Frontiers ~Chronicles of Bucket-san’s Detailed Pioneering~

Chapter 70 – There’s a huge line outside!

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After eating lunch, I logged in.

What I’ll do next is the same as before though.
Make more steel equipment.

But let’s advertise it on the blog before I start.

I mean, I won’t be able to sell that many items even if I put my all into crafting them, but it would still be unfair to the people who are hunting on places like the Eku Labyrinth to not receive an early warning.
They wouldn’t be able to line up in time, after all.

So, I listed the steel gear that is currently on my inventory on the blog, and stated that those will be sold tomorrow when the store opens.

Alright, this will work… Then, let’s do my best! I’ll try putting as many items as possible on sale!

******

By the time I looked outside the workshop’s window, I noticed it was already pitch-black outside… So, it’s already midnight in-game?

I was really absorbed into making steel gear, but I still wasn’t able to make that many items… Though well, I already knew that this would happen.
It just can’t be helped when I need to process so many materials to make a single item.

Nonetheless, there is still some time before the store opens, so let’s take a small break to draw Magical Formations.
I have been in a machine-like state while crafting steel gear, to the point I had even started drooling… I definitely need a bit of a change of pace.

After all, even if I don’t mind spending a long time crafting, I still can’t do the same thing endlessly, so… Let’s take out my Magic Pen and start drawing!

Oh… This really feels nice… I really love Magical Formations.

And coming to think of it, I also haven’t read anything recently, even if I do need to raise the levels of Decipher and Improved Magic Language.

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I also didn’t try making any Magic Iron Ingot yet, did I? Since I can already make Steel Gear, it should be possible to make Magic Iron as well… Maybe I can even make it as 4* already!

******

I ended up drawing roughly 30 Magical Formations this time around.
It used to feel like much back then, but nowadays this actually feels like a short break.

After all, improving my tools and the level of my skills ended up making the process much faster.

It’s okay though, this definitely made me feel satisfied and re-energized.

Also, the desk helped too.
It had a surprisingly calming effect… It’s not really a desk made specifically for drawing Magical Formations though, so it’s strange that it feels better to draw then on it.

But in any case, even a short break felt like too much when considering how long it takes to make steel gear! I don’t have time for reading!

Well, let’s read something short then, like the booklet that I got with my promotion to rank 5* on the Guild.

I haven’t read it yet, so let’s give it a go.

Oh? This… It doesn’t need the Language skill? I knew it wasn’t required to read quests on the Guild’s boards or the menus of NPC stores, but I thought that all books required the Language skill.

Maybe it’s because it’s a booklet, so it falls under a different category?

Well, in any case, it seems like the main privilege of rank 5* is the ability to participate in auctions.
There are some other small benefits like free use of the small conference room, capability of renting the big conference room, a reduction on fees when issuing quests…

But the big things are the auctions.
In particular, there seems to be a big auction that will come at the end of August.
This one will be held by the country, so it will probably have some amazing goods.

There are other smaller auctions made by private companies though, and you can also participate on them with rank 5* on the Guild.

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And not only participate.
You can also auction items on those.

Though it seems like you need to register the item to be auctioned at least a few days before the auction happens.

I do have enough time to list something to be auctioned before the next auction starts, but I don’t think I would want to list anything that has less than three Options in it… Or well, something like the Mysterious Dark Sword, I suppose.

I would like to aim for listing a rare item in an auction for sure.

But well, that’s the end of the small reading time, so… Let’s back to crafting steel gear! It’s the last spurt!

******

“Oh, manager, there’s a huge line outside!” One of my clerks commented as soon as I entered the store.

“It’s probably the biggest line so far, I think?” Another clerk commented.

“Oh my, that’s quite something.” I replied.

The clerks ended up coming a bit earlier than usual today, so they got to the store before I finished getting everything evaluated at the Guild.

I hope they enjoyed the sudden holiday.

In any case, the advertising at the blog seems to have had the right effect, so lots of people are now eager to come inside the store.

… There sure are a lot of rich people out there right now.
Even a single piece of steel gear should take a considerable toll in one’s finances, after all.

But well, when considering that Mika bought a full set, I guess the top combat-focused player Pioneers are all rich.

Oh, and of course, we’ll be taking measures against the items being resold.
As usual, it will be a time-limited restriction that stops the item from being used in transactions.

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I also decided to make the time of the restriction a bit longer than usual, just in case.

After all, even if the amount of items available is small, it is still incredibly hard to buy steel items in any store other than my own.

Even in big stores such as the Kederick’s shop, you actually need to get an introduction letter backing you up if you wish to buy the steel items on display… Not to mention that they too don’t have that many items available in the first place.

Therefore, the player Pioneers end up having a pretty hard time getting steel gear on any store other than my own.

Though again, I couldn’t make that many items, and I made sure to make that clear on the blog… I’m not sure how big the queue is, but I doubt even half of the people lined up will be able to get a steel item this time around.

Due to that, I decided to ask the clerks to be more strict than usual when handling complaints.

And then, I finished restocking, so… I’ll leave it all to you, everyone! For it’s logout time now!

******

I logged in.

I wonder if anything happened while I was out? There is a message in my inbox, so I guess something did.

Oh? It’s not a report from the clerks saying that someone was banned due to misconduct… I guess the customers are learning? Even if the top players really want some steel gear, by now they must have realized that it’s better to just accept it for what it is over risking getting banned and losing future chances of buying the gear I produce.

The customers were trained properly then!

In any case, the message was actually from Mr.
Kederick.
And it was not a request to make equipment this time around.
Apparently it’s something important and he wants to meet me directly to talk about it.

Then, let’s make an appointment.
He is not the kind of person I can meet whenever I want, after all.

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… Well, I think I did go meet him whenever I wanted on the last occasions though.

******

Eh? We can meet soon? I was thinking of waiting while reading a book, but the reply came sooner than I expected.

I guess reading will have to be put on hold.
Let’s continue after I come back.

I decided to pass by Lulu’s shop to buy some souvenirs before going to the Kederick store though.

And since Lulu was there, we ended up chit-chatting a bit.
The topic was, unsurprisingly, about all the fuss raised by me selling steel.

Lulu had just logged in when my store opened, and she was surprised to see how big the line was… It was big enough to the point the queue turned down the street and reached the surroundings of Lulu’s store.

… That’s amazing.
Just how many people were there?

I suppose it makes sense when considering that there are no restrictions on equipping steel gear though.
Even a player that just started playing can equip one if they manage to buy it.

Therefore, it’s possible to greatly increase your strength if you work hard on gathering money… In fact, when the game started, there were quite a few people that tried doing that with Bronze and Iron gear by using up gathered initial funds by a bunch of friends who started playing together, which led to the initial shortage of inventory on NPC stores.

Well, there is no such line near my store anymore though, as the players dispersed shortly after my shop opened, since the store ran out of stock for Steel items… Not to mention that right now is the time where my store is closed for the clerk’s break.

… It’s scary to think of checking the forums right now.
I couldn’t make that many steel items, so I bet it’s filled with people complaining about being unable to buy them.

It’s not my fault though!

Well, it’s not like I have time to look at the forums right now either way.

After all, I made an appointment with Mr.
Kederick, and I’m not one to arrive to my appointments late!