Chapter 6
HAVING LISTENED to the appraiser’s research on the pricing history of magic stones, Mira offered to sell off most of the numerous stones she’d gathered.
The appraiser reiterated that it wasn’t the size of a stone that determined its value but the amount of mana it contained. She said that, for that reason, the prices might vary. Still, the appraisals Mira received on the other stones weren’t much different from the initial ones. In the end, she sold about three million ducats’ worth of medium and large stones.
She decided to hold on to the smaller stones, as she could use those just as they were on handheld arms and a surprising number of other things as well.
Suddenly remembering that she needed to provide identification, Mira handed over her adventurer’s license as well as her rewards card. The latter gave her a 20 percent discount when purchasing goods at Dinoire Trading, but she didn’t think it was much use when selling things. She was happy she’d tried, though, since she discovered she’d get a 10 percent bonus on whatever she sold.
Mira walked away with around 3.3 million ducats. She resolved only ever to sell magic stones at Dinoire Trading going forward—just like Cedric Dinoire had intended.
Her profits came to sixty-six gold coins, which were so heavy that she’d have trouble just moving with them. Still, she didn’t want them deposited into her account; she preferred to have all her profits in cash.
But they might be too heavy for me to carry…
Having left the sales counter, Mira now sat in a waiting area, smiling contentedly at the bag full of gold coins in her hands. It actually felt nice to hold that much money, she realized.
After she finally got her fill of the sound of gold coins clinking against each other, Mira opened her Item Box. Then she recalled something that Solomon had taught her when she first came to this world: Gold and silver coins were classified as money, not items, so they couldn’t be placed in an Item Box.
Mira quickly figured out a workaround that solved that issue. The coins just needed to be put into a bag to reclassify them as an item. Then several of those bags could be stored in an Item Box.
If one had a User’s Bangle’s worth of carrying capacity, it’d be difficult to carry hundreds of thousands of ducats all the time, but former players like herself didn’t have that restriction. They were free to save up as much as they wanted.
Setting aside six gold coins—three hundred thousand ducats—Mira put the rest into a leather sack and stored it in her Item Box. The three hundred thousand ducats were the bonus she’d gotten by using her rewards card. With that as her budget, she gleefully headed deeper into the store.
Dinoire Trading was quite large, and she wandered to and fro, making her way around the store. However many times she looked, Mira never tired of browsing the huge assortment of adventurer’s gear. The passion for adventuring burned within her.
A survival set caught her eye, despite her having no use for it, as did other seemingly pointless things, including a detective’s tool kit. It evoked childlike wonder in her, maybe because it looked like a traditional adventurer’s tool.
She might’ve felt like a child in a toy store, but none of the gear was simply for children to play with. Rather, everything was the real deal. It was crafted using all the knowledge available to keep adventurers alive and adventuring.
Mira lost herself completely in checking out the products. She could use her summoning abilities and spirits’ powers in place of most of the tools and gear, but she still couldn’t help feeling strangely enthralled by all of it.
After about an hour had passed, Mira had added several things to her shopping basket. At last, she entered the part of the store she’d most looked forward to visiting: the new-product corner.
As one might expect of a place full of new adventuring products, the corner was packed with adventurers. Some carefully examined products, while others tried out samples. Others still pelted the staff with questions. Business was booming.
“Ooh. They’ve got stuff on sale, huh?”
Mira spotted the discount corner, which happened to be near the new products. It only consisted of one rack, and half the stock on it was already gone. The discounted item must’ve been pretty popular. It was something called a Magic-Powered Innerwear Cooling Conditioner.
Beneath the word SALE was a note saying the cooling conditioner was perfect for the coming season. Below was a description of the product: It was worn inside a person’s clothes to cool down their entire body. It was basically a mini air conditioner placed inside one’s outfit.
The cooling conditioner was about the size of a small notebook, and had Off, Low, Medium, and High written across it, as well as a knob that could be turned.
Just looking at it made Mira think of summer. “Wow, that’s really something else!” They didn’t even have something that small and convenient in the world she was originally from.
August was fast approaching. She could keep the temperature inside the mansion spirit nice and cool using the spirit’s powers, but the moment she walked outside, she’d be hit with a wall of heat and slowly become drenched in sweat. That was precisely the time of year that had arrived, and since she could only take off so many clothes, it was particularly difficult to stay cool. If this one device solved that problem, she had to buy it.
Then the price caught Mira’s eye. Despite being on sale, the cooling conditioner cost two hundred thousand ducats. Not only that, it had apparently sold for three hundred thousand ducats before. She’d end up spending two-thirds of her original shopping budget on just one thing.
“But I really do need it, right…?” After thinking it over for a minute, Mira decided to increase her budget.
There were several different cooling-conditioner models to choose from, so she grabbed the one labeled as for use with robes and immediately tossed it into her basket.
