After the second shop visit, and a quick bargaining session, we headed for the Watchman manor. Getting inside the walled off yard, we were soon greeted by multiple servants.

“Miss Alice. Welcome home.” Jenna was the first.

“Sir Wood, Miss Lucia. Welcome.” Henry added.

“Don’t be like that, Henry. You know you can just call me Brian.”

“Of course, Sir Brian. Will the three of you be staying the night?”

“... I’m not sure I can. HomeBase will have some minor problems if I stay here.”

“I understand. Miss Alice, Miss Lucia. Will you two be staying?” He then asked.

“I’m sorry, but I’m going with Brian.” Alice quickly said.

“I as well.” Lua added.

“I see. I shall take you to the parlor. Madam will want to have tea with you before you move on.”

“Don’t worry. We can at least stay until evening.” I told him.

Speaking with Christina is always fun. She is just ... nice. We focused a lot on the dungeon and my plans on taking on the challenge rooms with my workers, while she informed me of the growth of the dungeon.

“I think a bit more and we can implement those ‘team challenge rooms’ you planned for.” Christina said.

“Oh yeah. The ones using Kaiser Colosseum. We didn’t have space for them back then.” I recalled. “Has the dungeon grown that much?”

Spoiler

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“Yes. I think if we were able to boost its size, we would have it. And I think some adventuring parties would be happy to have those, as not everyone works well in a one on one or one against many type of situation.”

“Yeah. I can see that.”

“... I don’t know if I should ask, but can you do something about it? Boost the dungeon's size?” Christina asked.

“... probably. I mean, regular dungeons just use mana and miasma to grow, so I can transfer some of both from HomeBase to TinaWood. But I’m not positive it will actually work, it might cause a stampede and I’m not sure will the inside of the dungeon be safe when I do that, so we couldn’t have any adventurers inside if I tried that.”

“I can have it closed for a day, as long as I have a few days to prepare.” Christina said.

“Sure, but let me run a few Factory tests first. Laura can simulate the situation and check if it will even work. If it works, we can go from there.”

“Alright. Just inform me if your test is successful. I’ll make plans with Zay if we can do it.” Christina said. “... also, do you think you could use one more maid on HomeBase?”

“I mean sure, but who?” I asked.

“Jenna. Come here.” Chirstina called out, and the blond maid walked into the room.

“Sir. I understand that this might be just a selfish desire, but I would like to be Miss Alice’s personal maid again. ... Would you allow that?” Jenna asked.

I quickly looked at Alice and she looked quite happy and nodded to me when she noticed me looking at her.

“Sure. As long as this house doesn’t face a shortage because of it.” I agreed.

“Don’t worry. We can manage. And with hopeful adventurers coming into town, some will realize that being an adventurer is harder than expected and will look for easier work.” Christina said.

“Alright. If you say so. Jenna, I welcome you to be a part of the HomeBase crew.” I told the maid.

“Now I feel like I need my own personal maid. Brian has the Dragonmaids, Alice now has Jenna. Where is mine?” Lua softly complained as the three of us got to bed.

Jenna didn’t actually come to HomeBase today, but we’d pick her up tomorrow morning.

“Just choose a dhampir girl from one of the villages you’ve helped. I’m sure one will agree to come work as your maid.” I told her. “And we can help them get their stable papers and so on, so it won’t really be a problem even if they don’t have them yet.”

“And the Vampire monsters also listen to you. Aren’t they basically your personal maid squad?” Alice asked.

“... maybe they are.” Lua said. “But I’d still like one that isn’t Brian’s monster.”

“You’ll find one. If you can’t think of one from the villages you’ve already taught, maybe you’ll find one in the next village.”

“... I hope so.”