While Alex is still deep in thought, browsing the weapons, Benezia is doing her best to negotiate with the weapon shop owner.
Finally, after pushing the man to the edge of irritation, she returns to Alex and says, "Let's get out for now."
Outside the store, she explains, "I could have bought the Shamshir for 6.6 million Belly. It appears I can reduce the prices significantly with my trading skill. Still, we might want to reconsider spending all our money here. This feels like a way to get rid of money we don't need, and we don't even know what we're after yet, so the wise decision would be to pause for now."
"I thought the same thing... this is a great option at the end of the mission, allowing us to turn our money—which will disappear anyway—into items. However, I have a great idea! We need to wait for Menchi to appear, hehe," Alex says, rubbing his hands together.
"That greed is really quite deplorable. At least don't show your emotions so openly..." Benezia mutters, glancing around with visible discomfort.
Wherever they go, people are staring at Benezia.
"The shopkeeper stared at me as well... this is quite the predicament. Wherever we go, people will always know where we are," she rambles.
Hehe, well, maybe if you weren't showing off your cleavage so much, people would stare less.
"Could be worse... some people enjoy being the center of attention," Alex mutters, sneaking a glance at her half-exposed chest. "Just ignore it."
I'd better not tell her to wear normal clothes and dye her skin.
"Do you have any plan on how we can get Belly, Alex? It seems like you remembered something," Tereza asks, seemingly not following his train of thought.
"Yes!" Alex replies confidently. "You'll see!"
Just a few minutes later, Menchi suddenly arrives, appearing out of nowhere.
"Wow!" she says. "That felt weird..."
She takes a moment to look around, absorbing the view of the city and wiping sweat off her forehead, clearly not yet used to the sudden climate shift.
"Where are we?" she asks.
"We got a call while we were on Little Garden... we're in Rainbase. We need to report in."
"I see!" she replies brightly, before shifting into a softer, sweeter tone. "Did you... perhaps, hunt something for me?"
Alex sighs. "Don't freak out, okay? I think you'll be surprised. Let's go into that alley... just to be sure."
A few moments later, in a nearby alley, after Alex and Tereza transfer over their absurdly large haul of Dinosaur meat, Lizard meat, and Tiger meat—plus the [Bitterflower Seeds] Benezia found, and the fish caught by Jewel—Menchi's eyes go wide in shock.
After analyzing the high-quality meat and noting the sheer volume of it, she throws her arms around Alex, Tereza, Jewel, and even Benezia—who immediately looks annoyed, but decides to stay silent and act like nothing happened.
"This is incredible! I'll be able to cook hundreds of dishes! I have to trim the meat since not all parts are usable, but this amount is insane!" she says, bursting with excitement.
"Well... I'm glad you like it. Menchi, you still have quite a few of those [Gold Bars], right?" Alex asks. "We just discovered a store that sells relatively good items, but even with Benezia's trading skills, they cost millions."
"I see, of course... you can have them all if you need them," Menchi says calmly.
"No... keep three, and give one to Benezia and Tereza as well. They're useful for emergencies. That still leaves us with fifteen, right?"
"Yes," Menchi replies, before handing one [Gold Bar] to Tereza and sixteen to Benezia.
Alex blinks. "Excuse me, I think you handed them over to the wrong pers—"
"Good," Benezia interrupts. "I'll be taking care of this."
"She can probably get more for them, Alex," Menchi says sheepishly.
"I guess..." Alex admits.
"Should we head back into the store and ask what that guy will give us for one bar?" he suggests.
"No," Benezia replies instantly. "That's a silly and stupid idea. Even if he accepts them, we'll get better prices from jewelry stores or banks. This town is large enough. Let's hurry up—no time to waste. We need to report in soon, and by the sheer number of people staring at me, it won't take long before every last person in this town knows about us."
"That's a good idea," Tereza says. "Let's hurry up then!"
It takes the group only a few minutes to find a store selling all kinds of jewelry and expensive decorations. After a short negotiation, Benezia shamelessly rejects the offer by the owner, who looks baffled, and swiftly moves on, locating a similar shop.
