"That is not a problem, but I fear that I can end up attracting them."
If he were to fly around to check for the location and the beasts, they would probably go towards him at the moment Shiba noticed them.
Moreover, although it was true that Shiba could attack with arrows, they didn't have so much long-range with his proficiency. There was also the fact that the Soul-eating eagles could fly, so they weren't easy to hit with arrows unless they were caught off-guard.
"I know, but that is for the best. Right now, they are still weak enough to deal with them, so it is good if they come now instead of later. As long as we are in the town when battling, I am confident in defeating them. If in a week they don't appear. I will evacuate all the ordinary citizens to our underground shelter while the rest try to stop their attack."
He couldn't allow the Soul-eating Eagles to destroy the town, but so many people would just be a hindrance if the situation happened. Thus, it would be better to have only those with battle capabilities, and that would obey his orders without hesitation.
Although the best situation would be that the Soul-eating Eagles didn't find them at all, if they were close enough to notice that Shiba was flying, it was a certainty that they would end up finding the town. After all, those beasts were known to eat souls, so they had great instincts to find living beings. The arid zone was big, so there were a lot of potential targets for the Soul-eating Eagles, but if they were near enough to see Shiba, there was no way their Border Town wasn't the next target.
"Shiba. One of my guards will go with you now. Buy anything you need for a potential battle with those damned beasts. This is for the sake of the town, so I will be paying all the expenses. Don't be shy."
If they were to fail due to having the people battling with bad equipment, the Lord of the town would pass to history as a greedy and useless man.
Since Shiba had an important role, he needed to ensure that he would be equipped with the best. Of course, the best available in the town. There was no way he could compete in resources with those in richer areas.
"Really?"
Shiba was really shocked. He thought that the pay was already great, but he would also get free equipment.
He was planning to defend the town anyway, but in the eyes of the others, if Shiba didn't get enough benefits, he could just fly to escape from the city to avoid trouble. Given his skills and background, no one felt that he would be in danger, and there was no way the gates would block his path.
Anyway, since Shiba could fly, they needed him in case that the Soul-eating Eagles had long-range attacks, so it was better to have Shiba well-equipped.
Although Eini could also fly and she was quite famous, the fact that she could fly was still something others didn't know, so they felt that Shiba was the only one that could fly.
"Of course. Don't worry about buying more than you need. Battles are unpredictable, it is better to have leftovers than notice that you lack something at the crucial moment."
He wanted to ensure that Shiba wouldn't change his opinion and flee at the crucial moment.
From the beginning, despite being the guild master of the Beast Hunter Guild, he didn't have the authority to force the beast hunters to work for him. He could call them and offer them some benefits in exchange for their help, but nothing else.
Since it was a simple exchange, if the danger surpassed the benefits, most beast hunters would choose to flee if they could.
Thus, he wasn't planning to have too much external aid besides Shiba.
Anyway, those guards were all beast hunters before becoming guards, and it would be difficult to find a lot of beast hunters that could be better than them.
Although there were exceptions, usually, the most talented beast hunters ended up as guards. After all, it was a job that would give them a lot of money, and they would also have a good standing in the town.
If the Lord of the town needed to pay for first-class equipment for a lot of beast hunters, he might end up bankrupt, but his guards were already equipped, so he only needed to pay for Shiba's things.
He was also pondering about if inviting Eini, the other famous beast hunter, to ask for her help, but since he had never meet Eini before, it wouldn't be that easy asking her to put her life at risk.
Moreover, she was too young, which meant that she probably would lack mental resilience to face a deadly situation, and he didn't think that there weren't a lot of exceptions like Shiba.
After leaving, Shiba followed the guard to the best shop in the town. There wasn't a point of comparison between that shop and where he bought his swords.
"Welcome."
Once Shiba and the guard put their feet on the shop, someone rushed to welcome them.
"Ask your boss to come. We have serious business here."
Once the guard spoke, the woman who had rushed to them bowed to him.
"I will inform him quickly."
They had heard the message of the Lord of the town, so she could guess that it was a related matter.
Some seconds later, a slightly plump middle-aged man walked toward them.
"Welcome to my shop. It is a pleasure to be in the presence of the leader of the guards. I have long heard of your feats. May I know who this little friend is."
The guard with Shiba wasn't an ordinary guard, but the leader of the guards. He was quite famous and was considered the second strongest in the town. Of course, the difference between him and the Lord of the town was just too big since the guard leader was only a Level 9 Mortal.
"I came here to buy equipment for him. Everything must be the best quality. Our Lord of the town will be paying for everything, so you don't need to worry if he can afford it or not."
The leader of the guards spoke firmly, shocked by the boos of the shop.
"For him? Don't tell me that he is the famous beast hunter that battled against the Lord of the town and helped him to advance to Rank 2, Apprentice."
That man had a vast information network, so it wasn't difficult for him to deduce Shiba's identity, especially given the situation.
"You are right. He will play a crucial role in the plan of the Lord of the town, so we need to ensure that he has the best of the best. I think that you understand the severity of this matter."
The boss quickly nodded. He didn't look like it, but he had also been a beast hunter when he was young, and he even reached Level 9 Mortal before being sixteen. Unfortunately, he failed to achieve the last breakthrough.
However, he used his fame as a genius to gather huge amounts of money and make connections, so soon after failing that last breakthrough, he retired and created his shop. In ten years, it became the best shop in the town.
As a former beast hunter, he knew the needs of his customers better than an ordinary shopkeeper, and his goods were always of top quality.
"Of course. Tell me what you need, and someone will bring it here. I can't give it for free, but I will give you a huge discount."
Although he turned quite greedy with the years, when it was something related to the town, he didn't dare to make things difficult. His shop didn't allow bargaining, but for the sake of the town, he was willing to sell items at the same price he obtained them.
However, that was already the bottom line. He had a lot of valuable items there, and even the cheapest had a price higher than what Shiba could pay on his own, even with the discount.
"I need swords. I can only use two at the same time, but it is better if I have some spare ones. If I lose them in the battle, I won't be able to recover them easily. If you have different types of swords, I will also want to take a look to choose the one that adapts me the best."
Since he would be flying, if one sword were to fall, there was no way he could go to recover it until the end of the battle, and that was when supposing that the sword wouldn't have broken after falling.
Moreover, he had only used standard swords of low quality, but he knew that there were diverse types of swords, so he wanted to check if there were some that were more suited to him.
If he could find some sword that aligned well with his skills, he believed that his battle prowess would increase a lot.
Given the danger the town was facing, Shiba earnestly wanted to improve his chances of living up to the expectations that the Lord of the town had of him.