"What's with this water?"
The lady of the first couple spoke.
"It has bubbles… and stuff…" she cutely leaned her head to the side, her nose clearly sniffing out a great deal.
"It's soapy water," I hurried to explain. "Makes it easier to remove the grime, whether from one's hands, clothes, or even tools and kitchenware!"
There was nothing wrong with glazing my own product a bit. If I didn't believe in its success, who would?
"I will take two."
No hesitation.
"Sure thing, but…" I looked over at the man, "what about the skewers? How many would you like?" I asked while leaning my head off to the side. "It can also serve as a great test of this soap's ability!"
My enthusiasm was overflowing.
Now that I've fulfilled two missions, I only had one left. And if I trusted my gut's feeling, completing the missions and getting to the next step was my best course of action.
I already received an overpowered ability to see needs of the market, I also started with five gold coins only because of the system.
Right now, nothing would come close to the results its missions offered.
Which is why, my next goal would be to complete the third and the last mission of this stage, to get recognized.
And I already knew how to get it done.
That's why I took three days to prepare.
And because I've got another feeling about this whole thing.
If only I allowed it, this system would take me beyond the limits of my current imagination!
Which is why, I needed to earn back money.
Not only to be able to afford the next step, not only to make back my initial investment and regain some operating funds…
But primarily to let the word spread.
Because if I knew one thing about money, how much one needed only grew the more they had.
And by all means, I was ready to have it all.
But everything has to come in a specific order. And right now?
I put on a lovely salesman's smile on my face, trained to this role through three years of working long hours at a gulag of a job.
"We will take four each."
Within a single sweep of both of my arms, I prepared half of the order before reaching out and passing them over to the girl. Then, by repeating the process, I filled the man's hands too.
"Umm!" The woman's eyes lit up as she bit into the juicy meat. And as she raised her surprised eyes to her man, I quickly reached out before refilling the meat on the grill.
Now that I was starting to get some attention, it was time to bring out the big guns.
In the meantime, the two other couples arrived as well, their interest growing the more they saw happen.
Yet, before I could serve them…
"This meat is really good," the man commented after pretty much slurping the four whole pieces of meat at once. "What's with that water, though?"
I showed a well-trained smile.
"Please, just dip your hands in to clean them. It's an example of the power of the soap we sell, so that you can test it out before purchase!"
By now, the man's partner already dipped her fingers into the bowl, giving her fingers a quick rub before pulling her hands out and then dipping them in the second bowl.
She then furrowed her brows… before reaching back to the first pot, grabbing a bit of the bubbles and then splashing it on the corner of her sleeve that she now revealed to be slightly dirty.
And a quick wash later, soon supplemented by a dip in the clear water of the second pot, she raised her sleeve up to her eyes.
Her face froze still.
Her eyes darted to her man, who instinctively reached with his hand to protect his wallet.
"I want ten!"
Once again, no hesitation.
But it wasn't over yet. She wasn't the one holding the mone…
By the time I looked at the man's face, I knew it was over.
The look of grief over the hard-earned money he was about to lose because of his woman's whim?
I could recognize that look anywhere, regardless of which world I was in.
"That will be five silver coins for the soap and," I glanced over at the man, "forty coppers for the skewers."
This time it was the man's turn for his face to freeze in shock. And with him, the faces of the other two couples.
Ten bars of soap for five silvers?
Everyone's attention jumped between the woman's hands, the pot, the soap I'd already put on display, and yours truly.
Then, everyone's eyes lit up with something primal.
"I want ten, no, twenty!" a woman in the back called out, only to look at her neighbor already raising her own hand for their own bid, before correcting her offer.
"I want ten too!"
"You know what, I think…" The man's face stifled for a second as he noticed the commotion too. Then, the look on his face steeled up. "We will take thirty bars."
I raised my eyebrows.
"That's quite the generous request," I nodded my head in gratitude, "I'm afraid, however, I can only allow up to twenty pieces per couple."
Then with the smile of the world's most honest hard-worker, I opened up my arms.
"I wish for everyone to know the benefits of cheap soap. So I wouldn't want anyone to hoard it just to resell it later," I then winked at everyone.
Gosh, twenty bars of soap per couple?
Given how those could easily go for several silvers, if not up to one gold a piece once sold in the right place?
"Unless it's done to a reasonable degree, that is."
My wink, my encouraging voice…
What was already growing to be a local spot of interest was quickly exploding into a local sensation.
And all that brought more traffic to my shop was a good thing.
Because today I wasn't merely earning back the money I'd spent. I wasn't trying to offload the goods before they would go bad.
I was building a foundation for what my company could be.
Because of course I could min-max every step of the process, doing whatever just to get the missions and progress as fast as I can.
But it was a poor idea, I could easily tell.
From the way those quests were named, I could already see how the further stages would still be all about building a company up.
And it was plainly obvious that several stages deep, I wouldn't be able to just wing it, not without a properly built-up and established base of power.
Which is why, rather than looking for a quick return on the investment of my efforts, I was eagerly building something that I could still make great use of in the future.
That's why, when the people rushed over to form a line while I started handing out soaps and skewers and with customers only forming a bigger and bigger crowd the more sales I made…
A long day of a popular stall owner had begun.