Lucky Charms and Lizard Tails
A few days later, in front of a modest wooden house in the civilian district. Two figures stood outside, having thoroughly locked up the place from top to bottom. Shen and Reina, whom the nearby residents naturally assumed were siblings. They left the house completely empty and made their way toward the outskirts of the city.
“Are you sure you don’t need to wear it?” Shen asked, glancing back at the house before turning to his sister with a worried look.
The armor that had been Reina’s signature as a mercenary now sat alone inside, looking rather forlorn. She guessed his meaning immediately and replied casually.
“It’s fine. If anything happens, you’ll figure something out, right?”
“What kind of plan is that…”
Shen let out a helpless laugh at her carefree attitude. Even as he complained about her lack of caution, he couldn’t help but accept the obvious difference in their strength. She was probably stronger fighting barehanded than he was with a weapon. In this world, the levels you earned through honest hunting translated directly into honest power. If something went wrong, he might get hurt, but Reina would be fine.
“How does the new weapon feel?”
“It’s good, aside from how much it damages monster hides.”
“Ah, there is that.”
While they chatted about the weapon he had switched to around spring, they reached the city outskirts, where the smell of horse dung hung thick in the air. Reina sighed in agreement when Shen pointed out how much more the dagger damaged hides compared to his old weapon. The stench was far stronger than anything in winter, so Shen pinched his nose and looked around for a carriage.
“Which route are we taking?” Reina asked, turning her head as she examined the signs posted inside the fence.
“It’d be nice if we could go straight to Windren…” Shen replied, his voice coming out nasally from holding his nose. There weren’t many people using that dangerous road, and most coachmen preferred shorter routes, so no carriage was heading directly to Windren this time either.
“…Looks like we’ll have to take the long way around.”
With no other choice, they decided to pass through two cities on the way to Windren. The first stop was Selindale, a place they had only brushed past before. Since it was close to Karsion, Shen had heard quite a bit about it. The cost of living was lower than the capital, making it a popular second choice for middle-class citizens. In a normal playthrough, it was usually the second city players visited after the capital.
After picking a carriage, they arrived in Selindale late in the afternoon.
“We’re stopping to rest first, right?”
“Ah, yeah… ugh.”
Shen rubbed his backside as he climbed down from the carriage, letting out a pained groan. He had been riding nothing but good carriages lately and had almost forgotten how rough the regular ones were.
They could have taken a carriage straight to Caldera, but they decided to rest for a day. There was no need to rush this journey anyway. They could eat dinner at a leisurely pace, rest properly, and then leave. Besides, Shen still needed to find the items hidden in Selindale that he had been putting off.
One of them was relatively easy to obtain. It was hardly even hidden—just a common local specialty sold everywhere in Selindale.
“Get your lucky necklaces here! Makes a great gift too!”
Along with the gloves that improved gathering quality, this necklace was one whose effect Shen remembered clearly the moment he saw it. A simple necklace with nothing but a red crystal attached, supposedly bringing good luck. Even setting aside its complicated lore, there was a reason he remembered this otherwise unremarkable item so well. The Lucky Necklace raised accuracy by a flat 10% regardless of whether the attack was physical or magical. In other words, it forced even attacks with 0% accuracy up to 10%. It was a bizarre accessory that let you land physical attacks on monsters that normally only took magic damage. In many ways, it truly lived up to the name “lucky charm.”
‘It was a must-have for challenge runs.’
While Shen was lost in memories of what now felt like another world, a loud voice suddenly rang out right beside him.
“Come on in! What can I get you!?”
Shen jumped, startled by the booming voice that nearly burst his eardrums. He had thought he was just browsing from a distance, but somehow he had wandered right up to the stall. Surprised at his own unconscious movement, he stared blankly at the vendor’s face before shifting his gaze to the display.
Rows of mass-produced Lucky Necklaces and various ordinary accessories lined the stand.
“Still popular, huh, these cheap necklaces.”
