The smell of victory was not as good as one expected it to be.
"It's fucking sticky," Chris complained, scraping a shovel across the concrete floor of the basement.
"Why is it so sticky?"
"Because it was made of garbage and slime," Julien said, holding his nose with his good hand while pointing a flashlight at the corner.
"Just keep scraping. We can't have our headquarters smelling like a garbage truck."
"The abyss cares not for hygiene," Alice muttered.
She was sitting on a crate, watching them work without contributing anything.
In her fingers, she wore the [Ring of the Void], and occasionally she would nod as if listening to an invisible podcast in her mind.
"The abyss might not care, but customers do," Julien corrected.
"Alice, can you... I don't know, summon a ghostly beautiful maid? A skeletal janitor to clean this mess?"
Alice looked offended. "I am a Necromancer of the highest order. I do not have cleaning ladies but summon warriors of the dark to start a war."
"What about Mr Nibbles?" Chris asked, wiping sweat from his forehead.
Alice sighed.
She raised her hand slowly, the blue gemstone on her ring pulsing with a faint red light.
"Rise," she commanded lazily.
"And... scrub the floor."
From the shadows, a small, skeletal hamster hurried out.
It was followed by three skeletal rats.
They didn't have mops, but they began frantically pushing the remaining piles of dried salt-foam toward the drain with their tiny, bony hands.
"They are cute," Chris said, watching the undead rodents work hard.
"Slightly terrifying, but cute."
It took three hours to make the basement habitable.
By the time they were done, the "Shape-Shifter" was nothing more than a memory and a few stains on the floor.
The random shit it had eaten, broken swords, boots, license plates, was piled in the corner for Julien to sell it later as originals or remnants.
"Okay," Julien dusted off his hands. "Upstairs. It's time for a meeting."
The ground floor of the Eternal Rest Antique was still dusty, but with the windows unboarded, the afternoon sun illuminated the space.
It actually had more potential than he thought.
The shelves were sturdy oak, the counter was flexible, and the atmosphere was perfectly spooky for the kind of people Julien wanted to attract.
They gathered around a small, round table that Alice had dragged down from her living quarters.
Julien sat on a stool, Chris sat on a crate because he broke the first stool he tried to sit on, and Alice curled up in an armchair that looked like it belonged to a vampire queen.
"Alright," Julien began, placing his phone on the table.
"First order of business: We are going to assign roles."
He pointed to Chris.
"Chris. You are the tank of our team whose job is to carry heavy things, intimidate unruly customers, and punch anything that tries to eat us. You are the Head of Security."
Chris puffed out his chest, his beard bristling. "Head of Security. I like it, but do I get a badge?"
"I'll buy you a badge," Julien promised.
"Next. Alice the necromancer."
Alice looked up from playing with her ring. "I am the Dark Mistress of-"
"You are our base management and defence," Julien interrupted.
"Your job is to make sure nobody breaks in while we're sleeping or outside doing business. I want you to set up... spells? Traps? Whatever you Necromancers do."
"Bone traps," Alice nodded enthusiastically.
"I can bury bones under the floorboards, so if anyone without a 'Key' enters, skeletal hands will grab their ankles and drag them into the earth."
Julien blinked at the explanation.
"Okay, maybe dial it back to 'grab their ankles and hold them until Chris arrives.' We don't want to murder the mailman just for doing his job."
"Fine," Alice pouted. "Non-lethal ankle grabbing. So boring."
"And your second job," Julien continued, "is to look creepy as hell."
"Excuse me?"
"We're selling high-end, mysterious items," Julien explained, gesturing to the empty shelves.
"Ambience is everything. If customers walk in and see a Necromancer with glowing eyes lurking in the shadows, they'll think our products are more authentic and trustworthy, so you are the luck charm."
Alice considered this.
"So I get paid to sit in the dark and judge people?"
"Exactly."
"I accept this heavy burden."
"And finally," Julien pointed to himself.
"I am the Supplier and producer of the group who sources the goods, I handle the sales, and manage the finances."
