Chapter 80

A literal translation would be “magic tool shop.”

For someone who had once dreamed of making games, it was an extremely tempting name, and it was in fact an exciting shop.

However, that excitement was closer to the feeling of excitement one got from a fishing tackle shop or an outdoor goods store.

It had all sorts of handy tools for handling magic stones in battle, like the ones Gerario had been wearing.

Apparently, there were times when people repaired magic circles themselves when they were damaged, and even a full set of processing tools had been gathered there.

However, many of the products lined up were covered in scratches, and when I asked, I was told that they seemed to be things used during the great campaign that decided whether this city would be incorporated into the empire.

When demands for emergency taxes came from the imperial center and the people’s dissatisfaction rose, goods like these apparently sold for high prices temporarily. They had submitted to the empire as a province, but even now, they had not lost their pride.

When Gerario mentioned the names of several copied manuscripts in that shop, one of them was found.

Gerario received the book and eagerly checked its contents. It was not because he intended to get away with reading it in the store, but because handwritten copies always contained errors, and he was trying to judge a reasonable price from how many errors there were.

After two or three exchanges with the shopkeeper, we purchased it for the time being, but it was a booklet small enough to fit in one hand, with roughly twenty magic circles recorded in it.

And that cost one hundred and twenty gold coins.

It was not in the price range of ordinary goods, and I understood that the world of magic stood one step higher than the mundane world.

“Here, hand this over to Kururu-chan.”

Gerario casually shoved the book toward me.

“There are even magic stones that let you see well in the dark, huh?”

When I flipped through it, only the effects and magic circles were drawn in a blunt, matter-of-fact way.

“The only people who want things like this are battlefield mages. And they get roasted alive with them still in their pockets, so no matter how many copies get made, these things keep selling forever.”

I could not tell how much of that battlefield joke was true, but part of the dirt on the book looked like nothing but bloodstains, so it probably was not an exaggeration.

“It’s useful for checking magic stones taken from enemies too.”

True, activating them one by one to test their effects carried far too much risk.

“In that case, I’ll go prepare for the long journey.”

“Please do.”

“I heard expenses are separate from the pension, but can I buy tobacco on expenses?”

I was already paying the three of them, including Gerario, two hundred gold coins a month as a pension, but when he came at me with this much greed, it was easier for me to ask him to do work too.

“As long as you don’t recommend it to Iiria-san.”

Gerario deliberately scratched his cheek and looked away.

“Iiria-chan was really curious about it.”

I could somehow imagine that.

She was not simply a graceful girl, but the type who also got up to mischief properly.

But her body barely accepted smoke, and she had ended up sprawled out on a long sofa, so there was nothing but charm in it.

“She just keeps giving me more reasons to want to protect her.”

Gerario smiled as if he disliked that fact.

“Well then, I’ll be back by night. I wish you luck.”

He patted my shoulder, but I remembered the mission of putting Kururu in a better mood and felt somewhat discouraged.

Once you became close to someone, it became even harder to know how to handle them at times like this.

While thinking that I should have brought Kengo with me too, I tucked the book of magic circles under my arm and headed to the inn.

When I returned to the inn and entered Iiria’s room, the tomboy lord who had secretly begged a bad adult for tobacco and suffered terribly for it seemed to have recovered somewhat.

She sat in a chair by the window, gazing outside absentmindedly, with a face like the morning after we had made a huge commotion around the dragon meat.

That Iiria looked at me, sighed, and then pointed to the next room.

Kururu had apparently returned.

“Did you do something to that girl again?”

By “again,” she was probably talking about the time I had depressed Kururu with the failed magic stone processing during Nodon’s expulsion.

“Er, well…”

As I wondered how I should answer, I thought that Iiria knew Kururu best, and as Gerario had said, Iiria would probably understand the exchange in the slums.

When I explained it in a mutter, Iiria looked even more exasperated.

“It’s strange, isn’t it? Kururu and I were always together, and most of the things we saw and experienced were the same.”

“I’ve heard that even twins can have quite different personalities.”

Iiria twitched her beast ears and shrugged as if to say that might be how it was.

“But… I don’t think that girl was angry at you. I think she was simply surprised.”

“Surprised?”

Iiria’s strangely moist eyes looked at me.

“And I think she was surprised by the fact that she was surprised. If Kengo or Gerario had said it, she probably wouldn’t have been shocked.”

“…”

Come to think of it, Gerario had also been surprised.

I thought for a while and arrived at a conclusion that seemed reasonable but hurt a little.

“So she didn’t see me as a man at all?”

What was more, Kururu had not seen me as a man to such a degree that she had not even realized that fact herself.

That explained why she had not shown even the slightest embarrassment when we slept together naked.

Iiria was honest and mean, so she did not gently deny it for me.

“She probably thought she had gotten an older brother.”

Judging by appearance, Iiria looked younger, but because she was more cynical about the world, there were parts of her that were more mature.

“That girl is unexpectedly clingy, you know.”

Normally, Iiria was the one who dawdled and whined, but that fell into the category of being spoiled or self-indulgent.

“What do you think I should do?”

When I asked, Iiria looked seriously troubled for the first time.

“Hmm… Somehow, I think it would be better not to touch it for a while.”

“I even prepared a reconciliation gift, though.”

When I showed her the book with the magic circles in it, Iiria laughed with a “heh.”

“How should I put it? I feel like she’s bewildered because she was suddenly made to carry something big. And besides, when all is said and done, that girl can stand back up on her own.”

I thought that was certainly true.

It was precisely because Kururu had the strength to never give up that we had been able to defeat Nodon and even slay the dragon.

“Also, if you fuss over her too much, she’ll get even angrier.”

I asked Iiria, whose cheeks were puffed out in a strangely obvious way.

“Speaking from experience?”

Iiria turned toward me and showed a smile that seemed to want to share the blame.

“Because don’t you want to fuss over her?”

Her wagging tail was like that of a puppy that had sensed the presence of a ball.

I thought she was a bad girl, but I could also understand her reasoning, so I reluctantly withdrew to my room.