Chapter 38: Wand |
They should have heard an old man's voice, but when they turned around, there was no one there. It was a horror story.
As they looked at each other, wondering what the hell had happened to them, the voice came again, more irritated than before.
"Down here, you idiot!"
"Wa!" (Tatsuro)
"Hii!" (Ai)
As told, they looked down and saw an elderly man of about eighty centimeters standing there indignantly.
The moment they saw him, they were quite surprised and shouted, but when they realized that it was a person, they were relieved and spoke to him.
"Uhm, can I help you?" (Tatsuro)
"Don't talk to me if you don't need me."
The old man then took another look at Tatsuro's face and mood.
Tatsuro stood there looking uncomfortable, while Ai kept her mouth shut, not wanting to get involved with the troublesome minimalist old man unless he was in the mood to talk to her.
"Fumu, you seem to be a pretty high-level wizard for such a young man, right?"
"Well, maybe a little higher than most people." (Tatsuro)
"Then we can talk quickly. Boy, you're looking for a wand, aren't you?"
"Yes, that's why I'm here. And?" (Tatsuro)
"There is currently only one custom-made cane in the store, would you like to buy it?"
Tatsuro's eyebrows raised in alarm at those words.
If it was a special order item, then there must have been a customer who ordered it. However, it is suspicious that they are trying to sell it to Tatsuro.
"Hoho, there is no need to be so cautious. At any rate, I built it, and when it was ready, he said he didn't want it and left for his town."
"Why don't you just force him to give it to him and get paid for it since you built it even if he doesn't want it?" (Ai)
"If I could do that, I wouldn't have any trouble."
He shrugged his shoulders in disgust at Ai's unbearable comment, or rather at the person who had ordered it.
Then the pieces started to fall into place in Tatsuro's mind.
"You can't do that, is the person some kind of authority?" (Tatsuro)
"Yes, he is the idiot son of the Lord of Lyadas."
""Lyadas?""
"The region that includes Obsul and four other towns is Lyadas territory."
"Oh I see" (Tatsuro)
"Yes" (Ai)
He explained the situation to them, even though they had no idea what he was talking about.
"So basically, as the son of the lord of Lyadas, you couldn't ask him to pay for it, and now that you have a customer who might use it, you want to sell it to him?" (Ai)
"That's a very unpleasant way of putting it, but you're generally right. But it's a good wand for the son of a lord to have, so good that it makes the mass-produced ones look like garbage."
"Is that true?" (Ai)
"I wouldn't lie!"
He flared up at Ai and threatened her with his eyes, saying that she was out of her mind, and then he said, "Look at me first!" and withdrew to the back.
"What do we do now? Tatsuro." (Ai)
"I'm curious to see what kind of wand it is, so I'll have a look." (Tatsuro)
"Hmm, but I wonder if a wand that someone says they don't want is that good." (Ai)
After a few minutes of waiting, an old man arrived with a long, thin wooden box about 50 centimeters long.
He then brought it up in front of them and opened the lid of the crate with an expression that said, "What do you think?"
"This is the wand…"
"It looks more impressive than I expected." (Tatsuro)
"Yes, it is. This is——-"
What he showed them was a crimson wand with a beautiful green feather wrapped around the tip of the wand.
The old man explained that the wand was made from a mixture of salamander bone, hull, and silver, with the feathers of a wind magic monster called a Hyerle fused to the tip.
The old man said that it would benefit fire and wind magic in particular, although Tatsuro and Ai, who didn't even know what the material itself was, couldn't understand what it was.
"Fire magic and wind magic, does the lord's son know how to use the two attributes?" (Tatsuro)
"He can, but he doesn't seem to know how to use them at all."
It seems that the son is famous for being a dark and dullard, and even though he was able to learn magic, he consumed his precious SP from Lv.1 because it was too much of a hassle, and because he didn't want to raise his own level, his SP didn't increase, and his fire and wind magic stopped at Lv.1 and Lv.2 respectively.
"It's a pity. Skill points are supposed to be the only way to get a boost when you hit an insurmountable wall. He is a fool to use them so lightly. Don't you think so, too?"
"Riightt" (Tatsuro)
"I…..see…." (Ai)
Both of them knew someone who was using it quite easily, so they tried to play along.
Fortunately, the old man was oblivious to this and went on with his story.
"I received 1 million Shis in advance, let's take the balance of 300,000 Shis!"
"What!? He paid one million Shis and said he didn't want it?" (Ai)
"I guess it's a small price to pay for a lord's son."
"300,000 Shis… Can I use it for a while?" (Tatsuro)
"Yes, but if you break it, you'll have to buy another one."
The old man took the cane out of the box and handed it to Tatsuro.
First of all, it was about forty centimeters long and much lighter than it looked. It felt quite good in his hands. Next, since it seemed to have a strong correction for fire and wind magic, he tried it out with the fire magic he could use now.
