Nozomanu Fushi no Boukensha (LN) - Volume 13 - Chapter 4

Chapter 4: To the Maritime Country

“Let’s see here...” I muttered to myself.

It was now the next day, and I was heading toward the fortress containing the teleportation circles. Capitan being in the Ariana Maritime Republic was all well and good; the problem was finding the right teleportation circle to get there. The underground city was filled with them, and I had no idea where most of them led.

I’d have loved to do a cursory check of all of them, but unfortunately, I was on a relatively tight schedule. The Silver-class Ascension Exam was quickly approaching, so I couldn’t spare the time.

Now, as for how I was going to find the one that led to Ariana...

“Good thing I have the Map of Akasha. Thank you, mysterious lady who gave it to me. Seriously...”

I meant it too. The Map of Akasha was a unique magical item given to me as some kind of apology by a woman with a terrifying presence and palpable degree of strength, whom I’d encountered in an unexplored area of the Water Moon Dungeon. The map automatically recorded every location I traveled through, even the interiors of dungeons. It had a number of other abilities too, but I hadn’t figured them out yet. However, its depiction of Good King Felt’s Dungeon City conveniently listed all of the teleportation circles I’d seen, along with their exit points. It was a real blessing for someone like me who didn’t have much time on his hands.

I’d be sure to keep that to myself, though. I think if that mysterious woman heard that I was treating her map as a mere time saver, she’d flip out at me.

Whatever the case, that was why I was walking the road to the fortress with my eyes fixed on the Map of Akasha, looking for the teleportation circle that led to Ariana.

“Ariana, Ariana... Ah, there we go.”

At last, I’d found it. The label on the map read: “To: the Port City of Lucaris, Ariana Maritime Republic.”

I pictured a map of the continent in my head, trying to remember where Lucaris was. Since it was a port city, it would be on the coast...and I was fairly sure there was a dungeon nearby. That meant there’d be a Guild there too. Most cities had Guilds, but it was rare to see one in a village, and towns below a certain size usually only had small branch offices. That made it more difficult for local adventurers to find work—both in terms of accepting jobs and finding information on them in the first place.

In a city the size of Lucaris, though, that wouldn’t be a concern: it was much more metropolitan than Maalt.

Then again, maybe it was unfair to compare the two in the first place. Maalt was thriving, but at the end of the day, it was still a frontier settlement in a backwater country. The recent discovery of a new dungeon nearby had injected some liveliness into it, but that was all. Compared to a port city in a country where trade was its lifeblood, Maalt looked like a plain little country hamlet.

“I hope they don’t just dismiss me as a hick...” I muttered to myself as I reached the fortress and stepped onto the teleportation circle. The next moment, I was in Good King Felt’s Dungeon City. A short wait later, the shakhor melekhnamer came over, and I hopped onto its back.

“Thanks,” I said. “Let’s go.”

I pointed in the direction I wanted, and the monster broke into a brisk trot. We reached our destination in a matter of minutes.

“Thank you. I’m counting on you to look out for me on the way back too.”

I tossed it some orc meat, which it adeptly caught, letting out a mewl like a cat’s—only much, much louder—and striding away as it devoured its meal.

“If only I could keep it in Maalt...not that that’ll ever happen.”

State the obvious, why don’t you? I retorted to myself before turning toward my intended teleportation circle.

I’d never used this one before, so I double-checked the Map of Akasha to be sure. Yep, it definitely said: “To: the Port City of Lucaris, Ariana Maritime Republic.”

This was the one, then. I was a little scared, though—who knew what awaited me on the other side? There was every chance it could spit me out deep in a forest, a mountain cavern, or even the bottom of the sea. And that was the lucky outcome. My body could handle environments like that, but if it spat me out in a collapsed cave or something, I’d be stuck. I just had to pray that didn’t happen.

If the teleportation circle itself was damaged, it wouldn’t work, but as long as it was intact, it could pop you out literally anywhere, which was a terrifying thought. I’d probably be fine though, since Capitan had used it too.

I’d just have to steel myself and hop in...

Gingerly, I stepped into the teleportation circle. It reacted to my blood and began to shine, the light enveloping my entire body and turning my surroundings a blinding white. When the light faded, I was somewhere else.

“Well, here I am...”

I scanned my surroundings. It was immediately apparent that I hadn’t ended up anywhere too strange—it was just the inside of a cave.

There was hardly any light, but my undead eyes revealed the area with no issues. A regular human would’ve had to fumble around quite a bit...but then again, Capitan had probably brought some way to make a fire. That, or he was so used to the trip that he hadn’t needed light to navigate.

Actually, that last one seemed more like him.

The cave wasn’t that large, and there was an opening that seemed to lead outside, so I headed right for it. When I exited the cavern, I found myself in a forest; turning back, I saw that the cave entrance was small and mostly hidden by grass. Wait, no—on second glance, there was some kind of perception-inhibiting magic at play there. Capitan must have... Nah, it had to have been Gharb.

The enchantment didn’t seem that old, so it was probably the type that needed to be renewed on a regular basis—there was a good chance I wouldn’t have been able to see the entrance otherwise. It took something quite strong to fool my undead body’s senses, especially if I’d already seen through the illusion once. I was fairly certain that if I left and came back, I’d still be able to spot the entrance. It went without saying that Gharb could see it, since she’d likely cast the illusion in the first place, but Capitan probably had some kind of magical detection equipment on him. Otherwise, he’d be stranded without a way to get back...

But I was getting distracted. I put my hypothesizing aside for now and tried to determine where Lucaris was. Despite the Map of Akasha listing the port city as my destination, I was surrounded by forest. Did that mean I was on the outskirts? Or did it instead mean...?

Well, I supposed it didn’t matter. One way or the other, the city had to be close by. I’d be fine as long as I headed in the direction where I could sense people.

Incidentally, I could thank my vampiric sense of smell for that ability. All of my undead body’s various functions really reminded me how far I’d strayed from humanity...

Ah, whatever. For the time being, I started walking.

◆◇◆◇◆

It actually didn’t take long before I was out of the forest. There was a wall up ahead, so I just continued toward it.

The early morning sky was clear, giving me a good view of the area—a highway stretched toward the city walls, and the number of people around gradually increased as I approached. It wasn’t just wagons on the road either—there were a lot of people traveling on foot.

Additionally, the people I saw comprised a number of different races. I wasn’t surprised, exactly, but this definitely wasn’t a sight you usually saw in Maalt. That sight being a lot of beastfolk.

