The night wind carried the aromas of all manner of vendor food along with the sweat-smell of adventurers drifting along the streets.
The street-side Magic Stone lamps lit the flagstone road brightly. Ais walked at the front, her pace swift, her purpose clear.
Before long, a trading house bearing a sign in the shape of a silver balance came into view ahead of them.
Viewed from the outside, this trading house's storefront didn't look especially wide — two heavy oaken doors were shut tight.
Tiona stepped up and pushed the doors open.
The doorbell gave off a crisp, metallic chime.
The interior of the trading house was another world entirely. A broad, polished black marble floor reflected the light, while Magic Stones giving off a soft glow had been set into the walls, illuminating the orderly rows of glass display cases.
Behind the counter, a woman in a tight-fitting black uniform, her hair pinned up without a strand out of place, was lowering her head to leaf through a thick ledger, a quill pen in her hand.
Hearing the doorbell, she lifted her head.
Her gaze passed over the counter and settled on the four figures who had just walked in.
Her sight first met Ais's dazzling golden hair and that utterly expressionless face.
Next, she caught sight of the Amazon twin sisters, dressed in cool, scant attire, their skin a wheat-gold tone.
And finally, bringing up the rear, the red-haired Elf clutching a World Tree staff.
The trading house proprietress's fingers stopped dead, her quill leaving an inky bloom of a stain on the ledger.
She immediately set the quill down on its rest, walked briskly around from behind the broad solid-wood counter, and slipped an impeccable, professional smile onto her face as she came forward.
"Welcome."
"For the esteemed members of Loki Familia's First Army to honor my humble shop with their visit — what an honor it is, to have my humble establishment lit up with such splendor."
The proprietress folded both hands in front of her and dipped slightly in a small bow.
"Do you ladies have any special purchasing requirements this evening? Just yesterday we took in a fresh batch of fine stamina-restoration potions, and..."
Ais didn't wait for her to finish.
She walked straight up to the broad black walnut counter.
Her hand closed around the edge of the heavy bundle slung across her shoulder, and her arm tensed with sudden force.
She flung the bundle down one-handed, and it landed squarely on the counter.
She undid the coarse shock-absorbing wrap.
A massive, pointed horn — over a meter long, its surface covered in spiraling textures and giving off a faint white luminescence — was laid completely bare to the open air.
Owing to its astonishing weight, the sturdy solid-wood counter let out a muffled thud.
The proprietress's string of pleasantries caught in her throat in an instant.
Her line of sight was nailed to that white horn. Her eyes slowly widened, and the professional smile on her face crumbled completely.
Gulp.
The proprietress swallowed once.
She fished out a pair of pure-white cotton gloves from her chest pocket and quickly drew them onto her hands.
Then she produced a monocle magnifier and clipped it onto her right eye socket.
She leaned her face in close to the white horn, almost pressing right up against it.
With her white-gloved fingers, she traced the spiraling patterns slowly upward, feeling the residual ripples of high-purity magical power left on its surface.
"This..."
The proprietress's voice was somewhat unsteady, and even her body gave an excited little shudder along with it.
"This is the white horn of a Unicorn."
"Not only is the size astonishing — the purity of the magical power contained within is also absurdly high. This is absolutely a top-grade item dropped from an individual that's been living in the lower-floor regions for a very long time!"
"It's been a whole solid year since an uncut, complete white horn of this caliber last circulated on the market!"
The proprietress's breathing had grown rapid, her chest heaving violently.
As a seasoned merchant, she knew full well the profit a thing like this could bring in.
Ais looked at the proprietress in her excited state.
"Cash, please."
The proprietress drew in several deep breaths, forcing herself to calm down. She straightened up and reached out to push the monocle on her eye socket back into place.
"Of course, no problem at all."
"Eight million Valis."
The proprietress held up five fingers.
"Sword Princess-sama, the price I'm offering is absolutely a conscientious one. After all, this is raw material — our trading house will subsequently have to bear the processing fees of going to the master apothecaries of the Dian Cecht Familia, as well as the enormous risk of the crafting failing."
"Eight million — that's already above the Guild's official purchasing guideline price."
The proprietress looked at Ais with an utterly earnest expression, satisfied in her own mind that this price was more than enough to move adventurers who, on a typical day, only ever concerned themselves with slaying monsters and never with market values.
However.
An arm with bronzed skin suddenly extended over, slamming down on the counter beside the white horn with a sharp "smack."
The entire black walnut counter shuddered violently along with it.
Tione stepped forward.
She slowly leaned her face close in front of the proprietress.
A stone-set expression on her face.
"Eight million?"
Tione drew the syllables out.
"Are you taking us for clueless rookie adventurers and trying to play us for fools?"
"The quality of this white horn — you just said it yourself. The people at Dian Cecht Familia would dream of getting their hands on material of this caliber."
The proprietress, pressed back by Tione's aura, retreated half a step.
