We entered the room and put down our luggage. This inn, the Cozy Jewel, was privately owned and rather small, but it had a reputation for great food and clean rooms. While it was popular, it was not a first-rate hotel, though.
The reason I’d given Tida for why we were staying here wasn’t entirely a lie, but there had been another motive for the diversion from my usual habits. Having witnessed Lotton Flywok’s suspicious behavior during the terror attack, I was hesitant to stay in one of his hotels. That was why I’d asked Mireille to find accommodations he had no control over but that also wouldn’t seem too unnatural of a choice. I knew I wouldn’t be able to escape Lotton’s eye entirely by doing something like this, but it was better than nothing.
“We’ll be back by the time the evening bell sounds,” I said. “Please take care of Alice for me, Mireille.”
“Of course, miss.”
“See you later, mama!”
Even though we’d only just set down our baggage, we didn’t have time to rest. I took Lunoa and Misha with me to look for Gaien.
“This way, Miss Ellie,” Misha said. She guided us using directions she’d written in a notebook until we arrived in front of a building.
“This is Mr. Gaien’s workshop?” I asked. “It looks like a regular house to me.”
While the building itself seemed well-made and sturdy, it lacked a large chimney or waterwheel like workshops often had.
“No, this is the store where he sells weapons and takes orders,” Misha explained as she put her notebook away. “He keeps the location of his workshop private.”
Misha and Lunoa entered the shop first.
“Welcome,” someone said lazily. The voice belonged to a young dwarf woman. She took a good look at Lunoa and Misha as though appraising them. “Sorry, but we don’t sell anything cheap here. There’s a shop that sells affordable, reasonably good-quality self-defense weapons two streets over,” she said, her tone curt.
As a merchant, I didn’t really approve of the way she was treating prospective customers, but I also couldn’t blame her for assuming Misha and Lunoa had entered this shop by mistake.
“Hello,” I said as I stepped in.
The young woman looked at me, and her eyes widened in surprise.
“You...” she trailed off.
She clearly wanted to say something, but I pretended not to notice and started looking around. There weren’t many weapons on display, and they were all very expensive. Even a small knife cost several gold coins. I realized that despite the woman’s tone, she hadn’t intended to be mean to Misha and Lunoa when she’d told them about the cheaper store. That was likely her way of being considerate.
I picked up a dagger and a knife and brought them to the counter. “I’ll take these.”
“You know we can’t offer discounts or payment plans, right?”
“Yes, that’s fine.” I turned to the side. “Misha.”
“Yes, Miss Ellie.” Misha took out a little leather pouch from her bag and started rummaging through it. She put down several gold coins on the counter.
The dwarf girl was shocked to see her take out enough money to purchase a medium-sized carriage so casually. After counting the coins, she looked back at me and said, “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry. I didn’t mind.” I handed the dagger to Misha and the knife to Lunoa. “You should have an unenchanted weapon on you too, Misha. As for you, Lunoa, a knife you can use in battle as well as for other purposes seemed fitting.”
“Thank you very much, Miss Ellie,” Misha said.
“Th-Thank you!” Lunoa exclaimed.
Under different circumstances, the two of them would have argued and tried not to accept my gifts, but they seemed to have understood that I was making a point by showcasing my buying power. Lunoa was a little shaken, but I felt the girls’ reactions deserved a passing mark.
“My name is Ellie Leis,” I said. “I’m a merchant operating in the imperial capital. I’ve come to commission Mr. Gaien.”
“You want to commission a weapon? But you’re a magician, aren’t you?”
The dwarf’s words surprised me a little. In battle, it was easy to tell how powerful someone was by sensing the mana they exuded, but we were simply talking at the moment. She shouldn’t have been that focused on my mana, especially when I made a habit of intentionally suppressing it.
Her eyes darted to my hands and then to my feet. “Oh, you can also use a sword, I see. You’re pretty good too.”
“You can tell with a single glance? That’s impressive.”
“It’s become second nature to me. I see adventurers every day, after all.”
“I see.” I noticed several knives right next to her on the counter. “Oh, these right here...”
They looked more like regular working knives than ones used for combat, but they were beautifully forged. I could tell they were slightly different from the rest of the weapons in the shop. The mana inside Gaien’s weapons was concentrated within the blade, but these had mana evenly infused throughout the entire knife.
“Ah, these? I crafted them.”
“You did?”
As a general rule, it was preferable for mana to be concentrated in the blade, but spreading it so evenly required considerable skill.
“Yeah. I’m Kagali, Gaien’s disciple.”