"Purchase limits?"
Joseph's concerned voice echoed through the Saint Oros headquarters. "Miss, wouldn't that be a bit... inappropriate?"
After receiving Alto's instructions, the Saint Oros Trading Company immediately convened to discuss the matter. Joseph now sat across from Ophelia, visibly conflicted. Truth be told, the past month had been extraordinarily profitable for Saint Oros. Joseph had barely slept, working with the fervor of someone running on pure adrenaline and excitement. The money was rolling in faster than they could count it.
"You have to understand," Joseph continued, "customer enthusiasm for Stardew Valley is at an all-time high right now. If we suddenly impose purchase restrictions, won't that dampen player excitement? We might lose momentum."
The scalper issue hadn't escaped Saint Oros's notice. They'd simply chosen not to prioritize it. After all, a sale was a sale, regardless of who was buying. The Moonstones moved off shelves either way, and revenue kept climbing. Why interfere with a winning formula?
Ophelia's expression remained calm but thoughtful. "No, Joseph. You're oversimplifying this."
She leaned forward slightly, her elegant features set with determination. "These scalpers are stockpiling Moonstones in massive quantities, completely clearing out our market inventory. Genuine players can't purchase the game at all and are forced to pay inflated prices through resellers. That creates a vicious cycle that will eventually hurt us more than help."
Her beautiful eyes sharpened with insight. "More importantly, have you forgotten about the Reggie Trading Company? They've been our biggest rival from the beginning. I'd wager good money that behind these scalpers, the Reggie Trading Company is pulling the strings."
Joseph felt an icy shiver crawl down his spine. How could he have forgotten about Herman and that pack of scheming bastards? Those scumbags had even gotten him detained once over manufactured copyright disputes. Just thinking about it made his blood boil.
The rivalry between Reggie and Saint Oros had always been fierce, but seeing Saint Oros's business absolutely booming lately, who knew what underhanded tactics Herman was cooking up behind the scenes? This had his fingerprints all over it.
"Damn it, how could I forget about those snakes?" Joseph muttered, his jaw tightening.
"So, Chairwoman, what's our move?"
"We follow Mr. Alto's instructions to the letter," Ophelia said firmly. "Starting tomorrow, all shops under our banner and every cooperating retailer will enforce strict purchase limits. Each customer may buy at most two copies, and they'll need to present valid identification. No exceptions."
"Understood, Chairwoman. I'll make the arrangements immediately."
Joseph stood and left swiftly to execute the order. Ophelia remained seated behind her ornate desk, her luminous eyes contemplating. Her mind was already several moves ahead, anticipating Reggie's next play.
Early the next morning, customers arriving to purchase Stardew Valley reacted with mixed emotions to the new policy. Some applauded the decision loudly, recognizing the fairness it brought. Others looked distinctly displeased, their faces twisted with barely concealed frustration.
"I've got money! Why won't you let me buy more?" one customer demanded belligerently.
The shop clerk behind the counter offered an apologetic but firm smile. "I'm sorry, sir, but this is a direct order from headquarters. We have no authority to ignore it."
"This is discrimination! You're looking down on paying customers!"
"Yeah, exactly!" Several voices in the growing queue echoed the complaint. "If someone's willing to pay, why refuse the sale?"
The crowd's murmuring grew louder as people who'd been waiting in line for hours began losing patience. The man at the front refused to budge, his voice rising with indignation.
"That's right! Hurry it up already!" someone shouted from the back. "People are waiting here!"
"Move along!"
Emboldened by what he perceived as support, the man's voice grew even more aggressive and entitled. "Exactly! I've got plenty of money. I want to buy a hundred copies. Bring them out right now, or I'm reporting this shop for discrimination and lost business!"
The air went dead silent.
"...Are you out of your damn mind?" someone finally said. "Buying a hundred copies? Can you even play them all?"
"I waited in line for three full days and couldn't get a single copy," another customer growled, realization dawning. "So it was bastards like you hoarding everything!"
The man at the front had been acting like he owned the place, shouting arrogantly as if his money entitled him to whatever he wanted. The people behind him had initially sympathized with his complaints about purchase limits. After all, if someone was paying, why shouldn't the shop sell? But the instant he demanded a hundred copies, everyone understood exactly what was happening.
Was he serious? A hundred copies?
Andrew had learned about Stardew Valley through a friend's enthusiastic recommendation weeks ago and had been desperately trying to get his hands on a copy ever since. Every single time he'd shown up, the shop was sold out within minutes of opening. Now he finally understood why. These scalping parasites were hogging everything before legitimate customers even had a chance.
Andrew stood nearly seven feet tall with a build like a fortress and a face that could make grown men shiver across the street. Anyone who didn't know better might mistake him for hired muscle or a street enforcer. The scalper immediately shrank back when Andrew's shadow fell over him.
Many others in the queue also realized this guy was a reseller, and the crowd's mood shifted instantly from frustration to righteous anger. Scalpers were universally despised, and for good reason.
