The Leftover Jamie

Death Valley, Noon.

In front of the store building, precisely to the right side at a distance from the store, Cien sat surrounded by dozens of wooden beams he had processed from Hellteak trees around the store.

Three days had passed since Princess Sravati, Legia, Ian, and Reiss continued their journey, leaving Death Valley following Cien's directions.

The instructions to exit the Death Valley were not actually difficult.

Cien had put stones soaked in monster blood into the ground beneath each tree with a distance of ten meters as a guide for the way out.

Princess Sravati and her entourage only needed to follow those dark red stones to leave this cursed place.

Before they departed, Princess Sravati expressed her gratitude to Cien, then purchased five Hellteak Spears from the store and the last remaining Fire Glove. The leftover of the pair that Reiss had.

As a merchant, Cien was certainly delighted. It was the first time he had customers who actually bought his goods in Death Valley.

Cien didn't consider Reiss a customer because he didn't make a purchase but worked part-time for him.

Shortly after the Princess's entourage from Huntara left, a notification sounded, indicating the completion of a bonus event.

The mission Cien had to accomplish was to save the Princess and make her a customer at the shop.

Cien successfully completed this mission, and he had been eagerly awaiting for the reward. When he received the mission, on the reward section, Cien only saw a symbol of a question mark on the screen.

When Cien opened the notification and saw the given prize, he felt confused at first because what he received was a storage cabinet with six drawers.

Cien already had many cabinets and shelves in his storage room, so getting another one didn't make him particularly happy. However, when he looked at the details of the cabinet, Cien was truly stunned.

The cabinet's name was Spawn Storage.

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[Spawn Storage]

A magical cabinet that can duplicate objects placed in it. There are several important rules.

First, each drawer in Spawn Storage can only be placed with one type of material or object, and that material cannot be replaced.

Second, each drawer will only produce one duplication of the original material once a month.

Third, each drawer can only accommodate a maximum of ten duplicate materials including the original material.

Fourth, the results of duplication will be exactly the same as the original material. The quality will not be worse nor will it be better.

__________

Reading the details about the Spawn Storage truly amazed Cien.

It meant that he would have an unlimited supply of materials with this magical item. However, there were only six drawers in the Spawn Storage, which meant that Cien could only place six materials in there.

Knowing this, Cien had to be extremely careful about placing materials there; only extremely rare materials would be stored there.

For now, the Spawn Storage was kept in the workshop. Cien had already filled the first drawer with a Mana Core.

Although Cien was confident that he could obtain Mana Cores as mission rewards in the future, having an excess of Mana Cores wouldn't be a problem.

Many recipes on his phone required Mana Cores. Additionally, he could sell or auction them off if he had the opportunity to leave Death Valley again.

Even though he didn't need money in Death Valley, but with money, he could buy materials that weren't available in this place in every city he would visit later. That is, if the opportunity presented itself again.

Now, after three days had passed, what was Cien doing surrounded by dozens of wooden blocks?

Although brief, the presence of Princess Sravati in his shop made Cien realize one important thing.

He didn't have a guest room!

Unlike Reiss, while Sravati was living in the shop, Cien had to give up his bedroom for the Princess and Legia.

Ian and Jamie slept in another bedroom. During their stay, Cien was mostly occupied in the workshop and slept there.

But now, considering the events, Cien began to think about building an inn.

So, if there were customers who came in the future and wanted to stay and rest, they wouldn't have to enter his private space anymore.

Moreover, only now did he realize that the people who would come were undoubtedly those who had gone through great hardships to cross Death Valley. They wouldn't just leave after seeing a safe place like Kirana's Shop.

Although there was still uncertainty within Cien about the presence of future guests, preparing something before the event occurred was not a bad idea.

Now, after cutting down the tree and turning it into dozens of wooden beams, Cien was ready to build his inn.

At this moment, when Cien had prepared to arrange the beams, suddenly the front door of the shop swung open loudly.

A broad-shouldered man rushed out with a panicked expression. He looked around in confusion while calling Legia's name several times.

"Where is this?! Legia!!"

Cien stared at the man blankly.

The man is Jamie, a friend of Legia from Ethyria. Ever since he arrived at the shop, Jamie had been completely asleep. That's why Cien understood the reason behind the man's confusion.

Waking up in an unfamiliar place without knowing anyone would undoubtedly make a person panic.

"Um, your name is Jamie, right?" Cien asked, getting up from the ground and walking closer.

Jamie, upon hearing someone's voice, turned around and saw a familiar face.

"You, the guy who supposedly owns the shop?!"

"What do you mean 'supposedly'? I am indeed the owner of the shop. Didn't you see the building behind you?"

Upon hearing that, Jamie immediately noticed the building, which was mostly made of wood. Seeing the signboard hanging in front of the shop with the name 'Kirana Shop,' he opened his mouth in silent astonishment.

"What the... are you really that crazy to set up a shop in a place like this?!"

"Oi, how rude you are!" Cien slapped Jamie's head in response to his words, "I'm not crazy, just forced to be! Besides, what's wrong with you? You're still alive thanks to the potion I sold at that crazy shop, you know?"

Jamie winced as he rubbed his throbbing head, feeling embarrassed and looking down. Then, he remembered his friends.

"Um, where are Lieutenant Legia and Princess Sravati?"

"They left three days ago."

"Eh? ... EHHHHH?!"

Jamie was shocked and let out a loud, ear-piercing scream.

"T-They left me here? In DEATH VALLEY?!"

Tak!

Cien hit Jamie's head.

"You don't need to scream like that! Besides, what's wrong with Death Valley? You were left here, in my shop. This area is the safest around here, so you don't need to worry."

"But, but, but..."

"Sigh, after two days since you came here, you still haven't regained consciousness. The situation in Huntara will be just getting worse. The Princess is very worried, so Legia decided to leave you in my care for a while. Once Legia finishes her mission of escorting the Princess, she will come back to pick you up. So, you don't need to fuss like this."

After hearing Cien's explanation, Jamie calmed down a bit. However, after thinking for a moment, he asked Cien to tell him the way out of Death Valley.

Jamie intended to catch up with his friend, but Cien outright stretched out his hand.

"The information about the way out of here is not free. Give me five hundred Tia."

"... I didn't bring that much money with me right now," Jamie said.

Cien just shrugged.

"A debt?" Jamie asked.

"No. Besides, what can you do by catching up with them now? Even though your condition is starting to improve, you're still far from being in an ideal state to fight. You'll only be a burden. It's better to stay here and wait for your superior to arrive."

"..." Jamie fell into deep thought.

"But that doesn't mean you should just sit around here doing nothing."

"Huh?"

Cien smiled broadly, "How much longer are you planning to stay here for free? Your friend never provides funds for your livelihood here. So, from now on, if you want to eat, you'll have to work."

"W-Work?"

"Mmm, yup, work. Help me build this inn for now!"

"B-But, sir, I'm still not fully re–"

"Don't make excuses! Earlier, you were running and shouting loudly. Even though you can't fight yet, your physical condition is still better than that of an average person. You're already freeloading and still want to laze around on the bed. What a useless man you are!"

"...."

Jamie didn't know what to say. He could only swallow every word Cien said and comply with the Shop Owner's wishes.