About two days had passed since the end of the tournament qualifiers. With the main tournament set to begin in only a few days, Rei was currently wandering the Imperial Capital alone.
He had actually wanted to head out into the city yesterday. However, Elk and Min had been so overjoyed by Rhodos's victory in the qualifiers that they’d overindulged at the celebration, leaving them both with mild hangovers.
Of course, they were only mild hangovers, and they likely could have managed to guard Daskar if they’d pushed themselves. Still, there was no reason to force the issue, so Rei had taken over the guard duty yesterday instead.
That said, for safety reasons, Daskar wasn’t able to leave the inn. In the end, they’d spent the day either relaxing in the room or moving their bodies in the courtyard, just as Rei and the others had been doing.
When they’d exercised in the courtyard, Rei and the guard knights had stood by to prepare for any eventuality, but the day had passed without incident. Today, Elk and Min had recovered and returned to their posts, and Rei had finally been relieved of duty.
He could have stayed and trained with Ruzy and the others to keep his condition peak for the main tournament... but he’d decided to take this chance to look for magic items being sold in the Imperial Capital. That was why he was now walking through the city streets on his own.
(As I thought, it’s hard for people to recognize me without Set around or the Death Scythe in hand.)
Rei’s own features were fairly well-formed, but they were currently hidden beneath the Dragon Robe’s hood.
While the Dragon Robe was an extremely powerful magic item in its own right, its concealment effect ensured that ordinary people couldn’t see through its true nature.
Essentially, Rei looked like an average commoner—or rather, a rookie adventurer.
Since rookie adventurers weren’t an uncommon sight in the Imperial Capital regardless of whether the fighting tournament was being held, he blended into the crowd perfectly.
"Let’s see. If I recall, I go straight down this street, turn left at the end, and it’s the third building from there."
Rei made his way forward, relying on what Most had told him before he left.
The Wind Dragon Fang’s primary area of activity wasn’t near the Imperial Capital, despite being within the Bestia Empire. Their base was in one of the empire’s other developed cities, though it was smaller than the capital.
Even so, Most had come to the Imperial Capital several times as a guard in the past and had visited several magic item shops. He’d told Rei about one of them as a token of gratitude for the training Rei had provided, and now Rei was heading there alone.
The tournament qualifiers had finally finished for everyone the day before. Because of that, the crowds who had been packing the arena were now flooding the streets for Imperial Capital sightseeing, making the number of pedestrians surprisingly high.
At the same time, merchants were raising their voices to call out to the passersby, treating this as the prime time to rake in a profit.
"Hey there, little lady! Wait, you’re a boy? How about it, kid? Want to buy a ring? You can wear it yourself, or you could give it to a lover—she’d be thrilled, I guarantee it!"
Rei was called out to by a street vendor with wares spread along the sidewalk. Feeling a flicker of curiosity, he glanced at the items, only to let out a disappointed sigh a moment later.
The merchandise was obviously composed of crude products.
There were many accessories like rings, bracelets, anklets, collars, and necklaces, but even Rei could tell the gems were dull and the craftsmanship was amateurish.
If the quality was so low that even Rei, who lacked a refined eye for jewelry, could see through it, the items had to be exceptionally poor.
He tilted his head, wondering if anyone would actually buy such junk even as a tourist, before leaving the stall behind.
The vendor had likely thought Rei would be an easy mark because he was a small figure in a robe, but he didn't fixate on him. Once he realized he couldn't pique Rei's interest, he immediately called out to the next person.
Dealing with such solicitations several times as he walked, Rei eventually reached the building Most had described.
"Is this it?"
The shop was located on the main street, but there were strangely no customers.
That was likely only natural. Unlike the other shops, it wasn't making any attempt to draw people in despite the profitable timing. If anything, the shop’s very atmosphere seemed to tell first-time visitors to stay away.
"...This is definitely the right place, isn't it?"
He tilted his head while looking at the building, though he felt certain it was the one.
Regardless, he decided there was no point in standing around and reached for the door...
The next instant, Rei sensed something and swiftly leapt back.
A man suddenly came flying through the door, bursting past Rei and bouncing across the ground several times before stopping.
The reactions of the pedestrians walking by were split down the middle.
One group fled the scene immediately, while the other group called out worriedly to the fallen man—a middle-aged man in his 40s.
The ones who checked on him were likely visitors who had come for the fighting tournament. The ones who fled were those who knew the shop owner’s personality.
A slender man in his 30s then appeared from inside the shop.
He was carrying a bucket filled with water.
"And don't you ever come back to my shop!"
With that shout, he threw the water with a strength that belied his thin frame, drenching the fallen man. The bystanders nearby scrambled to get away.
Watching this scene from the side, Rei felt a sense of déjà vu.
(Right... it's just like when I first met Vihera.)
Back then, a House Silwa adventurer had been kicked or punched away by Vihera, creating a very similar scene to what was happening now.
However, a thought occurred to him.
In Vihera’s case, the man had been sent flying by her immense physical strength, but was the slender man standing nearby capable of such a thing?
