CH 29

The person that was giving me weapon advice was an adventurer called Kragus.

But I don’t care about that.

No, I know that Kragus-san is not at fault here. 

But I want him to leave me be.

I want him to leave me alone for now.

“…Haah…” (Souma)

In exchange for suffering a damn big embarrassment, I ended up raising the flag with the adventurer. After that, I gave the same order to the real shopkeeper, and after finishing the purchase, I left the store as if running away. 

“You are late, Souma-san!” 

It was after that that I managed to reunite with Ina who should have come here before me. 

It doesn’t seem like Ina is angry, but she seems to be a bit sullen. 

“No matter where I searched, I couldn’t find you, Souma-san… I was about to return to the Magic Airship terminal!” (Ina)

“A-Aah, sorry about that. And so, did you manage to sell the items?” (Souma)

“Geez, that side was also really difficult, you know?!” (Ina)

According to Ina who said this as if she were happy despite what she was saying, after she went around the many stores to check how much it would sell for, she haggled with them so that they would buy it for as high as possible. 

Having social skills despite being a loner, that’s quite the rare talent. 

“As a result…hear this, we got 76,000E!” (Ina)

“Ooh!” (Souma)

Honestly speaking, I don’t know if that’s a lot or not, but let’s act surprised for now.

But I do feel like it is higher than what I expected.

There were only around 20 drops at most, so it would mean that each drop was around 4,000E. 

“U-Uhm, you said there was no equipment you wanted within the drops, so I sold everything except the wakizashi. Was that okay?” (Ina)

“Hm? Yeah, of course.” (Souma)

I nodded without hesitation. 

The armored knights are mostly heavy armor, so the equipment they drop is mostly armor that has a lot of weight. 

The defense is appealing, but if the weight of your equipment is too high, your movements grow duller.

The speed decrease from weight applies to skills as well, so there’s almost no loopholes for that one.

Thinking about the fighting style Ina and I currently have, there was no choice but to give up on them.

“That’s a relief. Then, if we split that between us two, it would be 38,000E for the two of us!” (Ina)

And she totally wants to split the earnings in two.

Ina was the one who shouldered all the danger, so I don’t mind her taking it all though.

However, getting stubborn here wouldn’t make anyone happy.

From Ina’s personality, she would be happier if I were to take it.

“Okay then.” (Souma)

I bring out the Crystal that serves as my wallet, and…

“Then, I will transfer it!” (Ina)

Ina pushed her own Crystal onto it and the mana was transferred.

38,000E was passed to me.

While at it, she also told me she would return my mythril armor, but I refused.

“No, I was thinking about having you earn money in the Cave of Trials again soon. It would be troubling to not have good armor when that time comes, right?” (Souma)

“Really?” (Ina)

Of course, that’s a lie.

But it might be good to earn cash in the Cave of Trials.

Even if we were splitting the earnings, I would say it would still end up being a decent number. 

We were having that talk noisily as we headed to the accessory shop.

When speaking of accessory shops, it sounds like something a middle or high school girl would love, but the accessories in this world are accessories you wear on the neck, wrist, and fingers. They are all equipment that increases the abilities of the character. 

The effects of each one of them isn’t that high compared to armor, but there’s 1 each for the neck and the wrist, and 2 for the rings, making it possible to equip a total of 4, so you really can’t underestimate the benefits it gives.

Also, because I can’t change the equipment from the menu screen like in the game, it takes time to change the equipment like armor. 

Rings can be changed readily, so it is easy to change them to match the elements of enemies for example.

Having them at hand would definitely not be disadvantageous. 

The line-up of the products is still the same as the game. 

Maybe because it is the items from the first town, there isn’t much expensive stuff.

Rings that increase the defense by a bit, rings that increase the attack power by 5%, rings that allow you to use the basic element spells, a ring that increases the natural regen of HP by around 20%; it is mostly effects that are barely noticeable. 

But there’s also products of interest…

(I will be using a Ninja Sword in the future as well, so this would be the basic choice.) (Souma)

Within those, I take the Light Element Attack Specialization Ring Ⅰ.

This ring, despite being a store item in early game, increases the attack power of the light element to 15% in exchange of reducing the attack power of the dark element by 70%. 

