[Mr. Smithy Weapon and Armor Shop]
It was the biggest and popular weapon shop in the mortal realm, occupying two floors. Its main branch was located in the Empire, and If you have the right connections, you could access its basement, where they kept their rarest items.
"Welcome," greeted an old man with a goatee. If he was hiding his displeasure upon seeing halfbreeds then he did a good job. There was nothing on his face except a professional smile.
"How can I help you?"
"I want to get everything that these servants wanted," Emily said with a smile.
The old man nodded without question. It was not his place to question. As long as the halfbreeds were accompanied by a human and the dispelling gate didn't react, he had nothing to worry about.
"Of course, my lady," the man bowed slightly, and his focus flickered at Ryu and Ferris.
"Could you show me the weapons you have for bare-handed fighters," Ferris said to the point.
"Of course, just give me a moment." The old man left the counter and went into a backdoor.
There were weapons and armors displayed on the shelves and hanging on the wall. But Ferris wasn't interested in those lower-level weapons.
Meanwhile, Ryu was busy taking in his surroundings. There were others in the store, and there were multiple counters that serve each customer.
There was a pair that caught his attention. A little girl and a man that Ryu was sure was a beast based on its wolf-like ears and tail. But his face and body were human.
"That's a purebred Rank-A beast from the Beast Realm," Ferris said, "they were often mistaken as halfbreeds, but you can tell, right."
The purebred looked at Ryu, its eyes turning to slits.
"It's strong," Ferris said.
Ryu nodded. Something about that guy was stirring his inner beast. Like it was challenging him, and he didn't like it. A low growl made way in his throat.
"Don't fight in here," Ferris warned and plopped another jerky towards Ryu.
In an instant, Ryu turned docile, and he caught the jerky with his mouth and gnawed on it. If he had a tail, it would be waging about now.
"Rank-A beast and higher can transform into human form. All races have human characteristics," explained Ferris. "The little girl must be its owner, or he could be a family servant," Ferris said and dismissed the two from her mind.
The servant seal could be transferred from one descendant to another as long as they were the original master's blood-related relatives.
Not for long, the old man returned with weapons in hand and showed it to Ferris.
Ferris inspected the weapons. "Claws, knuckles, bracers . . ." She then eyed the old man. "Is this all you have?"
"Well, not many fought with their bare hands, so weapons in that category are hard to come by."
Ferris sighed. It was just standard weapons without any elemental attribute. It was fancy-looking and made from different quality ores, but besides that, it was garbage.
"How about your skill and spell scrolls?" asked Ferris.
"All are sold out at the moment."
"Egh . . ." Ferris's expression fell. She should have expected this. Most of the mid and high-tier scrolls were like ice in this heat.
Having lost hope with the shops, Ferris contended buying a traveler's ring for Ryu before releasing Emily. It wouldn't do them any good to prolong her control over her. She and Ryu then went back to the servant's quarter in the palace.
"It's not like . . . I need a weapon now . . . I'm fast and strong . . . and . . ." Ryu was appeasing Ferris's bad mood. But the little girl was ignoring his good intentions. He didn't care, though. He was busy inspecting his new traveler's ring. Since he didn't have any item yet, he settled for a rock just to test it.
His attention was occupied by the appearing and disappearing rock in his hand for fifteen minutes straight.
Ferris pulled a violet chalk in her traveler's ring and drew a pentagram on the floor. When she finished, she wiped her non-existent sweat and faced Ryu in all smiles.
"This should alert us in case someone approached this room," Ferris said, and her smile stretched to the maximum when Ryu just tilted his head at her.
"Since this shitty Kingdom won't offer us anything good . . . it's time to use my trump card."
Ryu's head skewed to the side.
Ferris's chest jutted out, and her nose was longer than usual, but her expression was unpleasant. "If you want to come with me, you have to promise that you won't tell anyone where we went and what happened. Okay?"
Who would Ryu tell? Cecily appeared in his head, but he doubted that Cecily was interested in his affairs. He nodded.
"Good. Now . . ." Ferris flicked her fingers, and a small crystal ball flew in her hand. There was hazy greyish smoke dancing inside the crystal that mesmerized anyone who saw it.
Ferris clenched her fingers, and the crystal shattered to bits. The hazy smoke rose in the air and shrouded the room in perpetual darkness.
Ryu watched all of this happen in amazement, and when the fog cleared, they were no longer inside their room but in someone else's.
A crow was eyeing them from the wooden rafters. Herbs, carcasses, and all sorts of plants hanged on the ceilings. There were items and fruits on the table and scattered potions on the wooden shelves with unidentified creatures floating in each jar.
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A woman, monochrome, like she was nothing but black and white, sat at the corner. In front of her was a crystal orb on top of a table.
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She smiled a bemused smile that made Ryu shivered. And when she spoke, her voice was low, slow, and slurring.
"Welcome to Madam Faux's Oriculum."