SWNOVELXO Chapter 108 - Squander (2)
Chapter 108: Squander (2)
Yuri had a few things he wanted to do before he died.
When he finally accomplished one of them, his shoulders trembled slightly.
Brrrr—.
‘Ah! The day has finally come for me to say this!’
Yuri was moved by his own words.
Memories of his past came vividly to his mind.
The burned village, the loss of his home in an instant, and his impoverished childhood.
From that moment on, Yuri had done every possible job just to survive.
He never stopped working, so there was always some income. But no matter how hard he worked, after buying the painkillers to suppress his constant pain, he was left with just enough money to barely keep himself fed.
That was why he had dreamed of buying things without worrying about the price.
Even if it was something he didn’t need.
He had always wanted to try it at least once before dying, and now that dream had come true.
‘Even though it’s not real gold or silver!’
Still, in the Cradle, points were a form of currency.
This was more than enough to consider his dream fulfilled.
Perhaps that was why.
Yuri’s face was filled with happiness.
Meanwhile, there was a gaze looking at Yuri with a disapproving expression.
Whoosh—.
White smoke puffed out from a cigarette.
“What are you doing?”
Coco asked Yuri.
Her eyes seemed to say, ‘What kind of idiot is this?’
Well, it was understandable.
He had suddenly walked in and said, “From here to here, give me everything.”
Who wouldn’t be baffled by that?
Yuri’s shoulders slumped slightly under Coco’s blunt gaze.
“If you keep looking at me like I’m some kind of idiot, even I might get a little hurt, you know? I was being serious.”
Coco dismissed Yuri’s dejection without much care.
She exhaled cigarette smoke and asked,
“First-year? Are you here for the special sale?”
“Yes.”
“First time?”
“It’s my first time using the special sale.”
After hearing Yuri’s answer, Coco checked her watch and said briefly,
“It’s not time yet.”
“…What?”
“The special sale hasn’t started yet.”
Coco showed Yuri her watch.
There was still about a minute left until midnight on February 1st.
Seeing this, Yuri asked with a stiff expression,
“Then, the items in that display case…?”
“Those? They’re just for display. The February special sale items haven’t been put out yet.”
“…?!”
Yuri’s pupils widened in shock.
‘You, you were too excited!’
He had rushed over, eager to fulfill his dream, but he hadn’t gotten the timing right.
‘Then… what about what I just said?’
He thought he had just achieved one of his life goals.
But it turned out to be a complete waste of effort.
Yuri spoke with a careful expression.
“Can we just pretend I didn’t say anything earlier?”
Whoosh—.
Through the thick smoke that billowed out, the gaze that met Yuri was even more intense, as if to say, ‘What kind of idiot is this?’
Sensing that, Yuri turned his head away.
“Haha… So, you’re working the shop today. Who said Coco was the least busy! You’re the busiest in the Black Sword Corps!”
It was obvious to anyone that he was desperately trying to change the subject.
Coco nodded.
“You know a thing or two.”
She seemed pleased with Yuri’s attempt.
“It’s time.”
Coco looked at her watch and stood up.
Just like before, she pulled on the luxurious rope beside the display case.
Then—
Rumble—.
The existing display case moved back, and a new one took its place.
Coco stepped aside from the display case and said,
“Here, the February special sale items.”
As soon as she finished speaking, Yuri’s eyes lit up and he eagerly pointed again.
“From here…”
“If you pull that stunt one more time, I’ll make sure you never step foot here again.”
“……”
Yuri’s once confident hand meekly fell back.
With his long-held dream denied, Yuri pouted, his lips sticking out in disappointment.
He looked at Coco with a resentful expression and asked,
“…Is there a time limit this time too? Ten minutes?”
“No, the special sale has no time limit. You can come anytime to buy. Ah! But once something’s sold, it won’t be restocked.”
“So the first buyer owns it, huh? Wait, then what about the items from the previous display? Those were the January special sale items, right?”
“There was no special sale in January.”
“Ah, because of the special discount sale. That’s why you called those items display products earlier. Just there to make the display look good.”
“Yes, exactly corr—…”
Coco nodded at Yuri’s explanation without much thought, but then suddenly stopped.
‘Why is this conversation flowing so well?’
Wait a minute…
‘How does a first-year who says it’s their first time using the special sale know so much about it?’
She blinked her eyes.
Once she sensed the first oddity, everything she had brushed off as mere annoyance began to feel strange.
‘It’s possible for a first-year to know about the special sale and come here…’
But to immediately point at the display case and ask for the items?
As if he knew what was there?
Moreover, even after seeing the display case change, he didn’t show the slightest surprise.
That wasn’t the reaction of a first-year using the special sale for the first time.
And then…
‘Did I ever tell him my name?’
She was sure it was a face she was seeing for the first time today.
She hadn’t told him her name, nor mentioned she was working a side job.
Yet, he was speaking about it all so naturally.
‘Among the first-years, the ones I told that were…’
Coco reached out her hand.
The boy was crossing his arms, scrutinizing the display case with a serious expression.
She covered his beautiful face with her palm.
Then, slowly raised her hand, revealing just his lower face, and she spotted something familiar.
“What?”
Swish— Swish— Swish—.
Startled, Coco kept covering and uncovering his face with her palm repeatedly.
Each time, the familiar image grew clearer.
“……?!”
At that moment, the voice and tone he had heard so far finally made Coco realize who the person was.
Coco’s eyes widened in shock, and a small mutter escaped her lips.
“Yuri… Holland?”
Plop.
Coco was so stunned that the cigarette she was holding fell to the floor.
Meanwhile, Yuri, who had been thwarted by Coco from achieving his life goal, shook off his sulky mood and looked at the display case with a keen eye.
