Chapter 1-46 : The Girl And The Dark Elf Are Buying Supplies In The City (part 2)
From the fruit stall, Elle and Ingrid walked around the area to buy other food supplies such as dried meat, dried fish, dried noodles, pickled oyster, chunks of bacon, biscuits, and bread.
Since they would be on a long trip, most of the food they bought was preserved food that would last a long time. Moreover, Elle still had plenty of food she brought from the forest, so they wouldn’t run out of food so quickly.
「Ingrid, it’s hard carrying all those bags, isn’t it? You can put them in my magic bag.」(Elle)
Seeing Ingrid carrying the groceries, Elle opened her magic bag and held it out. Ingrid then carefully put the groceries in it one by one.
「Thank you. Your magic bag really is incredible. How much can it hold?」(Ingrid)
「I don’t know, but since my master made it, I think it can still hold a lot more.」(Elle)
「I see. Your master must really be a sage. I wish I could meet him and learn from him as a magic item engineer.」(Ingrid)
「Yeah…」(Elle)
Imagining herself studying together with Ingrid under the guidance of Moritz, Elle smiled. “How nice would it be”, she thought.
Noticing Elle smiling, Ingrid put her hand on Elle’s head. She seemed to know what Elle was thinking.
「Now that we’ve secured our food, let’s go buy some equipment next.」(Ingrid)
「Alright.」(Elle)
They left the food area in the shopping district and went to the area full of adventure shops.
Since this area was a popular destination for adventurers, Elle could see a lot of adventurers with various armor and weapons around the street. There were warriors in steel armor with swords, magicians in cloaks holding their magic staffs, archers with bows and quivers on their backs, and many more.
Elle kind of stood out because there was no child of her age walking around the street.
「There was a shop I used to visit often when I was an adventurer. This way.」(Ingrid)
After walking the main street for a while, Ingrid turned left and entered a back alley.
The path was a bit dark because the sunlight was blocked by the surrounding buildings, and there were not many people around. Just the place where Elle wanted to be since she didn’t want to stand out.
Ingrid seemed to be familiar with the place. Even though she hadn’t visited it in a very long time, she still remembered the location of the shop very well.
「This is the shop. Let’s enter.」(Ingrid)
Ingrid stopped in front of an earthen building with a dome-shaped roof, which seemed to be an adventurer shop, and entered.
While thinking how weird the roof was, Elle followed Ingrid entering the shop.
The inside of the shop was surprisingly spacious despite the small exterior. The room temperature was a bit chilly, but unlike the dark alley outside, the interior was bright thanks to the magic lamps hanging from the dome-like ceiling.
Looking around the inside, Elle saw a wide variety of protective gear, such as heavy plate armor, leather armor, magician cloaks, and shields of various shapes. She could see various types of weapons displayed further back in the shop.
「Welcome. How can I help you?」(shop owner)
As Elle and Ingrid looked around, a gray-haired old woman, who seemed to be the shop owner, came out through the back door.
「I’m looking for some equipment for this girl.」(Ingrid)
「Hmm…」(shop owner)
The old woman bent her body forward and observed Elle closely.
「She’s short and doesn’t have much muscle. Plate armor will be too heavy for her. She can either wear leather armor or cloth armor.」(shop owner)
「I see. Do you have leather armor for her?」(Ingrid)
「Please wait a moment.」(shop owner)
After measuring Elle’s size roughly by observing her, the woman went to the leather armor section and returned with a small armor. She then helped Elle put it over her dress just to see if it fit her small body.
「It fits her, but… Little Missy, how does it feel?」(shop owner)
「Umm… I think it’s a bit too heavy for me…」(Elle)
Elle’s awkward expression showed that she felt uncomfortable in that armor.
「Hmm… This is the smallest leather armor I have, you know?」(shop owner)
「Seriously? Elle, I think you should train your body a bit.」(Ingrid)
「Ahaha… Yoyo told me the same thing…」(Elle)
「If it’s too heavy, then cloth armor is her only choice.」(shop owner)
「Cloth armor, huh? That’s too bad.」(Ingrid)
Ingrid didn’t seem to like cloth armor very much.
「What’s wrong with cloth armor?」(Elle)
「Honestly, I don’t recommend cloth armor since it’s not that sturdy. It’s almost the same as regular clothes, you know?」(Ingrid)
「I see… But I don’t have other choice, do I?」(Elle)
「Indeed, cloth armor is not very sturdy, but my cloth armor is better than the one sold in other shops. Besides…」(shop owner)
Suddenly, the old woman looked at Elle and squinted.
「Little Missy, you can use magic, right?」(shop owner)
「Eh? How do you know?」(Elle)
「Long ago, people believed that those with silver hair were talented magicians. That belief started to be forgotten and no one believes it anymore nowadays, but the moment I saw you, I had a feeling you were a talented witch.」(shop owner)
「I see. I’m not sure about ‘talented’, but as you’ve guessed, I can use magic.」(Elle)
「Then, I recommend you wear a cloak instead. I think I have a cloak you may like.」(shop owner)
「Alright. I’d like to try it.」(Elle)
Elle took off the too-heavy leather armor and handed it to the old woman. The woman then put it back on the shelf and went to the magician’s cloaks section.
