Frontiers ~Chronicles of Bucket-san’s Detailed Pioneering~ - Chapter 88 – It’s hot!

Before the lunch logout, I got back to making even more steel gear. I spent quite a while making those today, which gave a feeling similar to the time I had just become capable of regularly making them.

However, I know that the level of my skills has progressed considerably since, so the situation is by no means the same.

While the rank of the final steel equipment has not changed yet, the rank of the intermediate material I use has certainly increased.

Back when I was using iron or worse materials, it was easy to raise the rank of the final product just by improving the materials, but it seems like it is not as simple with steel… Nonetheless, I know I only need to upgrade one of my facilities to advanced tier to reach my goal of 4* equipment.

So now, all I need to do is save money.

Upgrading a single facility to advanced level costs more money than upgrading all my facilities to intermediate level though, so it’s hard even for me, who earns a lot of money.

Other player Pioneers who are still struggling to get intermediate facilities will probably have a much harder time getting the advanced ones.

After all, a good part of the reason why I can make such a huge profit is because I have a monopoly on the steel market. It won’t be as easy for them to make a profit once they start crafting steel, as they’ll be dealing with competition.

And well, by that point I should have already obtained my advanced facility and started selling steel gear with Options in it, which will increase my profit margins even further while also keeping me ahead of the competition.

In any case, let’s go back to making steel gear. Even if the store is already restocked, I want to make as many as possible in order to earn the funds for the advanced facilities, even if it means spending my free time on it.

Let’s work hard!

******

Today I’ve really been making only steel equipment.

The materials are purchased 24h a day, so even if I keep crafting at this pace, the stock won’t run out.

However, it is definitely decreasing… But still, it will be alright even if I keep this same crafting pace tomorrow. Not to mention that I can always purchase more on stores if I really need it.

It sure is nice to not have to worry about the stock of materials at all.

And speaking of materials, I was able to purchase another Large Shadow Crystal! To think I’d get another one of those rare materials so soon.

I thought Mika might have sold it, but it seems like it was actually that Gospel clan that I met on the Guild the other day.

They seem to be regulars at my store. Often selling me materials, while also buying Magical Formations with some frequency, and occasionally buying steel equipment too when they can get on the line in time.

Must take a lot of work to regularly line up in front of my store whenever I update the blog.

In any case, I got another one of those rare Large Shadow Crystals, so I want to draw the Shadow Barrier Destroyer Magic Circle again!

Those are my beloved Magical Formations, so I want to get more Large Shadow Crystals to fully enjoy those event-exclusive recipes!

Yeah, I have spent too much time making steel gear today. I didn’t get enough share of love. This is a big deal, so let’s stop that and start drawing!

Yes. This is what I need to do.

Then, let’s get started!

“Hello! Bucket! You’re here, right!?” Suddenly, I heard a loud shout and knocks on the door… Those are the voices of the twins Mii and Muu.

What happened for them to suddenly come without contacting me first? They could message me, call me, or use the clan’s call function… Why come personally?

“I’m here, I’m here. I’ll open it.” I told the twins.

Differently from Hime and Mika, the twins can’t come inside the workshop without me opening the door for them, as I didn’t give them permission to come and go as they please.

“About time!” They exclaimed.

“Good afternoon, Bucket! You know, we-” Mii started saying.

“Got a request!” They said together.

“That’s why, please-” Muu started saying.

“Excuse us!” They entered the workshop together.

“H-hold on.” I told them.

“It’s been a while since we’ve been here.” Mii said.

“Hey, black tea, I want-” Muu started saying.

“Barley tea!” Mii cut him off.

“Hot!” They exclaimed together as they took sips of their respective teacups.

The twins’ momentum completely took over the workshop from the moment I opened the door. In the blink of an eye they were already occupying the table and asking for tea.

They ended up getting it a bit too hot, but it won’t trouble them in reality. Frontiers is always comfortable, after all.

“You two are-” I tried asking, but they didn’t let me finish.

“Bucket, this!” Mii said.

“Souvenir!” They exclaimed together.

“It’s a new work by Lulu! We chose the one with plenty of strawberries on it!” Muu said.

“There was one with marron too, but we don’t really like it.” Mii complemented.

“After all, it has to be strawberries!” They exclaimed.

“Berries are good right now, aren’t they?” Mii said.

“We really like berries.” Muu said.

“So it had to be berries!” They said together.

I get that they are children, but I was feeling a bit overwhelmed and wanted to give them a sermon for them not behaving properly, but…

Well, it’s a new recipe of Lulu’s, right? I guess I can taste it before scolding them.

******

“Delicious…” I muttered.

“It’s really tasty!” Mii exclaimed.

“I love berries!” Muu said.

“Strawberries are really great!” They exclaimed.

“Got it, got it. But please do contact me in advance before your next visit, alright?” I told them.

“Understood, Bucket.” Mii said.

“We’ll remember it properly.” Muu said.

“Because we’re genius!” They exclaimed.

“… I wish you could have used this geniality of yours to have contacted me without me needing to tell you about it.” I muttered.

“More important, this!” Mii ignored me.

“This is important!” Muu too.

“Enchanted Magic Ink!” They exclaimed while showing me an item.

“Oh? Now what is that?” I asked.

The twins were showing no shame for their behavior at all… But well, they did bring me Lulu’s new creation, so I guess I’ll let it slide.

