After a few days of hard work, Rogg's inn had finally been transformed into "The Drug Store". Cole and Rogg were admiring it from the outside.
"Beautiful!"
Above the front door was a white banner, with "The Drug Store" written using green paint. To the right of the text was a hand-drawn cannabis leaf. Cole was quite proud of his work.
A few passersby were already showing interest in the newly designed inn. No one had ever heard of a "Drug Store" before, and they were curious about the weird leaf.
Inside the store, the cafeteria had been turned into a cannabis store, and the reception desk worked as a cash register. Cole had spent hours harvesting the cannabis plants into one gram nugs. He didn't have a scale, but through his many years of smoking, he had learned to guess the weight of weed within 95% accuracy. He had also made sure not to include any seeds and instead stored them to be sold later. In total, they had well over a thousand one gram nugs with still a lot left over to harvest.
"Alright! We're ready to open! Rogg, I'll need you to sell one of these nugs for a silver each. I'll handle getting the customers."
"Are you sure about this? Isn't a silver for just one of these a crazy high price? Didn't we pay that amount for an entire plant?"
"Trust me, as long as people aren't struggling to buy food, they will spend every penny left over on weed. I know that from experience. Our store is the only place in town that provides it, so we make up the price. I wouldn't be surprised if we run out before Artyom delivers the rest of our plants."
The Drug Store was ready to be opened. All that was left was advertising. Cole had come up with a perfect low-cost method. It was free samples. He was going to give each passerby a hit off an apple pipe and hoped they would get addicted. This method killed two birds with one stone, as it taught people how to smoke weed and promoted the Drug Store at the same time. After all, it would be difficult to sell weed if no one knew it was supposed to be smoked.
Cole loaded the apple pipe with as little weed as possible to get people high. He wanted people to feel the effects, but not get high enough so they could possibly have a bad trip. Now it was time to start offering it to passersby. Cole wasn't too happy about having to advertise publicly, as he considered himself an introvert, but it had to be done in order to get customers in.
"Free samples at the Drug Store!"
"Visit the Drug Store for one free sample!"
People were immediately interested. It seemed like everyone was really fond of the word "free". A few passersby were already considering checking the store out.
"Did he just say free stuff? Are the new store owners completely crazy?"
"Should we go check it out?"
"Yes, you heard that right! Free samples at the Drug Store!"
It was working like a charm. Within minutes, curious passersby were already lined up for the free samples. The first customer was a young adult male with shabby looking clothing.
"Are you really giving this out for free? There isn't a catch right?"
"There's no catch! You can have one sample for completely free! Only one for each person though."
Cole showed the man how to use an apple pipe. It proceeded smoothly, and the man took a hit. It seemed like demons were naturally attracted to cannabis, as the guy immediately felt high.
"Wow, this is amazing! Can I get some more?"
"Yes! The Drug Store sells all the weed you can smoke at a cheap price! Make sure to get some before it's gone!"
The man obviously didn't want to spend money to get more. He looked like a teenager who was trying to save money but really wanted the expensive tattoo all of his friends were getting. Cole's prediction was right though, as the man decided to buy cannabis instead.
"Damn... I was supposed to buy some food... Well, fuck it."
Holy crap, this is working way better than I thought! That guy is already addicted even though he started smoking under a minute ago. No wonder people call it the devil's lettuce.
Selling weed was way easier than Cole could have ever imagined. Over 90% of the people who took a free sample proceeded to buy at least a gram and more often than not taking multiple. At this rate, they would be sold out in under a week.
People kept lining up non-stop. In just a few hours, the Drug Store had sold well over a hundred grams of weed. It wouldn't take long until the whole town was addicted. Even a lot of people struggling to buy food decided to buy weed from the Drug Store instead.
Sigh... At this rate, we'll be sold out and leave the people without weed for a few months. I really hope Artyom can grow them quickly.
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It was now getting late, but a lot of customers were still lined up. The Drug Store had been open for over eight hours and sold countless grams of weed. Cole had been working all day and wanted to take a break. That's when a rich-looking person came to check out the ruckus. He seemed to be an important person, as everyone on line immediately got out of his way. People showed signs of confusion and started whispering to each other.
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"What's the Duke doing here at the Drug Store?"
"Does he also want a free sample?"
Everyone went quiet as the rich person approached Cole, who was standing in front of the store. Cole wasn't too happy about someone bypassing the line and was about to tell him off but decided not to, as this person seemed like an important guest. He was an older man with black horns and looked a little distressed. Cole felt like he'd seen the guy somewhere before.
Don't tell me he's here to shut the place down? Is selling weed illegal after all?
Cole tried to act casually. He was obviously scared of the rich person. He sucked at speaking respectfully and tried his best to not offend him.
"Welcome to the Drug Store! I'm one of the owners, my name is Cole! What's your name sir?"
"Good evening Cole! My name is Howard Lennox. I'm the Duke of this town. You must be new around here since you didn't recognize me."
"Oh, You're a Duke? Well... nice to meet you! You are correct, I just moved here a few weeks ago. Are you here for a free sample?"
