Pop-Up Event Shop

"Maan, that was a great quest, yo… if only it'd come with cartridges, yo!"

"Tough luck."

"Well, if there ain't any, there ain't any-ssu."

Right. There hadn't been any. Cartridges, that is.

The excavated finds had already been sold off and disassembled every which way, and the small, not-particularly-pricey odds and ends — cartridges included — just weren't left.

Part of the problem was that none of us actually knew what a cartridge looked like to begin with… but Penpen ran a Penpen Appraisal sweep over everything, and there wasn't a single item left that looked like it would interface with Alto's gun. The one thing that had just barely survived was a tube of lip cream.

Since Penpen could appraise, they'd had us go ahead and produce a proper inventory list while we were at it. But hey, we got paid extra for that, so call it a win.

"There was a gun, but I was told no… cheap! Total cheapskate, yo!"

"Well, it's a dangerous weapon. Can't be helped."

"There was only a handgun anyway-ssu. Kinda wanted it, though-ssu."

So Alto hadn't been able to power up.

What she got instead was a decorative fan. The type that's thin wooden slats strung together with cord. Made of fragrant wood, with a faintly nice scent drifting off it. The kind a sultry onee-san would spread open with a bewitching smile, hiding her mouth behind. That kind of fan.

… But, of course, it was "just a sell-it-for-cash item with no special effect"! (Penpen-appraised, naturally.)

"Tch. Guess my only play is to give this fan to some sexy onee-san it'd suit, get on her good side, yo!"

"Like Mahariku-shi-ssu?"

"… Mahariku-san isn't that sort of person, yo."

Well, she's her real-life boss, after all. Yeah, not that sort of person.

"… Hmmm, maybe I'll give it to Nika-chan and have her play sultry onee-chan with me, yo."

"Isn't putting it on Gin-chan in a china dress also a possibility-ssu?"

"That's also a possibility, yo, but this one's my reward, yo!"

"Couldn't you just have Penpen replicate it?"

"There's that trick, yo! So, Penpen!"

"Sure thing-ssu. We'll put it in Gin-chan's hand and put together a bewitching fox-girl photo collection-ssu! We'll throw in a mysterious fluffy feather-mantle while we're at it-ssu!"

What in the world is a mysterious fluffy feather-mantle. A mystery. Maybe it could also pass for a fur stole.

"I'll make one for Tria-shi too-ssu."

"Ah, then make mine out of iron and turn it into an iron fan."

"Yo! I want that one too, yo! Iron fans are every guy's dream, yo!"

"Concealed weapons! Now that suits assassin Gin-chan! And while we're at it, let's rig it so she can hide poison needles in it-ssu!"

"As expected of Penpen-shi! You get it, yo!"

"With a little slider on the grip that goes click and out they pop!"

Riding the wave of all that, since we were in the Royal Capital anyway, we decided to commit to a shopping trip.

If a single decorative fan could spark this many ideas, then surely looking at all kinds of other stuff would have us bouncing off the walls.

We had cash! Heaps of reward money we'd squeezed out of the prince! So we bought one of every shop-sold potion, one of every shop-sold ready-made piece of gear, and since buying out the jeweler's was a bit much, we picked up whatever stones caught our eye as pretty.

Note: the shop-sold potions we bought were limited to the ones Miitei-chan can't make yet.

While grabbing food at the stalls, we spotted a roadside vendor down a side alley, his wares laid out on a straw mat.

Naturally, if anything fun-looking caught our eye we planned to buy it, so we peeked in and…

"… Hm?"

"Oho?"

"Hoho."

There were cartridges there. No, seriously, you're selling these at a roadside stall!?

Running an appraisal: an "Attribute Cartridge (Fire)" and an "Attribute Cartridge (Water)."

"Ohh! You've got a good eye, customer. This here's a family heirloom paperweight some noble fallen on hard times put up for sale, a really fine piece! Normally it'd run you one gold coin, but right now, just silver fif-…"

Paperweight. Sure, paperweight, huh. Er, and the price? Hm? Is there something on top of our heads?

I'd have thought the only thing up there was a Halo.

"Y-y'know what, maybe I'll close up shop for today!"

"Hold up, yo? How much is it, yo? Silver… fifty-what coins, you said, yo?"

"Hiiii… have mercy, please, I'm begging you! Look!"

"No, like I said, how much, yo? C'mon, say it, yo. Or is it one gold, yo?"

"I've got little brothers and sisters I have to support, I'm so, so sorry!"

"Like I said, just say the price, yo."

"F-fifty silver… each."

"Then two for one gold, yo. Here."

Alto tossed over the gold coin and stashed the cartridges in her pocket.

"Eh."

"You told me the price, I bought 'em, yo. We're good, yo?"

"E-eh, ah, yes…"

"Alriiight! Great buy, yo!"

"Good for you, Alto."

"Congratulations-ssu."

Behind us as we celebrated, the young guy who'd been running the roadside stall hurriedly folded up shop and bolted off at a run.

A pop-up event shop… that's what this was! Lucky us.

"It pays to go for a walk, yo!"

"Yep. Let's keep wandering around going forward."

"Sounds great-ssu! Especially in the Royal Capital, feels like there's events all over the place-ssu."

It was settled that we'd keep going for walks whenever the chance came up. It'd be just the right amount of exercise… wait, no, walking around inside a game doesn't actually translate to taking a single step in real life.

The catch with VR Mode is that sometimes it starts feeling so real you fool yourself into thinking you've gotten some exercise in.