Also, it seems like their business with me was more important than that. As they now put an ink bottle on the table.

I checked its details, and it seems to be used with the Magic Pen? But the Magic Pen doesn’t need ink… Well, if it is meant to be used with the Magic Pen, then it would surely have some effect.

Especially because it also has ‘Enchanted’ in its name, so… “What is its effect? The details only say that it is meant to be used together with a Magic Pen.” I asked.

“To find that out-” Mii started.

“We came here!” They said in unison.

“We need someone who draws Magic Circles as that’s what uses Magic Pens.” Muu said.

“And who draws the super-unpopular Magic Circles?” Mii rhetorically asked.

“We only know of Bucket!” They exclaimed.

“So we need Bucket to test it.” Muu told me.

“Test it!” They said together.

“… Alright, but do tell me about it in advance next time, okay?” I replied.

As the twins said, Magic Pens are only used when drawing Magical Formations.

If one’s skill level is low, it takes a considerable amount of time to draw even a single sheet, so it’s no wonder that it is unpopular.

Even nowadays with the demand of Magical Formations being high, most people prefer buying them over drawing them.

Especially because my store has a lot on stock.

And they sell well too, but I draw a lot since I really love them, so the stocks don’t run out.

Because of that, it seems like I’m the only person who draws Magical Formations for the sake of selling them.

There are some people that seem to draw them for personal use, but as they take too long to make and are hard to find recipes for, the number of people that do that is inevitably low.

Well, so not only a souvenir, but also the Enchanted Ink… I guess it’s fine to spare them the sermon due to those nice gifts.

“Did you try using it yourselves?” I asked them.

“Obviously!” Mii replied.

“It has no effect on anything other than Magical Formations!” Muu exclaimed.

“We drew one and were completely frustrated at it!” They said in unison.

“That’s fast…” I muttered.

“Bucket is the only one that can draw such small things all the time.” Mii said.

“We can’t do it!” Muu exclaimed.

“Absolutely impossible!” They exclaimed together.

“Alright, alright. I’ll try it out then.” I told them.

“Testing! Testing!” They exclaimed together.

While listening to their ‘testing’ chant, I decided to pick a recipe and draw it.

It was easy to use the Enchanted Magic Ink. I just needed to touch the tip of the Magic Pen on the ink bottle and it would be applied.

It seems like the Enchanted Magic Ink loses about 10% of its durability after each use. And as the twins said, it has already been used once, so the durability was now at around 80%.

… They really did try it only once.

******

“Amazing… The number of uses has increased.” I said.

“It’s amazing, but it can only be used by Bucket!” Mii said.

“That’s too bad.” Muu said.

“Too bad!” They said together.

“You don’t have to say it twice…” I replied.

For the sake of testing it, I made the same Magical Formation twice. One with and one without the Enchanted Magic Ink.

The results were pretty clear. The number of uses has increased by 10%. It may not look like that much, but I was recently able to significantly increase the number of uses of my Magical Formations, so adding 10% on top of the current number is pretty nice.

This is a pretty good product, but… As the twins said, there is almost no demand for it.

NPCs have strict standards, so they can’t use this kind of thing for the Magical Formations they sell in stores, and selling it to player Pioneers would be out of the question as there are way too few of them that actually draw the Magical Formations.

They made something truly amazing, but… This is sad.

Still, it is definitely useful to me, so I’d like them to teach me the recipe.

“So…” I started saying.

“There is no demand for this.” Mii interrupted me.

“We don’t use it either.” Muu continued.

“So introduce us to an NPC quest!” They exclaimed.

“Well…” I started a reply.

“We know about it, you know?” Mii said.

“We have a large information network, you know?” Muu continued.

“Inventory expansion!” They exclaimed.

“Ah… Uhn… Well… I get it. But it’s still up to you two to clear it, okay?” I told them.

“No problem!” Mii replied.

“Who do you think we are?” Muu said.

“We’re the genius twins, Mii and Muu!” They exclaimed.

“Yeah yeah, that’s right.” I said.

I only talked about the inventory expansion in the girls-only-gathering, but it seems like the information was leaked to them somehow… But well, since both me and them are members of Works, I think it’s fine for me to tell them.

But it took me a whole hour last time to get my inventory expansion, and there was the trouble with sexual harassment.

However, Mii and Muu are elementary school boys, so… What will happen to them?

I mean, they probably won’t be asked to pour drinks for that man, but… I’m a bit worried.

“Well, I can tell you, but…” I started telling them about it.

******

“Then, Bucket!” Mii exclaimed.

“Look forward to our good results!” Muu told me.

“See you!” They said.

“Yeah, yeah, see you.” I replied.

The twins replied with about as much energy as they had when they came.

In exchange for the recipe of the Enchanted Magic Ink, I gave them the information on the NPC that can expand the inventory, but I added another condition to it.

Namely, I wanted to know what was the quest that they had to take.

Mika and our friends want to expand the bag, but taking the sexual harassment quest is no good.

It’s worrisome to send Mii and Muu there, but I want to hear of an example other than me… If they end up receiving a different type of quest, then Mika and everyone else might be able to take that challenge head on.

Although their visit was sudden, Lulu’s new recipe was delicious, and the Enchanted Magic Ink was very useful and worth its while.

But I really hope they don’t come this suddenly next time.

Oh well, it’s late, but let’s enjoy my beloved Magical Formations now.