Ward was behind a counter.
This was unexpected, primarily because he had been in a cave approximately three seconds ago. The cave had contained a glowing pattern on the floor—some manner of runic circle that any sensible person would have photographed and left alone. Ward had touched it. He wasn't entirely certain why. Curiosity, perhaps, or the bone-deep exhaustion of unemployment that made consequences feel abstract.
Now he was behind a counter, and his hiking rucksack was on the floor beside him.
Small mercies. At least he hadn't arrived naked.
A window floated in front of his face.
Not a window in the architectural sense—a window in the video game sense. A translucent blue rectangle hovering at eye level, containing text that seemed to glow faintly from within. Ward blinked at it. It didn't go away.
───────────────────────────────────
WELCOME, SHOPKEEPER!
You have been selected to manage Dimensional Provisions Supply, Station 7.
Congratulations! This is a great honour. Probably. Records are incomplete.
Your predecessor held this position for several years before their departure. We're sure you'll do at least as well.
Please enjoy your mandatory employment.
[Dismiss]
───────────────────────────────────
Ward stared at the window. The window stared back. He reached out to touch the [Dismiss] button, and the window vanished with a soft chime.
Another window immediately replaced it.
───────────────────────────────────
TUTORIAL QUEST
Sell an item.
Reward: New inventory item unlocked
Penalty: Death
Time Remaining: 23:59:47
Good luck! You'll need it.
[Accept] [Decline]
───────────────────────────────────
Ward read the window twice. Then a third time, focusing on the word "Death" and the cheerful exclamation point that followed it.
"Death," he said aloud.
The window offered no clarification. The countdown continued: 23:59:42.
He pressed [Decline].
───────────────────────────────────
QUEST DECLINED
Just kidding! You can't decline mandatory quests.
Quest auto-accepted. Timer continues.
Time Remaining: 23:59:31
[Dismiss]
───────────────────────────────────
"That's not—" Ward began, then stopped. Arguing with a floating window seemed unlikely to produce results. He dismissed it and looked around the shop properly for the first time.
It was not in good shape. The walls were stone, bearing the marks of significant age and minimal maintenance. Dust covered approximately everything. The shelves held items he couldn't quite focus on—potions, perhaps, and things that might have been weapons. The floor creaked under his feet as he stepped out from behind the counter.
He examined the shop's inventory.
The shelves held various items, each with a small price tag. Ward examined them more closely. Potions in glass vials. Weapons on hooks. Rope coiled neatly. Packages that might have been food.
He picked up a health potion.
The vial was small, the glass unremarkable, the liquid inside a cloudy red that reminded him of watered-down cranberry juice. No luminescence. No magical shimmer. It looked, frankly, like something a village herbalist might sell for pocket change.
The price tag said 12 Gold.
A window appeared.
───────────────────────────────────
BASIC HEALTH POTION
Price: 12 Gold (non-negotiable)
Properties: [RESTRICTED — Shopkeeper Access Level insufficient]
Useful in a pinch. You didn't forget to bring healing items, did you?
───────────────────────────────────
Ward frowned at the vial. It looked like something you'd find in a dodgy market stall—the kind where the seller vanishes before you can ask for a refund. The price tag, however, suggested otherwise.
───────────────────────────────────
ACCESS DENIED
That information is restricted to Shopkeeper Access Level 3 (Established).
Your current level: 1 (Probationary).
The system appreciates your curiosity. The system does not reward it.
───────────────────────────────────
"Why is the price so high?"
The window flickered. See previous response. The prices are fair. Trust the system.
"How am I supposed to sell things if I don't know what they do?"
EXCELLENT QUESTION, the system offered, and nothing else.
Ward set the potion down and examined a sword.
It was plain iron, the blade unpolished but clean, the handle wrapped in leather that showed no decorative work whatsoever. No gems in the pommel. No runes along the edge. No maker's mark. It looked like something a village blacksmith might produce on an unremarkable Tuesday afternoon.
The price tag said 75 Gold.
───────────────────────────────────
SIMPLE IRON SWORD
Price: 75 Gold (non-negotiable)
Properties: [RESTRICTED — Shopkeeper Access Level insufficient]
A reliable sidearm for close encounters. Remember: always carry a weapon!
───────────────────────────────────
Every item was the same. Mundane appearance, high price, restricted properties. Ward couldn't even see what the items did—he just had to trust that the prices were justified.
He was expected to sell products he knew nothing about, at prices he couldn't justify, to customers he couldn't convince.
This was, somehow, worse than his previous job.
He walked to the door—ancient wood, single pane of grimy glass—and tried to leave.
The handle turned. The door swung inward. Beyond it lay a street of some kind, other buildings, movement in the distance. Ward stepped forward.
His foot stopped three inches from the threshold.
───────────────────────────────────
BOUNDARY ALERT
Nice try!
