Chapter 50: Chapter forty nine

"Ughh Amico, you really shouldn't buy that thing." Roberto's face contorted, and his feet attempted to move but stopped when he remembered his condition.

 

"What's the harm? It can be quite useful in certain circumstances." Akira's mind was wandering to the future, to the events that had brought him here in the first place.

 

The shopkeeper, on the other hand, was overjoyed. The dragon's turd had been sitting on his shelf, taking up space and making a bad impression on the onlookers, but rules were rules and he, like everyone else, had no choice but to follow them.

 

"Uhh fine, but please put that in your storage, it stinks," he said, pinching his nose and quickly paying for the item with his special card.

 

"That makes me think of the swipe machine.” Akira couldn't help but mutter when he saw that. 

 

"Swipe machines? There's nothing like that here, Amico." That was the sixth time he'd had to say something along those lines.

 

His first client had this strange habit of muttering about things he had never seen, let alone heard, which perplexed him because there were very few things he had not seen in his life given the kind of place he worked in.

 

"Welcome, welcome little adventurer, take a look at some of our best-selling talismans." Unlike the others, this guy did not pass judgment on the duo based on their appearance.

 

"Do you have the explosive ones? The ones that explode after a few seconds of being set?" 

 

"Ah, you're talking about the third rail, right? Don't worry, little friend, I've got you covered." 

 

Another misnomer, Akira thought.

 

"You now have the power of a tier one attack spell in your hands; simply break this card whenever you want and it will do its job. Oh, and remember to take a few steps back; you don't want to injure yourself, do you?" The shopkeeper had a wide grin on his face.

 

"Umm, can I take five of them?" Akira asked, putting on the most innocent face he could muster.

 

"Sorry, little friend, the rules are the rules. Three pieces per person unless you can show me your adventurer's ID," he said, shaking his head.

 

And Akira knew exactly why he was asking for it; this was the time when he realized how important it was to transcend the first tier and enter the 'real world.'

 

"Then three pieces."

 

“Great.” 

 

The transaction concluded, and they both proceeded to the location. Roberto wanted to show him some of the best things he knew, but there was a small issue that prevented Akira from going.

 

He had run out of money; Ivan's allowance was more than enough for anyone else to comfortably last an entire month, or even longer if they were frugal, but he couldn't afford to be frugal in the least.

 

"No, we can't; I'm almost out of money." 

 

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Roberto's commission and the price of the two items were already skyrocketing, explaining why only the big adventurers and not someone in his own league would come here.

 

"Then what do you recommend?"

 

"Let's go hunt some monsters; we could trade their cores for money." He wanted one more thing from the place before leaving for the sake of the good of the place.

 

"It's not really my thing to say, amico, but do you really want to do that? Why not return when you're a little stronger?" These were the most polite sentences he could have crafted.

 

Akira understood what he meant and simply shrugged; sometimes an individual's strength is measured by his or her ability to pick his or her fights.

 

"Fine," Roberto said, not happy with his decision, but there was nothing he could do about it.

 

Coming outside the safe zone of sector X was like stepping into a dungeon in the outside world, except on a much larger scale and magnitude. Dungeons usually started on the easy level, but this place screamed danger.

 

"Why are you so terrified? Don't you have a teleportation talisman that will transport you back if something goes wrong?" Akira asked while going forward.

 

"You know about that?" Roberto yelled, his steps stumbling slightly.

 

"Of course I do, what do you think I am?" He laughed and looked at the eerie visage of the place.

 

Death and destruction could be the place's very pronouns; the land was charred beyond recognition, with not an iota of the greenery it once had, and the air was impregnated with the stench of rotting flesh and dried blood from both monsters and humans. Being there was a battle in and of itself, one that hardened the individual's mental resistance.

 

"Yuck... This place is really as bad as everyone says," he sprayed some shots in the air while pulling a perfume from his storage ring.

 

"That's a lot better." Akira couldn't understand how someone could do something like that in such a critical situation where even the slightest disturbance rendered one helpless.

 

‘Whatever.’ 

 

“Concealment.”

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