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Volume 13 Chapter 2 Part 4

Well, it can’t be helped.

「Is it almost time to eat? 」

「Oh. I see. It most certainly is. 」

At that point, Roxanne brought us to a halt. It’s indeed already time for breakfast. That was perfect timing!

「It’s true that stopping just when things are getting exciting is a negative thing. I understand your concerns, Master. Starting at an awkward time may not have been a good idea. It seems I was lacking in awareness, and I am sorry for that. 」

What is Roxanne talking about? Just when things were getting exciting? You did enough, Roxanne. You did more than enough. In fact, you may have overdone it.

「No. To accomplish things, time is needed, just as with food where some ingredients need to blend and ferment. It may have been better to do it this way. 」

「I see. So that you’re always prepared for battle, right? 」

Once again, what are you talking about? No. I won’t make any comments about it. I won’t point anything out. It will be much better for me this way, so I steel myself and restrain myself, then switch my mind to eating.

Once we leave the Labyrinth, Roxanne is just a normal girl. You could even say she’s an overwhelmingly beautiful girl. Yes. She’s wonderful. And of course, I’ll need to remove Rutina’s equipment for her once we leave the Labyrinth.

Even if we are off the battlefield then, it’s hard to relax if we’re wearing our equipment all the time. It’s important to take it on and off appropriately. For Rutina’s sake, but also for my own sake as well. It’s a win-win situation, you could say. And so, after finishing breakfast, we went to the Imperial Capital.

「Hmm. But wouldn’t it be better to have some spare socks as well? 」 I suggested, as we went to the shops.

It’s not like I’m trying to buy time at this point. I’m not planning on continuing the Floor Boss battles on the forty-fourth floor or anything, since I don’t think it will allow me to level either my Hero Job or the Priest Job enough to give me their Advanced Jobs. They both require too much EXP for that right now.

It’s just a question that I asked out of curiosity. It takes three Mithril threads as raw materials to make a single pair of socks. We have fifteen Mithril Threads right now, which means that I can have 3 pairs to be made for all five of the girls. Yes, I’ll use them all up this time.

「I see no problems with that. 」

Roxanne agrees to my idea right away.

「You say spares, but what kind of things could happen for us to require them? 」

Sherry, I see that you’ve been listening attentively. They’re going to be socks, so it is inevitable that they might get ripped or torn, or maybe the girls are going to lose one of them at some point.

「Like, they’re going to get torn? 」

「Hmm. I don’t really know…. 」

It seems Sherry doesn’t really know what to do with my idea. Well, I guess I don’t really know either, since I never had to deal with runs in stockings or anything of the sort. Sorry. What I meant was, what kind of things could happen, or rather, unexpected things.

「I, I see. 」

「Anyway, I think it’s something you can think about once you get them. 」

「That’s true, but what about… an increase in the price for more of them? 」

「They said they needed it as a raw material, so I don’t think it will be increased all that much. 」

Sherry’s right, and since she was the one who said it, I can probably assume that this is how it’s going to be.

「Um, y-yeah. 」

「Well, I think the processing costs are being counted separately. 」

「I see… That’s true. They could raise the price there. Also, it’s actually three pieces per pair, so if you want a set of two pairs, you need six. 」

「Whatever the situation, why don’t we go there once, and if it’s necessary, then we can just fight the Floor Boss on the 44th floor again to get more Mithril Threads. 」

Sherry’s cold-hearted opinion cuts me down to pieces. Whose side are you on, Sherry? I want you to stop Roxanne’s rampage, not encourage her any further!

Well, I guess this is as far as it goes. You did well to hang in there for so long though.

「I see. 」

「It seems like it’s that way. 」

Once we arrived at the Imperial Capita’s Adventurers Guild, Sherry started showing us the way. After all, it was Sherry who had been reading the documents in the first place, so she should know exactly where it is that we’re supposed to be going. Even Roxanne isn’t familiar with the geography of the Imperial Capital… you’re not familiar with it, are you, Roxanne?

「Um, is this it? 」

「Yes, based on the map in the documents, this should be the place. 」

We arrived at an ordinary building. Not a shop or anything, just an ordinary house. Or at best, it was a plain building that looked like it might be a warehouse or factory. More likely a workshop than a factory. According to the documents that Sherry saw at Grandma’s house, it seems to be our destination.

I wonder where the old hag happened upon those documents. Roxanne had also seen them, but it seems she can’t tell the difference between that map and the map of the Imperial Capital.

In comparison, the map of the Labyrinth was easy to navigate even with information like 「it’s at the right and the depths are completely unclear. 」

「Well, I guess we’ll just have to go in and see for ourselves if this is really the place or not. 」

「That’s right. 」

There were no signs in front of the building or anything, so nothing would start without us actually going inside.

For a moment I thought that the door wouldn’t open once I pressed on the door handle, but they finally opened, so I went through this ordinary door. Inside was a miscellaneous warehouse.

It wasn’t small, and it wasn’t overflowing with things, but there were things just piled up randomly in huge stacks. It was like a storage shed. It was not particularly dusty, but parts of it did look dirty and uncleaned. There was also no reception desk, which made it feel even less like a store. There was a thin layer of dust everywhere.

「Who…?… Ah, no. Please come in. 」

The woman who arrived tried to ask sternly who it was, but her attitude changed right away when she saw that she was going to have actual customers…. But she was not looking at me. She was looking at Rutina.

I see. It seems that whoever this lady was, she must have been familiar with making socks for Rutina’s family, so coming with her was the right thing to do. I looked at Rutina’s face and directed her to my place, deciding that it would be best to leave the talking entirely to Rutina.

「Eh?… Ah, well… 」

「Pardon me for asking… but are you from Lady Cassandra’s clan? 」

「Y-Yes, I am. 」

Rutina was confused at being entrusted by me with the task of talking to the lady, but the other person handled it on her own. Picking Rutina was the right choice after all.

「Do you have any proof of that claim?」

「… 」

「Here, take a look at this. 」

I handed the badge that I received from the old hag to Rutina from the side.

「…Right I have checked, and confirmed that it is a genuine article, thank you for your cooperation. Are you here to order socks today? Or do you want something else? 」

The other party accepted the badge as legitimate after only a quick glance at it. Uhm, lady? Is it okay to not check it in detail? Or is it really something that can be easily determined at a glance? Maybe there is some magical element hidden in it and I just don’t know about it? I’ve never heard about anything of the sort before though.

Well, even if she picked it up and examined it carefully, there is the question of whether she could find anything that could allow her to claim that it was false or not. I don’t know.

Or maybe it is that the emblems of the noble houses are something that just straight up cannot be counterfeited, and if you forge something like that poorly, you would end up getting yourself into some big trouble, like being chased to the depths of hell?