[Samira Hanique has contributed 20 Blessed Stones for the purchase.]

[Dale Stoudenmire has contributed 19 Blessed Stones for the purchase.]

[Jay Lyon has contributed 19 Blessed Stones for the purchase.]

[Balance: 76 Blessed Stones.]

 

“I didn’t know your last name was Lyon,” Rick said reading the notifications pop out before him.

“Yeah. Last Names don’t matter much nowadays,” Jay replied offhandedly.

There was no way to find out if the others had pitched in their entire amount or not, but at the end of it all, Rick only had seventy-six Blessed Stones to spend for buying the plot. With everyone in agreement to have a partnership for the shop, he quickly started searching for a viable land to buy. 

“Let’s not even waste our time looking at the plots closer to the Temple,” Rick mumbled.

The price of the plots closer to the Temple was so extravagant that he couldn’t imagine anyone being able to afford it. It was only after scrolling a good distance away, he finally started to see affordable places.

“Alright, there are more than enough places left,” he said, breathing a sigh of relief. 

After a short search, they eventually landed on the properties within their budget but they were a good 20-30 kilometres.

“Damn this place is far,” Jay said. He was right, the affordable plots were at least twenty kilometres away from the Temple. “Just reaching this place from the Temple will take us an hour!”

That was the nature of real-estate. The places closer to we Temple would see more-footfall. 

“We just have to get two teleportation-circles,” Samira said. “and change the teleportation location.”

The default location that everyone teleported when they reached the Blessed Exchange was the Temple. But if they had a second teleportation-circle kept at the Blessed Exchange, they could automatically change the spot where the teleported. 

Although the place was far, there wasn’t any other option either. So, they finally found a plot to their satisfaction. On one hand, it was a little pricy, but compared to the others, it was located fairly close to the main road that ran straight from the temple.

 

[Plot No. 32301-A]

[Price: 72 Blessed Stones]

[Confirm Purchase?]

 

Rick looked at the others and with no one raising any objection, he took a deep breath and selected to purchase. 

 

[Please designate a name to confirm purchase.]

 

A new screen popped up.

“Done?” Samira asked with a curious look. 

“No, we have to give our business a name.”

 “Just our initials should do. Just enter it as JSRD,” Dale suggested. 

“Nope. I veto it,” Jay said in rejection. “No one’s gonna come to a place called JSRD. We have to have a catchy name. How about the Fourth Musketeer?”

Rick didn’t even get a chance to consider the option before it was rejected.

“Why musketeers? People might mistake us for gun sellers,” said Samira said. 

“Actually, what are we going to sell?”

“Quick people. Before someone else buys this as well,” Rick hurried the group along. The conversation rapidly went off-course – from deciding on a name to talking about what they would be selling. He realised it was no point hoping everyone would reach a consensus.

 “What are we selling exactly?” Jay continued. 

“Not now Jay, we’ll talk about it later,” Rick stopped the conversation. 

They had to finalise on what they would stock up at the shop and who would man it. But that was just another item on his ever-growing list of things to do later. The Blessed Exchange had thrown in so many changes this time around that it was difficult to process everything at such a rapid pace. If given the chance, he too would have preferred to iron out all the details first. But with the limited time on his hands, he couldn’t afford it. The only thing he could do was pray that everything went over smoothly. 

“Wait, I got it, how about Sellers? It’s broad, doesn’t limit us to one particular thing. We can be a general store of sorts, where you can find anything,” Samira suggested with a sudden flash of inspiration. 

He liked the logic behind this option. 

Naming things was not his strong suit, after all. He named a firebird Pip. So, he felt it best if the others took charge of the decision anyway.

It was the first name that was not opposed immediately, and he immediately entered it.

 

[The name Suppliers has already been taken.]

[Please choose another!]

 

“It’s already taken. We have to choose another,” Rick announced. 

 “How about Suppliers? The Blessed Exchange Suppliers?” 

“No, please no. Reminds me of those morons from the Celestial Devotees. Let’s do just Suppliers?” said Dale rejecting Jay’s suggestion.

“Wait,” Rick said, in a flash of inspiration, “How about the Hero’s Suppliers? Maya keeps calling us Heroes, it can be kind of fun,” Rick said unsurely.

“The Hero’s Supplier? Alright, I like it. Adding onto my suggestion,” Jay acquiesced immediately, giving Rick a thumbs up.

“Is it available?” Samira asked. 