Shopkeeper cannot exit store premises. This is for your protection.
───────────────────────────────────
Ward pushed against the invisible barrier. It didn't yield.
───────────────────────────────────
BOUNDARY ALERT (2)
Still no.
We appreciate your persistence.
Time Remaining on Tutorial Quest: 23:48:12
───────────────────────────────────
Ward stepped back. The door swung closed. He was trapped in a shop he didn't own, in a dimension he didn't recognize, with a death countdown he couldn't refuse, selling items he knew nothing about at prices he couldn't explain.
He sat on the stool behind the counter and waited.
Somewhere in the shop, something chimed.
───────────────────────────────────
CUSTOMER DETECTED
Dimensional interface: Active
Origin: Unknown
Customer status: Confused
They found a door that wasn't there before. Classic.
Time Remaining on Tutorial Quest: 23:41:08
No pressure.
───────────────────────────────────
The door swung open.
The woman who stumbled through did so with the graceless momentum of someone who had not expected a door to be there. She caught herself on the doorframe, looked around with wild eyes, and said: "What."
Ward, from behind the counter, said: "I was hoping you could tell me."
She was young—early twenties, perhaps—wearing leather armour that had seen better days. A short sword hung at her hip. Her hair was windswept, her expression bewildered, and her body language suggested she'd been in the middle of something else entirely when she'd arrived.
"I was—" She stopped. Started again. "There was a door. In the forest. Where there wasn't a door before."
"That does seem to be how it works."
"How what works?" She stepped fully into the shop, the door closing behind her. "What is this place? Are you a wizard?"
"I'm a product manager," Ward said. "Recently laid off. From London."
"I don't know what any of those words mean."
"No, I don't suppose you would."
───────────────────────────────────
CUSTOMER PROFILE
Name: Unknown (try asking, it's called conversation)
Class: Unknown (probably adventurer, they usually are)
Customer Affinity: Neutral (first contact)
Recommendation: Always be closing~ Try not to die.
Time Remaining: 23:38:52
───────────────────────────────────
Ward dismissed the window and focused on the customer. She was examining the shop with the wariness of someone expecting a trap.
"The door said 'Provisions,'" she said finally. "On the outside. I thought... well, I didn't think, exactly. I just saw it and walked through."
"As one does when doors appear in forests."
She glared at him. "It seemed like a good idea at the time."
"I touched a glowing circle in a cave," Ward said. "I'm not judging."
This seemed to mollify her slightly. She approached the counter, still cautious, and examined the nearest shelf. Her gaze settled on the health potions.
She picked one up and frowned at it, turning it in the light. "This doesn't glow."
"No." Ward agreed.
"Health potions are supposed to glow. The good ones, anyway. The cheap ones are dim, the expensive ones are bright." She held the vial up, as if expecting hidden luminescence. "This one's just... red. Like someone bottled wine and relabeled it."
"The price is twelve gold," he said, because it was the only information he had.
The woman laughed. "Twelve gold for a non-glowing health potion? That's insane. I can get a glowing one in Millbrook for two gold."
Ward had no counter-argument. He didn't know why this potion cost more. He didn't know what it did beyond the obvious. He just knew the price, and the price was twelve gold.
"The price is as listed," he said.
"But why?"
"I don't know."
The woman stared at him. "You don't know why your own products are priced the way they are?"
"I'm new."
"How new?"
Ward checked his wristwatch. "Approximately twenty minutes."
───────────────────────────────────
HONESTY ASSESSMENT
Interesting approach. Most Shopkeepers try to fake competence.
This might work. Or it might not. Hard to say.
Time Remaining: 23:35:41
───────────────────────────────────
The woman set the potion down slowly. "Twenty minutes. You've been a shopkeeper for twenty minutes."
"I've been here for twenty minutes. Before that I was in a cave. Before that I was unemployed." Ward gestured at the shelves. "I don't know what any of this does. I don't know why the prices are what they are."
He tried to add more—about the barrier, about the death timer, about his situation—but the words wouldn't come. His jaw worked uselessly.
The woman waited. "And?"
"And... that's all I can say," Ward said flatly. "Store policy."
───────────────────────────────────
NICE SAVE
The system appreciates your discretion.
(The system did not give you a choice. But you handled it gracefully.)
───────────────────────────────────
The woman looked at the potion. She looked at Ward. She looked at the door behind her.
"This is the strangest shop I've ever been in," she said.
"That makes two of us."
She scanned the other shelves—eyeing the coils of rope that looked like ordinary hemp, the rations wrapped in plain cloth, the weapons that could have come from any common smithy. Nothing looked special. Everything was expensive.
"I'm on a herb-gathering quest," she said. "Nothing dangerous but I've a fair ways to go and I've been delayed by some... issues. I have seven gold to my name, and I was hoping to find some rations and maybe a healing potion just in case. But I can't afford—" She gestured at the shelves. "Any of this. I'm sorry for wasting your time."
