The sun was high in the blue sky. There wasn’t a cloud in sight in the sky as the sun shone brightly.

It was the height of summer. Rei and Elena were walking down Exil’s main street under the 30C temperature.

Unusually, Set and Yellow weren’t with them and they were on their own.

As promised last night, they had come out to buy equipment suited for taking on desert environments from the 11th floor down.

「But, if you think about it, we still have yet to capture the 10th floor.」

Rei spoke as he brought a sandwich he bought from a nearby store to his mouth.

Elena smiled at Rei as she scooped up her golden hair as if to oppose the sunshine.

「It’s true that we’ll only be on the 10th floor tomorrow, but after capturing the 10th floor……we can’t come back up then to buy desert equipment, can we?」

Rei nodded at Elena’s words, who shrugged her shoulders lightly.

An ordinary adventurer party might have done what Rei said considering the amount of extra equipment they would need to carry. However, Rei had his Misty Ring and Elena had her magic pouch. Elena’s magic pouch couldn’t hold as much as the Misty Ring, but could still accommodate a set of desert equipment without any issues.

「So, did you find a place?」

Elena asked Rei as he ate his sandwich.

Rei hadn’t bought a sandwich from a food stall for no reason. Of course, it had been about two hours since he had eaten breakfast, so he was starting to feel hungry, but his main purpose was to ask the stall owner for equipment shop recommendations. The sandwich Rei brought to his mouth, made with roast chicken and a spicy sauce, was bought as a fee of sorts for information.

「Yeah. Go straight down this street and continue on for 10 minutes after passing by the guild. It supposedly has a sign with a rock and hammer. There, they sell tools for use in the desert from the 11th floor onward. The quality of their equipment seems to be good as well.」

「A rock and hammer? That looks like a Dwarfen sign.」

「Actually, the owner seems to be a Dwarf, so that’s not surprising. However, it seems that he often holes himself up in his forge.」

Saying that, Rei threw the last bite of his sandwich into his mouth.

It was quite a sizable sandwich with roast chicken, but for Rei, it was just a snack.

Walking along the main street, the passed by the guild.

「Don’t mess around! Who do you think I am!」

They heard such a voice from the front of the guild, but they just walked by without caring about it at all.

Normally, they might have taken a look to see if someone was looking for trouble. However, right now, they two of them were midway through a shopping date. If they got themselves into trouble, in the worst case, they might end up spending time explaining everything to the guards. Considering that, neither of them were willing to poke their faces into trouble.

(In the first place, trouble is already strangely attracted to me. I don’t have to bother poking my face into it.)

Thinking like that, he walked past the guild with Elena……eventually, they found a sign with a rock and hammer on it, just as Rei had heard from the owner of the sandwich stall.

The size of the shop was neither big nor small, just a normal sized shop. The front of the shop was clean, giving Rei and Elena a good impression.

「Huh, this is a nice place……let’s go in right away. It’s too hot being under direct sunlight.」

Elena looked up at the sun as she said that, but no sweat flowed on her forehead. That was probably due the the Ancient Dragon magic stone she had inherited.

From Rei’s perspective, it seemed that Elena would have no problems travelling through a desert environment, but it would good to take precautions. And above all, being able to endure and being comfortable were two completely different things.

As far as Rei was concerned, his Dragon Robe acted as a simple air conditioner, so he wouldn’t have any issues, even in a desert.

「Well, I’m looking forward to what kind of items there might be.」

The usually dignified Elena called out to Rei with a small smile on her face.

Rei could feel his heart flutter for a moment at the smile on Elena’s face, but tried to hide it as he reached for the door.

The moment he opened the door, the refreshing sound of a bell rang out in the shop.

The shop had probably put a bell at the door so that they could easily tell when a customer walked in, but for Rei, the sound of the bell reminded him of wind chimes in summer.

「Welcome. What can I help you with?」

A woman the height of Rei’s chest, who was already short for a human in this world, called out in a drawling voice.

However, she wasn’t young, but rather someone that gave off the feel of a mature woman.

「Ah, we’re looking for various equipment that can be used in the desert from the 11th floor.」

「For how many people?」

「Just Elena and I. Also, if there’s anything that looks good, I’ll take it as well.」

「Yes, yes, I’ll go get you a set.」

Saying that, the woman that was considerably shorter than Rei went behind the counter.

Seeing her leave, Rei lightly pulled on Elena’s arm in curiosity as she was looking around with a few other customers.

「That clerk……is a Dwarf, right?」

According to Rei’s knowledge, both male and female Dwarfs were quite short. However, they were supposedly also sturdy and strong.

In fact, the Dwarfs that Rei had seen up until now were all exactly as he had imagined.

That said, all the Dwarfs he had seen were male, he had never seen a female Dwarf.

Maybe he might have passed by one in Gilm, or seen one during the war with the Bestir Empire, but he hadn’t remembered seeing one. So, as this was the first time seeing a female Dwarf, he asked Elena.

「Hm? You’ve never seen a female Dwarf before Rei?」

「Yeah.」

「I can’t know for sure without asking, but she’s probably a Dwarf. Unlike male Dwarfs, female Dwarfs naturally don’t have beards. Because of that, the only way to tell from their appearance is their height and body. That said, Dwarfs basically all have great pride in their race. If you ask her, she’ll definitely tell you.」

「What about their like for alcohol? The Dwarfs I had met before were all very heavy drinkers.」

Brazos, from the C rank party Crushing Warriors, who had had gone on a Harpy subjugation with, passed through Rei’s mind.

