How To Suck Honey With Extras [EN]: Chapter 18

22. Buy My Potions! (3)

About two hours after the first customer left.

‘Should I just close up shop for today?’

I decided to call it a day and look forward to tomorrow.

There’s no way any customers will come even if I wait any longer.

I was about to start cleaning up to close the store when…

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Someone was knocking on the door.

It’s not locked, so they could just open it and come in, you know?

Thump! Thump! Thump thump thump thump thump!

They’re going to break the door!

Are they kidding me?

A little dumbfounded, I stopped what I was doing and opened the door in one swift motion.

I was planning to protest properly.

“Hey! Seriously! Are you going to take responsibility if the door breaks? ……Huh?”

As soon as I threw the door open, I met the eyes of a middle-aged man who was knocking from outside.

“……Uh?”

“……Uh?”

Why is this so awkward?

Should we wave at each other in this kind of situation?

More than that, the problem right now isn’t just the man.

My gaze went past him and swept over the crowd outside.

Fortunately, the man spoke first.

“Oh… Ahem! Are you the owner of this place?”

“Yes, I am. By any chance, are all the people gathered in front of my store, including you, here for business?”

“That’s right!”

“I definitely heard it was here!”

The gathered people shouted.

But it’s hard to understand because it’s so noisy.

I turned my gaze to the man who knocked on the door.

*Please* explain!

He cleared his throat and slowly turned his head from me to the gathered people and began to speak.

“I heard you sell potions at your store? I came after hearing about it.”

“That’s true. But who did you hear it from?”

“The Solben party.”

“Solben?”

“They said they bought a potion from your store around noon? They were talking about it at the Mercenary Guild.”

Ah! Those three! I was so focused on the silver coins that I forgot their names.

“Then are you a mercenary too?”

“No. I work at the smithy over there, and I heard the rumor. Actually, our apprentice got a little hurt while working. I heard your potions are cheap, so I’d like to get one if possible.”

“Me too!”

“Us too!”

“We have a request to go on tomorrow! I want to buy a potion!”

The people in line also seem to be those who need the potions sold in my store.

More than that, the rumor has already spread?

‘Rumors are scary……’

I knew the saying that words travel faster than feet, but isn’t this too fast?

I think I underestimated the city’s rumor mill a bit.

‘More than that, they’re so desperate to buy potions? Even just low-grade ones?’

I was a little dumbfounded.

Anyway, as long as they’re customers, there’s no reason to refuse.

I still have plenty of stock, and customers are lined up.

There’s no situation more wonderful than this.

If so!

“Okay! Please line up. The store is small, so if you don’t line up properly, I can’t serve you!”

I clapped my hands to get their attention and asked them to keep order.

But of course, that won’t happen.

They just shout even more anxiously.

“Stop talking and sell the potions quickly!”

“Are you going to keep us waiting like this!”

“Hurry! Quickly!”

“We have to leave tomorrow!”

…Right. They wouldn’t listen to a word I say, would they? Geez, that’s sad.

But I can’t be underestimated.

Once order collapses, it’s natural for things to become chaotic.

I had no choice but to take a hard line.

‘I just need to pretend to be moderately tough.’

There’s no need to do anything harsh.

I deliberately gestured in the air as if to show them.

Some eyes are drawn to me as I do strange things.

“If you don’t line up, you know?”

As I snapped my fingers.

Lightning flashed 멋지게 [coolly/impressively] in the air.

I just used my spirit to make electricity flash.

Of course, the customers were at a loss, shrinking their shoulders as flashes suddenly struck the clear sky several times.

“My spirit hates noise. I can’t guarantee what punishment it will inflict on those who don’t know order.”

The lightning seemed to have a pretty intimidating effect, and the customers couldn’t show the same high-handed attitude as before. They glanced at each other and started lining up.

Yes, good adults listen well.

I nodded in satisfaction, went back into the store, sat down at the counter, and clapped my hands again.

“I will now sell potions.”

When I roughly counted the number of customers a little while ago, it seemed like I could barely match the quantity.

I’m selling out all the reserves from the first day.

This is already as good as decided.

* * *

The last customer left around the time it was completely dark.

“Ugh… I’m going to die….”

I was completely exhausted.

I had never been so tired since coming here.

‘Business is a battle of stamina……’

That’s not easy.

I lay sprawled out on the counter, staring at the ceiling.

I can’t even be bothered to go up to the second floor where the bedroom is.

“Undine, move me upstairs.”

-Okay!

When I called Undine and told her to do it, she grabbed my finger and pulled.

But there’s no way it’ll work physically.

-It doesn’t work!

“……Are you really doing what I told you to do? Okay. You did well, so you can go home today too.”

I just stroked Undine appropriately and sent her back.

Anyway, the store is closed, and it doesn’t matter if I laze around like this.

“I can’t believe… so many people flocked here from the first day.”

The thing I was half-expecting really happened.

I was sure that people would choose my potion, but I didn’t expect them to flock here in just one day.

‘Thanks to that, the reserve potions are completely gone.’