Beastfolk was the generic umbrella term for humanoid races with animallike traits, and they were actually divided into a number of different categories; it was just that humans like me had found it easier to lump them all together.

If you wanted to get more specific, you had wolffolk, avianfolk, and more. I’d even heard that there were dragonfolk out there, though they were rare and I’d never seen one. Beastfolk showed up in Maalt every now and then, but they were few and far between. That was generally true of Yaaran as a whole, but Maalt’s particularly backwater location didn’t make it an appealing place for them to live.

I suspected the biggest reason we saw so few, though, was simply that Maalt was so far out in the boonies that nobody saw any point in traveling that far. There were many other races out there in the world, but the beastfolk were among the most populous, and they could live anywhere with relative ease. That included Maalt, unless I was missing something, so all of that was only further evidence to support my “they don’t come because it’s in the middle of nowhere” theory.

In comparison, Lucaris was a city among cities, so it offered a lot for beastfolk. I’d bet if Maalt were more thriving, their numbers would increase there too. That’d be nice—beastfolk were quite capable, physically speaking, and there was a correlation between having a lot of them around and an improvement in the local Guild’s strength of arms. In turn, having a lot of skilled adventurers meant that the area’s population had an easier time of things.

That was enough daydreaming about the future, though. It was time to enter Lucaris.

I joined the throng of people waiting at the main gates. If this were Maalt, I would step through, show the guards my proof of identity, and that would be that. Even though this was a different country, the general process should still have been the same. Sure, there were different tax rates and paperwork, but Ariana was known for being quite open to foreigners, as well as for offering its people a high degree of freedom, just as you’d expect out of a country with “republic” in its name. Given its flourishing trade economy, Ariana probably didn’t want to impose too many restrictions.

“Next! Come on through!”

The line progressed forward gradually, and before long I found myself in front of a guard giving me a scrutinizing look. I wondered why for a second before it hit me: the guards at Maalt had grown used to it by now, but...

“Could you remove the mask, please?”

Yep, the skull mask. My first time trying to get into Maalt with it had caused a bit of a fuss too, if I remembered right. Rina’s presence had smoothed things over, but I was on my own today.

That being said, I had proper identification on me, and it wasn’t as if they’d immediately jump to the conclusion that I was a monster. Confidence was key here.

“I wish, friend,” I said. “Unfortunately, this mask is cursed. It won’t come off.”

“Really? I mean, I don’t want to call you a liar, but...”

I could tell he very much wanted to call me a liar, actually, but was too polite to do so. In deference to that, I refrained from pointing it out.

“It’s easy to prove,” I said. “You can try tugging it off, hard as you can. It won’t budge.”

“What if it does?”

“I’d be over the moon, in that case! I’ve tried everything to get it off, but nothing seems to work. Brute force, magic, divinity—everything under the sun, at this point. Here, give it a shot.” The explanation came easily to me, since not a word of it was a lie.

That seemed to pique the guard’s interest. “All right then, I think I will,” he said.

“Go ahead. Oh, could I ask someone else to hold me down while he pulls?”

“I’ll do it,” another guard said, stepping behind me. He looped his arms under mine and up, holding me back.

“Here goes, then. Hng... Nggggah!”

The guard gripped the edges of my mask and pulled with all of his strength, but it barely even shifted. I didn’t feel any pain, but it occurred to me that this might hurt an ordinary person quite a lot. After all, this was essentially the same as having the skin on your face pulled at. I guess it was a good thing it had stuck to me, then, instead of someone who might’ve felt all that pain.

Wait, no—it wasn’t a good thing for me at all.

The guard tried for a while longer, but ultimately...

“You’re right—it’s stuck fast. Looks like you weren’t lying. Doesn’t feel like magic either.”

“See? It’s caused me no small amount of grief. Actually, I heard that there’s a variety of cursed items circulating the markets here in Lucaris. Do you know anybody who might be able to do something about it?”

“Hmm? Well...Malga the curse vendor might. You’d best be careful though. You might get it fixed only to walk out with a new curse to deal with.”

“I see. Sounds promising! Oh, but I almost forgot. Can I go in?”

“Ah, right. Well, I suppose wearing an unremovable mask isn’t anything especially suspicious, and you’ve got proper Guild identification too. Go ahead. Incidentally, though, what’s the purpose of your visit?”

“I’m partly here for the dungeon and partly here to gather some medicinal ingredients.”

“Oh, you’re an herbalist, are you? Didn’t expect that just looking at you. Guess you really can’t judge a book by its cover.”

“I’m more of an apprentice, honestly. I have my teacher’s permission to sell some of the basics, though, so just let me know if you’re in the market. If you put in a job at the Guild, I’ll pick it up when I’m around.”

“Hey, thanks. I’ll keep that in mind. Welcome to Lucaris, Mr. Masked Herbalist Adventurer. Enjoy your stay.”

◆◇◆◇◆

As soon as I strode through Lucaris’s gates, I was overwhelmed.

There were so many people here that their numbers dwarfed Maalt’s population by comparison. I’d expected that much, though, since Maalt was just a little frontier town. What I hadn’t expected was the sheer diversity of races—it was like I’d stepped into a different world.

Even Yaaran’s capital didn’t boast this much diversity. I’d always known it was a bit of a backwater country, but this really hammered that fact home.

What was more, the buildings were just fascinating to look at. There was commonplace brick and stone architecture aplenty, just like in Yaaran, but there were just as many colorful types of buildings I’d never seen back home. And was it just my imagination, or were most of the people going in and out of those buildings from nonhuman races? Was all of this architecture from their homelands, or just a quirk of Ariana’s?

“Oops. Can’t let myself keep getting distracted. Let’s see—where can I find an inn...?”

Even just walking around Lucaris dug up fascinating new discoveries, but while I planned on going for a wander through the city later to search for Capitan, I needed to secure myself some lodgings first.

If possible, I wanted to find Capitan before the day was over, but locating a single person in a city this big would be difficult. Gharb had let me know of a few places he might be, but if he had stepped into some random back-alley tavern on a whim then my chances of tracking him down were bleak. Capitan had to have a number of establishments he frequented here, and he probably hadn’t bothered mentioning every single one to Gharb.

“Excuse me, I’d like to purchase a bundle of those herbs.”

As I walked the main streets looking for an inn, I spotted a number of vendors. It was somewhat of a hobby of mine to browse such stores as I strolled around Maalt, and I couldn’t resist doing the same here in Lucaris either. But I wasn’t just giving in to my whims, I promise...

