I told her what I would be buying, meaning I was to fill all the slots I had on my gears. Of course I had to ask the price for the entire thing before actually buying. I might get short on money, that would be embarrassing you know. The new daggers aside, I would also have to pay on my fancy dagger’s upgrade cost.

In any case, she tallied the entire thing. And as it turned out, I could afford it! Hah! Good. Phew. And this was my personal money, by the way. And by personal money, I got it from the captain’s room. Yeah, motherfucker really kept a lot of money to himself.

The cost of the daggers was a bit more expensive compared back home though. I guess it was to be expected in this land and economy…? Anyway, it cost me some gold, but I still have plenty left along with the change, so all‌ was good.

Once I received the group of small and medium-sized daggers, I quickly slotted them into my sheaths. Yup, they were perfectly made. This girl was actually quite talented. I was truly impressed. I tried out one medium dagger and poured magic into it. The flow of mana truly felt lighter and better.

With a nod of apparent satisfaction, I sheathed the dagger and turned to look at my team. I also gave my leather wrapped old weapon set to Velar, he’d carry it for me in his bag.

“So, have you picked anything yet?” I asked them.

“I can’t afford them, I’m short,” Hartwin said. He seemed pretty interested though after hearing how specially made the weapons were.

“The money on me is for shopping, so sadly I can’t buy anything,” said Velar.

Aaaaw, poor guys.

I let out a sigh. No choice then. As I said, I still have plenty of gold coins left.

“Just pick a weapon you like, leave the payment to me.”

Hartwin’s eyes widened and glistened in excitement. “Really?!”

“Yes. Now go and pick something.” I turned to Velar. “You too. Pick a good one that you’re most comfortable with.”

Buy anything you want! Estelia, the sugar mama will pay for it all! I’m rich!

Besides, I’d need them at their best. Them lacking in good quality equipment would hold us back and might bring more trouble that could have been avoided. Thus, best to just give them the best weapons.

“As for the armors. We can buy them later or when we come back for my dagger.”

No rush. I was not feeling comfortable spending a lot of my money way before we set out. I might buy something I wanted, you know. Or for emergencies. Yeah, I get it, armors are important. However, I wanted to make sure everything fit the budget. Besides, as I said, we could just come back later and buy them. No harm. Don’t buy in bulk if resources are limited.

Hartwin quickly picked up a thin sword with a faintly glimmering blade, or, to be precise, a rapier. A smooth and slender blade, and a smooth curving knuckle guard, reaching and looping to the base of the blade. A straight metal crossguard that curved at the tips. It was a graceful-looking weapon.

That better not be too expensive, Hartwin. Even sugar mamas have limited budgets.

‘Booooh Estelia, you’re a fake sugar mama. Can’t even freely spend money!’ Shut up!

He tried swinging it in the air, his swings left white arcs in the sword’s motion. After several swings, he nodded with a satisfied smile.

“I’ve always used a rapier. But I lost mine when I got taken. Nice to be using one again. But it was not as good as this one, though.”

“I thought you were already decent with the normal sword,” I said.

“Yeah, but I wasn’t really feeling it. The rapier is for me. I trained under a master in the Holy Kingdom for a short time.”

Huh, so that’s why the way he used his sword from before seemed just a bit off.

“Oh? Did you manage to beat him?”

“Nope, but almost. But I left the capital city not long after.”

“You couldn’t have trained any longer?”

“It was never really my intention to master the weapon. Just enough to help me survive. And staying too long in a single place for training goes against my traveling poet thing. Staying too long and I might get too old to travel without back pain.”

“Huh.” I nodded. “Is that what you really want?”

“Yup.”

“Alright.”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

I asked for the price, and it was within my budget. Next, it was Velar’s turn to pick up a weapon. As I expected, he grabbed a greatsword, but given his large physique and strength, he easily held the big sword with one hand. Damn, there was no way without Physical Enhancement that I would be able to hold that with one hand, never mind two.

The sword’s design was far from plain, the hilt to the guard had some impressive shapes and curves. The blade had faintly glimmering dust as he turned it around. He seemed to have tried casting Armament Magic into the sword, apparent from its momentary glow.

“Indeed, it feels different and better. I never thought there was such technology here.”

I approached him. “Is that what you want?”

“Yes.”

“Okay.”

I returned to Esagi and asked for the total prices. I promptly paid for it all. Buying from this shop was quite heavy in the pocket, but oh well… At least we had new good weapons. I was quite excited to try them later.

She also gave the two guys the sheathes for their weapons. Velar strapped his greatsword on his back, while Hartwin smoothly sheathed his rapier to his waist with a proud grin. As for the previous swords they had, we’d be bringing them back to the ship. Someone else may use them.

“When will my dagger be finished?” I asked.

“It should be done in three days from now. I’ll start working on this immediately.”