She repeats the process; however, not only does she negotiate herself, but she also instructs Menchi to do so as well—allowing her to gauge her progress and observe the difference between their levels in the trading skill.
After comparing five different offers, Benezia manages to sell the fifteen [Gold Bars] designated for selling, earning a total of 33 million Belly—receiving exactly 2.2 million per bar.
"That's pretty good! Even insane! These [Gold Bars] were quite useful," Alex says, satisfied. "The jewelry here that's White and Green—do we spend some of it?"
"No," Benezia responds decisively. "Everything here only raises CHA at most, meaning we could only shard them. That itself wouldn't be an issue, but the overall prices here are unsurprisingly higher than those of the weapons. Let's return to the weapons store and buy the shamshir along with a couple more weapons."
Back inside the weapon store, with the now totally confused owner, Benezia does some quick calculations and announces, "We're just buying the three Deep Green weapons this store has to offer, along with the [Luxurious Traditional Shamshir]."
After a brief negotiation, she pays 18 million Belly, leaving them with 15 million—plus their leftover funds from Whiskey Peak—for a total of 21 million. She then hands all the weapons over to Alex, except for one of the Green weapons, which she trades to Tereza without offering an explanation.
Keeping it fair, huh? I guess it makes sense. The money was from my Gold Bars, but Tereza helped a lot with the mission too... so it's only fair.
Benezia hands 11 million Belly to Menchi and says, "Spend it on ingredients and look for some more equipment—not just cooking-related, but normal items as well. With your trading skill, the difference between us is just 5% of the total price, so you can go ahead. If you are bored, you might want to buy some local specialities and sell them later. We're bound to visit more places. It's also good training for you to start negotiating for yourself. There's a high chance your skill will level up if you keep practicing."
"Thank you!" Menchi says, accepting the money. "That's a challenge I'm up for! Not only can I grow as a cook, but also as a merchant. I wonder if I can invest in spices... who doesn't like spices?"
Benezia then turns to Tereza. "Tereza. I'm keeping the money for now. If you require something, tell me. I'll buy it for you."
"Yes, Mommy, I want some ice cream," Tereza replies with a smirk.
"Hehe, it feels that way, right?" Alex says.
At least I feel a little like that. Having a strict Asari Matriarch with us who optimizes everything is a smart decision—at least for my inventory. It comes at the cost of my pride... not like I have too much of that to begin with, and I prefer tangible things regardless.
"You humans are asking for punishment, but I will refrain from doing that just yet—because you might actually enjoy it," Benezia states coldly.
"Let's leave then... we'll see you later, Menchi. We'll summon you at the next town—or do you want to stay here long-term?"
"No, immediately summon me. This town is nice, but I'll probably manage to find anything useful to me in less than a day, and I can cook anywhere else as well. Also, before you go... I've created this for all of you. I think it'll help with travelling—and in battle too."
She then produces a large batch of dishes, opens a trade screen, and transfers twenty [Superior Dish (Fried Squid Balls)] to Alex, and a few more to Tereza. She also hands a few to Benezia and Jewel, who can use these items—albeit with lesser effects, since they aren't players.
[Superior Dish (Fried Squid Balls)] x20
World: One Piece, Fantasy Realm
Quality: Green
Effect: Heals 25 HP over 5 minutes. Restores a small amount of Stamina and increases Stamina regeneration by 25% for 1 hour.
Note: A superior dish created by frying ball-shaped, perfectly seasoned pieces of squid.
Note: The properties of the squid were altered.
"Perfect," Alex says. "That's exactly what I needed. With those, I can almost spam Biotics as much as I want... You really worked hard on it, huh? You changed the squid with your Hatsu and focused the entire dish on restoring stamina? That's awesome."
"Yeah... I almost used up the entire squid meat making those dishes. The squid is as good as gone. I hope it was worth it," Menchi says. "I just wish I could've raised the Quality a little more."
Tereza hugs Menchi, muttering, "The flying really tires me out... thank you."
With 10 million Belly in their bag, Alex, Tereza, and Benezia say their goodbyes to Menchi—who immediately sprints off toward the marketplace in the distance.
Finally, they make their way toward Rain Dinners, ready to report for 'duty'.
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