I’d taken a shower after getting home from school, so I didn’t think I smelled funny or anything.
Oh, this isn’t good. It makes me nervous when she gets close like this. The combination of a pretty girl, animal ears, and a tail just isn’t fair.
“Eldrid! Eldrid! I think that’s enough!” I said.
“Hmm? Oh, sorry!” she said and moved away.
She seemed to be embarrassed too, judging by how red her face was.
“Uh, I’m not sure why you did that, but did I smell okay?” I asked.
“Huh? Oh, yeah. You smelled fine,” she said.
“What was that about?”
“Well, um, I was just curious...” She trailed off.
I looked at her with confusion as she patted her own chest again and let out a sigh of relief. What had she been checking for? I wished she’d just tell me.
“You’re not going to the dungeon today?” she asked.
“Nope, I have some business in the city,” I replied.
“Going shopping?”
“Yep. Over there,” I said, pointing toward my destination on the west side of Freida.
Eldrid looked at me blankly and asked, “What? That way?”
“Yep.”
“But that side of Freida...” she said as she looked where my finger was pointing. Then she suddenly got flustered and yelled, “Th-Th-That’s where the pleasure district is! Don’t tell me you—”
“What? No, no, no, no! I mean, yes, the pleasure district is over there too, but that’s not where I’m headed! I’m going to a shop over there!” I said.
“You’re going to one of those shops selling seedy items, aren’t you?!”
“No, I’m not! I’m not going to an adult goods store you might find near a town known for electronics! I’m shopping for something completely nonsexual! Get your mind out of the gutter, will ya?!” I said.
Eldrid finally seemed to realize her mistake and said, “What? Oh, I see! Sorry. I shouldn’t have assumed.”
“I’m glad you understand. Sheesh.”
If I hadn’t cleared that up, Eldrid would’ve assumed I was some pervert. Though, that would imply all people in the pleasure district were perverts, and that wouldn’t necessarily be true.
“So, like I mentioned earlier, there’s a shop I want to check out over there. I was just about to go there,” I said.
“So that was when those guys started messing with you. Those types are all around these parts of Freida, even this early in the day. You should be careful if you don’t wanna get harassed by them,” said Eldrid.
“Oh, no wonder,” I said. “I usually only get harassed by those types in the central back alleys, so I was pretty surprised.”
“Wait, you’ve been in the Kaoloon back alleys?”
“Yeah. Like the time I got kidnapped by Sensei and the time I wanted to take a shortcut—oh, and the time when I went to beat up this really bad guy,” I said.
“‘Bad guy’?”
“Yeah. This big beefy tiger Beast-Head with black fur. He was someone who shouldn’t exist in this world.”
“Huh...”
It’d happened just a little while after I’d gained the ability to come to Freida. I’d wandered into a back alley and encountered the black tiger. He was such a villain that he’d immediately set off my bad-guy sensor, and he’d been so strong I hadn’t been able to do a thing against him. Part of it had been because I’d just started using magic back then, but I’d surely have a hard time against him even if we fought again today. Sensei had helped me that time, and after going through some grueling training, I’d gone back for a rematch and kicked his butt. It was one of my memorable episodes from when I’d begun to grow more powerful.
I then noticed Eldrid’s stiff expression.
“K-Kudo?” she said.
“Hmm? Oh, so yeah. Anyway,” I said.
“R-Right... You know, you were just...”
“Huh? What’s wrong?” I asked.
“N-Nothing. Never mind.”
Maybe I’d been making a funny face or something. I thought I’d been putting on a stoic expression.
“Say, Kudo, could that black-furred Beast-Head have been called Obses Ord by any chance?” asked Eldrid.
“Oh, you know him?”
“I heard he was famous in Kaoloon. So you’re the one who took him down.”
I told her I’d messed him up good, and she made a strange expression. Maybe she didn’t like the phrasing.
“Are you heading to the dungeon today?” I asked.
“Nope, don’t have any plans today,” she said. “I was just wandering around town when I saw those guys messing with you.”
“I see. Well, thanks again,” I said.
“Don’t sweat it, really. Besides, you’ve saved me before too. Let’s just say we have each other’s backs.”
I was grateful to hear that.
“Hey, do you mind if I go with you?” she asked.
“Sure,” I said casually. And just like that, we’d decided to spend the day together.
We talked about random things as we walked, like what kinds of food we liked and how we spent our free time. Apparently, she liked grilled meat and trained a lot.
We’d been so caught up in our conversation that we ended up turning onto the wrong street, where Divers were seeking companionship from scantily clad women. There weren’t neon lights or anything, but everything, including the very air here, looked pink, unlike any other street. It was crazy to see sexy ladies basically walking around in underwear.
“Th-Th-This place is like this even in the middle of the day?” I stuttered.
“W-W-Well, a lot of their patrons go dungeon diving at night, so yeah,” said Eldrid, similarly flustered.
“I-I guess that makes sense! The customers won’t be able to get in there unless they’re always open!”
“What?! D-Don’t say things like ‘get in there’! Can you be any less subtle?!”
We were both panicking. My movements had become completely stiff, and Eldrid’s ears and tail were sticking straight up. We awkwardly hurried back to our original path, and we eventually arrived at the shop I was looking for.
“There it is,” I said.
“You mean that brush shop?” asked Eldrid.
“Yep. I heard they have some nice ones made of items from the dungeon.”
“Huh, I didn’t know about this one. I thought I’d marked most of the brush shops around here,” she said.
I hadn’t known she frequented brush shops.
The building’s sign had text and an illustration on it indicating that it was a brush shop.
Suddenly, Eldrid looked as if she’d just realized something and said, “K-Kudo, you’re here because...?”
“Oh, there’s an animal—I guess it’s like a pet?—that has been visiting me recently, so I needed to pick up some supplies,” I explained.
Her expression grew serious.
“Is something wrong?” I said.
“No. That’d be way too sudden...” she mumbled.
I wasn’t sure what she was talking about, but she seemed kind of down.
Anyway, I’d come to this shop for Carbuncle (I deliberately didn’t call it by the name Mittens as dubbed by Sensei). Carbuncle wasn’t always with me, but it often followed me to Japan, so I had to make sure I had the proper environment to care for it. I needed food, a litter box, a bed, a scratching post, and a grooming brush.
It was totally like a house cat, and it was popular with my family because it was so friendly they couldn’t fathom it was a stray. Although it was a strange creature that didn’t exist in my world, I’d told them it was a new mascot candidate for Hiro’s hero team, and they somehow bought it.
We entered the shop and looked around. The variety of brushes and combs seemed excessive, but there clearly was a demand for them. Beast-Heads and Tails were especially particular about the brushes and oils they used, so it made sense that there’d be a far bigger lineup here than in Japan.
We went further into the building and found some glass display cases.
“Wow, so pricey,” I said, observing the expensive products in the cases.
The priciest of them all was a brush made of Mutable Horse mane. I was certain this was the same brush used by Greenia Reartail, the mage from Brave Wings, who’d been at the potion exhibit.
“Sheesh, twenty gold coins? That’s crazy,” I said.
“Actually, that’s a pretty fair price,” said Eldrid. “I heard refining Mutable Horse mane takes a ton of work. And besides, they’re rare monsters that appear at depth level 40.”
“Oh, right. I guess that makes sense if you consider how hard they are to find.”