Entering the store and slamming the door and its bolts shut with a swiftness I haven’t had since nearly getting caught yanking it in the middle school bathrooms, and started to get my breathing under control. I was not in a good state, don’t get me wrong the encounter with those biting bushes could have gone much worse but I didn’t get out unscathed. I noticed this after slowly sliding down the door to sit as a wave of fatigue washed over me the moment my adrenalin began to leave my body. After sitting on the ground for a bit and calming myself down I wanted to stand up only to realise that my left ankle was in pain feeling like its been thrashed around and mauled which it was. Taking off my boot and getting a closer look told me nothing really, I didn’t have any open wounds which is good and every time I moved my foot it hurt but felt no bones clicking or anything.

Though I did find a broken-off tooth embedded into the side of my shoe sole. Once again not knowing anything about animals I immediately pronounced it a wolf-fang tooth-looking thing and left it at that.

Looking back to my foot, I decided that in my non-existent expert medical opinion, I diagnose myself with a sprained ankle, as that’s what came up when I described my symptoms to the internet on my phone. Well, a sprained ankle or cancer and I have 3 days left to live I am pretty sure those leafy wolves are not radioactive even if they are very green and deadly. However, even after all of that I still had this weird sinking feeling in my gut telling me something was off I mean I did leave the front door unlocked but I don’t think woodland critters are able to open and close a door. So what is it that’s making me so nervous, I didn’t forget any of my kit back in town and a quick check of my pack confirmed that so what was it? Thinking while trying to get myself upright and not putting too much weight on my leg, and just as I was about to get upright it hit me like a baseball bat to the back of my head.

I got the customers, I got their interest and I have something no one else has in that market... but I don’t have any way they can pay. I mean yea sure they could pay me in their coins and all, but they may as well be on the same level of Disney bucks when it comes to using them back in the good ol US of A.

“Fuck” I cursed at my stupidity of forgetting one of the most basic things when selling your product to someone, get something of value in return. What kind of value can I even get from them; FURS???

I mean finding a buyer is already gonna be a pain, not to mention a buyer who doesn’t mind me getting them from an unknown foreign source, not to mention the potential lawsuits I can get served with if those furs carry any diseases or make someone sick. Can’t import anything else they have for the same reasons unless I can get my hands on those gold coins which might be valuable only problem is that the inhabitants of the little town never even use denominations that high.

“AAAAAARH” I screamed in frustration looking around to throw something I spied the broken wolf fang. Grabbing it and throwing it against the wall did help me relax in some part of my primal monkey brain but frustration still lingered within me slowly turning to dread as I began to wonder how I’m going to pay the bills from now on.

*VRRRRM* *CRUNCH* *PLINK*

I was torn away from my musings by the sounds that suddenly filled my shop. Looking around for the source of the sudden noise I saw how the industrial bread slicer thingamabob was on, or at least looked like it was on with its green blinking light. Pulling myself up by making use of the door handles I stood up and limped towards the curious machine. Standing in front of the odd contraption I looked to see if anything had changed.

Outer structure: nope still looks like a bread slicer.

Inner components: still looks like a black endless void on both the intake pipe and output shoot.

Lights: blinking green

Consensus: it's on and I think that’s all that changed-

Is what I would have said if not for the fact that a little sparkle caught my eye on the machine's output shoot. Bending town and trying to get a better look at what the hell it might be revealed it to be a small speck of gold but how. Does this machine just spit out small golden flakes now and then because if so that’s cool but not gonna be enough to keep my life afloat. Maybe I can sell that tooth to a local university and fake it being from a new kind of coyote that could possibly keep my store afloat. Now if only I knew where that tooth went.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

After looking for an embarrassingly long time trying to find one singular wolf tooth I gave up trying to discover where it had landed. Even more embarrassingly is how long it took me to put two (the wolf fang missing) and two (the machine suddenly springing to life and producing a speck of gold) together about what happened. Apparently, I am great at hitting things in blind panic or rage with aimed shots being my weakness, as I seem to have managed to throw that fang into the machine which turned it into gold. Now while I was feeling like an idiot for a while an actually smart revelation popped up in my mind telling me that my monetary issue has been solved as customers simply throw whatever they need into the machine and out pops gold. Gold which they can then use to buy my things, and I can then in turn sell the gold to cash for gold or something... gonna have to work on that part of the plan.

Small plan hick ups aside the path before me is now clear I must simply follow it. Or at least I’m going to be following it tomorrow as I am pooped and can’t do much with this damn ankle, hopefully, some bed rest will cure it.

The next day I woke up early and ate another breakfast of dried jerky and nuts (I really need to get some regular groceries) and made my way down the stairs with difficulty because my ankle was still a little sore. I opened the doors ready to open up for the day and immediately swore.

“FUCK” I had completely forgotten about the two dead wolf things in front of my building, and as a business major I can say with certainty that dead corpses do not make a store approachable.

I dragged both corpses with great difficulty around the back out of the way where their shrubbery-like fur would easily camouflage them not requiring me to look for a good hiding place. Since the climate here is quite cold here the corpses should hold for a while until I found out what I could do with them and limped back into the store. After clearing away the two wolf corpses I made my way to one of the cashier desks, on the desk stood an old-timey-looking cash register but upon closer inspection would reveal that much like the store it too was more than it seemed. This cash register was like others you may have seen except for what seemed to be a scale attached to it with a small display to display weight and a chute which would give the customer their change. Opening the cash register's cash drawer I place a couple of bills and coins into it hoping that through some magical bullshit, it will convert my money into useable change with me needing to get creative if not.

And so my first real day starts, sitting and waiting to see who or what comes through those doors to become my first customer. And so I waited, and waited, aaaaaaaaand waited and just as I was about to finally lose all hope of getting anybody through the front door today someone finally entered the store.

“Hello there,” I say greeting them.

“Hi” came a reply in a feminine voice belonging to a female halfling.

Who else to be my first customer than someone from the bar I made my first appearance in, more specifically it was the barmaid.

“I guess you’re looking for the snacks I showed you guys yesterday,” I say with a smile.

She nods.

“Alright, snacks are in aisle 1 just through the metallic gate” I explain telling her where to go.

“Oh and before I forget my store is a bit more special than I previously let on, see that machine to the right of you.” I point to the magical machine.

She looks and nods back at me.

“Right just throw whatever cash you are planning to use on this shopping trip, as I don’t accept coin here and instead use what comes out of the machine.”

“Why that,” she asks.

“Have no use for it, simple as that” this seemed to placate her for the time being and she popped a few coins into the top hopper. Though it has just occurred to me that I am going to need some step ladders for these folks or otherwise the stuff I put onto the top shelf will never be sold.