It had been two days since the qualifying rounds of the fighting tournament had ended. The main tournament would be held in a few days and Rei was walking through the streets of the Imperial Capital on his own.

He had wanted to go out the day before, but Elk and Min had been a bit too happy about Rhodes qualifying and had drank too much during the celebration party and ended up with hangovers.

Of course, it was just a mild hangover and if they pushed themselves a bit, they would have still managed Daska’s escort duty, but since Rei was available, there was no need to go so far and Rei ended up on guard duty for the day.

For safety reasons, Daska couldn’t leave the inn, so in the end, all he could do was to stay in his room or exercise in the courtyard.

When he did go out to the courtyard, Daska’s knights would take over for a bit in case of emergencies, but in the end the day passed without incident and Elk and Min, who had recovered from their hangover, returned to their escort duties, excusing Rei from his role.

Rei could have trained more with Luzi and the others in the courtyard in preparation for the main tournament, but……he decided to take the opportunity to look for magic items for sale in the Imperial Capital instead as he walked around on his own.

(Without Set or the Death Scythe, I’m not as conspicuous.)

Rei himself had a relatively good looking face, but with his hood over his head, it was hidden.

The Dragon Robe was a very high quality magic item, but due to its concealment effect, most people wouldn’t be able to tell it was a magic item.

In other words, Rei currently appeared to be like any other ordinary person……maybe a budding adventurer at worst.

Regardless of whether the fighting tournament was being held or not, it wasn’t uncommon for budding adventurers to be found in the Imperial Capital, so he blended in perfectly with his surroundings.

「If I remember correctly, I go straight down this street, turn left at the end, then it should be the third building from there.」

Rei continued along the directions Mosst had given him.

While Wind Dragon’s Fang did work in the Bestir Empire, it usually wasn’t around the Imperial Capital but one of the smaller developed cities instead.

That said, they had still been to the Imperial Capital several times before on escort requests and, on those occasions, Mosst had visited several stores that sold magic items. Rei had received directions to the stores as payment for training Mosst and was currently on his way to one of them.

As the qualifying rounds had completed the day before, people who had previous packed the stadiums had now flooded into the streets to take in the sights of the Imperial Capital, so the number of pedestrians was surprisingly large.

At the same time, merchants shouted out as they eyed the passers by in order to attract their attention, deciding that now was the time to make some money.

「Hey, young miss. No, young man? What do you think? Would you like to buy a ring? You can wear it or give it to your lover. I’m sure they’ll be happy.」

Rei was called out to by a street vendor who had spread out their wares on the road side. He glanced over with some interest at first before letting out a disappointed sigh.

It was because the products displayed were clearly of inferior quality.

There were many accessories such as rings, bangles, anklets, collars, and necklaces, but even Rei could tell that the colours of the gems were dull and the worksmanship was poor.

If even someone like Rei, who didn’t have an eye for aesthetics, could see that, the quality had to be extremely poor.

On the contrary, Rei was left wondering if any one would buy them at all, even if they were a tourist like themselves.

Maybe the street vendor thought that the because the person he was calling out to was small he would be able to fool them. Of course, there was no need to limit themselves to Rei specifcally.

Seeing that they weren’t able to get Rei’s attention, they immediately called out to another customer.

After dealing with such situations several times, Rei continued down the route Mosst told him……and eventually found the store he was looking for.

「Is this it?」

Although the shop was located on the main street, there were strangely no customers in sight.

Of course, there were reasons for that. Unlike other stores, it made no attempt to use this time as an opportunity to make money. Instead, the store’s appearance made it seem like they were telling first time customers to not come.

「……This is the place, right?」

Looking at the store, he couldn’t help but tilt his head, even though he was sure it was the right place.

However, there was no point standing outside, so he reached for the store’s door……

The moment he did that, Rei sensed something and quickly jumped away from teh door.

At the same time, something flew out the door, right past Rei, bouncing on the ground several times before stopping.

The reactions of passers by who saw that were split into two.

Some ran away from the scene while others worried called out to the middle aged man in his 40’s who had flown out the door.

The people who had called out worriedly were those who had come to the Imperial Capital to see the fighting tournament while the ones who quickly ran away were those who knew the store owner’s personality.

The next moment, a thin man in his 30’s appeared from inside the store.

He had a bucket of water in his hand.

「Don’t ever come to my store again!」

With that shout, the bucket of water was thrown at the fallen man with such force that it was hard to believe the man was so thin, causing everyone nearby to run away.

Seeing everything happen, Rei felt a sense of deja vu as if he had seen it happen before.

(……Oh, the first time I met Vihera.)

At that time, an adventurer from the Silva family had been blasted out the door by Vihera’s kicks and punches, creating a similar scene to what had just happened.

However, Rei suddenly noticed something.

At that time, Vihera had thrown the man out with her own physical strength, but Rei wonder if this man could do the same.

(He’s thinner than I am, so normally it wouldn’t be possible……normally, that is.)

As he thought to himself, Rei looked over at the thin man, who was still holding the bucket, and the man seemed to notice Rei as well.

He looked at Rei suspiciously……before his eyes widened the next moment.

「You……the hell……」

His reaction was similar to those who could sense Rei’s magic power, but there was a definite difference. He was definitely looking at Rei with awe.

