Berries Spent

The more that the conversation continued with the shop owner, the more that he fell under the influence of Pixel and the more she came to understand him more clearly.

The shop owner did not just value the books themselves and wanted to see them in a good condition but he also wanted to know that they would end up in the right hands.

He was one of those people that was very enthusiastic towards his products going to the person that could properly use them.

If they went into the wrong hands then they could be thrown away, put aside somewhere never to be read or would end up damaged by the person that valued them.

To the shop owner, such treatment towards books and the knowledge inside of them was a great insult to the great people that invested the time to write those books to pass on that knowledge.

It was just like how a sword shop owner would see it as a shame to sell his wares to amateur swordsmen but once they met a true swordsman, they would bring out their most prized sword for them that they kept from the eyes of others that would waste them.

The book store was not a very large shop that brought in a great amount of business but it had gained many books from within the island and from trade with ships that visited to trade over a long period of time.

When Pixel talked about her education and what she knew while going into what kind of things she wished to learn about or what she wished to use it for, the shop owner was further caught in his own happy mood to satisfy a valued customer that he wished to serve well.

Pixel found out that there was no public library or any kind of schooling in place on the island so there only existed a couple of book stores that collected and sold books so that was the source of learning for those that wanted to improve upon themselves but not everyone could afford them.

In some smaller islands, there would be a library or open book store that the residents of the island could visit to learn during the opening times but not every place had the same kind of environment.

The island that Pixel and the others entered was a place that survived on competition and trade so the idea of charity or free access to things was not even considered as an option to help improve the overall state of the island.

To many, it was better that there were less people to compete with them and it had some similarity to how the situation within Zou had been before the schooling system had been introduced which had given the commoners a chance to learn and make a better life for themselves.

The books were stacked into piles based on what had been told to the store owner and the recommendations he had made.

Each group of people were only willing to pay so much for the books they had requested and Felice's group was only willing to invest thirty thousand berries to get what she wanted.

Thirty thousand berries was already taking a fifth of the amount from what she had been given to spend during her time on the island.

There were a couple of books that were piled up according to her request that came to twenty thousand berries.

Cleo and Micah were prepared to spend more on what they needed so their requests were higher due to the more specialised knowledge that needed to be found.

Cleo made an additional request for some books on navigation so that she could assist further if she did end up joining everyone so there were some basic books with the essentials then some intermediate level knowledge.

The books in the technology and science studies were much higher in price so their book pile came to the price of sixty thousand berries but Cleo did not seem to mind paying for them.

She trusted in Micah and wished to see him get what he needed during the time they were out in the world.

Among the books that Pixel and others that were with her had requested, there were books on common ingredients and herbs found in most places around the world that was an updated version to what Zou had access to.

There were other books that had various medicine and food based recipes or studies that were from the island, from other islands or were more well known around the world.

They would help with the refreshing of the basics that had been learned and to update the knowledge that was already known.

Among the books were still many that were to the intermediate or advanced level that could be put to use by those that aimed to take up that area of study professionally.

The shopkeeper had placed the big pile of books on the desk and said. "That will be sixty thousand, twenty thousand and fifty thousand berries but I will give you all a discount since I have been at fault and I can see that these books will be put to use by you all. Hmm.. how about we just say twenty percent off everything?"

Pixel's eyes lit up as she thought to herself 'I got you!'

The guilt towards the misunderstanding had built up the more that he had interacted with them along with his enthusiasm towards who the books were being sold to so he had been led into a trap.

He needed to come to the decision to give them the discount himself without her mentioning it first so that he would hot feel as suspicious towards the strangeness of the situation.

It happened so naturally and he was led towards the decision by Pixel so that he would being it up first and would not feel strange about why he had done so much later due to him being under a lesser influence of what Pixel had induced.

It mainly just let him feel less guarded or slightly friendly towards her and there was less of a charming effect that was used to manipulate him so everything that happened had been far more naturally for a normal person to find anything wrong with what had happened.

Once each of them paid and packed away the books safely, Pixel waved showing a cute smile. "Thank you."

The shop owner waved back and said. "Thank you for visiting and shopping here even though I caused problems for you all earlier. Best of luck out there young ladies and young masters. Be careful of the back streets and stay away from the rowdier groups then you should not run into troubles on this island."

Once the door was closing, Pixel spoke. "Thanks for the advice."

They each left the store after getting what they needed and after the discount that had been applied, they each had spent a certain amount and had some of their funds left.

Cleo spent forty eight thousand berries which had reduced what she had left to spend less than one hundred thousand berries when the snacks and drinks she had with Micah were considered within her recent spendings.

Felice spent sixteen thousand berries which reduced what she had left to spend to around one hundred and thirty thousand berries.

Pixel had spent forty thousand berries which was hear the limit to what she intended to really spend within the book store.

Each of the discounted berries that had been reduced from what each of them could have paid was what was used to avenge her sister in a way but Pixel did not wish to push it too far to the point of being completely unreasonable.

The various conditions even led to the shop owner being incredibly friendly and helpful to the point where he was offering her free advice so she felt like she had sone enough and that she could get away with what she had done.

It was like she was taking what she wanted for a reduced price and the victim was still apologetic or thankful towards her afterwards.

She patted the bag hanging on her waist and sighed. 'When the expenses for the newspapers, the snacks, the drinks and the forty thousand berries spent on books are put together, it still leaves enough for what I really wanted to look out for.

A little over one hundred thousand berries are left but I still need to think about what I should do to prepare for food, lodgings and other things before I spend recklessly. Now I see why this test is so important for the heirs and why we get no form of assistance or additional clues once we arrive here.

They would need to think about the essentials to save berries for and to set a limit to their spending so they could get through the time spent on the island without encountering various difficulties.'