The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 5 - Chapter 249

Chapter 249:

A Pesky Item

The sun was able to subdue the cold air just a little, so we waited for it to come out before we headed to Rose’s shop.

“Hi, come on in.”

“Hello, ma’am.”

“Oh, did you folks need somethin’ again?” Rose looked puzzled to see us there so many days in a row.

I laughed and answered, “Well, yes, there’s this one thing we really need.”

“What is it, hon?”

“Do you have an item that tells you the level of magic stones?”

Rose opened her eyes wide in surprise. “Magic stone levels? But can’t ya just take ’em to the guild and have them check?”

She was technically right… Maybe her shop was a dead end after all?

“We have some items we’re hoping to do our own research on. So, do you have an item like that?” Druid asked with a smile.

Rose’s eyebrow raised slightly. I think she suspected us. “It’s…not for somethin’ illegal, I hope?”

“Of course not.”

I looked back and forth between Druid and Rose. Both of their eyes were earnest, and there was a strange tension between them. My heart was beating crazy-loud.

“Whewww… Well, I guess it’s okay.”

“Thank you very much. Do you have that item, then?”

“I do have somethin’ like it. But it won’t give ya a detailed answer like ya get from someone with an appraise skill. Also, it’s got issues.”

Issues?

“Could we please take a look at it?”

“Sure. Sit tight.”

After Rose disappeared into the back room, Druid let out a sigh. “Agh, that was terrifying.”

“You were a real trooper.”

I just remembered… I wonder if the magic item that describes an item’s functions can tell you the levels of magic stones?

I picked up the item I was thinking about. “Um, do you think we could just use this to see what levels our magic stones are?”

“No, that can’t determine the level of magic stones. And even if it could, we wouldn’t be able to buy it.”

“Why not?”

“You need to take a certification test to use that magic item. Only people with shops like this are allowed to use it.”

“A certification test?”

“Magic items can be dangerous if they’re used incorrectly, so you need a lot of knowledge to use them. But determining who is and isn’t knowledgeable needs to be regulated and codified to eliminate bias.”

He had a point.

“That’s why they designed a test to identify people who knew more about magic items than the average person. I think if you fail it five times, you’re barred for life from using the item.”

Wow, that sounds like pretty harsh regulation. And when I heard the word “test,” I had a horrible, negative reaction. I always knew that tests were very tough slogs, but I’ve never actually taken one myself. That was probably Past Me’s senses coming through. She’d been laying low lately, so it was a bit of a surprise to feel her presence out of nowhere.

“Sorry that took so long. Here ya go.” Rose returned with a black board in her hand. “If ya put a magic stone on here, it’ll say the level. At least, that’s what it should do.”

Rose usually sounded so confident, but there was something different in her tone when she explained how this item worked. I stared at the black board dubiously as Rose placed a magic stone onto it. We waited for the level to display…but there was no change.

Druid and I exchanged confused looks.

“Oh dear,” Rose sighed. “Yeah, it didn’t work.”

“Huh?” I glanced over at her and saw a deep crease in her brow. “What happened?”

“Ya saw for yourself, didn’t ya? Appraise skill-based items like this one are really pesky.”

“You mean they break easily?”

“No, it’s not broken. It just…didn’t react.”

It’s not broken, but it didn’t react? Um…wouldn’t you just call that “broken”?

“This thing’s fickle. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. And it’s a mystery why. I’ve done my fair share of investigatin’, but I’ve still got no clue.”

Rose swapped out the magic stone on the board with others, but there was still no reaction. She tried stone after stone with no luck. Maybe it really was just broken?

“If it’s this slow, I would just say it’s broken,” Rose said.

My eyes wandered nervously away.

“But my goodness, ya really are super useless today, aren’t ya!” Rose sighed heavily at the item. “Anyway, this is the one that gives ya details about magic stones, but I can’t recommend it in good faith.”

Druid and I exchanged glances. She was right: The item was useless. We didn’t even know how long it would take us to test all of our stones…and we were worried it wouldn’t even work in the first place.

“You’re right, ma’am,” I admitted. “I’m not sure if this item will work for us.”

“It definitely won’t,” Druid added.

“I’m so sorry you had to bother getting it out for us,” I apologized.

Rose smiled and gave my head a vigorous rub. “Don’t worry about it, hon. So, why didja even want somethin’ like this? Did the guild ban y’all or somethin’?”

“Oh, no, nothing like that.”

“Then what’s the problem? If ya want to know a magic stone’s level, the guild is your best shot.”

We knew that. But the problem was the type of magic stones we wanted to investigate… Hmm, how should we explain it?

“Ivy?”

“Yes?”

There was a stern look in Druid’s eyes, like he was seriously mulling something over.

“Is something wrong?” The look on his face made me a little nervous.

“Maybe we should confide in Rose? Everyone knows her, and she trusts us.”

He was right. We’d been so vague with our most recent request, yet she’d trusted us. I looked at Rose. She shrugged her shoulders and started testing the pile of magic stones strewn about the table again. She still hadn’t given up.

“You’re right. Besides, I think they liked what you just said. So should we tell her everything?”

The bag on my shoulder shook in reply. It made me laugh because it was wiggling much more vigorously than usual. Rose, who had been listening in on our conversation, gave us a strange look. I didn’t blame her—our conversation would sound terribly strange to an outsider.

“So, um, we have a secret.”

“And after you hear what we have to say, we need to know if you can help us or not.”

Rose looked first at me, then at Druid. Then she smiled and nodded. “Sit tight. I’m just gonna close up the shop.”

“Oh, but you don’t need to bother.”

“But ya don’t want anyone eavesdroppin’, right? Besides, I don’t wanna have customers butt in while we’re trying to talk.”

Um, is this really okay? I looked at Druid, and he smiled back at me as if to say “I don’t think we can stop her.” And he was right—the prospect of closing shop in the middle of the day had put the biggest smile on her face.

“There! Now I’ll just cancel out the noise.” Being the owner of a shop that sold magic items, she managed to activate the item we needed in no time. “So, whaddaya need my help with?”

“You can decide whether you want to help us after we tell you, you know?”

“Well, I am a sucker for a fun adventure.”

Is she really okay with being so gung-ho? Isn’t she worried about getting caught up in a terrible mess and running into trouble?

“Ivy, don’t be so worried,” Rose urged me. “I’ve met all sorts of people in my line of work, so I know how to pick out the good ones.”

“Okay…” I sighed, settling down beside Druid. Rose sat across from us, but she kept the black board and the magic stones on the table between us. Apparently, she still hadn’t given up on them.

“Oh! I got somethin’!” Rose squealed happily.

“What?!”

The black board was glowing faintly. After a while, it read: “Magic enhancement? Red magic stone. Level 7-8.” So it wasn’t broken after all. But what a strange description that was.

“These boards are always so cryptic,” Rose complained.

That made me laugh. Not only had the board failed to say the stone was enhanced with fire magic, but its range of levels was quite sketchy. From what I’d heard, there was a big difference in magic between Level 7 and Level 8.

“I guess this thing isn’t going to work,” Druid said, shaking his head at the words on the board.

“Just so ya know, this is one of the higher-level versions of this item. The lesser ones are even sketchier.”

Magic items sure were profound in all kinds of ways…