“Gah! No, really, my boss told me—”
“I don’t care what your boss told you! You need to take the money!” Her integrity simply wouldn’t allow it. “I get that you’re just trying to help us out, but you don’t need to treat us differently from any other customer! It’s unfair!”
“Unfair...?”
“That’s right. Back in my old party, I was always given ‘special treatment’ just because I was a woman, and it was awful. That’s why I entered into the Sparring Tournament—to get back at them.”
She recalled the injustice she’d endured. Looking back, the idea of firing a party member solely due to their gender still seemed ridiculous to the point of insanity. And that was precisely why she was so opposed to preferential treatment in all its forms.
“I just can’t stomach that kind of biased thinking, you know? I want to be treated just the same as anyone else, no matter what gender I am or what party I’m in.”
“Oui, oui. It goes against our policy, you could say.”
“Yes, exactly!” Tanya said, relieved to have backup.
“I see...” Miku sighed. While she deeply respected her boss, this was the first time she’d ever thought of another woman as being powerful. Now she understood why her boss had come home from the Sparring Tournament completely smitten. These women were just so dignified.
“Just take it, okay?”
“O-Okay... Wait, what the?”
“Hmm?” Tanya cocked her head.
Miku had very nearly gone along with it, but she caught herself in the nick of time and retorted at the top of her lungs: “Why would you give me an entire bag of silver?! That’s too much!”
“Huh? Oh... Haha... I dunno, just tell your boss you made a lot of sales while she was gone!”
“Uh-oh, Tanya’s a sloppy spender,” Laplace snickered, and the others laughed along with her.
While Nadine’s new lens underwent processing to fit her frames, Miku let them look at the supply store’s “behind-the-counter” products.
“Oh my goddd! Are these nesting golem dolls from my hometown?! No, that can’t be right. The spell formula is too old... and really elaborate... Is this another magical artifact excavated from a dungeon?! Oh my god, oh my god!!!”
“Your hometown, you say?”
“Yeah! I’m from a snowy island up north called Irigel. Wait... Oh my god, is this a seal talisman from O’toyok Dungeon?! Holy crap, look at the formula! I can’t read a single word of it! This is amazing!”
The resident magic geek was, naturally, geeking out like crazy. Smiling to herself, Laplace wandered along, looking at each of the “special” items set out on the counter.
As a Great Sorceress who’d been alive 300 years ago, the vast majority of them were of little interest to her, save for the artifacts excavated from the dungeons. After all, these were relics from before her time, harvested from what amounted to historical locations. She couldn’t help but be a little curious.
Then her gaze landed on a small box, curious, her slender fingers lifted the lid—and she froze. The color drained from her face.
Inside was a single coin.
“Is this...?”
“Hmm? What’s up, Stone Cold Stunner?”
“Pardonnez-moi, mademoiselle. Is this coin one of your ‘artifacts,’ too?”
At Laplace’s question, Miku peeked out from the lens workstation in the back. “Oho, you have good taste! That right there is one of Laplace’s Orichalcum Coins!”
“What?! Aren’t they insanely rare?!” Tanya shouted, goggling down at it in surprise. She’d only heard of them in passing.
Meanwhile, Laplace stared down at the coin, unmoving. Normally she was all smiles and jokes, but right now, there was an uncharacteristically hard look plastered on her face.
“Uh, La—Stone Cold Stunner?” Tanya asked timidly, conscious of Miku’s presence. To keep her true identity hidden from the public at large, this Great Sorceress was currently masquerading as no more than the beautiful and talented Stone Cold Stunner from the Sparring Tournament.
“So you’re saying,” Laplace began slowly, in a low whisper, “this item is known as Laplace’s Orichalcum Coin?”
“Huh? Yes, that’s right. They say the Great Sorceress herself minted a whole bunch of them by mixing gold with a rare alloy called orichalcum. That said, there’s no record of anyone ever using them as currency. Oh, but rumor has it these coins were cursed by Laplace herself! They’re imbued with a really intricate spell formula. All the magic nerds go ga-ga over them... Like that one, for example.”
“Huh?! N-No I’m not!” Tanya frantically wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth.
“Interesting. So you were told that I made these.”
“Wait... You...?”
“Gah! Uhhh, just disregard that! I think she’s a little tired today!” Tanya hastily cut in.
They couldn’t afford to let the townspeople find out that the mythical Great Sorceress was walking among them once more. The entire city would fall into chaos.
“I don’t know how these coins get circulated, but for some reason, it seems like every magic supply store in Ode has at least one,” Miku continued.
“What?”
“No joke. Me and the boss went to a town hall meeting a while ago, and there were tons of people bragging about their collections.”
“Hmmm... I see... Your name’s Miku, correct?”
“Yes, ma’am!”
“Could I purchase this coin?” Laplace smiled affably.
“You certainly can, but... I’m afraid that bag of silver...”
“Isn’t enough?”
“Yeah... Sorry...”
“C’est bon. There’s more where that came from. Right, Tanya?”
“What?! You want me to pay for it?!”
“Hahaha! Oh, I’m just kidding around! Tell me, do you accept these?”
“What are these...? Oh, wow! Antique currency!”
Most modern stores didn’t accept the 300-year-old money Laplace carried, but this was a shop that dealt in ancient relics.
“It’ll fit right in with your other artifacts, don’t you think? Alternatively, you could melt it down and use it in tool crafting. It’s got a higher gold composition than modern money, after all.”
“But... this is really too much...!”
“Nonsense! Just tell your boss you picked up some new stock while she was gone. I’m sure she’ll be over the moon! I mean, these are the real deal, you know. I used this money all the time 300 years ago.”
“What?”
“Nothing!!! Don’t worry about it!!! Right, Stone Cold Stunner?!?!”
“Hahaha! Right, right! Don’t worry about it!”
Secretly, Tanya was relieved to see Laplace laughing again, because her reaction to the orichalcum coin had been kind of frightening. Was it actually hers? Tanya wanted to ask, but now wasn’t the time.
“Safe journeys, Lilium! Come back again soon so you can meet the boss, okay?”
And so they left the store, Laplace with her single coin and Nadine with her newly fixed glasses. Their destination: the Little Vixen.