Mira felt that two hundred thousand ducats was a bargain price, if anything, to ensure that she’d be comfortable in the heat outside. At least, that was what she kept telling herself as she justified the purchase to no one in particular. She made her way back toward the new-product corner.
As she might’ve expected, the products weren’t all completely new; she’d seen more than half before. Still, there were a few things she didn’t recognize. She picked them up and inspected them one by one. One item in particular grabbed her attention, and she plucked it from the display immediately.
“Ooh. I bet Solomon would love this.”
Mira had thought of him the second she saw it. After all, he was a huge war nerd who loved all things having to do with the military. The object had a peculiar shape, and, on the same shelf it was sitting on, there were written instructions on how to use it.
Upon closer inspection, the item turned out to be exactly what it looked like. In Mira’s hands was a gas mask.
Hrmm. It’s made using ivory-mist grass, huh?
The grass used in the item had air-purification properties. The manufacturers had put it into a masklike device and attached a magical tool that served as a light source. The result was an incredible product that allowed its user to breathe in environments that were poisonous or altogether devoid of air.
One might say it was more an oxygen mask than a gas mask, but it looked nothing like an oxygen mask in a hospital. Rather, it looked like a military gas mask that one might see a Special Forces soldier using.
That product was called the Amphibious Breathe-Easy Mask. Since it looked like you could use it underwater as well, it was getting more useful by the second.
“Let’s see…”
Mira quickly put on the store’s sample mask, wondering how easy it’d be to use. Unfortunately, the mask was too big; it wouldn’t fit on her face. Every time she breathed, she heard her breath escaping out the sides. The creepy sound was reminiscent of a certain Sith Lord.
“Oh. Well, I look better in this than I expected.”
Mira looked around through the goggles. Her vision was restricted, but considering what the mask could do, she gave it a pass. She thought she might as well use her own original system to grade such things. And honestly, since Solomon had exposed her to the world of war geekdom, Mira herself had gotten interested in military stuff.
Hrmm. This certainly wouldn’t hurt our operational capabilities. Pretending to be a member of the Special Forces, Mira put the gas mask back on and relished feeling like some elite soldier.
She was very taken with the Breathe-Easy Mask, so several customers shopping at the same time witnessed a cute young woman dressed like a magical girl stealthily prowling the new-product corner while wearing a fearsome mask.
It was a tad heartwarming, but it was such an odd sight that no one knew what to say. At least, that was how those customers later recounted it.
Masks were odd things; when you wore one, it felt as if others noticed you less. Having gotten her fill of wearing the Breathe-Easy Mask, Mira checked out the other products one by one. She tested each as she made her way around. She was quite impressed at the variety, as well as all the products’ impressive performances.
When she saw a cookbook standing in the corner, Mira puzzled over why it would be in the new-product corner of a place selling adventuring equipment. As she looked at the new product placed directly above the book, the answer became clear.
The product was called the Magic-Powered Freezer Bag. It seemed to be the follow-up model to the similarly powered refrigeration bag already sold in stores. Thanks to the technology’s ability to transport frozen ingredients, travelers could now cook far more dishes than previously.
Taking a closer look, Mira noticed that the book mostly contained notes on what ingredients were freezable and how to prepare them, as well as recipes using those ingredients. That was why the shop had placed the book where they did.
“Hrmm…”
Whatever she put in her Item Box, unlike her User’s Bangle, stayed in its exact original state. Mira never needed to freeze anything to preserve it, so she didn’t have much reason to buy a bag to chill things. Yet after flipping through the recipe book, Mira muttered to herself, “Guess I’m buying them,” then threw a freezer bag and a book into her basket.
She’d initially thought the Magic-Powered Freezer Bag only preserved food, but she saw from several recipes in the cookbook that that wasn’t all it was good for. The book also mentioned ingredients that were more delicious when frozen, as well as how to make things like sherbet or ice cream.
How delicious would handmade ice cream taste if she ate it while off on an adventure, staring up at the star-filled sky from the middle of some grassy plain? With that romantic image fresh in her mind, Mira resolved to buy the ingredients she needed to make ice cream too.
The next new product that caught Mira’s attention was the Magic-Powered Adaptive Camouflage Cloak. At first glance, it just seemed like a dull gray robe. But as its name suggested, with the flip of a switch, its entire appearance changed.
The cloak was equipped with several types of camouflage, including camouflage for grasslands, forests, wastelands, deserts, and even beaches and oceans. It was apparently fairly popular with adventurers focused on ranged attacks, as well as with clerics and other adventurers specializing in support. It was also apparently popular with those who hunted for a living.
