Nyaaahh~ Good evening. It's the night... The night that I get my Coin! I'm excited, but I'm also extremely troubled by the matter at hand. We're going to need to be dealing with carriages again. This time, I'm definitely getting more than one carriage. Yep. I'll be damned if we need to make more than two trips. I have two Tier 5 Scarecrows, so I should probably just get two carriages. Crowli's strong enough to pull a carriage, no doubt. Be that as it may, he's also way too conspicuous. He's not your everyday monster.
After getting dressed and making my way to the Kitchen by Broom, I came face to face with Cetilla cooking breakfast. I decided to help her with the meal. Fish are my favorite, too. We spent our time cooking breakfast while going over the day plan. I made sure to inform her that I'd be handling another shipment for Clive tonight, and that she was more than welcome to come along. She agreed, but said that she would spend the time with her family while I handled the shipments. I don't blame you at all. After serving the meal in the Dining Hall, I had Crowli go and wake everyone else. It seems we were the early birds tonight.
When they arrived, I decided to ask Rei and Milton if they wanted to join us in heading to the Beastkin Kingdom tonight. Honestly, I just want their help with overseeing the carriages. We need at least one Catkin riding in each carriage otherwise it will just look silly when I have two carriages with only one me. Due to them both accepting, I decided to try something fun. I asked Budget Dragon if he would also like to come and help pull a carriage. That way, we can handle this much faster by having three separate carriages. Mwuahahaha! Budget Dragon can just pose as a tamed monster. The Cat Crew is so helpful. He happily accepted. Seems that he's always wanted to see the Beastkin Kingdom. Yosh!
After breakfast, I told Budget Dragon, Rei, and Milton to head into the Throne Room after around 10 minutes. And with that, Cetilla and I took off via Broom. I'm currently in Cat form to test and see how much faster I can fly this way. Sadly, it's difficult to tell the difference if I'm trying to move without losing MP. Worse, I'm on a time limit right now. I've got to move! And so, I decided to fly as fast as I could. Arriving at the Beach in the Beastkin Kingdom only ended up taking us around 7 or 8 minutes. With that, I opened the [Hallowed Gate] before asking Crowli to protect it. We went back into the Wailing Keep through the Combo Gate and headed to my Treasure Room. Cetilla and I are now counting out 150 Silver Coins and placing them into two separate empty buckets of Candy.
Carrying the two buckets back into the Throne Room, it appears that the others have arrived. Yosh~ This way! After leading everyone back through Halloween and to the Beach, we set off for Roy's Ranch. We have Rei riding on Budget Dragon's back while Cetilla and Milton ride on my Broom with me who is in Cat form. It's a working ensemble! It's all going according to plan~ Rei wanted to sit with Cetilla, but Rei's the largest of the three. It would have been more troublesome on my MP and we would have been forced to move slower. My MP is not in a good state right now after speeding all the way here in 7 minutes. Sorry!
Reaching Roy's Ranch took us around 10 minutes. Budget Dragon moves at the speed of a slow car. It's impressive. Sadly, we needed to leave him outside as we went to greet Roy. He's posing as a mount, so it couldn't be helped. Having a maid lead the way, we were led to a garden on the opposite end of the estate. There are blue roses scattered everywhere amidst the garden. It's beautiful. Sitting on the patio are Roy and a women, who I'm assuming to be Cetilla's mother. She has Cetilla's sapphire eyes. She's a Catkin, but she looks more Human than Cat. Roy is the opposite, but they're both tabby Cats. Cetilla looks more like her mother than her father.
"Greetings Nero, ahh Cetilla! Welcome home, it's good to see you." [Roy] greeted before noticing his daughter.
"Nero? I don't believe we've met. My name is Veronica. I'm Cetilla's mother. Rei, is that you darling? Oh my how you've grown… I remember when you were just a little kitten! How is your mother doing?" [Veronica] greeted before enthusiastically striking up a conversation with Rei.
"It's nice to meet you." [Nero] replied happily before taking a seat at the patio table.
"Hey dad, I'm going to stay and visit for awhile as Nero does his business." [Cetilla] said to Roy before taking a seat.
