"So… are you gonna get moving?"
I've been sitting in the general store for about an hour now. The rain came while I was reading that pamphlet.
"Don't wanna get wet…"
"You have a cloak."
"Don't wanna get wet…"
I wish I had the foresight to make an anti-rain spell, but I can't alter the Mortal Form while it's in use. Well, technically I can change it if I learn a spell or ability as Jamaarl, but I can't add anything myself without dispelling the form.
"Plus, I don't see anyone else coming through here in the rain. So why should I?"
I'm here to learn about this place and its people. Kinda hard to see places in the rain, and there's people out and about in it either, so might as well wait for it to pass.
"Then do something here. Talk to the person working the front counter, maybe another customer, or suck it up and find somewhere else with people!"
Did I mention I have a social battery? Well it's not an actual battery, but it's how I can best describe the feeling. Basically, I can't do social stuff in person a lot. If I do it for long enough, I get drained and lose interest. I'm actually already using up a lot of it just responding to Kandance, but on average, I can spend somewhere between fifteen to thirty minutes a day talking to people and being able to keep up.
"Meh…"
Curiosity can only push me so far. As much as I want to know about this new world, I still have my old mental blocks. Being a God doesn't change that, I guess.
"Well do something other than sit around, at least?"
Right, there is one other thing I do. I stand up… and begin to pace. Pacing through the lines of shelves. After all, it's a general store, so that means there should be generally used items. And you can learn a lot about somewhere by what it sells, what packaging and instructions it comes with, the price and amount of it there are, and so on and so forth. The sheer amount of information I could find for this world through the products of this one place… well, it's something I could do until the rain stops, at least. Dunno how thrilled Kandance will be with what I'm doing, but oh well. Let's get to reading…
Let's see, this aisle is filled with adventurer's gear. So adventuring is a thing people do, and the fact that it's available in a place like this probably means it's not a super important thing. If it was, I assume this stuff would be sold directly by the people making it like alchemists and blacksmiths. Or there would be specialized shops for it instead of it being sold as a "general good" here. As for the pricing… wait.
What symbol is that? It's like someone stacked a yen symbol on top of the dollar sign. It's a Y and an S with two horizontal lines and one vertical line going through it. Don't tell me the people that've been isekai'd here before me also brought money and capitalism? That's… actually, isn't there a video game where that exact thing happens? Someone from another point in time and space travels to a world that doesn't know money, and introduces it to more easily control the society. Huh…
Anyway, I understand the numbers. It's a low amount, so maybe these aren't super high quality products. Or they are high quality and they're cheap because whoever is in charge of pricing wants them to be affordable. Or any other number of things and possibilities and shit. I wouldn't know, I'd have to ask the person in charge. And I don't feel like doing that right now!
Then there's the actual products themselves. Potions for restoring fatigue, mana, and quickening regeneration. Cans of rations, weak monster repellants, and other wilderness survival tools. Some used weapons and armors that were probably dumped on the owner of this place by someone who didn't want them anymore. And then fresh versions, plus stuff like sheaths for blades and quivers for arrows. Lastly were display cases and a few mannequins, I guess in case someone wanted to show off but didn't want to spend extra on making the display also super fancy? Eh.
Overall, it gives me a good idea as to what kind of society this place has, at least. Adventuring seems less like a necessity and more like it's done casually. Or it's such a required thing that even general stores sell adventuring gear so that this stuff is available to everyone. I'm gonna assume the former, maybe it's just like a hobby or something. Of course, there's people who are super invested in their hobbies, so I wouldn't doubt the existence of people who live their life as adventurers, but whatever.
Same applies to the potions. Maybe this kind of stuff is super common because it's needed. Or there are better alternatives and it's here for cheap in case someone can't afford those improved versions. It also means that mana exists, that people can run out of it, and that there are materials to make drinkable medicine that can restore it. Are said materials also common, and that's why a general store is able to sell it? Probably.
By the way, I'm writing all this down in my God Panel. It came with an application for notes. I think it did, anyway. Unless Kandance made it for me while I wasn't looking? Whatever the case, I made notes of everything confirmed and of every possibility. Which there were a lot. Some of which just sounded like conspiracies. "Cheap because poisoned?" "Used equipment harvested from corpses?" Any of it could be possible, and any of it could be normal here. Who is to say the norms of Earth apply here? They may not have concepts like technology or breakfast or graverobbing being bad.
Then again, this world HAS been influenced by people from Earth for thousands of years. It's likely that they may have brought that kind of stuff here. Some stuff may also be universal constants. It's not like I would know what was and wasn't, this is my first time in another world!
But hey, guess what? That was just one aisle. Out of like the four or five in this one store alone. Not to mention stuff that's being displayed between the aisles on little racks. And who knows, there may be a backroom with even more stuff that may or may not be for sale, all of which could give me even more information! And the more time I spend here, the more stuff there'll be! Sales, different products for different occasions, new and returning customers and employees, each with their own stories to tell! All I have to do is keep pacing through it, keep analyzing, keep hearing in, and I'll find out so much! No need to talk to people or even exit this place, it can be my new home! I can-
"Oh hey, it stopped raining! Come on, let's go."
… Yeah that sounds more interesting than whatever this place has.
"Mkay."
And so I left, not even buying anything. Hope the shopkeeper doesn't care!