Leaving Mila’s bookstore, it was almost the afternoon, so I decided to go to the adventurer guild to see if there was any news on the Yulis and Alice’s knights' situation since Iris was probably keeping an eye on it.

At the adventurer guild, I went to Iris’s counter, and after waiting in line, I greeted Iris and asked how everything was going for the Yulis situation.

“Well, the city guards had taken everyone into custody; Yulis and his people are in jail cells and are being interrogated, while Lady Alice’s knights are in a medical facility being treated.”

“That's good, but."

A thought crept up my mind.

“I’m worried that the city guards would be a handful and one of them might escape.”

“Don’t worry, Commander Gal is personally keeping an eye on things. He was a high-ranking adventurer, but he decided to retire and ended up as the commander of the city guards, so I can attest to his abilities.”

“I see, that is good to know.”

I thanked Iris for the information, and as I was about to leave, Iris stopped me and said.

“Oh wait, I forgot to give you something.”

Hearing that, I was confused and wondered what she meant.

“We received an anomalous letter that says to give it to you.”

She handed me a letter, which I opened and began reading, wondering who it was.

Reading it, the sender was Kinwall of all people; I wonder why he sent a letter. Oh right, didn’t he say something about sending a letter to me when he was moving to a different place to set up shop?

I continued reading it, and to my surprise, he had set up shop in Acton and asked me to stop by. Additionally, at the end of the letter, he said I could bring my friends if I wanted, which was kind of a surprise because he usually doesn’t want to be found.

“So, if you don’t mind, what is it about?”

Iris, showing her curiosity, asked about the letter. I told her that it was from an acquaintance of mine who was in Acton right now and wanted to meet with me.

“I see. I hope it goes well.”

I left the counter and went out of the adventurer guild. I looked at the letter again to see the address he had written down.

As I walked in the direction of Kinwall’s shop, I encountered Alex’s party by coincidence, except for Lucia, who was not with them for some reason.

“Hi, I didn’t expect to see you all today.”

As ever, the girls seemed to be fighting over Alex; even Alice was getting into the action somewhat, which she was looking embarrassed doing, likely from her noble upbringing and pride to be doing something so shameless.

“Yeah, same here.”

“Where is Lucia? I don’t see her with you.”

I asked Alex because Lucia was not with them. After all, I wanted to apologize to her.

“She is training her magic right now, somewhere secluded.”

“Oh, I see.”

That is a shame that she isn’t here, but I guess I could meet her another time.

“Anyway, what are you guys doing?”

“We’re shopping for gear for Alice to use since she wants to dungeon dive with us but doesn’t have any gear. We got most of her gear, and we're just looking for a weapon she can use right now. And how about you and your shoulder?”

“My shoulder is healing fine, but what a coincidence! I’m going into an acquaintance right now; he is kind of a traveling blacksmith who makes great weapons. Do you want to come join me? He might have weapons that are going to be better than the ones you’ll find in other shops.”

“I think that is a great idea.”

“Good.”

I lead Alex and everyone else to Kinwall’s shop. However, on the way, the streets became progressively more rundown, making everyone look at me wondering if I knew where I was going, which Alex finally spoke up and said.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Hey Nyx, are we lost?”

I told him and everyone who was looking at me with concern that we weren’t lost and continued leading them. To assure them, I said.

“He usually likes to set up shop in these types of places, I think.”

“You think?”

Alex gave me a dubious look, which was understandable, but after turning a corner, I saw the wooden sign with the image of two hammers hanging outside a shop, which was Kinwall’s new shop.

"See, I told you.”

I pointed to Kinwall's shop and opened the door to let them in.

Inside, I call out for Kinwall.

“Hey Kinwall, it’s me, Nyx. I brought some friends with me.”

After a second or two, Kinwall shouted back from the back of the store.

“Oh, it’s you, and you even brought in some customers. Go look around and see if you want to buy anything.”

I told them, like what Kinwall told them, to look around.

They did just that and were impressed by the quality and types of weapons being shown in the shop, but unlike Rain, who saw the prices, they were not too surprised by it.