The reserves were a total of two wooden barrels.

There were about 300 bottles.

I was planning to make a lot of Nymph’s Healing Water because it has a long shelf life and sell it slowly.

That’s all sold out.

And I got 6,000 silver coins.

If I exchange it for gold coins, it will be about 60.

‘It’s good up to here. It’s so good that I want to dance.’

In the end, the problem here is the quantity of potions.

‘I can’t keep up with this demand?’

The number of people will decrease tomorrow compared to today.

Even so, the demand won’t suddenly drop sharply.

In fact, I can meet the demand to some extent.

This is because the rate of increase in mana has recently started to show a slight upward trend.

I checked only the mana item in my stats separately and nodded.

‘Before, my magic power was 45, so the amount of magic power is definitely increasing a little faster.’

Well, I have to keep making potions, so it’s probably because I’ve been consuming mana to squeeze out spirit water.

Let’s put aside whether this is really because the role has risen or not, since there is no confirmation.

In the end, the problem is production volume.

If I meet all of that, I will live a life no different from a potion-making machine every day.

Well, I’ll make money!

‘Money is everything, but it’s not everything. What about my life?!’

But I don’t have the freedom in my life.

Wake up, make potions, sell them, and make more potions while skipping sleep!

I can’t play! I can’t eat! I can’t sleep!

‘I can’t live like that anymore!’

Wasn’t that what I was sick of in reality?

No matter how good money is, I don’t want to work while throwing away my life.

‘Should I limit the amount and not sell more than that?’

Assuming that I don’t use mana anywhere else, I can comfortably produce only about 100 at the current time.

‘Limited sale of 100 per day!’

Anyway, I’m the only spirit caster who can make potions here.

I can be a little arrogant.

The next day.

I bowed my head to the customers who flocked in today, similar to yesterday, and said the words of understanding as planned.

“There is a limit to the production volume of potions. I’m sorry, but the amount of potions to be sold is limited to 100 per day, so please understand.”

The customers initially showed dissatisfaction.

At first glance, they look like they want to argue about something.

‘Should I persuade them more patiently?’

They wouldn’t do something like a riot, would they?

Low-grade potions aren’t worth that much, so that wouldn’t happen.

Still, I might need some persuasion.

“……Then there’s nothing I can do.”

However, contrary to my worries, the customers began to accept the situation.

“If the shop owner can’t do it, there’s nothing we can do.”

“Okay. Then I’ll come next time.”

Looking at their faces, they clearly have quite a bit of dissatisfaction.

But it feels like no one is trying to express it.

If it ends peacefully, that’s what I wanted, so I have no complaints.

‘They seem to be watching me?’

From my point of view, it’s a good thing that it’s resolved well.

At least they said ‘I’ll come next time’ instead of ‘I won’t come anymore’.

Then business will continue steadily in the future.

* * *

The rumor about the store opened by a boy named Ailean, , spread like wildfire in just a few days.

It reached the ears of those staying in the inner city as well as the outer city.

In a tavern in the outer city, the topic was also lively.

“Did you hear? A spirit caster is directly producing and selling potions.”

“I heard about it too, so I went to the store once. He really sells potions. This is it.”

The men who were talking put the potion ‘Nymph’s Healing Water’ on the table and glared at it.

“Is it that hard to get?”

“Not as much as the first day. If you’re unlucky, you may not be able to get it.”

The limited quantity of 100 is by no means large.

Clearly, there were those who turned back with heavy steps every day with the regret of not being able to buy it.

“……It would be nice if he sold more.”

“That’s what I’m saying.”

There were not a few who expressed their disappointment.

But no one tried to openly express their dissatisfaction with Ailean’s store.

Occasionally, there were those who asked him directly, but they had to give up in the end because of his firm stance.

“Didn’t the spirit caster shop owner say it was difficult himself? There’s nothing we can do.”

One of the reasons is that no one knows how to make potions.

If Ailean claims that there is a limit to production, there is no basis to doubt it.

Above all, things originally have differences in production pace for each individual artisan.

Even if someone knows the recipe and argues, there is no basis to say anything if Ailean himself denies it.

“What if we make a fuss and the spirit caster leaves?”

“Well, that’s true.”

There was also no reason to bother Ailean’s mood.

Low-grade potion.

The people who are looking for it are mercenaries with minor injuries or residents who are slightly injured.

But it’s not that they’re desperate because they don’t have it.

If I can’t get it today, I can get it tomorrow.

Ailean’s potion is just that effective.

I’ve been living somehow even without it.

It’s good to get it, but it’s okay if I can’t get it.

“Tsk…… Well, that’s true.”

“There’s no need to fight with the shop owner.”

Overall, they showed a favorable reaction to the current Ailean.

He is the one who supplies things that have not been available until now.

It’s also slightly cheaper than the market price.

There’s no reason to hate it.

But not everyone has favorable feelings.

Of course, there are bound to be those who harbor sinister thoughts.

After listening to their story, a man clicked his tongue and left the tavern.