The Magic-Powered Darkness-Dispelling Night Vision Goggles caught Mira’s eye next. Again as their name suggested, the goggles were a nifty piece of merchandise that let anyone see clearly in the dark. Not only that, they could be mounted right above the mask that Mira had tried on earlier.
Because they didn’t require any light, they allowed one to hunt in the dead of night without being spotted. They were also great for keeping watch, as they allowed one to see in places where light couldn’t reach.
I wonder just how well fantasy-world night vision goggles work.
Her interest piqued, Mira noticed a nearby door. Perhaps because the goggles were one of the most highly recommended new products, the store had set up a special room just for testing them out.
A former player must’ve come up with these too. Just looking at the design, they practically scream “real world.”
Wondering whether whoever had developed the goggles was a military nerd like Solomon, Mira picked up a test pair. First the gas mask, then the camouflage cloak, and now the night vision goggles—the more tactical gear she checked out, the more she thought about the time she’d spent with Solomon. Specifically, that she’d borrowed a whole set of that kind of stuff to play survival games.
Playing a VR survival game really was quite different from actually moving around in real life. Mira remembered how the fatigue she’d felt back then had almost been pleasant.
“Hrmm. I already came this far…”
Mira threw on the cloak, strapped on the mask, and attached the goggles. Fully equipped, she stepped into the dark room. The store must’ve been quite confident in the goggles, since the room was pitch-black. Despite waiting a moment for her eyes to adjust, Mira couldn’t see the faintest thing.
Hrmm… Is there anywhere to walk?
At first, she moved blindly, groping around in the darkness. As she did, she discovered a narrow pathway through the room. The room was so dim, it was darker than even the blackest night. Fully realizing that her naked eyes wouldn’t be any use, Mira flipped the switch on the goggles.
She immediately gasped. Up until then, she hadn’t even been able to see her hand in front of her face. Now she saw everything in front of her clearly. The green color characteristic of night vision filled her field of vision as the path before her suddenly became clear as day. As she might’ve expected of a Dinoire Trading product, these night vision goggles were the real deal.
Not only could she see everything clearly, the dark room’s entire layout was apparent. The pathway through it was full of obstacles as well as twists and turns. If one went far enough, there was even another small room. The space that stretched before Mira in the darkness looked like an indoor survival arena.
“This is pretty cool.”
The more she thought back on her survival-game days, the more into this she got. She flattened her back against a nearby wall, holding her hands as if carrying an airsoft rifle, and peeked her head around the corner of the pathway. She felt completely as if she were a Special Forces soldier on a mission.
“Clear. No sign of the target,” Mira reported to an imaginary fellow soldier, making her way through the room cautiously. She continued along the intricate pathway and began to clear the small room. Before a low obstacle, she lay down on the floor and began army crawling forward. Dragging herself across the ground, she once again felt like an elite soldier carrying out a nocturnal assault.
Continuing to follow the path, she turned a corner. Then a man’s head peeked out from a corner farther ahead. The passage must only have been about five meters long, yet—being so close to the ground—Mira never noticed the man, whose face was barely visible.
A look of fear passed over the man’s face. He stopped in his tracks, watching Mira in full Special Forces mode. He’d come into the room before her to try the goggles as well, and he’d been admiring their capabilities when he heard her.
In the pitch-black room, he’d listened to something being dragged across the ground; then he saw a figure wrapped in a camouflage cloak, with night vision goggles mounted atop a gas mask, crawling across the floor.
That was a sight that even the bravest man would’ve trembled to behold.
After freezing for a moment, the man ran as quickly and as quietly as he could from the room, stepping as softly as possible so as not to be heard.
Having overlooked the man, Mira continued to delight in her imaginary mission, then eventually left the room. Thus concluded her time playing hide-and-seek as a Special Forces soldier in the dark room.
At that point, another man flung open the door to Dinoire Trading and hurriedly leaped inside.
A staff member happened to be right at the entrance, perhaps on his way to leave. “Oh my. Mr. Furio,” he called. “Can I help you with anything?”
The man rushed over to him. The first words he said were, “I heard that the Spirit Queen’s here.”
Furio was part of the sales staff at the Grimoire Company, which manufactured the Legends of Asteria card game that was popular with children as well as adults.
Furio had several different responsibilities, and one in particular was very important: He negotiated with the people who appeared on the cards. That job was necessary for releasing future expansions. It was also crucial in order to provide players with opportunities to obtain the characters they most desired to see in card form. The most important part of Furio’s job was getting permission from both famed adventurers and new rising stars to use their likenesses on the cards.
“The Spirit Queen? You mean the one who’s not actually a bombshell but a petite girl?” the employee answered in a voice full of inadvertent dejection. He must’ve been more a fan of buxom beauties.
“Yes, exactly. That Spirit Queen! I heard she visited the sales counter here, and I came over as fast as I could. Do you have any idea where she is now?!”
