DAY 20 MORNING- ARMORY

I WAS FRESH OUT of cash. The guild owed me plenty, but I had

nothing on hand.

Does this count as a liquidity crisis? What are the capital finance

regulations around here anyway? As a hardworking NEET, a socially active

shut-in, and a lucky loner, I wanted my money.

Did I have anything else that I could sell? The guild was paying me

in installments, but they had just given me all their cash yesterday. I

doubted they could give me my next payment yet. I checked my bag for any

surplus.

I went to a normal armory even though I couldn't afford or equip any

of the stuff they stocked. I spoke to the balding shopkeeper.

"Hey, gramps, do you want to buy some goblin clubs?"

I had tons of clubs taking up space. Even if they weren't worth much,

I'd at least get something.

"I'll take 'em off your hands. They ain't worth much, mind you. Best

I can do is 500 ele per club."

What a rip off! He was selling them for 1000 to 2000 ele but buying

them for only 500. That was at least a 100 percent markup! I guess there

were the store expenses and the balding guy's salary, but still. Although,

back in the old world, selling used books never got me more than 100 yen

per volume. This deal was starting to sound incredible.

"How many will you buy from me?"

If I could sell ten, then that would net me 5000 ele, enough for living

expenses.

"We're an armory. Sell me everything you got. Didn't ya see the sign

that says 'buy and sell?'"

As expected from a legitimate business, they didn't turn away any

honest customers trying to sell. The baldy was a shop owner I could trust.

"Okay, here ya go."

I poured my bag out on the counter and watched the clubs pour over

and clatter across the floor. Baldy stared, speechless. The color drained

from his face until he was pale enough to be mistaken for a cue ball.

"Is there a problem?" I asked.

"I apologize!" he cried. "I spoke too hastily! I can only buy fifty

clubs!"

So much for being an honest, upstanding, bald business owner. At

least he still bought fifty of them. I needed cold hard cash. I didn't want the

Class Rep to give me another lecture about financial prudence.

"That's all I can buy from you right now," the baldy said. "Even

fifty's more than I would normally take, but I don't want you inflicting that

fright on someone else."

"Why can't you just sell one club to every person in Omui?" I asked.

"That would cover all of them."

"What kind of nightmare town has every single person walking

around with a goblin club?!" shouted the balding guy. "We'd scare off all

the tourists! Every fight between spouses would demolish the town!"

I guess I wouldn't want to go to that town either, I thought. I

eventually convinced him to buy fifty-one goblin clubs and one wooden

stick, among them the extra weapons from the boss goblin and kobold

chieftain.

He didn't need any persuading to buy the boss weapons—they were

apparently worth way more. They looked the same to me. Maybe the boss

goblin's club made a good decoration or something. He couldn't decide

how many of the rarer clubs from higher-level goblins to buy. This guy must

be the worst to go shopping with—some people have no respect for other

people's time. Seriously, couldn't he hurry it up a bit?

Finally, he said, "I won't have any money left after this. I won't be

able to buy from you again any time soon, but with this lineup of clubs,

we'll have the best collection in the country!"

Why was baldy so obsessed with wooden clubs? Wasn't he a

blacksmith?

I figured that the next time I stopped in, he'd have converted it into a

specialty club shop. He was totally obsessed.