Frontiers ~Chronicles of Bucket-san’s Detailed Pioneering~

Chapter 25 – Bucket’s Shop – Lily

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“Wow, Yuri… I really thought you’d do something like this eventually, but now? Really?” Mika said.

“As expected of you, Bucket! I knew you could do it!” Hime said.

They were both surprised by it, but it was a bit disappointing that they were also expecting it to happen eventually.
It made the surprise less exciting.

It’s nice that the game allows us to make calls with multiple people for as long as everyone is on each other’s friends’ list.
Like this I could consult with Mika and Hime about the ‘Bronze Bucket Helm: Lily’ at the same time.

After discussing with them, I decided to confirm my identity on the forums, then post a thread about it as a way of advertising my store.
To think my trademark Bucket Helm would come out as such an amazing product, that was certainly the perfect timing to get something that would assure my store would get a boom of customers on its inauguration.

However, a large number of people will probably try to resell it, so I’ve decided to put a bigger than normal restriction on it.
Once sold, nobody will be able to trade it for three weeks of in-game time, or one week of ‘real time’.

With those things decided upon, I posted the advertising thread.

******

Since it was not the time to open the store yet, I decided to continue my productions… Only, I started getting a lot of questions from Rush, Armilate, and some other people on my friends’ list, which made it hard to concentrate.

Luckily enough though, I didn’t have that many people registered as friends, so I just sent messages to the people in question, telling them that I am quite busy now due to the upcoming store opening, so that I couldn’t answer their questions… Which worked out quite nicely.

That said, I decided to post the most popular questions that I got on the forums, such as the store opening hours and how many items people could expect to have available at the store.

Of course I said nothing about the production method of the ‘Bronze Bucket Helm: Lily’ though, as that is private information… Even if I doubt I’d be able to make something like it again any time soon.

Hime said that the mysterious feeling that I went through is something called ‘being in the zone’.
Apparently, it’s what athletes go through when they’re fully concentrated and can achieve their maximum potential.

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Hime herself seems to have entered it multiple times, though Mika never did.
That said, this was my first time in ‘the zone’, so I have no idea on how to replicate this experience.
Moreover, each person enters ‘the zone’ in a different way, and even Hime can’t enter it whenever she feels like it, so there isn’t a method I can follow to try getting that feeling back.

Regardless, I was able to get a fantastic feature product, and was also able to produce quite a few extra items to put on sale, so all I need to do now is to evaluate the items and bring them to the store.

******

It was just past 6am in the in-game time.
There was a long line in front of my castle… In front of ‘Bucket’s Shop – Lily’.
There must be like, a hundred people there.

It was quite the amazing sight.
I definitely did not expect this many people to come even before the store had opened… Though I wonder why they even bothered lining up.

“I’m looking forward to your Bronze Items with ‘Options’, Bucket!” One of them exclaimed as he noticed I was passing by.

“I’ll get the Bucket Helm with three options!” Another shouted.

“Hey, you sure it will fit everyone inside? The shop isn’t that big…” A third one said worriedly.

“Wouldn’t it be troublesome if there was no time limit for the store?” A fourth one said.

… I guess that they were all worried that the store might run out of stock if they don’t line up in advance? I’d like to say that they are worrying over nothing, but considering how large the queue already is, they are most likely right.

“I’ll give you 70,000 Nil if you sell me the triple option Bucket Helm right now!” Someone suddenly exclaimed.

“Idiot.
As if that kind of item will cost only 70,000 Nil!” Another person replied.

“Yeah! Just wait for the lottery like everyone else!” A third person explained.

… Seems like it was the right decision to decide who’d have the right to buy the ‘Bronze Bucket Helm: Lily’ with a lottery.
Things could get troublesome otherwise.

A shame it seems like I made a mistake on the pricing though.
There was no market information for this kind of item, so I chose something that I thought was suitable, but it seems I ended up aiming too low… Well, it’s fine.
Let’s just think of it as a special price that will be useful in promoting my store.

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And well, this helmet was probably a big part of the reason of why there are a hundred people lining up right now, so I don’t think it’s a problem that it will be sold cheaper.

That said, the people that were worried about the number of people that could enter the store probably had a point… And I think I should also reassure everyone about the lottery, so let’s make a small announcement here.

“Everyone! There are a lot of people lining up right now, so we’ll be putting a limit on how many people can enter the store at once.

“Moreover, while we do have quite a few items for sale, it would be troublesome if someone bought it all, so we’ll also be putting a limit on how many items each person can buy.

“I’m also putting this information on the forums for anyone that isn’t here.

“Lastly, regarding the item with three ‘options’, it will be sold to the winner of the lottery just as planned, so please don’t throw away your lottery tickets that you’ll get when you purchase items!” I told this to everyone that was in the line, then entered the store.

The first thing I did was to set the restrictions regarding the number of people inside the store, how many items one could buy, and forcefully exiting anyone that stayed in the store for longer than fifteen minutes.
It sure was nice that the game allowed me to set these kinds of settings.

Then, as I started putting the items that would be on sale on the store’s warehouse, the three clerks that I hired came in.

