The Magic Tool Market of the Labyrinth City
Today was the day I had promised to go out and have fun with Erna.
I had woken up a little late, so time was already tight. While Lumine brushed my hair, I took the chance to glance through a newspaper for the first time in a week.
Being a West Continent paper, most of the articles covered local affairs, though scattered pieces of news from the North Continent and Central Continent slipped in as well.
And among them all, only one item truly caught my eye.
Apparently, after I fled the kingdom, the Minister of Foreign Affairs—one of the Six Heavenly Ones—had defected to the Empire and sought asylum there.
Ordinarily it would have been a rumor to laugh off and forget. But combined with the whispers that I myself had vanished from the kingdom, the two stories had fed each other into something far more damaging.
In the end, the people of the kingdom were abandoning it in droves. More than ninety percent had already left for the Empire, the Central Empire, or various smaller nations. Eight percent of those who fled were nobles—or else merchants whose trading companies had been based in the kingdom.
“Hmm…”
“What’s wrong?”
Lumine, humming softly as she combed through my long silver hair, tilted her head in curiosity. She was clearly itching to grab Erna and head out already; the eager sparkle in her eyes was almost too cute.
Does she even realize how adorable she looks?
“There’s news from the Central Continent in the paper. It says the kingdom is on the brink of collapse.”
“The Central Continent…”
Lumine knew everything that had happened to me in the kingdom. I expected her to hold her tongue out of consideration.
I was wrong.
“They received so much from you, Lady Esilly, and still treated you so poorly. Of course they’re collapsing.”
She snorted and launched into a scathing critique of the kingdom’s leadership, fretting that only the common folk would suffer for the fools’ decisions. Then she finished arranging my hair.
“How is it? Do you like it?”
“It’s ridiculously pretty. Twin tails, right?”
I usually left my hair loose, but Lumine had insisted on trying something new. She hadn’t simply tied it up—she had braided it into neat twin tails, and the style suited me far better than I expected.
“From now on I’ll help you every morning.”
“Thanks.”
In return I gave her the head pats she loved so much. Helena used to melt the same way, and Erna does too… Why do girls get so happy when someone strokes their hair?
Come to think of it, I used to love it myself when I was little. Back in the training camp, whenever the drills left me sulking alone, Orca would gently ruffle my hair with that kind smile of hers.
That was already eight years ago. I haven’t seen her in less than two months, yet nostalgia still hits hard.
What is she doing now? The paper said the knight order is practically disbanded, so maybe she’s gone somewhere else too.
I’m still furious with her… but I hope she hasn’t gotten hurt.
We were a little late for our meeting, so we ran the whole way. Erna was already waiting in front of the Adventurers’ Guild, killing time by kicking pebbles or idly swinging the pouch in her hand. The moment she heard our footsteps she spun around, waved both arms wildly, and beamed at us. Even though we were late, she looked delighted.
“Sorry, Erna. We’re really late, aren’t we?”
The hotel where we were staying sat a full two kilometers from the guild. We had sprinted the entire distance without rest, and only after gulping cold water and taking a five-minute breather did our ragged breathing finally settle. We apologized for being ten minutes late, but Erna simply shook her head and smiled up at us.
“I only just got here myself. You don’t need to apologize.”
“Our Erna really is the sweetest… so sweet…”
I pulled her into a tight hug against my neither-too-big-nor-too-small chest. So good. So good.
I ignored the faintly envious look Lumine shot me from the side.
“So where should we start? Shopping first? Or food?”
“Let’s go magic-tool shopping first.”
Erna clearly had her priorities straight. Come to think of it, she had talked endlessly about magic tools even on the carriage ride. This girl probably wanted a future career in that field—repairing them, appraising them, that sort of thing.
“I’d love to browse magic tools again too. It’s been ages.”
“You always did have a soft spot for them, Lumine.”
“Well, I am a mage.”
True enough. The wand she used was an extremely expensive magic tool that regulated mana output. Unanimous decision, then.
“All right—to the magic tool market.”
You simply cannot visit the Labyrinth City without seeing its magic tool market. More than a hundred thousand magic tools change hands there every single day. Some are relics discovered inside the labyrinth itself; others are crafted and sold by master artisans. The most popular by far are the lost-technology pieces recovered from the labyrinth’s depths.
Take the little bag hanging at Lumine’s hip, for example. It is a precious magic tool that can store items much like an Inventory—though its capacity is only about the size of a small box. Still, the convenience of lightening one’s load makes it wildly popular among travelers.
“This tiny bag costs around three hundred gold coins.”
“I’m really glad I was born with Inventory.”
“Honestly, I’m so jealous.”
My Inventory skill completely erases every shortcoming of Lumine’s magic bag. Infinite capacity, and I can store anything just by looking at it or even thinking about it. Skills this absurd are vanishingly rare; rumor has it only the emperor of some northern nation possesses one as well.
“That emperor is an elf too, you know.”
“Huh? Really?”
“The country itself is a human nation, though.”
A human empire ruled by an elf emperor. How does a country even end up like that?
“It’s a long story…”
“I’m already dying of curiosity, so spill.”
“Lumine unnie, I want to hear it too!”
If I stopped her now my intellectual curiosity would explode. Unless I wanted today’s itinerary of market shopping and food-touring to turn into a twenty-four-hour library crawl, the smart move was to let her talk.
What Lumine told us afterward sounded like a founding myth. Long ago the North Continent had been nothing but barren snowfields, until Vita, the Goddess of Life, descended and transformed it into a land overflowing with vitality. Managing that land herself proved too much, so she created beings to tend it in her stead. That was why the elves had made the North Continent their stronghold from ancient times—and why it remained the place where nature was best preserved.
“Somehow the elves ended up founding a nation, and it became a place where every race lives together in harmony.”
“So that’s why the emperor is an elf?”
“Exactly. After the goddess granted them freedom, the elves scattered across the world and formed forest villages, but the northern empire remains.”
I had been an orphan since childhood, so I knew almost nothing of this. Even after being adopted into a noble house I had never been taught elven history. To think my people had such a past… it felt strangely wonderful.
Our shopping continued, though the conversation had taken on the flavor of a history lesson. When I drifted toward another stall I found Erna staring fixedly at a small bag displayed in a rather shabby shop. At first I thought it was another magic bag, but no—the price was only about two gold coins, and the exterior was clean and charming, embroidered with a cute little bear.
“What’s this one do?”
“It’s called a cleaning bag. If you put used brushes or polishing stones inside, it cleans them perfectly.”
“There’s a tool for that too, huh.”
A magic tool that cleans other tools. People who craft delicate magic implements would probably find it indispensable. Erna seemed to be wrestling with whether or not to buy it. I had given her pocket money back in the port town, so she could afford it… but still.
No helping it. Time to treat my adorable Erna.
“Big sister will buy this for you. You’ve done so many nice things for me already.”
“Esilly unnie…”
I’ve said it before: I like people who don’t refuse kindness. One of the reasons I adored Erna so much was that she had accepted a fair reward with simple gratitude instead of empty modesty. This time, too, she only thanked me and did not push the gift away—though a faint look of apology still lingered in her eyes.
“Erna, think of this as big sister’s advance investment in you.”
“Advance investment?”
“Who knows? You might become a world-famous magic-tool artisan someday.”
Yes! This was an advance investment. A hardworking, earnest girl like Erna was bound to become a renowned craftsman. When that day came I planned to collect interest in the form of one of her masterpieces. Three gold coins was nothing compared to that.
“Got it? Study hard and get famous, okay?”
“Yes! Thank you, unnie!”
Erna threw her arms around me with a brilliant smile. I smiled back and gently stroked her hair.