Chapter 18: System Shop (Athena)

"Say ahhh." Seth said as he fed both Kelly and Lisa.

The twins are 6 months old now so they can eat soft foods. It was a little but funny and heartwarming seeing Seth so excited to feed them their very first soft foods.

I let him do it as he seemed eager to try it out and he has been like this ever since. Irene and Justin also asked him to feed them. The two must have felt envious of the youngest twins and wanted their father to give them some love.

I think Seth really has changed. He seemed more responsible now. I think whatever happened to him in the army has changed him for good and that's good news for now. At least, we're on the same side right now. If he keeps this up then I don't mind keeping him.

Seth got the children to attend a martial arts school that is a few blocks from here after I asked him to. He enrolled everyone except Irene, and Justin. The school's minimum age is 4 years old so the younger ones can't join. They were clamoring to join their older siblings but sadly, there are age restrictions.

The children were not that ecstatic about it at first but now they have gotten used to it and learned to enjoy the activity, especially David but I have to say, it was a good idea to enroll them together for extra curricular activities, their bond seemed stronger these days.

The boys are not looking down on their sisters anymore. They also started acting more disciplined. I'm so proud of how far they've gone from shy and timid, and spoiled and rowdy to energetic, confident, and happy children.

Seth was a little apprehensive about letting the girls join the school at first. I guess it is uncommon for girls in this age to join martial arts. He got over it after the first week as I guess he also noticed the changes in the children.

The second store has already opened and there were no major problems. They're 1st month income was even bigger than the first store's income when it opened. It reached 2,700 owo.

We got 3 new hires. We didn't ask for grandfather's recommendation this time and put up a hiring sign. It wasn't hard to find people for work as there were many people looking for them. What is hard was to find trustworthy people.

This time we just have to risk it. After all, we can't always ask grandfather. This is also a good exercise for us to assess people.

We have decided to send Cynthia and Chloe to the new store as they are more trained and send one new hire together with them while the other 2 new ones will stay with us here.

Since the new store has already stabilized, I started to consider how we can save grandfather. I'm thinking of removing him from that house but where will we transfer him? Also, Secretary Choi would still be beside grandfather. I need to prove to my grandfather that he's a bad guy.

I've asked Seth about Secretary Choi's son but Seth said he's single and he doesn't know if there's a son. If he's single then he has an illegitimate son. After all, he said that he killed grandfather for his son. I wonder if grandfather knows.

"What are you thinking so seriously about?" Seth asked curiously.

He was already cleaning up the plates used by the children when I looked at him. It seems like he's done feeding the children.

"I'm just thinking about grandfather." I replied honestly.

"I'll bring him this weekend to have a full body check up. I've told him that we want to buy a house, just like what you told me." Seth informed me and smiled comfortingly at me.

"Did you say that you will pick him up and send him home so we wouldn't bother Secretary Choi?" I asked and Seth nodded.

Good. It's better to hide our movements from him.

"Do you really want to buy a house?" Seth asked suddenly.

"Yes but we can't afford it now." I replied shyly.

I actually want to buy a whole building but I couldn't even afford a unit now.

"Should we open another shop?" Seth suggested.

"I want to open one also but this time not a clothing shop. I think it would be better to open a diverse business." I said.

"What type of business are you thinking about?" Seth asked.

"A bakery? What do you think of my baking skills?" I asked him.

I already used the skill reward. I chose baking skill. I was thinking of cooking skills but Seth and my children already saw how bad my current cooking skill is. It would be weird if I suddenly became proficient in cooking.

With baking skill, I can pretend that I'm just talented with it. I bought a recipe book for baking and pretended to practice with that.

They were apprehensive about trying it at first but I convinced Seth to try it. Seth looked like he was going to eat poison when I gave him a piece of the cake I made. He looked like he had accepted a certain death.

I sighed remembering it, surely my cooking wasn't that bad right?

"Hmmm… I… I think… you should practice a bit more?" Seth replied and I almost glared at him.

"Don't get me wrong. The goods you bake are good but I think it needs more improvement if we'll open a shop." Seth explained.

Alright. He has a point. The skill is added to my brain but it doesn't mean that I've become an expert suddenly. It's like I know all the theories but my body can't keep up so I need to practice it to be able to do it.

I didn't suddenly become good but the first cake I baked was at least edible. I was glad that Seth let me build a small oven at home to practise. I prepare the mixture here at the shop and bake them when we reach home.

"You're right. Plus I can't do it now, who will take care of the younger ones if we open a bake shop?" I said.

"I will take care of them if you really want to open a shop." Seth offered.

"Thank you. Let's consider it again after the new year." I replied.

I was touched that Seth offered to take care of the children. I have no prior experience in taking care of children. Ashley and the older ones don't really have any problems as I could send them to school and let them be kids but the younger ones needed more hands-on attention and I honestly don't know what I'm doing half of the time.

I honestly think that Seth is doing better than I do. Probably, because he's the real father and I'm just a lost soul in their mother's body.

Since I have finished opening a new shop task, I received a land appraisal skill. I tried using it and it analyses the land and how profitable it would be. This is also why I would want to buy a building. I have this skill, surely I won't fail when it comes to real estate. The only problem now is I don't have the money to buy land.

I have also learned how to read and write for highschool level so I get another free skill. I haven't used it yet as I'm still thinking about what would be a nice skill to have.

"Also, here's our earnings for last month." Seth said as he gave me the money.

He's been giving me 400 owo per month. He also gets 400 owo and the rest are stored in the family fund. Finally! I can open the system store! It took me six months just to earn 2,000 owo.

"Congratulations on opening our system store, Athena! Do you want to look around?" System asked and I agreed.

There are a lot of interesting items inside the store from medicine to books to really random items but they have one thing in common, they are all expensive. How can the cheapest item cost 200 owo and what's this? A small vial of fresh water?

"It's the cleanest water in all dimensions. You can't even find that in this dimension." The system explained.

Really? Wow but what does it do?

"It quenches thirst." The system replied and I wanted to grab the system and shake it in annoyance.

Really? To quench thirst? Nothing else? Like cure poison or something?

"They also sell antidotes here. Do you want to take a look?" The system asked.

No, thank you. I don't have money to spend on them anyway. I exited the system shop before it annoys me some more.

"What's wrong?" Seth asked when he saw my face.

"Nothing. I'm just being impatient." I lied or maybe not really.

I am a bit impatient when it comes to money. Our family fund has around 1,500 owo. It's big enough for us to survive for a while but it's small enough for us to buy land or a house, and that building a house task is making me antsy.

"With?" He asked and I sighed.

"Money." I answered honestly.

"I'm sorry." Seth said sadly.

"No, we're already doing our best. I'm just being impatient." I said sincerely.