Shopping Before The Adventure

It had been a while since I’d gone shopping in the commercial city of Eto.

This job would take us far from home, so we needed to make all sorts of preparations for the journey.

First, I wanted to get our equipment in order. Yuri, in particular, only had her mage’s clothes and a leather breastplate.

She needed a proper set of armor.

The largest armor shop in Eto carried a wide selection of armor and clothing for women.

But having too many choices apparently made things harder in its own way, because Yuri stood there dumbfounded after we entered the shop.

“…What am I even supposed to wear?”

I didn’t know anything about women’s clothing either.

So for the time being, I called over a female clerk and asked her to choose Yuri’s outfit.

She picked out a thin turtleneck shirt, a silver breastplate, and a silver waist guard. For the lower half, she chose slim leather pants made from Metal Lizard hide.

“We’re heading into an icy region. Do you have anything suitable for outerwear?”

“In that case, I believe this would be a good choice.”

She guided us to a section lined with coats made from magical-beast fur.

There were jackets lined with fur, fluffy silver fur coats, and hooded cloaks decorated with striking striped pelts.

I chose a jacket with fur lining on the inside and dragon hide on the outside.

Yuri seemed to be letting the clerk choose for her again, but then I heard her confused voice.

“D-Do you really think this suits me?”

“It looks absolutely amazing on you!! You’re incredibly cute!”

Hearing the female clerk’s somewhat excited voice, I looked over… C-Cute!!

It was a fluffy, snow-white fur jacket with a hood. For some reason, the hood even had cat ears.

Yuri’s face turned red with embarrassment.

“Doesn’t having ears on the hood make it look kind of childish?”

“Not at all. It’s very fashionable among young women right now.”

“But isn’t it impractical for combat?”

“It can even protect you from an Ice Dragon’s snow-and-ice attacks. It looks bulky and fluffy, but it’s surprisingly easy to move in.”

That fluffy thing had that much defensive power!?

I started wanting one myself, but there was no way a jacket like that would suit an old guy like me.

“Yuri, it looks great on you, and armor that’s resistant to ice and snow attacks will be important for this job. I think you should get it.”

“If you say so, Roy.”

Yuri nodded and decided to buy the fluffy cat-eared jacket.

Still, she really had looked adorable in it… I kind of wanted her to wear it even when we weren’t working.

“You should also get a hood to shield yourself from the sun. The Ice Heatland is scorching hell during the daytime.”

“Yeah. I can put everything in a Storage Ball, so it’s fine, but we’re bringing a lot of stuff.”

“That’s because this place has an unusual environment where it’s winter at night and summer during the day.”

Our next workplace, the Ice Heatland, was said to be one of the harshest places on the surface of the world.

During the day, it was a desert, but once night fell, it transformed into a frozen wasteland.

There were other deserts where temperatures dropped dramatically at night, but the temperature plunge in the Ice Heatland was on another level entirely.

There was even a legend claiming that a spirit of the sun and a spirit of snow lived there together.

At that point, the female clerk timidly stepped forward and spoke.

“If you’ll be working in an icy region, we do have a matching upper-and-lower armor set I’d recommend…”

“Oh? You do?”

“Yes. It’s a perfect fit for your build, sir. It’s made from Killer Grizzly fur.”

“…………”

I suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of déjà vu.

A matching top-and-bottom armor set made from Killer Grizzly fur.

And then the female clerk’s eyes lit up as she launched into an enthusiastic sales pitch.

“The greatest feature of this armor is the paw pads! Apparently, an adventurer wearing this armor at Belgion’s arena actually repelled an attack from the Hero! Naturally, defensive effectiveness probably varies from person to person, but I think it’s fair to say this is currently the strongest armor available…”

“Ah—sorry. I’ll pass.”

I immediately refused before I got swept away by the young woman’s enthusiasm.

What the hell? Was that bear costume the hottest thing in the armor-shop world right now?

Even the sheer enthusiasm with which she recommended the bear outfit was exactly the same as the clerk at the armor shop in Belgion.

The female clerk looked dejected for just a moment, but quickly smiled again and recommended gloves instead.

In the end, I bought the coat and gloves, while Yuri bought a full set of armor along with her fluffy jacket.

Once our armor was taken care of, it was time for weapons.

“I want this sword…”

Without hesitation, Yuri picked up a slender sword distinguished by its transparent blade.

Known as the Crystal Sword, it was forged from a transparent mineral called the Goddess of Ice.

The price was enough to make your eyes pop out, but Yuri had saved up quite a bit of money from the reward for defeating the Saber White Wolves last time, along with the medicinal herbs and monster materials she had sold to merchants, so she was actually fairly wealthy now.

Well, this was dangerous work. Skimping on weapon costs here could easily get us killed.

Since large monsters roamed the Ice Heatland, I figured a larger sword than my usual one would be better, so I picked up a greatsword.

It was about as tall as I was, and its blade was twice as wide as an ordinary sword. It was huge, so I’d have to keep it inside a Storage Ball while traveling.

It was a strange sword distinguished by a blade as black as darkness.

What kind of ore was this thing made from? You didn’t see black swords very often.

When the old weaponsmith saw it, his eyes widened.

“Well now. You can actually wield Diares, can you?”

“Diares?”

“That’s the name of that sword. Surely you know the old legend that the world was once a single continent until the god Diares divided it into its present form?”

“Ah… Was that how the story went?”

Diares, the God of Destruction, appeared in mythology as the enemy of Xenoric, the God of Creation.

The legend differed depending on the region.

Where I came from, the story said that Xenoric, the God of Creation, had created the continent of the demons within the world …or something along those lines.

“That sword was originally a weapon wielded by the demons.”

Ah, I see. So it was a sword once used by demons.

Humans worshiped Xenoric, the God of Creation, while demons worshiped Diares, the God of Destruction.

“Its destructive power surpasses that of any other sword, but it’s a cursed magic sword that rejects everyone who tries to wield it.”

“What do you mean, rejects them?”

“They say that the instant someone grips it, a weight dozens of times greater than its true weight bears down on both hands. I’ve never seen anyone handle it as effortlessly as you do.”

A cursed magic sword, huh.

Calling it something like that almost made me feel sorry for the sword.

They’d even gone and named it after the God of Destruction.

At this rate, it would probably spend the rest of its existence as nothing more than decoration in this shop.

Maybe meeting it here was some kind of fate. Its size and weight were perfect for me.

“Then I’ll take this sword.”