“Oh? You’ve got good eyes, brother,” said the beastfolk man as he handed over the bundle. “These are the best quality goods in my stock.”

He had the features of a goat, so perhaps “goatfolk” would have been accurate. His fur was black, and a pair of horns sprouted from the back of his head. I recalled that his people hailed from mountainous areas, so it was rare to see one of them in a city.

As for the herbs, I’d purchased them because they were a variety I never really saw in grasslands or forests.

“I’m an herbalist, or near enough to one,” I explained. “You could call me something of a veteran when it comes to picking out flora.”

“Y’don’t say? Then you might be interested in these too.” The goatfolk man opened one of the baskets in the stack behind him and lined up several different plants on his mat.

“You’d have to climb extremely tall mountains to harvest all of these plants... I’ll take the whole lot.”

“My, how generous of you! Are you sure?” The goatfolk pointed at the rarest herbs in the lineup. “These ones aren’t cheap.”

I nodded. “I can afford it—and if I let this chance slip by, it’ll be ages before I come across these again. Unless you harvest them pretty regularly, I suppose.”

“The others, yes, but you have to be lucky with these ones. How does...three gold for the whole lot sound?”

“Seriously?”

“Is that...too expensive?”

“The opposite—it’s a bargain. I’ll take that deal. Here.” I handed over the money.

“O-Oh. I thought you’d try to haggle me down...”

“Do your customers always try to do that?”

“More or less... Us beastfolk tend to be fish out of water no matter where we go. Makes it harder to hold our heads high or talk back. This is one of the better places I’ve lived in, though.” The goatfolk’s expression looked somewhat sad.

Humans often viewed other races with prejudice, and beastfolk were no exception. There were all sorts of different reasons for it, but a big one was that humanity simply tended to be clannish and exclusionary.

Of course, I didn’t have that kind of outlook myself. Maybe it was more of a city thing—no one around Maalt really cared what race you were. This was making me appreciate rural areas more.

“Is the Ariana Republic a good place to live?” I asked. “Ah, though I guess I mean the city of Lucaris specifically.”

“Yeah. This city has its own problems, but goatfolk like me can lead good lives here. I lived in the Empire before, and it was awful; but here, the worst I have to deal with is a little bit of browbeating and having everyone try to haggle for lower prices.”

It was probably already clear from what he was saying, but beastfolk had a greater tendency to be wanderers than humans, never staying in one place for long. If they disliked an area, they were quick to put it behind them. Maybe that contributed to humans viewing them with prejudice.

Still, the Empire, huh? I could see it. It wasn’t universal or anything, but Lorraine’s homeland had a strong sentiment of human supremacy. That was because it was a tenet of the Church of Lobelia, and they were everywhere over there. It was also the reason I didn’t want their faith to spread in Maalt—Yaaran’s principal religion, the Church of the Eastern Sky, had none of that.

As for Ariana, I didn’t think any religion had much of a foothold here, which was probably why its populace treated beastfolk no differently than any other foreigner—that is, with open-mindedness. It was a country that saw a lot of foreign trade, immigration, and emigration.

“That’s good to hear,” I said. “Given my appearance, I tend to worry that someone will want to start a fight whenever I’m in a less-than-welcoming place.”

“Yeah, that mask would give anyone a fright at first glance. Did you just get here recently?”

“Earlier today, in fact. Oh, right—there’s something I’d like to ask.”

“Yes?”

“Do you know any good inns? I’m looking for somewhere quiet, with good food. It’s fine if it’s a bit on the pricier side.”

This was another one of the reasons I’d been browsing the street vendors. I could’ve asked at a tavern too, but that was more likely to get me dragged into a fight, and my appearance meant stopping anyone on the street would’ve scared the daylights out of them. Thus, I’d figured approaching a street vendor was my best option.

Plus, since this particular vendor seemed to travel between the city and the mountains quite often, he likely stayed at inns on the regular and knew which ones were good or bad.

Just as I’d hoped, the goatfolk man did know a decent inn, so after he gave me directions, I thanked him and went on my way.

◆◇◆◇◆

“Now, what should I do first...”

I sat on my bed in the inn, planning my next move. If I wanted to find Capitan, the first thing I would have to do was...

Right. Conduct a search based on what Gharb had told me.

If I couldn’t find Capitan, then I’d have to go around gathering more information. It was a haphazard plan, but I didn’t have much in the way of other options.

Ah, though it’d be best if I stopped by the Guild first. Capitan was registered as a Bronze-class adventurer, so he might have accepted a harvesting job while he was searching for the sea spirit herbs.

In that case, he would’ve gone to the Guild at least once, and would have to do so again to hand the job in. If I asked them to pass a message along, then even if I couldn’t find him on my own, I’d probably still be able to get in touch with him in a day or two.

Simply waiting at the Guild was the sure option, but if Capitan planned to gather all the requested items before delivering them, then there was a chance he wouldn’t show up for several days.

In the end, my best option really was just to go out looking...

Whatever the case, I had a plan now. After telling the innkeeper that I’d be out for a while, I headed for the Guild.

◆◇◆◇◆

Lucaris’s Guild was both far larger than Maalt’s and much more colorful. If you were being generous, you could call Maalt’s Guild building stern and no-nonsense, but the fact remained that it was fully dedicated to function over style.

Lucaris’s Guild building, however, was completely different. It had beautiful murals on the walls and decorative ornaments hanging from every pillar, eave, and awning. From their complex designs and engravings, even an amateur in the fine arts like me could see the artistic creativity that had gone into it all.

Part of me worried for their longevity—wouldn’t a Guild full of ruffians break it all?—but maybe Lucaris’s adventurers were well-mannered types. That, or they all had an appreciation for the arts. It wouldn’t be totally out of the question, given this was a big city.

But that was neither here nor there. I walked into the Guild, appreciating the artistry as I went. As per my expectations, the interior bore the markings of a finer touch. It was all very cosmopolitan.

While Maalt’s reception counters were all placed in one long line, presenting a rather mundane first impression, each receptionist here had a separate desk with a decent amount of space in between. Adventurers were commonly bothered by eavesdroppers after dropping off a delivery of goods, but this design would prevent that.

It was a welcome change from Maalt, where the Guild paid no mind to those kinds of finer details...

As my country-boy sensibilities quietly soaked in the metropolitan atmosphere, I looked around. I could feel someone watching me. But who?

After a few moments of doing my best owl impression, I realized that all the men in the lobby—adventurers, by the look of them—were glaring at me.

