CH 37

Chapter 37 – Gol

While I was in the midst of decorating my ‘Room’, I received messages from both Mika and Armilate, saying that they wanted to buy some Magic Formations, so that they could use those against the Lich.

I was a bit surprised that Armilate was participating too, but it seems like the guild made an official request for the subjugation of the Lich, so the NPC pioneers will join the fight… It’s understandable though, since there are still quite a few NPC pioneers that are stronger than the players, and the players did get wiped out on the last attempt.

That said, I don’t usually accept production requests, the Iron gear for Mika was an exception to celebrate the creation of her guild… But well, this means that I’ll be able to make more of my beloved Magical Formations, so I’ll gladly do what they asked me to.

Also, it’s a good idea to foster a good relationship with Armilate, since it might not take that long for me to start making the Steel gear that she requested.

“Then, I’ll be calling Manthe. See you later.” I told the ‘Assistance Golem’ that I had summoned, Gol.

I was a bit weirded out when I found out that a golem that helped carry things existed, because Frontiers has Item Boxes, so what’s the point of having a golem that carries things? Well, he was quite helpful in moving things around when I was trying to decide what would be the best look for my ‘Room’, so there was at least one use for him.

He can’t help much when making Magic Circles though, so it’s Manthe’s turn now!

Not that she does much, but she’s ideal for grinding skill levels when I’m doing something that doesn’t allow multi-tasking. And right now, I’m going to devote myself fully to making Magic Circles! And since I don’t need to do that at a Production Facility, I can just do it inside my room.

******

After I made enough Magic Circles, I went to the Rental Production Facility to craft more Iron Equipment. I also used the paid web space that I purchased to create a blog for the store.

Luckily enough, there were quite a few templates that I could make use of, so it didn’t take long to set the blog up. I only made the banner of the blog myself, and everything else was using standard templates.

The content I put there was what equipment I’m regularly putting up for sale, standard prices, what materials I’m purchasing and the like.

I also blocked the comment function in order to not let the blog be flooded, but I did make a private section that only my acquaintances and me could comment on. In this I’ll be posting about the items with ‘Options’ that I make, so as to see if anyone wants to buy it before I put it up for sale.

Once I finished setting that up, I posted about it on the forums. Hopefully this will make things more convenient for the customers, even if it means I’ll have some extra work maintaining it.

… It was surprisingly quick for people to start commenting about the things I put on my blog in the forums, though I guess it can’t be helped that people will become active when they see iron gear being put for sale by a player, since even NPC stores only have it rarely available.

I’m sure that every piece of iron equipment will be sold in no time… Exciting!

… Someone was asking if I had any iron gear with ‘Options’ though. That was a bit too much, I just started making Iron reliably, expecting me to already be able to make items with ‘Options’ is… Oh well, I don’t need to pay attention to people with unreasonable expectations. Let’s ignore this comment.

But then, I saw another comment, talking about how people were already lining up in front of my store, even though there are still a few hours before it opens… I mean, I understand that the items available will surely disappear in no time, and that the top players definitely want to strengthen themselves for the revenge against the Lich, but still…

Though maybe there are some people that want to just resell the items. I don’t want my actual customers to lose their chance of buying because of resellers, so I’ll put the restriction of being unable to trade the item for 2 in-game days in all pieces of iron equipment. I usually only put this kind of thing on items with ‘Options’, but I guess I’ll put it on the normal iron gear for now… It should be enough to detract most resellers.

It’s a bit saddening that it will also trouble people who are lining up to buy equipment for their whole party, but it can’t be helped. Besides, 2 in-game days of wait won’t be a big issue for someone that wants to provide items for their party, it will only be troubling for those wanting to make a quick profit, since their margin will get smaller and smaller as the supply gets larger as the days pass.

Once I finished making those decisions and announcing it all on the blog and forums, I headed to the guild to get my crafts evaluated. It was still quite early, but my logout time was coming soon, so it was better to do it now.

The guild was a bit crowded though, so I read a book while waiting for my turn… But when I was about to start it, I heard my name being uttered by a nearby group of players. For a moment I thought they were some annoying group that was going to make a production request even though everyone should be well-aware that I always reject those, but then I remembered I was in disguise right now, so it was unlikely that they knew it was me.

I ended up overhearing their conversation though, and it seems they were talking about how the number of people on the line in front of my store already exceeded the amount of items announced on the blog, so they gave up on going there and decided to try their luck in getting iron equipment at a different day.

… I guess I’ll leave a note to the clerks, telling them to be extra careful about troublesome customers today, since people that lined up and ended up not having an opportunity to buy Iron equipment might end up getting angry.

******

Once I finished getting my gear evaluated, I went to the store to put the items on the warehouse, and then I ended up seeing that there really was quite the line in front of my shop, even though there were still quite a few hours left until the opening time.

Should I put a limit of how many pieces of equipment each person can buy?

… I think I don’t need that. There are more things than just iron equipment for sale, so it’s fine to let people buy as much as they need.

That said, I figured it would be good to write a bit more on the blog just to make it absolutely clear what people could and couldn’t do on the store. I also decided to tell the clerks to not hold back in banning troublesome people from entering the store.

And since I still had a bit of time left, I also ended up checking the blogs put up by some NPC stores, since they were also able of using the function. Some of them made some really elaborate and pretty web pages for their own shops… They really adapt fast to the new options available, don’t they? As expected of the NPCs of Frontiers.

Well, it’s time, so let’s log-out.

******

Once I finished doing my usual things, I logged in. By then it was already the break time of my store, so there were no clerks inside… However, Anya did send me an e-mail about how they had to ban a customer. I’m glad they were able to solve it before it escalated into a bigger problem, but it’s still annoying to hear that she actually had to do it.

Nonetheless, the store and the clerk’s well-being are more important than keeping an annoying customer in, so it can’t be helped.

I wonder if I should consider buying a bigger store… The profit margin from Iron equipment is huge, so this might not be a terrible idea.

Though this is my first castle, and I want to cherish it… Not to mention that I still have more than half of the 30 days of rent remaining on the current contract for this store.

Maybe I could try hiring more clerks in order to make a late-night shift? Perhaps this would help reduce the issue of queues making people get angrier when they find out that the hours spent waiting were for naught, because the equipment was sold out.