"Yeah it's me~ Hahahaha my mom is fine, she's actually just recently been wed to a new man. He's that Turtle guy, Richtofen; you know the one?" [Rei] replied to Veronica before going off on their own conversation.
"Business? Nero, would you happen to be in search of carriages again?" [Roy] asked with a smile. To that, Cetilla went and joined her mother. Haaah~
"It would happen that I am. I probably won't need them as long as I did last time, but I'm willing to pay the same price." [Nero] answered honestly.
"Well how many would you be searching for then?" [Roy] asked while ignoring his daughter's exit.
"Three would need to be my limit for the current situation." [Nero] replied while making a gesture as if thinking.
"Very well, if it's the same arrangement as last time; then I believe 150 Silver Coins would be the price." [Roy] answered.
"You have a deal. I already counted the Coins before I came here if I must be honest, so here you are~" [Nero] explained while handing the two buckets of Silver Coins to Roy.
"Thank you kindly. Celine~ Would you be so kind as to show Nero and his party to three carriages?" [Roy] replied courteously before beckoning to a nearby maid.
"I would be pleased. Right this way if you will." [Celine] answered before gesturing for us to follow.
"Rei~ It's time for us to go now. It was nice meeting you, Veronica." [Nero] called with a smile.
"Eh? Coming~ Goodbye Veronica!" [Rei] said while waving as she followed me.
"Come again any time!" [Veronica] called out before beginning to talk to Cetilla.
And with that, we were led to three carriages and took off towards the Beach after I called on Mr and Mrs Scarecrow. Budget Dragon is leading my carriage due to the fact that he's a Drake which is probably more rare to see than a Scarecrow, and if anyone appraised me; they would see that I'm a Tamer of sorts. Reaching the Beach was uneventful and ended up taking around 20 minutes. On arrival, I had all of my Clansmen help me carry the pieces of clothes from the previously sorted piles into the carriages. Due to the severely less amount of clothes per stack, we're able to now fit 4 piles in one carriage easily.
In Rei's carriage, we have level 3 pieces in the front left. Then, level 4 pieces in the front right, level 5 pieces in back left, and level 6 pieces in the back right. In Milton's carriage, we have level 7 pieces in the front left, level 8 pieces in the front right, level 9 pieces in the back left, and level 10 pieces in the back right. In my carriage we have level 11 pieces in the front left, level 12 pieces in the front right, level 13 pieces in the back left, and level 14 pieces in the back right. We've succeeded. We've managed to fit the entire shipment in just one load. Level 15 and above clothes are classified as VIP. Only for Monster Knights. Strictly banned from public use for now. Honestly, I don't even want to sell the level 11 to 15 pieces yet because it's actually the same standard of clothes that the Monster Knights currently wear. I'm working on getting level 15 to 20 stuff for the Monster Knights, but I'm going to need more time. We're getting there. Just not quite yet.
Even so, I'm going to risk it this time. I'm going to do it. I'm going to sell the same quality of gear that I'm wearing. But after that, I'm going to seriously hunker down and ensure that I get the better line of clothes pumped out fast. I'll need to spend some Candy to do it is all. It should be fine considering this is a payday. I'm relying on you, sales! If the ledgers don't add up, I'll just cancel putting my carriage into the shipment. Yosh! I also want to buy a Broom with this shipment. I would like to speak to a Blacksmith about commissioning a Lantern, but I still need good metal for it. I also need to get my sand appraised. I should ask Mobbin Village Keef Sama. I need good sand to make good glass otherwise the Lantern will turn out half assed. I'll save some Coins just in case, but it feels like getting a quality Lantern might end up being a project. The look on that Weapon Store owner's reaction when I asked about Lanterns led me to believe that Lantern weapon use is rare. Even that Witch Guard from before laughed in my face at the sight of a Lantern. It can't be helped.
Taking a moment, I went through the Hallowed Gate and procured some new empty Candy Buckets. I'm grabbing 10, as it's the max that I can comfortably carry. Even then, it's not comfortable at all and I'm genuinely just going to leave these in my carriage. By the time I returned to my carriage, I had dropped a bucket; but it's okay! If I need to, I can just load Coins into the carriage in trips using the buckets. It's fine even if I don't have enough.
