Morning, the next day.
Just as the sun was peeking over the horizon, Navi's lovely figure popped out, dancing giddily while announcing the contents of a new notification.
[Congratulations on surviving your second day! As a reward, you have unlocked a new function—Repair—and gained the ability to edit your Seller Profile in the Shop. Use it with prudence, lover boy~!]
"..."
Of course, Axel wasn't amused by the little bugger's words.
The new function he unlocked did make him a bit grateful, but the ongoing tease about him being a "lover boy" thanks to what happened last night was starting to get on his nerves.
But it wasn't only that that was bugging him.
"G-Good morning, Sir Axel..." Maria greeted awkwardly.
"Hmm? Ah, good morning."
Axel turned toward her slightly, seeing that even now, she was having a hard time keeping a straight posture. Each step, her face warped with pain. It was obvious that Axel had overdone it a bit—no, a lot—the night before.
Although he felt sorry and offered her a potion from the new emergency medical supplies he had gained, she refused promptly.
"This is due to my inexperience and isn't worth spending such a precious medicine over. Please just pay no heed to my plight for today, Sir Axel..." Maria said so herself.
Thus, even though he wanted to cure her to avoid showing that weird walk she was doing, he couldn't.
But what was worse was that everyone in the camp was silently aware of what actually happened. Not only because Maria woke up late and came from Axel's tent practically naked... but rather because of her voice that leaked mid-session last night.
It was so loud that everyone was woken up by it and ended up listening to their activity until the end.
"This is so awkward..."
Axel whispered as he scratched his head, sighing deeply.
Although this was the very situation he was trying to avoid by accepting Maria's offer, he still ended up walking right into it—almost as if he was fated to.
"S-Sorry, Sir Axel. But regarding last night's matter..." Maria asked, her tone filled with curiosity and doubt.
"You mean about Eve?" Axel shrugged. "No worries. Even before you came to me, I didn't really plan to do anything to her."
"Is that so..." she said, placing a hand over her chest.
Seeing Maria sigh in relief, it seemed that she did believe Axel's words and was simply asking for confirmation.
"Then, are there any specific tasks for us today, Sir?" she quickly asked, changing the topic.
"Today..."
Axel looked at his system panel and pondered hard.
He did spend quite a bit last night, but all things considered, his expenses were less than 20,000 Colts. That meant he still had quite a significant balance remaining.
Checking his inventory, it was still filled with raw materials that the girls had gathered the previous day. Only the sticks and logs were touched, along with the cloth scraps used for the voodoo dolls. In short, he still had a lot of materials to craft with!
"Let's see..."
Axel pondered before moving over to the shop and skimming through it.
He limited the items to things that were related to the items in his inventory and began to scan through them. However, none of them were as efficient as crafting voodoo dolls or soap.
As such, Axel nodded. "For the time being, I want you all to search for old leather or clothes. Anything is good. I need them for crafting things."
"Old... clothes? Like rags and such?" Maria asked to confirm, to which he nodded.
"Yes. Rags, socks, shirts, hats—anything that is made of cloth or leather."
"I see... I'll go and tell the others, then."
As Maria left, Axel actually wondered about something.
An inspiration that came to him in a flash.
The zombies that appeared every night, attacking them, were all wearing clothes, though tattered and completely dirtied. However, mysteriously, those also melted away along with the killed zombie.
"If only we could gather their clothes, we'd have a lot of scrap to use for crafting..." he mumbled before thinking of an idea. "Wait, what if I strip the zombies of their clothes, placing them in my inventory before killing them...?"
It was unorthodox, true, but if it worked, then they'd gain an almost inexhaustible source of cloth scraps for crafting!
"I need to try this tonight!" he nodded to himself.
If it actually worked, then he could easily get more profit!
After that, everyone began to move.
The girls quickly dispersed. Arianne went alone, with the rest moving in pairs. Maria and Eve were both searching nearby, Cherry and Beatrix toward the south, and Arianne to the east—directions that they hadn't searched yet.
The one left in the camp, Axel, was busy with his soap-making once again.
With better know-how, and already testing it a few times the day before, his work proceeded smoothly enough that he had already made a few hundred batches of soap just before noon arrived.
Although it did cost him a bit for the raw materials, he did profit quite a bit after selling them.
All in all, his balance reached 100,000 Colts once more!
"We're back!"
To add, with the girls' arrival—along with a lot of tattered cloth they picked up—Axel was able to produce even more voodoo dolls.
All in all, 150 pieces!
Enough that his stock of wooden sticks and logs ran out!
When he sold them, he thought there would end up being quite a number unsold, but to his surprise, they still got bought up instantly. After selling all those, his balance shot up to 250,000 Colts!
Axel grinned, feeling a sense of satisfaction seeing his balance reach six digits.
"Alright! With this much funding, we can finally begin with the second stage...!"
As an entrepreneur, he wouldn't make the same mistake as any normal person would—letting their money sit idly, mostly in banks. Time deposit? Monthly interest? Such things couldn't be compared to actually using your money to profit!
Of course, Axel already had a plan beforehand.
And for that, he needed at least 200,000 Colts—normally an insurmountable amount, but miraculously, he managed to reach it in just two days.
His plan?
Buying all kinds of "raw materials" for cheap and turning them into premium, crafted items!