Something The Kid Seemed To Be Lacking…

The next day. Kikori came to a weapon shop together with Aria.

He had ended up staying the night at Aria’s house… though Kikori had only borrowed a futon and curled up on the floor.

Even so, he hadn’t been able to fall asleep easily. He might have been more tense than when staying at one of those cheap shared inns.

Then, after cashing in the magic stones first thing in the morning, they met up and came to the weapon shop… that was the situation.

“M… ru… gu… bu… gu… te… n… Mirgu Weapon Shop.”

“Yes, correct. Shall we go in, then?”

After reading the newly learned letters and stepping inside, he found a number of weapons and pieces of armor that couldn’t even be compared to what was in the Adventurers’ Guild basement.

Swords and shields, axes, spears, bows, armor—there were daggers, and even sickles.

“A-amazing…”

“Right? There’s nothing flashy, but being able to balance quality and selection like this is pretty rare.”

As Aria puffed out her chest proudly, saying it was her recommendation, a man who seemed to be the shop owner appeared from the back.

An elf—Kikori almost blurted it out, but swallowed the word.

Those distinctive ears, and overwhelmingly handsome features. It was exactly the elf he imagined.

“What’s this, kid. Is an elf weapon shop that unusual to you?”

“N-no! It’s just that I’ve never seen an elf before.”

“Oh? These days, seeing an elf for the first time—what, you from some real backwater?”

“Yes, well…”

“Huh. Well, if Aria brought you here, you must be something, right?”

When the shop owner said that to Aria, she shook her head with a smile.

“Nope. If anything, I don’t think he has much talent. That’s exactly why I figured at least his gear should be something good.”

“Ugh…”

“Oh? Well, looking at him, his mana doesn’t seem like much either. But hey, he’s still a kid. If he grows right, he might have a future.”

“R-really!?”

“You shouldn’t take that seriously. Elves talk on a scale of hundreds of years.”

“Oh, right, that figures,” the shop owner said, and Kikori slumped in disappointment—but then he noticed the shop owner staring at him and asked, “I-is something…?”

“So, what’s your budget? Your main weapon’s that axe, right?”

“Ah, yes. My budget is ten thousand yen, and I was hoping to sell this sword too.”

“Let’s see.”

The shop owner took the sword, drew it from its sheath, and examined it closely.

“This thing’s one step away from scrap iron. If you don’t like it, you can take it somewhere else, but… yeah, two hundred yen. All it’s good for is melting down and turning into something else.”

“Then I’ll go with that.”

“Alright. And you said ten thousand yen, right? As for something you seem to be lacking, kid… well, armor, I guess?”