Sakura shook her head. “That would be too tight on me,” she said.
“Too tight? Okay. Elena has her own weapons and armor so she’s fine for the time being.” Father turned to the old guy. “Okay, I’ll take that armor.”
“Got it. You’ve got the letter from Tolly, and you’re becoming reliable customers. Anytime.”
Father shook his depleted wallet. “After all of our hard work peddling, the money is gone so fast. Well, it’s all for the best!”
If Father was concerned about our finances, perhaps I ought to suggest raising the prices of our merchandise? Our current prices were far below market rate, I say.
We did have a potential solution on our hands with the bioplant idea. And we didn’t have all the time in the world after all. Our bigger goal was to stop Trash. The queen would be back in about six weeks, so we just had to stop him from taking over the whole world until then. After the second wave of destruction, he’ll come after us forcefully. But even if we get taken in for questioning, I could use Portal Spear to get to Siltvelt and bring back help.
“All right, I think this will make for a decent bargain,” Father said, concluding the order.
“Kids, I’m glad you could find reliable friends,” the old guy said.
“I couldn’t agree more,” Father said, nodding with a smile. It was a smile that shone like the sun, I say.
After we left the weapons shop, Father turned to me.
“So what should we do now?”
“How about going back to the dragon hourglass? We can get information about the coming wave of destruction there.”
“That makes sense.”
“The only thing is that I heard that in the first go-around, you went there the day before the wave,” I said.
“So I suppose we just went to confirm when the wave would arrive?”
Then I remembered something. “Aha, that’s when you met up with Ren and Itsuki. And myself, of course.”
The Crimson Swine and her lot had come to class up, I recalled. Ren and Itsuki probably came to class up their companions as well. As is a typical rule in MMO games, when players at low levels work only with other low-leveled players, it can take a while to get stronger. But when players work with people at much higher levels, they can power-level to speed up the process. Because I had leveled up Yuki and Kou so much, they and Father were already past level 40. I think I was also around level 40 by the first wave of destruction, but we had way more money and equipment this time around.
“I doubt we’d be able to really exchange information or anything, but wouldn’t it be good to meet up with them all just to see what Ren and Itsuki have been up to? Aren’t you curious?”
He raised a good point. Since I assassinated that vile Smoked Human, one of Itsuki’s companions, it would be wise to observe what kind of change might have occurred as a result. We could see if anything had changed due to Smoked Human’s absence or if maybe Itsuki himself was different this time around. I could only assume that he was working with the Crimson Swine. Surely, he wasn’t doing as much damage as I did with the Crimson Swine in the first go-around. Since the variable of Smoked Human was also a factor, I wanted to learn more.
I was also concerned about Ren. He would be far more inclined to distrust Melromarc in this go-around, and I had no idea what kind of differences that might create. Of course, in Ren’s case, the best scenario would be for things to stay exactly the same. If there were changes, we just had to respond accordingly. But I had definitely come to think that for the sake of gathering information alone, we had to meet up with Itsuki and Ren before the wave of destruction hit.
“Agreed,” I proclaimed. “So let’s slowly make our way over to the dragon hourglass, peddling along the way so that we arrive on the day before the wave of destruction.”
“I can also study reading the language,” Father said.
With that, we boarded the carriage and set off.
The day before the wave of destruction, we went back to the weapons shop. Father waved at the old guy, who was there waiting for us in the store.
“Hey! You’re back!”
“How’d it go?” Father asked. “Is everything ready?”
“Pretty much,” he said. “Check out the armor here.”
The old guy had done quite a number on the armor with the materials we had given him. He used them here and there to supplement and strengthen Father’s armor. With a base suit of armor already in place, the old guy could finish a custom set of armor in just a few days. He had also used the materials to strengthen Keel’s breastplate.
The new weapons glittered in the light. Keel and Sakura tried out their new swords, which, while appearing to be cheap, had peerless cutting ability.
“Thank you so much,” Father said.
“It really wasn’t a big deal,” the old guy replied. “Next time I’d love to make you a genuine set of custom armor.”
“Of course. We’ll need it at some point or another. When the time comes, I’m sure we’ll come back to place an order.”
“And I’ll be sure to fulfill that order!” The old guy laughed. “I heard the wave of destruction is coming tomorrow. Stay safe.”
“Don’t worry about us!” Keel barked. “I’ll crush ’em all with the swords you gave me! Thanks, bro!”
Keel was even more enthusiastic than Father, I say. Good for her, I supposed.
“Keel, don’t swing that in here. It’s dangerous!”
Sakura, meanwhile, was staring at her new swords blankly.
“This is sharp. I think?”
“Both of you need to be careful,” Father said, turning to them with a concerned expression. “If you lose focus, you’ll cut yourself wielding two swords.”
Sakura and Keel nodded.
“Don’t worry about it, bro!” Keel said.
I realized that Keel hadn’t changed back to her pig form even once lately. I supposed it was all better this way.
“All right, let’s get going, Motoyasu!”
“Yes, Father!”
“Come back again sometime, kids,” the old guy said.
“We’ll be back,” Father promised.
Next up, just as planned, we set out for the dragon hourglass.