I must be a sucker for punishment, coming back to this game so quickly. I just… really love it.

I’m not looking forward to making EIGHTY DAMN GRAND in one week, though, but I guess there’s nothing for it but to give it a shot!

I was just going to start selling straight away, but I think getting to level 6 must have unlocked wallpaper changes because there’s a new option when I go to sit behind the counter. Naturally, I put on some fresh paper! The distraction from the automatic reflex to just go ahead and start selling makes me think that it might be worth popping around the town to see if there’s anything going on first, and if not I’ll just drop in on the Merchant’s Guild to pick up a thing or two.

The town square and chapel are both flashing; I check out the chapel, as we’ve already spent a fair bit of time in the square of late.

Tear tells Recette that she wouldn’t have pegged her as the pious type; Recette clears matters up by explaining that the church used to give out free candy.

Tear… isn’t all that surprised.

Square it is, I think!

Ooooh, shiny. Treasure? For me?

No luck; Recette has to explain the concept of a wishing well (fountain, in this case) to Tear, who’s appalled at the idea that anyone might ever have wasted perfectly good money on something so pointless as a wish and a splash.

Nowhere else is flashing, so I pay Reg a visit and pick up a very expensive piece of armour to put in my window and hopefully attract some punters. Shelves replenished, let’s try to start making a dent in that 80,000. I can’t believe I’m even saying that. I mean, come on, in what world is that a reasonable increase?!

I see Charme among the customers (her head’s just visible behind the guy standing near Alouette), which I’m hoping might lead to her becoming firmer friends with us. There’s also –

Recette’s just super happy to see the weird staring girl, because that’s just how she reacts to everything.

Her name’s Arma – not ‘Miss Arma’, as Recette tries to call her, or even ‘Missarma’ – and she’s… a bit odd.

So… she’s here in the shop, but doesn’t know it’s a shop?

Oh, this is going to be fun. Please don’t tell me Arma’s just going to show up every couple of selling sessions and just steal my shit.

Recette undertakes what must be an extremely lengthy endeavour and somehow manages to get Arma to understand what money is. As she doesn’t have any, she’ll be off, but Recette hopes she comes back. I… kind of don’t.

I can’t help but feel that there might be more explaining involved before she fully comprehends how this works.

A few successful sells and a couple of purchases (the little girl shows up, and apparently her mum asked her to come and sell a chocolate bar) later, and we’re a few pix up. I noticed Alouette skulking around while we sold; Charme did come up to buy something, but no more interactions, sadly.

Right, buy and sell again! I pick up more stuff from Reg and do one more lot of selling; again, both Arma and Charme are in the store (you can see them on the right there), but nothing unusual happens with them this time.

Not a bad day, but that’s not going to be good enough. At this rate, I’ve got no chance. I don’t see what else to do except buy and sell, so that’s what I do!

Over the next day or so, Arma does actually come in and buy something, so clearly she’s worked out what money is and how to acquire it (hopefully through legitimate means). Alouette also shows up; I wonder whether she’s going to be selling the stuff she bought off me in her own store… There’s also this one guy who keeps showing up and can never afford anything. I mean, I tried to sell him some walnut bread for 90pix and he just walked out straight away without even giving me the opportunity to haggle. He’s trouble… can I get Louie to kill him?

He even tries to sell me some stuff! Cheeky beggar. Okay, but if I buy this you have to use the money to come back and buy some of my stuff, deal?

If nothing else, I do at least manage to hit level 7. Tear then asks for a word, which is never a good sign…

She wants to explain how to take an order in advance. Um… like… pre-ordering? Or we’re doing deliveries now? Sounds useful, anyway!

Ah, okay, so up to now people have been coming in and just picking stuff up ad hoc. Some might start wanting to place orders from now on, though, wherein they’ll let me know what items they need and then return in a set amount of time to pick it up. I can’t give it to them ahead of time, either, since it’s based on what’s convenient for them and not me.

Will they be paying when they order or when they pick up? And what happens if I don’t have the stuff? This seems risky!

The advantage, however, is that people will use the system to order lots of things at once, which could lead to some big payouts.

Charme’s back, and this looks like dialogue and not just a sell! I’m hyped!

Uh, nuh-uh.

IS IT

IT IS!

I think this means I can take Charme into dungeons, which might mean there are now new ones to explore! Sorry, Louie, but I don’t think you’re going to be seeing a lot of action from here on out!