 

[Name: The Hero’s Supplier]

[Plot No. 32301-A]

[Price: 72 Blessed Stones]

[Confirm Purchase?]

 

“Yep, it’s available,” Rick declared.  

“Alright, just purchase it quickly will you,” said Dale. 

Rick accepted the purchase agreement.

 

[Congratulations!] 

[Plot No. 32301-A: The Hero’s Supplier has been purchased successfully!]

 

It wasn’t just Rick, everyone else sitting received the same message.

“It’s done. Congratulations boys… and girl. We just bought land in the apocalypse,” Jay cheered aloud.

“Under ordinary circumstances, I would say we should open a bottle or something. But liquor has become a rarity now,” Dale said. Although he remained seated, unlike the rest of them, the content smile on his face was giving.

“And they don’t have much of an effect either,” piqued Jay.

Haring this, Rick immediately drew his consciousness into his storage ring. Over time, the almost empty space had become cluttered with quite a few things, but even then, it wasn’t too hard to find what he was looking for. 

“As a matter of fact, I do have some,” he said, drawing out two bottles he had taken from the Cock and Haunch Pub. “What do you want guys, whiskey or rum?”

“Wow, nice going dude,” Jay said grabbing the whiskey bottle off his hand. 

“Okay just don’t overdo it. We’re still at a Temple,” Samira said before grabbing the other bottle.

“This is nice,” Rick murmured, looking around the happy faces. It was a nice moment to see everyone he cared about enjoying happily. Rick looked back at the name flashing on his screen, The Hero’s Suppliers. 

It wasn’t a prophetic name, neither did it have a deeper meaning to it. It was just something they had spitballed. 

“But what the hell, it’s alright,” Rick chuckled. 

 

*

The happy expressions only lasted a few minutes, their enhanced Vitality could easily handle the alcohol. 

But, after the momentary rush, it started to dawn on them that they basically bought a cheap plot of land ways away from the Temple and with little guarantee of success. 

“It’s not too bad really. At least we have a place. Might not be that great, but something’s better than nothing, right?” Rick said.

 “It’s just that I was expecting something more. I was all pumped up and all we got was an empty group some twenty-kilometres away,” Jay said picking grass from the ground.

“We can make this work!” Rick spoke hoping to motivate them again. “If we have something good to sell, people will buy!”

“I guess,” said Dale with a shrug.

 “If you look at it, it’s not completely bad,” Samira suddenly said, turning to look at them. 

All this while Rick had noticed her looking at her system screen with an intent look.

“You don’t have to try and cheer us, Sammy. We know what we bought,” Jay chuckled. 

“No, I am serious. Check our neighbours,” Samira said. “Almost everyone that has been bought a property is within 200 Blessed Stones and below.”

“What?” 

“Yeah. Almost all the plots above 200 Blessed Stones are unsold,” she continued.

Rick opened the Blessed Exchange Map. To his surprise, Samira was right! Most of the properties closer to the Temple were still unsold, except for a few aberrant cases like someone called Diem that bought a plot just a few blocks away from the temple. 

“You’re right!”

“Look at this. Whoever the Abeha’s are, they bought three properties,” Samira continued. “Abeha-1, Abeha-2 and Abeha-3. They have one worth 250 Blessed Stones, another worth 150 Blessed Stones and the third here worth 40 Blessed Stones. If they wanted, they could buy one worth 400 Blessed Stones at a place further up ahead.” Samira explained.

“Wow!” Jay exclaimed, speaking what was on everyone’s mind. 

“So, you see-”

“I knew you were the smarter of the two sis,” Rick said patting her sister and almost lurching Pip off her hands in the process. 

It made sense now. If it was true for places closer to the Temple to be more expensive, it was also true that most people wouldn’t be able to afford it. Since most people didn’t have much money, they would only be able to buy properties that were further away from the Temple. This meant that no matter what else, most of the humans would end up crowding near the cheaper areas alone! As such even the wealthy groups gave up on buying the more expensive plots and instead settled with buying cheaper places instead!

This was truly an unexpected windfall! He felt a little embarrassed that his correct decision was a stroke of fortune rather than a calculated move, but still, it was a win he was more than happy to accept. 

“But we still have to build the place you know,” Dale said. “All we got was an empty plot.”

“And decide what we’re going to sell as well!” Jay added on. 

Rick closed his eyes and gave a deep sigh. Just when one goal was completed two other popped up right at the next moment.