He unlocked his phone and opened the calculator app, then stared at the numbers.
Current Balance: 3,665 Credits.
Estimated Renovations: 1,000 Credits.
Food Budget (including ribs): 500 Credits/week.
Bribes/Emergency Fund: ???
Julien frowned at his budget.
He typed in some numbers, deleted them, then typed them again.
"What's wrong?" Chris asked, leaning over.
"Math is hard?"
"It's not that," Julien rubbed his temples.
"It's the logistics. If we start moving real money, like ten thousand, fifty thousand credits, we're going to need to launder it. The Guilds tracks large transactions, and if the revenue officers of this place find out an F-Rank and a bouncer are making millions, we're going to jail for tax evasion."
"Tax evasion?" Chris looked horrified. "That's how they got all the S rank hunters in their pockets"
"Which hunter?" Alice asked.
"A famous gangster," Chris explained. "He punched a lot of people, but he forgot to hire an accountant."
"Exactly," Julien said.
"I can make the deals, but I can't manage the books and the inventory and the legal loopholes. We need a Chief Financial Officer."
"Can't we just hire one?" Chris asked.
"We can't hire a normal accountant," Julien said.
"We need someone crooked like us. Someone who knows how to hide money in the Cayman Islands of the Hunter World. Someone who won't ask why our inventory appears out of thin air."
"My uncle was an accountant," Alice offered. "But he died."
"Can you summon his spirit?" Julien asked half-jokingly.
"I tried once," Alice shrugged. "He just complained about my spending habits and tried to audit my soul. It was very annoying. I banished him to the depths of hell."
Julien sighed.
"Okay. Put a pin in the accountant problem. For now, I'll handle the math. If I start crying over a spreadsheet, just bring me a chocolate."
"Done," Chris said.
"Now," Julien stood up and walked to the dirty window, looking out at the street.
"Phase Two: Inventory."
He turned back to them.
"We have the location and the team. But right now, we're a shop with empty shelves. I need to stock up."
"What are we selling?" Chris asked. "More beauty potions?"
"No," Julien shook his head. "The beauty market is flooded now. Lady Celestia and her friends have bought the supply, and scarcity is gone for the moment. We need a new hook."
He tapped his chin.
"District 9 is dangerous. The Hoven is right there. Hunters here are poor, desperate, and using equipment that is barely held together with duct tape. They don't need to look pretty. They need to survive."
"So... weapons?" Chris guessed.
"Weapons are good," Julien agreed. "But weapons are expensive to buy in bulk. And the Guilds control the weapon trade tightly. If we start selling swords, the 'Silver Fangs' will come knocking again."
"Let them come," Chris cracked his knuckles. "I have a beard now."
"We can't fight an entire Guild, Chris. Not with your beard."
Julien paced the floor.
"We need something small. Consumable. Something every hunter needs but hates buying because it's too expensive at the official stores."
"Beer?" Alice suggested.
"Potions," Julien said, eyes lighting up. "But not health potions. Utility Potions."
He opened his System Store.
[Search: Utility Potions (Tier 1)]
[Potion of Cat's Eye] - Allows the user to see in the dark for 1 hour. Cost: 5 Credits.
[Potion of Iron Skin] - Increases physical defence by 20% for 30 minutes. Cost: 8 Credits.
[Stamina Tonic] - Instantly restores 50% stamina. Cost: 6 Credits.
"Look at this," Julien showed them the screen, which they couldn't see, so he just narrated.
"A Cat's Eye potion costs 5 credits for me to buy, and do you know how much the Guild sells 'Night Vision Goggles' for?"
"Five hundred," Chris said. "And they break if you drop them."
"Exactly. We sell the Cat's Eye for... fifty credits. That's a 900% profit margin, but it's still ten times cheaper than the competition."
"And since it's a potion," Alice added, "They have to keep coming back to buy more. It's a subscription model."
"Alice," Julien smiled. "You have the soul of a capitalist."
"The voices teach me many things," she said darkly.
"Okay," Julien clapped his hands. "Here is the plan."
[Operation: Open for Business]