“Good morning, store manager.” They said in unison.

“Good morning, everyone.
I look forward to working with you today.

“And as you can see from outside, we’ll probably be quite busy.
The three of you will be working together though, so make sure to not overdo it and rest when appropriately.” I told them.

“You can count on us!” They told me.

We already had done self-introductions during the hiring process, so they immediately gave me pieces of papers with their respective desired shifts, then started putting the products on display at their appropriate shelves, as instructed by me.

They all had experience as clerks, so they were very efficient at it… Meanwhile, me, who was doing this was the first time, was actually struggling to help them out.

It was also nice that the game allowed the clerks to put the items for sale freely even when said items had the setting of ‘Cannot be traded by anyone other than the creator’.
There was really a lot of convenience in this game.

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Once everything was put in place, I told them about the lottery for the Bucket Helm with three ‘Options’, and how they should give tickets to the customers as they made transactions with the store.
Though the lottery itself would be held in front of the store a few days from now.

With this, everything was almost ready for the grand opening.
All that was left was waiting for the clock to tick 8am.

A small while before the opening time, Mika and Hime came.
I really wanted the two of them to be here for the opening, so I’m happy that they were able to get here in time.
It was a really special moment after all.

It’s time.
A lot of people are lined up in front of the store, Mika, Hime and the clerks are all here, so… Let’s do it!

I nodded to a clerk that was in wait, who nodded back to me, then opened the store’s entrance with the following wonderful words, “Welcome to ‘Bucket’s Shop – Lily’!”

******

It’s been six in-game days since my store was inaugurated.
Apparently the queue in front of my shop on the first day reached over 200 people by the time of the opening.

And even though I had put purchase restrictions, the Bronze gear sold out in the blink of an eye.
If it wasn’t for the fact I could make more equipment from the materials bought from customers, we’d have had nothing to do until closing time, which would be a total waste.

The Bronze equipment with ‘Options’ in particular were bought out by the people that were first in line, so those that were lucky enough to get some after I restocked ended up being so happy about it that they started cheering.

On the second day, there was still a line in front of the store, though not as big as the one from the first day… And, as expected, the equipment sold out in the blink of an eye again.

On the third day we held the lottery for the ‘Bronze Bucket Helm: Lily’, which was a great success.
It even had a special live broadcasting thread on the forums for it.

Also, even though there was a lottery to obtain the right for the item, you still needed to purchase it, so if you couldn’t afford it, you’d have to give up on it and let us pick someone else as the winner.

Moreover, if the winner wasn’t here, we’d wait five minutes.
If they still didn’t appear, we’d have to roll the lottery again to find a new winner.

And to be sure there would be no issues, I announced all those details on the forums in advance, so that nobody could complain about being uninformed.

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Well, it was all mostly meaningless preparation though.
The winner immediately came forward once they were announced and paid on the spot.

And of course, it was a complete stranger.
A nice middle-aged muscular Pioneer.
He received blessings from those that praised him for his luck, and curses from those that were jealous, but he just smiled and waved at them all.
It was good that he handled this kind of thing well.

For the record, the item was sold for 68,000 Nil.
It’s almost 20x the standard 3,500 Nil price for a ‘Bronze Bucket Helm’, but it seems like everyone on the forums thought that this was too cheap.

However, it still worked perfectly fine as advertisement for the store, so I’m okay with thinking of it as a special celebratory price for the grand opening… And of course, I won’t sell it this cheaply if I end up making another item as good as this.

By the fourth day, there were no longer queues in front of the store, but sales and purchases still went quite well.
The demand for Bronze gear was high after all, and the supply has not caught up yet… Not to mention I still seem to be the only person currently making Bronze items with ‘Options’.

I’m sure other producers will soon catch up, but I have the advantage of owning a store, so I can dedicate myself to producing items full-time while the clerks handle the buying and selling of items and materials.

Or well, almost full-time, since I still spend some time reading and making my beloved ‘Magical Formations’.

Either way, I don’t plan on giving up my stop of top producer… Because I want to move up to Iron gear next.
My ‘Blacksmithing’ level has been rising steadily, so it shouldn’t be too long before I can make 3* Iron equipment.

***

It’s been 8 days since the release of ‘Frontiers’.
When thinking of in-game time, it’s been 22 days already.

The first update should come in the day after tomorrow, and the playerbase is raising with each passing day.
It’s easy to see that as I walk by the streets of Capital City Sabrina, as it is one of the starting points of the game.

Seeing newbies with incomplete equipment sets gathering together and happily moving to the hunting spots together is quite the sight, as well as the multiple stalls that fill the main street.

I can also see some consumables for sale already, as well as tier 1 and tier 2 gear, so it’s easy to understand the current situation of the game.

As I walked along the busy South Gate, I went to my castle as usual… My famous shop that is well-known on the forums and where many pioneers gather to buy the equipment that I craft.

‘Bucket’s Shop – Lily’

That’s my shop.
And the girl who wears a ‘Bucket Helm’ and loves details is me… Bucket!