Frontiers ~Chronicles of Bucket-san’s Detailed Pioneering~ - Chapter 68 – I did my best!

Before my evening logout, I was able to make one piece of steel gear. Namely, the steel breast plate for Armilate.

Unfortunately, I need to logout now, so let’s send her a message while specifying when I’ll be logging in again.

Sorry Rush, but you’re after Armilate in the queue.

******

I logged in again after finishing my usual things, such as dinner.

The first thing I noticed was that I got a reply from Armilate.

However, I didn’t tell her that I was already able to make steel gear. That is going to be a bit of a surprise.

I just told her that I wanted to meet up, and she specified a time that would be good for her, so I told her that I’d meet her then. The meetup location will be, of course, right in front of my workshop.

Fufufu, this is perfect.

Though there was a bit of an issue… I was too excited about making steel gear, so I ended up not making enough products to restock the store. Because of that, the clerks also sent me a message.

It’s midday already, and I usually restock the store before the opening hours, so the clerks got a bit worried.

Well, I’m still prioritizing steel gear for my acquaintances, and it takes longer to make it when compared to iron gear… Should I make some iron gear to save time?

Or maybe I should close to store every once in a while? Coming to think of it, the store hasn’t closed even once since its inauguration.

The clerks do have proper shifts and have rest time, so there are no problems on their end. They can also contact me if they need a day off, so we can adjust their shifts as well.

But well… Suddenly closing the store would be a bit troublesome, wouldn’t it? I mean, it’s a game, so it’s fine to give priority to my convenience, but it’s not like I’m in a troublesome situation or anything.

Okay then. Let’s make iron gear until Armilate comes and use that to restock the shop before the big break of the store is over.

Then, let’s take a rest and close the store for tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.

If I closed it for only one day, then most of the break would be spent while I slept, so two days is better.

In the meantime, let’s make as much steel gear as I can!

With this decision made, I contacted the clerks!

******

I was able to get in touch with all clerks right away, so they were all notified that the store will be closed for the next two days.

And on that note, it was about time to renew the contract of the store again, so let’s go to the real estate agent after I finish making the restocking products.

I’m planning on continuing to operate on that store, so let’s make a longer contract than just thirty days rent… Or maybe I should just buy it? I made quite a bit of money from selling the steel gear to Mika and Hime, so I should be able to afford it.

After all, steel gear is really expensive. As expected of the best type of gear we currently know of!

Then, let’s make the iron gear for the store now. It really is a bit disappointing to go back to iron after I started making steel, but I suppose that can’t be helped for now.

I’ll do my best!

******

“Oh, Armilate!” I called out to her.

“Oh, you were inside there? I just got here.

“It’s been a while since we last met in person, hasn’t it?

“Though it doesn’t feel like it’s been that long since Mikan often times talks about you.” Armilate replied. *

“Oh? Do you meet up with Mika often?” I asked her.

“We often hunt together in the Eku Labyrinth.” Armilate told me.

“Oh, I see.” I said.

Because everyone has been busy these days, we haven’t held many girls-only gatherings, and as such we haven’t been able to exchange much information, so I didn’t know that Mika and Armilate were hunting together.

Well, the event is near its end, and both Mika and Hime are at the end of summer vacation too, so I suppose that can’t be helped. After all, once school starts, they won’t be able to stay logged in for as long as they can now.

In order to maintain their stop spots, they need to do their best now.

“So, what did you want to talk about?” Armilate asked me.

“Well, we shouldn’t talk while standing up, so please come in!” I told her.

“Then, please excuse me.” She said as she walked inside, after me.

We had been talking in front of my workshop after all. She arrived shortly after I finished restocking the store and officially buying it from the real estate agent.

Yes, I bought it instead of renewing the rent contract.

I don’t know if I should be happy or sad that the purchase cost was lower than my expectations… It’s cheap because the place is too small.

I mean, it may be small, but it’s still my store!

But Lolita’s store next door is so spacious… Mine feels totally full with less than ten people inside it.

Lolita can make her store look even wider by making effective use of the space, but… If your store already feels narrow from the start, then there isn’t much you can do about it.

“Eh? Is this a workshop? I didn’t know there was a workshop here.” Armilate commented once she looked around a bit.

“Indeed. That’s my recently opened workshop.” I told her.

“Eh? Oh… Yours…?” She was quite surprised.