Coming to the front of the shop, Kinwall was using a towel to wipe off the soot of his hands and greeted me.

“Well, it has been a few months. How have you been?”

“Good. How about you, and why did you choose Acton to set up shop?”

“I’m doing well, and I chose Acton because you decided to come here, so why not.”

“I see.”

“So, do you need anything?”

Thinking about what I needed for a bit, I said.

“Can you make me some more throwing knives?”

“Don’t tell me that you lost them already.”

Kinwall looks ticked off about why I asked him to make more throwing knives.

“No, I’m just doing something with them, and I want some spares to use.”

“Oh okay.”

No longer ticked off, Kinwall turned to Alex and his party to ask if they found anything they wanted.

Turning to face Kinwall, all of them were surprised to see him, who was a dwarf. Alice was the most surprised out of all of them because she knew a dwarf was next to impossible to see in person, even if you were a noble.

“What? A Dwarf?!”

Kinwall chuckles at their surprise, especially Alice, who shouts it out.

After seeing their surprise, Kinwall turned to Chelsie, who wasn’t too surprised and was holding a sword in her hands.

“Ah, that's a nice sword you have there.”

Chelsie nodded yes and said it was for Alice, then she went to the counter and asked how much it was.

“How much is it?”

“3 silvers.”

Seeing Chelsie taking out a coin pouch and paying for it. I walk up to Alex, Wendy, Maria, and Alice to ask if there is anything else they might want to buy.

Alex and Wendy had stars in their eyes, like a child in a candy store looking at the weapons being displayed.

“Yeah, what do you think about this one?”

Alex showed me an ornately decorated sword with gold trimmings on its hilt that looked very pricey.

“Hey Nyx, how about this?”

Then Wendy showed me a halberd with a big axehead and a flat spike on its other end, which too looked pricey.

However, before I could get a word in, Maria interjected and said.

“Aren’t they quite expensive? I don’t think it wise to spend this much on new equipment since the ones we have work just fine.”

Alex and Wendy sulk like children when their parent tells them no to a toy they really want when Maria says it.

“What do you think, Nyx?”

Alex asked me what I thought, to which I responded.

“Maria is right; don’t spend on what you want but what you need. But if you do get it, why don’t we do a sparring match to test out your new weapons since we haven’t sparred with each other in a while?”

Hearing what I said, for some reason they immediately decided not to buy them, looking like they were terrified of something.

Alice, who had remained quiet, approached me and politely asked if she could talk to me about something with her outside in private.

Outside the store, I wondered what she wanted to talk about, in which Alice said sorry, then in a very formal aristocratic tone.

“I wanted to thank you for helping me for the last few days; I can’t thank you enough.”

Alice put her hand on her chest and bowed like an aristocrat.

“It’s not a problem; you don’t have to be so formal.”

“Oh, I see.”

Changing back to a more casual way of talking, she asked me if it would be okay if she asked me some questions.

I told her it would depend on what kind of questions she wanted to ask since I would rather not expose my identity.

“Can I ask why you decided to go through all the trouble, even getting yourself injured to help me?”

She asked that question, which was an understandable one because she already knew I was a noble. As nobles, we are trained to always be suspicious of everyone, especially whenever someone helps you without getting anything in return.

Honestly, Alice already knows that I’m a noble, and I am not doing a good job of keeping my noble origins a secret. What, like, a good handful of people already know I’m a noble.

Going back on track, I told her.

“There is no alternative motive, and you’re a friend of Alex, so it’s a good enough reason for me. Plus, when we were interrogating Yulis, it was a half-truth.”

“Half-truth?”

“Well, I was a part of a powerful family before I ran away. It was mostly due to family troubles, but for different reasons like yours.”

“Huh?”

Alice, surprised by my confession, placed her finger on her chin and thought for a bit like she was making a decision.

“I see. I want to thank you again for all the help you’ve given me and everyone. If you need anything, I am more than willing to help.”

Hearing her offer, I think I got one thing in mind, but I’m going to save it for another day.