Ben sighed as he leaned back in his rickety wooden chair, eyes lingering on the shop's cashbox - or rather, the empty space where it usually sat. Just two days prior, a pair of gruff debt collectors had stormed in to claim the box's entire contents as recompense for loans Ben had taken out decades before(in Ben's timeline standard). Of course, he had completely forgotten about the debts over his long absence. But the collectors certainly hadn't, and now all of Ben's precious reserve coins were gone.

His stomach rumbled angrily in response. With no more money to his name, Ben hadn't eaten in nearly two days. Yet the hunger pangs were little more than an annoyance compared to the other dilemma before him - an odd, translucent blue box hovering at the edge of his vision. Golden symbols and numbers glowed from its misty surface:

"Shopkeeper System"

Activation Cost: 5,000 bronze coins profit

Reward: ???

Ben leaned forward with interest as he examined the mystical interface. It was some kind of magical sales tracker, though he couldn't begin to guess its purpose. All he knew for certain was that once he turned a profit of 5,000 bronze coins, something would happen. Something intriguing enough to justify the absurd asking price.

Under normal circumstances, earning that sum would be trivial for a normal marchent. A few masterfully crafted potions or enchanted charms could fetch ten times as much from the right buyer. But Ben's predicament was far from normal. With his magic sealed away by the mysterious suppression field, he was little more than a peddler of mundane trinkets. Still, a profit was a profit - magical or not. He simply needed the right merchandise to appeal to this bustling market crowd.

Stepping outside his shop, Ben's eyes scanned the marketplace streets. Colorful tents and elaborately decorated carts lined the avenues as far as he could see. Throngs of prospective customers browsed the offerings, chattering excitedly about their finds. Ben observed them closely, pondering what goods might attract buyers back to his own dreary stall.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

"I need to target a specific group first," he muttered under his breath. It was sound business advice - play to your strengths rather than spreading yourself thin trying to appeal to everyone. The real question was, which group would be both easy to please and eager to spend?

Ben's gaze settled on a gaggle of noisy children hovering around a cake stall. They jumped and hollered, tugging their parents' sleeves, begging for sweets and toys. Most of the adults appeared rather flustered by their young ones' zealous demands.

"Children..." Ben thought for a moment before shaking his head with a sigh. "Far too rambunctious and annoying." Their incessant clamoring already grated his nerves from twenty paces away. Providing wares to indulge such noise was not an enticing business prospect.

He pondered his options a bit longer as he observed the flowing market crowds. Perfumes and scarves to court the young ladies? Enchanted tools for the laborers and tradesmen? After a few minutes, inspiration struck. Ben hurried back inside his shop with fresh purpose.

If yelling childrens were an irritation, then who typically dealt with handling irritated children? Why, their parents of course! And what did parents universally crave more than anything? A moment of peace and quiet!

Ben swiftly gathered an assortment of his most colorful and noisy trinkets into a cloth bundle, whistling tops, and mini tambourines - loud, obnoxious, and above all, distracting. Just the sort of items to thoroughly captivate a bored child's attention.

He crossed back to his counter and arranged a simple sign beside the bundle:

Parents Exasperated by Noisy Children?

Here is the Solution!

As he gave his display a final satisfied nod, Ben noticed subtle movement from the corner of his eye. The blue interface box displaying the Shopkeeper System readout had changed. Where once it simply showed the activation cost, new lines of text had appeared:

Current Earnings: 0

Items Sold: 0

"A sales tracker indeed," Ben murmured. This mystical program was tied directly to his shop's real-time profits. Each transaction would increment that "Items Sold" counter, pushing him closer to the 5,000 bronze coin goal.

Ben straightened with growing excitement, scarcely minding his gnawing hunger. Let the parents come! Let the children wail! He had a business to rebuild, an enchanted system to unlock, and hopefully a hot meal at the end of it all. The day's opportunity had arrived, and Ben was eager to seize it. All that remained was luring in his first customers after 20 long years away...