Last Words chapter 75 (Patreon)

It took me about a week to sort the shop out. Getting it setup, cleaned out, stocked, and ready to open. During the wait, I’d dropped another seventeen thousand on mushrooms for Riley to train with before losing myself in my project, and then headed back to Earth to begin my research on all the things I was planning to sell.

My list wasn’t TOO extensive, but it was definitely enough to use for my grand opening. As I toured the shop, I used analysis on all my stock, mentally checking off my list.

1x Hand crank sewing machine. Price- 4 Delyrans= 200 USD

1x Mechanical scale. Price- 1 Delyran= 50 USD

1x Mechanical pocket watch. Price- 5 Delyrans= 250 USD

10x Artisan chocolate bars. Price- 1 Delyran= 50 USD

10x Bottle of craft fire-brewed black cherry soda. Price- 1 Delyran= 50 USD

And the list went on. More candy, more soda, ice cream, a counter to KEEP the ice cream in, renovations to the building, mechanical vacuum cleaners, thermometers, lighters, makeup palettes, soap, shampoo, perfume, toothpaste and toothbrushes, safety razors. I poured all my time and effort into the place, essentially creating Ye Olde Drugstore. All told, I spent seventy four thousand one hundred and fifty dollars, including the mushrooms.

It was a sizable investment. Granted, I still had eight hundred fifty thousand of my haul from the shard left, so that was nice, but this was going to be my big move. I needed to put everything I had into my shop if I wanted to succeed, and I had gone all out.

All leading to today. “Are you sure you’re ok doing this?” I asked Esther worriedly as she took up a spot behind the counter. “You have the Inn to run, and you won’t even let me pay you. I feel like I’m taking advantage. Not that I don’t appreciate the assistance, if nothing else having you here will bring in customers, but it feels like too much.”

She snorted. “You are paying me, remember? You’re letting me eat this ice cream for free. I’ve already tried about ten of the flavors. I don’t know why someone would make cake out of cheese, but it tastes much better than I expected.”

I snorted at that. “It’s made with cream cheese. It’s not a savory cheese in the same way as something like cheddar.”

“Makes sense,” she shrugged. “And what are key limes?”

“A key is a small island surrounded by coral reefs,” I said absently. “The limes they use are grown in a place called Key West. Or at least, the limes they used to develop the pie. Most key lime pie just uses whatever limes they have on hand now.”

Reaching for one of the little wooden sample spoons, she reached into the cooler and scooped out a small curl of rainbow sherbet. “Fascinating,” she said as she tasted it. “The flavors are so bold.” She reached for another flavor and I held up a finger, pointing to the little wicker trashcan next to the counter. Sighing, she tossed the spoon and grabbed another one. “Where did you even find so many of these? And how are they staying cold?”

“Ice,” I shrugged. Finding an antique ice cream counter with actual ice wells wasn’t as easy as one might think, but the expense had definitely been worth it. Combined with my ability to buy perfect ice whenever I needed it and good insulation, keeping the ice cream cold was easier than I’d expected.

She reached for another spoon, but after a moment of thought, withdrew her hand. “Sorry, I’m eating too much of this. I’ve just never had anything quite like it. I mean frozen desserts aren’t unknown, but they aren’t usually so creamy or so…varied.”

“That’s the idea,” I laughed. “You should try some of the candy. The pop rocks are particularly fun.” I’d bought a bunch of the old school tins of the candy, because the foil packages seemed like a bad idea. We also had mints, sours, and quite a few hard candies. Riley had been onto something with the consumables idea.

Handing her a tin, I watched in amusement as she opened it and poked the small rocks. “You want me to eat stone?” Her voice was skeptical.

“Just put a couple on your tongue,” I chuckled. “You’ll see.”

She squinted at me suspiciously, but eventually pinched a small bit of the crystals and dropped them on her tongue. It was pretty hilarious watching her squeak and clamp her hand over her mouth when they started doing their thing. “What is that?” she asked in amazement.

“Strawberry,” I deflected. “There’s a few different flavors, but those are the most classic. Here, try this,” I grabbed a chocolate bar, peeling it open and passing her small piece. She took it gingerly, watching it like it was going to attack her, then put the piece in her mouth and chewed it slowly, as if waiting for some kind of trick. It took her a few seconds to really taste it, and then her face lit up. 

“This is amazing!” she said through a mouthful of chocolate. “What is it made from?”

I shrugged. “Beans,” I said after a moment of thought. “But not any kind you can find around here. Anyway, that’s enough free samples for now. You’re going to make yourself sick. I just wanted you to try our big sellers so you can give honest recommendations. You can have more ice cream later of course. Just might want to pace yourself.”

She rolled her eyes. “I know how sugar works, I’m not a child. But you made your point. I’ll be happy to promote these. I’m sure lots of the local children will enjoy them. The question becomes, how much are we charging?”