By the way, since there’s a Ⅰ, it is a sign that it is a series item. When the roman number goes higher, the effect gets higher too, and when it goes all the way to Ⅳ, the light element’s attack power increases by 60% and the dark element’s attack power goes down by 40%, making it a pretty easy to use one.

Well, Ⅳ is not sold in stores, and I have no plans on using something like that.

I bought the Light Element Attack Specialization Ring Ⅰ without hesitation.

I don’t have any elemental abilities right now, so it is not like I need it now, but I am sure it will be of use later.

(If we go by that logic, it is not only elements, I don’t need rings in general for a while…) (Souma)

I don’t plan on taking off my stamina related rings for the near future.

I can only equip 2 rings, so anymore than this would be…eh?

It bothered me a bit, so I went close to Ina’s side and whispered to her.

“Hey, what happens if you equip more than 3 rings?” (Souma)

“What?” (Ina)

Was it that weird of a question? 

Ina’s eyes opened wide and…

“Uhm, you can only wear two rings, you know?” (Ina)

Responded with an answer that’s not that much of an answer.

No, I know that.

“That’s not what I mean. I am talking about what would happen if I tried to put on more than that.” (Souma)

“Eh? Uhm, you can only wear two rings, you know?” (Ina)

…What’s this? 

Ina suddenly became a really badly made NPC.

But what would actually happen?

In the game, you had to do that process through the menu screen, so you could only equip things in the equipment slots. 

But in this world where you can equip them directly in your hand, I feel like I could ignore such restrictions. 

(Well, I can just test it out myself.) (Souma)

I ask permission from the clerk and wear the Water Ring in my finger. 

“…Hm?” (Souma)

When the ring got close to my finger, a strange power came in place and the ring was repelled…is what I thought, but nothing of the sort happened.

The 3rd ring easily fits my finger. 

So easy that I was instead confused about it. 

“It seems like I easily got it in though…” (Souma)

When I said this and showed Ina my fingers…

“W-What are you doing, Souma-san?!” (Ina)

She was terribly surprised. 

Not only that, she was practically exploding here. 

“You can only wear 2 rings!” (Ina)

Even if you tell me that, I have actually got them on though.

What’s going on here? 

But there’s the possibility the effect is not showing despite me wearing it. 

“Uhm… [Water].” (Souma)

I point at the floor and Order the Water spell.

“Uwah?!” (Souma)

When I did this, water surged onto the floor. 

It hit the floor hard.

“W-Wait, Customer-san! Please don’t drench the floor!” 

The floor of the store is soaking wet. 

The game world wasn’t like that, but it seems like the water in water magic remains in this world.

It doesn’t seem like I get damaged even if I touch the remaining water. It is not being treated as an ‘attack’ anymore, but it is still a pain.

The pain part mainly being that you have to clean it up afterwards.

Also, the sharp gaze of the Clerk-san is a pain.

I would have liked it if this wasn’t so half-baked real.

(Anyways, it means that the effect of the ring is showing.) (Souma)

But it is possible that the effect of the other rings has been lost. 

I took the Fire Ring and Wind Ring, and told the clerk.

“Sorry, let me test them out a bit. Ah, I will shoot the spells outside.” (Souma)

And then, after experimenting a whole lot, I could wear one ring on each of the ten fingers, and they all show their effects.

But it seems like I can’t wear 2 rings on one finger. 

When I pass a ring in my finger, it would automatically fit my size, but when I try to do that with a second ring on the same finger, the first one would get unequipped.

This is a way too convenient development, but this is most likely a clash of the game setting ‘You can only equip 2 rings’ and the real logic that is ‘You can wear several rings’. 

Thinking about what has happened until now, a part of the game settings seem to be controlled by the actions of the person rather than the laws of physics in this world.

Just like how Reinhardt would want to guide me and how Ina would want to run around the same field as me, the people of this world don’t want to equip a 3rd ring.

The rings switching when equipping the ring in the same finger is the same as the game.

You can’t equip a 3rd ring either in the game, but it is easily doable, so in order to fill that up, the idea that ‘a 3rd ring can’t be equipped’ is slipped into their minds, and this is the result of it. 

I don’t know if that line of thought is correct, but this world is full of holes and contradictions to begin with.

I decided to just go with that logic.

But if that’s the case, it is only natural to want to test out a variety of things here.

