"Old John's recommendation? You should have started with that! Please excuse my rudeness, madam! What can this lowly one offer his help with?"
The man bowed down - doing a proper bow one would expect to in front of a high aristocrat - and asked with a buttery-smooth voice.
"That's a lot better customer service. You should have started with that. You might end up losing valuable customers if don't up your game."
Melinda nodded with a mocking smirk as she began to look around.
Truthfully, she wouldn't have left even if the man remained rude, but this course of action was better.
The change of behavior and the level of sweet-talking made it clear to her what kind of people both the innkeeper and this shopkeeper were.
People like them were much easier to see through and deal with than someone actually malicious.
Nonetheless, nothing mattered as much as the usefulness of the items the shop had to offer. If there even were any worth attention.
"I require a wearable artifact that extends the range of the connection between party members. Then, the strongest one-time use party healing scroll you have, although I'm not expecting much of its actual power, and… well, whatever will catch my eye. Entertain me."
"!!!"
The gold-haired girl raised two fingers before waving her hand around, causing the eyes of the shopkeeper to light up with greed.
"But of course, but of course! First, the items you already decided on…"
The man nodded and hurried to the back, returning moments later with a bracelet and a quite sizable rolled scroll tied in the middle with a green ribbon secured with a green wax seal.
"Bracelet of the Scout. Extremely popular amongst the adventurers specializing in group hunting and monster extermination. I've heard our military also has a sizable stock of them, too! As the name suggests, it is dedicated for the scouts who spearhead the party and detect any potential danger and threats. It effectively allows the wearer to stay connected to their comrades up to five times the regular distance without leaving the party."
The shopkeeper boasted while placing the bracelet on the counter, with the pride of a new parent showing off their toddler in a cute onesie.
"As per your request, I will present you with the complete heal scroll of the party. I don't need to advertise this one to you. Surely there can be nothing stronger than a scroll completely healing all the party members? Wouldn't you say? Does it fulfill your expectations?"
He added triumphantly as if he believed to one-up the girl, before offering the price for both items.
"..."
Melinda furrowed her brows - she knew both items well from the shop's menu in-game. For example, the so-called complete heal scroll for the party had an upper limit on the amount of health it could restore, but it was such a large number that the name still made sense despite the game not having any percentage-based heals and damage.
The thing was, the amount of money the shopkeeper wanted for the two items was grossly overpriced, even for the late-game standards…
Still…
It was a new location, and in the middle of a superstorm that shouldn't have happened, a sudden price hike wasn't something uncommon.
Even in-game, small sidequests involving monster or bandit activities could cause the same thing to happen in basically any location with friendly settlements across the map…
And, in the end, Melinda had plenty of money.
...and in the game, showing it off instead of trying to bargain with the shopkeeper had a small chance of causing a rare item to appear as a limited-time deal.
Melinda knew every single limited-time deal available in the game, but Chainlink Port City was a location that wasn't available then, making her extremely curious...
"I do have some spare change. What about something more interesting?"
"~!"
The gold-haired girl nodded and reached back for her purse. She counted the coins and placed them in front of the overjoyed shopkeeper, who was thrilled to bits about the size of the stacked currency.
As he recounted the amount himself, she took her items, stuffing the scroll under her clothes and immediately equipping the bracelet.
"Of course, of course. Someone as distinct as you, madam, will surely appreciate the items I have available!"
The very satisfied shopkeeper pocketed the money and walked from behind the counter to show off the goods on the magically enhanced shelves.
Melinda ended up a bit dissapointed - all the items were good, but not better than anything available back in Diamondium.
Considering that in the game, any quests involving entering the Emerladios Empire didn't allow the party to enter the cities and towns to buy supplies and equipment, she really had her hopes up.
Unfortunately, one of the most annoying limits in the game did cross into her new real-life…
The equipement limit.
One necklace, two bracelets, two rings, set of clothes, and headwear - items could only be equipped in those categories, stacking them would simply overwrite the effects instead of adding them.
For some reason, shoes and footwear, in general, could not be enhanced or granted additional effects…
Still, Melinda did find a few things that would be good for her, Zane, and Adrianna, even if they were only marginally better than what she could purchase back in Diamondium…
"Ah, madam, I see that you are a person of great taste and high standards… allow me to show you a special item that I received just the other day!"
"...do go on…"
The lack of enthusiasm in the girl's eyes didn't escape the shopkeeper's attention - so he leaned in, whispering conspicuously to the girl, making sure to appear as bored as possible.
"A moment, please."
He added and smiled sleazily when he thought that the girl couldn't see him anymore.
"...some of the limited-time rare items were broken... though more often than not they were gimmicky as hell as well…"
Melinda breathed out, muttering to herself while gazing upon the defense-boosting bracelets she intended to buy for herself and the other two.
… bracelets, whose price was also higher than she was used to seeing in the game…
"Madam, please, allow over here…!"
"...?"
The shopkeeper's conspicuous whisper made Melinda straighten her back, and she discreetly rolled her eyes at the theatrics put out by the shopkeeper before approaching the overly sneaky man.