Jin and Elsa took their time browsing the free market, deciding to grab some street food for lunch from the stalls.
"Do you know of any good places?"
Elsa asked Najas, as they had decided it would be best to let Elsa handle interactions with her.
"In that case, how about the skewers over there?"
"...What kind of meat?"
"Kokaris..."
"Rejected."
Unable to stomach kokarisk meat, Elsa gave the skewers a hard pass.
"Well then, how about that place?"
"Oh, that looks good."
Jin was intrigued enough to speak up on impulse.
It was an udon stall.
Since it was still fairly early, the stall was not yet crowded. Within about five minutes of ordering, steaming bowls of udon were set before them. Jin thought twenty Toll—about two hundred yen—per bowl was quite a bargain.
"Yeah, the broth is properly brewed, too."
"Mm, delicious."
"I hear they have five shops in total between their main location and branch stores across the royal capital."
Incidentally, Najas picked up the tab for the udon, charging it straight to the minister of general affairs' account.
"Well, shall we look around a bit more?"
"Mm."
Having covered about three-fifths of the grounds, Jin and the group headed toward the unexplored sections to tour the remaining two-fifths.
"This place is..."
"Mm, a shop specializing in poisons and deleterious substances."
A large sign reading "Hazardous Materials Specialist" was prominently displayed in front, and two men who appeared to be soldiers were stationed there on guard.
Customers were apparently required to present their identification cards and register both their names and intended uses before purchasing anything.
(Just like buying restricted chemicals at a pharmacy back home, huh?)
When buying sulfuric or nitric acid at a pharmacy, one had to write down a clear, specific purpose, such as "for etching" or "for school experiments."
At least, that had been the case when Jin bought nitric acid for silver etching.
"Sulfur, niccolite, cinnabar, asbestos, galena..."
Those were just the minerals Jin could identify at a glance, but countless others lined the shelves.
"...Nothing I particularly want here."
Lingering too long might draw unwanted suspicion, so Jin and the others promptly moved along.
"Elsa-sama, is asbestos poisonous?" Najas asked once they were a short distance away.
"It can't really be called toxic on its own. But if you breathe it in as a fine powder, it ruins your lungs."
Knowing Najas did not yet have sufficient medical knowledge, Elsa kept her explanation simple and accessible, even if slightly imprecise.
"Oh, look at this..."
What caught Jin's eye next was a stall dealing in old, broken magi-devices.
"...A refrigerator, a water heater, a lighter... and a popcorn maker."
"...Or rather, what's left of them."
"Ooh, you've got a sharp eye, mister!" the shop clerk chimed in cheerfully. "These magi-devices are probably from around two hundred years ago!"
Mentally retorting, No, they're from around four hundred years ago, Jin declared, "I'll take the whole lot."
"Thank you very much!"
He had the clerk pack everything into the container they had brought along, paying fifty thousand Toll for the entire haul.
"Wh-What are you going to do with all that?" Najas asked, bewildered.
"Well, there are plans underway to build a magi-craft museum in the Shouro Empire. I figured we could put them on display there."
From what Jin could tell, about eighty percent of the items were genuine antiques.
The remaining twenty percent were replicas, but he bought everything together just to spare himself the hassle of sorting through them.
"Hope, take this container and stow it aboard the Hurricane."
"Understood."
Hope hoisted the wardrobe-sized container onto his shoulder and hurried off, returning barely three minutes later.
"Good work."
Tugging along Najas, whose eyes were wide with shock at Hope's sheer speed, Jin and the others headed for the parts of the market they had yet to explore.
"Oh."
What caught their attention this time was a collection of vintage weaponry.
Given that this was essentially a flea market, finding an abundance of antique items was only natural, but...
"Is this..."
Mixed in among the rusted blades was a single shortsword once used in the Klein Kingdom.
Jin asked for permission and picked it up. When he discreetly cast Analyze...
(...Yep, I made this.)
Jin barely managed to swallow his reaction.
(Back when I visited the Klein Kingdom... Right, I delivered a hundred blades back then. This must be one of them.)
Washed over by a wave of nostalgia, Jin bought the old sword as well.
Though a bit embarrassing, it might not be a bad idea to put it on display in the memorial hall, he thought.
There were other antique blades after that, but none that Jin felt inclined to buy.
Saki and Goose had also vanished from the crowd at some point. Jin assumed they had likely come just for a day trip.
"Shall we head back soon?"
"Mm."
Right then—
"Father, there are some old books over here," Reiko called out to him.
"Books, huh?"
"Ah, these are..."
Looking closely, they turned out to be spellbooks published before the rise of the Magic Federation.
They were in terrible shape, with pages missing here and there.
"Might as well buy these, too."
Jin figured they could be exhibited to illustrate the history of magi-craft, serving as artifacts that symbolized the dark age of decline brought on by the Magic Federation.
In total, there were three such old tomes, costing five hundred Toll altogether.
Leaving all their purchases stowed safely aboard the Hurricane, Jin and the group returned to the Royal Palace empty-handed.
Back in their room, Jin and the others relaxed after a refreshing bath.
"Phew, that was a bit exhausting."
"Mm, but it was fun."
"Still, we got quite a decent haul. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's auction, too."
Outside the window, the evening dusk was slowly settling in.