What had I done to deserve this? Had I committed some kind of faux pas? Nothing came to mind when I thought about it...until I remembered what I looked like.

It’s the mask, isn’t it?

It made sense if you thought about it. One day, a stranger in a skeleton mask and jet-black cloak walks into your Guild. Your first thought would probably be: “Who the hell is this guy?”

Still, it didn’t seem like any of them were about to confront me—they were just keeping a close eye on the stranger. I could probably just ignore them.

If they did confront me, I’d be forced to deal with it somehow, but I wasn’t hotblooded enough that a few people staring daggers at me got on my nerves. In fact, you could argue that I could use more hot blood—after all, I always wanted to drink more of it.

If I told a joke like that to them, though, they’d probably pull their weapons out on the spot...

I picked out one of the reception counters and walked over to the young female receptionist. “Excuse me, may I have a moment?” I asked.

“Of course. How can I help you? Are you here to post a commission? Or perhaps accept one?”

While the glares from the other adventurers had disheartened me a bit, my appearance wasn’t all bad. Back when I’d been human, whenever I’d walked into Guilds that weren’t familiar with me, they had always assumed that I was a client come to post a job. But now that I looked like this, they always seemed to know that I was an adventurer come to take one.

Well, excuse me for looking like a common citizen back then. I’d been an adventuring veteran, you know...

Maybe the blame lay with the guild employees’ personal biases, though. Proper procedure was to ask about both in succession, like this receptionist just had.

“Neither,” I said. “I’m looking for another adventurer who’s probably in the city, so I’d like to leave a message here for him.”

“I see. Pardon me, but are you an adventurer yourself?”

“I am. Bronze-class.” I handed over my adventuring license.

After checking it, the receptionist said, “Yes, everything seems to be in order. I see you’re from the Kingdom of Yaaran. That’s quite the journey.”

If you’re wondering why she asked me if I was an adventurer too, it was because passing on a message from another adventurer was a free-of-charge service. If I’d been an ordinary citizen, however, it would have cost me several bronze for a local—that is, limited to the city—message. If it wasn’t set up that way, everyone and their mother would just use the Guild as a free message board.

“Yeah, it’s my first time in Ariana. It’s a lovely place, though. Lucaris is a huge city—beautiful too—and the Guild here is really spacious.”

I couldn’t say anything about the quality of its adventurers yet. Well, except for the fact that they seemed like the unsavory type who might invent a pretext to get into a fight with a stranger who’d just walked in...but there was no need to go out of my way to voice that.

The receptionist seemed pleased by my praise. “Thank you for your kind words. There are many sights to see in Lucaris, so even just going for a stroll is enjoyable.”

“I’ll try that,” I replied. “By the way, the name of the adventurer I’d like to leave a message for is ‘Capitan.’ Has he come by?”

It was a relatively unusual name, so I figured it’d be enough to narrow down the man in question, but the receptionist’s reaction took me by surprise.

“The Capitan?! You know him?!”

◆◇◆◇◆

I blinked. “I do. I take it you do too?”

The receptionist nodded vigorously. “Of course! He doesn’t live here, but he shows up periodically and cleans up all the commissions that have been left to rot in one sweep, even if they’re hard ones that everyone else avoids. He’s single-handedly responsible for the recent rise in our commission completion rate!”

She seemed so happy that I actually felt a little smug. It was nice to hear my old master being praised.

“Is that so? Does that mean he’s out on a commission right now, then?”

There was a chance that Capitan had only come to the city this time to fulfill Gharb’s request for sea spirit herbs, but the receptionist’s story made that seem less likely.

“Yes. Like always, he took a number of commissions that had been gathering dust and set off. They were all in the same place, though. I think he had a destination in mind already.”

In short, he must have only taken the jobs in the same location as the sea spirit herbs, and probably had no plans to go anywhere else. That made sense; Gharb wanted the herbs as soon as possible.

“May I ask where that destination is?” I had an idea already, since Gharb had told me where Capitan would be searching for the herbs, but I wanted to double-check, just in case.

“The Dungeon of the Sea God’s Daughters. He left this morning, so I don’t think he’ll be back until after sunset.”

The Dungeon of the Sea God’s Daughters was located near Lucaris, and it was the location Gharb had told me about—that was all well and good. There was just one problem...

“If I recall correctly...that’s at the bottom of the sea, isn’t it?”

“Oh! You’re well-informed for someone who’s not a local. Yes, that’s right. The entrance is below the water, off the coast. The ferry only makes the trip twice a day, in the morning and evening—though when the waters are rough, leaving the dungeon is impossible. In any case, he won’t be back until evening.”

It was just as I’d feared. Dungeons existed in pretty much every location you could imagine, but even among them, the Dungeon of the Sea God’s Daughters was one of the harder ones to access. It wasn’t the worst, though—there was a confirmed dungeon whose entrance was the mouth of a volcano.

You might be wondering how anyone is even supposed to get inside, but there was no underestimating human ingenuity. Apparently, there was a reliable method of entry that a decent number of people used on the regular.

I’d never been myself, of course, but I would have to go one day, given how I had my sights set on Mithril-class. I would do whatever it takes to get stronger...even if part of me protested at the thought of jumping into the mouth of a volcano.

Anyhow, given how troublesome dungeons could be, the Dungeon of the Sea God’s Daughters didn’t seem so bad by comparison. It went without saying that the materials you could find in it were hard to come by, and the sea spirit herbs were one such example. Their natural environment was deep areas of the sea floor—not a location humans could simply stroll into. Usually, your only option was to ask a fishfolk to gather some for you, but the herbs grew at such depths that only certain fishfolk could even manage the trip. That being the case, the next best choice for finding the herbs was to go dungeon delving for them.

Each dungeon had a different variety of materials and items that could be found in it. The one in Maalt had its own unique set, and other locations were no exception. Since the Dungeon of the Sea God’s Daughters was underwater, many of its harvestable materials were aquatic in nature—hence why Capitan had gone there in search of the sea spirit herbs.

Still, he wouldn’t be back until evening, huh?

“Will I run into him if I go to the port at sunset?” I asked.

“You should, unless you miss each other,” the receptionist confirmed. “Capitan comes by every day to drop off his harvest, though, so it’d be a surer bet to come here, er...” She looked at me inquisitively.

“Rentt.”

“Rentt,” she repeated. “I’ll let him know you came by, so he’ll probably wait for you.”

“Yeah? Thank you. Just in case we still miss each other, though, here’s the inn I’m staying at. Could you tell him to drop by?”

“Of course.”