“Yes!” I exclaimed.

It was quite unusual to see her normally dignified face be filled with surprise after I guided her around for a bit.

But well, that can’t be helped. While the number of player pioneers with stores have been slowly increasing, I’m still the only one with a personal workshop!

Though there might be some cases where a clan made a joint investment to get a workshop, but I don’t know about those.

In any case, it’s normal for Armilate to be surprised by this.

“I knew you could make good items since I also got some from you before, but… I’m surprised you’re already at the point where you can have your own workshop.

“You were a complete amateur just a short while ago, weren’t you?” She asked me.

“I did my best.” I replied.

Certainly, I was a total amateur when we first met, but my growth speed can be very fast because we’re in a game. Especially because I can spend much longer logged in and crafting when compared to most people.

After we sat down and I offered her a bit of milk tea, Armilate commented, “So, did you call me today to show this workshop around? I think it’s really amazing.”

“Thank you.

“However, that’s not all. This is what I wanted you to see!” As I said that, I took out the steel breastplate I made earlier.

“What!? You made this!? No way!” She exclaimed. She was even more surprised than when she was looking around the workshop.

“I did my best!” I replied. This was a perfect surprise success!

“A-amazing… You got so far in such a short period of time… Just what are you?” Armilate was in complete disbelief.

“Ah, I’m not anybody special… You see, I just promised that I’d make those items for you when we first met.

“I did my best with such a goal in mind.” I told her.

“Wait? You really thought of that as a promise…?” She asked me.

“Oh, so you do remember it.” I was a bit happy that she did remember.

“Well, that was… You surely left quite the impression at that time, you know?” She told me.

I could only give a small laughter to her reply.

I definitely was wearing my signature Bucket Helm and did have quite the flashy encounter with that big man.

But still, it was thanks to that promise that I had such a drive in eventually reaching steel gear. It was because of Armilate that I did my best.

“Then, you can sell this to me as promised, right?” She asked me.

“Of course! I called you for that today.

“And if you want more steel gear, don’t hesitate to ask, for I’ll definitely make it!” I replied.

“Really!? You’re truly spoiling me now…

“Even if we haven’t spoken to each other directly since that time, you’re truly exactly like Mikan said.” Armilate said.

“Eh? What did Mika say about me…?” I was a bit worried.

Armilate giggled in response, “Don’t worry, you’re almost universally praised. She likes you very much.”

“Is that so?” I asked just to be sure.

“It is true. Don’t worry.” Armilate told me.

“I hope so… I’ve known Mika for quite a while now, so she can say all sorts of things about me…” I commented.

Armilate giggled again at those words, “I envy you two a bit, you know?”

“Eh? You do? I mean… Mika is almost like a sister to me, I guess.” I replied.

“Well, I guess my relationship with hers is different than yours-” Armilate said.

******

“Oh, look at the time. Today was quite fun.

“Then, for the request, I’ll be on your care.” Armilate told me.

“Yes, it was fun indeed.

“And leave the crafting to me. I’ll contact you as soon as possible.” I replied.

“You don’t have to hurry though. I won’t be in a rush unless something as big as the Lich ends up appearing.” She said.

“Got it.” I said.

The conversation with Armilate was quite exciting, and there seemed to be endless topics to talk about.

The most surprising thing, was that Armilate is only a year older than me.

She has this really strong and dignified ‘older sister’ vibe, that made me think she was older than that.

And also, she decided to issue a proper quest for the production of the gear for her. The reward was surprisingly, Skill Points!

I didn’t know Skill Points could be issued as rewards from NPC quests.

Of course, she’ll also be paying for the gear, but still, I have a lot of skills waiting to evolve, so this was a wonderful reward.

Though with this, the day that Rush will get steel gear is still far away… After all, she requested for a complete set!

Well, it still won’t take that long, since the total amount of gear pieces requested is less than what I had to make for Mika and Hime.

That said, I don’t have that much time left today because my logout is coming soon… Though I’ll have at least one in-game day of break on my next log-in, so that’s alright.

Still, I think I might still be able to make some progress now, so… Let’s keep on making steel gear until the last minute before logout!

——

*Translator Note: Most people probably forgot about it by now, but Mika’s username is actually Mikan. It’s just that nobody of the usual cast refers to her by Mikan instead of Mika.