Recette’s super stoked; Tear’s just astonished that Charme’s a member of the Guild. Charme asks to borrow Tear, which Recette agrees to as long as she gives her back in the same state she found her.

Their chat is surprisingly… intimate, and honest. Charme sees that Tear isn’t as uncaring as she makes out; why else would she be helping Recette rather than just stealing the house and calling it a day? Tear tries to protest that it’s just her job, but:

Tear wonders whether Charme really just gave Recette her card purely so she could suss out Tear’s motivations, which makes me think that in reality they might be more similar than they think, whether or not either of them is willing to admit it: they both care for Recette a lot.

Aww, that’s sweet.

A couple of customers later, our first advance order shows up.

I’m torn. On one hand, this could be pretty good. On the other, I don’t know if I can even get one bracelet – I don’t know if ‘bracelet’ is something I’ve seen yet.

Screw it, why not? I’ll go and see if I can’t find something that seems like a bracelet at Reg’s place or the market tomorrow.

UGGGHHH this guy. He’s selling again, and I don’t really need a cherry, but.. I’m not sure I have the option to decline, actually!

I’ve seen Prime hovering around the store a few times, but she’s never come to the counter. I wonder who she wants the cape for… it’s not for her, because she’s a tiny fairy, and Alouette doesn’t strike me as the adventuring type. I guess they’ve probably got hired adventurers of their own, now I think about it – heck, maybe they even use Louie!

She does at least have a bit of cash, because she takes the cape. (At base price, though. She wasn’t having it anywhere above that.) I’m wondering whether people actually lose respect for me if I let stuff go at too low of a price, based on her implication that she’s getting it for a steal.

That’s day seventeen over, and we’re still really nowhere near making any kind of progress towards our goal. I don’t think we’re going to make it this week, guys. Ah, well. I’ll go try to find some bracelets and then maybe take Charme down in the dungeons!

… That sounded weird.

Oh, yeah, the Adventurer’s Guild is closed on Sundays. Just the bracelets and more selling for today, then!

AHA. I’ll just get two of the cheapest ones to prevent the lady deciding that she can’t afford her order.

I grab a couple more things while I’m out, then head back and sell to close out the day.

You’re new.

Wow, way to slag off the person you’re presumably here to try to get stuff from. I don’t like this guy. I’m guessing, though, if only because he has a unique sprite, that we’ll be meeting him more than once going forward.

OH NO YOU DIDN’T

The guy won’t accept that someone so short could possibly be the owner, and thinks Recette is trying to pull some sort of joke on him. Recette starts getting upset, at which point Tear fortunately shows up to intervene.

I really don’t like this dude. He introduces himself as Caillou, a magician who wants to place an order for some ‘reagants’. Not sure what counts as a reagant – we’ve got some medicine? Who knows. I’m happy to take this guy’s order and then disappoint him.

Ah, he does actually know what he wants. I think we already have all of that… unless the slime liver is something different to the regular slime fluid, in which case possibly not. He doesn’t have a particular deadline other than a vague mention that sooner is better than later. Tear accepts the order before I have a chance to turn this slimy weirdo down.

Tear tries to calm Recette down by saying it was just a simple mistake; Recette asks why she looks so happy about it, in that case. Dear me.

Oh, you’re never going to be able to afford this.

HOLY SHIT THE GUY BOUGHT A THING. I’m genuinely astonished.

Arma comes in for some armour (no puns, please) and Alouette’s back for more stuff too. I don’t let her have it, because I’m sassy like that.

Charme also returns, and this time she’s drunk. I wonder whether I might meet her at the pub if I venture over there? It’s been conspicuously empty until now, but perhaps our lady thief friend might start frequenting it.

Ooh, a new dungeon. It’s called the ‘Amber Garden’, apparently, which Charme thinks sounds like a tasty beer. She can’t explain any further, because she falls asleep.

She wakes up again long enough to mumble a few more lines, and with that, she’s gone. Is it just me, or did that sound like an excuse to hang out with Recette more than anything else?

Most people who come in seem to be selling at the moment, but Reg is always a good customer. Love you, Reg.

I’ve got a couple of orders on the go, but nothing due tomorrow. Finish up the day and then take Charme to this new dungeon, I think!

According to this guy, his grandmother told him to sell off this… baked yam if he ever got into trouble. She sounds like someone with a good head on her shoulders.

I get up to level 8 and head into the next day feeling optimistic! About the new dungeon, that is, not about my odds of reaching 80K in time. Those are non-existent.

Before heading out, I check to see whether I’ve unlocked any new options. I have indeed, and I set up some beautiful brick flooring.

