With a delighted expression, Quagmire stared at the supplies store window with a look of disbelief and amazement. The cheapness, he could not comprehend well. Considering that he was the only one who could use it, it suddenly started to make sense. So, his excitement finally died as he read the information on the window screen.
Unfortunately, delight soon turned into shock as he pulled up another window for the same weapon, the M1 Pistol."It seems that I have to buy bullets and magazines for each weapon, and I can buy them in sets so I don't have to spam orders. Thankfully, it's cheap… Wait… I got five thousand coins, indeed, but how am I going to earn more gold coins? Wouldn't that mean that every shot I fire costs as much as a gold coin?!" His expression suddenly turned sour and confused, as he had hit an unexpected dilemma.
Fortunately, he remembered that a few of the daily missions had given out gold coins and that he was also given manufacturing plants, which meant he just had to make them last if he ever encountered a horde. Which, if it is even possible? But then again, there are intelligent bogies in this world, so that is really possible to happen.
So, with a decision in mind, he thought about something—superior firepower. The main idea was that life is far more precious than bullets, so drown the enemy with bullets and bombs. With that thought applied, he temporarily put the Mark 1 Bolt-Action Rifle that was available in the shop aside and made the Mark 1 Pistol a priority.
The rifle, with a single clip, had eight bullets, and a single magazine for the pistol had sixteen bullets. Both could penetrate heads. This meant the pistol, in the current circumstance, was much more beneficial. The rifle would be used for situations that required longer distances.
Concurrently, as he was staring into the supplies window, he saw that a Mark 1 Stick Grenade cost eighty gold, which was expensive for a grenade, but could be useful in groups or hordes. The pistol cost seven gold for a single magazine and sixteen bullets. For individual purchases, sixteen bullets cost five gold, and a magazine cost two gold.
Each order could be increased up to ten times. So, ten stick grenades would be worth eight hundred gold, and so on and so forth for other armaments. Unfortunately, those were the only things available in the supplies store, including the customizable sword, watch, uniform, and support equipment for a hundred gold each. This also included the Mark 1 Military Knife for ten gold.
With those thoughts in mind, he decided to buy the equipment he needed.Twenty sets of pistol ammunition, which meant twenty sets of sixteen bullets and twenty magazines for one thousand four hundred gold. Ten sets of rifle ammunition, which meant ten sets of eight rifle rounds and ten clips, totaling seven hundred gold.
He also bought the customizable sets for a total of four hundred gold, which he would customize after a few moments.Two thousand five hundred gold were now spent—half of the gold coins he had received. After spending it, he felt a deep hole in his heart. Just earlier, he had felt rich; now, he was half as poor as he had been earlier.
Nevertheless, it was an investment in his survivability, so he tried to look on the bright side of things, even with the hole ever-present in his heart and mind.
The items appeared in his spatial inventory, and sure enough, he was delighted to see that they were all stacked neatly and did not cause a disaster in his inventory.
Unfortunately, as much as he wanted to look at the weapons, he could feel his buttocks grazing on the ground where he was sitting. He was definitely sure that he felt some movements, so he stood up, pulled up the customizable stuff, and started designing it, as it was now very uncomfortable to wear a battered uniform with parts of his body showing. He felt so exposed.
He brought up the uniform and started designing it. For the hat, he designed it to be a white pith helmet; a white long-sleeve tee shirt to be covered by a red tunic made of melton wool that was fully lined, along with white cuffs and collars. The trousers were of the same material, but they were backed or had high waists that were also lined, along with red piping down each side.
To seal the deal, he used a leather belt, attached a webbing of ammo pouches, and a leather pistol holster on the side. Another addition was gaiters on his legs, then boots and socks for his feet. Lastly, on the shoulder, there were six stars neatly lined, which meant he was the highest in military command, even higher than the five-star field marshal.
With that, he finished designing the uniform, which was patterned on the Northern Empire from his world. It was a sort of expeditionary uniform, which he liked more than his own Imperial Republican uniform.
Next up was the support equipment: an entrenching tool, a haversack for perishables, a backup trench knife, a mess kit, a canteen, a first aid set, toiletries, a gas mask just in case, a canvas sack for items like grenades, and lastly, cleaning sticks for guns and wire cutters. With that, he confirmed it. If he had forgotten something, he could just edit it and buy another set for a hundred gold.
Now for the watch—he created an old-fashioned analog watch adorned with all the luxuries it could be given without looking too conspicuous, like having gold on it.
Lastly was the sword. He made it a simple, straight-bladed, three-quarter basket-hilted sword. It was the same as the infantry sword still in use in the Imperial Republic for officers and higher ranks, including in the military court.
With everything now complete, he kept everything in the spatial inventory for the meantime, as he needed to clean himself so he could wear the new uniform and equipment.