When I returned to the carriages, we set off and around 25 minutes later, we were able to reach Clive's establishment. It's a fine place, and all the workers recognize me now. Yay! One of them went to go fetch Clive.
"It's great to see you, Nero." [Clive] greeted me while looking somewhat tired.
"You too~ Today I have brought the entire shipment in one load. I have three carriages outside. Two of them are being led by Scarecrow monsters, and that is where we will begin. We might ignore the third carriage entirely, but I need to look at the ledger first." [Nero] explained before continuing to give the information needed for the staff to handle the pieces.
"Well, I have prepared a ledger for this week, and I must say that sales have gone up drastically. Nobles love the high end garments. Plenty of prominent adventurers of varying classes also seem to enjoy them. Most warriors tend to stick with accessories over armor though." [Clive] explained before handing several documents to Nero.
"I see. That's wonderful news. Just one second~" [Nero] replied with a smile before beginning to read the documents.
Looking at the pieces, it would appear that of the 154 pieces of clothes supplied last time, 163 have sold. It's also including the overstock from the time before, which was 61 level 1 pieces. A total of 43 sold pieces were level 1, so I'll need to resupply them some more of those. The level 1 pieces sold brought in a total of 1290 Silver Coins at a rate of 30 Silver Coins per piece. Deducting those from the total sold pieces leaves us with 120 pieces still sold among the level 3 to 10 clothes. Deciding that this is going to take too long, I began to skip ahead to the total profit of each level of piece. Level 3 pieces made a total sale report of 1620 Silver Coins. Level 4 pieces made a total sale report of 2160 Silver Coins. Level 5 pieces made a total sale report of 3150 Silver Coins. Level 6 pieces made a total sale report of 2520 Silver Coins. Level 7 pieces made a total sale report of 2510 Silver Coins. Level 8 pieces made a total sale report of 2640 Silver Coins. Level 9 pieces made a total sale report of 2700 Silver Coins. Level 10 pieces made a whopping sale report of 4800 SIlver Coins. Yadda yadda... Making up a total of 23390 Silver Coins. Deducting the costs of managing the establishment brings us down by a measly 840 Silver Coins, leaving me with a total of 11275 Silver Coins as profit.
Woah! Hold on! Shouldn't we be giving them a raise or something?! These sales workers have increased in proficiency drastically! I'm starting to feel like a business mogul. Then again, the Brooms from that Hag's Hollow were all ridiculously priced. Maybe I can just accept it this one time? No... I should definitely give commission for this sale. They deserve it. According to the sales from last week, we made more than 11x the profit this time around. They deserve double the pay at the very least. Honestly, with this profit I can secure a decent Broom and still have enough Coins to secure the Candy required to speed my life up and get level 20 pieces of clothes. Then, it's totally fine if I sell the level 11 to 15 pieces currently in my carriage. Big moves. We're making big moves today, boys. While I was overlooking all of the documents, it seems that the staff finished unloading the shipment from Rei and Milton's carriages and have gathered.
"According to these documents, we have increased our productivity by 11 times. I had only estimated an increase by 10 times, so I would like to celebrate. This week, I would like to double the wages for all the staff working in this establishment. You've earned it. As a bonus, I would also like to begin unloading the third carriage. The next carriage includes level 11 to 15 pieces of clothing..." [Nero] called to all of the staff and continued on to give instructions regarding the receiving of the third carriage before continuing his talk with Clive. The staff happily went about to follow the instructions promptly.
"The workers sure have taken to you~ You're far too generous, you know?" [Clive] said mockingly.
"Yes, well the products probably wouldn't sell as well if the workers weren't encouraged. I've been meaning to ask, but is this establishment only open during the night?" [Nero] asked while tilting his head.
"When the products are good, they'll sell regardless~ Yes it is." [Clive] continued mocking before replying.
"If you would like, we can take a further portion of this weeks sales to hire another set of staff to operate during the day." [Nero] offered.
"It would increase sales, but honestly I'm overworked just keeping track of all the documents as is. Believe me, Beastkin are willing to come at night. Plenty of Beastkin see fine at night and can operate that way. Yo also can't forget about adventurers. They often head out in the day and return at night, so it works out fine." [Clive] explained.
