NOVEL WEB Chapter 9 - Where did that come from? (1)
I Raise With In-app Purchases – 9
EP.9 Where did that come from? (1)
Shine couldn’t hold back her laughter, bursting into giggles with a sound that couldn’t be suppressed. Rolling her eyes, she looked around before quickly redirecting her gaze.
~Hehe~
~Sniff, sniff, sniff~
She seems to like the baby smell.
She wanted to try it quickly, and use it like crazy. However, the weekend practice room was already fully booked.
Despite Shine hurrying to reserve a practice room, there was no availability until Monday. As a result, she couldn’t properly use it until Monday. The time of patience was agonizing and difficult. However, those times were worth the wait.
Shine didn’t even think about dinner, as soon as the class ended, she rushed straight to the practice room. She heard her friend calling her from behind, but it entered one ear and went out the other, so Shine didn’t pay it any attention.
“Haak, haak!”
Upon arriving at the practice room, she took a weapon out of her large bag.
– Chu, chu, chu! –
She kissed the shining weapon three times.
“Sorry~ You’ve been through a lot being in the bag, right? Oh, my baby! Hang in there~♥”
Since there was no one around, she threw away the dignity that a noble should maintain without hesitation and made a short sound towards the weapon with her tongue.
Still not enough, she then wiped the weapon again with an expensive silk handkerchief, making the shimmering weapon gleam even more, before finally lifting it.
“Hoo… Hoo…”
Shine was confident that this equipment would break through her limits. But that was just her ‘guess’.
‘I’m confident, but what if it’s not?’
Equipment plays a significant role in achieving good Ranks, which was not a surprising fact. Shine was already equipped with decent gear compared to her peers.
‘Changing the weapon won’t necessarily set a new record.’
It was absurd to think that the weapon she was using was at a bad level.
‘Still… Is this child really special?’
She knew it the moment she saw it. She had to have this child. It wasn’t hers yet, but she was determined to make it hers.
She raised a red bow, predominantly red overall. The luminous gem in the center emitted a significant energy.
Shine didn’t hesitate any longer. She aimed the bow at the target.
‘I’ll prove that this child is special!’
– Woooooong!!! –
Shine’s determination resonated with the unique equipment, ‘Flame Dragon’s Bloom’. The magical power of the Awakened, which only the chosen one could use, resonated with the ‘Flame Dragon’s Bloom’.
And then…
~Whirrr~!
An arrow with a blue flame was created. The blue arrow shot towards the target at an incredible speed.
– Kwa-ga-ga-ga-ga-!!!!!!!!! Kwa-aaaah!!!!!! –
With a tremendous roar, the arrow was shot. The blue flame resembling a dragon covered the target.
The moment it touched the target, a violent explosion occurred, like flowers blooming. A deafening sound shook the practice room, causing unexpected vibrations.
The shock was so intense that Shine’s ears tingled.
“…What is this?”
Why did a bigger explosion happen without using any skills? The target, now nowhere to be found, was shattered into pieces due to the explosion. It was the first time she had seen something made of special materials be so severely damaged.
The only fortunate thing was that despite the destruction, the power measurement results showed that it had accomplished its task.
[401]
For the past year, she desperately tried to surpass 400 and failed miserably. Her final power record was [388] points. Just by changing one weapon, she raised a whopping 13 points, recording an A-Rank power of 401.
– Thump, thump! –
Tears welled up in Shine’s eyes. Although she only received an A-Rank in the power category, breaking through the previously established record was crucial.
“As I thought, my guess was correct.”
Was it destiny that led her to feel the impulse to acquire this child? With this child, she believed she could reach A-Rank. No, it might not be the end with just A-Rank. Could she aim for S-class?
“Right? I feel confident that I can do it with you.”
She tightly embraced the weapon. Gratitude towards the mysterious man was strongly evident. He lent her such an extraordinary weapon, and it was unbelievable.
“Why did he try to sell you to me?”
As Shine inspected the weapon in her hands, she felt a surge of curiosity and doubt about the mysterious man. If this incredible weapon was hers, she could easily defeat monsters like Werewolves. So why did he hand it over?
