Oh, since we're already at the subject of shopping, I might as well ask about that one thing.
「Do you have soap around these parts?」
It should be fine for me to call the soap "soap", because I already confirmed that this word exists in the Brahim language.
「Soap, you say? We do have it, but it tends to be quite expensive. For cleaning purposes, it is much more common to use the bran of the Kochi fruit.」
「In other words, it's another nice thing that only the rich can afford, huh? What about sham… you know what, never mind that. We'll just buy that Kochi fruit thingy as well.」
「Of course.」
I bit myself in the tongue before I finished articulating the word shampoo because there is a risk that this particular word might not exist in Brahim, and that would only cause further confusion. So yeah, if this is a world where just your plain-ass soap is considered to be expensive, then I think it is safe to assume that beauty & aestethics products such as shampoos, rinses, treatments and hair conditioners also do not exist here.
「And what about brushing your teeth? Do you have something for that here as well?」
「We have tuffed toothpicks made from the Sucre Branches. If my memory serves me correctly, they should be sold in every city.」
So instead of toothbrushes they use toothpicks?
「Shields, olive oil, cleaning rags, water bottles, backpacks, armor, shoes, Kochi fruits and tuffed toothpicks. Nine items in total. Let's both make sure not to forget about any of them.」
「Roger!」
I got up from the bed and grabbed my backpack. As much as I want to continue to play with Roxanne's ears (preferably forever), doing something too much is almost as bad as not doing it enough. Right now, we have an errand to do, so let's get it over with quickly. For this little shopping bout, I think a Copper Sword from my Item Box and a backpack with money are all the things I'm going to need.
「Well then, shall we be on our way?」
「Understood!」
Roxanne also stood up and followed after me. Alright, onwards towards our shopping bout!
We left the key at the front desk and left the inn.
The first things we bought were the water bottles, backpacks, a small bottle of olive oil, the Kochi fruits and the toothpicks at the general store, although the bottles could hardly be called as such, since they looked more like goatskins to me, but hell, what do I know? Next item on our agenda, the Kochi fruit bran looked like one of those scented powders sold in sachets that I saw in the beauty shops in the shopping malls in Japan, so presumably I should be able to use them in the very same way, i.e just dump it into the water for it to take effect. The toothpicks were next, and they were dirt cheap, only 1 Nar per each, but that should come as no surprise considering that they were literally just ordinary small branches, similar to those that dropped from Needlewoods. Who knows, maybe some of them were actually manufactured from the Needlewood Branches that I've been bringing to the Adventurer's Guild these past few days? Haha, would be fun if that was the case. After the first round of shopping has been concluded, I took everything we bought, placed it into the backpack and handed it over to Roxanne.
After buying the toothpicks we went to the shop next door that was selling towels and other cloths where I bought two cleaning rags. Roxanne said that one would be more than enough, but since she's going to be using them to care for our equipment I saw no harm in buying an extra one.
「Since they are also selling socks here, go ahead and pick whichever two you like the most.」
「Is it really okay for me to do so?」
「I don't see why it wouldn't be okay, so go ahead.」
「But I don't know the size of your foot, master.」
Hoo boi, here we go again with a botched attempt at communication.
「No no no, when I said that you can pick two pairs of socks, I didn't mean for me. I want you to pick two pairs for yourself.」
「For me? Really?」
「Yes, it's alright. Believe me, if it won't be alright, you'll be the first person to know that.」
As I continuously nodded, Roxane started to look through the various kinds of socks with an overly serious expression, which made me chuckle in my mind a little. She's wearing Sandals for now so there is no problem with her going barefoot, but it's better for her to have some socks now instead of waiting until she gets some other casual footwear. I'm curious which of them she's going to pick in the end. As for me, I still have my socks from Japan, and they are slightly bigger than my actual foot size, but that is purely because I like them better this way.
「I think I'm going to go with those.」
「You sure?」
The two pairs she chose could only be described as the plainest among the plain.
「Yes. I am positive that I want these two.」
「Okay then. As long as you're fine with them then I have no complaints.」
Then we brought the socks she selected to the shopkeeper to pay for them, placed them in the backpack along with the rest of our stuff and the we finally moved on to the armor shop. There, Roxanne's expression became even more steeper than earlier as she went from shield to shield and examined them, so thoroughly that a part of me thought she was going as the shop owner to test them in practice. I don't know if can call her a devilish customer just yet, but it was clear that she won't accept anything half-assed or subpar. But in this particular case I can at least understand where is she coming from. After all, those shields are going to be our lives insurances in the Labyrinth. If possible, I'd like her to pick the one which has an empty Skill Slot, but how exactly should I go about that? I mean, I could tell her about the Skill Slots, but without the certainty that she could also see them I would have only made a fool out of myself, so I think I will settle for the best sub-option: I'll pick some shields with Skill Slots myself. Fortunately, I was able to find three of them across the entire shop.
「I think those three might be pretty good.」
「Indeed, they seem to be of good enough quality. You have a good intuition, master.」
「You think so?」
「Umu!」
In response to Roxanne's words I nodded as confidently as I could. Truth to be told, if it wasn't for the Skill Slots I would have never picked them up because to me they all look the -frickkin'-same.
Roxanne took the shields from me and began to compare them to one another. But seriously now, she's such a beautiful girl and yet she willingly frowns so much just to make sure that she's going to choose the best possible equipment for us. What is she going to do if she gets wrinkles from it though? Anyway, it doesn't look like I'm going to be of much use to her now, so I better give her some space by heading to the portion of the shop which held various pieces of armor on display.
The most affordable one is, of course, leather armor. Now that I think about it, the Thieves who attacked the village of Somara all wore armors exactly like the one that is now before me. Damn, now a part of me wishes that it didn't sold the armors they left behind when I killed them all. But even if I didn't do that, what good would that made me if I didn't even have an Item Box on me at that time? A shame indeed, but that's in the past and there's no use dwelling on that now. Another thing on display is a Leather Jacket. Hmm, maybe I should go and try this one? Sure, it looks more than a little edgy, but also incredibly cool at the same time. And most importantly, it comes with an empty Skill Slot as well. Price wise it is… more expensive than Leather Armor, but such a purchase might not be a bad one in the slightest, especially if you will think about it in the categories of a long-time investment. Okay, that settles it: I'm going to buy it. But first I'll go to the changing room to try it on.