Shopping At The Bookstore

Morning in the Royal Capital.

Liricia and I walked along the refreshing streets.

People passed by, and carriages rolled down the road.

We crossed a bridge over a canal and headed to a bookstore on the edge of Second Street.

We had already stopped by the Adventurer Guild.

As usual, there hadn’t been any good requests, so we only accepted collection-type jobs we could do in the forest.

Then we came to the bookstore.

It was to search for the legendary treasure that would lower the cost of rejuvenation and for the Princess’s soul that Edgar wished to find.

For that, we needed a map.

Looking around the spacious shop interior, I saw that the countless bookshelves were mostly filled with thin paperbacks.

Right at the most prominent place by the entrance, a poster was displayed.

It read, ‘Demon Reincarnation, over one hundred million copies sold worldwide! (According to this store).’

Liricia, standing beside me, spoke.

“This bookstore is said to offer cheap prices on new books and to have an excellent selection.”

“Do they have anything like a world map?”

“Yes… most likely over this way.”

Guided by Liricia, we went down a narrow aisle into the back of the shop.

There, in the maps and geography section, we found the largest world map, about two meters tall and wide.

The label read, ‘Special World Map by Mao Mao Bookstore Chain.’

“This one looks good.”

“…It’s surprisingly detailed.”

It showed the mountains and rivers of each country, as well as the locations of towns and forts.

—Shouldn’t things like this be military secrets?

Also, the note “First-ever aerial photography from a dragon’s point of view!” bothered me for some reason.

Had they really created this solely for the sake of making a map…?

While I was thinking that, Liricia asked me a question.

“Master, will you be buying anything yourself?”

“Nothing in particular… What about you, Liricia?”

“Let me think… Ah, if possible, I would like a cookbook.”

“You really do love cooking, huh.”

“Yes, it makes me happy when people enjoy what I make… Originally, at the orphanage, I tried hard to make our poor meals even a little more enjoyable, and I ended up loving to get creative with cooking.”

“So the reason your food is so good is because of the children… You really are wonderful, Liricia.”

“Hauu… Thank you very much.”

Liricia blushed and grew shy.

Then she chose a cookbook.

I caught a glimpse of the title: “Dishes Grown-Ups Love.”

It seemed she was already good at cooking for children and wanted to study recipes for adults.

—Maybe that was for my sake. If so, I’d be pretty happy.

But if I was wrong, that would be embarrassing, so I made a different suggestion.

“Let’s also buy a novel for Teti to read while she’s minding the shop. She seems to like reading.”

“Yes. But which one would be good?”

“Who knows? We can just go with that best-selling one. If it’s popular, it probably won’t be a dud. I think there were a few volumes of it in the manor in the forest too.”

All the books that had been in the original hut were now stored in the study.

Liricia nodded, her silver hair swaying.

“Demon Reincarnation, then. I believe the volume count there wasn’t complete.”

“Too much trouble to check, so let’s just buy a full set.”

“Understood.”

And so, after buying the map and the books, we returned to my shop.

I came back to my own shop, Puchi Eli.

When I stepped inside, Teti, who was sitting at the glass display counter, spoke.

“Welcome back, Sir Alec, Miss Liricia.”

“We’re back. Have you sold anything?”

“Yes! Some kid adventurers bought five bottles for their party. And they also said, ‘Thank you for healing Edgar.’”

“Ah, Edgar’s party, huh. I bet Edgar was thrilled to be healed.”

Which meant five bottles at twenty thousand Gort each—one hundred thousand Gort in sales.

Since the cost price was practically nothing, we were making a killing.

As I walked toward the back of the shop, I took the books from the bag in my hand.

“And this is for you. Read it to pass the time while you’re minding the shop.”

I set the novels I had bought down on the counter.

There were over ten volumes, and they were heavier than I expected.

Teti’s jade-green eyes went wide as she smiled.

“Wow! This is that super-popular one! And all the way up to the latest volume! —It’s aimed at men, so I never read it before!”

“Glad to hear it. I’m counting on you to watch the shop, then.”

