Tsuyokute New Saga (LN)

The Kingdom of Zilgus is located in the center of the content, governing a fairly large area. Although they were facing the demon territory, they possessed productive granary areas, with a warm climate. Under the stable rule of the current king Remonas, the country had been progressing, albeit slowly. Although it wasn’t the most developed or prosperous country on the continent, in terms of national power, it could play along in the big league.

Its capital Malad was surrounded by two layers of castle walls, with the major city inside. It’s population is said to be about 200.000 inhabitants. The chalk-colored palace in the center of such could be seen from every angle inside the walls.

“Hoho, quite the amount of people I see. It appears as if people in this time are living in wealth quite as we did.” Walking down the main street, with mainly stalls at her side, Shildonia raised a voice of admiration.

Kyle and the others had just arrived in Malad, and yet they were immediately surrounded with people, just as Shildonia pointed out.

“Um, I heard that up to a million people lived in Zaales, right?” Lieze commented. “Is this scenery so rare to witness for you?”

“Indeed, you’re right. However, that is mere knowledge engraved in me, not based on my experience. Leaving aside my main body, I myself have never experienced walking down a street filled with so many people.”

“Ah, that’s why…”

Even during their travels to reach Malad, Shildonia was constantly asking questions about all the things and people she saw. Despite holding so much knowledge inside of her, with no experience to supply that, it couldn’t be more unbalanced.

“Oh, this smell is quite alluring.” Shildonia walked towards a stall, guided by the scent.

Showing a bitter smile, Lieze tagged along.

“She’s like a young lady who grew up in a rural area.” Seran shook his head in disbelief, but he and Lieze weren’t too different.

This was the first time they came to Malad like this, after growing up in Rimarze their entire lives. They were all looking around in a daze, basically screaming of them being country pumpkins.

“Hmm, it might not be able to rival Lieze’s cooking, but this is not half bad either. Now then, onwards to the next stall…” Shildonia returned, munching on her grilled meat on a skewer.

Under the idea of supplying herself with mana, this girl sure could eat a lot.

“Leave the food testing for later, we need to shop for the things we really need.”

“Shop…a weapon, and some defensive tools, correct?”

“Yeah, with my current equipment, fighting properly is impossible. I want to get as best of the equipment as I can right now.”

Besides his sword Shildonia, Kyle was equipped with mere traveller clothes, offering no defence at all.

“Of course, there’s a limit on how strong we get with equipment alone, but with our current one, it’s better for sure.” Kyle added. “It’ll prevent us from dying that easily as well.”

In this past year, Kyle had watched many of his loved ones die—that’s why he wanted to take every measure to protect them, and himself.

“If I can save lives with just money, then no price is too high.”

Talking about weaponry and equipment stores, there existed several in this large city. At the same time, these stores are categorized according to the level of equipment they sell, with stores offering for beginners, intermediate adventurers, and veterans. The shop Kyle and the others were heading for was the most elite one out of all of these, which offered equipment for the skilled adventurers that could earn 10.000 Gadol in a single job, or the rich elite.

This establishment stood at the end of a stone-paved path, with no billboard at the front, as it didn’t need one. This store wasn’t located at the side of the street, needing to attract customers. People came here because they had planned to, and only a selected few could come inside.

Next to the entrance was a small station, with several security guards wearing heavy and ominous-looking armor. In the midst of these stood a fairly young man, wearing what looked like the uniform of the store, and he called out to Kyle and the others.

“Can I help you?”

“I’d like to buy some equipment.”

“Then, do you have a recommendation from someone?”

“No.”

“Then, are you aware of our store’s code?”

“Right…I think new customers without a recommendation can pay a one-time offer, was it?” Kyle remembered the last time he came here.

“That is correct. I am terribly sorry, but first-time customers can pay a price of 10.000 Gadol to enter. Of course, we will register your names for your next visit.” The employee said, as he deeply lowered his head.

Leaving aside the few nobles who merely saw collecting armor as a hobby, most customers seemed to be veteran adventurers or town guards. They must be trying to secure everything that no robbery could happen.

For this sake, they have this recommendation system, but declining other customers would be bad for their business, which is why they came up with this ‘buy yourself in’ option. If you couldn’t pay that amount, then there was nothing you could afford inside the store anyway.

“Is five Zaales gold coins enough?”

Kyle handed the employee gold coins from the Ancient Magic Kingdom era, which he called Zaales gold coins for short. These gold coins had a detailed design engraved into it, with simple preservation magic cast on it. As a result of that, several of these had survived the thousand years, and were scattered across the continent. When it came to high-grade objects and equipment, you could still pay with these as well.