‘If that section’s blocked off, I’ll just sweep up everything I can with the points I have!’
Yuri’s total assets in his bank account amounted to roughly 33 million points.
With that amount, Yuri figured he could clear out the entire display case, so his determination flared as his eyes scanned the shelves quickly.
‘First, I need to get some potions or elixirs.’
As Yuri skimmed over the display case, one potion caught his eye.
Low-Grade Mana Enhancement Elixir: 2,500,000P
‘I’ll start with one.’
He had used a low-grade potion like this before. For other 50th-class cadets, spending that many points on a single item would be unthinkable, but Yuri didn’t stop there and quickly continued scanning the display case.
‘Isn’t there more? That’s barely enough to make a dent.’
Yuri had become someone who could no longer be satisfied with just a low-grade potion.
As he kept searching for something better, he soon spotted what he wanted.
But then—
“Sigh…”
What came out of his mouth was not a shout of joy but a curse of disbelief.
“Wow… This is crazy.”
Yuri blinked.
In his vision was a string of letters and numbers.
High-Grade Mana Enhancement Elixir: 10,000,000P
A whopping ten million points.
The moment he saw it, Yuri let out a hollow laugh.
“I was just a rookie.”
Clear out the display case?
With just 33 million points?
Not even close.
If there were a few more high-grade potions in the case, the one to go broke would be his bank account balance.
Clicking his tongue, Yuri glanced at Coco.
“Coco.”
“……”
“Coco?”
Coco, who had been staring blankly at Yuri, snapped out of it when he called her.
She looked at him with eyes full of disbelief.
“You… are you Yuri Holland?”
“What of it?”
“…Is it really true?”
Yuri, realizing why Coco was reacting that way, let out a small sigh.
“Yes, yes, the Yuri Holland from the 50th class who roamed around in that shabby state is indeed me.”
“Oh my god, it really is true! But you said earlier that this was your first time using the special sale!”
“It is my first time, even if I’ve used the special discount sale before. Anyway, that’s not the important thing, Coco.”
“What is?”
“If the prices are like this, do people even buy them?”
Coco glanced at what Yuri had been looking at and smirked as she pulled out another cigarette.
“Way more than you’d think.”
“…For a ten-million-point item?”
“Well, it’s probably too much for fresh-faced newcomers who just entered the Cradle, but as you move up in years, you’ll be able to afford even more expensive things.”
“Oh!”
Yuri finally understood.
‘Well, even that weirdo casually threw down a million points.’
Honestly, that made more sense.
The ridiculous scores of hundreds of millions that made it into the Hall of Fame.
‘Though my case was a bit special, even I earned tens of millions of points after completing the first-year quest.’
With higher-year quests, even more should be possible.
Could you earn hundreds of millions from just one quest?
‘Of course, the more you earn, the more you’ll spend.’
Nodding, Yuri turned his gaze back to the display case.
As he continued to meticulously examine the items, one particular object caught his attention.
Course Enrollment Form: 10,000P
It was an item that felt completely out of place in the Cradle.
Curious about what it was, Yuri glanced at Coco, but she beat him to it.
“I told you, I’m here to sell, not explain.”
Coco’s eyes told Yuri to figure it out himself if he was curious, so he decided not to ask further.
Instead, he thoroughly examined all the display items and nodded.
‘So for February, the only potions available are one low-grade and one high-grade.’
Having finished his assessment, Yuri pointed his finger.
“I’ll take that one, and that one, and also this and this. Oh, and that one over there too.”
In addition to the potions he wanted, Yuri purchased both external and internal medicine to aid in healing wounds.
While completing the recent leather quest, he realized the necessity of emergency supplies.
Meanwhile, Coco squinted her eyes as she watched the items Yuri was selecting.
“All of that?”
Her gaze seemed to question whether he knew how much it all cost, and Yuri flashed a grin.
Then—
Thud!
He pulled out his bank balance certificate from his pocket and confidently slapped it onto the counter.
Coco glanced at the balance.
Her eyes widened slightly, and she clicked her tongue lightly.
“So, that crazy guy who cleared out all the leather in the 50th class integrated quest… that was you, huh?”
Of course, Poppy handled the leather calculations under his name, but since the leather belonged to him, Yuri didn’t bother denying Coco’s statement.
Having confirmed that her customer had the means to pay, Coco handed over the items.
Thud.
“Here, take them. The money will be deducted from your account automatically, so don’t worry.”
Finally, Yuri had the potions in his hands.
Even though he managed to secure both low-grade and high-grade potions, Yuri’s expression was not as bright as one might expect.
More precisely, he was not satisfied.
‘The remaining balance is about 17 million points.’
With that amount, he could easily afford another high-grade potion if one were available.
Yuri smacked his lips and asked,
“These are all the potions, right?”
“These are all the potions available this month.”
“As expected… So if I want to buy more potions, I’ll have to wait until next month.”
But even that was uncertain.
‘Special sale items update every month, but no one knows what will appear.’
This month, there was one of each: low-grade and high-grade. Next month, there might be none, or there could be more than two.
If luck was really bad, there might not be a single potion available for several months.
‘Hmm… should I just be satisfied with getting two this month?’
As Yuri was consoling himself over his disappointment—
“Well, is there really a need to wait until next month?”
“…What?”
At Yuri’s puzzled look, Coco reached under the bar table.
She pulled out a large box.
Thud.
When the black box landed on the counter, Yuri tilted his head in confusion.
“What’s that?”
As if she’d been waiting for that question, Coco flashed a sly grin.
“Luck Box.”
“…Luck Box?”
Yuri repeated after Coco, staring at the large black box before him.
It seemed to beckon him enticingly.