Cole was sweating bullets. He had absolutely no experience talking to nobility and tried to come up with something respectful to say. Instead, he completely butchered his sentence. Luckily, the Duke didn't seem to be too bothered by his choice of words. In fact, he was talking quite casually as well.
"Haha, I was just walking around town on my break and stumbled across your new store! I saw a bunch of people lined up and decided to come check it out."
Thank fuck! He isn't here to shut down the place. This could be a good opportunity to sell him some weed.
Cole quickly came up with a plan to make lots of money. The person in front of him was the city's Duke. That meant he would have lots of connections to nobles and other rich people. Selling weed in bulk to nobles would bring in tons of profit.
The first thing is obviously to get him baked as fuck.
"In that case, do you want to head inside? I'll show you around the store."
After inviting the Duke inside, Cole yelled out towards the people in line.
"The Drug Store is closed for today! We'll be open right away tomorrow morning!"
Cole decided to close the Drug Store for the day and instead focused on bigger profits through the Duke. He wanted to have a break anyway and this was a good excuse to do so. There were still over 20 people waiting in line to get a free sample, and they weren't too happy to have waited for nothing. It couldn't be helped though, as the store had been open for over eight hours already without any breaks.
Cole and the Duke entered the store and saw Rogg sitting on the cash register with a huge smile.
"Welcome to the Drug Store!... Ehh! The Duke!"
Rogg was beyond surprised at the success of the Drug Store. He thought Cole had set the prices way too high, and the business would once again fail. Instead, not only were customers flowing in left and right, but Cole had somehow attracted the town's Duke as well.
"This is the second owner, Rogg! This place used to be an inn run by him up until now."
"Oh yes, I remember the old inn. Glad to meet you Rogg! So, what kind of business is the Drug Store?"
"We sell a medicine called cannabis. It's used for all kinds of purposes. Do you want to try it out?"
For fuck's sake, I hate speaking formally. Hopefully, it's going to be worth it if he brings in rich customers.
Cole was already getting pissed off while talking to Howard. It was critical to get him high as soon as possible.
Cole proceeded to feed cannabis to the Duke's mouth. It went smoothly, and the Duke took a hit off the apple pipe. As expected, the Duke also liked it. One serving wasn't going to be enough; however, as Cole wanted him to be as baked as a pie. It would be way easier to deal with him once he was high and relaxed.
"Come on, take another hit! This one's on the house."
"Can I? Thank's a lot Cole! It's already working great! I no longer feel stressed out from overworking myself."
It seemed like two bowls was the sweet spot. Howard was baked enough to be relaxed, but not overcooked to the point of being impossible to reason with. It was time to make an offer.
"So Mr. Lennox, would you be interested in buying some from us? I'm willing to give you a discount if you do us a favour."
"Just 'Howard' is fine. I've never seen medicine that's as effective as this. It feels like all of my worries have disappeared. What's the favour you're asking for?"
Cole's plan was working flawlessly. Howard already dropped the use of honorifics, and he seemed to be interested in buying cannabis.
"I am honoured by your praise. For the favour, I want you to pass the word around of our new store. It would help us out greatly if we get a recommendation from the Duke himself."
"What? You'll give me a discount for something so simple? I'll accept the offer! I promise everyone in town will know the greatness of your Drug Store!"
Perfect! Not only will we get weed sold in bulk, but also free advertisement!
Cole continued discussing the deal with Howard. In the end, they both agreed on 500 grams of weed for four gold coins. The deal commenced immediately, and Cole brought a huge bag of cannabis with roughly 500 grams inside. Afterwards, Howard left while feeling satisfied.
"Cole, we're rich! I've never seen a gold coin before! It's beautiful! I knew I shouldn't have doubted you for even one second!"
Rogg was overjoyed. The Drug Store's debut had been a massive success. No one could have ever imagined this much weed being sold within the first day.
"That's fucking right, we're rich! Let's start counting the profit!"
After counting silver coins for 10 minutes, Cole and Rogg confirmed the amount. They could have never imagined earning this much in just one day.
"563 Silver coins and four gold coins. What the fuck?!"
The Drug Store had sold over a kilo of weed in just one day. Cole's weed plants were massive, and they still hadn't even sold one plant yet.
"Tonight we're fucking celebrating! Rogg, bring in the apple pipe!"
Cole and Rogg proceeded to do the only logical thing after earning a lot of money. That was smoking a fuck ton of weed and eating unhealthy amounts of food. They had worked for a full day; however, and fell asleep before midnight. Right before passing out, Cole remembered something important.
Howard... I felt like I'd seen his face somewhere before. Wait, don't tell me... He was the fucking guy at the castle!?
Cole finally remembered where he'd seen Howard before. It turned out, Howard was the old demon who came into his room at the noble's castle. The reason for him being overworked was likely due to Cole escaping the castle.
Good thing he didn't see through my disguise...
Cole didn't worry for long though. He thought about all that had happened after being summoned to the new world. The weird mansion, the demon king, the forest fire and eventually the Drug Store. A lot of terrible things had happened to Cole after waking up, but now his bad luck had finally started to turn upside down.
Maybe life isn't so bad after all.
Cole passed out while feeling happy.