Gallery Rationing System
They were writhing in agony to the point of inventing Isekai stone bread.
"So... an entire race went collectively insane because they couldn't have booze."
Hunger—what a terrifying thing. A species that loves alcohol so much they're working hard to make stone bread to eat.
Beastkin existed too, huh.
"Were beastkin the type that eat a lot more than other races?"
> Yes. That's correct. On average, they require about three times the meal volume of humans.
Eek, holy crap. From a beastkin's perspective, humans must look like a race of light eaters scooping rice from soy sauce bottles in shock.
So humans are starving to death, elves are off sleeping, dwarves are eating stone bread, and beastkin are nearly extinct.
"Memo memo..."
Still, hearing about the dwarves made it seem like, quantity aside, there wasn't much difference in what they ate.
"Different races don't eat different foods, right?"
> Yes. That's correct. There are preferences, of course, but all races can consume the same food.
Good. That made things a lot easier.
"Then first things first, we just need to fill their bellies?"
Rationing system. Gotta do it, right?
Rationing. It's a policy from that red-taste country, but also implemented during wartime when every resource must be squeezed dry. And here? Isekai Famine Gallery. I'm the Moderator running the gallery.
Using the shop function, we could at least solve the bare minimum food issue. It'd give a ray of hope to the dwarves eating stone bread—even though it wasn't their mother-in-law's fault.
"Sora, Sora, got a question."
> Yes. Please speak.
"I've got 1000 Points, but how do the gallery users... the posters earn points?"
Posters. Short for bulletin board users. A title with a long tradition and history among community dwellers.
> Regular gallers can acquire points via the exchange function. When a galler registers an item through exchange, it's converted to points based on its value. The exchange fee is a minimum of 1%. Minimum fees are used for gallery maintenance and expansion resources, and you can set higher fees using Moderator privileges.
A pawnshop exchanging goods for cash with just a 1% fee? What an insanely generous pawnshop.
"Got it. So then the posters..."
> Gallers.
"The post..."
> Gallers.
Eek, that startled me. She really hated the term "posters." The screen, which had always stayed monitor-sized, suddenly expanded to TV dimensions.
"Okay, okay, shrink it back down. I'll say gallers instead of posters."
The screen smoothly shrank back.
> Thank you. That term is too horrific.
I'd thought of her as a high-performance AI, but she was pretty emotional.
"Uh... what happens to the items used in exchanges? Do they get listed in the shop for resale? But that way, the gallery would go bankrupt fast."
In a famine-default world, taking items, pricing them, exchanging for points, then selling food at fair prices? High chance of bankruptcy.
> No. Items are converted to mana based on value and stored. Items difficult to reconstruct via mana may be kept in the system, and items with no mana conversion value may be rejected for exchange.
"That's a super reasonable system."
The best system to avoid bankruptcy without me going insane. Oh yeah, mana exists in this world too. Wonder if I can use magic someday.
"Alright, shall we prep the rations first?"
Magic later. Right now, it was time to feed the starving... gallers.
Shop system. But the shop only I, the Moderator, could use had the same name as the one gallers could use.
"Sora, Sora. Can we change shop names?"
I tugged Sora's ring, voicing my complaint, and
> Yes. Possible. Please state the new name.
Sora replied right away, as always.
"Make the galler shop 'Plain Shop.' Mine, only I can use, 'Moderator Exclusive Shop.'"
> Understood. Names changed to 'Plain Shop' and 'Moderator Exclusive Shop.'
"No, that's..."
It felt like a really old-school gag. Sora really had emotions, huh? Not just an AI...
"Nah, it's fine. Let's keep it like this."
It was probably her masterstroke, but these names weren't half bad either.
Welcome to Gallery 'Plain Shop'!(Unopened)
Remaining P - 989
[Item Purchase / Exchange]
Oof, what a lame name. But I'd endure. It was Sora's killer joke—I vowed to keep it.
I steeled myself and hit 'Item Purchase.'
No items registered. Move to 'Moderator Exclusive Shop' to register new items?
[Yes / No]
Hit 'Yes' again.
Welcome to 'Moderator Exclusive Shop'!
Remaining P - 989
[Item Purchase / Exchange]
What items would there be? Felt like shopping with my first paycheck. Hit 'Item Purchase'—tons of tabs popped up.
An overwhelming number of goods. My head went blank for a sec; I took a deep breath. Waited a bit, but
"Isn't this taking too long...?"
Jumped straight into the shop without searching, and with too many items, the list wouldn't finish loading. Learned today that text could be dynamic. Didn't really wanna know that.
"What we need now is bread and water..."
From those posts earlier, folks here seemed to have bread as their staple, not rice. Bread eaten like rice. Cheap bread in bulk.
Then it had to be that bread, right? The one from the start of my week-long neglect.
"Baguette. Show me baguette bread."
I remembered the cost was around 1,000 won.
3P
A very long bread. Dry it well and you can swing it as a blunt weapon too.
Register as basic ration? No profit from sales, but enables cost-reduced pricing.
Basic ration: 1P each. Auto-purchase and re-register upon 'Plain Shop' stock depletion.
"Whoa! Cost price sales!"
Base 1P meant about 1,000 won per Point. Nice and clean—no headaches calculating prices.
Wondered if bulk buys got discounts? Tugged the ring to ask, but she anticipated.
"Then register 500 baguettes as rations, max stock 500. And show me bottled water?"
> Purchased 500 baguette breads. Registering in 'Plain Shop'. -500P
Galler exchange fees would refill my points, so basic ration = baguette bread equation complete.
3P
Clean water. Surely light at 12kg, but it hurts your hands holding it.
No discounts on water. But bread mattered more than water, right? You can boil water to drink, but boiling dirt won't make bread.
"Water later. Let's stockpile points first."
If they couldn't drink water, they'd be dead already. Surviving meant they had drinking water.
Wanted to browse other items, but not yet.
"Just wait a bit. I'll come shopping after finishing work...!"
Shopping. Always thrilling. But not the time yet.
Welcome to Gallery 'Plain Shop'!(Unopened)
Remaining P - 989
[Item Purchase / Exchange]
Hit 'Item Purchase.'
1P
A very long bread. Dry it well and you can swing it as a blunt weapon too.
[500/500]
Confirmed the monumental first item listing.
"Can't start the first sale this quietly."
Ration-like food sales? Great. But...
"I haven't even announced I'm the new Moderator."
Gallers didn't even know there was a new Moderator. Gotta tell 'em who's selling the generous bread, right?
> I was wondering when to mention it, but you already knew. Relieved.
"Nah, I knew, but with everyone starving, announcing 'New Moderator here!' wouldn't get a warm welcome..."
Customers always welcome generous spenders more. And this was a generous Moderator? They'd cheer, right?
> Indeed, a wise judgment. One previous Moderator was banished for acting frivolously, treating this as power too.
What power does a gallery admin even have? But they get booted, huh. If I get booted, I die, so gotta work diligently.
"Alright, let's get started? Gallery rationing system."
Time to launch the rationing system.