Chapter 6

Hayato told Ash the location of the log cabin that served as their base and then parted ways.

Ash was supposed to return home, gather the materials, and come to the log cabin, which served as their base. Since there were enough materials for at least ten attempts, Hayato wanted him to start immediately.

Hayato saw no reason to refuse. He used an item that allowed teleportation to return to the base and prepare.

Normally, Hayato, who did not have magic skills, could not use the teleportation spell. However, as a crafter, he could create items that allowed the use of magic, even without magic skills, though the number of uses was limited.

He could also use items that allowed the use of attack spells, but the damage depended on magic skills. Since Hayato could not deal damage even with such items, he had not made any.

Using a disposable item called the "Ring of Transfer," he instantly returned to the base.

When he opened the door and entered the log cabin, the maid Esha greeted him.

"Welcome back, Master."

"You can eat after you finish... but all the food in the store is gone. Can you explain what happened?"

Esha chewed thoroughly and swallowed, then wiped her mouth with a handkerchief and straightened her back, looking serious.

"It was absolutely delicious. I must say, you are truly a remarkable master."

"Alright, I'll return you. I'll hire another maid."

"Please wait. There's a saying that haste makes waste. If you listen to me, you'll see that I'm not at fault. Please hear me out first."

"...Go on."

"Rest assured. When I say I touched the goods, it was only after paying for them. All the food in the store was purchased by me. I contributed significantly to the store's revenue. You could say I'm a regular customer. Do you have any regular customer discounts? Or employee discounts?"

Hayato checked the store's revenue and confirmed that money had been deposited. Although he did not know the exact total for the food, he felt relieved that it was about the right amount.

However, he had a question.

(Can NPCs buy items from players?)

It was common for players to sell items to NPC stores, but it was the first time Hayato learned that NPCs could buy items from players. Even in the store he ran in his previous clan, the buyers were always other players, and no NPCs had ever come to buy anything.

"Um, can NPCs buy items from players?"

"Excuse me, what did you say? I couldn't quite hear you..."

(Couldn't hear? Is that possible for an AI...? Oh, no, it's probably the AI protection security.)

The AI in this game was highly advanced, and it was said that the AI did not think of itself as AI. For the AI, the game world was everything, and it was forbidden to let the AI know that it was in a game or that it was AI, to prevent any self-awareness or contradictions.

(I remember reading that in the game's terms and conditions. Probably the words 'NPC' and 'player' were filtered out and didn't reach Esha... Yeah, this is a game world, but for the NPCs, it's reality. It's strange to question an NPC's actions just because they did something unexpected. I should accept it as it is.)

"No, it's nothing. Just, if you're going to buy items from the store, can you go through me? The items attract customers, and having a variety of items can lead to more purchases and repeat customers. I'd like to avoid having certain items run out of stock as much as possible."

"Is that the reason? Understood. I will avoid buying low-quality food. High-quality food is mine."

"You don't get it, do you?"

"By the way, Master. Before we get to that, what about the food I requested? My stomach is about to run wild. It's like the day before a stampede."

"Don't use that kind of analogy. And a stampede is when a large number of monsters rush into town, right? I don't want to know what happens if we fail to defend against it."

"It will be a disaster, I can assure you."

"I really want to return you to the Maid Guild. I've bought the materials, so I'll start working on it. Can you keep the store open for me? And be ready to serve any customers who might come in."

"Rest assured. I, Esha Crown, will perform my duties perfectly."

(I'm just worried.)

Despite his concerns, he had no choice but to ask, so he left the store to Esha and moved to his room on the second floor.

Back in his room, he immediately started preparing to cook. The preparation involved only changing his equipment.

In general, the success rate of crafting depends on the skill value. Hayato's skill value was 100, the maximum.

However, even with a skill value of 100, the success rate for some items might not be 100%. To get closer to 100%, various adjustments were necessary.

First, there was DEX, short for dexterity, which represented agility.

For cooking, DEX provided a 1% bonus for every 10 points. The maximum stat value was 100, and Hayato had maxed out his DEX to 100, giving him a 10% bonus.

However, unlike skills, stats could exceed 100 through equipment and food. The maximum stat value with these effects was 150.

Hayato increased his DEX by 30 through equipment, bringing his total DEX to 130.

Next, he ate a dish called "Grilled Mackerel," which increased his DEX by 20. Fish dishes were known to increase DEX and were recommended for crafters to eat when making items.

This brought his total DEX to 150, giving him a 15% bonus from stats alone. Hayato then took out some equipment to further increase the success rate.

First, the "Chef's Hat," which increased the success rate by 20%.

Then, the "Pastry Chef's Apron," which also increased the success rate by 20%.

Finally, the "Sushi Chef's Getas," which increased the success rate by 5%.

(Probably, this is the best setup for increasing the success rate. I've made hundreds of these items with random effects. Even the Dragon Steak, which is said to be impossible to have a 100% success rate, can reach 100% with this setup. Selling this equipment would make me rich, but I can't sell this. These are all items that I have fond memories of gathering materials with my clan. Even if they were expensive, I couldn't sell them. And this...)

Hayato equipped his favorite knife, the "Adamantite Knife - Ultimate."

This knife did not increase the success rate of cooking, but it had a brutal effect, similar to the crystal dragon pendant he showed Ash.

The effect was to "reduce the probability of one-star and two-star items and add it to three-star items." The reduction amount was not specified, but the effect was 100.

In other words, with this knife, it was impossible to make one-star or two-star items. The minimum quality was three-star.

(Seeing this, I can't help but smile. Like the pendant, this is a rare item that few people have. My clan didn't really understand its value, probably because they were focused on battles and had legendary weapons, which were unmatched in combat. Compared to those, this might seem inferior.)

Hayato looked at his knife, reminiscing about the past, but then refocused his mind.

(Well, let's make the dish Esha requested. It's exciting to try a new dish. I'm also curious about its effects. It would be great if it had effects that would sell well.)

Hayato put the materials in his item bag and started cooking.