*
[We are working to create food that uses even a little less grain. The title of the last post uploaded by a dwarf is, “Brother! If you finely sift stone powder and dirt and add it to the dough, you can make even more bread!”]
They had writhed in agony so much that they were making otherworld stone bread.
[As food supplies ran short, even the grain used to brew alcohol began to be used as food, and despite that, they are understood to have suffered from a severe food shortage. Their ultimate goal is said to be securing grain for brewing alcohol.]
“So... you’re saying an entire race went collectively insane because they couldn’t drink.”
Hunger. What a terrifying thing it was.
A race that loved alcohol was trying to make and eat stone bread.
[The dwarves are, comparatively speaking, in a better situation. The beastmen, who were once one of the major races, are currently on the verge of near-extinction due to their food consumption being vastly higher than that of other races.]
So beastmen existed too.
“Did beastmen eat a lot compared to the other races?”
[Yes. That is correct. On average, their food intake is said to be approximately three times that of humans.]
Oh my god.
From a beastman’s point of view, humans must have seemed like a race of light eaters who put rice in soy sauce dishes and called it a meal.
So humans were starving to death, elves had gone to sleep, dwarves were eating stone bread, and beastmen were on the verge of extinction.
“Taking notes, taking notes...”
Still, from what I’d heard about the dwarves, the amount differed, but there didn’t seem to be any difference in what they ate.
“It’s not like what they eat differs depending on the race, right?”
[Yes. That is correct. There are differences in likes and dislikes, but all races can consume the same food.]
What a relief.
Thanks to that, things seemed like they would become much easier.
“Then for now, I just need to help them fill their stomachs, right?”
A rationing system. I’d have to do it, wouldn’t I?
*
Rationing.
It was a policy implemented in red-flavored countries, but it was also carried out during wartime, when every resource had to be squeezed dry.
And this place?
An otherworld famine gallery.
I was the head mod, the gallery manager.
If I used the shop function, I should at least be able to solve the matter of minimum food supplies.
I could give a ray of hope to the dwarves eating stone bread even though my mother-in-law hadn’t done anything wrong.
“Sora-nim, Sora-nim, I have a question.”
[Yes. Please speak.]
“I have 1,000P, but how are the gallery users... the gays supposed to gather points?”
Gay.
Short for bulletin board user.
A title for community users with a long tradition and history.
[Ordinary gallers can obtain points by using the exchange function. When a galler registers an item through the exchange function, the item is exchanged into points according to its value. The fee incurred during exchange is a minimum of 1%. The minimum fee is used as a resource for maintaining and expanding the gallery, and it is also possible for the head mod to set an exchange fee higher than that by using their authority.]
A pawnshop that changed items into money, and the fee was only 1%?
It was an unbelievably generous pawnshop.
“I see. Then the gay—”
[Galler.]
“Gay—”
[Galler.]
Oh, damn, that startled me.
It seemed she really hated the term “gay.”
The screen, which had always maintained roughly the size of a monitor until now, suddenly grew to the size of a TV screen.
“All right. All right, so please shrink back down. I’ll say galler instead of gay.”
With a swish, the screen became small again.
[Please do. That title is far too dreadful.]
I’d thought of her as something like a high-performance AI, but she was surprisingly emotional.
“Then... what happens to the items used for exchange? Are they registered in the shop and sold again as resale goods? But if it works like that, I feel like the gallery won’t be able to hold out and will go bankrupt.”
In a world where famine was the default, they would accept items, appraise them and exchange them, then sell food at a reasonable price?
There was a high chance of imminent bankruptcy.
[No. Depending on the value of the item, it is converted into mana and then stored. However, in the case of items that are difficult to reconstruct through mana, they may be stored within the system. If an item has no conversion value into mana, the exchange may be rejected.]
“That’s an incredibly reasonable system.”
It was the best system, one that wouldn’t go bankrupt unless I went insane.
By the way, so this was a world where mana existed too.
Would I be able to use magic someday?
“Then shall we prepare the rationing first?”
Magic was a matter for later. Right now, it was time to feed the starving ga— gallers.
*
The shop system.
But the shop only I, the head mod, could use and the shop the gallers could use had the same name.
“Sora, Sora-nim. Can I change the shop names?”
I pulled Sora-nim’s ring while voicing my complaint,
[Yes. It is possible. Please state the names you wish to change them to.]
and Sora-nim, as always, gave me an answer.
“The shop the gallers use can just be called the Shop. The shop only I can use, please change it to Head-Mod-Only Shop.”
[Yes. Understood. The names have been changed to “Just Shop” and “Head-Mod-Only Shop.”]
“No, that’s...”
It was a joke that felt extremely old-fashioned.