Each retail location had strictly limited daily inventory. These parasites would camp out overnight, then sweep every available copy the moment doors opened. As a result, genuine players who actually wanted to enjoy the game couldn't purchase a single Moonstone. This situation had been going on for over a week, creating mounting frustration among the playerbase.
"No wonder I couldn't buy anything, no matter how early I arrived!" one woman exclaimed. "So this is what was happening!"
"This is fantastic," another customer said with relief. "With purchase limits in place, I can finally buy Stardew Valley for my daughter as I promised."
"I knew something was wrong! I showed up before dawn every single day, and it was always sold out by the time I reached the counter."
Andrew grabbed the scalper by his collar and physically hauled him out of line, dragging him aside like a sack of garbage. "You... you... you can't-"
"Get lost before I break something," Andrew said quietly, his voice carrying the weight of absolute certainty. "And don't come back."
The man wanted to explode, but looking up at Andrew's intimidating frame and utterly serious expression, his courage evaporated like morning mist. He could only slink away in humiliation, tail between his legs.
Similar confrontations played out at retail locations across Lunaria throughout the day.
After Stardew Valley introduced purchase limits and ID verification, not only did player enthusiasm remain undiminished, but the policy actually earned widespread public praise. Legitimate customers finally had fair access to the game they'd been desperately trying to purchase for weeks.
"Damn it... I didn't expect them to react so quickly."
Inside Reggie Trading Company headquarters, Herman's face was dark with a barely controlled fury, his expression twisted into something sinister. Many of the scalpers involved in this operation had actually been secretly arranged and funded by him. He'd orchestrated the whole scheme, hoarding massive quantities of Stardew Valley Moonstones early, then reselling them at grotesquely inflated prices to desperate players.
The profits had been obscene. Better yet, he'd been planning the next phase: spreading malicious rumors to attack Saint Oros's reputation and turn public opinion against them. But he hadn't anticipated such a swift, decisive countermeasure. The purchase limits had completely undermined his entire operation in a single stroke.
His eyes darted around the room as his calculating mind immediately began scheming up alternative dirty tactics. This setback was temporary. Herman always had another card up his sleeve.
On Alto's side, everything had settled into a comfortable, steady rhythm. Business was thriving, operations were smooth, and the scalper crisis had been expertly neutralized.
Helena burst into his office, practically vibrating with excitement. "Alto, I didn't expect your solution to work so perfectly! Sales pressure has eased at every location. Customers are actually happy now!"
"Call me 'boss,'" Alto said with a slight grin, not even looking up from the document he was reviewing.
Helena huffed but complied. "Fine... boss."
Honestly, after experiencing the information saturation and market manipulation tactics in his previous life, this kind of basic scalper situation was mere child's play. Still, he noticed Helena and him had gotten a bit too familiar lately. She was getting bold enough to use his first name casually now. Maybe it was time to reassert some professional boundaries and teach her a small lesson about workplace hierarchy.
"Salary deduction for insubordination," he declared seriously.
Then he paused, realizing with mild embarrassment that he still hadn't actually paid her anything yet. She was technically still in her unpaid probation period. That realization made him feel slightly awkward about the threat.
"Bo... boss..." Helena moved closer, her expression shifting to something more hesitant and hopeful. She seemed like she wanted to say something, but kept second-guessing herself.
After a moment of internal debate, she spoke softly, almost shyly. "Have you been planning to work on a new project lately? You know, things always get busier in later development stages. I could help with that. I'm pretty good with design work, and I'd do it for free, of course..."
She blinked at him expectantly, her eyes bright with genuine enthusiasm and poorly concealed ulterior motives.
geez, her true face finally revealed itself. Alto suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to tease her mercilessly.
He sighed dramatically, slumping in his chair with exaggerated exhaustion. "Honestly, I've been under so much pressure lately. When I'm this stressed, my entire body feels uncomfortable and tight. I'm just... so tired."
He draped one arm across his forehead theatrically. "I don't have any creative inspiration at all right now. The well has run completely dry."
Helena's eye twitched. Yeah, right. This shameless liar.
She was running around the entire city every single day, handling actual work, coordinating with suppliers, managing sales data, conducting market research, and solving endless logistical problems, while this so-called boss did absolutely nothing but lounge around his office like a spoiled brat. And he still had the audacity to claim he was tired and overworked?
"Ah, my shoulders are incredibly sore too," Alto continued, really committing to the act now. "If only someone kind and helpful were around to massage them for their poor, overworked boss..."
Helena stood frozen, genuinely stunned by the sheer shamelessness of the man before her. Her jaw clenched, her hands balling into fists as murderous thoughts danced through her mind.
Finally, she walked directly behind Alto's chair with deliberate, measured steps.
"Oh, I'll massage you alright," she muttered darkly. "I'll massage you to death!"
The office instantly filled with screams that sounded remarkably like a pig being violently slaughtered.