Translator: Nox

Chapter 25

25

"The magic dye here is what our lord uses!"

"By lord, do you mean Archduke Illestone?"

"Of course! Who else would be the lord of this village other than Archduke Illestone? That's why, even though it's sold in a small shop like this, the quality is excellent. Our noble lady can use it without worry. And that's not all."

The owner stretched out both hands as if performing in a play.

"The silk, fabric, and colored paper here are all supplied to the Archduke's estate."

"Oh, my."

The owner, seeing that Simone seemed to be listening attentively, became even more excited.

"Whatever you choose, you'll be satisfied, satisfied, completely satisfied!"

So, that's why they sell such expensive fabrics and silks in this village. It must be a place that handles orders for the Archduke and the few nobles.

He was very excited about the rare big spender and pointed to the display case.

"Now, what color do you want? If you wish, you can also order the color you want. The colors here are all quite plain to suit the tastes of our regular customers."

"Plain is good."

"Oh! Then you'll like what we have! Please, take your time and look around-"

The owner led Simone to the area with the dyes and disappeared. Simone, arm in arm with Anna, looked around at the dyes and said,

"They said it's expensive and precious, but there's quite a lot, isn't there?"

"Orders may not come in often, but there are many people who buy in bulk when they do visit. It must be quite difficult to come to such a dangerous place again."

"Unless you go all the way to the capital, there aren't many places that sell magic dye, so quite a few people order from here," Bam added. Simone nodded and quickly reached out to pick up a dye at random.

"If the colors are plain, there's no need to choose."

It was full of common colors like orange and brown that would be suitable for use during Archduke Illestone's inspections, the only customer. Since they were all unobtrusive colors, it seemed like she could buy them all.

"How long does it last once it's dyed?"

The owner, who had been standing a little away, answered Simone's question.

"If you take good care of it, it lasts for a week! Magicians who can handle Mana can even make it last for a month, they say?"

Simone, who was pleased with the colors and was about to excitedly say, 'Give me everything from here to there,' paused.

"...What's different about magicians?"

"Excuse me? Haha, miss, is this your first time buying magic dye?"

When the owner reacted as if he were hearing something absurd, Anna explained quietly.

"Magic dye is also made using Mana. Magicians who can handle Mana well can maintain the color longer so that it doesn't fade."

"Oh, really?"

Simone's eyes rolled around.

Then I don't need that much, do I?

The dye she had been using so far gradually lost its effect after half a day, so she thought other dyes would be the same and planned to store a large quantity.

But if magicians can manage the color through Mana, and Simone had Mana to spare, wouldn't she be able to maintain this kind of dye with a simple study?

"Two of each color."

"Yes!"

When the guard brought a basket, Anna carefully began to put the dyes from the display case into it.

"Huk! Miss! That's so much!"

Then, the owner, who had been pretending to be polite and had been subtly sitting at the counter doing other things, rushed over to them in a fluster.

"Miss, you're buying this much? Goodness!"

Simone was very embarrassed to see the owner smiling brightly and bowing obsequiously, which didn't suit him at all.

Only buying six? Is it that expensive?

Simone turned her gaze away from the owner, who was repeatedly saying, 'Thank you, thank you,' and looked at Anna and Bam. The two of them nodded urgently at the same time.

'It's incredibly expensive. Extremely expensive. Insanely expensive.'

Bam said urgently with his lips from behind Anna.

If I had really asked for everything from here to there, it would have been a disaster, wouldn't it?

Simone chuckled and asked.

"Are we short on money?"

"It's not that we're short on money..."

"Then buy it. We can't come often anyway."

"...Yes!"

"I, I don't know anything. I'll be outside."

Anna took the basket that Bam was holding and headed to the counter, and Bam walked out of the store with an even paler face.

Anna, who had bought the dye with Simone and left the store, naturally asked about the next destination.

"Where shall we go next?"

At Anna's question, Simone looked around with a troubled expression.

"I want to buy a book. ...Hmm."

I wonder if there's a bookstore?

Simone hadn't imagined that this village would be so desolate.

Even if it had declined, it was still a village ruled by the Archduke's family, so she thought it would at least have the basics...