“Okay! Thanks for the books!”

Liricia and I opened the wardrobe and stepped into the dungeon.

We walked down a pale blue-lit corridor and entered a large chamber.

“Will here do?”

“Yes, Master.”

Liricia spread the map out on the floor, then placed both hands against her chest and whoosh—unfurled her wings from her back.

Then she took her flail and extended her arm.

The chain with its weight at the end hung down over the map.

“Dark Magic Detection—Aura Detect, Princess Nobara.”

The flail began to shine with golden light.

Slowly moving her slender arm, Liricia slid the weight across the surface of the map.

She closed her eyes and furrowed her brow.

She focused as if to sense even the slightest difference.

—But.

Even after searching from one end to the other, the weight never traced out a circle.

Letting out a breath, she drew her brows together in troubled concern.

“What should we do, Master? I couldn’t find her.”

“Did she already pass on to the afterlife…?”

“If that were the case, the spell itself shouldn’t activate… Where in the world could she have gone?”

“Can that search spell detect things even deep inside dungeons or down at the bottom of the sea?”

“It should be able to…”

Liricia’s beautiful face tightened with a frown.

I changed the question.

“So if we turn it around, where can’t it detect?”

“In places that are different from this world. The Heaven Realm, the Demon Realm, the Fantasy Realm, the Star Dragon Realm, and the Hell Realm can’t be detected from this map.”

“In that case, there aren’t that many of them, and if we search, there might be maps of those places too. Past heroes may have gone there and drawn simple maps.”

“A-As expected of you, Master… I was feeling lost, but hearing you say that gives me hope.”

“I don’t know if it’ll go well either. For now, Edgar will just have to wait a bit longer. …So, how about the three items we’re looking for?”

“Ah, yes. I’ll check.”

Liricia then searched for the Philosopher’s Stone, the Jewel of Light, and the Bust of the Evil God.

The Philosopher’s Stone was a bust.

Next, while searching for the Jewel of Light, the weight hanging from the flail traced a circle.

Liricia’s eyes flew open and she cried out.

“I-I found it!”

“Nice work, Liricia! —Where is it?”

“This island is… the Yamata Kingdom.”

“Hm? …That’s Edgar’s homeland, isn’t it?”

“Yes. He might be able to help us.”

“But if he goes back to that country, they’ll execute him, right? I’d like to wait until we’ve brought the Princess back to life before having him go.”

“I feel the same.”

With one hand over her chest, Liricia gave a sad little smile and nodded.

The mood grew a little heavy. Thinking about Edgar’s future made me uneasy.

Precisely because he was a good guy…

To break the gloomy atmosphere, I asked,

“…So, how about the Bust of the Evil God, Liricia?”

“I’ll look into it!”

In the end, we couldn’t pin down the Bust of the Evil God either.

It wasn’t that there was no reaction—there were too many.

Liricia knit her well-shaped brows together.

“Hmm. I found multiple busts of evil gods that govern curses, but each one had a different level of response…”

“So there are fakes and a real one… or maybe they’re just different sizes.”

“We can’t tell yet.”

“Then I guess we’ll have to track them down one by one…”

It really was a legendary item.

We weren’t going to get it easily.

Liricia put away her flail and rolled up the map.

“What will you do now, Master?”

“Hmm, let’s see. I’ll mind the shop, so take Teti and go gather herbs.”

“Understood.”

Liricia retracted her white wings and leaned the rolled map up in the corner of the chamber.

Then she took Teti and headed out to look for medicinal herbs.

I sat at the shop counter and watched the place.

Minding the shop was boring.

Still, thanks to Rubel’s recommendation or something, a couple of adventurers came looking for Puchi Elixirs.

Even though they must have thought the price was high, they bought without even trying to haggle.

…With one hundred forty thousand Gort in sales on the first day, this might be better than working myself ragged hunting monsters.

The collection jobs around the manor alone brought in thirty to fifty thousand Gort.

If we could make one to two hundred thousand a day, we could cover the remaining nine million for the rejuvenation medicine in one to three months.