With that sorted, I was sure to meet up with Capitan today or tomorrow, barring any exceptional circumstances. Now, how was I going to spend the rest of the day?

A stroll around the city sounded nice. I left the Guild, looking forward to doing some sightseeing.

◆◇◆◇◆

Instead of heading straight back to my inn, I took a meandering path through the city.

Lucaris had a number of stores catering to adventurers, so I made some rounds—stocking up on medicinal herbs, recovery potions, and finally, both preserved and perishable rations for when I delved into the dungeon. I also stopped by a blacksmith’s for some equipment maintenance.

Once that was all done, I continued with my stroll, feeling greatly satisfied. I’d started out on the main streets, but the paths I was walking gradually grew narrower and darker. I wasn’t headed back to the inn, though. Rather, I was headed in the complete opposite direction.

My original plan had been to return to the inn and do some herbalist work until evening, but the eyes I could feel on my back had put a stop to that plan.

Yep, you heard me right: I was being followed.

My pursuers couldn’t have been too close, since I didn’t see anybody when I turned around, but the feeling of their gazes on me was unmistakable. I wouldn’t say it was bloodlust, but I could tell they certainly weren’t thinking anything pleasant.

Well, I supposed I should start things off...

“This should do,” I said. “Why don’t you all come out? It’s the least you can do after I did you the favor of coming all the way to this gloomy place.”

Quietly, they showed themselves. Their gear had no unifying factor, but I could tell they were used to handling their weapons. You could find people like these everywhere you went, and I was very familiar with their way of life.

They were adventurers.

◆◇◆◇◆

“’Lo,” said one of my pursuers. “So you noticed us? Not bad.”

There were three of them in total. Not a big number, but not a small one either...

“You weren’t exactly being subtle about tailing me,” I said. “So, what’s your business? I only arrived in this city today, so I can’t have done anything worth holding a grudge over.”

I couldn’t guarantee that I wouldn’t in the future, but as things stood, I was pretty sure I had a clean slate. They didn’t look like they were champing at the bit to start a fight either, even though they’d been following me.

It’d be nice if we could resolve this diplomatically, but it appeared that they had other ideas.

“It’s nothing personal, friend. We just saw how generous you were at that street vendor. I mean, three whole gold coins? To a beastfolk? Was wonderin’ if you could spare a little of that bleeding heart for poor folk in need like us.”

Ah, so it was coin they were after. That was troublesome. They must’ve been watching pretty closely when I’d paid the goatfolk vendor—they even got the exact amount right.

“Oh, so you’re herb salesmen too?” I said. “I’d be happy to take a look at your wares.” Obviously they weren’t, but I wanted to exhaust my options first. I really wanted to avoid causing a fuss. That said, I knew there was only one way they’d interpret that...

“What? Are you all right in the head? Look, just give us the money!” The lead man stepped toward me, reaching for the weapon at his waist.

Okay, fine—so maybe I’d known this would happen and had intentionally been a little sarcastic. You reaped what you sowed, I supposed.

“Are we really doing this?” I asked.

“Look at that, lads! Big man over here’s still pretending he isn’t quivering in his boots! Come on—let’s get him!”

The man who’d spoken charged at me. I could respect how he’d come at me himself instead of making the other two—who looked like his underlings—go first. Most people like him tended to just blow hot air and make their henchmen do the dirty work.

Still, that didn’t change what I’d have to do to them.

I drew my sword and dashed forward. I had a good grasp of their level of ability already, and I wouldn’t hurt them too badly...even though they could probably do with a good beating that left them out of commission for a while. I didn’t want to overdo it.

Channeling mana into my legs, I instantly closed the distance with the man in front. Suddenly face-to-face with my skeleton mask, his eyes flew open in shock. His sword, though, was still mid swing.

“You’ll have to be faster than that.”

My horizontal slash slammed into his torso, colliding with his armor and sending him flying. He crashed into a wall and slumped to the ground, unconscious. As for the other two...

“A-Ahhh!”

“Wh-What?! H-How did...?!”

They were quivering in fear. The outcome of the fight had been obvious to me, but evidently not to them. It’s not even that I was terribly strong—they were just on the weak side. I’d been able to tell from both their movements and the fact that they weren’t good enough to make three gold coins through taking commissions.

In short, they were about as powerful as I used to be—maybe even less so. I couldn’t possibly lose. Still, just like I’d had to respect their fallen leader, it appeared that I’d have to reevaluate my opinion on these two as well.

“You’re not going to run?” I asked. I brought my sword up one-handed and pointed it straight at them. Even a child would be able to get the message: You’re next.

And yet, they didn’t flee.

“Wh-What, is your head as empty as that skull makes it look?! We’re not gonna leave our friend behind!” yelled one.

“Y-Yeah!” the other chimed in. “H-Hold on, Niedz, we’re coming for you, man!”

Both of them turned their glares on me. All of a sudden, I felt like the bad guy here. What was the deal?

I took a mental step back and looked at the situation objectively. In a back alley, a guy with a skull mask and black cloak stood facing three adventurers. One of them was unconscious at the masked man’s feet, while the other two were standing up to him to save their friend, struggling to overcome their terror.

Wow, talk about easy to misunderstand.

“H-here goes! W-Waaaaghhh!”

“T-Take this, Skullface!”

The pair ran at me, screaming. They never managed to follow through, however, because the next moment...

Thud.

They both collapsed to the ground. Why, you ask? Well, I can tell you that it wasn’t because I’d taken them out with a ranged spell or anything like that.

“I thought something was unusual about this,” I said. “Do you have business with me too, then?”

A man walked into view behind the fallen pair of adventurers. My eyes, which could see in the dark, allowed me to discern that he wasn’t human, but a beastfolk.

The figure had glossy, jet-black fur that looked pleasant to touch, and feline irises that glimmered, making them stand out in the gloom. Size-wise, he was slightly taller than the average human, and his build was lithe, clearly trained for agility rather than brute strength.

My point being, he was much more capable than the two adventurers who had just attacked me. If he was thinking of doing the same, I’d have to go all out.

“You noticed me too?” he asked.

“I sensed someone other than those guys, yeah,” I explained. “Couldn’t pin down where you were, though.” He’d been quite good at concealing himself. I’d still sensed him...but he might’ve let me notice him on purpose.

“Is that so? I suppose there wasn’t much point in it after all. I doubt this is even worth asking, but are you all right?”

“I assume from your question that you’re not with those guys, then? And it doesn’t seem like you came to attack me either.” It seemed the man’s intentions had been to do the exact opposite, in fact, since he’d intentionally made his presence known to me.