"This... business isn't reckoned that way, Jormungand-sama. We do have to bear various costs of our own as well..."
Tione paid not the slightest mind to her explanation.
"Ten million!"
A pained look flashed across the proprietress's face at once.
"That really won't do!"
At this point, Tiona, who had been standing off to the side watching the whole thing, let out a yawn and reached over to link her arm through Ais's.
"Ais, looks like the proprietress here isn't being very straightforward — she keeps dragging her feet."
"Let's just go check out another trading house instead. It's not as if this is the only place in Orario that buys materials."
"If all else fails, we could just take the white horn straight up to the front door of the Dian Cecht Familia and knock. They'd absolutely be willing to fork over the cash on the spot."
With that, Tiona tugged on Ais and turned to leave.
Ais also turned along with the force of Tiona's pull, while at the same time reaching out, ready to take back the white horn from the counter.
"W-wait!!"
At that sight, the proprietress panicked at once.
If a unicorn horn of this caliber were snapped up by the rival trading house across the street, she would regret it for a full year.
"Nine million! No more than that! I'm already gritting my teeth to give you this much!" the proprietress shouted out loud.
Tiona's feet didn't stop in the slightest; she had even pulled Ais two steps further on.
"Nine and a half million!!" The proprietress's voice climbed shrill enough to crack pitch.
Tiona didn't so much as acknowledge her. Her hand was already on the handle of the trading house's door.
"Nine million, eight hundred thousand Valis!! Deal!!!"
The proprietress slammed both hands down on the counter, eyes squeezed shut, and yelled out, wearing an expression like she was about to vomit blood.
Hearing this figure —
Tiona stopped in her tracks.
She turned her head and threw a thumbs-up toward Tione, who was still standing at the counter.
Tione gave a satisfied little clap of her hands too, and straightened back up.
"See how easy that was? Could've spared us all the wasted time."
The proprietress, helpless, called over the shop staff and handed a check across to Ais.
Ais took the check.
Then —
The proprietress rang the service bell on the counter, summoning over several strong, sturdily built trading-house guards.
She directed them to carefully re-wrap the unicorn's white horn with specialized shock-absorbing cloth, sealing it tightly all over, and to carry it down toward the underground vault.
Once the guards had departed.
Ais stowed the check into the pocket at her waist, but didn't turn to leave.
She stood in front of the counter, looking at the proprietress.
"Excuse me."
Ais spoke up.
The proprietress, hearing her voice, immediately turned around, a smile snapping back onto her face.
"Is there anything else Sword Princess-sama requires? Would you like to purchase some supplies? We have the latest batch of..."
"Do you sell anything here that could be given as a gift?"
"A gift?"
The proprietress blinked, taken aback for a moment.
The recipient of any gift for which the Sword Princess would carry the nearly-ten-million windfall she had just received in hand to come and pick out — was absolutely not your ordinary sort of person.
"Yes! Of course we do, Sword Princess-sama!"
The proprietress stepped straight out from behind the counter and made a gesture of invitation with her hand.
"The pieces displayed here on the first floor are merely some upper-grade goods suited to ordinary adventurers. The truly fine items are all kept in the VIP display room on the second floor."
"What sort of person are you looking to give a gift to? An elder? A friend? Or..."
"To a deity."
"A... male deity."
"He did me a very great favor. I'd like to express my thanks."
Ais spoke as though deep in thought.
"A male deity?"
At those words, the proprietress's feet faltered, her high-heeled shoes letting out a brief scuffing sound against the wooden floor.
She turned her head and shot Ais a single glance.
The Sword Princess of Loki Familia wants to give a gift to a male deity?
Given the personality of Lord Loki — if she were to find out about this, would she really not get jealous?
However.
Sound professionalism made her swallow all such questions back down.
So long as the deal could be closed and the Valis earned, when it came to the customer's private affairs, she would do better to keep her mouth shut.
"Ah, picking out a gift for a Kami-sama, is it? In that case, ordinary fare really won't do."
As the proprietress spoke, the smile on her face grew all the more brilliant, and she quickened her pace, leading the four of them up the spiraling red-mahogany staircase.
They reached the second floor.
The VIP display room.
The atmosphere here was completely different from the first floor.
The lighting had become very soft, and underfoot was a thick, hand-woven red carpet, on which one's footsteps made absolutely no sound at all.
Set into the walls all around were rows of individual, transparent crystal display cases.
Each display case had its own dedicated illumination Magic Stone, and within them were arranged all manner of items, each giving off some strange, peculiar luster.
"Please, take a look here."
The proprietress walked up to a display case at the center of the room and pointed at a deep-blue gemstone arranged within.
"This is the Mermaid's Tears — a rare treasure discovered at the deepest part of Lake Lolog."
"Worn over a long period, it can have a calming, focusing effect, nourishing the spirit. Not only is it of great use to mages, even to a Kami-sama, it is a rare object well worth handling and admiring."
