Axel spent about an hour in the shop and bought about ten recipes.
Of course, half of them were witch items, while the other half were from markets he found a bit lacking in supply. He planned to test the waters, as the witches' wallets might become empty soon enough if he didn't!
His criteria for choosing were simple. It should be easily craftable, have low supply with moderate demand, and be something that they could use too!
In the end, the items he got were:
Advanced Voodoo DollCurse Reflecting Straw DollHex Amplifying DollCrystal BallLow Quality Witch StaffLow Quality Magic WandLow Quality SwordRandom Magic Accessory: Ring (Low)Random Magic Accessory: Bracelet (Low)Random Magic Accessory: Necklace (Low)
Of course, he chose the best ones he could afford, maximizing his profit over time and investment.
But there was one thing he noticed when he bought the first recipe—the Advanced Voodoo Doll's recipe was the same, but with materials replaced with higher quality ones!
He realized that in this manner, as long as he figured out which materials needed to be used, he could replicate it on the other recipes, unlocking their higher-quality version without buying their recipes!
Although it required some trial and error, he already got the quantities from the lower version—there's no way he'd waste as much money on testing as on buying the exorbitantly priced recipe itself!
"If only I had Concoction unlocked, I'd have bought the low potions recipe instead..." Axel sighed, lamenting what he didn't have.
After all, potions from the emergency packs had been so helpful to them! It wasn't weird that he wanted to buy those recipes to craft them himself!
Anyway, as all those items have a long crafting time—10 minutes at least, plus derivative material crafting—he quickly stood up and walked back to camp.
Experimenting to find the upgraded recipes of what he bought should be done later, since it was almost noon, and he was getting hungry!
"I wonder what Maria and Cherry prepared for lunch..." Axel hummed as he marched back.
But when he arrived, he found...
"What the heck...?"
Five little girls wearing baggy clothes, frolicking about. Playing. With Teruria playing with them happily, running here and there, giggling happily.
But the problem was that those five looked extremely familiar. Although they looked like kids at the age of 7 to 10, instead of what he could remember.
"P-Princess Teruria..." Axel couldn't help but call on the most suspicious person in the group and ask. "Arianne and the others... What happened to them? Why did they shrink?!"
Right.
The five "kids" playing with Teruria were, no doubt, Arianne, Maria, Cherry, Eve, and Beatrix!
"Oh, Sir Hexel, welcome back~" The witch princess smiled and waved upon getting called. "And this? Don't worry, it's just a regression curse I cast on them! They should return to their original sizes in about... 8 hours!"
"..."
Axel quickly checked the time on the system panel, then stared up at the sun right at the zenith. Eight hours from now is definitely nighttime already! At their current states, there's no way he could employ the girls to fight the zombie horde!
"Why, and how did this happen?" He held his hurting temple and asked.
Teruria promptly replied, as if having nothing to hide. "Well, Princess Eve here called me short, so I made her shorter, that's it~!"
Yes, that was all she did... But since the same as with her Obedience Curse, she hadn't mastered using it yet, the other girls ended up dragged into it!
"Wait, speaking of...!"
Axel then looked around, searching for the ten girls who were newly introduced to the camp. Just as he was getting worried—
"S-Sir... I prepared lunch, but... I don't know if it will suit your palate..."
From the first prefab room, which was now incorporated into an "apartment complex" of two floors, Angela came out.
Unlike last night, where she looked disheveled, she currently looked prim and proper.
Although there were still signs of injuries on her limbs, she looked much cleaner and livelier than before. She even had her gray hair tied into a bun behind her head, simply not to get in the way of cooking, giving her a competent wife vibe.
"Angela... You prepared lunch?" Axel asked, surprised.
"Well," Angela sounded shy, scratching her cheeks awkwardly while staring at the group of little girls who were still playing nearby. "I figured nobody else would if I didn't..."
"Ah..."
"B-But don't worry! I was actually thankful for having the chance to give back to you after you saved me!" She added quickly, trying to clear up any misunderstandings, if any. "S-So please, don't blame Miss Witch..."
Axel, hearing even Angela plead for him to pardon Teruria, couldn't help but stare at the said culprit.
Although her help with repurposing the bandits really did save him, considering this "mishap" she caused, the plus and minus entered a breakeven. It was a big oops moment, but it's not something he needs to reprimand her over specifically.
"Alright..." He shrugged. "But Princess Teruria, since you incapacitated our main fighters, I'd need your help in defending the camp later, too."
"Defending the camp? What do you mean...?"
"This girl..." At that moment, Axel had an idea.
With a pleasant grin, he tried to explain the situation as scarily as possible. He was waiting for Teruria to reel in fear before revealing the truth of the situation, not being as exaggerated but...
"What's that?! Sounds interesting!"
The reaction she showed was the opposite of what he hoped for. Rather than fear, she looked excited! She even grabbed Axel's shirt tight, her chest pressed against his stomach tightly, as she asked for more details.
"Real zombies! Monsters! I haven't seen one in person yet!" She sputtered excitedly. "You definitely need to let me help defend the walls! That's a promise!"
"..."
Axel could only sigh.
But since he still got the result he wanted, he just decided to sweep everything else under the rug.
"Alright, alright." Axel pushed her away reluctantly. "Even if I don't want to, I have no choice but to employ your help anyway, what with the girls looking like these..."
The regression curse she cast on the girls, albeit having misfired, allowed them to literally return to being children. Their memories of their "future" were sealed until the curse was lifted. As such, they all could only run around and play, like children with no worries in the world.
"Ah!"
And as he was looking, he saw the little Eve trip on the hem of her clothes, slamming her face on the ground.
"Eve!""Are you okay?""That looks like it hurts...""Waaaah~!"
Axel couldn't take the sight of Eve crying with a bleeding nose, so he walked over, calmly taking out a potion from his inventory.
"Look at you, crying from just falling. You won't grow up into a fine lady like that!" He said, patting her head gently. "Here, drink this. It should help with the pain."
"Uh... Um..."
The little Eve nodded shyly before taking the opened potion bottle and taking a sip.
"Mmm!"
But since she liked the taste of it, she ended up drinking the rest in one go.
Her injury quickly healed, albeit with traces of blood remaining on her face. Axel pulled at his sleeve and used it to wipe her nose clean before scanning the girls' figures.
"...First of all, you lot need a costume change." And he declared such with an evil grin.