"Oh, okay. I guess it makes sense. Well, how are we going to do this transaction? Where did you store the 22000 Silver?" [Nero] asked while tilting his head to the side.
"Well, I used alchemy to convert them into Gold Coins; obviously." [Clive] said as if confused.
"Eh?!" [Nero]
"I suppose you don't know. Okay~ Most Merchants practice alchemy. It allows us to transform objects into other objects of the same value. In this case, I transformed every set of 1000 Silver Coins into 1 Gold Coin for safe keeping. It's common practice, but only for transforming Coins. For whatever reason, transforming other items can shorten the caster's life expectancy." [Clive] accurately remarked.
"I see." [Nero] said while handing the ledger back to Clive.
"Moving on... The total payment to the workers should amount to 1680 Silver Coins, which would leave us with... 21710 Silver Coins broke down into… 10855 Silver Coins each. So, I shall give you 10 Gold Coins now and will return with the additional 855 Silver Coins after I have broken down the other expenses. Does that sound agreeable to you?" [Clive] examined the documents while calculating the new totals.
"Yes, that should be fine." [Nero] agreed with a smile while holding out his hands.
"...Here you are." [Clive] said while reaching into a coat pocket and handing Nero 10 Gold Coins before walking back towards his office.
"Milton, Rei; I would like to ask you to wait here or outside with the carriages for just a few moments." [Nero] asked before making his way towards the new shipment currently piled in one of the store's backrooms in search of the mystery pile.
I stuffed the 10 Gold Coins into my rain coat pocket before making my way to the mystery pile. It would appear that only 6 pieces were mistaken this time around. Lucky~ It only ended up taking me a minute or two to handle, but getting undressed and redressed first was the major issue. I got glared at by salespeople even though I'm still wearing swim shorts! So embarrassing... Go away! After returning to my carriage, I procured my empty buckets and began to bring them inside. Heading up to Clive's office, and struggling to open the door due to my hands being full; I ended up dropping a couple buckets but I succeeded! After walking in, Clive let out a laugh but it really couldn't be helped. Sadly, even after retrieving the fallen buckets; there was still a small pile of Coins left over. It's clearly enough Coins to fill an entirely different bucket. I regret letting the bucket fall into Halloween earlier. My luck has run out! I decided to just take the loss and carried the Coins to the carriage in two trips, 5 buckets at a time. It was kind of heavy, but thankfully I have some STR. I don't think I could have done that if I were 15 levels lower to be honest.
After finishing with collecting the Coins and returning to Milton and Rei, we took off towards Roy and Veronica's Ranch. The journey there only took around 20 minutes, but it was bumpy and boring. We're all in different carriages, so it's not like we can socialize. Well, I could have socialized with Budget Dragon but I didn't want to be so inconsiderate to make him speak while pulling a carriage. I know that if I were sprinting, I probably wouldn't want to waste my breath. Well, he's not sprinting because he's going at Mr Scarecrow's speed... But still!
All in all, I think the shipment took around an hour and a half. I'm considerably impressed by our speed. Arriving back at Roy and Veronica's Ranch, I asked Cetilla if she wanted to visit a little longer. She said sure, and Rei wanted to join her too. I gave my best regards to Roy and Veronica, before I took off with Milton and Budget Dragon. I now have Milton helping me carry the 9 buckets of Coins, and I left a little present for Roy in the carriage. It's the extra Coins. Where are we going? Food. We just ate a little while ago, but even just a snack is fine! Budget Dragon deserves a snack, and I want one too! Currently Milton is riding on my Broom with me while Budget Dragon runs below us. I say below, but I'm flying near the ground. While we travelled, I decided to cancel the [Hallowed Gate] and called Crowli to me to let him know that he could return to the Wailing Keep or Halloween if he wanted to. We're good now~ Thanks!