“Yeah,” he confirmed. “I saw them tailing you on my way home. Didn’t look like they were planning anything good, so I followed, just in case.”

“You were going to step in and rescue me?”

“Yes...though I soon realized my assistance would be unnecessary.”

“Oh, not at all. Thank you. Those two were pretty terrified at the end, and you never know what a desperate person is going to do. A quick blow from behind to knock them out was the cleanest solution.”

“Glad I could help. Incidentally...”

“Hmm?”

“What would you like to do with them?” The man glanced at the unconscious adventurers. “Shall we hand them over to the authorities?”

I considered it for a moment. That was definitely an option, but... “I only arrived in this city recently,” I said. “What would happen if we handed them over?”

“Let’s see... Well, since they seem to be adventurers, they’d have their licenses revoked first. Then, they’d likely have to spend a month or so in a cell. You’re unharmed, unfortunately—ah, my apologies, I didn’t mean it like that—so it’s very probable that’s the only punishment they’ll have levied against them, given the lack of damage.”

There wouldn’t be much point in handing them in, then. Having their licenses revoked was a significant punishment, but it would mean taking away their source of income. That would likely just force them to attempt this kind of thing again.

This was going to be a pain to deal with, but maybe it was some kind of fate. They didn’t seem like bad guys—well, not too bad anyway—so beating some morals into them was probably worthwhile.

“I’ll stay here and wait for them to wake up.”

“Pardon?”

“They attacked me because they didn’t have any coin. I figure I’ll teach them the bare minimum of what it takes to earn a living. Otherwise, they might attempt this again, and there’s no guarantee their next victim will be as capable of dealing with it as I was.”

The man looked at me incredulously. “You’re a real softy, aren’t you?”

“I wouldn’t say so. If they’d been rotten to the core, I’d have just dumped them in the lowest levels of the dungeon or something and damn the consequences. I won’t be in town for long, you see.”

“Okay, I take back what I said about you being a softy. Hmm. Waiting here for them to wake up would be rather dull, so why not bring them to my place?”

“Your place? Are you sure? I wouldn’t want them holding a grudge against you.” What if they came back later down the line and burned his house down or something?

“Oh, it’s fine. If they try anything, I’ll just kill them.”

“Ah. Well...you certainly seem capable enough...”

“Let’s get this over with, then. I’ll carry these two. The first man you knocked out is all yours.”

“Got it. Sorry about all this.”

“If anybody should be apologizing, it’s this lot,” the beastfolk man said, hoisting the pair of unconscious adventurers onto his shoulders.

“You’ve got that right. I’ll be sure to get an apology out of them once they’re awake.”

“Are you going to torture them?”

“Hmm... It’s certainly an option. I can heal any damage I do, so...” I picked up my guy and set off, following the beastfolk’s lead. “Oh, I didn’t get your name, by the way. I’m Rentt Faina. Call me Rentt.”

“Diego Malga. Just call me Diego.”

“Malga? You wouldn’t happen to be the curse vendor, would you...?”

“Oh, you’ve heard of me? Yes, that’s my shop. Being called a curse vendor hurts a little, though... I’m just a general store.”

◆◇◆◇◆

Diego led me through the alleyways, taking a number of twists and turns. “It’d be faster to take the main streets,” he said, “but while we’re carrying this lot...”

Yeah, hauling three unconscious adventurers was not a good look. People would think we were kidnappers. We could just explain our circumstances if asked, of course, but then we’d be taken in by the authorities—them to be locked up, and us for questioning. I wanted to avoid that, so sneaking through the back alleys suited me just fine.

The problem was I had no idea where we were going. For all I knew, Diego was a criminal taking me straight to his associates. All I could do was quietly follow along.

I doubted I needed to worry about that possibility, though. If that had been his objective, he wouldn’t have taken the time to explain why we were taking the back alleys. In any event, if worse came to worst, Splintering would let me get out of almost any situation, even ones a normal person couldn’t.

It looked like I hadn’t been wrong about Diego, though, because we reached our destination after half an hour of walking.

“Come on in,” he said.

We were at the rear entrance of a sturdy-looking stone house. Despite carrying an additional body, he deftly opened the door and held it for me. I felt a little guilty; I wouldn’t have minded going first.

“Ah, sorry,” I said. “Let me get that.”

I stepped over and closed the door behind us as Diego went inside. Following after him, I found myself impressed as the dark interior began to light up automatically as we advanced.

“That’s a pretty luxurious magical setup you’ve got there,” I noted.

Diego shook his head. “They’re just artifacts my father retrieved from the dungeon. I can’t take any credit.”

“Yeah? Is he an adventurer?”

“He was, yes. He also ran a general store...though I’ve taken over, of course.”

“I see...” We hadn’t exchanged many words, but it had been enough for me to read between the lines. Diego’s father was no longer with us. “So when the gate guard told me about ‘Malga the curse vendor,’ he was talking about this store?”

“Must’ve been. We never picked a formal name for it, you see. They called it ‘Raul the curse vendor’ in my father’s day.”

So Diego’s father’s name was Raul. “How come you never named it?” I asked. “Isn’t that inconvenient?”

“My father only ran this store as a hobby, and I’m the same way. Adventuring was—and is—our main profession. Like him, I only open the general store when I feel like it, or when a regular lets me know they’ll be dropping by.”

“Can you make enough to get by that way?”

“Like I said, it’s just a hobby. Besides, curse vendors are actually rather in demand in Lucaris. Ah, it’s this room.”

We’d reached our destination, it seemed. Diego stepped over to the sofa in the center of the room and put the two adventurers down, so I followed his lead with mine. Their bodies took up so much space, though, that we were left with nowhere for us to sit.

Diego rustled up a chair from somewhere and brought it over. “It’d be a little strange for me to tell you to make yourself at home, given the circumstances, but have a seat. I’ll bring you some tea.”

“You don’t have to go out of your way on my account.”

“It’s fine—you’re a guest. Sit.”

On that parting remark, Diego headed for the kitchen. I suddenly felt rather guilty—I’d basically barged in out of nowhere, and now he was treating me so politely. He’d had no reason to take me in, much less these three adventurers on top of that.

Diego had called me a softie, but I was beginning to wonder if he wasn’t one himself.

Still, I was grateful to have his help. I’d do my best not to inconvenience him, where possible.

Tnk. A steaming teacup was placed on the table in front of me.

“That smells lovely,” I remarked.

“It’s imported, not locally grown.” Diego said. “It’s good tea.”

