Shopping Frenzy

It was mid-July, the hottest stretch of the year. Even in the early morning, Bunta City's streets turned sweltering as soon as the sun rose.

The whole city seemed to wilt beneath the blazing sun. It looked listless; there were no crowds on the streets, and hardly a sound could be heard.

But on the commercial street in the west of the city, it was another story entirely.

Several hundred people had been streaming into the street, home to more than a hundred shops large and small, since before dawn. Stranger still, every one of them had gathered outside a single store, as though they had planned it.

"Huh? Joseph, what are you doing here?"

"What do you think? If you can come, why can't I? Wait, Aike, are you here to buy a Magic Fan too?"

"Yeah. You said 'too'? You're buying a Magic Fan?"

"Of course. I paid my deposit a week ago!"

Similar conversations broke out throughout the crowd.

As they chatted, everyone discovered that the hundreds of people waiting outside Heinz's General Store, a shop that usually went unnoticed on the commercial street, had all come for Magic Fans!

Only a small number had paid deposits a week earlier and were here to collect their orders. The rest had heard about the Magic Fan through one source or another and rushed over to buy one.

"With this many people here, what if the store doesn't have enough Magic Fans?" someone suddenly asked.

That question brought the casual chatter to an abrupt halt. A moment later, as though sharing a single thought, everyone surged toward the store's doors.

"Stop pushing! I have to bring a Magic Fan home today, or my wife will never let me hear the end of it!"

"Quit shoving! I paid a deposit!"

"Get lost! If you paid a deposit, why the hell are you pushing in with us?"

Xu Yi had delivered five hundred Magic Fans to Heinz's General Store the night before. He and Heinz were counting the stock when a commotion erupted out front. They exchanged a look and headed into the shop.

The moment they opened the door, both men froze in shock.

A dark mass of people poured in like a flood bursting through a dam, packing the little shop in an instant.

"Heinz, where's the Magic Fan I ordered?"

"Hey, boss! I didn't reserve any, but I want two now. No, three!"

"Me too, Heinz! I'm a regular here. You have to sell me two Magic Fans!"

"Who cares if you're a regular? I've got money, so sell me one!"

"If you're only buying one, why are you pushing so hard? Get behind me!"

It was already hot, and the crowd made the shop stifling. Xu Yi had never faced anything like this before, and sweat broke out all over him.

Heinz had never seen such a frenzied crowd of shoppers either. But after years of running the general store, he handled it better than Xu Yi, who usually stayed tucked away in his research room. He quickly steadied himself and shouted, "Everyone, settle down! Settle down! We've prepared five hundred Magic Fans this time. I promise you'll all be able to buy one!"

The figure of five hundred calmed the crowd a little.

But that calm lasted only a blink. Hundreds of people were waiting outside the store. Even if each bought just one Magic Fan, the supply would barely be enough, and plenty had already said they wanted more than one. Five hundred would never cover it.

Once they realized that, the crowd grew even more frenzied.

Seeing this, Heinz knew there was no point saying anything more. He signaled Xu Yi to join Alex, the nephew he had brought in two days earlier, and carry stock from the back courtyard.

Each Magic Fan weighed less than three kilograms, so Xu Yi and Alex could carry ten between them. But the moment they brought ten out, the crowd inside snapped them all up. The two men had no choice but to return to the storeroom.

As Xu Yi and Alex went back and forth between the storeroom and the shop, the four hundred and eighty-seven Magic Fans that had filled the storeroom rapidly dwindled.

Eventually, the people in the shop lost patience with waiting and followed Xu Yi and Alex straight into the courtyard storeroom.

Heinz moved the sales there as well. In less than an hour, every Magic Fan in the storeroom was sold.

More than a hundred people outside still hadn't bought one. When they heard the Magic Fans were sold out, they were bitterly disappointed, and some of the more impatient customers began to complain.

"What kind of lousy shop doesn't stock enough goods?"

At such unreasonable complaints, Xu Yi and Heinz could only exchange wry smiles.

Yet beneath those smiles, both men felt unmistakable satisfaction and relief.

They had thought it might take a long time to sell all four hundred-odd Magic Fans. Instead, every one had gone in less than an hour, to their astonishment.

Heinz had no intention of letting the hundred or so empty-handed customers slip away. After Xu Yi nodded his agreement, Heinz announced that another large shipment of Magic Fans would arrive soon and that anyone who wanted one could place an advance order.

This time, no one hesitated. They all placed orders.

Another half hour passed before the crowd gradually dispersed and quiet finally returned to the general store.

After seeing off the last customer, Heinz immediately pulled Xu Yi into the back room.

Clink, clink—

Heinz shook the money pouch in his hand. A stream of gold coins spilled out, forming a small mountain on the table before them.

Staring at the brilliant golden gleam of that little mountain, Heinz swallowed hard.

There was so much!

It took Heinz a while to calm down enough to count the coins in front of Xu Yi.

They had sold four hundred and eighty-seven Magic Fans that day. At two gold coins each, that came to nine hundred and seventy-four gold coins. But deposits of one gold coin had already been paid on one hundred and thirty-seven of them, and those customers had only paid the balance today. Subtracting those deposits left a total of eight hundred and thirty-seven gold coins.

Heinz counted them. The total was exact.

"Xu... Xu Yi, we've made a fortune today!" Heinz had known what the total should be, but seeing more than eight hundred gold coins before him still left him dizzy.

His general store in Bunta City brought in only a little over three hundred gold coins in an entire year. Yet in a single morning, he had made sales worth more than eight hundred!

He could hardly believe it was real!

Xu Yi appeared far calmer than Heinz, but he felt a small thrill too.

He had been in this world for three years and had never lived comfortably. Money had never mattered all that much to him, but this income would undoubtedly make his life much easier.

After a moment of silence, Xu Yi collected himself, counted four hundred gold coins from the pile, and pushed them toward Heinz.

Heinz stared. "That isn't right, is it?"

Under their agreement, Xu Yi owed Heinz a ten-percent share of the proceeds, or ninety-seven gold coins. Xu Yi had also lacked the money to buy materials for the five hundred Magic Fans and had borrowed two hundred gold coins from Heinz, which he naturally had to repay.

Altogether, Xu Yi owed Heinz about three hundred gold coins. Heinz was surprised to see him push over four hundred instead.

Xu Yi smiled. "It's right. I'd like you to use the extra hundred gold coins to rent me a larger space in the city, so I can produce more Magic Fans. Working out of my home is too inconvenient."

Heinz nodded. The little place Xu Yi rented was only a dozen or so square meters. It was inconvenient indeed.

Xu Yi was about to explain what he needed in more detail when Alex, who had been minding the shop out front, burst in.

"Uncle Heinz, Mr. Xu... Xu Yi, there's... there's a big customer here!"

"A big customer?" Xu Yi and Heinz exchanged puzzled looks. "What do you mean?"

They went to the front of the shop together and immediately understood what Alex had meant.

The visitor was a middle-aged man who looked to be in his forties. He was of average build and unremarkable appearance, but there was a shrewdness about him. Whenever his narrow eyes sized someone up, he looked at them as though they were merchandise.

"One thousand." The middle-aged man, who introduced himself as Reeves, got straight to the point when he saw Heinz and Xu Yi. "I'd like to order one thousand Magic Fans."