He had been someone who drank if he any free time and was shorter than Rei, who was already small for a human. Despite having such a body, with strength particular to Dwarfs as well as magic items, he was able to easily swing his Earthshaker Hammer, which was longer than his own height.

「It’s true that we Dwarfs love to drink, but it’s different for each individual.」

Rei’s question was answered by the female clerk that appeared to be a Dwarf rather than Elena as she returned from behind the counter.

In her hands was a cloak, a water pouch, a small folded tent, a magic item to start fires, and a medicine box that was compactly packed with all the medicine needed for the desert.

The ability to carry an amount of goods that even a large man wouldn’t be able to carry without splitting into several loads showcased the strength of the Dwarfs.

The clerk spoke again as she placed the items onto the counter.

「Some Dwarfs don’t like to drink. Oh, I’m a Dwarf as well, as you might have guessed.」

「I-I see.」

Her drawling voice seemed to take Rei off his stride.

Without being aware of what her voice was doing to Rei, she first took a cloak off the counter.

The brown……or rather, sand coloured cloak not only covered the body, but also the head.

「This is the first item. As you know, the sun is very strong in the desert, so you’ll need a cloak to block it.」

「Does the sunlight still strong even inside the dungeon?」

The dungeon with the Altar of Inheritance that Rei and Elena had previously challenged. There had been a forest floor in the dungeon and the sun was still properly there despite being inside the dungeon. What’s more, the sun still set at night and rose in the morning, which was extremely unnatural.

Rei asked as he recalled that as the Dwarfen woman nodded her head as if it were natural.

「Because it’s a desert, the sunlight is naturally accompanied with extreme heat. Rumours say that there are even some areas where the temperature is close to 50C. In order to conquer the desert floors past the 11th floor, you’ll need a cloak that can block out the sunlight. This cloak is a simple one, but it uses alchemy to give heat resistance. ……However, this is only a basic one, so it lowers the temperature by about 5C at best.」

「5C, is it? Then I won’t need it.」

At Rei’s words, the Dwarfen woman seemed confused as he asked Rei.

「What do you mean?」

Worried that he might have been impolite, Rei tapped on his Dragon Robe

「This robe is a bit of a special magic item. It also has some form of temperature control.」

「Huh, hohoho. That’s amazing. Then, what about the beautiful woman?」

Rei wasn’t sure if she believed him or just didn’t care. In any case, the Dwarf turned her eyes from Rei to Elena as she held out the sand coloured cloak.

「Yes, I see. Then, I’ll take it. Is there anything else?」

「That’s right. In the desert, hydration is absolutely necessary, so how about a water pouch?」

「A water pouch, huh……」

Elena muttered as she picked up the water pouch on the counter.

Certainly, the water pouch was made from some kind of monster leather and was probably of higher quality than the usual ones sold in the market. However, when it came to water, there was no better drinking water than what could be made with Rei’s Dagger of Flowing Water. In addition, as long as they had magic power, they could make water. Taking a water pouch with them would only take up unnecessary space.

「As for water, we can manage that, so we don’t need this. What’s next?」

「Is that so? This water pouch is sturdy, so it can even be used as a basic shield in an emergency. That’s a shame.」

「……A shield?」

Rei involuntarily asked at the clerk’s words.

After all, the water pouch wasn’t made from metal. It was a pouch made from monster leather. When told it could be used as a shield, Rei had no choice but to tilt his head in confusion.

「That’s right. It’s made from Ogre leather, so it’s quite sturdy.」

「Ogre leather, huh. I’m sure that would make it sturdy……but as I said, we don’t need it. Next, please.」

The clerk seemed to have been quite confident about the water pouches made from Ogre leather. She gave an unfortunate sigh as she took out a small folded tent next. But……

「We won’t need that either.」

Rei simply said that as he already had a magic tent which was close to the highest grade tent that could be found.

「Mm, that’s true.」

Elena had also used that magic tent several times on their way to Exil with Rei as well as inside the dungeon, so she easily agreed with Rei’s decision.

「Ehh, you don’t need this either?」

The Dwarfen woman gave a sigh as she said that.

It was understandable. After all, she had been told to bring out a set of items for use on the desert floors, only to be told they didn’t need most of them.

However, she still had her sense of pride as the clerk of the shop.

It might have been difficult to tell from her words, but she had a surprisingly great sense of pride.

The two customers in front of her were a dignified woman with a beautiful appearance and a boy, who was younger than the woman. When she first saw them inside the shop, she had thought of them as lovers, a couple, siblings, or party members, but none of that seemed to line up. Still, she understood from their previous exchange that the boy had a lot of magic items. Because of that, if they had to spend a night in the dungeon……instead of a magic item that could be used to light a fire when the temperature dropped, she decided to bring out her trump card and took out a box containing an assortment of medicines.

「There are many monsters with poison in the desert and the type of poison can be very different depending on the monster. Because of that, general poison antidotes are ineffective……that said, there are antidotes in this box that specialise in dealing with the poison from desert monsters. There are also other medicines that may be need in the desert, what about this?」

「Heh. ……I think it would be better to have some kind of poison antidote. What do you think, Rei?」

「Yeah. No problem, I don’t have any issues with medicine. We’ll take that.」

I’ve won. The Dwarfen woman didn’t seem to care about what Rei and Elena had just said as she spoke up to continue selling more useful goods.

After that, for some reason, Rei and Elena were forced to shop for several silver coins worth of goods.

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