NOVEL NEXT Volume 3 – Chapter 38
A plan only lasted as long as the first step. My plan to start selling supplies had been upended before I made the first sale, and somehow, we had ended up turning into a restaurant. As soon as Katarina returned, I sent her out to buy bowls, seating, pots, pans, and everything else needed to cook and sell food. I ended up cooking nonstop while Red had to dish out food, take payments, and do dishes all in rapid succession.
I was even discussing having Katarina remain behind to help clean dishes. Her face seemed to go white when she thought of that, and then she told me to wait just a bit. Katarina somehow came back with a store clerk robot. It would normally take hours to program it with all of the inputs and outputs necessary to handle orders, but with Cecelia, such programming only took moments. Katarina also revealed that the robot was cheap because the ownership was locked to a deceased owner. Someone would normally have to pay to have the robot hacked, a timely and expensive process. Of course, with my Master code, that also only took a second to override. With the robot handling the money, Red was able to keep up with the crowds coming in.
I quickly ran out of spices, but it turned out that such spices weren’t even needed. New customers didn’t even seem to mind that the food was somewhat bland. Compared to a can of expired, radiated mush, any mixture of food that was heated seemed to excite the crowds. So, the front of the store had become a place for people to sit down at eat, and all of the supplies were carried into the back, which was converted into a pseudo kitchen where I threw everything I had into various random stews.
No one seemed to care so much what stew they had either. Such a thing as choice didn’t matter in this world. That was probably for the best because I could not make the food fast enough to have many variations. Each stew was mostly made up of whatever meat and vegetables I happened to open up that time.
Hours went by, and I even managed to update to a nuclear stove. The name terrified me, but I sprayed it down with Rad-B-Gone and checked it with a Geiger counter and I didn’t seem to be getting any tics, so I decided to trust it. It heated fast, and my portable stove was running out of gas, so it had come just in time. I continued to work over the stove, working up a sweat as the lines seemed to go on forever. Katarina occasionally came back with an interesting find or a question on whether she should purchase something or not. Like that, we conducted business all day.
“Master, it’s evening now. The slave auctions will be starting soon.”
“R-right!”
I had nearly forgotten about our goal. The flow of money and the monotony of working in the kitchen had gotten the better of me and I lost track of time. I had gone through a tenth of the stock I had brought from my world cooking it. I also didn’t know how much money we ended up making.
“Close up!” I shouted into the front for Red.
I immediately heard the groans and protests of people still in line.
“You heard him? Get the fuck out!” Red shouted, followed by a bang.
I cleaned my hands of the last bit I cooked and then glanced outside to see Red clearing the area with a spiked bat she had somehow acquired. My eyebrows twitched. This wasn’t the customer service that I was expecting.
“Good evening, Master.” The robot immediately addressed me, catching Red’s attention.
“Red… we need to work on your people skills…” I declared.
Red turned to me, hefting the bat casually on her shoulder. “What do you mean? If you don’t put your foot down with Wastelanders, they’ll walk all over you.”
“I see…”
I decided not to argue with her there. She understood the Wasteland more than me. Perhaps they wouldn’t have left so quickly if she hadn’t threatened them. It didn’t matter though. I had already made the money, and I didn’t plan to open up tomorrow. They weren’t going to be long-lasting customers. I only felt one big regret. Since I had been back in the kitchen the entire time, I hadn’t been able to cut any deals or network.
Well, I didn’t even really understand how to network, and most of these Wastelanders that she had scared out of the store didn’t seem like the type that I’d want to network with. Not everyone could be as affable and polite as the merchant Tom. At the very least, my brand would spread. I made sure the shop had a sign out front with our name and logo, so anyone who acquired about where they got that food would eventually be able to find out my location.
As for the logo, Mizuki had seemingly developed it without talking to me. The cans had their label removed, but they had been seemingly stamped with an ink mark. It was a logo and a short description of the contents. The logo was a D, likely for Daniel, but it was stylized and I decided it would make a good logo for my products so they were recognizable in the wasteland.
Katarina entered the store just as Red was closing up, looking around the now empty shop. “Are we done here?”
“That’s it.” I sighed. “It’s time to close up shop and finish this.”
She nodded. “I tried to find some of the more obscure things on your list. The slaver’s auction doesn’t just sell slaves. The big-ticket items, those that can change the future of a settlement, are also reserved for the auctions.”
I nodded. “We’ll just have to see what they have when they have it.”
“Master, do I have to stay here and clean?” Red whined.
“I don’t want to have to worry about you. Besides, they need to be done.” I looked around. “I want my deposit back.”
“Cheapskate.” She sniffed.
“Speaking of money, how much did you make anyway?” Katarina asked. “I took a bunch from the store bot. You told me I didn’t need to worry as long as I got the things you wanted, so I spent quite a bit.”
“You allow her to buy whatever she wants while I have to clean. Isn’t the treatment between us far too extreme?” Red grumbled as she started doing the dishes. “And whoever heard about cleaning dishes with water? This is just wasteful. You cover it in salt to inhibit growth and then put it out in the rain…”
I ignored her, instead of turning to the store bot. “I haven’t been able to keep track either. Bot, how much have you made.”
“Master, I have received 816 large crystals, 1020 small crystals.” The robot declared.
I had sold them in two large crystals a bowl. Some were willing to give more, but it seemed like a good rate since even with that we were extremely busy.
Red let out a whistle. “918 large crystals? For a single evening?”
We had done a lot. I didn’t necessarily have 459 guests, but many ended up getting 3-4 bowls since we allowed refills. It ended up being that much. No, it would have been more. This was after Katarina had taken out hundreds of crystals for her purchases. We had boughten bowls, chairs, a bot, and a nuclear grill. Not all of that was cheap. We might have made twice that if we were already set up for it.
Up until that point, the most money I had ever made was 253 large crystals. I had sold everything I had to the mayor. I got a sense of just how much he had overpaid me. I think he had been hoping I’d open up an exclusive contract with him. After what happened at the hospital, I had cut him out, but perhaps I had been a bit hasty. The main reason I hadn’t been interested was that at the time, crystals were useless to me. Suddenly, I felt like I didn’t have enough. I did send Tom to go back and negotiate with him, so hopefully, we could reopen our trading.
None of that would help me now. I seemed to recall that 250 crystals had been enough to buy a single dose of Allmighty. On the other hand, a slave might cost 50-100 large crystals each. With what we go, we’d have enough to buy at most eighteen slaves. Eighteen slaves did not make an army, but thankfully I wasn’t depending solely on that. I still had plenty of supplies.
Thinking about what I had gotten from the mayor, as well as how much I used to cook, and considering the additional work demanded, I probably didn’t get the greatest return for my investment. I had used a tenth of my supplies and only ended up with a thousand crystals. Had I given the same amount to the mayor, I calculated I would have made double that, and it wouldn’t have required working all day or buying tons of supplies I didn’t need.
There was one single advantage to this, though. All of the food was consumed. I didn’t affect the supply, and thus the remaining goods were just as valuable. Had I flooded the market with goods ahead of time, I might have gotten more money up front, but my capacity to trade it for slaves would be diminished. Therefore, I ultimately concluded I had made the best decision. Now, it was time to go to auction.