CH 136

Chapter 136 – Majolica – Part eight

It’s been three days since we returned from the dungeon.

What happened on the fifth floor has become a hot topic of conversation in the guild, and it’s spreading like a quiet ripple. People say the management system in the guild is too lax, and the adventurers who found the monster in the first place are under deliberation. People also talk about the adventurers who lost their lives during this incident, and the ones who defeated the shadow wolf. All sorts of rumors are swirling around.

And me? I’m in bed because I caught a cold.

Mia comes here all the time, and she gets upset if I try to sneak out and work on stuff.

She got me to lay down and stay quiet by telling me she’ll stay here all the time if I don’t. I’m just so bored, and there’s so much I want to do, that it just makes me want to get up and get to work.

“I think I’m fine. I’m not coughing anymore, so I’m sure I can get back to my normal life tomorrow.”

Checking if a person’s forehead is warm seems so primitive. It’s not accurate at all, and having her face so close to mine isn’t helping my temperature go down either.

Mia is genuinely concerned about my health, so she’s not embarrassed at all about being so close we could kiss. Am I the one who’s too self-conscious? No, I think it’s just that I’m too used to being around girls.

Apparently this world has doctors too, but only a handful. That’s why people buy medicine in the chemist guild. And of course, different medicine for different symptoms.

They say good medicine tastes bitter, which means the one I’m taking must be really good. And there are no capsules or anything here, it’s all powdered medicine.

The way it violently expands in my mouth feels like torture, but I think it works great. I don’t have a fever anymore.

“You’re too concerned, Sora.”

Says Mia while carefully cutting something that looks like an apple. The way she does it still doesn’t look very safe.

“It’s sad that we couldn’t save them, but you shouldn’t think it’s your fault.”

I’m not that concerned with that, but I ask Mia why she thinks I am.

“That’s just what it feels like to me. You say you don’t care that much, but that’s not how it feels to me. It’s because you’re nice, Sora.”

I’m not nice to everyone. I have the blessing that is my skills, but I’m not all powerful, and I don’t delude myself into thinking I can save everyone. That would just be arrogant.

If I gave it my all and fought without thinking of the consequences, maybe I could save more people, but it could also sacrifice others.

That’s why my biggest concern is protecting myself, and I put my partners over random strangers. I don’t think that’s going to change no matter how strong I get. I’m just human, not a hero or anything.

“It feels to me like you don’t really know yourself.”

I look at Mia’s face in profile, and it feels a bit sad.

The next morning I feel like I’m fully recovered, so I decide to go for a little walk around town, as a rehabilitation of sorts. But it’s not like we wander around aimlessly, we go to item shops to check the prices, and check out equipment.

I heard that the prices of potions tend to change a lot when big events or incidents happen, so I want to see what they’re like, and I also want to see if I can find good bargains in equipment shops.

I’m not looking for magic weapons or anything like that, but I want to see if I can find better quality ones.

After going around a few item shops, I see that the prices of potions haven’t crashed. We look around to see what else they have, and find holy water. This serves to repel undead and to pour on weapons to give them the holy attribute temporarily.

Would it have been easier to defeat the shadow wolf if we had this? Then again, only two stores have it, so maybe it’s rare. I buy a few and stock up on monster repellent too.

We also go to several different places to check out their weapons, and I use Appraisal everywhere. It seems it’s common to use tamahagane or damascus steel here. Their quality depends on who made them, and so does the price.

I also see a silver coated sword here and there. Apparently these are made specifically to be used against undead.

I can find all sorts of weapons specialized to fight specific kinds of monsters if I look for them. I also look for something closer to magic swords, but I don’t find any.

These specialized weapons are expensive and lack in versatility, but they seem useful.

“Old man, aren’t there any mithril swords or anything like that?”

“Are you going out hunting for big game lad? You know real power is…”

The man starts complaining in response, but stops when he sees Sera.

“Is it for that young lady?”

“For now at least, I just want to know how much they cost. I saw someone I know using one.”

“Mithril weapons go from fifty to two hundred gold coins. There are ones that are cheaper because they only have a mithril coating, but I don’t recommend those. They’re not very durable, and they’re very hard for an amateur to maintain.”

“…That’s expensive.”

“They’re the weapons high ranking adventurers use. Even just carrying one shows someone is strong.”

Leila said they made money in the dungeon, but much time do they spend there? Or is it that the further down you go the more profitable the monsters get?

“I don’t see them in stores, so are they usually made to order?”

“Yes. Sometimes people have them displayed in stores, but that’s rare. There’s also people who bring mithril to be made into a weapon. If you bring me mithril, I can get in touch with a blacksmith that will make what you want.”

So apparently you can get it in dungeons too. In treasure chests? Now that I think about it, the shadow wolf didn’t drop a treasure chest or anything. Aren’t bosses supposed to drop them?

I buy some ore and weapons to experiment, and we head home.