Zaales gold coins are worth about two times as much as a 1.000 Gadol gold coin. On a side note, although they went out of production, there was a gem currency once, which was something like a gemstone, and had the worth of about 10.000 Gadol. This was only used when talking about investments or ritualistic instances, so you barely saw any of those.

The employee accepted the coins he received, and once again lowered his head.

“I have received the payment. Then, I will guide you inside.”

The large and heavy door in front of them opened, and after walking down the narrow halfway, another door appeared. It was a two-door system to guarantee even more safety. After Kyle and the others made it through those doors, a wide floor opened up in front of them. There were no windows, but thanks to the magic items around, imbued with [Light], it was filled with a comfortable light and warmth.

There were a lot of exhibition shelves and armor stands to show off armor and swords. Possibly because of the time they had arrived at, there were no other customers around. Then again, it probably wasn’t a store that had busy hours.

“I humbly welcome you. I am the owner of this store, Fesbar. I look forward to doing business with you.” A bulky, slightly overweight man looking like he was in his fifties came to greet Kyle and the others.

For new customers, the store owner himself, or the employees would offer assistance. Of course, this wasn’t just out of pure politeness. It was a method to confirm how much wealth the customer possessed, and if it even was worth showing him around. As a matter of fact, the store owner even now closely inspected Kyle and the others.

“How may I be of service today?”

“I’d like to have a look at your magic weapons and armor.”

“Understood. I will prepare a few objects, so let me guide you inside.”

Kyle spoke in very general terms, but there is a wide variety of magic equipment. Simply raised sharpness or shifted weight, up to added attributes such as fire or ice, even sanctity or darkness on weapons, or armor that adds resistance towards that very attribute…There exist many different types, but a variety of these are not being created in today’s age.

Weapons or armor imbued with magic take a much longer time to create, as well as attention to detail and cost overall, so the price can shoot through the roof depending on it. Most of the objects at sale nowadays are objects that had been created during the era of the Ancient Magic Kingdom.

“Oho, they have quite the arrangement from Zaales here…Ah, isn’t that Meranis’ work.” Shildonia said, standing in front of a certain armor, which was created back in the Ancient Magic Kingdom.

“I’m surprised you know. This armor has been created by the rising star of the magic item industry, Archmage Meranis…”

“No, he wasn’t that big of a fish, you know? He did prove his worth with several creations, but he eventually succumbed to the illusion of his talent. When I went to nitpick at all the problems of one, he eventually broke out in tears. Though, it seems like he reflected on that after…”

“Huh?”

“Don’t worry about her, she…has a few fantasies, see.” Kyle said to the store owner, feeling guilty towards the person in question for using such an insulting excuse.

“Eh? Ah…my deepest apologies.” Fesbar was confused for a second, but eventually signaled a female employee who was also present to take Shildonia to a corner of the room.

“Hm? What is this…Ohh, these sweets do seem delicious.”

This being a high-class establishment, they even offered a small customer corner with sweets, so Shildonia’s mood wasn’t spoiled too much. Kyle slightly lowered his head towards Fesbar, who responded with a true customer service smile. “That must be exhausting.”

“Oh, this is…”

Kyle’s eyes moved towards a glass case located in the middle of the store, containing a dim-blue armor. It must be the most expensive object in this store, and its prized possession, as they showed it off in the most obvious location. It was a leather armor, made from an animal’s leather, a type that offered more speed than defence. Normally, you would use the leather of domestic animals, but this armor was different.

“An armor made with dragon leather…Is there magic on it as well?”

“Yes, on top of the innate mana and defense the dragon leather possesses, it offers lightweight and hardness attributes, on top of magic resistance as well as heat and cold resistance. Adding to this, it has added phoenix feathers beneath the leather.”

Since Fesbar must most likely be used to being questioned about that item, he swiftly delivered an explanation.

“With phoenix, you mean the mythical beast known as the Immortal Bird?”

In the rows of magical beasts are those who use magic. They are classified differently, called mythical beasts. The overall number of mythical beasts is much lower compared to average magical beasts, but they are all on the level of dragons.

“Indeed, it is a mythical beast above many others. As it is known as the symbol of life, it has innate resistance towards poison or any sickness, and has faint self-regenerating abilities.” The store owner spoke like there was no armor better than this on the market.

The price below racked up to an astonishing, yet understandable three million Gadol. Even in this royal capital, with such an amount, you could buy yourself a castle with added servants. It really wasn’t something you could put into an armor.

“So, our armors are this way…”

“Alright, I’ll buy this.”

“Huh?”

