[So, what is Kaito-san looking for?]
[Ah, errr… I’m going to the Sacred Tree Festival, and I thought I’d find things to prepare for that.]
Alice asked, shaking her long blonde hair, and I explained why I came here.
The fact that she’s no longer wearing that stuffed costume makes her look somehow different.
If she just took off her mask and stopped talking, she might come across as an easy-going beauty. But then again, her personality seems to be ruining everything…
[Heehhh~ The Sacred Tree Festival, huh? Leave it to me! Within this store, “aside from food,” you can find anything!]
[Unnn? Why don’t you have food here?]
[I mean, if I sold food here, I’d end up eating it!]
[………………..]
What is this overwhelming sense of disappointment I’m feeling… Seriously, is it really okay to rely on this person? No, I don’t feel like it’s going to be okay.
Anyway, let’s just buy five of the cheapest things I can find and go home.
[By the way, is this your first time attending the Sacred Tree Festival, Kaito-san?]
[Eh? Yeah.]
[Then it’s a good idea to get yourself some decent shoes.]
[Shoes?]
When I heard her mention shoes, I tilted my head, unsure of what she meant.
[Yes, it’s a common mistake that first-timers make… You’ll be walking through a forest, and not every path will have good footing. It would be difficult to navigate that in stiff shoes.]
[I-I see…]
It’s true that most shoes in this world are leather, and the pair I’m wearing now is quite stiff.
I also have sneakers, but they don’t really match my current outfit and stand out too much, so I kept them in my Magic Box.
[The Sacred Tree Festival is in 10 days, so you should buy them now while you have the chance and get used to wearing them.]
[So, you’re saying it’s better to prepare soft shoes to wear, huh…]
[That’s right… And this is the one I recommend! This pair is made from the skin of the Aqua Lizard, which has excellent elasticity! They stretch well and are durable, so unless your feet are unusually sized, they should fit perfectly! Plus, they’re dirt-resistant, so you can confidently walk through beast tracks without worrying about getting them dirty!]
[………………]
Arehh? Somehow, doesn’t that sound like a decent sales pitch?
Taking the shoes Alice offered me with a smile on her face, I examined them. They certainly looked soft and comfortable to wear. The color was a calming dark gray, and the design was nice without being too flashy… Honestly, I wanted them.
[They certainly look good, but… wouldn’t they be expensive?]
[That’s right~~ We used some good materials for that pair… How about 100R!?]
[Eh? I’ll buy them then.]
[Thank you for your purchase!]
It was just about 10,000 yen… Quite the bargain. Or more like, no matter how I looked at it, didn’t it seem like it was too cheap?
Even though I’m not familiar with the prices of goods in this world, I could tell these shoes were of high quality. No, as far as I’m concerned, I’m just happy I got something good at such a low price… But after seeing her earlier, backed into a corner as if she were about to lose all her money, I couldn’t help but worry about Alice’s purse.
[……Isn’t this too cheap? Wouldn’t Alice be at a disadvantage with this cost…?]
[Eh? No, not really… I mean, that’s “shoes I made myself,” and I’m also the one who acquired the raw materials used in them.]
[I-Is that so? Are Aqua Lizards that easy to hunt?]
[Yeah, they’re just “3-meter long” lizards, after all. They’re quite easy to hunt.]
[…………………]
A 3-meter long lizard… Isn’t that big enough to be considered a monster? Eh? Do humans in this world hunt 3-meter long lizards like it’s nothing? What the heck, that sounds terrifying.
In front of me, slightly surprised, Alice moves toward the shelves lined with weapons like knives and swords.
[If you’re looking for a harvest knife, they’re over here. Looking at you, Kaito-san, you don’t seem like you’re used to handling knives, so I think you’d prefer something simple.]
[I-Is that so?]
[Yes, it’s no laughing matter if you suddenly cut your own hand, or someone else’s~~. I think you should pick one with a blade that’s short and not curved… Alright, how about this one?]
[What’s that?]
[This knife is made from electrum, which is a little heavy but very stable. The main feature of this knife is that there’s a magic crystal in the center of the blade. When you imbue your magic power into it, a blade made of wind will spread out from the blade, so even an amateur can cut things easily with it. The magic crystal used in this knife is of good quality, so you won’t run out of magic power just from normal use. It would be a different story if you forced a large amount of magic power into it to make the blade huge, though.]
She pulled out something else that looked incredibly impressive.
In short, this was also a type of Magic Tool—one that helps the user cut with precision, even if they’re not skilled at handling a knife, by deploying a blade of magic power.
The blade itself was a pale golden color, and the handle was finely crafted, almost like a piece of art with some inherent value.
This was definitely an expensive item… In fact, I remembered seeing something similar when Kuro and I visited the Magic Tool market before. The one I saw was a bit bigger, but I think it was priced around 2000R.
Anyone would consider a 200,000 yen knife to be expensive, but Kuro had said that this was the standard cost for Magic Tools that could also double as weapons.
[H-How should I say this… This certainly looks good, but it looks really expensive.]
[It’s definitely more expensive than those shoes from earlier… How about 500R?]
[……I’ll buy it.]
[Thank you for your purchase!]
It was surprisingly cheap.
Or rather, no matter how you looked at it, this was too cheap. Could it be…
[Hey, Alice. Could it be that this is also…]
[Eh? Yes, I made it too.]
[……I knew it.]
[I mean, most of the products in the store are things I made myself… That’s because we don’t have the money to buy them from other places.]
Surprised by her words, I looked around the shop.
Shoes, clothes, accessories, weapons, Magic Tools… Did Alice make all of this? T-That’s amazing.
She can make shoes, sew clothes, craft accessories, forge weapons, gather her own materials, and everything here is so well-made that anyone would think it was created by professionals.
…How the heck can she be so poor that she can’t even afford a decent meal when her specs are this high?
[……Why isn’t this store popular at all when you’re selling such great stuff for such a cheap price?]
[That’s the thing. Well~~ Even I don’t know why, but most customers leave as soon as they open the door. Is it because the interior decoration looks bad?]
[……………..]
No, I’m pretty sure they’re just running away the moment they see the shopkeeper wearing a stuffed costume, aren’t they? That’s what I almost did earlier…
No, no, even if customers don’t come here, that’s another matter. There are plenty of other ways for her to make money from her skills…
[No, if you can’t sell it in your store, why not wholesale it somewhere else…]
[……Huh?]
[No, like I said, if you can make something this good, couldn’t you wholesale it to a company? I’m sure they’d buy it from you.]
[……I hadn’t thought about that.]
H-How should I put this… She really is quite the disappointing person. She has such high specs that she could earn a lot of money without even trying, but her character—or rather, her usual behavior—ruins it all.
No, at this rate, even if she were to wholesale her items to a company, I think she’d still fail.
[Ahhh~ Speaking of which, I once tried to apply to open a store… but they almost beat me up, telling me not to come back.]
[……Did you go there in that stuffed costume of yours?]
[Eh? Well, that should be obvious, right?]
[Are you an idiot?]
[People have strangely told me that a lot.]
Correction. She already failed.
This is no good. Her potential is too high, but she’s fatally disappointing.
Well, seriously, I guess it’s really true what they say—God doesn’t give two gifts.
(I don’t remember giving anyone any abilities, though?)
Hush, airhead goddess.
Dear Mom, Dad—the items in Alice’s shop were all first class, but unfortunately, Alice—seemed to be hopelessly lacking in her business abilities.