"I have weapons, but I want to MAKE weapons. Enough to build my own weapon shop, but I don't have enough money for it you see, so I'm training as a merchant by helping my dad sell his weapons for now. Oh, my name's Lydia by the way."
"I see… market price…"
As I was in deep thought Lydia started talking again.
"Ugh, I don't even know the market price. How could I sell these…"
"I know them. Reasonable prices for your items that is."
Really?! I showed Lydia a surprised face.
"This isn't the first time I've seen these. These are the equivalent to an adventurer's scraps."
I knew they weren't uncommon but…
"Oh, but isn't it amazing? Having all these at your age."
This woman named Lydia may be talking friendly, but she's picked me out as a target…
She's probably going to buy my items for cheap since I don't know the market price.
But I'm out of time.
This might not be too bad of an ordeal if at I can get some profit, even if only a little.
"Lydia, I don't like it when things are too roundabout, so I don't mind skipping the pleasantries. That said, I need a large quantity of magic recovery items, and I want them in a magic bag. In exchange I have some high-grade mediums needed for casting 'Soul' magic, how's that sound?
Magic bags are small bags that were enchanted with a spell, so they can hold a large number of items despite their size.
It's one of the Mage Associations greatest inventions, the storage space inside can grow in accordance with its owner's magic power.
By its nature, it's impossible for anyone to only own one of these.
Even if the user's magic lines haven't been opened and they have no magic power, a certain amount of space can still be secured, so for an adventurer it's a must have item.
"Ahhaha, you're good for a kid. You say some interesting things you know~"
"I'm in a hurry."
"Hey, that's poor negotiating. Wouldn't you feel bad if I said something like that?"
"I can say it because I'm a kid."
"Ahhaha, it's rare finding someone as honest as you."
As she said so Lydia stood up and started rummaging through her cart. *Gosogoso*
"I have a bag with a small space, but it holds a decent amount of magic recovery items."
Hmm… I pondered it for a second, then I turned towards Milly who was making a funny expression as she slept.
I need to get as much as possible before I'm defeated.
"That ring and a magic bag full of recovery items, I'll give you a set for 50 mediums."
That ring has a enchant that increases the wearer's physical strength.
It's expensive, but for the bag and recovery items, it's not a bad exchange for 50 mediums a set.
The mediums aren't needed for someone with my magic power.
"That sounds good."
"Negotiations complete."
The bags and the recovery items were removed from the cart, after taking out the mediums, I packed 50 of them into a bag and handed it back to her.
Yup, they're there.
Lydia also passed the ring over to me.
"Thanks, you saved me."
"You know you were just an easy target right?"
"I didn't mind it though."
While grinning, Lydia started laughing in response to my answer.
She made a face that had a poisonous feeling to it, and reached out for a handshake.
"Same here, that was a good negotiation. Here's my business card, because it says the location of my dad's weapon shop, come over to visit sometime."
"Yeah, okay."
I took her hand as I said so.
While pulling her cart with a rattle, Lydia left.
There's no reason to pull a cart if you could just put everything in a magic bag.
I often wonder why items are handled like so.
Well soon, we'll be going out of business.
I'll try to sell the rest of the accessories with the next one.
When I shook Milly to wake her up, she made a grumpy face while she rubbed her eyes.
Just like this morning, she's probably really bad at waking up.
In order to understand the market better,we walked around for a bit, and compared to the prices of the future overall everything was pretty much cheaper.
Just like the previous negotiation, there were a lot of people like Lydia who were willing to trade. Even though I suffered a little loss I didn't feel bad, in fact the people who I made deals with felt bad instead.
They showed me the locations of their stores, maybe with a little intent of advertising though.
It's probably a good time to leave the mall now.
After I fulfilled all my goals for the day, it was already evening.
I need to be home before it gets dark.
"Let's go home Milly."
When I looked back and said so, her eyes were glued to a shop window displaying some dolls.
Really, she's still a kid…
Sighing, I pulled Milly's hand, and we walked outside the city.
This time we'll go at our own paces, since Milly can cast teleport on her own now that she's awake…
-On our way back, only a little bit away from Nanami.
A Bluzel was reflected in my field of view.
Hmm, I want to try something…
When I stopped teleporting Milly also stopped.
"What's wrong Zeph?"
"I want to experiment with something, you can head back first."
"I'm going to feel anxious if you say something like that, I want to see too!"
"Have it your way."
When I said experiment, I meant I want to experiment how much magic power would be needed with the King of Death as the opponent.
For instance, if you remember my time travel spell 'Time Leap', I made many experiments testing how much magic power it would need from me.
No, it's more like time regression rather than travel.
Time Leap itself, even when it wasn't complete it took all the magic power of a fully trained me to use, consuming an enormous amount.
My suspicion is whether the me of now can use it or not, if I can it'll dramatically increase our success rate in boss-hunting.
I meditated until my magic made a full recovery, and then targeted the Bluezel.
Time Square!
And…
"" Red Blaster!'"
I penetrated the Bluezel with a light extending from my hand, but it didn't end there…
The lines multiplied, all of them aiming towards the Bluezel, penetrating it, extinguishing it.
The shine from the lines died off as the Bluezel disappeared, leaving a chill in front of my hand, the air became cold too.
All that was remaining was a thread of smoke.
"That… That was amazing! Zeph! What is that?! How did you do that?!"
"…"
"To think you were hiding this kind of spell, why haven't you ever used it before?!"
"…"
"…Zeph?"
Flump.
My magic had been used to its limits, and I grandly fell.
"Zeph!?"
Milly came running to the fallen me.
…my consciousness gradually became distant.
Time Square was a spell that I devised as an old man to use.
Even then I could quite feel the magic consumption of it.
Unexpectedly, I seem to have grown a bit, being able to use it now.
Milly carried me the rest of the way home from there.