She turned toward the door.
Seven gold. She couldn't afford anything. And Ward had twenty-three hours before—
His gaze fell on his hiking rucksack, still sitting beside the counter.
Trail mix. Energy bars. Dehydrated meals. He had food. Earth food, admittedly, but food. If he could sell that—
Ward grabbed the rucksack and pulled out a bag of trail mix. "Wait."
The woman paused, hand on the door. "Yes?"
"I have—" Ward held up the trail mix.
───────────────────────────────────
NICE TRY
Item assessed: "Trail Mix (Earth Origin, Mass-Produced)"
Quality Rating: Substandard
This item does not meet Dimensional Provisions Supply quality standards and cannot be added to store inventory.
The store has standards. Even if you don't know what they are.
───────────────────────────────────
The window appeared only for Ward. The customer couldn't see it.
"What is that?" she asked, eyeing the bag suspiciously.
Ward stared at the trail mix, then at the window's dismissal. "It's... not what I was looking for."
He tried an energy bar.
───────────────────────────────────
ALSO NO
Quality Rating: Substandard
Perhaps try the actual inventory?
───────────────────────────────────
"What about—" He pulled out a dehydrated meal packet.
───────────────────────────────────
STILL NO
Quality Rating: Substandard
The system is losing patience.
Time Remaining: 23:28:17
───────────────────────────────────
The woman watched Ward rummage through his bag with growing confusion. "Are you... alright?"
"Fine," Ward said, shoving the rejected supplies back into the rucksack. "Just looking for something specific. Unsuccessfully."
He took a breath. Fine. His own supplies wouldn't work. He'd have to do this properly—whatever "properly" meant when you didn't know what you were selling.
"The rations are five gold," he said. "They would leave you with two gold."
"For one package. I need three days of food. I can last that long without even if I won't like it."
Ward looked at the rations on the shelf. Plain cloth wrapping. No indication of quantity or quality. The system wouldn't tell him what was inside.
"I don't actually know how much food is in the package," he admitted. He tried to explain why—and again, the words died in his throat. "I just... can't say."
The woman blinked. "You're really not selling this well."
"I'm aware."
───────────────────────────────────
HELPFUL HINT
The system notes that you cannot make specific product claims.
However: all items in this store meet the highest quality standards. This is a fact, not a sales pitch.
You could mention that. If you wanted.
───────────────────────────────────
"Everything in this store meets the highest quality standards," Ward said carefully. "I'm told."
The woman's eyes narrowed. "By whom?"
Ward opened his mouth to explain—and nothing came out. The words were there, in his head, perfectly formed. They simply refused to become sound. He tried again. His jaw moved. Silence.
"Store policy," he managed finally. "I can't explain. But my food—" he nodded at the rucksack "—isn't allowed on the shelves. Make of that what you will."
"That's your sales pitch? 'These are better than my rejected snacks, somehow'?"
"I don't have a sales pitch." Ward rubbed his face. "Look. I know this is ridiculous. I know nothing about this place, I can't explain the prices, I can't tell you what the products do, and I've been here less than half an hour. But everything about this place suggests the prices mean something even if I can't see what."
The woman studied him for a long moment. Then she sighed.
"I need three days of food. One package of mystery rations isn't going to cut it, even if they are 'highest quality.'" She gestured at the rucksack. "What about the stuff it rejected? You said it was food."
Ward looked at the trail mix. The system had said he couldn't sell it. But...
"I can't sell it," he said slowly. "Store policy. But I could... give it to you. As a gift. To supplement the rations."
───────────────────────────────────
GIFT ASSESSMENT
Item: Trail Mix (Earth Origin)
Transaction Type: Gift (no payment)
Quality Rating: Substandard
Gifts are permitted. The store does not regulate the Shopkeeper's personal property.
The system notes that you are giving away your own food supplies to close a sale.
Resourceful. Possibly unwise. But permitted.
───────────────────────────────────
The woman's expression shifted. "You'd give me your own food?"
"You're the first customer." Ward shrugged.
She looked at the rations. She looked at the rucksack. She looked at Ward.
"Fine," she said. "Fine. Five gold for rations I can't identify, plus free snacks from another dimension, from a shopkeeper who knows nothing, in a shop that appeared out of nowhere." She fished a small pouch from her belt and counted out five coins. "This is definitely a terrible decision."
"It might not be," Ward said. "I genuinely don't know."
He reached into the rucksack and pulled out the trail mix, sliding it across the counter alongside the rations. "It's called trail mix. Nuts, dried fruit, bits of chocolate. The brown bits are sweet. I can vouch for this being good at least."
"Chocolate?" She examined the plastic packaging with its colourful printing she probably couldn't read.