Due to the climate, Ariana wasn’t a major agricultural center. Its development as a nation was reliant on its booming trade economy. As a result, tea was difficult to grow here, and the end product wasn’t all that delicious.

However, when I tasted the tea Diego had given me, it had a distinct flavor that suffused my mouth and nose. It seemed he wasn’t lying about it being imported.

“A friend of mine’s very particular about her tea, so I’ve tasted some high-quality leaves in my time,” I said. Of course, I was talking about Lorraine. “But this would give any of them a run for their money. Is this also a hobby of yours, Diego?”

“What, do I have the face of a guy who’s particular about his tea?” he replied. “I’ll take the good stuff if it’s available, of course, but that’s about it. I got this blend from a customer.”

“Ah, one of the regulars you mentioned earlier?”

That meant he had some fairly well-to-do clients, then. A common citizen wouldn’t have brought him such high-quality tea. Lorraine could afford its like, but it was above most people’s pay grade.

“Yes. Is it strange that such well-off customers would visit an establishment like mine?”

“It’s a little unexpected, but I wouldn’t go so far as to call it strange.”

He’d mentioned how his store was an irregular side thing to his main occupation. Curse vendors were rare in Maalt, but Lucaris likely had a selection to choose from, and I hadn’t noticed anything that might set him apart from the others, hence my surprise.

“I’ve undergone training at a temple of the God of Appraisal, so I can appraise cursed objects to some degree.” Diego explained. “People value that. Lucaris is a big city, and we have more than our fair share of keen eyes, but I’m the only curse vendor who’s gone through the trouble of learning the skill. So there you go.”

◆◇◆◇◆

“Does that mean you’re a priest of the God of Appraisal?” I asked.

“Nothing so grand,” Diego said. “I mean, they kicked me out halfway through. You can probably guess how they felt about me appraising cursed objects all the time...”

Come to think of it, the priests I’d met hadn’t been too keen on cursed objects, had they... “Yeah,” I agreed. “Priests of the God of Appraisal are pretty strict in that regard. So you’re saying you studied curses all the time despite that?”

“Essentially. That’s why they chased me out, in the end. I picked up a lot about the art of appraisal, though. And the way I see it, it doesn’t matter if it’s cursed or not—objects aren’t inherently sinful.”

Appraisal was a skill anyone could learn. The Guild had specialists, and many merchants knew how to do it too. The foremost experts in the world, however, were the priests who served the God of Appraisal, and many went to their temples seeking to learn their ways.

From what Diego had said, he had done exactly that. But to learn their methods, you had to become a priest too—they’d refuse to teach you otherwise. In a sense, that was only natural. But if Diego had become a priest, only to study cursed objects so often that he was excommunicated as a result...

Well, an adventurer like me would be extremely grateful to have an appraiser who would identify anything for them, but I had no doubt the priests saw the matter quite differently.

“You don’t regret it?” I asked. He’d gone as far as joining a priesthood to learn the art of appraisal. Could it be that he really had wanted to dedicate his life to it, at one point?

Diego shook his head. “Not really, no. I only learned it in the first place so I could run my store here in Lucaris. I’d always planned on coming back once I’d learned enough. I stayed longer than I’d planned to, actually, since it was more enjoyable than I expected, so getting the boot worked out perfectly.”

“Why Lucaris, then? Is there a particular reason you’re hung up on this city?”

As an appraiser who’d been good enough to become a priest of the God of Appraisal, Diego could’ve set up shop in an even bigger city and been in huge demand—and yet he simply ran a small shop like this as a side gig. Well, it had been passed down to him by his father, so maybe that was why.

“This is the city my father spent his life in,” Diego said, confirming my suspicions. “Besides...”

“Besides?” I asked.

“I...” Diego cut himself off, shaking his head. It seemed he wouldn’t be elaborating any further, because he suddenly changed the topic. “Come to think of it, Rentt, you said you were going to discipline these three?” He looked over to the unconscious men on the sofa. “What are you going to do to them?”

“Ah, right. Well, first I was going to get their side of the story when they woke up.”

“And then?”

“Make them help me out with a job. I’m planning to teach them a few things while we’re working too.”

“A job?”

“Yeah. Do you know about sea spirit herbs?”

It was kind of an abrupt topic change, but like any good general store owner and appraiser, Diego seemed to be well-versed in botany. “They’re a type of herb that grows on the seafloor, right?” he said. “Fishfolk harvest them on occasion, but you only ever see them in Lucaris once a year or so. Oh—though I’ve heard you can sometimes find them in the Dungeon of the Sea God’s Daughters.”

“You know your stuff.”

“Who do you think you’re talking to? I’m a great and mighty appraiser who went through all that training!”

“You’re not wrong. I’m a little amazed you’d call yourself ‘great and mighty’ though.”

“Anyway, about the sea spirit herbs...?”

“Right. An acquaintance of mine needs a number of them, but like you mentioned, they’re not exactly in general circulation. So, the only choice is to go get them myself, right?”

“Ah, so you’re...”

“Technically speaking, another acquaintance of mine is already looking for them, but it seems to be slow going. I figured I’d add another set of hands or four to the search.”

“That’s the job you’ll be using this lot for?” Diego examined the unconscious adventurers skeptically. “Are you sure they’ll be any help?”

I understood how he felt. You couldn’t just order someone to help you search for herbs and expect them to know what they were doing. Since it was only the one kind of plant, however, I could just drill the relevant information into them beforehand. As long as I did the final check of what they picked, we’d be fine.

“I won’t say it’ll be easy going, but they’ll be more of a help than a burden, I think.”

“Fair enough. At least they weren’t poor enough fighters that they’d get in the way. Does that mean you’ll be delving into the Dungeon of the Sea God’s Daughters, then?”

“That’s the plan. It’s underwater, right? I’m looking forward to seeing it, though, uh... I’m not quite sure how I’ll be delving it. Do you know what people usually do?”

I’d heard about this kind of thing even while I was back in Maalt—more detailed strategies for entering and exploring dungeons generally tended to be unavailable until you were in the area. That was less because Maalt was a backwater town and more because the information was worth its weight in coin. It tended not to leak too far unless large sums of money changed hands.

Purchasing it was an option, but back in Maalt I’d never felt inclined to spend my hard-earned coin just to find out something about a specific dungeon in some faraway country. Now that the need was upon me, my plan was to meet up with Capitan and ask him. Only if that turned out not to be enough would I consider purchasing more information.

