CH 45

Episode 45 – Iron Will 

After discussing the details of the contract with the receptionist lady, I left the Adventurer’s Guild. Just like the last two times, I had a little bit of time before the face-to-face meeting at noon, so I decided to go buy some necessities for the trip. After last time’s incident, I had an even better idea of what I needed to be buying. I went to the market to buy what I was looking for.

I arrived at the market on the main street of Grezesta and started buying various necessities one after the other. 10 portable food rations, a rag, a bottle of water, a vial of oil, two stalks of Magical Grass, a flint and steel, and 10 vials of Slime liquid. These were the necessities I bought from the main street market for the time being. The Magical Grass, the flint and steel, and the Slime liquid were things that I added to my list of necessities based on my previous experience. I was hesitating to buy the Magical Grass, but if we were going to be leaving tomorrow, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to synthesize enough Magical Grass in time. Thus, I decided to only buy the bare minimum of Magical Grass to repel monsters in case some emergency were to happen tomorrow.

The Slime liquid vials would be imbued with either the Medical Herbs that I had generated in the past, or the high-quality poisonous plants that I wasn’t able to sell to the grandma at Elf’s Tears. I was so powerless at the moment that these vials of Slime liquid imbued with poison were the only weapon I could use well for now. It was a little difficult to hit the enemy with these vials of Slime liquid, but I felt like I would be able to figure something out in the moment if it ever came down to it.

I was done shopping on the main street for now, so I headed towards a certain shop I had in mind. It was… here, right? In front of me was a shop with a signboard that said “Iron Will” on it. Ahmed told me about this shop, and it was the place where the [Azure Alliance] bought and maintained their armor and weapons. In the past, I didn’t have enough money to buy weapons and armor, but at that time I was also naive enough to think that I didn’t need it since I thought I would be protected as long as I had someone escorting me. Even though I wasn’t sure if I had enough to buy a whole set of armor and weapons at the moment, after my last experience, I came to the conclusion that having defensive equipment was absolutely necessary.

Opening the door of the shop and entering, the strong, distinct blood-like smell of iron assailed my nose. Various pieces of armor and weapons were left in a disarray on top of the counter, and the shopkeeper was nowhere to be seen at the moment. The variety of weapons strewn about the top of the counter were attracting my attention, and I momentarily forgot to call for the shopkeeper.

None of the weapons on the counter were that flashy, but they looked of fine quality to my untrained eye. Seeing the unique edge of one of the blades, my curiosity was piqued, and I reached my hand out to examine it, but– at that instant, an explosive roar reverberated from deeper inside the shop.

“HEY! BRAT!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY STORE’S MERCHANDISE?!!!”

Spinning around to face the direction the voice came from, I saw a short, hairy old man with a furious expression on his face, brandishing a hammer over his head as he rushed towards me. Flustered, I backed away from the weapon in a panic, and started trying to explain myself.

“I’m sorry!! I came to buy a weapon, but when I entered the shop, a good weapon caught my eye. I was just curious, so I wanted to touch it!” (Lewin)

With both my hands raised in the air to prove I hadn’t stolen anything, I loudly proclaimed my innocence. He must have heard what I said, because the hairy shopkeeper quickly stopped in his tracks. It seemed he was slowly putting together the situation in his head, as his scowl gradually subsided and he began to smile.

“Gahahaha! What the hell! You were a customer, huh? You should have told me earlier! I totally thought you were a thief!” (Hairy Shopkeeper)

“I’m really sorry. I should have called out for the shopkeeper first.” (Lewin)

“Well, it’s fine as long as you’re not a thief. My bad! Go ahead and shout at me a bit!” (Hairy Shopkeeper)

Approaching me after putting down his hammer, the shopkeeper started slapping me heartily on the back while saying all sorts of kind words. He was rugged and boorish and his voice was absurdly loud, but I was relieved because he didn’t seem like a bad person.

“So! What did you come here to buy, lad?” (Hairy Shopkeeper)

“I was thinking of buying a weapon and some armor… To tell you the truth, I came to this shop at the recommendation of an adventurer party named [Azure Alliance], and I don’t really know what to be looking for.” (Lewin)

“WHAT THE HELL!! MY BOY, YOU KNOW AHMED?!!” (Hairy Shopkeeper)

This shout was twice as loud as the first one, but he had a delighted look on his face. I jumped in fright at the sheer volume of his voice, but judging by his happy expression, it seemed that he wasn’t on bad terms with Ahmed. It was a little strange because Ahmed wasn’t exactly well-liked by many, and there were even people who spread rumors about her or talked about her behind her back.

“Y-yes. We went on a quest commission together, and we formed a great friendship after that time.” (Lewin)

“I see, I see! Then I must give you a warm welcome!” (Hairy Shopkeeper)

“Are you on good terms with Ahmed-san?” (Lewin)

…Wait a second, weren’t Ahmed’s hobbies way too much like an old geezer’s…?

“So that’s how it was. I like Ahmed a lot too, so hearing you speak well of her makes me glad.” (Lewin)

“Gahahaha! I don’t really get why you’d be glad to hear me speaking well of Ahmed though!! …Well, I can get behind that. I’ll help you find a great weapon, you can count on me!” (Hairy Shopkeeper)

“Really? Thank you!” (Lewin)

I thanked the shopkeeper and followed his dishevelled figure around the shop to choose the weapon and armor. In the end, I chose an exceptionally sharp steel sword that was light enough for even me to handle and a nearly weightless chest plate made of a material called Lightmetal. Even after helping me so much with the selection of the weapon and armor, the shopkeeper gave me a discount so the total sum only came out to 10 gold coins. I was extremely satisfied with this purchase.