Ais drew closer to the display case.
Her gaze rested on the blue aura the gemstone gave off.
After looking for a while.
Ais shook her head.
A deity oughtn't need some external object to help him calm and focus his spirit.
And so this gemstone wasn't suitable.
Seeing this, the proprietress was not the slightest bit discouraged, and led them over to another large display case on the left side.
"Then how about you take a look at this one — a cape, hand-woven by a master tailor over the course of three months from the fur of deep-floor monsters."
The proprietress pressed a button beside the display case, and the display platform slowly rotated.
Ais shook her head again.
The proprietress still didn't give up. One after another, she pulled open several concealed display cases, showing off several of the establishment's signature treasures.
A magnificent chessboard whose pieces, forged of Adamant, had every single one of them carved out of high-purity Magic Stones in a variety of colors.
An ancient woodwind instrument said to have been handed down from the Elven Royal Court — its tone, after the passage of a century, still pure as ever.
There was even a censer made of pure gold, holding within it a supreme-grade ambergris said to soothe the soul.
Ais gave each of these items a single look, and each time simply shook her head in refusal.
Just what on earth should she give?
Ais's golden brows knit slightly together, and she sank into deep thought.
Tione and Tiona, off to the side, threw out suggestions along with her.
"How about giving him a few famous blades? Aren't there a lot of girls in that deity's Familia who use swords?"
"You can't go wrong with weapons," Tiona proposed.
Tione vetoed the proposal outright.
"Are you stupid? That deity can forge top-tier weapons all by himself. Is he going to even spare a glance for the scrap metal you'd buy from the outside?"
Just as Ais was deep in agonized deliberation in front of an entire room full of rare and exotic treasures —
Off in a remote corner of the VIP display room.
Lefiya was draped, in her entirety, over a relatively small crystal display case.
This display case held a number of finely crafted accessories of smaller size.
Compared to the signature treasures of the central area — which routinely went for upwards of a million Valis — the price tags here were a touch more friendly.
But even so.
Lefiya was looking at an exquisitely crafted wind-attribute Magic Stone hair ornament.
The base was forged of pure silver, set with three small emerald-green wind-attribute Magic Stones. If worn in Miss Ais's golden hair, it would absolutely look beautiful.
The price tag read: Five hundred thousand Valis.
Lefiya turned her head once more to the slot beside it.
There sat a bottle of premium-grade sword oil in a crystal flask.
She thought of Kikakujou Mary, of the newly-met Haimer Familia.
At the last group dinner, while they had been chatting, Kikakujou Mary had mentioned that her weapon was a rapier.
Lefiya had wanted, for quite some time now, to give a gift to this newly-made friend.
But the price tag on that bottle of sword oil up there read: One hundred thousand Valis.
Lefiya swallowed once.
Her hand reached for the small coin purse hanging at her waist.
She unfastened the purse, undid the knotted cord, and carefully tipped the contents out into her palm.
A few silver Valis coins, and seven or eight even smaller copper pieces.
Lefiya turned the coins over in her palm and counted them three times.
This was all the pocket money she had left for the month.
The few coins she had in her hand couldn't have bought so much as a corner of that hair ornament.
"So expensive..."
Lefiya let out a sigh.
"A penniless mage has no business at all giving people gifts..."
Lefiya stuffed the coins back into the cloth purse and tied the mouth tightly shut.
Her entire person was now giving off a thick, gloomy aura. She crouched right down beside the corner display case, extending a single finger to trace little circles on the red carpet.
Tiona, who happened to be wandering about the room, ambled over, slipped an arm around Lefiya's neck, and hoisted her up off the floor.
"What are you doing, Lefiya? Growing mushrooms hiding away in the corner?"
Lefiya hurriedly straightened up, panicking as she hid the coin purse behind her back.
"N-nothing... I was just looking."
Tiona glanced once at the hair ornament and the sword oil in the display case, then once at the deflated little coin purse Lefiya was clutching for dear life behind her back, and instantly understood what was up.
With a hearty, easygoing pat, she clapped Lefiya on the back, the impacts giving off audible smacks.
"If there's something you want to buy, just come right out and say it. Ais just made a huge haul selling off that white horn — just go over and tell her, ask her to lend you some for the time being, and that'll be that."
"No, no, absolutely not!"
Lefiya shook her head over and over, her two hands waving forcefully in front of her chest, her face flushing crimson — even her slender neck took on a flush of pink.
"How could anyone buy a gift for someone else with borrowed money?! There'd be no heart in it at all!"
"And besides — Miss Ais is also troubled over her own gift right now. How could I possibly go disturb her at a time like this?"
Lefiya turned her head, looking toward the center of the display room.
Ais was still standing in front of that magnificent chessboard, her brows tightly knit, as though waging an extremely fierce internal struggle.
____
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🔥 New history: Jujutsu x Mieruko: Oh no, am I a villain too?
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