“Do you have any skills that allow me to clean myself? A self-cleaning skill.”

Wisp rolled her eyes and mimed passing out. “Oh, for crying out loud…”

The proprietor pointed at Ike. “A wise man! A wise man indeed. A filthy man makes no sales, nor does he receive any attention from lovers. Self-cleaning skills are essential to the modern business market! What kind do you want? I have all sorts.”

“All sorts?” Ike asked, suddenly lost.

“Well, for the basic beginner, there’s all-purpose cleanliness skills—the kind that will wipe mud and filth clean. Then there’s de-scenting skills, skills that will leave you smelling of the sweetest cologne, skills to cleanse one’s skin and hair specifically—”

“Will the all-purpose skill not do that?” Ike asked, lost.

“Oh, it will, but there’s a difference between clean and clean, no? Now. We also have area-cleaning skills, tent-cleaning, house-cleaning, clothes-cleaning, bath-starting, soaping—”

Overwhelmed, Ike raised his hand. “I just need a skill that cleans me and my clothes. If it can also remove my scent, that would be great.” It’d be helpful for hunting. Animals have strong senses of smell. Spirit beasts and monsters are stronger in all ways, so they’ll be able to smell me even better.

The proprietor sighed. “Just an ordinary cleansing and de-scenting skill?”

“And my clothes. Thanks,” Ike said.

Shaking his head, the proprietor waved his hand. One of the orbs floated to his hand. “As you requested. One day, someone will appreciate my artistry…”

“Hey, can I get a de-scenting skill, too? No need for the cleansing part,” Wisp piped up.

“Two general purpose cleansing and de-scenting skills,” the proprietor groaned. He waves his hand, and a second skill floated to him.

“You can leave out the cleaning,” Wisp repeated.

The proprietor ignored her.

Ike watched the skill float to the proprietor’s hand. He tilted his head. “How do you do that? A wind skill? Some kind of invisible hand skill?”

The proprietor paused. He looked at Ike. “Have you never heard of the Witch’s House?”

“Uh… no,” Ike said.

“Or the Wizard’s Tower. It’s an old technique. Not everyone invests in it. But for those who do, it can be exceedingly fruitful. Depending on your strength, when you hit fourth realm, you can invest your mana into your surroundings. If you’re a low-strength mage like me, you can only invest in a small area, like this shop. A higher strength mage can invest in their entire manor, or even mountain.”

He snapped his fingers. All around him, the skill orbs lifted off the walls. They floated around him. Quickly, they spiraled around his body, then floated back to where they began and settled into their own slots.

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“If you do it, you can freely control everything you’ve invested your mana into. You have full control over your surroundings.”

“Buuuuut, it locks you in to Rank 4,” Wisp said, tucking her hands behind her head. She glanced at Ike. “Since you have to invest so much mana that you can’t recover it. And you need to constantly feed your surroundings with mana. Unless you hook into a mana vein, you can’t maintain it, and once you hook into a mana vein, you can’t move freely anymore. Since we don’t have the lifespan of a mountain, that’s a dead end for us. Can’t gather enough resources to advance, so you just sit still and kick it.”

The proprietor cut a look at Wisp. “So they say. I’ve heard of a land where everyone considers this an essential step to advance. Castles, manors, even libraries… everyone invests in their own Witch’s House to move from Rank 4 to 5.”

“Well, if that’s the case, then I wish you luck in finding that land when you’re locked down to this store,” Wisp said blithely. She yawned, tucking her hands behind her head.

Ike stepped in front of her. “Please forgive my companion, sir, she likes to talk. How much for the skills?” Hey, Wisp! Sass this man after we pay him, okay? I don’t want to have to pay for your sass!

The proprietor snapped back into business mode. “Five thousand each, for a total of ten thousand gold.”

Ike reached into his storage ring and began to pull it out. A few coins plinked on the floor as his hand overflowed.

“Wait, wait. Here.” The proprietor offered up a ring of his own.

“Oh!” Ike nodded. Transferring such a bulk of gold ring to ring made far more sense. He placed his hand over the proprietor’s ring and willed the proper amount of gold to cross over. The proprietor checked his storage ring. Satisfied, he passed over the skills.

“Thank you!” Ike passed Wisp her copy of the skill. With a nod, he left the shop.

Wisp followed him out. She stared glumly at the skill. “I bet he had a de-scenting version only.”

“Being clean really isn’t that bad,” Ike said, sighing.

Wisp twisted her lips. She tossed the orb up and swallowed it down, patting her belly. “Okay. I’m full.”

“That’s good,” Ike said. Much more, and we might not be able to sleep in beds tonight. And what’s the point of staying in town if we’re not sleeping in beds?

He checked his gold. Gold glittered brightly inside the storage ring, still piled high on the walls. No, that’s an exaggeration. Damn, I’m rich.

He nudged Wisp. “So how are we going to do the plan?”

“The plan where we sweep in and save the city and also steal everything in the treasury at the same time?” Wisp said. She put a hand on her chin, thinking. After a second, she snapped her fingers. “The black-robed mages! We trick them into attacking, and then—”

“They’re Rank 3 at best. You might’ve been too busy sassing to notice, but that guy in the shop was using a technique you can only use at Rank 4 and above.”

“He was a weak Rank 4.”

“You’re only Rank 3.”

Wisp looked at him. “You don’t know that.”

Ike raised a brow.

“I am,” she admitted, nodding. She paused. “But I’m a strong Rank 3.”

Ike sighed. “The point isn’t that we couldn’t beat the shopkeeper. We probably couldn’t, but maybe on a good day—no. The point is that this city has Rank 4 shopkeeps. In a city that powerful, do you really think a Rank 2 mage, a Rank 3 monster, and their adopted baby mountain can swoop in and save the day?”

Wisp opened her mouth, then shut it. She sighed. “Yeaaaah. Maybe we need to aim for a different city.”

“There’s always the next one,” Ike reassured her. He glanced over his shoulder at the towering walls. If this city was so high-Rank, maybe that was why the black-robed mages had fallen back. All it took was one Rank 4 mage to decide to step in on Ike and Wisp’s side for the black-robed mages to get obliterated.

He rubbed the back of his neck. Still, something feels off, even so. Ike glanced around, but couldn’t find anything wrong. Nothing but that persistent sense.

Wisp nudged Ike. “Let’s go take a nap.”

“Okay.” There was no reason not to. The persistent feeling of wrongness was all in his head. The black-robed mages were outside the walls, and refused to enter.

I’m just being paranoid. Putting it all behind him, Ike followed Wisp toward the inn.