Kyle didn’t bother with Fesbar’s shock, and called out to Seran.

“Seran, you could fit on this size, right? How about it?”

Said Seran was currently busy hitting on the female employee, so he didn’t even bother to look at it.

“…I don’t really like blue, you know. If it was a passionate red, or ominous black, then maybe…So I’ll pass.”

“I see, then I’ll be using it instead. Since I have a weapon already…that only leaves Lieze and Urza’s share. Could you show me weaponry for women?” Kyle said, as Fesbar was still frozen in shock.

After that, Kyle bought a mithril breastplate for Urza, and a short sword. Since spirits dislike any metal or steel, Spirit Magic users generally don’t wear any great armor on them, but since mithril is a magic mineral to begin with, there’s no problem with that. Adding to that, he bought an amulet that used a crucial jem which could be used as a spirit stone, only existing in the Spirit World, the home of all spirits. If you were to wear this, your distance with the spirits would close, and this turned out to be true, as Urza reported her level of friendship with her spirits went up drastically.

“I heard that the head of the family of a neighbouring village possessed something like this, but to think it would be this effective…Thanks to this, I might be able to form a [Contract] with even higher-ranking spirits.” Urza showed great interest in this new object.

As for Lieze, Kyle bought her so-called gauntlets, which acts as defensive armor for your fists and arms. Naturally, they were made out of mithril as well, with magic cast on it to reduce their weight. With Lieze’s skill and these gauntlets, she should be able to defend against a swordsman’s attack. Since she prefers speed and mobility, she wore an armor that was practically a large cloth, also known as cloth armor. Of course, since [Protection] magic was imbued in them, they possessed greater defence than the average metal armor.

“Yup, feels great!” Lieze jumped a bit back and forth, testing the mobility, and showed that there were no problems.

“Do you not have other dragon leather armor besides this one?” Kyle asked Fesbar.

If possible, he wanted Lieze to have similar armor to his, as she would be in close combat.

“It pains me to say it, this is all we had in our inventory…Finding an item of such quality is practically impossible nowadays.”

“I see.” Kyle nodded, and then spoke to Shildonia with a quiet voice. “Didn’t we have some dragon-related material?”

“Indeed, most of it can be used for processing, and it wasn’t just any young dragon, but one that lived for countless years, so you should be able to make ten to twelve easily.” She puffed out her chest, speaking proudly.

If not for the chocolate all around her mouth, Kyle might have even taken her seriously.

“Then, making it directly might be a better idea. But, there’s not many who can actually work with dragon materials, I guess.” Kyle sighed.

As for Seran’s equipment…

“Do you possibly have any attractive equipment that would make the women scream and cheer for me? For example, a woman like you?” Seran was still trying to pick up the female employee, to which Kyle shook his head.

“This guy is fine with any long sword, and some cheap leather armor. It can even be some dust cloth as long as he doesn’t walk around naked.”

“I-I understand…” The woman who tried her best to keep up a polite smile let out an exhausted response.

“Also, do you have some magic stones and medicine?”

“Of course.”

Magic stone is the general term for jewels or gems that have magic imbued in them. These items are one-use only, and because of their expensive costs, you rarely find them used. However, for those who can’t use magic, they can offer strong attack magic, which is why they are more of a trump card than anything.

“As for attacking magic stones, we have one right here, with [Explosion] imbued into it.” Fesbar took out a small, black stone that fit into his palm, with magic words engraved into it.

[Explosion] is intermediate-grade attack magic which causes an explosion, and probably the most convenient when dealing with an approaching enemy.

“While touching the words engraved into it, you chant the name of the magic. In doing so, the words will emit light, and after five seconds, the magic will activate. Throwing the magic stone during that time frame is the most common way of using it.” Fesbar delivered a swift explanation. “As for magic medicine, we mostly have liquid with regenerative abilities.” He said, showing Kyle a small bottle with liquid inside of it.

Just with many in general, regenerative magic and medicine has a lot of variants. There are those who directly heal wounds, or restore stamina, but there also exist more specific ones, who could remove poison or disable any ill status effects. If you can use high-grade magic, you could even heal lost limbs in a single moment.

Both magic stones and medicine are one-time use, but they all cost at least a thousand Gadol each.

“A lot of convenient stuff here. A bit off topic, but do you have any magic stones that are effective against reptile-type magical beasts?”

“I heard that fire-type is fairly bad, and thunder-type is so-so…I guess that cold-type magic stones are the best? Instead of directly dealing much damage, they seal the monster’s movement after all. It might not be the best against dragons, but talking about wyverns or hydras, that would be your best bet, I would assume.”