Reina, who had followed him a step behind, glanced over the display and picked up one of the necklaces by its string, murmuring to herself. The vendor immediately bristled and raised his voice.
“Hey now! Cheap? That’s a bit harsh, don’t you think?”
“If a luxury item breaks easier than a glass bead, I think that says it all…”
Reina replied indifferently, as if she already knew everything, not even blinking at the vendor’s raised voice. She must have bought one before. The vendor’s face flushed red even in the late afternoon.
“Sister, that’s enough… Two, please.”
Shen quickly grabbed the necklace from Reina’s hand and another from the display, trying to mediate. The price tag showed two silver coins and fifty copper per necklace—five silver total. Seeing Shen ready to pay on the spot, the vendor calmed down and quickly changed his attitude, smiling.
“Oh, thank you! Your sister’s got no sense for spending, but you’re generous!”
He showered Shen with praise before suddenly turning to mock Reina.
“What?! I just don’t waste money on useless things…!”
“Come on, let’s go…!”
Reina looked ready to raise her voice again. Shen grabbed her shoulders and hurried away from the stall before another argument could break out. Clutching the two necklaces he had paid for, they managed to escape.
“Why did you buy two of those things?”
Reina stayed quiet for a while before finally speaking, staring at the two necklaces in her hands with a sulky tone. It seemed to bother her that he had bought two of something she had called useless. The necklace raised absolute accuracy by 10% regardless of physical or magical attacks. It was more useful than it seemed, but since he couldn’t demonstrate its performance directly…
Shen made up an excuse about it being a decent souvenir and quickly changed the subject.
“What do you want for dinner…?”
“Anything’s fine.”
The most difficult order in the world: anything’s fine. Following Reina’s request, the food they ended up facing at a Selindale restaurant was…
“Long-tail lizard tail stew is served!”
It was a long, steaming tail with a shocking appearance. When poked with utensils, it sank in deeply, as if proudly showing it was well-cooked—only making the dish even less appetizing.
‘This is that guy, isn’t it…’
The only creature near Selindale with a tail this size was the one that had covered his body in green slime. In the end, this was unmistakably the tail of a Long-tail Lizard. Just looking at it killed Shen’s appetite. Reina, on the other hand, was eating it without issue.
There had been another meat dish called “spine roast,” but Reina had warned him never to eat it even if he was reborn, so he had been forced to choose the tail stew instead. He wondered just how bad that other dish must taste for an A-class mercenary who had tried almost everything to speak so poorly of it. With that vague question lingering, Shen finished the surprisingly tasty tail stew. Its appearance had been questionable, but paired with the spicy sauces on the table, it had been quite good.
Afterward, they found a decent inn based on Reina’s mercenary experience and ended the day. The next morning, they agreed to take a short break for free time before leaving Selindale.
“Free time? Weren’t we leaving right away?”
Reina tilted her head at the sudden suggestion, but Shen, thoroughly sick of snakes and pigs, spoke firmly despite his hesitation.
“We just left the capital, and I want to hunt some nearby monsters and look around…”
“Well, you must be itching to move too.”
Reina seemed to accept it, shrugging her shoulders. With a nonchalant expression, she continued.
“Just wander around and come back. If you’re too late, finding a carriage will be a hassle.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Shen answered sharply at the words that sounded like permission and snapped into a salute. Reina looked puzzled at the unfamiliar gesture, and Shen inwardly groaned. Right, that salute doesn’t exist in this world.
Hunting was one thing, but right now he needed to search for the remaining items. He had easily bought the necklace from the street vendor, and the other one was definitely…
‘Was it posted as a request at the guild?’
He tried to recall the request process and rewards one by one. The necklace had left such a strong impression that it came back to him immediately, but…
‘I really can’t remember until I see it myself.’
Unless an item had been particularly memorable, it was easy to forget. If only he had memorized the wiki page by page and burned it into his mind. Sighing at his own disappointing memory, Shen headed straight for Selindale’s request office.
‘If I look at the request details, something might come back to me.’