A young man open his eyes on a Saturday morning. His face was unwashed and his hazelnut brown eyes were merely an excuse of optics that are able to perceive their surroundings. At least without his glasses.
As Hiro put on the thin frames, with the glasses' temples barely connecting with his head, he is finally able to be reminded of the horrible state his room is in.
"I should have cleaned" he tells himself, as his glance wanders around the tiny room that is filled with equipment that he collected during his dungeon dives.
Hiro was a Diver, someone who was able to go into dungeons and slay monsters - at least that's what he said when someone would ask him.
In reality, he just barely managed to work as a backback made out of human flesh. His skill was called [Dimensional Pocket]. While this came in handy, it was also the sole skill he had.
With this in mind, Hiro barely managed to defeat even the weakest monsters. And even if he did, he would end up hurt just by daring to look at it.
This lead to a rather strange hobby - collecting parts of monsters that he found while he scavenged for the parties he worked for.
A few weeks ago Hiro managed to set up a small shop, where he sold the parts he found. But for some reason, its success did remain to be unseen. Maybe it was because he barely set up any advertisements?
While Hiro prepared himself to go to his little shop, he rolled his eyes when his gaze fell onto his phone.
[3 new calls]
"Who would call me? I am going to be late to my store, if I don't hurry at least a bit"
Hiro ignored the calls, until another call came up. It was a fellow collector that the young shopkeeper has gotten to know during his work as a backpack.
"Hello.. Hiro?", Collector-Friend asked in a rushed voice, as though he was running a marathon. Collector-Friend was how Hiro had saved the number into his contacts.
If Hiro had to be honest, this was the opportunity of his life. They chatted for a bit after the work in a dungeon was done and swapped their numbers to message each other, but Hiro never managed to ask for his name and eventually it has gotten too awkward to ask.
Knowing that this would finally lead for all awkwardness to disband, Hiro sheepishly asked "Yes, it's me. Who is at the phone?"
It was confusing to the man. He thought Hiro knew him better than that and assumed he would be a saved contact, but managed to not let part slip out.
"It's Yuta. We talked for a bit after our work in the dungeon and also wrote via SMS as well, you might know me" a harsh tongue blurted out. Hiro took that one like a champ and responded in a way that would make other shopkeepers blush.
"Ohhh, Yuta. It's you.", Hiro said while suddenly remembering the name he once knew. "My phone was not working properly, thus I could not really see who was calling."
Yuta quickly responded, as he had no time for the smalltalk. "Anyways, don't mind it. I have a bit of a situation here. Could we meet in your shop in 20 minutes? I have something that I want to sell you. You are buying stuff too, right?"
Hiro was startled but also intrigued. He has never bought items from others, he only collected his own. A clear nod was gracefully executed by the shopkeepers head.
"Hello? Hiro? Are you here?", a confused Yuta asked.
Hiro blushed and immediately added "Yes, sorry. I do buy things and I am also still here. I will be at my shop as soon as possible. I wanted to go there anyways".
The legs of the young shopkeeper were neither very strong nor fragile, just quick enough to know how to run properly. For that sole reason, he was able to be there before Yuta managed to arrive. Hiro opened up the shop, making it seem effortless, he thought.
"You look pale, are you okay?", Yuta asked Hiro.
Nevermind making it look effortless.
Hiro nodded awkwardly and tried to play it down by asking Yuta what he wanted to sell. The young collector came up with a book, that he found in a dungeon. While that was nothing worth mentioning, as the dungeons have harbored many books, Yuta told Hiro that he was unable to read its content.
Hiro immediately knew what this would mean. Yuta had the skill [Babylon Of Another World], which allowed him to read and understand every language that could be found in the dungeons. For him to not understand something, could either mean it was forged by humans or by something more powerful than his skill. Hiro had to take a gamble here, hoping it would be the latter.
When Hiro glanced at the book, it said "How To Shopkeep 101 - A Max Shop Guide For Dummies". He did not want to tell Yuta that he was able to read what it says.
"How much would you want for that book Yuta? It's not like it will be worth a lot, if even you cannot read it, right?", came over Hiro's lips as he tried to downplay that Yuta's skill did not work.
"You sly fox. I'll sell it to you for 10000 Yen", Yuta snarkily remarked. Hiro responded so quick that it became almost frightening. He said "YES", without sounding desperate at all. Again, the shopkeeper was proud about how effortless it sounded.
"... I cannot believe I am selling you this book for this cheap. You sounded really desperate right now."
Hiro learned two things today. First, his ability to estimate whether something was effortless or not was not good at all. Second, he was going to use this book to his utmost extent - if it happened to be worth it.