The fight had concluded, and we were victorious. Luna and I high-fived. Schuren seemed to want in too, so of course we indulged him. Gandez and his wife had made an excellent show of sportsmanship, and they were true to their word.
“Schuren, a promise is a promise. We’ll never insist that you marry.”
“Indeed. We were simply jealous of all the adorable grandchildren entering our social circle. Everyone says that grandchildren are so much sweeter than your own children.”
That sounded familiar. I was probably too young to understand. I mean, I didn’t have children. I hadn’t even…you know…tried to make them yet…
At any rate, Schuren couldn’t stop smiling. “I’m glad you understand. My life is happy just as it is, with my house and my servants.”
He gazed at Mirenka and his estate with profound love. I was glad that we had helped him hold onto his calm, enjoyable life. I felt a little proud for contributing to that.
And that closed the book on that incident, or so I thought—until someone ruptured the peaceful moment.
“Not long ago, Lord Schuren came to me for medical treatment,” said Luna, looking grim. “He complained that his parents were pestering him to marry, and that they were very particular about his future wife’s social standing. Namely, that a maid was out of the question.”
Everyone looked at Schuren.
“Umm, well, I’ll admit I did say that. Father flew into a rage when I even mentioned the idea.”
“Of course I did,” said Gandez. “Marrying a commoner would bring shame on the family. Your bride needs to come from a good family, at the very least.”
“You teach commoners how to wield a sword,” said Schuren. “But you’re just a bigot and a hypocrite, Father! A filthy hypocrite!”
“H-how dare—! I’m just thinking of your honor. High society is cruel.”
He was right, nobles cared a lot about appearances. They were always trying to outdo each other to assert dominance, and I was always on the losing end of those struggles. If Schuren married someone without a pedigree, people would definitely belittle him. Best-case scenario, they would gossip about it relentlessly.
Just as the two of them were about to start fighting, a loud gunshot rang out. Luna looked between them with a collected expression.
“What I’m trying to say is that I think Lord Schuren is already in love. But he decided to give up the prospect of ever marrying her, for her own sake.” Luna turned to look pointedly at Mirenka. “Isn’t that right?”
“Um, I, uh, I’m just a servant. I couldn’t…”
Mirenka was visibly shaken. Schuren went silent and looked down at the ground. This was a mess.
“I think you should be honest about your feelings,” I said.
“You’re probably right,” he said. “Ms. Luna is correct. Mirenka and I have been in love for several years, but eloping would only destroy our lives. So we decided to keep things the way they are.”
No one said a word. I hadn’t expected such a serious development. I’d thought that, when we won, we’d get a happy ending.
“Sometimes I wonder why people get married,” said Luna. “It seems like such a silly thing to get hung up on, but I think we want some tangible proof that our love endures in this uncertain world.”
I didn’t know much about marriage and the like, so it was hard for me to fully understand what she was saying, but her words seemed to resonate with Schuren.
“When you put it like that, I guess I have no choice but to risk it. Even if it means being disowned.”
He went to Mirenka and took her hands. His mother clapped.
“I approve. When you bear my grandchildren, I’ll come to visit every day.”
“I’ll come visit from time to time too,” I said.
“Me too,” Luna agreed. “I’m sure Mr. Gandez will come around when he gets to play with his grandchildren.”
“You’re monsters!” Gandez complained. “The lot of you! I… Even I… Whatever. Do as you please.”
Finally, he relented. Schuren’s eyes went wide.
“I don’t believe it. My thick-skulled father of all people…”
“You’re an adult, and you’ve lived your own life thus far. It’s up to you to decide.”
Schuren and Mirenka looked at each other, nodded, and kissed. That looked like their answer.
Now for the moment I was waiting for. We went to Schuren’s room, and I accepted my prize: the item with the Enchanted Item Perception skill. The path to obtain it had some twists and turns, but I got what I wanted in the end.
“This is the Bell of Perception,” said Schuren. “It rings in the presence of enchanted items. The closer you are to the item, the louder it will ring. However, you have to be touching the bell for it to work.”
So you couldn’t just keep it in your bag to alert you when something was nearby. That was probably better than it going off constantly. If one of your party members had an enchanted item, it would be ringing all the time. That would be a real pain.
“There’s one other thing to keep in mind,” said Schuren. “It will react to any enchanted item. So you’re most likely to acquire things with rather lackluster skills.”
Exceptionally useful items were rare, so the reverse was also true: average ones were quite common. It was entirely possible that the vast majority of your finds would be C-Grade.
“How much do you want for it?” I asked.
“I guess that was the deal, wasn’t it? How about this?” Schuren held up a finger.
“One hundred thousand? No, one million rels?”
“No. Just one. One of the lowest denomination coins you have to hand.”
“You’re incredible, Mr. Schuren!”
And just like that, I got my hands on an extremely valuable item.
I’m going to treasure it!
I said goodbye to Schuren and Luna, then went to test it out. I put my two-edged blade away in my Pocket Dimension so that it wouldn’t trigger the skill, and I picked up the bell.
Brrring! Brring!
Ooh! It reacted! There was a decent bit of foot traffic in the street, so I went searching for the item it had picked up on. It seemed to be reacting to something from one of the vendors. I tucked the bell away in my pocket and investigated the wares. They were magic stones, but they were all C-Grade and ludicrously expensive. Who even bought these?
I took out the bell again and started walking around town. It rang frequently. Usually when someone walked past me, or when I walked past a store.
“Maybe this could use an upgrade.”
I took the sentence, “senses enchanted items,” from the item’s description and opened Editor. Adjusting it to “senses enchanted items of B-Grade or higher” would only cost 800 LP, so I didn’t think twice. Now I wouldn’t be disappointed by any more C-Grade finds.