Chapter 11 Shichifukuya

You two, thanks for the tour. It was a great help.

Not like we had a choice but sure.

It was a great help nonetheless. For a while Ill be staying in this city so we might run into each other again. Dont forget to say hi in that case!

I gave my heartfelt genuine thanks for their help, only for the two to look at me with a truly disgusted look.

The red haired girl kept mostly silent throughout our little trip but still seemed hateful of me, especially considering she was the one who tried mugging me in the first place.

Then, well take our leave here.

Wait. You havent introduced me to the most important place of them all.

.We told you the name. Cant you go there by yourself.

And how would I know which among these sign-less tents is that place? Not to mention, the owner is acquaintance you said, didnt you? Id like a proper referral in that case. Dont want them to have their guard up or be suspicious of me after all.

Tch, finethis is the last one okay?

Of course.

As they reluctantly began walking again, we made our way to the shop.

Finally, a place where I can sell these stolen items. Im kinda interested in seeing what kind of person runs a shop like that.

Inside a small alley with the back streets themselves, the two stopped in front of a little rundown hut. Apparently this was the place.

On entering, the inside was dim and there was no other presence could be felt.

But this was certainly the place. I could see various items cramped on a small shelf on display to be sold.

Bags, watches, books.

Weapons, shields, magic items; there was no consistency to it all.

As I looked over the displayed items, I heard a noise come from somewhere inside.

Turning towards that, I saw an old man with a stick slowly making his way towards me. I presume hes the owner.

Ooh, If it isnt Ralf and Estaand a new face. How can I help you today?

.he is someone we met today. Apparently has things he wants to sell. Can you take care of it?

Met today?I dont mind but these items, do they happen to be dangerous by any chance?

Both looked towards me questioningly.

Dangerous, eh?

Well it could qualify as dangerous considering where I stole these from but the items themselves are far from it.

While I considered how to answer, the boy decided to just talk anyway.

Its stolen items. An accessory. Stolen from his folks so probably not dangerous I think.

I see. Stolen items, in that case, Ill take 20% as fees but I will buy them no problem. Now then, can you show the thing?

On the old mans prompting, I took the accessory and pocket watch out of the bag and put it on the counter.

Even while I was in Peixa forest, I made sure that this alone didnt get scratched or even dirty so it should be fine but I was still a bit nervous.

Hoho, now thats a good quality item. Ill do a quick appraisal, in meantime please look around the shop while waiting.

The old pulled out a small hand lens and focused on appraising the items.

Watching him with a side eye, I continued exploring the little store.

Lots of items to choose from but the things that had my attention was obviously.weapons.

I tried looking for a easy to handle sword but even at the cheapest, it cost 5 silver. Far above my current budget.

For a pawnshop, or maybe because it was a pawnshop, there wasnt exactly a good range of cheap weapons available for showing.

But since they were all high quality, even someone who didnt knew much about weapons outside of swords could tell at a glance that they were quality, and it was fun to just look and admire them.

.

After getting bored of just looking at the weapons for some time, I switched my attention towards books.

Same as swordsmanship, I had been taught reading and writing from a small age and thus could more or less understand most of the written works. As a child, I used to love reading the books of Heroic tales over and over again.

As I searched for something interesting, a single book caught my eye.

[The Wandering tales of Otto the Botanist]

Never heard of the guy ever and the reading about a botanist just sounded dull from the start.

Yet, my eyes were stuck to it for some reason.

Ill buy it if its cheap.

Thinking that, I checked its price.almost as expensive as the weapons at 3 silver coins.

Now I know that some old books that arent in publication or circulation now can be very costly, but still this was crazy expensive.

I thought of buying it if it was cheap, but seeing it be this expensive on the other made me curious as to what the hell were the contents of this book.

You, can you read?

Hearing the sudden voice from behind, I jumped a bit.

Turning back, it was the red haired girl who spoke to me.

Having lost myself to thoughts, I didnt notice her get behind me at all.

I made a point to myself to reflect on letting my guard down so much, and then replied to the girl.

Yeah. I learnt when I was young. You cant?

Un..um.not at all.

She seemed like she wanted to say something more but seemed to give up internally and then walked away.

It made me ait curious as to what she wanted to ask but I had no reason to continue asking, and I returned my focus back to the book at hand.

The book was cleanly sealed and it was impossible to take even a peek at its contents. It seemed to be an autobiography of this botanist Otto from what I could tell.

My curiosity was peaked, but it was not something within my reach. Though I should ask about it from the shopkeeper if I have time.

Around the same time I had finally given up on it, the shopkeeper had also seemed to have finished his appraisal and called for me.