"It was a fairly satisfying shopping trip. The prices were reasonable, too," Rei muttered as he stepped out of the Magic Item shop.
In the end, there had been five crates' worth of potions in stock, and Rei had bought every last one.
True to his words, the prices had been fair. If anything, since he had bought in such bulk, they had even given him a slight discount.
Then again, they might have just inflated the original price to make it look like a discount.
Back in Japan, supermarkets and convenience stores clearly labeled prices on their products—no discounts or anything of the sort. Then again, since Rei had lived in the countryside, there were plenty of privately run shops where discounts were perfectly normal. Being a familiar face from childhood, he would get discounts and freebies on a regular basis whenever his mother sent him on errands.
"So, what's the plan? Are we hitting up other shops too?" Vihera asked, watching Set play with the children.
They had already asked the clerk about other Magic Item shops in the city. If they visited those as well, Rei could stock up on even more potions. Given that, he had no intention of refusing.
"Yeah, I'd like to visit every shop if possible."
"Right. I think we should. After all, we're heading to the Forest of Magic." Vihera exchanged words with Rei, looking envious—truly, genuinely envious from the bottom of her heart.
For Vihera, the Forest of Magic, a place where powerful enemies without a doubt lurked, was an endlessly fascinating destination. So much so that she wished she could go too, not just Rei.
Given the nature of such a place, the more potions they had, the better, even if they were only of mediocre quality. Besides, if Rei stored them in his Misty Ring, there was no risk of the potions becoming unusable over time. Since money wasn't an issue for Rei, as long as he didn't have to worry about a shortage like the one in Gilm, buying as many as possible was the obvious choice.
Ah, but maybe merchants from Gilm will come to this city to restock on potions too? Well, if that happens, they'll just have to accept it's first come, first served.
Business was, in fact, first come, first served. Of course, the fact that Rei could travel by riding Set was already borderline cheating.
"Hey, sorry, but we're heading to another shop. Does anyone know Davies' shop?" Rei called out to the children playing with Set.
He had roughly asked the clerk where the shop was located, just in case. But that was only a general idea, and more importantly, today was Rei's first time in this city. Finding a shop based solely on verbal directions would be difficult. If it faced the main street, it would be reasonably easy to locate. But if it was in a spot like this shop—not quite a back alley, but not visible from the main road either—finding it wouldn't be so simple.
"Ah, I know it!" Fortunately, one of the children playing with Set said they knew Davies' shop, which was exactly where Rei planned to go next.
In that case, Rei acted quickly. He asked the child to guide them and handed out dried fruit. Naturally, he knew that giving it to only one child would make the others jealous, so he gave some to everyone. The child serving as guide, however, received just a little extra.
"It's sweet!" the children shouted happily as they ate the dried fruit.
Sweets were fundamentally expensive, so it was rare for children to get any. If there were a forest or grove nearby, they might have had chances to forage wild fruit, but unfortunately, the surroundings of this city consisted only of grasslands and the highway.
Well, it wouldn't be strange for small fruits to grow in grasslands too, would it? The real question is whether anyone would bother going outside the city to pick them. Even if someone did, those fruits would rarely make it into the children's mouths. In that sense, the dried fruit Rei handed out was quite a feast for them.
"This way, mister, miss! Over here, over here!" Having eaten their treat, the children naturally became quite fond of Rei and Vihera.
Giving delicious food to kids like this... I'm a little worried they might get kidnapped someday with lines like, "Won't you come with me for some tasty food?" He was glad the dried fruit had made them this friendly, but that was exactly why he felt a twinge of concern.
"Listen, okay? Don't go following strangers just because they offer you delicious food, alright?" Rei called out to the children as they led the way.
In Japan, one had to be wary of suspicious individuals, but here in Elgin, slavery existed. And among the slave traders, there were some who acquired slaves illegally rather than through legitimate means like criminal slaves or debt slaves. Granted, the demand for child slaves wasn't particularly high. In that sense, there wasn't much need to worry... but "not particularly high" didn't mean "nonexistent."
"Ehh? Of course I know that!" the boy replied, though Rei found himself wondering whether he could really trust those words.
"It's fine, Rei. These children aren't that clueless. They're only this relaxed because Set is here, right?"
"Is that how it works?" Rei had his doubts about Vihera's words, but since she was the one saying it, he decided to go along with it for the time being.
As they continued walking and chatting, they eventually branched off the main road onto another side path.
Another side path? Why are the Magic Item shops in this city always in such hard-to-find places? Please don't tell me it's because it gives them more atmosphere or something.
Naturally, a shop on the main street would have higher sales than one tucked down a side alley. In exchange, rent or land costs would be higher. Even so, since Magic Item shops carried many high-priced goods, their profits were substantial enough to match.
"See, here. This is Davies' shop," the child said within minutes of turning into the side path.
In the direction the child indicated stood a single shop, about the same size as the previous one.
