The Luxury Goods Hall (0)

In the span of a single moment, Ruby had grown into a colossal magma dragon measuring fifteen meters from snout to tail.

Needless to say, chaos erupted on the spot. It goes without saying that I, her keeper, was startled first, but—

"Look at that magnificent bearing!"

"Just look at those lovely scales!"

The ecologists threw themselves into an uproar, desperate to get even a hair's breadth closer to Ruby.

These were people of tremendous scholarly zeal. They said it was commonplace for one of their number to be devoured mid-stalk while observing a monster—and the rumor, it seemed, was no exaggeration at all.

The reason behind Ruby's explosive growth wasn't difficult to guess.

Zephet's core.

Zephet had been in the midst of self-detonating, burning hundreds of Ironshine to fuel the process. Ruby had swallowed that colossal power in a single gulp, compressing a growth spurt ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that should have unfolded over centuries into one short day.

"She hasn't finished growing, mind you."

According to the ecologists, Ruby was still growing.

"At fifteen meters, she counts as a juvenile. She'd need to reach twenty before we'd call her sub-adult."

"Then how large does she get at full growth?"

"Thirty meters at the least. Earth dragons have no wings, so they tend to grow larger in body than their flying cousins."

"A juvenile, then. She's still got a long road ahead."

"Even as a juvenile, she should be able to hunt most grade-2 monsters without breaking a sweat. And magma dragons are among the mightier earth dragons to begin with."

"Is that so?"

My ears pricked up at the news that my baby was strong.

"To speak frankly, we don't know a great deal about magma dragons ourselves. Their habitat lies in the deepest reaches of the Underworld, far beyond easy study. There are recorded cases of dragons tamed through Awoken Abilities, but you, Lord Iden, are the first person in history to tame a magma dragon."

"Which is precisely why..."

The scholars swarmed me in a pack.

"How did you recognize the hatchling as a magma dragon?"

"What's the secret to forming a bond with one?"

"How intelligent is she? How deep does your communion run?"

"What does she eat on a typical day? How did you arrange her rearing environment!"

The questions came in an unending torrent. Even when we'd stormed the demons' stronghold, the reception hadn't been half this fervent.

As the 'first magma dragon tamer in recorded history,' I answered their questions with wholehearted devotion. The information I provided would become the standard of the academic world and go down in history—however taxing it was, answer them I must.

On the matter of the 'secret to bonding with a magma dragon,' however, I couldn't offer anything clever. At some point, we had simply... become close. All I could say was that after trailing each other for so long, the affection had crept up on me.

Grrrrrrr...

Ruby pressed her enormous head against me. I rose on tiptoe and laid a palm on her forehead, and she blinked her eyelids in slow, contented flutters. However big her body had grown, she was still a child at heart.

If Ruby's strength had reached the point of hunting grade-2 monsters with ease, then her heart was more than equal to curing my Single-Syllable Pulse.

My long-cherished wish. The cursed body I'd been born with. The chill still coiled tight around my heart.

Ruby could be the answer to all of it. And yet not so much as a fingernail's worth of me wanted to use her that way. It was a strange transformation in myself, even to me.

Father's patience finally ran dry. He declared that we would depart the capital tomorrow morning.

"I can't leave the duchy sitting empty any longer."

The Emperor, it seemed, would never grant us an audience. The message had been delivered with perfect clarity: a chill now flowed between the Pellion imperial house and the Dukedom of Esterzy.

I requested a meeting with Kalman straight away. The venue: the floating castle where we had first met.

The corpses that had littered the castle grounds had been cleared away with care. The investigation, however, was still in full swing.

Kalman stood in the castle garden, hands clasped behind his back, gazing down at the capital far below. In the cool breeze, his pale golden hair rippled like ripe stalks of grain.

He really is handsome.

To fight that well and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠have the face to match—at least his personality is rotten, or there'd be no justice in the world.

He wasn't alone. A young woman with ash-brown hair stood at his side, and without her armor I nearly walked right past her.

"...Irene?"

It was Irene. The knight who had lain dying, her arm cleaved off by the demons.

"Lord Iden Esterzy!"

She broke into a radiant smile at the sight of me.

