One might think that the situation in the interdimensional shop was unusual.
After all, if those items were a necessity for witches, and they had all the materials to make them, then they should've just made some for themselves.
But of course, there are production lines for consumable items as well.
They did have some, but they were simply not producing enough to satisfy the demand.
This was partly due to the imbalance in the producers/consumers divide in Witcheria... no, in all witch covens in most dimensions. Producers are far fewer in number compared to the actual witches, leading to the supply never reaching the actual demand.
Thus, Axel's appearance was nothing short of a miracle to the witches.
Now that they had even figured out he could provide them with treasures, there was even less hesitation in wanting to keep him for themselves.
As such, once both sides agreed on their trade, the deal was made.
"In exchange for providing items to WitchyGura preferentially, they will offer raw materials to me at a discount. Furthermore, I can get their broken dolls for myself and fix them before reselling!"
Axel smiled to himself, feeling that money—much more than the single influx he got—was coming to him sooner or later.
For his first commission, however, he needed to make quite a number of items.
5,000 Simple Voodoo Dolls and 100 Substitute Dolls!
Of course, before he could begin crafting, he first needed the materials for it. Thus, that was what he was waiting for right now—the materials he ordered at a discount from WitchyGura!
"Before those items arrive, my hands are tied..."
Axel sighed before raising his head and looking around.
The girls were still busy playing with the crossbow, with Arianne acting as their instructor, teaching them the ropes. For sure, they would grasp its usage before the sun set.
"The problem is the monsters coming tonight..."
Since their numbers didn't decrease, that meant another Giant Zombie would appear tonight. It was a cause for worry, for sure, but with the two-handed sword now given to Arianne, there's no way she would fail to kill the Giant now.
After all, the reason she struggled before was due to her weapon being unable to deal "effective" damage to it.
"Still..." Axel huffed. "I think we need to upgrade our defenses a bit."
Even now, they were only protected by wooden barricades. Although they could hold out well enough against normal zombies, they definitely wouldn't work against the big one.
'I'm sure that sooner or later, more people will join our camp. That means more zombies and more powerful variants...'
Axel pondered for a bit before nodding to himself.
"Let's upgrade our defenses!"
He did have enough funds right now—way more than necessary to support his trading plans. Thus, rather than letting the money rot in his account, he should just use it to upgrade the defenses of their camp now.
After all, if he dies, any money he was saving ultimately becomes useless!
"Navi, any quests you can give for upgrading the camp's defenses?"
Axel asked the behaving penguin... only to see that it was busy whistling and clapping while watching the girls train with the crossbow. Although it looked cute visually, the lecherous gaze and disgusting laugh portrayed the penguin as a dirty old man in his eyes.
"Focus on your job, you lecher," Axel said, swinging a fist at the penguin's head.
However, as expected, his fist simply phased through it. Navi was, after all, a "spirit" of the system, not a physical being. Still...
[Ouch! Hey, I'll let you know that I have a sense of touch despite being a hologram only you can see!]
Navi pressed both flippers over its head, as if the punch actually connected. Axel, hearing its words, turned expressionless.
"Really...?"
Then, without anyone realizing when, a wooden mallet and a stake appeared in either hand of his. The penguin saw this and felt a chill run down its virtual spine, making it move quickly.
[Ah, a quest, right! You're just in time! I was just wondering when to give you this quest...!]
[
Quest Part 1: Stronger Defenses!
Requirements:
- Build 50x Stone Wall Sections
- Build 4x Wall Ballistae
- Defeat 5,000x Zombies
- Defeat 50x Giant Zombies
Rewards:
- New System Function: Concoction
- Emergency Medical Supplies x10
]
[
Quest Part 2: Rescuing Survivors!
Requirements:
- Rescue 10x Survivors at Point A (50 km East)
Rewards:
- New System Function: Housing
]
Axel didn't expect to get two quests at once, but still read through them quickly.
The first quest looked quite grand at first. And if you think about the price of materials that would be needed for it, then it should span a few days or weeks at least before completion.
However, now that Axel had enough financial prowess, he could basically just brute-force his way through the quest. He could spend his money to buy materials and finish the quest in moments!
The problem that remained there was the subjugation count. 5,000 zombies and 50 Giant Zombies would take a few days for sure. After all, right now, they only get attacked by 500 Zombies and 1 Giant Zombie at night.
"Still, that's nothing compared to the last one..."
A rescue mission!
It was to save a group of 10 individuals to the east, roughly 50 kilometers away.
Thinking of their long-term projection and resource consumption, it'd be wise to delay completing this quest... if this were a game. However, Axel knew that this place was as real as any world. That meant those survivors, given a day or two, might end up dead instead.
An automatic quest fail!
'Luckily, there are no system penalties for failing quests... After all, failing the previous quests basically means death. But I don't know if the reward will reappear or will forever disappear if I fail this one...'
Axel turned to Navi but quickly shook his head.
With its personality, he was quite sure it wouldn't give him a straight answer. Rather than adding to the thoughts he'd get irritated with, he'd rather assume the worst.
After thinking about the two quests for a while, Axel shrugged.
"Well, let's fix our defenses first before anything else."
If he did rescue those ten in a rush, they didn't have enough space to accommodate everyone either. Most of all, if they set off now, given the distance, it'd be way past sundown before they arrived back at camp.
Thus, the smart way to do it was:
1. Expand the camp while improving defenses
2. Only go to the refugee's rescue the next day
And finally...
"Before I lock in a decision, I need to tell the girls about this first."
Axel's to-do list was piling up once more!