"Are there no larger shops in this city?"
"Who knows? But since the last shop recommended this one, it wouldn't be surprising if it's about the same size. More importantly, let's hurry up. This isn't the only shop we need to buy potions from." Saying that, Vihera pulled Rei by the hand toward the shop.
Set would naturally stay outside and play with the children while waiting. Rei was also interested in Magic Items, so even with Vihera pulling him along, he didn't resist and followed her inside.
"Oh, welcome. My, another very beautiful person has come in." A woman who looked to be in her fifties said in surprise as she saw Rei and Vihera enter the shop. Since she had described a "beautiful person," the clerk was likely looking at Vihera, not Rei.
Since she had gone to the trouble of calling someone beautiful, Vihera spoke up instead of Rei. "Could we buy all the potions you have? Of course, when I say all of them, I don't mind if you leave a reasonable amount so the city's residents won't be in trouble in an emergency."
"Oh... are you serious? If you need that many potions, it'll be quite expensive." Rather than questioning whether they were serious, she seemed to be concerned about Rei and his group's finances. Feeling favorable toward her, Rei produced several Platinum Coins from his Misty Ring and placed them on the counter.
Seeing that, the clerk showed a slightly surprised expression before nodding and bringing out the potions.
"Well, I suppose that's about enough." In the end, they visited about five shops and managed to purchase a considerable quantity of potions. None of the shops sold the high-quality potions found in Gilm, but there were plenty of decent ones, and beyond that, while not on par with Gilm's stock, they were also able to purchase some reasonably high-quality potions. Rei was satisfied.
"We took up quite a bit of the children's time, didn't we?"
"They were playing with Set, so they didn't seem too unhappy about it." Since the children were guiding them, they ended up having the children lead them to every single shop. They also stopped at a restaurant along the way for a light meal, but that was a necessary expense.
If anything, what Rei found disappointing was that this city had no Local Specialty Dishes. Set, who had been looking forward to that as well, was similarly disappointed. That said, just because there were no Local Specialty Dishes didn't mean the food sold in this city was bad. There was nothing astonishingly delicious, but there was plenty of food that was perfectly tasty.
Or maybe there would have been Local Specialty Dishes at a high-end restaurant... no, if a specialty dish is only sold at those kinds of places, I don't think it'd really live up to expectations. Rei's impression was that a Local Specialty Dish should be something you ate at an ordinary restaurant, not a high-end one—something like so-called B-grade gourmet food.
"So, what do we do now? Head back to Gilm already? Or do you want to explore a few more towns or villages?"
"We've secured a decent amount of potions, so we could go back to Gilm already, but if we wander around here and end up getting dragged into some weird trouble—"
"Bandits!"
"...Rei..."
That shout reached them before Rei could even finish his sentence. The timing was exactly what one would call a flag.
"It's not like I did anything, right?" Rei said in response to Vihera's exasperated stare, though he couldn't help but wonder if it really was his flag.
"Still, bandits attacking a city like this? There's nowhere nearby that could serve as a bandit hideout, either."
"Probably wandering bandits, wouldn't you say? Maybe they just decided to attack this city in passing." Vihera said this, but it didn't seem like she fully believed her own words. Since this was a city, it should have a reasonable amount of defensive combat power in the form of guards and adventurers. If this were a village-sized settlement, one couldn't expect that level of military strength.
"So, what do we do? At this rate, the number of injured will keep rising, and they might need potions. The ones someone bought up in massive quantities, that is."
"I did ask them to leave enough so the residents wouldn't be in trouble, you know."
"Right, you did say that. But that's only enough so they wouldn't be in trouble during normal daily life, right? Do you think the current situation with bandits attacking is normal?"
"Then I guess we should take them down." Rei made that decision without hesitation in response to Vihera's words.
For Rei, enemies on the level of bandits wouldn't put up any kind of fight. If anything, they were more like a bonus. After all, if he defeated them, all the treasure the bandits carried would become his, and if he could capture them alive, he could even sell them as criminal slaves. Normally, to sell them as criminal slaves, he would have to capture them alive and transport them to the nearest city, so he usually just killed them all. But when they showed up right next to a city, it was a different story.
Vihera also agreed with Rei's opinion, nodding immediately.
"Then let's go. It would be a shame if the city's people suffered casualties here."
"Set, we're counting on you."
"Gruu!" At Rei's words, Set purred with utmost enthusiasm.
For Set, if bandits invaded the city, it meant the children who had been playing with him just moments ago could be killed. Even if they weren't killed, they could be injured, or worse, captured and sold as slaves. Considering those circumstances, the option of Set not getting involved simply didn't exist.
Rei and Vihera mounted Set and headed straight toward the gate. There, a large crowd had gathered—some had fled into the city from outside, while others had gathered hoping for even the slightest bit of information about the bandit attack. Amidst all those people, Rei's group had arrived riding Set—a gryphon—so it was only natural that it caused an uproar.