The magic power flowed into the wand and gathered at its tip. The image is of a small flame snake.
The magic power then turns into flames and takes on the shape of a snake. When the shape solidified, Tatsuro made it float and swim in the sky. Finally, he spun it around and let the magic dissipate.
"—-Fuu" (Tatsuro)
"That's a lot more wizardry than I imagined."
"Rightt. You're amazing, Tatsuro!" (Ai)
Ai, her nose flushed for the praise of the man she loves, smiles and talks to the old man, but the one being talked to is focused on Tatsuro and does not listen at all.
"It's amazing, I feel like my magic is moving more easily than ever before." (Tatsuro)
"Right. And that was fire magic, so it must have worked well with you."
"Can I have this, please?" (Tatsuro)
"Of course. I'm sure the wand will be happier than if it were used by some idiot."
The old man smiled at the cane, and his face looked very kind.
Then Tatsuro paid exactly 300,000 Shis and left the store with the wand.
Although he had planned to buy a cheap, mass-produced product, his expenses had increased substantially, but he nodded in satisfaction that he had made a good purchase.
Ai looked at the wand in his hand with a look of envy but decided that she too would order a proper one someday, and looked around to see if there was anything else of interest.
She looked around to see if there was anything else of interest. Then she saw a store with outdoor goods for adventurers.
"Tatsuro, we need something like that, right?" (Ai)
"Hmm? Oh, sure. We should buy some while we are here." (Tatsuro)
As they entered the store, the first thing they saw was a sleeping bag.
The shape of the bag was the same as that of the other world, but it was about two sizes thicker than the one in the original world.
It's too bulky, Tatsuro thought, but when he touched it, he found that it was made of the finest, chewy, soft material.
"–What is this?!" (Tatsuro)
"What's wrong?" (Ai)
"Hey, Ai, you should touch this." (Tatsuro)
"Eh? I don't mind, but… what's this, it feels so good and chewy!" (Ai)
The two of them had experienced the hardness of the rock in that forest. Then they decided to buy it immediately, thinking that they would have had a good night's sleep with it.
Next was a box-shaped tent for two people. It was made of a strange material that was like hard plastic, but it could be bent without breaking.
At the entrance, there was a thin stone that was magically created to stick together like a special magnet, and when another pair was attached to it like a lid, it became completely waterproof, and even if it sank in water, it would be safe for a while. They thought this would come in handy if they got caught in the rain outside of town, so they bought one.
They paid the bill and left the store, thinking that they had enough for the day.
"Now we have everything we might need, don't we?" (Ai)
"I think so. We'll come back here later if we need anything else." (Tatsuro)
"Yeah." (Ai)
After they finished shopping, they walked down the stairs and out of the department store, it was already getting dark.
"It's getting dark and we need to get a place to stay." (Ai)
"Right. We've bought a lot of stuff, so I need to save money." (Tatsuro)
"I knew that dress was ……" (Ai)
"That's okay." (Tatsuro)
While stroking the head of Ai, who was puffing out her cheeks and sulking, Tatsuro decided it was no use and looked at the map to find a building that looked like an inn.
After wandering around for about thirty minutes, he finally found a place labeled "inn."
The inn was a three-story building, also white. The inn was neither old nor new, and there was nothing to write home about.
"Mou, I thought this place was fine." (Tatsuro)
"Well, it doesn't look like a very expensive inn." (Ai)
As they walked through the door of the inn, they saw a couple in their early thirties and the man gave them a sales smile as he spoke to Tatsuro and Ai.
"Welcome. Are you staying at our inn?"
"Yes, do you have a room for two?" (Tatsuro)
"Yes, we do."
"Well how much is it?" (Tatsuro)
"10,000 Shis with dinner, 8,500 Shis without dinner."
The dinner he was talking about here was 1,500 Shis for two people, which was quite reasonable. As for the accommodation itself, Tatsuro thought it was a reasonable price since it seemed to be large enough for two people to sleep in.
"What do you want to do?" (Tatsuro)
"We can't go out to eat now, so we'll eat here." (Ai)
"Then, please include dinner." (Tatsuro)
Tatsuro converted 10,000 Shis and gave it to the man at the inn. The man checked the price in the system and then told his wife to get the key for him.
As soon as he did, his wife took the key and handed it to Tatsuro, and they thanked him and went upstairs.
Dinner would be served in about twenty minutes, so they decided to stay in their room for a while, and after checking their room number, they went inside.
"Wow, this place feels bigger than the first one!" (Tatsuro)
"Yes, it does! We were paralyzed by the forest, but the previous one was indeed too small. ……" (Ai)
The room had simple furniture such as a closet and two beds near the wall, large enough for one person to sleep comfortably.
As soon as they sat down on their respective beds, they exhaled and began to talk about the day's events.
