Shop 161

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Chapter 161. The Bumpy Family And The Forgotten Quest

“Whew.”

I filled my lungs with unhealthiness and exhaled white smoke toward the sky.

Remaining balance: 2,631,117 yen.

Even though I swore not to waste money, this is the one thing I can’t quit. Life without coffee and cigarettes is no different from being dead and just moving around. Lung cancer risks? Yeah, I don’t care about that.

While I was blowing out smoke, Yaralai and Hagg extended their hands toward me.

“What do you want?”

“Gimme one.”

“Buy cigarettes.”

“…Well, fine.”

It's their allowance; they can do whatever they want with it. I handed them each a pack after taking the money. The two of them walked off to a different spot and started puffing away like it was the best thing ever. Why can’t they just be friendly?

After a short break, I helped with Lalaila’s cooking. The aroma of the soup attracted even more people around us.

…Not a good trend.

I gave Yaralai and Hagg a look to keep things under control and helped with the food distribution. Luckily, thanks to their security, there were no major issues. But some people who arrived late started complaining: “I haven’t eaten yet!”

“…This isn’t good.”

If people are starting to think it’s normal to receive something and whine when they don’t, this distribution is going to cause more harm than good.

But…

When I saw kids happily taking a bowl of thin soup, quitting didn’t seem like an option anymore.

“Finally, it’s all done.”

After finishing our meals and nighttime training, I took a shower. It was only after all that that I could finally say those words. While we trained, Lalaila and the widow Viola took care of the food for the girls who serve as vessels.

“Yeah. They’ve fallen asleep.”

“We gotta heal them soon.”

“Yeah.”

Now then… I’ve been putting it off, but I really need to confirm it. I don’t want to, though.

With a sigh, I purchased Quest 2 = 20,000 yen that I had been ignoring.

Remaining balance: 2,611,117 yen.

I pulled out a pink envelope with a cat illustration from the container. My head ached just looking at it. I tore it open and pulled out the contents.

----

Ta-da! It’s your beloved Merhes-chan☆

Teehee☆

Were you looking forward to this? Were you?☆

So, have you gotten used to the SHOP yet?

But Akira-sama, you haven’t really used it much, have you?

That’s why the quest this time is about making money using SHOP products!

Your beloved Mer-chan just wants Akira-sama to be happy!

So here’s the quest: make at least ten times profit from a SHOP purchase!

To be specific, turn 300,000 yen into 3 million yen!

Sounds hard? Too hard?

Maybe if you tell me you love me, I’ll go easy on you~?

C’mon, say it, say it!

Eeee! You’re making me blush☆

Anyway, I’m looking forward to it, okay?

Drag 300,000 yen into the quest wallet to start!

If you don’t clear it within a week, it’s a fail!

See? Tough, right?

Whispering a line of love might just be the best move here, darling☆

Now, do your best!

Reward for success: New items added to the SHOP

Quest conditions: Turn 300,000 yen into 3 million yen within one week after moving funds into the quest wallet

-----

I was tempted to rip the letter into shreds, but if that counted as a failure, I’d hate it even more. So I crumpled it up and stuffed it into my pocket.

“Akira, what was that?”

“Hm? That quest from before. The one I hadn’t checked because I’ve been too busy.”

“It seemed a lot different in tone from the previous ones.”

“If you care about that, you lose.”

“Right… so what did the divine message say?”

“It’s no grand revelation. Just told me to run a business with conditions.”

“Well, it is the god of commerce. What are the conditions?”

“Buy products from the SHOP and sell them at a higher price.”

“Come to think of it, you don’t really do that, Akira. Why?”

I lit a new cigarette and took a puff.

“Got burned doing that before. If I overdo it, the currency in this world decreases.”

“Oh.”

Lalaila understood just from that. She must be pretty smart—she did mention something about being a scholar. Might as well ask more. I’d heard bits of her story in passing, but not the details.

“You were a scholar, right? What kind of research did you do?”

“I quit now, but I used to study logic arts. I wanted it to be a break, but since the school was based on human standards, I had to quit instead.”

“Ah.”

That made sense, considering Yaralai’s sense of time.

“I researched theoretical arts, but… oh! Akira, the way you use spatial tools is so reckless!”

“Huh?”

“It’s not a shape I’ve seen before, but that’s a light sword, right? And when you use cleaning tools, you clean your whole body at once. The power is off the charts—how do you even manage that?”

“Well… Cherryna asked me the same thing.”

“Cherryna?”

“Yeah, a capable person I worked with at a merchant association. Didn’t I mention her?”

“I think I heard a bit. That’s a woman’s name, right?”

“Yeah, it is.”

“Hmph. A woman, huh…”

Lalaila pouted and looked at me with a hint of dissatisfaction. What’s with that?

“That’s not the point. Maybe it’s because I have a clearer image in my mind?”

“What do you mean?”

“In my world, there was this terrifying weapon called a machine gun. Movies—uh, they’re a form of entertainment. Basically, like the big version of the smartphone Faf carries around. They show fictional videos, including war movies. They made it easy to visualize.”

“Oh, those video things? Faf’s always filming those.”

“Yeah, kind of like that. But with advanced special effects to make fake stuff look real.”

“Sounds like people had too much free time.”

“Movies can make a lot of money if they hit big. So it’s a business.”

“Huh.”

She didn’t seem too interested.

“Since I’ve seen scenes like that so often, it’s easier to manifest them.”

“They say the clearer the image, the more powerful it is, but…”

“Ku ku ku… That’s not all.”

“Faf.”

This guy never lets his presence be known. At some point, he had appeared behind us, his head poking out.

“There’s another reason?”

“Ku ku ku… There is. It’s because your energy flow is spiral-shaped.”

“Huh?”

“Eh?”

Lalaila and I let out dumbfounded noises in unison.

“I’ve never heard that theory before. Do you have any basis for it?”

“Ku ku ku… The core structure of logic stones is spiral-shaped. It’s highly compatible with spiral energy flows, allowing power to transmit seamlessly.”

Lalaila’s eyes widened at Faf’s words.

“I read a paper once that mentioned logic stones having a spiral structure, but… does that mean…?”

“Ku ku ku… That’s why Akira’s use of logic arts is just average.”

Damn. So my mini-cheat only applies to items. I had hoped to learn magic, too.

“Um… Faf, who exactly are you?”

Yeah, I’ve been curious about that too.