I tried getting Ayame into a maid’s outfit but it wouldn’t fly, sadly she had good reasoning as well. If a noble’s butler goes on a buying spree it’s pretty normal to have guards protecting me and the wares I acquire, a position she was more than happy to fulfill. Naturally, we would be wearing our masks.
Why all the secrecy? We will be using the storage ring to our heart’s content, so it’s best to pretend to be of a noble background, who would be able to afford such an artifact. Doing so would also make the common riffraff steer clear of us, ideally even the guards as well.
As for Luke’s party’s corpses that were occupying my spatial storage, they’ve been emptied out during the past week in a random ditch, though I kept his skull for collection purposes.
Once we were ready, the three of us teleported to the shady alley where we killed Ian, Grunt, and his two slaves, and thankfully no one welcomed our exit from the gate.
I spent an hour or so looking for the best deals and found everything from the list. I’m not gonna lie, I started salivating a bit when I saw the prices in Aldoria. With their merchants not being able to safely traverse the lands, the local prices are on a cruel downward spiral. I got everything for 6 gold instead of the 10 Sylvie suggested it would cost.
How delightful.
Explorers, also known as the labyrinth divers, must be struggling to put food on the table with the recent developments, while here I am, swimming in cash, thinking about buying a battalion of slaves to construct my luxury mansion and begin my first business venture afterward.
Feels good man.
Once we came back, we emptied the ring out into tons of large bags we bought for this purpose, then took them to Broderick’s home, where we met up with him and his three wives, who agreed to be of assistance. I asked him to help us conduct the transaction beforehand. I struggle to trust people, especially if they are so much stronger than me, even if they swore to lead a life of pacifism.
With my friend and his Mithril-ranked wives present, I hope they will be much less inclined to try anything shady.
I went in first and called for the strange pair. Once all the bags and my allies came into the shop, they glanced at me and I could feel two pairs of inquisitive eyes examining me. Jack and Sylvie must’ve not expected me to rope in such a household name into the deal. I could feel an approving nod from Jack.
Thankfully everything went down well, and no issues occurred. The contract was completed and I was told to come back in a few days for the next batch of their shopping needs.
I was exhilarated. 29 gold coins in pure profit. To better accentuate the worth of this simple deal, let me use my favorite measurement method, the construction worker’s salary. They work in inhumane conditions, 12+ hours a day, and get 50 bronze coins for their troubles.
If they work every day, and save every single shitty little coin, they would need to work for 16 years straight to get what we scored within a few hours’ worth of work. Such an example, of course, isn’t realistic, as almost everyone needs to spend money, especially if they are lowborn laborers.
Getting enough work to do this all the time isn’t likely either, and your body not breaking down from the strain is a stretch as well.
In short, life truly isn’t fair.
With this and my current funds, I could basically buy any slave I wanted. The only one I saw above my current means was the Healer/Herbalist young elf sex slave. Getting a healer would be amazing, but I decided to invest in our safe haven plan instead. It’s another form of protection that we will arguably need more than a healer party member once we become more famous.
A healer can’t heal you if your throat gets slit in the middle of the night by an assassin due to living in a shabby inn.
And, to be perfectly honest, I’m done living out of this place. I can’t wait to move.
Afterward, me, my girls and Lucille- who was quickly turning out to be something like an honorary party member- went on our daily greenskin extermination, then fought/trained in Broderick’s underground facility until time passed and it was time for dinner.
Once we were done with the meal, I decreed that it was time to celebrate. We’ve been grinding hard like workhorses with great diligence, and now earned a large sum of money to boot, thus it was time to reward ourselves with a bit of relaxation. What’s more, we were inching closer and closer to the trials, so we would be more eager to train with each passing day.
With three weeks left, it was the ideal time to relax before the storm.
I said we would play a game called ‘Never Have I Ever’, and after explaining the rules Ayame groaned, Blossom looked at me adorably with a silly expression on her face since she had no understanding of the rules whatsoever, while Aurora and Lucille were excited to participate.
However, an issue surfaced when Lucille spoke up. “It’s not fair, though. Not only have I had more life experiences, but Aurora and I also suffer from a low Vitality stat. We will be knocked out before the three of you feel anything.”
True. Vitality offered resistance against all sorts of illnesses and invasive substances, so they would be at a great disadvantage.
“Leave it to me!” Aurora shouted and rushed to her alchemy lab. Guess she had a solution in mind.
In the meantime, we set everything up in our room.
In a short while my platinum-haired beauty returned to us, handing me and my two strong girls a vial with a strange, purple substance in it. I smelled it, and it was entirely odorless. How ominous.
I chugged it down.
“Ugh. This is horrible… I feel like I’m about to die.” Ayame grumbled while wincing painfully.
“Master… Hold Blossom…” My dog-kin begged while rushing into my embrace, looking for comfort and protection. She was similarly affected by the potion. I glance at Aurora, asking wordlessly for an explanation.
Her cheeks redden at my scrutinizing gaze and she gulps worriedly before answering. “Uhm… It’s a potion that reduces one’s resistances to the equivalent value that 10 Vitality should give. Your HP is not affected by the change.”
“I see. I guess it didn’t work on me too well, I barely feel any difference.”
<Must be your race.> Ayame guessed through our mental link. Lucille still wasn’t entirely entitled to our whole information.
“You girls will drink a shot while I will chug an entire bottle then, to make it fair.” I decreed. Alcohol is cheap, especially when compared to our coffers, and it seems my poison resistance is too high to make it a real challenge without drinking significantly bigger portions than the rest.
Once the two ladies got used to their weakened states we sat down in a circle on the ground. The order, going clockwise, was me, Aurora, Lucille, Ayame, and Blossom.