Chapter 89: Chapter 89: The More You Chase, the Wider the Gap
A lone figure held an umbrella, strolling leisurely down the bustling, prosperous street.
Whenever she saw a shop that piqued her interest, Faye Yardley would pop in for a look.
Her meandering eventually led her down a small alley and into a little shop with a tiny, aged-looking sign.
The shopkeeper was anything but welcoming. He was slumped over a table and didn’t even lift his head. "Look around yourself."
Surprisingly, there was no Space Magic used inside; it was just a tiny little shop.
The items on display were also a chaotic mess.
She was the only customer. Faye Yardley liked shops like this, and she liked unwelcoming shopkeepers even more, so she really did start to browse, taking her time.
She took a Crossbow down from the wall to inspect it, weighing it in her hands. It was surprisingly light and looked like it would fit perfectly strapped to her arm.
"Shopkeeper, how much for this Crossbow? Do you have the crafting blueprint for its matching Crossbow Arrows?"
"The Crossbow is 30 silver coins. The matching blueprint is 3 gold coins."
Faye Yardley thought for a moment, then asked, "Do you sell the blueprint for the Crossbow itself?"
"No."
"Then how many of these Crossbows do you have?"
Only then did the shopkeeper sit up straight and point to the wall. "They’re all there. The Crossbow Arrows are universally compatible."
Seeing there were only five Crossbows in total, Faye bought all of them.
After buying them and stashing them in her backpack, she prepared to look at other things.
But the shopkeeper reminded her, "You can only buy one more item. This shop’s rule is that one customer can only buy three types of things at a time."
"What if I finish my purchase, leave, and then come back in?"
The shopkeeper looked her up and down. "Nice idea, but no. You can only come back to buy more after ten days."
Faye Yardley: ...
’If I had known... I still would have bought these two things anyway.’
With that, Faye decided to choose her last item carefully.
The things in this shop looked unremarkable, but there was actually quite a lot to see.
Amidst a pile of scroll tubes, she even found several crafting blueprints.
After looking for a long time, Faye chose a crafting blueprint for seawater ice blocks. As long as you had seawater, you could have an endless supply of ice.
All the crafting blueprints were 3 gold coins, so her total spending came to 7 Gold and 50 Silver.
She left the little shop reluctantly. ’I should memorize the route,’ Faye thought. ’Then I can bring my brother and the others over, and it won’t be such a missed opportunity.’
But when she took two steps away and turned back, the little shop was gone.
’It reminded her of the randomly moving Treant Hotel. Holy crap, so all the shops here can just move around whenever they want.’
’Next time I run into that cheap and delicious ice cream cart, I have to buy more. I’ll send it directly to the raft’s storage, so I can have some whenever I want in the future.’
So, for every snack shop, bakery, and fruit stand she came across after that, Faye went in and bought quite a lot.
When she ran into the ice cream cart again on the street, she really did buy it out completely.
The food was all especially cheap, paid for with copper coins.
So, after buying a lot of food, she was only out about a thousand copper.
Thankfully, the docks didn’t move, so Faye really did take the food to the raft first.
"Big Sis, you bought so much food!"
"Mhm, put it all away. Is there any special news on the regional channel?"
"Other than some people who ignored the warnings, didn’t get back to their rafts in time, and fell into the sea, there’s nothing else special."
"The temperature is rising that fast?"
Willow Yardley nodded with a smile. "Big Sis, do you want to make some small wooden boats to sell?"
"If you’re bored and feel like making them, go ahead."
Lastly, Willow said, "Big Sis, you should hurry back to the hotel. Try not to leave it at night. Even though Serenia is a peace-loving city, there are always some who refuse to follow the rules and like to cause trouble after dark."
Faye Yardley raised an eyebrow, recalling that the hotel manager had also given similar advice about returning to the hotel early.
’But why didn’t Willow remind me at the beginning?’
She thought it, and she said it.
"Big Sis, did you forget? I already told you all to find a hotel to stay in as soon as possible."
Faye Yardley grunted in acknowledgment. "Okay, I’m heading off."
As it turned out, she saw the Treant Hotel as soon as she left the docks. She decided to head straight back and happened to run into her brother and Eamon, who were also returning.
Behind them were even the red-haired fatty’s group of three, and the skeleton’s group of seven or eight.
It gave Faye Yardley the illusion that there was actually only one hotel in all of Serenia.
And when he saw her, the red-haired fatty’s eyes lit up. ’We’re not at that mountaintop hotel now,’ he thought. ’I should be able to make a move, right?’
But just as he was about to do something, Faye moved faster, appearing before him. Without any hesitation, she lifted her foot and kicked the fatty straight out of the hotel.
The hotel manager approached with a smile, offering a placating remark, "Guest, did you feel the hotel entrance was too crowded? Please hurry back to your room and rest."
Faye grunted in acknowledgment. "Next time, don’t let so many people crowd the entrance. It gets stuffy."
"As the guest says." The hotel manager led the way, respectfully escorting Faye’s group of three into the elevator.
The skeleton’s Merfolk companion clicked his tongue twice. "Figures. When it comes to being unreasonable, this girl is exactly like Island Master Nash."
The skeleton person glanced at the red-haired fatty struggling to get up from the ground outside the hotel and chuckled dryly. ’A piece of trash like that still clamoring about wanting to kill someone. He must think he has too long to live, coming out looking for trouble.’
"Sis, didn’t you say we couldn’t just attack people here?"
Faye Yardley blinked innocently. "I didn’t use my hands. I just used my foot."
Ethan Yardley: ...
"Big Sis has a point. No one said you couldn’t use your feet." Eamon was truly always ready to back her up.
Back in the room, she first checked on Yvonne Lynch, who was still asleep. Faye stretched, went directly to the adjoining room, closed the door, took a shower, and went to sleep with peace of mind.
It had been an eventful day, and she slept soundly through the night.
When she got up and went out the next day, she unexpectedly ran into the red-haired fatty again. Faye Yardley smiled and even took the initiative to say, "Morning. What a coincidence."
"M-Morning," the red-haired fatty stammered, his stomach instantly starting to ache faintly again.
Ethan Yardley asked, "Where are we planning to go today?"
Faye Yardley shrugged. "No destination. Just going to wander around. Why, are you in a hurry to go back?"
After a moment’s thought, Faye gave her brother one Gold Coin to open a system-provided savings account, then transferred another 99 Gold over to him.
"Bro, go have some fun on your own. Feel free to buy whatever little things you want."
Ethan Yardley couldn’t help but marvel at his sister’s wealth. ’This is so weird. How on earth is she playing this game? Why is there such a huge gap between us?’
’And I get the feeling that the more I try to catch up, the wider the gap gets. That’s not just my imagination, is it?’
Yvonne Lynch, head lowered and looking dazed, spoke up after Ethan Yardley and Eamon had left. "Big Sis, can I go back to the raft first?"
"Oh, of course. Do you need me to take you back?"
"No, I can manage on my own."
Faye Yardley felt that Yvonne Lynch had been acting strangely ever since they ran into that person from the Zombie Clan yesterday.
’But everyone has their secrets. Prying too deeply can easily cause a falling out.’
Watching Yvonne’s dazed yet determined back as she left, Faye Yardley’s brow furrowed slightly.
Zane walked over, step by step, his voice gentle. "Princess, it is time for you to return."