(He’s thinner than me, so that should normally be impossible. ...Right, if he were normal.)
While he was thinking that, the slender man with the bucket seemed to notice him.
He cast a suspicious glance at Rei... and then his eyes widened.
"You... what on earth..."
His reaction was similar to those who could sense Rei's magic power, but there was one decisive difference. While the look in his eyes was close to awe, it wasn't directed at Rei himself.
He was looking at Rei, but his expression had changed because of the Dragon Robe Rei was wearing.
The surprise lasted only a moment, however.
He cleared his throat to regain his composure and glanced back into the shop.
"Get in. Since you’re standing there, I assume you’re a customer?"
"Uh, yeah."
Despite the unexpected turn of events, Rei didn't refuse.
He’d come here to find magic items in the first place, so there was no reason to turn down an invitation from the shop owner.
Rei followed the man inside.
However... the sight that greeted him was unexpected in the worst way.
He hadn’t expected a massive inventory, but he had at least thought there would be some magic items on display.
Instead, all Rei saw were empty shelves. There wasn't a single magic item to be found.
"Haha, you’re surprised, aren't you? A shop with absolutely nothing to sell."
"It certainly is..."
As Rei struggled for words, the man—the owner—gave him a smile as if to tell him not to worry.
"Well, the short version is that the business failed. A friend of mine ran around trying to help me raise funds... but they didn't make it in time, and this is the result."
The man didn't look regretful at all. If anything, he seemed relieved.
"I see. I’d heard you had a good selection, so I’m a bit disappointed."
"Sorry about that. Oh, it's not that I don't have any magic items. But as you saw with that guy out there, there are plenty of people trying to buy up whatever’s left before I close. Some of them won't give up even though I have a promise to a friend, and a few have even tried to sneak in at night. ...Of course, since I deal in magic items, my security is tight. They usually go home with a few new scars for their trouble."
The man wore a malicious grin, likely remembering those incidents.
Judging by how he’d doused that man earlier, Rei realized he wasn't just some ordinary slender man.
"Anyway, it’s unfortunate that I can't sell you anything... but let’s set that aside."
He stopped talking for a moment and turned a sharp gaze toward Rei—or rather, toward the Dragon Robe.
"Who are you, kid? That robe is an incredible magic item, isn't it? And those are Sleipnir's Shoes on your feet. There’s no way a kid your age should have equipment like that. You don't look like a noble, either."
"...Heh, so you can tell. Even though this robe has a concealment effect on it."
Genuine surprise appeared on Rei's face.
Almost no one had ever seen through the Dragon Robe’s nature before. He hadn’t expected someone to identify it at a single glance.
It meant the person standing before him was exceptionally skilled.
He didn't know if it was the eye of a merchant or the eye of an alchemist, though.
"I've made a living doing this, after all. So, care to tell me the details of that magic item?"
"I won't tell you the specific effects, but I can give you the name. It’s a Dragon Robe."
At the name, the owner flinched.
The meaning of "Dragon Robe" was unmistakably clear.
"Made from a dragon? Like the ones the dragon knights ride? No, that’s not it. You can make powerful items from wyvern materials, but achieving a concealment effect this strong would be impossible. Which means..."
He swallowed hard and spoke in a low voice.
"A genuine dragon species..."
The wyverns ridden by dragon knights were indeed a type of dragon species.
However, in this context, the term referred to a dragon in the truest sense.
"Could I... touch it?"
"Sure, go ahead."
With permission, the owner reached out and touched the Dragon Robe, only to feel a sense of wrongness an instant later.
"This isn't just dragon leather. This texture..."
He touched both the front and the back of the robe. There was something sandwiched between them. It felt hard yet soft, soft yet hard.
Feeling that contradictory sensation, the man recalled something an old friend had once let him touch.
Equipment made from the materials of a dragon species, the being that stood at the apex of all living things.
"Dragon scales?"
Rei didn't speak, but his eyes widened slightly.
Dragon scales were normally massive, proportional to the beast's size. These had been processed and strengthened through magic power and alchemy before being layered inside the robe.
"Incredible... something like this could easily be a national treasure..."
The owner muttered in a daze, but then his eyes fell on Rei’s right hand and he froze again.
He had realized what the bracelet around Rei's wrist was.
"An... Item Box?"
He was looking at Rei as if he’d just seen a miracle, though he managed to regain his composure after about a minute.
"Well, that was certainly worth seeing. Honestly, if you have things like that, is there even any point in visiting a shop like mine?"
"Collecting magic items is a hobby of mine. That’s why I had high hopes for this place, but..."
Just as he muttered that, the shop door opened once more.
"What... happened here?"
A man aged 30 to 40 appeared.
The moment Rei saw him, he reflexively leapt back to put distance between them.
Luckily, the shop owner wasn't caught in the movement. If Rei had been touching him, he undoubtedly would have been sent flying by the force of that sudden jump.
Rei didn't seem to notice the owner, however. He kept his distance from the newcomer and glared at him with an intense, wary gaze, refusing to let down his guard.