Episode 26 - The Obsidian Merchant, a Vendor of Destiny
「Ten loaves of bread, a bag of walnuts, and a bottle of almond milk.」
「Sure thing, thank you.」
Sophie smiled vaguely at the tavern owner, who sold her nuts with his usual smile, and then turned away as if to flee.
The owner still doesn't know about her blunder.
She left the store, holding the hem of her hood tightly in her hands to prevent it from slipping off.
Outside, the street was filled with adventurers coming and going.
Sophie turned her head and began to walk quickly, pulling herself to the edge of the street.
(Yesterday, I was fired from my job by the guild leader.)
He said something about violating the rights of a lowly lowest level adventurer.
She knows she did something wrong.
But to be punished for protecting the rights of a lowly adventurer with noble blood in his veins - how can that be unreasonable?
Kian should have quietly followed Sophie's instructions.
He was the kind of guy who would be forced to quit being an adventurer and sent to the Great Ice Wall in the north in a month's time anyway.
(Why are you taking me with you? If you're going to disappear, why don't you just disappear on your own?)
In her heart was a strong feeling of anger.
Yesterday, she was condemned by the guild leader, Friedrich, in front of all the senior adventurers.
Yes, Friedrich, too.
The kind uncle that Sophie had known since she was a little girl.
He was the adventurer that her father had been close to.
And yet he embarrassed Sophie in front of the public!
I can't forgive him.
(Why am I in this mess ......)
She sniffled and hurried down the street.
She can't wait to get back to her lodgings.
She wants to lock herself away before the whole city knows that she has been fired.
「――――!?」
Suddenly, Sophie stopped walking and stared ahead.
The adventurer who had been walking behind her gave her a suspicious look as he passed her, stopping abruptly.
But Sophie was already unaware of this.
(Kian-san ......! No, Kian ......! That poor adventurer ......!)
At the front of the street, in front of the tavern.
That black-haired Azrairian adventurer was talking to someone.
She wondered if it was the same Azrairian he was talking to.
He was wearing a turban on his head.
「......!」
Before he turns his gaze to her, She pulls the hem of her hood to hide her eyes.
She lowered her head as if hugging her body and start walking fast.
(Why am I doing this,..... It's like I'm a thief or something. ......)
「Anyway, why did you go to the main street (this way)?」
「I don't stay in the store all the time either. Today I'm on my way to a certain person's place to collect a debt from a transaction.」
The voices of Kian and the man in the turban approached and left behind her back.
They didn't call out to her.
(Thank God, they didn't notice me.)
She let out a relieved breath.
If Kian were to find out, he might start talking loudly about Sophie's crimes all over the city.
If that had happened, Sophie might have had to flee to her parent's house without waiting for the guild's decision.
She loosened her grip on the hem of her hood.
Sophie looked up from her prone position.
『Sophie Schwarzer』
「Eh ......?」
There.
She suddenly heard a voice whispering in her brain.
「............」
She slowed her steps and took a quick look around.
None of the people passing by on the street were paying any attention to Sophie.
She couldn't find a single person who stopped to stare at her.
『Sophie Schwarzer.』
The voice whispered again.
The voice had a certain musical beauty to it.
It sounded aristocratic, a mixture of nobility and arrogance.
『I'm waiting.』
It's as if it's whispering in her ear.
She opened her eyes and moved her gaze to the right.
For a moment, she thought she saw the mouth of a woman with red lipstick.
『In the Garden Where Roses Bloom』
「――――」
(In the Garden Where Roses Bloom ......)
It was a phrase that was all too familiar to Sophie, who worked as a receptionist at a guild.
A Rose Labyrinth.
It referred to the huge maze of rose gardens outside the city, through the hills far beyond the church.
There is a legend that the Countess, who was feared as a demoness, was imprisoned there a long time ago. ......
(There was also a request that Kian received, a quest to find artifacts over there.)
『I'm waiting.』
She felt as if a strong wind blew.
Her bangs were shaking.
Her hood was flapping.
「Ouch. ......」
She felt something like a rose thorn piercing her eye.
A high-pitched giggle sounded in her ear.
Sophie held her right eye.
「............?」
After a while, the pain stopped.
When she took her hand away, there was no blood on it, and no tears came out of her right eye.
She can see the scenery of the main street without any problem.
(What is it?)
Just as she was getting suspicious, she suddenly felt a sweet scent tickling her nose.
She looked at her chest and saw a single black rose in her pocket.
The sweet scent was coming from there.
「A rose? Why?」
Was it someone's prank?
She doesn't see any shadows around her that look like magicians, but...
(――――?)
After a while, Sophie shook her head loosely.
Anyway, let's get home quickly.
I'm starving because I haven't eaten anything since yesterday morning.
Sophie was about to throw the rose on the spot - and felt her consciousness suddenly darken.
The black rose that had been in her pocket before she knew it was there was nothing more disgusting than that.