"Thanks to you, my lord, I barely held on to my life. I hardly know how I could ever repay such a debt..."

"Debt, nothing. It was simply what anyone ought to do."

"I should have come to give my thanks long ago, but there was never a spare moment. I apologize."

"It's fine. I can imagine—a tyrant of a boss worked you to the bone without so much as a breather, didn't he?"

Irene shot a cautious glance at Kalman. He replied without so much as turning his head.

"Holy magic only reattaches what was severed. If you want it to heal properly, keep moving it. Diligently."

The arm that had been hacked from her shoulder was seamlessly whole again. No wonder the people of this world couldn't finish a sentence without invoking Solitas this and Solitas that.

"Why did you call for me?"

"We leave tomorrow."

"And?"

"We fought side by side. The least I owed you was a farewell."

Kalman's features twisted into a scowl.

"If there's nothing else, I'll be going."

"And while you're at it, you could sign this."

I caught him before he could turn away, thrusting out the documents I'd brought along.

"...And what is this now?"

"Read it first."

Adras had been working himself to the bone these past few days. Among the trading companies with no ties to the imperial family, he had finally unearthed one that was on good terms with Kalman and a perfect match for the Esterzy Duchy.

The Dris Trading Company.

The firm's bread and butter was the processing and distribution of monster materials—which made it a match made in heaven for the Esterzy Duchy, the very source of those materials. Of course, from the company's standpoint, abandoning long-standing partners to open a new trade route would be a bitter pill, so a letter of recommendation from one of the Seven Pillars of the Empire would be the cherry on top.

"You want me to write a letter of recommendation?"

"That's right."

Kalman eyed the letter with open displeasure, then signed it with visible reluctance. As he handed it back, he said:

"And now you'll stop digging through my past."

So he had noticed. Well, Adras was second to none when it came to reading a room.

"I will. Thanks for the recommendation."

I flashed Kalman my brightest smile. One of the objectives I'd carried into the capital was now complete. With this in hand, I could at least show my face to Lucian back home.

Securing the recommendation wasn't the end of it. The letter now had to be delivered to the company alongside the business proposal.

"Adras!"

"Yes, my lord."

"We're off to the Dris Trading Company."

Delivering documents was a job I could have left to Adras, but there was no harm in seeing with my own eyes how one of the capital's finest firms conducted its business.

And I might as well pick up souvenirs while I was at it. Word had it the Dris headquarters stocked rare goods obtainable nowhere else. If anything useful caught my eye, I'd buy a few as keepsakes of my trip to the capital—and I wanted to browse for anything Ruby might need, too.

The Dris headquarters stood in the Artisans' District, two hours' journey from our lodgings.

"There it is."

Adras pointed to a stately three-story building. Its ground floor was fitted with floor-to-ceiling glass, and the interior showed through, bright and inviting.

The décor leapt out at me first—lavish enough to rival any house in the noble quarter. At the entrance, ten staff in immaculate uniforms stood drawn up in flanking rows.

"Welcome, honored customer!"

I stepped inside, receiving their crisp bows.

"May we ask your family name and title?"

"Oh, come now—do you not know who this is? The Demon Slayer and Dragon Tamer himself—"

"Iden Esterzy."

I cut off Adras's fawning before it could gather steam.

"Lord Iden Esterzy, was it. Is there anything in particular you're looking for?"

Over the employee's shoulder, I could see the building directory. The second floor was the general showroom; the third floor bore the title Luxury Goods Hall.

"Take me to wherever your most expensive goods are kept."

I was a Daoist. Most any situation could be settled with a talisman. If I was going to spend money and time on goods regardless, then it was only rational to look at the very best they had to offer.

"Of course. Please follow us."

Three employees, wearing courteous smiles, escorted us up to the third floor.

The sealed doors swung open to either side, revealing a vast chamber filled with glass-cased display stands. And every case was packed with goods of staggering price. Weapons, ornaments, armor... each and every piece an extraordinary treasure.

It was, in a word, a dazzling treasury of rare and wondrous things.

"This is the Luxury Goods Hall, the pride of the Dris Trading Company. Please browse to your heart's content."

Adras let out a low whistle.