The Archduke's mansion seemed to be living without any shortages, so she didn't know that the village would be this poor.

How many people in this village could afford to buy and read books?

The dye shop from earlier was only making sales because Archduke Illestone was giving them business.

"There's no bookstore... is there? There's a book I want to buy."

"There's a bookstore... there is!"

"There is?"

"Yes!"

A bookstore in a place like this?

Simone looked at where Anna was pointing. And after a moment, her expression became ambiguous.

"That's a bookstore?"

Anna smiled awkwardly.

"Haha, well... it looks a bit shabby, but... there are really a lot of books! Well, there aren't any new books, though."

A tent roughly built with wooden planks. Underneath, books were piled haphazardly on two carts.

Bam quietly approached and added an explanation.

"For reference, it doesn't just sell books. It sells all sorts of things-"

"A general store?"

"Well, something like that."

"...Shall we go take a look?"

Let's not have high expectations. Simone walked towards the general store.

Books and items were piled high on the cart like a game of Tetris. If you stretched your neck and looked beyond them, you could barely see a messy head of hair.

"Ahem, is anyone there?"

Anna made a sound to attract attention in Simone's place. Then the man with the messy hair, the owner of the general store, stretched his neck and looked at them, just like Simone. Then he frowned.

"What is it? Nobles? Seriously."

...Well, the first impression wasn't very good.

"Doesn't seem like you're the customers I was expecting."

"We didn't make an appointment."

"Then get lost."

...What?

The owner of the store glanced at Simone as if she were a nuisance and turned his head away.

At the owner's words, Simone, Anna, and the guards froze and couldn't move.

He's telling us to leave if we didn't make an appointment?

"Isn't this a general store?"

"Uh, that's... it should be... Actually, I've never been here before..."

Anna glanced at the guards. Then Bam said,

"It is a general store, but he's probably doing other things too."

"Other things?"

Bam smiled silently.

"This isn't the place to talk about it. Just ignore the owner and look at the books. He probably won't refuse someone who wants to buy something."

"Hey, why aren't you leaving?"

When they didn't leave and were whispering among themselves, the owner poked his head out again, annoyed.

Then he flinched and asked subtly with a slightly brighter expression.

"Or do you have some business here?"

"We came to buy books."

"Ah."

At Simone's answer, the owner immediately lost interest.

"Take a quick look and get out of here. What kind of books would a young lady like you find here? You should go to the city."

The owner kept grumbling, but Simone ignored him and looked around at the books.

It didn't seem like they were collected with any particular purpose or consistency, but rather just gathered whatever was visible without discrimination.

From fairy tales for young children to worn-out cookbooks, and even someone's diary or books of unknown origin.

In fact, as the owner said, it didn't seem like Simone would find the book she wanted here.

'But there's no other choice.'

"By the way, Simone, what kind of book are you looking for?"

"A book about the Illestone family and Necromancers. Since this is Archduke Illestone's territory, I thought there would be at least one book about the family."

Of course, Simone remembered most of the information she had read in books, but frankly, who would read a book so carefully, word by word?

She came to find things she had missed or didn't know.

At Simone's words, the owner, who had lost interest in her, stretched his neck out again and looked at Simone.

"I don't know if you're a noble or a wealthy man's precious daughter, but why would you come to this dangerous place to look for books? And you're looking for books that are nothing but ominous."

Simone smiled at the owner's words.

"Do you have it?"

"Um, Simone."

Bam quietly approached and whispered.

"In the Luan Empire, books about Necromancers are Forbidden books. You probably won't be able to find them anywhere-"

"Try looking for those books. Maybe they're here, maybe they're not."

At the owner's nonchalant words, Simone and Bam quickly turned their heads towards him.

"You have it? A Forbidden book?"

Bam asked with a suspicious tone, and the owner chuckled.

"Did you come here without knowing where you were and ask for a book about Necromancers? I thought you knew."

At his words, Anna tilted her head as if she didn't understand, and the guards looked at Simone with a gesture to leave, as if they were nervous.

Something was too suspicious. It didn't seem like just a general store that picked up and sold anything useful.