“So cold-type magic, huh. Do you have any magic stones with [Blizzard] engraved into them?”

[Blizzard] is another intermediate-grade magic, creating a freezing cold storm in the designated area. It is a type of magic Kyle can use as well. However, since he needed to chant the magic, and use up a lot of focus for this, he needed a lot of practice to use it in actual combat. It is something you train while gaining experience in battle, but the current Kyle is lacking both. In order to make up for that, he decided to buy magic stones that needed neither long chants nor focus.

“Yes, we do. However, since cold-type magic is exceptionally difficult to imbue into a magic stone, the cost is higher than for the rest…”

“I see…Alright, every attack-type magic stone will be helpful in some way, so I’ll take your entire stock.”

“Eh?” Fesbar said in shock, looking at the hundred and more magic stones in the display case.

“And, magic medicine might be great as well, and since we don’t have any recovery magic users right now, I’ll take everything you have.”

“………”

“On top of that…”

“Y-Yes!?” Fesbar was spacing out for a second, met with utter confusion because of Kyle’s shopping spree, only to give back a flustered response.

“Since they’re basically one-time use, I’m sure we’ll come back eventually, so keep them prepared for us.”

“…………Understood.” Fesbar was left utterly baffled.

***

“T-Then, let us move to the register…”

Kyle and the others finished all the shopping necessary, so Fesbar took them to the counter, a perfect customer smile on his face. After all, the complete sum of all objects they bought ran up to ten million Gadol. With such a large sum, the other employees around couldn’t help but listen in. At the same time, they must be wary in the event that Kyle tried something suspicious.

“Paying just with gold coins would be too much, I guess. Do you take gems as well?”

“I would highly appreciate it that way, yes…”

If Kyle had planned to pay in 1 gadol copper coins, then the store would have been buried.

“Alright then.” Kyle spoke up, and took out his apport bag, more commonly known as a teleportation¹ bag.

[Apport] is high-grade magic that allows you to pull an object, namely teleport, towards you from a different location, and this teleportation bag is a magic item that offers this. This teleportation bag was connected to the treasure room in the labyrinth, which allowed Kyle to get whatever he needed.

Since they had buried the tunnel they had dug, the treasure room should be safe for now, not to mention that nobody had even found the labyrinth in such a long time. On a side note, Kyle was chosen to take care of the organization.

Of course this apport bag was pretty expensive in itself. Fesbar was a bit flustered to see it appear like that, but after countless Zaales gold coins fell onto the counter, as well as large rubies or diamonds, even emeralds, that surprise quickly vanished. A professional when it came to gems and jewels immediately validated their value, with each of them being at least 100.000 Gadol worth.

“Um…we need a bit longer assessing their value, so could you give us some more time?”

“Of course. Then, can I test out the armor in the meantime?”

The other members of Kyle’s group had already tried on their new equipment, but because of the dragon leather armor’s value, Kyle had to wait until the paying process was finished.

“Y-Yes…Feel free.”

After a short wait, Kyle was allowed to put on the armor, and was swiftly asked by Fesbar.

“We have received your payment…So, is the armor to your satisfaction?”

“Yeah, it’s easy to move in, and its effects are just as you explained.”

With the blue armor covering his body, and the sword hanging down from his back, a mantle hanging down his shoulders, Kyle looked like quite the fighter.

“You had no problems either, right?” Kyle turned towards the other three.

Lieze and Urza nodded, but Seran seemed dissatisfied.

“What’s wrong?”

“No problems with the equipment itself. I’m just pissed because I couldn’t get the name of the employee.”

“I really couldn’t care less, you bastard.”

“I have no complaints either.” Shildonia held a mountain of sweets, grinning from ear to ear.

Looking at the two, Kyle sighed.

“Well, as long as you’re satisfied, that’s all that matters. Anyway, we’ll be stopping by again, so please have the stuff ready until then.” Kyle waved his hand at the store employees and Fesbar as he and his group left the establishment.

“Just who are they…” An employee called out to Fesbar.

“No idea…since we did not recognize them, they can’t be any famous adventurers.”

“Since they paid with Zaales gold coins, they must be some new adventurers who struck it rich?”

“Probably, yeah. Seriously, what kind of treasure room did they dug up.”

“Maybe they found the legendary [Magic King]’s Labyrinth?”

“Possibly.” Fesbar smiled. “That was some shopping spree they did, but they’re bad for my heart…Also, we’re almost out of stock, so contact the workshop that they make us new magic stones and medicine.”

“Understood.”

1 Originally as ‘Pulling-closer bag’