"From where I'm from. Earth."
The coins touched the counter. A soft chime sounded.
───────────────────────────────────
TRANSACTION COMPLETE!
Item Sold: Common Rations (1)
Price: 5 Gold
Bonus: Gift included (Trail Mix, Earth Origin)
Customer Satisfaction: Baffled but Intrigued
Congratulations! You have completed your Tutorial Quest!
Reward: One (1) new inventory item unlocked
Death Status: Postponed
The system knew you could do it.
(The system was honestly not sure. But here we are. Well done.)
[Dismiss] [View New Item]
───────────────────────────────────
Ward stared at the window. Postponed. Not cancelled. Postponed.
He dismissed the notification and looked at the woman tucking the package of rations and the trail mix into her bag. She'd just spent most of her money on his word alone. On faith in a clueless shopkeeper, sweetened with free snacks from another world.
"I'm Mira, by the way," she said. "In case I survive and come back to complain about whatever's wrong with these rations."
"Ward." He considered the appropriate response to 'whatever's wrong with these rations.' "And if they're 'highest quality,' then by definition nothing can be wrong with them. That's either very reassuring or a masterclass in circular logic. Possibly both."
She paused at the door, hand on the handle. "Thank you. For the gift. And for being honest about not knowing anything. It's oddly reassuring."
"I aim to confuse and inadvertently reassure."
"You're succeeding." She smiled—small but genuine. "Good luck, Ward. With whatever this is."
"Good luck with your herbs, Mira."
The door opened. Beyond it, Ward caught a glimpse of forest—dense trees, dappled sunlight, a world he couldn't enter. Mira stepped through and was gone.
The door closed.
───────────────────────────────────
CUSTOMER DEPARTED
Quest outcome: Pending (will update when customer completes mission)
Current Energy: 100
Potential Energy Change: TBD based on customer success
You made a sale despite knowing nothing about the product.
And then gave away your personal food supplies.
Interesting strategy. Let's see how it plays out.
───────────────────────────────────
Ward sat alone in his shop.
His rucksack sat by the counter, slightly lighter now. He still had the energy bars and the stroganoff, but the trail mix was gone—off to fuel a herb-gathering quest in a forest he couldn't visit.
He looked at the shelves full of items that looked utterly ordinary—potions that didn't glow, weapons without ornamentation, rope that seemed like common hemp. All of it priced far beyond what appearances suggested.
He didn't know why. The system wouldn't tell him.
But someone had bought something, he'd made a friend (possibly), and he wasn't dead yet.
A soft chime sounded. Different from before—less "transaction complete," more "inventory updated."
───────────────────────────────────
QUEST REWARD UNLOCKED
New item added to inventory: Adventurer's Trail Mix
Price: 8 Gold
Properties: [RESTRICTED — Shopkeeper Access Level insufficient]
A convenient snack for the discerning traveler. The store always provides.
[Dismiss] [View Item]
───────────────────────────────────
Ward pressed [View Item].
───────────────────────────────────
ADVENTURER'S TRAIL MIX
Price: 8 Gold (non-negotiable)
Properties: [RESTRICTED — Shopkeeper Access Level insufficient]
Perfect for those moments between meals and mortal peril.
───────────────────────────────────
Ward stared at the window.
Then he looked at his rucksack. Then at the nearest shelf, where a small leather pouch had appeared—one that definitely hadn't been there before.
He picked it up. Inside: nuts, dried fruit, small dark chunks that looked suspiciously like chocolate.
Trail mix.
The system had just added trail mix to his inventory. Immediately after he'd given away his own trail mix. The Earth trail mix that the system had rejected as "substandard."
Ward looked at the system window, which offered no additional information.
"That's..." He paused. "That's a coincidence, right?"
───────────────────────────────────
NO COMMENT
The system declines to speculate on causation.
Enjoy your new inventory item.
───────────────────────────────────
The window vanished with what Ward could only describe as a pointed silence.
He set the pouch back on the shelf. Eight gold for trail mix. His trail mix—the rejected, substandard, not-good-enough-for-the-store trail mix—had been free. And now there was a store-approved version.
The system hadn't said anything. It didn't need to.
Message received.
A new window appeared.
───────────────────────────────────
SHOPKEEPER QUEST
Sell 100 Gold worth of items.
Progress: 0 / 100 Gold
Reward: Choice of new store item
The system believes in you.
(The system has no evidence for this belief. But optimism costs nothing.)
───────────────────────────────────
Ward looked at the window, then at the empty shop. A hundred gold. At five gold per ration pack, that was twenty sales—assuming anyone else wandered through that door.
The shop was quiet. The shelves waited. Somewhere beyond the door, Mira was walking toward a forest with his trail mix in her pack and store-quality rations she didn't know were exceptional.
Ward sat on the stool behind the counter and waited for the next customer.