I asked Milton where one might procure good food late at night, and it turns out that there's a particular food vendor which he frequents. Cool. He led the way, and on arrival… It's Fish. I'm fed up. No! This is not okay! We need something else right now, guys! Come on! Refusing to fund that endeavor, I led us through town until I eventually found something different. Thank you lord and savior! It's a bakery. They bake bread. It's kind of good, but it's so so. I'm happy to have a different flavor in my mouth right now, but I'm hardly impressed. There needs to be some sort of soup to go with it or something. Each bun set me back around 5 Silver, so it's not a big deal or anything... This is probably what a lot of the staff from Clive's eat to be frank. But I have no issue with money, you see. I want something tasty and delicious, god dammit! Maybe I should have asked Roy or Clive for a recommendation on somewhere to eat? This is so embarrassing to be wealthy and have no knowledge on higher class living.
Actually, I totally looted over 8000 Silver Coins from the Bandit Camp. I just so happened to not understand that 1000 Silver Coins was the equivalent of a Gold Coin at the time, so I didn't think it was a big deal. I assumed it would be 100. So I guess this isn't my first time coming into wealth, but it's the first time that I've known about it; so I want to celebrate or something. I don't know! A dinner?! A restaurant?! Where they at though?! Oh! Why don't I try the adventurers guild? They might have something good! Yeah. Let's go there! Arriving at the adventurers guild took around 10 minutes, and when we walked in; we received one of those moments. The kind of ones that people gasp when a group walks in? That one.
"U-u-uhm… Excuse me, sir?" [Waitress #1] greeted me in a hesitant voice.
"Yes, I would like a table for three please." [Nero] replied courteously with a smile.
"Th-that's fine and all, but sir… You can't bring your tamed monsters in here…" [Waitress #1] explained while averting eye contact.
Damn it. I was totally going to have Budget Dragon pretend to be my tamed monster, but when she puts it like that… I just can't anymore! I need to fight for his rights as a being! Budget Dragon is an intelligent creature, and if he's not even servable in the Beastkin Kingdom, where else would he be served? I mean, come on! This is his one and only option!
"...Tamed monsters? Miss, you seem to have been mistaken. Budget Dragon is my friend, not my Tamed monster. I would like to purchase and eat a meal with my friends, is that not okay?" [Nero] asked while confused.
"Eh?" [Waitress #1]
"Hey! You can't just waltz in here bringing monsters with you! It's dangerous!" [Adventurer #1] stood up and assumed a fighting stance while unsheathing his sword.
"Budget Dragon is an intelligent beast, the same as you or I for that matter. This is the Beastkin Kingdom, is it not? The home of intelligent beasts? Do you have any potential reason to not serve him? Moreover, raising your blades at a passing pedestrian in the middle of an adventurers guild of all places... You should be ashamed of yourself!" [Nero] explained while removing his sunglasses and hat before pointing at the Adventurer who stood. To which, Budget Dragon simply nodded.
"Just because it's acting civil, it doesn't mean that it will remain that way! Who could relax knowing that... THING is sitting beside them, anyways?!" [Adventurer #2] stood up raising his spear.
"It seems that you still don't understand. You're all monsters, whether you like it or not. The Foxmen beastkin which live these very streets Evolved from mere Fox monsters. You're all the same. You're all monsters who just so happen to have had enough food to bestow a Human form to your kin. Be that as it may, I have a monster form and a Human form; yet you still serve me because I have Cat ears. Why should he be any different? What separates Budget Dragon from me aside from the fact that I happen to own an ability to [Shapeshift]?" [Nero] proclaimed while placing his buckets down before transforming into a Cat in the middle of the conversation.
No response. Wondrous. Returning to Human form before placing my sunglasses and hat back on and picking up my Coins, I headed off to find a table. Placing them on the table and looking back, it would appear that Budget Dragon and Milton followed me. Several people left the establishment, but it's not my fault that they're stuck up.
"Wh-wh-what can I get for you?" [Waitress #1] asked while trembling.
"Well, I would like the most expensive set of food that's on the menu. I'll take three servings, please. I would also like three few rounds of ale for my table if you will." [Nero] explained with a smile.
"...The most expensive set is 250 Silver Coins per set... Are you sure? [Waitress #2] chided in while tilting her head.
"I'm certain. How much will the three rounds come up to?" [Nero] replied before asking.
"Should be 90 Silver Coins for the three rounds." [Waitress #2] said calculatingly.