While waiting for her, Elle looked at the shields that were displayed on the nearby shelf.
「Elle, do you want to use a shield?」(Ingrid)
「I’m not sure. I’ve never used a shield before.」(Elle)
As she answered Ingrid’s question, Elle took the smallest shield on the shelf and tried lifting it.
「Hhhnnghh…!」(Elle)
She managed to lift it with one arm, but she struggled a lot.
Seeing her cute behavior, Ingrid couldn’t help but giggle.
「Fufu. Elle, you really have to train your muscles.」(Ingrid)
「Ugh… I used to mine magic ores using a hammer every day, you know? But, my muscle mass remains the same for some reason.」(Elle)
「Well, mining a magic ore is totally different from properly training your muscles after all. You need to be really careful when you use a hammer to extract a magic ore from a rock, right? You can’t improve your muscle mass with such delicate movements.」(Ingrid)
「Ah… I guess you’re right.」(Elle)
Elle put back the shield on the shelf as she replied to Ingrid. She realized she really needed to start working out.
Soon after, the old woman returned with a white cloak in her hands.
「Little Missy, how about this cloak? It’s a golden heron cloak.」(shop owner)
It was a beautiful white magician’s cloak with golden embroidery. Its size was small, perfect for a small girl like Elle.
「Waahh~ It’s so pretty!」(Elle)
Elle seemed to like the design a lot. She put it on and looked at herself in the mirror.
「It’s cloth armor, but this cloak has been enhanced with a spell that increases the wearer’s defensive capabilities based on their magical power.」(shop owner)
「Hoo~」(Ingrid)
Ingrid touched the cloak Elle was wearing and observed it closely with interest.
「I see… How fascinating… This way, I don’t have to worry about Elle’s defense… Elle, what do you think? You like it?」(Ingrid)
「Un! I like it! Obaa-chan, how much is it?」(Elle)
「Five gold coins.」(shop owner)
「What!? That’s so expensive!」(Elle)
「It’s expensive because it’s an order-made premium cloak. It was originally made as a birthday gift for a young lady of a noble family, but all of a sudden, a terrible tragedy befell that family, and they were forced to cancel their order because of that.」(shop owner)
「So, it was meant for a young lady? That’s why the size fits me well. But… Five gold coins is too expensive for me. I’m sorry, Obaa-chan, but do you have a much cheaper one?」(Elle)
Elle really liked the cloak, but she thought that spending five gold coins on a single cloak was too much. The average price of a magician’s cloak was around fifty silver coins to one gold coin.
This cloak was five times more expensive than a regular magician’s cloak. She had no choice but to give up.
However, when she was about to take it off, the old lady stopped her.
「Hold on. If you don’t have the money, you can barter it with valuable items you have.」(shop owner)
「Eh? Really?」(Elle)
「I normally don’t accept this kind of payment, but that cloak suits you well. It would be a shame if you don’t buy it.」(shop owner)
Normally, Elle didn’t care about fashion, but after seeing herself wearing the cloak in the mirror, she agreed with the woman. It suited her very well. She liked the cloak so much that she didn’t want to take it off.
「Valuable items I have, huh…? Let’s see…」(Elle)
Thinking of paying for the cloak with a valuable item, Elle opened her magic bag and started rummaging in it.
She had a lot of magic stones, but the old lady was an armor and weapon seller, so she thought of giving her something that could be used as a crafting material.
「How about this antler?」(Elle)
Elle pulled out an antler of a deer. However, unlike a normal antler, this one was smooth and was as white as snow.
Seeing the antler, the old lady was surprised.
「Oh, my…! Isn’t it a hallowed deer’s antler!?」(shop keeper)
It actually was one of many crafting materials Moritz had thrown away because they were not that valuable, at least to him, the greatest sage in the kingdom. For most people, they were as valuable as gold.
After Moritz threw them away, Elle collected them, thinking that they might be useful someday.
「Obaa-chan, you knew what this is?」(Elle)
「Of course! It’s a valuable material to make a holy staff, a high-quality weapon used by priests. Would you mind telling me where you found it?」(shop keeper)
「I got it from my master, but hallowed deer could be found in the forest I used to live in.」(Elle)
「Where is it?」(shop keeper)
「It’s on a small island a few days away from the port town, but… The forest was burned down…」(Elle)
Elle looked down as she said that, remembering the night when the villagers who had gone mad burned Moritz’s house along with the surrounding forest.
「Burned down…? That’s unfortunate…」(shop keeper)
「Yeah… Anyway, umm, how much is this antler worth?」(Elle)
「Since it’s in good condition, I think it’s worth around 20 gold coins.」(shop keeper)
「Twenty!?」(Elle)
Elle was stunned. She didn’t expect that the ‘trash’ Moritz had thrown away would be worth that much money. She remembered Moritz even used those antlers as firewood to heat his bathwater.
If Yoyo heard it, he would have cursed Moritz so hard for wasting so much money.
Without thinking twice, Elle decided to sell the hallowed deer’s antler and buy the golden heron cloak.
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