“I need some help with that,” I admitted. “I haven’t really done a lot of business here. I know there are smaller denomination coins than the Delyran, but I don’t know what they are.”

I should have asked her about this much earlier, granted, but I’d made the mistake of getting lost in my work. Worst case I could just sell exclusively in bulk, but that seemed like a bad business model, so I was hoping she could tell me what I was looking for with this. Chuckling, she shook her head, reaching into a pocket and pulling out a small gold coin. “This is a Dalyn, it’s worth a tenth of a Delyran. And THIS is a Deran, and it's worth a fifth of a Dalyn.”

Dalyn. Price= 5 USD

Deran. Price= 1 USD

I blinked at that. “Um, ok…why is the gold coin cheaper than the electrum?” I asked as I poked at it. “Is gold not valuable here?”

“It is,” she assured me. “But mostly because it’s part of electrum manufacture. Electrum is an alloy of gold and silver. Something about the mixture creates a special metal that conducts mana. The black color of the alloy comes from the forging process. Mana taints the mixture in the crucible and dyes it black, increasing the mana conductivity by a lot. It’s more complicated than it sounds to make, but it means gold and silver are both valuable in their own right, just less so.”

I blinked in interest. “That’s kind of fascinating. So Deran’s are the most commonly used coins?” I asked. “Or is it Dalyn?” Knowing there was a one dollar equivalent made everything much easier for me, honestly.

Mentally, I started pricing things out, deciding how much to charge. I was going to mark everything up, obviously. I needed as much money as possible in the shortest amount of time. But I also wanted to try to keep this sustainable. Selling out on day one wouldn’t mean anything if no one came back.

She filled me in on the financial mechanics as I considered. The chocolate bars, for instance, were five each. But if I wanted to make a profit on them I’d sell them for twice that. OR I could break them up into halves and sell the halves for one Dalyn. I started assigning values to everything, considering how much I could potentially make. Despite having spent seventy five thousand or so total, I’d really only used fifty of it on the store. If I wanted to keep things viable for repeat customers I couldn’t go too crazy, so my endgame here should be two to three times my investment. 

Some if it didn’t translate the same, like ice cream sold by the scoop (I had cones, because I couldn’t think of any disposable dishes that wouldn’t stand out), and that meant I’d be raking in several times what I’d paid for the bulk vat of ice cream (about seventy five apiece), with the three gallon tubs holding just short of one hundred scoops. I blinked at the ice cream, making a mental note that if I sold those for one Dalyn per scoop, assuming the cones cost twenty five for a hundred, I was quintupling my investment.

Ice cream was moving up to the top of my list if it sold well. I was sadly jerked from my fantasies about massive ice cream empires by the ring of a bell we’d affixed over the door, and I turned to see a family entering, looking around with fascination.

“Welcome,” I said with a warm smile and a wave. “What can I help you with today?” I’d really wanted to go for the old school carnival barker style shopkeeper trope, where I wore a pinstripe vest and made loud pronouncements, but Esther had made it clear I was likely to alienate customers with that schtick. People in the Windvein Empire associated color and whimsy with magic, and magic was expensive. If I pushed that image most of the civilians would walk right by.

So I’d aimed to be more sedate and old timey. The candy was still colorful, but Esther herself was here to vouch for it, so once they were inside they were more likely to buy. The older man, who I assumed was the father, nodded solemnly, eyes roving over the shop with curiosity but not exactly trust. “What sort of place is this, now?”

“We cater to all kinds,” I said politely. “I’d recommend trying our confections, personally. The best treats this side of the empire.”

Esther chuckled at his grimace. “It sounds like nonsense, but he’s not far off. You know how my palate is, Sam, if I say it’s good you can take that to the bank.” She nodded down to the ice cream. “I recommend the cheesecake. Sounds strange, I know, but the flavor is exquisite.”

“Cake and cheese?” he grimaced. “I suppose I could try some. How much?”

She reached down and scooped a generous portion into a cone. “Tell you what. This is one Dalyn, but if you don’t like it, it’s on me. I’ve got a lot of faith in my little friend here, so I’ll make an investment.”

He frowned at it. “That’s quite a bit of money. But I suppose if I have your guarantee. Very well. I’ll have a taste.” She passed him the ice cream (blueberry cheesecake), and he took a tentative lick. His eyes lit up at the taste, though his face remained scrunched in suspicion for a few more licks. Finally, he cracked a smile. He fished out a gold coin, flipping it to Esther. Then he glanced at the other three members of his family. “You said this…cheesecake is only one of the flavors?”

Esther grinned, gesturing the others over so she could introduce them to all the flavors. Meanwhile, I watched the gold coins pour onto the counter, enjoying the rhythmic tinkle of the metal on the wood. Id bought twenty flavors of that ice cream, and if it sold as well as I was hoping, I could effortless summon more. Who would have thought that ice cream was most likely going to be my best seller. I’d have to thank Riley, this had been a great idea. Time to see just how much money I could make here.