Sweat poured down Furio’s face as he grilled the staff member. It seemed he hadn’t exaggerated when he said he’d hurried.
The source who’d alerted him to the Spirit Queen’s presence was none other than the Cyril-obsessed girl that Mira had met in the waiting area. Furio had just so happened to overhear her telling her friends that she’d learned a lot about Cyril from the Spirit Queen.
“Hmm. I’m sorry. I was doing paperwork in the back until just now, so I have no idea who’s in the store.” The employee adjusted the documents he held and looked around the store, muttering, “But if the rumors are true, she’ll be pretty easy to find…”
“Very true. She’s a cute young woman with long silver hair and blue eyes, dressed like a magical girl. That narrows it down quite a bit.” Furio also surveyed the store.
The two stood near Dinoire Trading’s entrance, so they had a good view of the interior. The store’s superb layout allowed customers to see the entire floor as soon as they entered, as well as everyone shopping inside.
Furio and the staff member began scrutinizing all the customers. Most were adventurers, and more than half were garbed in robes or very light armor. The others were either townsfolk who’d come for everyday goods or trendy girls dressed in the magical-girl style. Given how popular such clothes were these days, quite a few customers were wearing them.
But this wasn’t Furio’s first rodeo. He quickly looked at each customer dressed in that fashion and checked whether their appearance matched the Spirit Queen’s otherwise.
One woman had silver hair but was too busty. It couldn’t be her. The second had silver hair that only went down to her shoulders. Not her either. Another was petite, but she was a fairy, so it definitely wasn’t her. Someone had long silver hair, but was actually a man in drag… So that wasn’t her.
“She doesn’t seem to be here.”
“No, she doesn’t.”
Having taken a good look, the two concluded that they didn’t see anyone matching the Spirit Queen’s description from where they stood.
“If she came here to sell something, how about asking over there?” the employee suggested after thinking for a minute, no doubt guessing that it’d be smart to check where the Spirit Queen was first spotted.
“Good idea. I’ll do it!”
Perhaps the staff at the sales counter knew something. It was also possible that someone near there had seen which direction the Spirit Queen had gone in. Drawing that conclusion, Furio thanked the staff member and wasted no time rushing to the sales counter.
As he walked, his gaze shifted toward the store’s new-product corner. If negotiations with the Spirit Queen go well, I’ll get a bonus. If I do, I’m definitely going to pick up a cooling conditioner!
Furio wiped sweat from his forehead as he gazed fixedly at the new goods lining the shelves. As someone working in sales, he often had to walk around outside. Thus, summer was by far the most difficult season for him. But if he got his hands on a cooling conditioner, he wouldn’t have to endure summer’s scorching heat any longer. Having tested the product out about a month ago, Furio was eagerly awaiting the opportunity to buy one. But even on sale, it was two hundred thousand ducats. For someone working a normal job, that was no small amount of money.
The goods sold at Dinoire Trading were all extraordinarily useful. That said, they were developed for adventurers who made tens of millions of ducats by constantly putting their lives on the line. So, for someone working a normal job, they were like luxury goods. Homemakers, especially, saw owning multiple pieces of kitchenware from Dinoire Trading as a status symbol.
“I should’ve been saving up for times like this…” Furio muttered to himself, taking a step forward in an attempt to resist being tempted any more. At that moment, he glimpsed a truly bewildering figure and came to a halt in complete shock.
Beside the new-product corner, a separate room connected to the store. From that room’s back door, a figure wrapped in a camouflage cloak, with a gas mask and night vision goggles strapped to their face, slowly emerged.
Furio could only have described the figure as “bizarre.” He basically couldn’t see their appearance or where they were looking, and the cloak shrouded their entire body. That said, Furio glimpsed the figure’s barely visible head.
“Silver hair…”
The figure that had emerged held its hands in some uncanny pose, leaning against the wall. They peered out from the doorframe, then continued their peculiar behavior. As they did so, they acted more suspiciously than ever, leaping in and out of the room as if trying to storm it.
“No, it couldn’t be.”
From the looks of it, the only thing this person had in common with the Spirit Queen was silver hair. Furio couldn’t see whether they were wearing magical-girl-style clothes or even discern their gender, since their face was obscured.
Above all, he couldn’t risk the Spirit Queen finding out that he’d mistaken a shady creep like that for her. He had a friend who’d botched a negotiation because they misidentified the person they’d wanted to speak with. Remembering that incident, Furio concluded that it’d be best not to incur the Spirit Queen’s wrath. At any rate, his first order of business was to ask the sales-counter employee what she’d looked like.
If my top target signs off on a card, I’ll definitely get a nice, fat bonus!
With that goal locked in his sights, and thanking his lucky stars that the Spirit Queen had come to Haxthausen, Furio continued walking.
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