Dungeon Item Shop - Chapter 34(1/2)

Fresh and Jubilee stand inside of the entrance to the dungeon. Jubilee had dragged her in here after her speech. Their eyes burn with the same intensity that they did when Fresh threw the bread at them. They make a noise as they begin to speak, a finger raised to point at her from a shaking, tense arm.

“I-…”

Jubilee doesn’t say anything, but doesn’t lower their arm either. Apparently entirely lost for words, but still angry enough to try.

“Sorry,” says Fresh, rubbing her arm. But then she looks back to her friend with a shine in her eyes. “But it was the best thing to do!” She leans forward, clenching her fists. Jubilee still doesn’t lower their arm, but their pupils shift. Fresh realizes that Jubilee hasn’t blinked once yet. “I messed up with the fountain! I’m sorry!” says the girl, leaning in. “But if we didn’t get ahead of it, this would have come back to bite us later!”

“Why are you like this?!” yells Jubilee, finally managing to make a coherent sentence.

Fresh ignores their question. “Because we got ahead of it and thanked the guild, they get a boost in prestige and we have an entire swarm of adventurers who know about us and our connection to them now!” says Fresh, leaning in forward, now placing her own hands on her hips. “That makes us safer than if we tried to keep it a secret!”

Jubilee twitches, lowering their arm. “Maybe. Or maybe we’ll just die in our sleep tonight, that is if we aren’t scooped up and tortured to death before we even get back across the plaza!”

Fresh tilts her head. “There’s too much pressure on them now!”

“Huh?! If there’s pressure on anyone, it’s on us! Dumb-ass!” shouts Jubilee in frustration.

Fresh leans back, tapping her head. “We promised to start selling the potions next week!”

Jubilee glares at her for a while. But then takes a deep breath. “If I wasn’t already dead inside from what you’re putting me through, I’d be really depressed being around you. You know?”

Fresh grimaces, scowling at her friend that obviously doesn’t get it. “People are going to talk about this. It’s going to be all around town by tomorrow!”

“How is that relevant?! Shut up! Just… shut up. Please.” Jubilee sighs and falls down to the steps, placing their head in their hands. Fresh crosses her arms, closing her eyes and ignoring the damp feeling in them. The two of them are quiet for a time. The only sounds present are the strange, dully howling ambient winds of the dungeon below and the crackling of the fire of the many torches lining the rock walls.

Jubilee’s head lifts from their hands, looking up ahead of themselves as they mumble. “If we don’t deliver… then the merchant’s guild will look bad.” Their head snaps towards the girl. Their eyes wide in shock. “Their reputation will be ruined, at least among the casters…” Jubilee jumps up to their feet, scrambling as they point to her in disbelief. “Did you think of this?! You?!”

Fresh smiles tapping her head again. “I’m party leader after all, I have to keep my party safe!”

Jubilee clenches their hood in disbelief. “What the fuck.”

“Jubilee!” Fresh leans in forward, her eyes wide again, happy that her friend understood her. “I hav-“

“-If you tell me that you have an idea one more time, then I’m going to shove you headfirst in the mushroom’s den and leave you there for the slimes to find!” barks Jubilee, interrupting her.

Fresh frowns, puffing out her cheek and letting out a grumble, looking to the side. “…a plan…”

Jubilee sighs and everything is quiet again.

“…Okay. Let’s hear it.”

“Huh?” asks Fresh, somewhat surprised as she looks back to her friend.

“Your plan, let’s hear it,” relents Jubilee, looking away and waving a hand at her.

The girl’s eyes go wide in delight, seeing that Jubilee is willing to accept her ideas. “You focus on farming the blue caps for now! The antidotes aren’t worth much until I make them better, but the minor soul potions are perfect! If we make enough to meet the demand, we’ll make a bunch of money!”

“Go on,” says Jubilee, looking her up and down.

“We’ll make our share and the merchant’s guild will get their cut, plus the good will of the casters in the city!” says the girl excitedly. “That’s what’s going to keep us safe. We’ll just be too valuable to get rid of! If the merchant’s guild is backing us from above, even the other vendors won’t come after us!”

“Fuck me… did you get a brain with your class?”

Fresh scowls at them, grumbling again.

Jubilee thinks for a time but then digs into their pocket, pulling out a slip of paper. “Here.”

“What’s this?” asks the girl, taking it curiously.

Jubilee waves them off and begins heading down the staircase. “I was going to surprise you with it, but I guess I have work to do now. So go pick it up yourself, dumb-ass, it’s right next to the adventurer’s guild.”

Fresh looks at the slip of paper curiously. There’s nothing on it but a handwritten number. “Huh? For me?” the girl feels bad, why is Jubilee always doing things for her? “Please stop giv-”

“-I’m not giving you shit, pea-brain!” Jubilee yells at her as they vanish into the distance. “It was your boss-drop from the flower, I just asked them to make it into something.” Her boss-drop? Jubilee had mentioned something like that before… Fresh looks at the note in her hand.

With that, Jubilee vanishes into the darkness below, presumably off to collect more blue-mushroom caps. The girl’s eyes raise and she shouts out. “Good luck! See you at home!”

Nothing comes in response, she’s not sure if Jubilee heard it at all. But she’s glad that she said it nonetheless.

Fresh turns and leaves the dungeon.

A moment later she finds herself out on the plaza again. It’s bustling with as much activity as ever, if not more, as more adventurers now make their way past her into the dungeon and others going around towards the fountain, being dragged there by their excited compatriots.

Fresh smiles, seeing the buzzing active world around her. The mood of the many people in the streets was more than befitting of the brilliant sunshine coming from above, thinks the girl as she walks down the main street, towards the plaza at the entrance gate. Looking around curiously, she sees it. This must be what Jubilee mentioned.

Her heart thuds just a little in a flutter of excitement as she looks at the window of the tailor’s shop that was filled with all manner of equipment and clothing for casters.

Clenching her hands together, the note held tightly in between, she rushes in through the door.

A tiny bell jingles out, welcoming her arrival.