‘It’s not even cursed…’
She thought she should quickly climb to A-Rank and request more support from her family. Regardless of the mysterious man’s intentions, he had done her a great favor. Whether suspicious or not, what mattered was that the man was someone who could help her.
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“Ugh, my back hurts.”
Somehow, cleaning seemed more exhausting than going out to hunt monsters. Cleaning was much more demanding on my body than I had anticipated.
However, I persevered, concentrating on cleaning silently, thinking that it was better to do it cleanly once.
After three days of hard work, a decent living space was finally complete.
‘It feels rewarding.’
Of course, I didn’t spend all three days on interior cleaning, I spent a considerable amount of time repairing the roof, which had holes that could lead to leakage during rain.
Despite the effort, the remaining money I had gathered like a dog as a mercenary swiftly dwindled, and adapting to the high cost of living wasn’t easy. I spent tearful moments in the face of rapidly decreasing funds and the challenging cost of living.
Still, if I wanted to continue doing business with nobles here, I needed to adapt to the cost of living in this world. But even so, it was undeniably a harsh cost for commoners.
Indeed, the academy gave off the feeling of saying, ‘Don’t live here, commoners!’ all over the place. Originally, the academy and the nearby villages were created as spaces ‘for the nobles’.
“Even from a distance, it looks like a general store.”
Intentionally choosing a less crowded place, the store was decorated to blend well with the surrounding atmosphere rather than being too bright inside. I had thought that if my store looked too strange, it would attract the attention of wrong people.
‘Most students probably won’t even bat an eye. Oh well.’
I didn’t plan to do business with academy students in the first place, so it wasn’t a bad appearance.
Now, the remaining problem was the items to be sold at the general store…
In fact, there was no problem in this regard.
‘I have enough items just with what I have.’
How many times did I draw in 14 years? Since there was no way, my store would be overflowing with customers, I concluded that it was possible to run a general store just by selling items selected from cash shop. That was one reason why she intentionally chose a less crowded place.
“Now, the only thing left is customers.”
Just becoming an adult, I recalled my part-time job recommendation at a convenience store through a friend. Remembering the time I arranged items there, neatly filled the store.
Wouldn’t it be unnecessary to have a lot of items in a general store? After all, the items I could sell were only the ones that came out of the gacha.
‘…But with just this, it seems a bit boring. Should I suggest the customers try a gacha?’
If you go to a stationery store, you’ll probably find a gacha machine somewhere. Would it be possible to get one here too? After searching here and there, I wondered.
“So, it’s like this. Can you make it for me?”
Unable to find one, I decided to make a request separately for someone to make it.
“Hmm, it seems like there’s nothing I can’t make. But why do you want to make something like this? What are you going to use it for?”
“Just for kids’ toys. Since you said you could make it, I’d like to ask for your help. Oh! How long will it take to make it?”
“Roughly, it should take about two days. Making something like this is a piece of cake.”
Indeed, dealing with nobles seemed to reflect in their exceptional technological prowess. In just two days, they confidently guaranteed to make it. Though it was made of simple steel, preventing the contents inside from being visible, the gacha function could be implemented without any issues.
With the addition of the gacha machine in the store, the general store I envisioned was now complete. Honestly, I was delighted.
“Time flies.”
It felt like a week had passed by in no time. When I was active as a mercenary, time crawled at an agonizing pace. It made me realize that people should live doing what they want.
“Summoning hero and selling exclusive weapons, I’ll probably amass enough wealth to live without doing anything until I die. From then on, I can peacefully live as a wealthy commoner here.”
I believe that the most I can do for this world is to ‘summon’ characters that appeared in the game. What more can I do? There is already a vast difference in status between me and them, commoners and nobles alike. I cannot individually nurture them as I did in the game.
‘After hardship comes happiness!’
Having come this far in my life through struggles, I wanted to gift myself with a break.
‘I wish there was a modest commoner lady as a neighbor. Is it too much to ask for in this neighborhood?!’
I couldn’t hide the content smile as I finally had my ‘own store’.