Sora-nim had emotions, I’m telling you.
She wasn’t an AI...
“No. It’s fine. Let’s just go with this.”
It must have been her decisive blow, so I thought it might be fine to keep the names as they were.
[Welcome to the gallery “Just Shop”!(Unopened)]
[Remaining P - 989]
[Purchase Items / Exchange]
Ooh, that name was really bad, huh?
But I decided to endure it.
Since it was Sora-nim’s best joke, I resolved to leave it there no matter what.
With firm determination, I pressed the “Purchase Items” button,
[There are no registered items. Would you like to move to the “Head-Mod-Only Shop” and register a new item?]
[Yes / No]
and pressed “Yes” once again.
[Welcome to the “Head-Mod-Only Shop”!]
[Remaining P - 989]
[Purchase Items / Exchange]
What kind of items would there be?
When I pressed the “Purchase Items” button with the feeling of going shopping after receiving my first paycheck, countless tabs appeared.
An absurdly vast number of items.
Feeling my mind go blank for a moment, I took in a deep breath.
And after waiting for a while...
“Isn’t this taking too long...?”
Since I’d entered the shop directly without searching, there were so many items that the list wouldn’t finish updating.
Today, I learned that letters could be dynamic.
Not that I particularly wanted to know.
“What I need right now is bread and water, so...”
When I read the posts earlier, it seemed like the people here ate bread, not rice, as their staple food.
Bread they ate like rice.
And I had to sell cheap bread in large quantities.
In that case, wasn’t it obviously that bread?
The bread I had received at the start of my week-long abandonment.
“Baguette. Show me baguette bread.”
I remembered the cost price being around 1,000 won.
[Baguette Bread - 3P]
[A very long bread. If dried well and swung, it can also be used as a blunt weapon.]
[Would you like to register it as a basic food supply? If registered as a basic food supply, there will be no profit from product sales, but price reduction through cost-price sales becomes possible.]
[When registered as basic food supply: 1P each. Automatically purchased and re-registered when the “Just Shop” item stock is depleted.]
“Wow! Cost-price sales!”
Seeing that the cost price was 1P, it seemed like 1,000 won was about 1P.
Since it lined up neatly, I wouldn’t have to get a headache calculating prices.
Had she predicted the question I was about to ask while trying to pull the ring—whether a discount was possible for bulk purchases?
All the answers were already prepared.
“Then register 500 of these as food, and set the maximum quantity to 500 too. And could you show me some bottled water as well?”
[500 baguette breads have been purchased. Registering in the “Just Shop.” - 500P]
Since the fees incurred when gallers exchanged items would be replaced by my points, the formula basic food supply = baguette bread was complete.
[Pack of six 2L bottled waters - 3P]
[Clear water. It is certainly a light weight of 12kg, but your hands will hurt if you hold it.]
Bottled water couldn’t be discounted.
But wasn’t bread more important than water?
You could boil water and drink it, but boiling dirt wouldn’t make bread come out.
“Bottled water can wait. Let’s gather a lot of points first and think about it afterward.”
If they hadn’t been able to drink water, they would have all died long ago.
The fact that they were holding out meant that drinking water, at least, was sufficient.
I wanted to look around at the many other items too, but not yet.
“Just wait a little. I’ll come see you after I finish everything I have to do...!”
Shopping. It was always something exciting.
But it wasn’t time yet.
[Welcome to the gallery “Just Shop”!(Unopened)]
[Remaining P - 989]
[Purchase Items / Exchange]
I pressed the “Purchase Items” button,
[Baguette Bread - 1P]
[A very long bread. If dried well and swung, it can also be used as a blunt weapon.]
[500/500]
and confirmed the monumental registration of the first item.
“I can’t just start the first sale without saying anything.”
Food sales that were close to rationing?
Good. It was good, but...
“I haven’t even written a notice saying I became the head mod.”
The gallers still didn’t even know that a new head mod had appeared.
Shouldn’t I let them know who was selling this incredibly generous bread?
[I was starting to wonder whether I should tell you, but you already knew. What a relief.]
“No, I knew, but... while everyone’s starving to death, I thought if I said, ‘I’m the new head mod!’ no one would be happy to see me...”
Originally, guests who came bearing gifts were more welcome.
But what if even the head mod came bearing gifts?
Wouldn’t everyone welcome me happily?
[Indeed, that is a wise judgment. One of the previous head mods once behaved frivolously, saying this too was power, and was driven out.]
What kind of power did a gallery manager have?
But they could be driven out, huh.
If I got driven out, I’d die, so I’d better work diligently.
“All right, then shall we begin? The gallery rationing system.”
It was time to begin rationing.