“Understood. We’ll be back in three days then. Good luck.”

“You too, stay safe. And thanks for your purchases.”

And with our business done here, we left the shop after I covered my head again. I let out a satisfied sigh and touched the hilts of my new fresh daggers.

I want to try them so bad.

Damn, our only purpose for today was to only go shopping for necessities for travel. And we ended up buying expensive weapons. That’s why we shouldn’t go to a mall with a lot of good things while carrying a shitload of money. We always end up spending big.

I’m almost broke…

I sighed internally. Guess it was time to scour the captain’s cabin again. There might be more money under a cabinet or something.

“Alright, time to get back to our real purpose of going out!”

We continued walking on. But then, a moment later, I stopped in place. With sharp, wary eyes, I looked around. A frown formed on my beautiful brow. I put a hand on my dagger. I have had this feeling since earlier, I assumed it was nothing since we just got out in a public place.

However, this was different. I had a feeling we were being watched and followed, and had been since we left the ship. I couldn’t tell where exactly, but it was what my instincts were telling me. I looked around, through the crowd, to the rooftops, but I couldn’t find any signs of them. They were good.

Who the fuck would tail us?

We hadn’t done anything bad. Hm. At least they were only watching us. But who would tail us? And they were doing quite well in blending in with the environment. Not anyone normal could have done it. But I had a candidate in mind.

And quite honestly, I had imagined that they would do something like this. They seemed wary of us since our meeting. Namely, the garrison commander and his goons. Of course they would be wary, we were not exactly normal people here. I could tell that he could sense how dangerous we were. I just hoped he would leave it be, but it would seem he decided to be unnecessarily cautious.

And to be honest, it was a bit annoying.

“Is something the matter?” Velar asked.

I shook my head. “Nothing important, I’ll tell you later.”

I’d worry about it later. For the meantime, at least they were still watching only. As long as they don’t do anything drastic, I’d leave them alone for now.

And thus, we continued shopping.

We walked all over the place, looking for the best deals and the best quality. As for how we determine the best quality? Well, guessing mostly. But hey, we had Hartwin, being a traveler and all, he had some knowledge on camping equipment. Still, what else should we judge, anyway? They were just standard things, nothing too complicated. There was no way there would be such shitty equipment.

Oh no wait, there were things to be considered. Things to be slept on!

At any rate, we found some tents for sale. We bought a few of those and an extra — our tent could get damaged by monsters. And sleeping sheets and bags. Here we had to be careful of the quality. I wanted something smooth and soft. But perhaps I was expecting too much from this place. The things they had didn’t have the same quality of sheets back at the palace.

Some of the products displayed were imported, and they were of decent quality, so we bought those.

Now to buy others, water pouches, cooking equipment, plates, and so on. Furthermore, we also bought some jackets, in case it gets cold. As for the other traveling outfits, we only bought a few clothes that looked decent. We’ll be going back to the weapons shop, they had some protective clothes there that we might find useful.

And thus, after some more shopping, we were done! A lot of time was spent on shopping, but it was entertaining. Yeah, shopping was fun. I never got to go out on a lot of shopping back in my old life. Not to mention going on a shopping spree. We always had what we needed. And even if we bought a lot from the malls, what would we do with them? And why would we even need them?

Phones? Phones were nice to buy. But the organization was quite strict on that. Had to use the tech given by the organization as it was more secure. Phones could be used to track and spying after all, or just less secure. But hey, at least we could use those proprietary phones for casual browsing of the internet.

Clothes, though, we could buy a few. But not too much, since I’d be moving out after a mission, anyway. I always go to different places. So yeah, there was not much reason or merit to go on a casual shopping trip. But going to the cinema was fun.

So this small shopping spree right now was fun for me. I just wished it was more for casual things, but maybe next time once it’s all over. And it would have been more fun if the one trailing us just got lost! Dammit.

Anyhow, our shopping led us to lots of places, so it was also a good outing out in the city. Velar was the one to carry most of the things, with the bag hanging on his shoulder. Hartwin was also carrying some. Me? Well, I’m a lady, so I carried nothing.

As we began making our way back, I noticed a particular building. It was more well made than the ones next to it. More neat. More governmental. Then I noticed a board with papers pinned on them. Then I noticed a particular paper with a sketch drawn on it.

“Let’s take a look over there.”

I made my way to the wooden board, my two companions following behind me. I snuck through some of the people that were also standing there and stepped close to the paper I saw.

It’s the same one.

The bounty.

“You looked at it back in the bar too,” Velar said. “Are you interested in taking it?”

… To be honest, I was tempted. So tempted. Assassination mission. It has always been my nature to do those jobs…

“We can go inside and ask more about it,” Hartwin said.

I let out a sigh and contemplated. “... It wouldn’t hurt to ask for some information about it.” I had yet to decide whether or not I would do it anyway. “Let’s get inside.”