Until I’d linked up with him, though, it would be a waste to go around buying knowledge that he’d end up telling me anyway. I wouldn’t have minded doing that in an emergency, but as things stood, all I had to do was wait until evening.

Since the ferry only traveled twice a day, the earliest I could explore the Dungeon of the Sea God’s Daughters was tomorrow, so that was no problem.

“In general, you get to the dungeon by boat,” Diego explained. “Then you just dive into the water, swim to the entrance, and you’re in. Simple.”

“Isn’t that a little too simple? What about breathing?”

“Well, you’re underwater, so you can’t.”

Correctly reading my expression as “What, are you telling me to die?” Diego burst into laughter, then added, “Don’t worry, I’m not telling you to stop breathing. There is a way.”

◆◇◆◇◆

I cocked my head. “A way to get there without breathing?”

It wasn’t turning into an undead, was it?!

Just kidding—I knew he wouldn’t say that. Incidentally, I didn’t actually need to breathe. I could get to the dungeon with no problem, but I had to maintain the act or people would get suspicious. Not only that, but I was now planning to bring the three unconscious adventurers with me too, so I needed to figure out how to get around them drowning. You might argue that they couldn’t complain if they did die, given what they’d tried to do to me, but I had no intention of being that cruel.

No intention yet, anyway. Depending on the circumstances, that option was still on the table.

“No, there’s no method for doing that,” Diego said. “But there is a way to breathe underwater. Take a look at this.”

He retrieved a small, long glass pipe the width of a person’s ring finger from a shelf. At first I thought it was stained, but upon closer inspection, it was just that it had minute, densely packed magical symbols engraved onto the exterior...no, they were on the interior of the pipe. It was obviously a...

“Is that a magical tool?” I asked.

“Close, but not quite. It’s a cursed one.”

“What...?” I’d been about to touch it, but I jerked my hand back, afraid that it would stick to me.

Diego laughed. “It’s fine. Cursed tools come in all kinds. The curse on this one isn’t the usual sort, you see.”

“Are you sure?”

“I wouldn’t be so casual about holding it if I were lying, would I?”

“True...”

That said, just because someone else could hold it without a problem didn’t mean it wouldn’t curse me. After all, my mask hadn’t stuck to Rina’s face when she’d had it, though maybe that was just because it would be inert unless someone tried to put it on. Still, that was proof there were cursed items that didn’t activate unless you did a specific action.

Of course, I knew that Diego had no reason to bring me an item like that.

“So this’ll let me breathe underwater?” I asked.

“Yes. Don’t get me wrong, though—it’s still a curse. Make sure you don’t attach it while you’re on land, or you’ll suffocate.”

“Oh, so it’s one of those...”

It was quite common for cursed objects to give the wielder some benefit in exchange for taking something away—for example, offering an extreme improvement in your vision in exchange for removing your ability to hear, or vice versa. You could use the former to scout over long distances, and the latter to receive verbal messages. They could even be useful for blocking out your vision or hearing, if you needed to do that.

Cursed items weren’t in ready circulation in Maalt, so nobody really used them, but people who did showed up once in a blue moon in other towns, so knowing about them was indispensable. I felt I should revise my impressions of Ariana—the people here likely used them quite often. After all, this city had curse vendors like Diego—though he called his shop a general store.

I was worried about my ability to use this pipe. Despite having some knowledge about cursed objects, I had little practical experience with them. These things were a matter of time and practice, though. I’d never figure out the trick unless I tried it.

Not that the glass pipe would have any effect on me in the first place...

“By the way, how much is one of these?” I asked.

“Five gold.”

“That much...? I don’t suppose you could give me a discount...”

“I already am—haggling with you would be a pain. Five gold’s basically at cost. You can check at other curse vendors, if you’d like. The biggest rip-off I’ve personally seen is a place selling them for fifty gold.”

“Five gold it is, then. I’ll take four.” I retrieved my coin pouch from my breast pocket and handed the money to Diego.

“Huh. Are you sure? You don’t want to test them out first?”

“I’ve got no reason to distrust you. If there’s a problem with them, I’ll just bring them back... You’ll replace them, right?”

“That’s not normally a service I provide, but I’ll do it for you. I don’t get the impression you’d break them intentionally and come complaining to me about it.”

“Do you get people like that often...?”

“More often than you’d think. Curse vendors tend to have a few screws loose—not that I’m one to talk. Even harassing rival stores isn’t unheard of.”

“Oh, so it’s not the customers, but others in the same profession...”

I got the impression this was a pretty dog-eat-dog world. Given how there were people selling a five gold product for fifty, maybe I wasn’t too far off. Although from another perspective, maybe they thought Diego was a business rival who was selling their product at one-tenth the value...

“Just for reference, how much do these usually go for?” I asked.

“These? Twelve or thirteen gold, generally speaking.”

“You gave me a pretty big discount, then.”

“I did, so you’d best be grateful.”

“Of course I am.”

“In that case, mind hearing out a request of mine?”

Diego’s delivery was so smooth that I almost missed it, even though I’d been expecting something like that. He wouldn’t have given me such a large discount for nothing, after all, and he’d practically said himself that curse vendors were a crafty lot. Still, it wouldn’t cost me anything to listen.

“I can hear you out, but I won’t make any promises about accepting,” I warned.

“That’s enough for me. It’s not anything momentous, anyway—just a simple request. You’ll be delving into the Dungeon of the Sea God’s Daughters with this lot, won’t you?”

“Yeah.”

“Have you heard what the dungeon’s particular trait is?”

“I...haven’t, no. I was going to look into it later.”

“Well, it’s pretty common knowledge, but cursed objects tend to turn up pretty easily there. Much more frequently than other dungeons, in fact.”

Like magical items, cursed items were a common product of dungeons. You rarely saw them in the ones around Maalt—Yaaran’s dungeons in general tended to have low numbers, actually—but they were definitely out there. It didn’t take much imagination to surmise that there were probably dungeons on the other side of the coin.

That explained another thing too. “Is that why Lucaris has so many curse vendors?”

“Sure is. But as for my request—if you come across any cursed items, could you bring them to me?”

“For free...?”

“Of course not. If I see anything I want, I’ll pay you for it.”

“Does that even count as a request? It sounds like a regular business deal—and one that’s nothing but beneficial for me, at that.”

“Will you accept, then?”

I couldn’t see a trace of deception in Diego’s smile. There was probably something he wasn’t saying, but it didn’t seem like it was anything that was going to affect me negatively. That being the case, I figured it’d be fine.

“All right. I accept.”