Louie’s level 17 whereas Charme’s level 8, but I imagine she might just be… sort of better, y’know? I hope so, anyway; this new dungeon will probably be dangerous!

For some reason, we have instant access to the entire floor map. Let’s try Charme out!

She doesn’t hit that hard and her HP isn’t looking great, but as advertised she’s quick, so I’m hoping to be able to avoid taking damage and not have to tank too much. Her special ability seems to be to generate a doppelganger which (I think) attracts attacks but doesn’t take damage, while also being able to deal damage itself. Could be handy! The bomb thing is a new enemy, which explodes after a short time once defeated; the goats and slimes are all too familiar.

Ahhhhhh… okay, so Charme’s low health is more of an issue than I thought. (In my defence, it’s much harder to avoid taking hits while trying to screenshot, since the screenshot key is pretty far away from both the movement keys by my right hand and the attack keys by my left.) Her defence isn’t great, meaning that even if I avoid more hits than I could as Louie I’m still losing health pretty fast. I might have to run her through some of the lower-level dungeons to get her a bit beefier before we try that again.

I spend my remaining hours of the day doing exactly that, hoping to level Charme up to the point where her stats are close enough to Louie’s that her advanced speed will actually come into play better. While I’m at it, I discover that she has an even-speedier dash ability; not sure whether Louie had one too and I just never found it. I don’t think it costs any SP, which is nice.

Um… what the hell? Is this a graphical glitch or are there seriously some random blokes and Alouette wandering around?

Huh, it really is her. I guess the men are her enlisted help. Alouette doesn’t seem all that surprised to see us here with our ‘seedy adventurer friend’.

Don’t talk about Thief Waifu like that, you… dumb head.

With that, our conversation’s over. I try to stab Alouette, but to no avail.

Making good use of Charme’s doppelganger and its capability to enhance her offensive range while avoiding danger, I get through the first five floors of the Jade Way and come back alive. I’ve got relatively little in the way of shiny treasure to show for it, but Charme has levelled up a little bit. To be honest, I’m toying with the idea of just spending the rest of the week doing this because I’ve got pretty much no chance of meeting my target; I don’t know what happens if I fail, but the worst it could be is a game over and I’ll just have to start over from the beginning of the week, which is fine by me.

I’ll cut to the chase here: for the rest of the week, I spend some time levelling Charme, during the course of which I meet that weird spear-wielding girl in the dungeon again; Recette tries to give her directions to come visit the shop, but it doesn’t go all that well. We do, however, learn that she has a name, and it’s Nagi! I actually think that Charme might be too fast for me, as I seem to be much worse at using her than I was with Louie. We meet Charme in the pub, too, where she sort-of-introduces us to a guy who looks like another possible adventurer and who keeps drinking more than he can afford; we later catch up with the guy, who’s named Elan, in the square, and it seems he’s a kid-loving fellow who’s fallen on some hard times. Back in the pub, Charme also tries to get Recette drunk and possibly take her home with her, so… that’s a thing. I also do some buy-from-Reg-sell-to-punters work. It’s not enough – in fact, it’s so far away from being anything remotely close to enough that it’s kind of hilarious – so let’s see what happens when we fail!

Oooh, my first failure. I’m sort of excited. Is that weird?

…

Fuck. That is a really depressing way to get a game over. And it only gets worse!

Except…

Waitwaitwaitwaitwait. This is…

The girls are re-treading the conversation from the beginning of the game, with Recette seeming to half-remember a dream about the store doing well before we got the game over.

Oh, shit, we’re starting from Day 2 again?!

Hey, look, we still have all our items and our merchant level and stuff. This might actually not be a bad thing! Fuck it, let’s start again but with a bit of stock to give us a nice head start, and maybe that 80 grand won’t seem so bad next time we get to it. I hope we’ve still got all our adventurers and that, but it looks as if everything in terms of plot really has reset. Oh, I’m going to have to skip so many cutscenes, aren’t I…?

A quick check at the Adventurer’s Guild reveals that I still have Louie at the same level as before, but no Charme. Guess I’ll have to unlock her again. The pause menu reveals that my save file is now on Loop 2.

Y’know, I think the only thing for it is for me to just play through the first couple of weeks on my own and sum up how I get on when the Let’s Play rejoins the action. I’ll start chronicling things again when I’m back to around week 3, and I’m actually kind of looking forward to just playing through and seeing how I get on this time.

Find out how it went… soon-ish, I hope!