Physical Numbers Didn’t Lie

We came to one of Piptat’s leading shops, Milmas Weapon Shop.

Inside the large store, weapons beginning with swords and gleaming armor were lined up in rows.

As expected of a large shop in a major city, the selection was amazing.

Incidentally, my status looked like this.

The broadsword was 100,000 gold, the buckler was a wooden shield reinforced with metal, so it was 30,000 gold, and the chainmail had been 250,000 gold, I think.

Just the equipment alone came to a total of about 300,000 gold.

Adventurers required more initial expenses than one might expect. I had bought them with the money I saved from working during my student days and a loan from the guild. Of course, I had already repaid the debt.

I picked up a broadsword that had been placed on a shelf.

Its performance was better than my sword. The price was not bad either.

…I want it…

A male clerk wearing a cheerful smile approached.

“That sword was forged by a famous workshop, and it is a wonderful masterpiece. You have a good eye! The price has also come down, so I think it is quite a bargain!”

Oh, I had a good eye…

Feeling good, I began to sway heavily toward buying it.

“Misha, what do you think of this?”

“We don’t need it.”

Misha, who was beside me, dismissed it in a single phrase.

“Huh!? But, with our budget—”

“Well, let’s not think about a common-sense budget, okay?”

Misha grinned and spoke to the clerk.

“Could you show us the best weapons and armor in this shop?”

The clerk’s body trembled in surprise.

He seemed a little unsure how to respond.

…Well, of course he would.

Both Misha and I had just returned from the dungeon and were still wearing our adventurer equipment as it was. No matter how anyone looked at us, we had low-level and low-cost equipment.

If we asked him to show us the best equipment in a large shop like this, there was no way to see it as anything but window-shopping.

Would he get angry at us?

“…Certainly, honored customers.”

Apparently, the clerk had chosen to treat us with respect as “honored customers.” He smiled and guided us.

“These are, respectively, the most expensive items in our shop.”

…As expected, the prices almost made my eyes pop out.

The total was 35,000,000…

At this level, they were no longer what one would call ordinary equipment, but equipment bearing the names of monsters.

As a low-rank adventurer, I had not seen them yet, but apparently, “ore” was among the drop items of mid-level and higher monsters. If it was a Demon Wolf, it would be something like “Demon Wolf Ore.” They incorporated that into the forging of weapons and armor, producing powerful equipment.

“What do you think, in terms of your budget?”

“Ahaha, that’s pretty rough.”

Misha laughed, ha ha ha.

“With 35,000,000, you could buy a house in Piptat, right?”

At the level where you could buy a house, huh…

Even if I worked hard with Schrödinger’s Cat and kept cycling Alchemy Stones, considering the market price dropping, 20,000,000 a year was the limit. By calculation, it would take about two years. That was far too distant.

“How much would it be if we lowered it by one rank?”

Without making even the slightest unpleasant face, the clerk selected new equipment for us.

Even so, the total was 27,000,000…

“It really is expensive, after all…”

I said that.

“When it comes to high-quality items, they inevitably use monster ore. Since not many of them circulate, they become expensive.”

The clerk said it clearly.

I spoke to Misha.

“After all, shouldn’t we steadily go with things in the ordinary price range?”

“Hmm… Then it would not really have much meaning…”

It was not that I did not understand what she meant. The concept when we came to the shop was “beat them down with money,” after all.

Misha bowed her head politely to the clerk.

“We understand the market price now. Thank you very much.”

After that, over ten days, we defeated Grey Ghosts and obtained ten Alchemy Stones.

We had not brought them to the Adventurers’ Guild.

“Let’s refrain from selling them for a while.”

Because Misha had said that.

I remembered that she had said we should avoid standing out before we went to look at weapons.

“To avoid being suspected, right?”

“…Hmm… It’s not only that, though…”

Misha’s reply was vague. She seemed to be thinking about something.

Once we had saved up ten Alchemy Stones, Misha said to me.

“Can I borrow these stones?”

“I don’t mind?”

“I’m sorry, but could you collect stones by yourself for a while, Ios? I have something to do.”

Misha laughed carelessly.

“It’s fine, it’s fine! I’m not going to run off with them or anything. Don’t worry!”

Of course, I did not suspect that in the slightest.

I entrusted the stones to Misha.

After that, I silently collected Alchemy Stones by myself. I was using the stoic expression “silently,” but in reality, all I did was defeat Grey Ghosts, so I was free for most of the day.

Then, just as I had collected another ten stones that way…

“Aaaaaah! I’m so tired aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

Misha visited my room at the inn.

As soon as she came in, she slammed a piece of paper onto the table with a smack!

After Misha started acting separately from me, she had been living a life where she hardly showed herself at the inn.

Judging from her haggard face, she must have been quite busy.

What had she been doing?

“Listen, Ios! There’s a component I’m lacking!”

“A component?”

“Nyankoromochium! It is mainly made of cuteness!”

“Good work. Pet him as much as you like.”

As soon as Misha heard my words, she charged at Nyankoromochi, who was lying at my feet. As she stroked and rubbed his back, she looked entranced and said, ahh, happiness~. Nyankoromochi narrowed his eyes as if to say, I suppose it can’t be helped.

I called out to the excited Misha.

“You seem busy, but what happened?”

“Look at the paper on the table. I gathered that discussion into it!”

The paper on the table?

Come to think of it, Misha had placed a piece of paper there as soon as she came in…

When I stood up and peeked at the paper—

“Piptat Magic Academy shall lend its graduate Misha the sum of 30,000,000 gold.”

That was what was written there. After that, detailed conditions and other things were written in rows.

…30,000,000 gold!?

It was an outrageous sum of money.

“What is this…?”

“It’s not contracted yet, so relax.”

While lifting Nyankoromochi into her arms, Misha smiled at me.

“We’re going to need money for all sorts of things, so I feel like it might be better to borrow it. What do you think, Ios?”