193

Time flew quickly when it was enjoyable.

“This will be the last one,” he said, taking out a belt with patterns drawn on it.

Its name was the “Belt of Mighty Strength,” and he said it was a magic item with the effect of amplifying the user’s power.

In the natural world, where physical strength mattered, it was certainly powerful, and if he recognized me as a monster, it was a perfect item to serve as the finale.

Apparently, its effect would activate even without wrapping it around the waist, such as by wrapping it around an arm, making it a magic item even I could equip.

It was true that I wanted it if asked whether I did, but unfortunately, what I currently wanted in terms of combat was not attack power, but defense.

As long as Assault Mode remained incomplete, relying on tools to avoid fatal wounds from spirit weapons was an extremely natural course of action, and as preparation against the improvement in ordinary soldiers’ attack power caused by the unavoidable technology leak that would come from handing over firearms, what I should obtain was defensive power.

(I have seen everything, so let us review the candidates so far.)

The first was the “Bell of Summoning”――a subtly convenient-looking tool that called wild animals, but because it depended on the user’s magical power, stable performance was not guaranteed.

I would want it if I could use it, but it was not something worth obtaining through this transaction.

The second was the “Page of Reminiscence”――a magic item positioned as a magical version of a camera, though it had conditions. It needed no explanation; I wanted it.

And the third was the “Anti-Magic Amulet”――an amulet worn around the neck, but apparently the chain part could be connected to others and extended, making it anti-magic defensive equipment that even I could wear around my neck.

This was currently the most promising candidate, and since it was an item that precisely compensated for my weakness of being unfamiliar with magic-related matters, I wanted to obtain it even apart from the earlier concern.

The belt that had just appeared was not bad either, but what should currently be prioritized was defense.

He also lined up other appealing goods, such as a bracelet that purely improved physical abilities, a map with an auto-mapping function that seemed useful for exploration, and a jar from which water sprang forth using magical power, but… as usual, I could not equip the bracelet, and the map required magical power, so unfortunately they did not enter the list of options.

It would have been nice if I had been able to equip the “Bracelet of Fortitude” that appeared first, but the world did not go the way one wanted.

Now that Gust’s side had shown me all of his goods, it was my turn.

“This is the one in the best condition among those I could confirm.”

Saying that, I took out a Type Thirty-Six rifle wrapped in cloth from my backpack.

Gust received it and carefully removed the cloth.

Without saying a word, he checked the gun’s condition while maintaining his silence, then carefully put the cloth back on again.

“Is that enough?”

I would not have minded if he had held it and checked it, but Gust shook his head as if it was unnecessary.

As expected, it seemed that it was not something he wanted to show others too much.

Thinking it would be better not to pry unnecessarily, I promptly pointed at the item that would be the compensation.

“The Anti-Magic Amulet, huh…”

His tone sounded surprised, but I was also ignorant about magic, so I wanted to secure this.

When I tried to negotiate and asked if he could add one more item, he gave me the perfectly reasonable reply, “In that case, add something on your side too,” so I decided to play one more card.

What I took out of my backpack was a single bullet wrapped in cloth.

When I showed it to him, Gust made a difficult expression.

“This corresponds to an arrow, in bow terms. It was inside a box that matched the model number written on the gun. The Empire probably changed the bullets and their types depending on the gun.”

I spoke as though I was reporting the results of an investigation, but this much was common sense.

Preparing for just such an occasion, I had taken only one out of the ammunition box and readied it, and it proved useful.

The remaining bullets?

Those were a separate transaction.

Without bullets, a gun did not function as a weapon.

There might be a possibility that it could be solved by some magical method, but Gust’s target was a mage.

If so, it was reasonable to think that the original method of use would be preferable.

For me as well, if I was going to have him take action, the sooner the better.

Whether he reproduced it or requested ammunition from me again, there was no doubt that having a sample bullet would shorten the time to his goal.

Before Seizeria seriously expanded its influence westward, him making a move was probably the development most convenient for me.

After taking the bullet in hand and thinking for a while, Gust said, “Understood,” and accepted the additional transaction.

After confirming him nodding, the thing I reached my hand toward was the Page of Reminiscence.

Perhaps his prediction had been wrong, because Gust looked at me curiously.

“It seemed interesting.”

I smiled with my unchanged expression, but apparently it did not get across, and he shrugged.

If there were other interesting-looking things, I intended to accept a transaction, but for Gust, he had obtained the thing he wanted, so it seemed he had no room to pay attention to me for a while.

With this, my transaction with him ended.

It would have been fine if there was a next time, but since I had no intention of offering a weapon greater than that, the only card I had was wine.

Gust, who had stood up, turned his back and began walking away, but then he stopped once and looked back at me.

“It would have been easier if you had just taken it by force. There really are some strange monsters out there.”

At his blunt words, I remembered his tone from the beginning and snorted.

“I have no intention of giving humans a pretext.”

Gust’s eyes widened for an instant at my reply, but in the end he said nothing and left.

As he departed, my ears picked up his mutter of, “Scary, scary.”

For my part as well, I wanted no part of them uniting under the idea of, “How can we leave such a dangerous monster at large?”

If it was to crush such a possibility, I did not mind behaving properly.

The Kingdom of Canaan?

I have no idea what you are talking about.

(If things can be handled through dialogue, then nothing is better than that――who was it who said that such opportunism caused the Great War?)

While remembering the words of a commentator who had appeared on a news program in my memories, I felt very pleased with the magic items in my hand, thinking that I hoped such opportunism would spread throughout Seizeria.

Just as I thought I would immediately make a run to the Republic side, I realized something.

(Damn it. There are no elves who bathe in the river in this season!)

My delusions had run ahead, and I had gotten the timing of obtaining it wrong.

At this rate, I could not preserve Number Six’s beautiful naked body.

From the beginning, I had decided that I would not let go of this thing until after I had fully enjoyed it, so at this rate it was a wasted treasure.

(No, if I compromise with Dame Oppai, there is still a possibility left! Deceiving her would be easy, but still…)

If I did that, I had a feeling Number Six would get angry at me and say, “You put some strange ideas into her again, didn’t you?”

Currently, Dame Oppai was having her personality corrected by Number Six――by the Forshna clan.

If I did anything to obstruct this, the trust I had gone to the trouble of building would be lost.

It was not desirable for my relationship with her to worsen.

Maintaining friendship with her, who served as my point of contact with the elves, was a matter that must never be neglected.

Even after Gust and his guards were no longer visible, I continued to sit there and worry.

“All right, for now, I’ll put it on hold.”

There was no need to rush in the first place.

There was even a possibility that a good idea would come to me by chance.

Here, I would place my hopes on my own flash of inspiration and devote myself to fulfilling my current objective.

Having decided that, I stood up.

My destination was the blank area to the south――I would find it no matter what.

The next day after I braced myself like that, I finished sorting the supplies I would carry at my base and had just taken one step forward, thinking, “All right, let’s go,” when I saw smoke signals rising in the east.

Between Boobs Lady and this, was it normal in Seizeria to meet again right away even after saying farewell?