Act 5:
Investigating?
OUR GOAL WAS to see if we could discern the intent of the letter sender. Leaving the panacea behind in the manor, we ventured into the city.
Yuri was spearheading this operation, but I was coming along for the ride. So, they’d had to determine how to ensure my safety.
First, they figured out who my guards would be. In order to allow Yuri the freedom he needed, officially our only guard was Albert. But the grand magus’s powers were nothing to sneeze at, and I learned that Zara, who was also tagging along, was well trained in self-defense. A few other people would be guarding us covertly, so we were a lot more thoroughly prepared than I had expected was even possible.
Next, we had to nail down our destination. The prince’s delegation decided this: We were headed to a maker of talismans who the delegation had confirmed to be trusted. They were also probably taking Yuri’s wishes into consideration. As one might expect, this shop sold Zaideran talismans.
Talismans were strips of paper on which designs had been drawn with a special ink. These papers could be used to start fires or conjure water, and anyone could use them. The more expensive ones could even increase physical and magical attacks. All you had to do to activate one was let your magic power flow into it.
This sounded an awful lot like the items we enchanted, but they weren’t exactly the same. Unlike enchanted items, talismans were one-use only. Also, the talismans that boosted your powers only lasted for a fixed amount of time before the effect dissipated. In this way, they were similar to the boosts that could come from magic or a meal.
And of course, being a sucker for anything remotely arcane, Yuri was interested in looking into these talismans. Ever since he’d first heard about them from Prince Ten’yuu, when the prince was studying abroad in Salutania, Yuri had had his heart set on seeing the real thing for himself.
So, knowing that he wanted to go to an expert in the field, I was keenly aware that his true goal was less to investigate the letter sender’s aims than it was to learn about talismans.
Incidentally, I learned that Prince Ten’yuu and Yuri had met during Prince Ten’yuu’s visit to observe the Royal Magi Assembly. While I knew that Prince Ten’yuu had toured all of the research institutes at the palace, I hadn’t known about his visit to the assembly. It made sense, though, since the assembly was home to mages who researched magic and could be considered a place of research as well.
“So this is the place!” Yuri was grinning from ear to ear as he stepped out of the carriage we had ridden from the manor. He looked like he might burst into song and skip the rest of the way to the shop. Of course, being a noble who’d been schooled in etiquette, he didn’t actually do that, but it was clearer than ever that the search was secondary in his mind. I chuckled wryly as I watched him.
When I glanced to my side, I saw that Zara was wearing a crooked smile as well. She noticed my gaze and turned her attention to me. We smiled at the same time, as if we had planned it beforehand.
“Welcome,” the clerk greeted us in Zaideran as we filed into the shop. First Yuri, then me, then Albert, and Zara bringing up the rear.
Oscar and May weren’t especially proficient combatants, so they were doing other things. Oscar had gone out in search of ingredients, and May was back at the manor learning Zaideran recipes from the cook.
We handed a paper to the shop clerk which had been given to us by the delegation. It was a letter of introduction.
Upon checking the sender, the clerk smiled, and it turned out he was fluent in Salutanian because he switched languages to say, “Can I help you find anything today?”
According to the person who’d told us to go here, this shop had not only been confirmed to be a safe point of contact, but it was the best place for us to ask about talismans. It wasn’t the largest shop in Zaidera, but they had a wide variety of talismans for sale, and the clerks were good with customers. Likely that was because they had someone who spoke Salutanian. Yuri had all kinds of questions, so this really was the perfect place for him.
“I heard you have a wide variety of talismans. Could you please show me absolutely everything you have for sale?” Yuri asked, cool as a cucumber.
The clerk politely brought us to a place to sit. We learned, when he introduced himself, that he was the owner of the shop.
Yuri took his place at the center of the table.
Yep. I was right. He had been hugely looking forward to coming here, despite his claims about investigations. Of course he was sitting dead center.
I sat so that the grand magus was on my left and Zara was on my right. Typically, the two of us should have been standing behind him, but because of my true social standing, I sat next to him. We had decided on this arrangement before we set out to the store.
And since he was our guard, Albert stood behind us, centered between Yuri and me.
A few minutes after we were shown to our seats, the shopkeeper and an assistant returned with a sea of talismans. There were so many that I was sure they really must have brought out every single kind of talisman they had for purchase, just as Yuri had requested.