He was looking at Rei, but not really at the same time. ……In other words, his expression had only changed when he saw the Dragon Robe Rei was wearing.

However, his surprise was short lived.

He immediately coughed slightly to correct his expression before turning his gaze to the store he had just come out from.

「Come in. If you’re here, you must be a customer, right?」

「Y-Yeah.」

Although it was an unexpected turn of events, Rei wasn’t going to refuse.

Since he had come here looking for magic items, he wasn’t going to turn down the store owner’s invitation……or at least someone who seemed to be related to the store.

Rei followed the man into the store.

But……the first thing he saw after entering was unexpected, and not in a good way.

He hadn’t been expecting magic items to be lined up……but he had still expected there to be a few.

However, what Rei could see was just a shelf with nothing on it. Other than that, there wasn’t a single magic item in sight.

「Haha-, you must be surprised. Even though this is a store, there aren’t any products.」

「It certainly is……」

Rei didn’t know what to say, but the man, who seemed to be the store owner, smiled and told him not to worry.

「Well, to put it simply, the business failed. My friend ran around trying to find money in various ways, but……in the end, we didn’t make it in time, so this is what happened.」

There was no trace of regret in the man’s expression. He even had a refreshed expression on his face.

「I see, I heard that there was a good selection of magic items……but that’s a shame.」

「Sorry about that. Oh, it’s not like we don’t have any magic items though. However, as you saw earlier, there are a lot of people who are trying to buy up our magic items before we go bankrupt. I’ve already settled things with my friend, but they still won’t give up. Some even tried to sneak in at night. ……Because we deal in magic items, security is naturally very strict, so some were injured as they tried to run away.」

The man seemed to recall something that had happened previously. He had a wicked smile on his face that was completely different from his smile just a few second ago.

Rei was convinced that the thin man was more than he seemed, as evidenced by the fact that he had poured a bucket over the man from earlier.

「So, I’m sorry I can’t sell you anything, but that’s how it is right now.」

He stopped speaking for a moment before turning a sharp gaze towards Rei, different from his earlier gaze again…….no, rather back to his previous gaze, when he was looking at the Dragon Robe Rei was wearing.

「Who are you? That robe is an incredible magic item, isn’t it? Also, those are the Shoes of Sleipnir. They aren’t the best quality, but they aren’t something a child your age should be able to afford. You don’t seem like a noble either.」

「……Heh, so you can tell? This robe has a concealment effect on it.」

Rei’s expression was filled with surprise.

Up until now, very few people ahd seen through the Dragon Robe’s effect. He hadn’t expected the man to figure it out at first glance.

In other owrds, the man before him was very skilled in his field.

Rei wasn’t sure if it was because he had the eyes of a merchant that dealt with magic items or because he was a creator of magic items, like an alchemist.

「I’ve been trying to figure out what it was. Are you able to tell me what it does?」

「I can’t tell you what other effects it has, but I can tell you the name. Dragon Robe. That’s the name of this robe.」

The shop owner twitched at Rei’s words.

Dragon Robe. It was clear what that name meant, even without thinking about it.

「Using Dragon materials? Materials from a Wyvern that a Dragon Knight rides would……no, that wouldn’t work. It’s possible to make powerful magic items using Wyvern materials, but it would be hard to give it such a strong concealment effect. That means……」

The man gulped as he quietly spoke.

「A true Dragon……」

There was no doubt that the Wyverns that Dragon Knights rode were Dragons.

However, in this case, Dragons referred to true Dragons.

「May I……touch it?」

「Sure, I don’t mind.」

After receiving Rei’s permission, the man gently reached out and touched the Dragon Robe. But, a moment later, he noticed something strange.

「Isn’t this just Dragon leather? But it feels……」

The outside and inside of the Dragon Robe. Touching both sides, he felt something sandwiched in between. It felt hard, but wasn’t too hard at the same time.

The man felt the contradictory materials before remembering something his old friend had touched before.

A magic item that had been made from a Dragon’s materials, a creature that ranked above all living beings.

「Dragon scales?」

Although Rei didn’t say anything, his eyes widened slightly in surprise.

A Dragon’s scales naturally grew in proportion to its body. After being processed and strengthed using magic and alchemy, the scales had then been placed inside the Dragon Robe.

「I can’t believe it, this……this is something on the level of a national treasure……」

The store owner was stunned as he muttered to himself, but then he turned his attention to Rei’s hand……or more precisely, Rei’s right hand, before freezing again.

It was because he had realised what the bracelet on Rei’s right hand was.

「An item……box?」

He had just seen something unbelievable. The store owner looked at Rei for a minute before coming to his sense.

「Well, I was able to see some nice things. Honestly though, is there any point to coming to this store when you already have such amazing items?」

「I’ve always had the hobby of collecting magic items. That’s why I had been looking forward to coming here.」

As Rei replied, the store’s door opened again.

「Who……is this?」

It was another man, in his 30’s to 40’s.

When Rei saw who it was, he jumped almost on reflex as he distanced himself.

Fortunately, the store owner wasn’t caught up in Rei’s movements.

If the store owner had still been touching the Dragon Robe, he would have probably been dragged along.

However, Rei didn’t seem to care for the store owner as he kept his distance from the man who had just entered, his wary gaze never leaving.

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