"Very well. The total?" [Nero] asked.
"840 Silver Coins." [Waitress #2]
"Okay! Here you are~" [Nero] replied happily as he handed 1 Gold Coin to the waitress.
And with that, the Waitresses left me alone. It seems that my clothes have circulated enough for me to no longer gain strange looks based on them. It helps that my clothes can be horrible or amazing and it's impossible for anyone to tell the difference without appraisal. They're finally starting to live up to the name of [Disguise]! All I needed to do was mass produce them for them to be plausible, eh? Little do they know that I'm actually wearing the latest trends! They're probably not even on the shelves yet! Maybe tomorrow.
We received the meal after around twenty minutes, but it was worth the wait. It's mashed potatoes with gravy and duck. I only ever had duck once in my previous life, and it was served on a burger. But this is nice too. The duck is cut into thin, tender pieces and had some kind of sauce poured on top. The sauce tastes sweet, and goes well with the duck. Mixed into the mashed potatoes are pieces of cut up celery and some other green vegetable which looks like green beans but tastes like cucumber. Strange. I'm going to call them cucubeans. All in all, 8/10. I'm here for it, I'd come again. It's especially refreshing in comparison to Fish. Be that as it may, Budget Dragon is looking at me as if it wasn't a large enough serving, but it can't be helped. The Fish from the Lake are magical. Not all food can be magical. After finishing our ale, we set off. I want to go see the Hag, but I can't with Budget Dragon here; so it's just going to need to wait.
And so, we returned to Roy and Veronica's Ranch. Arriving back took around 15 minutes, and was pretty uneventful. We ended up staying to talk with Roy and Veronica for around 4 to 6 hours though. Around half an hour through, they started pouring drinks; and it turned into a whole thing. The girls were sipping on wine but we men were having the good stuff. Whiskey. I have no idea how much time has gone by. Towards the end, they even served dinner and I got to have 'not Fish' a second time! It was divine~ Truly, a pleasure to be here~ What did we eat? It was a vegetable soup medley grown from their vast farm, and was paired with bread much better than the stuff I came across earlier.
And that was how I was able to secure a non festivity bath. Yep, when we returned to the Beach afterwards; I was able to swim in the Ocean. The water was still kind of cold, but I was drunk enough to manage! The nice thing about Roy and Veronica is that they didn't even care if Budget Dragon joined in. Can't say the same for the adventurers guild. The participants for this splash fight? Cetilla, Milton, Budget Dragon, Rei, Crowli, Mr Scarecrow, Mrs Scarecrow, Weeping Angel, and a Tier 5 Bat. Yeah~ My Clansmen decided to join when I arrived near water. I didn't really realize why at first, but it became quite evident that it wasn't a splash fight. There were monsters in the Ocean below us, and my Clansmen only came to emit haki.
Thankfully due to the haki, only one Fish tried anything. I saw it under the water. It looked like a sea serpent of sorts, but it fled after Mr and Mrs Scarecrow used [Terror Shout]. It sounded extremely weird for me to hear them using [Terror Shout] from beneath the surface of the water while my head was also beneath the water though. I don't think I want to try it again. We ended up having our bathing cut short due to the general feeling of uneasiness. It's fine~ I feel clean and that's what matters! Summoning the Hallowed Gate for 50 MP, we returned to the Wailing Keep.
When we arrived, Cetilla and Milton helped me secure my Coins into the Treasure Room. Thank you! So kind~ With that out of the way, we made our way to the outdoor fireplace to go dry off near the fire. We didn't stick around near the Beach to do it, so we're all still wet. I noticed that neither Rei nor Milton came prepared to swim at any time, so I decided to take the rest of the night to spend some MP on level 1 pieces. I made a relatively large pile and told everyone to take anything that they want from it. Seriously. If you guys just want regular everyday clothes or anything, here. Go ahead.
During that time, many of my Clansmen were practicing their music or were socializing. Most of the self proclaimed Monster Knights are here, but Cyclozard and Cloaked Hunk #wassup are missing. Strange~ When dawn was finally arriving, I asked my Clansmen to help me carry the spare clothes into the Throne Room before I cast [Daily Candy] and went to sleep. Goodnight!~