Somehow, she felt as if it was something she should not throw away.
「A garden of roses――」
She put the rose in her pocket.
She felt as if someone was whispering to her again.
"Come here――" they said.
× x x x
「Turn stone into iron, lead into gold, obsidian into a rose. Sup, you're my guest from some time ago. What a coincidence to meet you in the middle of the city, isn't it?」
Kian was returning from Arueno's room.
Kian was walking along the main street of the East End, thinking that he couldn't stay depressed all the time and that he should just go to the guild and get the reward that would be used for the future battle fund.
On his way to the guild, he ran into a merchant who sold him a pair of glasses that he hadn't seen in a few days.
He still had the same dark hair, dark eyes, and a turban around his head.
The merchantman was the first to make the same claim that he had made before and walked up to him with a smile on his face as if he was meeting an old friend.
「Ah, ....... Sup, it's been a while.」
Kian also returned the smile and moved his body to the side of the road.
The adventurers on the road passed by, avoiding Kian.
「Is there something you want again? You can find anything in my store. You'll get what you need most at a fair price.」
「Aren't you off duty now?」
Kian chuckled and looked around.
「This is not a street market. You don't have anything to trade, right?」
「Even if you don't have anything, you can still make a deal. For example, rights.」
「Rights? Of what?」
Kian asked, and the merchantman cleared his throat low.
He smiled.
「Whatever 'Rights' you want. For example, the head of the Adventurer's Guild here in the East End, or the love of the fragile princess of the Ezerlands in the citadel far beyond. It's not a right. I think it's more like a status.」
「Hahaha ......」
Kian smiled with wrinkles around his eyes.
「Of course, there is a price to pay.」
「It looks like it's going to be a very expensive purchase.」
「But there's always someone who wants it, that's why I'm a merchant.」
He doesn't know how much further he was going to go with his joke, but he twisted the edges of his mouth and said with pride.
「Is that so?」
「Yeah. By the way, I see you liked the glasses you bought before.」
The merchant's dark eyes caught sight of the glasses in Kian's breast pocket.
「Ah ......, yeah, well. It's a strange pair of glasses, but I think they were worth more than a single iron coin.」
「Why? Are you going to say something like 'the glasses talked' again? That they're talking to you.」
「N-no ....... Hahaha ......」
Kian scratched his head.
The merchant hadn't believed that glasses could talk since he had been given the deal.
He was a strange man, but even if he were to talk at length here about the adventures he had overcome with the talking glasses, it would only make people think he was strange.
「Anyway, what brings you to the main street (this way)?」
「I don't stay in the store all the time either. Today I'm on my way to a certain person's place to collect a debt incurred from a transaction.」
『Hou......』
Amid an ordinary exchange, Glasses suddenly let out a surprise.
Was it so surprising that this merchantman was collecting a debt?
『No, not really. Don't mind me and let's continue your conversation.』
「......?」
The glass's tone of voice seemed to indicate that she was not here at all.
The merchantman was also staring at the hooded woman behind Kian, who was walking away.
「...... What's wrong with that woman?」
「No, nothing. ――Well, I'd better get going. You have business with the guild, don't you?」
「Yes, but how did you know?」
When Kian raised his eyebrows, the merchant smirked.
「Oh, come on, it's already a well-known story that an Azrairian 9th-level adventurer killed a Griffin solo. It's about you, isn't it?」
「Muhh ......」
「Hahahaha! Hurry up and get your reward from the guild, then go eat something delicious. I don't mean the usual poor skewers from the food stalls.」
The man smiled cheerfully, patted Kian on the shoulder, and walked away.
Kian turned and watched the merchant until he couldn't see him anymore as he disappeared into the crowd.
(Hey, you've been traveling with that merchant for a while, haven't you?)
『What about it?』
(What kind of man is he? Who is he?)
『He's nobody. He's just a merchant. That's what he says himself.』
「......, I see.」
Kian frowned, said nothing more, and turned on his heel.
Strange as he is, he will never cross fate with you again.
Instead, you should think about what you're going to do with the silver coins you'll receive today.
(A sword, perhaps, but unless it's of very high quality, it'll be expendable.)
『Don't be stingy. Nothing can replace your own life. A club may be enough to kill a small creature, but it will not be enough to hunt a Griffin or any other large beast. You should at least splurge and buy one of those swords.』
「You're .......right」
In the back, Kian wants to master the art of "Shoot" and become a warrior monk of Azrair, a magician type.
If it is in accordance with his will, the purchase will be a staff.
It's not like swords, they don't wear out and in the end, he can spend less than he would with a sword.
However, "Shoot" takes too long to get results.
He doesn't even know if he'll get results.
There is a risk that he will invest a lot of money and time in "Shoot", only to find out that it is useless.
（It is definitely safer to hone my "Impulse" system and become a swordsman. As for me, I'd rather take the less risky option....... The weapon I'd buy would be a sword.)
Kian nodded once and started walking again down the main street.
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