“Ina, are you wearing rings?” (Souma)

When I asked this, she immediately showed me her left hand.

“Ah, yes, this.” (Ina)

She is properly wearing 2 rings in her left hand.

“What’s this one?” (Souma)

I haven’t played this game so much that I would be able to tell the name of the item just by looking at the appearance of a ring.

Ina puffed her chest out at my question and answered.

“This is a defense up ring I bought and the other one is a faulty product that reduces the magic damage by 30%.” (Ina)

“I see…” (Souma)

As expected of Train-chan.

She has pretty good equipment despite this being the starting town.

“This is…a memento from my father… Father died when I was young, and his possessions were almost all disposed of, but mother kept this ring alone…” (Ina)

This is Train-chan.

A heavy story was tagged into it.

“T-Then, how about you try wearing one more ring?” (Souma)

There’s the chance that a backstory event of Train-chan will begin here at this rate.

I hurriedly stopped her and proposed this.

“E-Eh? B-But you can only wear 2 rings…” (Ina)

“It is okay, it is okay. You might be able to, you know?” (Souma)

I forcefully pushed the hesitating Ina. 

“This is part of the experiment. You said you would cooperate, right?” (Souma)

“That’s…yeah. B-But this is…ah.” (Ina)

Ina was hesitating, but she stared intently at her own left hand with the rings.

“I-I will do it. Please do!” (Ina)

She suddenly resolved herself and offered her left hand to me. 

I don’t know what brought her change of mind, but I am grateful that she is going to cooperate.

I take another of the same ring that increases defense that she said she had bought, bring it close to her left hand and…

(…Ah.) (Souma)

I noticed.

Ina has rings in her index and middle fingers. 

In that case, if we are going by order, the next one to put a ring on would be the ring finger…

(This is a bit bad.) (Souma)

This world has a tradition of putting on a marriage ring in the ring finger.

While feeling a prickling pain at the word marriage, I stealthily moved the ring to the pinky finger and…

*Slide*

The moment I was about to put it in, the hand of Ina moved to the side.

She placed her ring finger in front of the ring. 

(I-It is just a coincidence, right?) (Souma)

I once again tried to put the ring in the pinky finger and…

*Slide*

It wasn’t a coincidence! 

Her hand clearly showed premeditated moves as she moved the ring position to her ring finger. 

“Uhm, can you make it quick?” (Ina)

I wonder why.

I could feel a pressure I have never felt from Ina before.

(W-Well, I am the one asking the favor here, so it can’t be helped…right?) (Souma)

It is not like I lost to this, but I gave up and put the ring in her ring finger. 

The ring was equipped in her ring finger as if it were order-made.

N-No, this is the effect of the ring, so there’s no real meaning behind it. 

“S-See, you are fine even with a 3rd one.” (Souma)

I hid the panic inside of me and said this purposely as if I didn’t notice.

But Ina was silent. 

However, after a while, as if she had endured a long time without breathing…

“I-I can’t! I really can’t take it!” (Ina)

She hurriedly takes off the ring in her finger. 

…But not the ring I put in her ring finger, it was the middle finger ring she was wearing before. 

And then, without missing a beat…

“Excuse me, I will buy this!” (Ina)

“No, wait…!” (Souma)

She finished her purchase with the Clerk-san.

It was so lightning fast that I didn’t have the chance to stop her. 

She glanced at her ring finger…

“D-Doesn’t it look like…we are m-married?” (Ina)

“No, you?!” (Souma)

She said something outrageous.

I couldn’t string a proper sentence anymore. 

I didn’t expect her to be the type to say stuff like this. 

But seeing me all flustered, Ina giggled.

She waved her hand lightly as if saying everything was a lie.

“Just kidding. It was a joke, a joke. I am not thinking about something that far yet.” (Ina)

Then how far are you thinking?

It was rare that she would be teasing me successfully here. She said this while gently brushing the ring.

“But…isn’t marriage something that…you yearn for a bit?” (Ina)

What she said made me blank out for a bit there but I said…

“…No, I don’t yearn for it at all. I definitely won’t marry in this world.” (Souma)

I strongly strongly deny it. 

The marriage system.

This was a big selling point for Nekomimi Neko that had given up on the MMO path and it is also the biggest pitfall of this game that can’t be compared to the lizardmen trap or Train-chan.