I began my slow tour with the nearest display stand.

Even the materials were high-class. On top of that, an artisan gifted with an Awoken Ability had layered a special effect over the forging. I had meant to take my time, but the very first piece came with specs this impressive, and a greed I never knew I possessed began to sprout, tendril by tendril.

As I worked my way down the stands one by one, I noticed something odd.

"What's this one? It's empty inside."

Several display cases stood utterly bare. Not simply ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠empty, either—lonely information plaques had been propped up within them.

An employee came over and explained with practiced courtesy.

"This is the permanent booth of Master Yanosi, our company's exclusive artisan. His commissions are backed up so far that receiving a piece of his work requires a rather lengthy wait."

"How long?"

"Fifteen years at minimum."

I lost the words to answer. However magnificent the piece, who queues for fifteen years? By the time it arrived, I might not even need it anymore.

"As it happens, a gentleman collected his piece just a few days ago. He had waited twelve—no, thirteen years, I believe."

"What in the world could be worth that?"

Curiosity got the better of me. What sort of item commanded a waiting list over a decade long?

The employee fetched a catalog, rifled through it, and spread a page open for me to see.

The moment I finished reading the description, I conceded outright. An item that nullified a blow meant to kill you? That was a spare life, plain and simple. Fifteen years in line would be worth it for this.

I coveted it—but its owner had already been decided, alas. And with a wait that long, it was never something within my reach to begin with.

After a long circuit of the Luxury Goods Hall, I finally settled on what I would buy.

Weapons and armor could wait; none were urgent. What I needed was an effective means of storing my talismans. My breast pocket was forever bulging thick with them, and it was a perpetual nuisance.

"How much is this bag?"

The item description made no mention of a price.

"Sanpedla's Travel Bag, you say. What an excellent eye. The price of this piece is..."

The employee flipped briskly through the catalog pages.

"One million bart."

One million?

That's two Rubies for a single bag?

Expensive, yes—but weighed against the effect, it was hardly beyond my means. With this one bag, I'd never again have to haul bundles of paper around by the fistful.

"Good, I'll take one. And... by any chance, do you carry a saddle that would fit a dragon?"

The employee's eyes went round as saucers.

"A saddle... for a dragon, my lord?"

Another employee jabbed him in the ribs and whispered.

"You haven't heard about Lord Iden? He's the dragon tamer."

"Ah—! Forgive me. Allow us a moment to search our stock."

All three employees pounced on their catalogs at once. They combed through them from cover to cover, then began hauling booklets up from the floor below, kicking up a proper commotion.

"Here it is!"

A good while had passed when one employee hoisted a worn booklet overhead and let out a cry of triumph. The page he spread open displayed this item:

"The piece is not at the main store at present, but if you would provide your address, we will deliver it to your residence."

"The effect is unknown?"

"It has gone so long without use, you see... we will verify that as well before sending it on."

The employees looked thoroughly flustered, as if they had never once dreamed the day would come when they would sell the thing.

"Take your time. No one but me is going to buy it anyway."

I gave them an easy smile.

With the transaction concluded, I returned to our lodgings. The delegation had already finished its preparations to leave the capital.

Now that departure was truly upon us, I felt a curious ache of relief and regret all at once. There were still so many places I hadn't seen, so many people I hadn't met.

I hadn't managed to look into Mabel's fiancé, either, nor to grant Daphne's request. Tracing the flow of funds Adras had uncovered, nobles had come unraveling from the scheme like vines off a trellis—and among them had been the Marquessate of Hycliffe.

The House of Hycliffe was Daphne's family.

Could this be what she had feared? That her own blood was colluding with the demons in a dangerous gamble?

"Back, are you?"

"Yes."

"Time we went home. Linger any longer in this second-rate place, and ailments I never had will come crawling back."

Outside the lodgings, cargo wagons and knights stood drawn up in formation. The wagons were loaded with far more than the merchandise we had arrived with and emptied.

I was just about to climb onto the rearmost wagon.

"Hmm, here."

Father held something out to me.

It was a bracelet of plain design, yet somehow its look was familiar.

Hold on... isn't this the one from the catalog?

"Picked it up on the way."

Father said, perfectly flat.