Which meant, as expected, the real problem was the legendary items.

Especially the Philosopher’s Stone, whose location we still didn’t know.

Where could it be?

And then there was Edgar’s request.

Where was this Princess’s soul supposed to be?

As I sat there lost in thought, Liricia came back.

“We have returned, Master.”

“Hm? Already? Where’s Teti?”

“We’ve collected the amount requested for the collection job. Teti got covered in mud, so she’s taking a bath.”

“I see. As expected of you, Liricia, you work fast.”

“Thank you very much.”

Liricia narrowed her violet eyes happily.

—Then.

A familiar face, topped by a pointed hat, came into the shop.

It was the female mage who had once been in the hero party with me.

“Alec, long time no see. You’re looking good.”

“Yeah. I’m managing. What’s up?”

The female mage looked around the cramped shop, sneaking glances at Liricia.

But when she spotted the Puchi Elixirs in the glass case, she stared at them as if drawn in.

As she stepped closer, she asked,

“I heard from someone I know that this stuff works really well… but does this Puchi Elixir cure curses too, like a full Elixir?”

“Who knows? It restores half your life force and mana and cures status ailments. But I haven’t tested it on curses, so I can’t say… Is someone cursed?”

“Yeah, a friend of mine, kinda~.”

“If it’s a really nasty curse, wouldn’t it be better to take them to the church?”

“Yeah, I know that, buuut… I’ll buy two bottles for now.”

“In that case, just pay for one. If it doesn’t work on the curse, bring them back for a refund.”

“For real~? You’re so nice~ Thanks!”

The female mage took out two gold coins and set them on the counter.

I took three bottles from the case and handed them to her.

“The extra one’s on the house. Try them out and see how useful our Puchi Eli is for mages.”

“Thanks a ton! If it’s easy to use, I’ll come buy more~.”

With a smug little grin on her face, the female mage tucked the Puchi Eli bottles into the small pouch at her waist.

Then, from behind her, Liricia spoke up in a worried voice.

“Um… That cursed friend, is it by any chance the priestess who was with you?”

“What!? How did you know! …Yeah, that’s who it is~. She’s staying at my place now, but the curse showed up on her body and she got kicked out of the priest dormitory. She might even be forced to quit.”

“What! …Master, I have a request.”

Liricia turned toward me, her expression serious.

I tilted my head and asked,

“What is it, Liricia? You can ask me anything.”

“Please let the priestess use the bath from yesterday.”

“That’s… going to cause a lot of problems, you know?”

Doing what Liricia suggested would mean revealing everything about Kou’s dungeon and our other secrets.

And she wasn’t even an unconditional slave.

But Liricia’s violet eyes shone with a piercing light as she looked at me.

“I’m sure it will be all right. With her.”

—It seemed she had noticed something, but couldn’t say so with the female mage here.

Given that her finger “binoculars” had become more powerful too, I could trust her.

I nodded in agreement.

“All right, got it. Bring the priestess here tomorrow. I think we can probably cure her.”

“Seriously!? Okay, then I’m the one asking for a favor! She’s a good girl, so please save her, okay! …All right, see you later!”

The female mage flipped up the brim of her pointed hat as her face lit up.

Then she spun, spreading her cloak, and left the shop.

The shop grew quiet again.

I turned to Liricia and asked,

“So you know something, huh?”

“Yes, probably. No, I’m certain.”

“Got it. I’ll trust you, Liricia.”

“Thank you very much, Master.”

Liricia bowed deeply, her silver hair hanging down.

Then Teti came back, steam gently rising from her slender body fresh from the bath.

“Thanks for the hot water~. Next, it’s your turn~… Huh? What happened?”

“It’s nothing. I’m heading to the Adventurer Guild now to report in on the job. Thanks for helping with the gathering.”

“No problem, I had fun learning more about herbs~! Okay, see you later!”

With Teti’s cute, cheerful voice at our backs, Liricia and I left the shop.

Then we walked for five minutes to the Adventurer Guild, completed the request, and received our reward.