As usual, today's another peaceful day in Witcheria.
Of course, it's not because there's nobody left to antagonize them, definitely not. The people of Witcheria love peace more than anything else, after all. Rather, it's due to them not needing to fear attacks any time soon.
"How is the current situation?"
Sitting on her throne, Wisteria Hallbach asked her ministers.
"Yes, your majesty." And one of the women standing idly took a step forward, kneeling respectfully before the throne and spoke.
"Currently, our world is receiving relentless attacks from roughly 10,000 different worlds. Thankfully, the first Substitute Doll was more than enough to handle the curses until now. We haven't seen signs of deterioration yet, so we assume it should last us a week more at least."
Of course, it's not like they're in a war. Rather, it's just the combined "harassment" coming from everyone who failed the bidding war from before. Just a little something to vent their frustration against the one who won the bid.
Wisteria nodded firmly, whispering, "That's good to hear."
"Then, what of my daughters?"
"Your highness, the first princess is still diligently practicing her witchcraft, along with her sisters, the second and fourth princesses. They're in the third training hall at the moment."
Another woman stepped forward, explaining quickly. But by the end, her voice trailed off as if hesitating. "But the third princess…"
Such hesitation wasn't unfamiliar to Wisteria, of course.
"Hmm? That little brat… What of Teruria?" she asked. "What mess did she make now…?"
At that moment, the woman suddenly dropped on all fours, bowing down as deeply as she could. "Forgive me, your highness! I did my best, but couldn't stop the third princess…!"
"…Speak, and explain what happened."
Albeit sounding calm, Wisteria started feeling nervous. After all, it was the first time her minister looked this distraught, even though they're now facing an unprecedented peace period.
"Y-Yes," she nodded, but refused to lift her head. "Princess Teruria took two of the Substitute Dolls and rushed into the teleporter, saying that she's going to meet the doll maker…"
Wisteria's chin slipped off her hand, but she quickly fixed her posture before anyone could reprimand her, clearing her throat and asking,
"All right, enough joking. Where is that brat now?"
"…"
But the minister remained silent, as if to quietly affirm that she's not joking and was serious about what she said. The poor queen felt her vision spin, along with a crashing headache. However, she just gritted her teeth and assumed the same posture, unmoving.
"…She at least brought a Return Scroll, right?"
"That… she didn't, your highness…"
"I see…"
She couldn't figure out if she should feel angry, irritated, or happy. But despite how much of a troublemaker the third princess was, it wouldn't be enough reason to abandon her in the middle of nowhere with no options to return.
Wisteria stood from her throne and waved a hand forward, shouting loud enough that the entire throne room vibrated.
"I, Wisteria Hallbach, hereby issue my command!" she shouted, with dignity in her voice. "Send a party of Elite Witches and bring that troublemaker back here before she causes problems for the trader Hexel!"
It was a royal decree.
A command to bring her daughter back before things got worse.
However, it was still too early for her to realize that her fears had already come true.
Since by then…
Trouble had already been made.
...
Just like before, the auction of the Holy Water lasted a brief 30 minutes.
However, unlike before, when only the witches fought for it, this time a lot more competitors showed up. Holy Water can be used by anyone to remove curses, after all. As such, it was in demand for almost everyone in the Interdimensional Shop.
Thanks to them, the price inflated almost instantly.
Becoming 10× in the first 5 minutes, 20× in the first 15 minutes, and finally reaching the final price of 1 million Colts by the end of the auction.
Axel saw this and smiled, muttering to himself, "I'm basically printing money now…"
The cost of production was a measly 286 Colts, and it multiplied rapidly, reaching a million in half an hour! That's almost 3,500× the investment he made!
But of course, he didn't stop there. "Time for the next one!"
Within the 30 minutes of bidding, he had already automatically crafted six more bottles of Holy Water. That means he could repeat the auction a few more times, allowing those who missed out on the first one to buy this one!
Of course, Axel knew that if he kept auctioning off the Holy Water, then the "effect" on the price would diminish… but for the first few, he predicted the price to increase instead.
As such, he decided to auction ten of them first, testing the waters, before starting to sell them in his shop as proper "wholesale" items. He also planned on using the lowest bid he would get as a reference for a "fair" price.
"Sir Axel, we're done cleaning up the tents."
"Ah, right."
And as if on cue, Maria came to him and reported.
Earlier, he had asked Maria and the rest to move the tents and bonfire aside. He didn't tell them what he was going to do, of course. Rather than a surprise, he simply couldn't think of a way to tell them what he'd do without them fearing he'd lost his marbles.
With Maria leading, they soon arrived at the center of the camp.
Of course, everyone—including the new members—was staring at him with curiosity. They were excited and fearful at the same time, waiting for what he would do next.
Axel stared ahead, pondering. They now had a total headcount of 16 within the walls and expected it to increase later on. As such, rather than appearance, he preferred to prioritize the expandability of the structure.
"Hmm… this much space should be good enough."
After eyeing the distance, he then called forth the menu window and began to search through the various building designs to find the one he had been eyeing since the start.
A structured, modular building!
It was made simple, with each room being a module complete with its own living room, bedroom, shower, toilet, and kitchen in a small 4×7 meter space. Each module could fit two to three people easily, with enough space to spare, too!
"Keeping myself a room, and letting the girls have some space…"
With a short calculation, he tapped on how many modules he wanted before clicking confirm.
And then, magic happened… or not.
"What?"
Instead of the house being built directly, he was presented with bundled materials instead. Eight sets, the same count as the rooms he wanted to make!
At that moment, Axel realized something critical…
"Fuck! So there's no auto-build for the housing yet?!"
He had to build it all, by hand, from start to finish!