Takaya, accompanying the three adventurers Meirir, Dike, and Roar, returned to the city he had left yesterday, Aria (or so he was told by Meirir).
It seems the city where the three of them are based is about three days away from here on a horse-drawn carriage with regular rides. By the way, itâs the exact opposite direction from where Akito and the other former classmates are aiming for.
âHey Takaya, whatâs the matter? Youâve been down since a while ago ⊠are you still feeling sick?â (Meirir)
âNo, thatâs not the case, but âŠâ
The place where the four people are waiting for a regular ride is a relatively busy place in the city of Aria. There are stalls, stores, and small shops that sell weapons and armor, and many people visit the street depending on the time of day.
Meanwhile, Takaya was hiding in the shadows of the three and looking around while looking suspicious.
The reason is, yes, the exchange at the brothel yesterday evening.
Takaya was worried about seeing those women again.
âWhatâs wrong, you keep looking at the back alleys ⊠ohâ
Dike, who noticed the intention of Takayaâs mysterious action, quietly whispered so that Meirir wouldnât notice.
âDonât take care of it in the shops around here. They canât speak the common language, so you canât convey subtle orders, and the hygiene in the store is bad.â
âYou sound like youâve experienced it.â
âOf course. There are stores like this all over the world, you know.ăAs an adventurer, it is only natural that you should always aim for the top. By the way, these shopkeepers only have very erotic bodies. âŠâŠâ
The carriage arrived at the boarding platform at just the right time as Takaya slipped into a daze, wondering what âtopâ meant.
If we talked any further, Meirirâs contemptuous gaze would keep worsening at mach speed.
âFour people to board up to Bay Road. The fare is âŠâ
âOh, Roar-san, please wait a moment.â
As Roar was fumbling with his wallet to pay the driver, Takaya hurriedly broke in.
In this trip, Takaya is being treated as a customer, but it felt strange to leave everything to them. He still had a lot of money left for the trip, including uncashed magic stones, so he thought he could do this much.
âYou donât have to worry about that. Even if we board the carriage, it doesnât cost much cause itâs a shared carriage, and above all, we just have to charge our employer later.â
âYeah but itâs still bad, isnât it?â
As they were arguing about whether to pay or not, a magic stone suddenly rolled down from Takayaâs bag of coins.
It was the clearest one and radiated a red light, Roarâs line of sight was nailed to that one point.
âHey Takaya â this is âŠâ
âAh, yes. Itâs a magic stone that I removed from the heart of a demon beast I handled a while ago.
âTakaya !!â
Roar, who suddenly changed his tone, grabbed Takayaâs shoulder.
Perhaps he was too excited, the power put in his hand was so strong that Takaya groaned unintentionally.
â! Iâm sorry. I got too excited.â
âNo ⊠but whatâs the matter? Itâs certainly expensive, but itâs not so rare ⊠I was able to collect it quite often while I dismantled.â
âQuite often!??â
Roarâs eyes are opened further in astonishment.
From their reactions, it seemed that the magic stones he had been casually collecting, and Takaya who had been collecting them as a matter of course, were quite valuable to the locals.