…
Straf and Cycelia are walking along the road. The sun is low in the sky. Straf spots a handful of buildings in the distance.
「Finally. I'm getting bored of walking.」
「Are we going to do something here, Straf?」
「You tell me. I was going to offload some things in the city, but that greedy rat of a merchant pissed me off and I totally forgot. I hope I can find a place that will take my trash here. I'll remember that stupid mustache of his…」
「Um… It's not exactly like the last one, Straf. It's a little… provincial.」
「Eh? You mean it's a hole with nothing to do?」
Cycelia almost rolls her eyes, but her manners prevent her.
「Straf, please have more tact…」
She says, then sighs.
「…Yes. But please don't call it that around the people.」
She finishes her thought.
「Well, you know what they say, any hole is a goal. I hope there's at least one shop I can scam- Convince to buy my stuff.」
Straf glances at the sky, he catches a glimpse of the sun and looks away instantly when he feels his eyes burn with great intensity.
「Ow… And this sun is killing me, too. I hope there's something to cool off with there.」
He says as he rubs his eyes with his fingers, squinting and blinking, teary eyed.
「Maybe an ice cream stall?」
Cycelia chuckles softly as she walks with her hands behind her back, one holding the other's fingers. Straf stares off into the distant town as he thinks.
「…Honestly, I'd overlook that one making no sense out of pure convenience right now.」
They continue onward towards the town, along the long, straight and flat road. About an hour later, they arrive amidst the first buildings and head further inward. Straf notices a building with a sign, portraying just an assortment of random items related to daily life.
「This must be general goods. Let's go, Lia.」
He pushes the door to the store and walks in with Cycelia. He is immediately greeted by a man standing at the tall, elongated desk inside the shop. He stands beside a woman about his age, both of them just slightly past their youth. The room is absolutely filled with shelves stocked with most random of things, from books through pointless trinkets to cooking implements, non-exclusive of course.
「Welcome, feel free to browse.」
「Actually, I'm here to sell some stuff.」
「We generally… We don't usually buy things.」
The man furrows his brows as he leans on his counter, he and the woman exchange quick glances before looking at Straf.
「Oh wait just a moment, you will want to see this. You can't afford not to buy this!」
Straf opens his [Portable Storage] and starts pulling things out, laying them down onto the counter. The shopkeepers look at each other perplexed, then lean a little to get a better look at the hole. It closes before they can, however.
「How about this? It looks like a regular silver cup, but it's actually magical.」
He holds up the 『Detoxifying Goblet』 and sets it down in front of the shopkeeper with a hollow clink.
「Well, that's very… Impressive. But I don't see why-」
The man looks at the silver chalice with a raised eyebrow, the woman stares at Straf like a hawk with crossed arms, and Cycelia looks at the items on the shelves in the background.
「You pour any poisonous toxic sludge into this cup, and in a day you will have beautiful and clean drinkable water.」
「Well, that's actually a little-」
The man's eyebrows shoot up as he hears about the goblet's properties. The woman immediately chides him.
「Harold, no. We don't have the money for these things.」
「But we could resell it to an adventurer-」
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「No.」
「Well then how about this? You can look at your own body and see inside. Here, have a go.」
Straf hands the man the 『Introspective Magnifying Glass』, he looks at his hand and grins a little.
「Heh. That's interesting, I didn't know it looks like that on the inside…」
「Yeah. Imagine the medical potential too! You could tell if you have a fracture, or something!」
Straf shills his loot to the man, the woman is less than pleased. The shopkeeper lowers the magnifying glass to his groin.
「Hahaha! How much do you want for this thing?」
He laughs as he keeps looking around random parts of his body. Cycelia walks up to the counter, he lifts his magnifying glass to her chest. She tilts her head a little.
「It doesn't work.」
The man says, with clear disappointment in his voice.
「Of course it doesn't, I told you it's for your own body. I wouldn't be selling it otherwise. How does 4 silvers sound?」
「Harold…」
The woman glares daggers at the man, sucking the life out of him.
「Well, that's kind of steep. I don't think we can-」
He mournfully puts the magnifying glass away on the counter. Straf clicks his tongue, puts on his 『Masseur's Comforting Gloves』 and tries again.
《Son of a bitch, what is charisma even good for!?》
「Okay, how about this!? These gloves make any massages given feel really good! You can't afford not to buy them!」
Straf says as he reaches for the woman's shoulders without a warning. He grabs onto them, and starts massaging.
「We don't want your- Ah. Ahhh…」
The woman suddenly goes slack on the counter and moans in pleasure. The man at the situation with very troubled expression.
「See!? Isn't that good!?」
Straf says as he massages the woman's shoulders with the silky white gloves.
「Yesh… Sho good…」
「Ah- Straf! Maybe we should not sell-」
Cycelia suddenly chimes in with a tight-lipped grimace and huge eyes as she watches Straf pleasure the woman. The man grabs Straf's wrists and lifts them off her shoulders.
「Okay, that's enough. I don't think we want your things-」
「Harold! Ah… We're buying that!」
「What? But-」
《Heh. Suckers.》
「That'll be 5 gold.」
Straf announces with a grin. Cycelia frowns, and her shoulders slump.
「What!? We're not paying that-」
「We are getting them!」
The woman argues with the man, she gets 4 gold coins from underneath the counter, and pulls out additional 10 silver coins. Straf takes the gloves off and hands them to the gleefully smiling woman. The man leans into her ears and whispers very loudly.
「Mila! That's nearly all the money we have!」
「I don't care!」
「So, how about the rest of the things? Honestly, the chalice at 4 silvers is a daylight robbery…」
「We'll take that too… So I can make back at least some of this loss…」
The man says as he glares at the woman.
「They're all magical?」
The woman asks Straf.
「Yup.」
Straf nods and answers confidently. The shopkeepers look at each others.
「We'll take everything. But we don't have that much money left.」
「Well, whatever. Just give me what you've got and it's yours.」
Straf rolls his eyes and shrugs with his loose fists on his hips.