Chapter 369 Buying Equipment

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We wandered across the city beautiful streets. Just seeing the people happily walk around, the market bustling with sellers and buyers, and carriages carrying nobility around, I can't even imagine how grim the underworld of this city is. Eastgrain is really a shitty place that hides their darkness behind the façade of a peaceful city. It sucks I can't get involved, but I really hope my father and his friends can crush the nobility's plans and rescue the slaves.

Nonetheless, after a few minutes of walking around, we found ourselves inside the preferred shop for equipment and weapons that my parents had chosen. This shop was also where Zack came to commission the creation of equipment using the materials of the monster she had hunted. He had even used his own money earned through selling the creature, and many other monsters, and magic herbs he has been collecting around sometimes.

A bearded and small, midget man greeted us all. He was just in the middle of making the last modifications to a beautiful rainbow-colored crystal bracelet.

"Ah! Welcome back you all! Oh, it's you kid! Here, it's done as you requested, a gift for your girlfriend." Said the man. He was actually a dwarf, I believe. I've already seen them on the streets sometimes but seeing one so close was amazing! They're really small but packed with muscles, especially in their shoulders and arms. For a moment, it made me imagine them walking with their arms…

"It's done? So fast? Really?" Asked Zack, running towards the front table, the dwarf quickly gave Zack the bracelet, alongside a pair of boots made of beautiful bluish fur.

"Yes, here they are, this is what I could make of the highest quality possible, they're all enchanted with magic runes and I even added some secret arts to it, dwarven only arts!" Laughed the old man.

"Thank you!" Zack grabbed the things and ran towards me with an adorable smile.

"H-Here! Sylphy, this is for you!" He said.

"Oh? Z-Zack…?!" I asked in disbelief. I had not expected they were for me… Well, the old man said "girlfriend" but I am not really his girlfriend…

"I told you I was gonna use that giant crystal horned deer to make you something pretty! Buut... Errr, well, I am bad at crafting, so I commissioned this old man. Look, these boots look good, right? And the bracelet enchants elemental magic."

"Woow…"

Zack handled to me the things, as I quickly wore the bracelet, it fit just right. And the moment I put it, I felt my Mana flowing to it slowly, as it began to shine with rainbow colors. This was most likely made out of the deer's crystal antlers. And it was beautiful, I felt my magic circle resonating with it for a bit, enhancing my basic elemental magic, such as Fire, Water, and Wind, the main elements the monster uses to fight. I also wore the boots right away, feeling they made me slightly… freer? Like I was even lighter while using them. I also felt like I could jump higher. It was really quite wondrous.

"This is amazing, thanks for your birthday gift, Zack!" I said.

"Hehe, it's nothing! You've done a lot for me…" He said. "I felt like it was time to give you a little gift."

"A lot? but I've barely done anything for you… I'll make sure to also gift you something nice." I said with a smile.

"You've surely done a lot for me! Being my friend… is one of them. Even when I was so grumpy back then…" He sighed. "And well, you kind of helped me get over my past a bit, and all of that corny stuff…"

"Heheh, you're a good kid, aren't you?" I giggled, as I petted his head. I quickly decided to give him a mooch on his left cheek.

"Mooch! You're also a very cute and hardworking boy, I am glad to have you as my friend." I said while smiling back at him.

"E-Eeeh?!"

Zack grew all red as a tomato, suddenly covering his face.

"Y-You didn't had any right to do that…!" He cried with embarrassment.

"Hahaha! Come on, you're like my family." I laughed.

"Ahahahaha! These kids are cracking me up!" The dwarf laughed.

"S-Sylphy! H-How can you give him a kiss?!" Cried Aquarina out of shock.

"Eh? But I give you one almost every day, don't get jealous…" I sighed.

"I-I am not! A-And err… I-I will also gift you something great! J-Just you wait!" Aquarina said while pouting and scornfully glaring at Zack.

While we were talking, the dwarf man welcomed the rest of our party.

"Welcome again, anyways, what do you need from my humble shop?" He wondered.

"We came looking for magic enchanted armor for the head, shoulders, chest, and legs… I heard that you are the best blacksmith around these areas, Sir Ash." Said my father.

"Hahaha, if I was so famous I would have more clients, don't you think?" He asked. "My prices cannot be easily afforded by newbies! I only lowered the prices to the kid because he moved my heart, but usually, my stuff is so expensive that only Adventurers above Rank C can even fathom to afford them!" The dwarf seemed prideful of his absurd prices.

As I wandered around the shop with my friends, who were still discussing against one another, I noticed everything was ridiculously priced. Most things costed over ten gold coins, which is a lot! With that you can feed the entire orphanage for half a year I think.

"Heh, don't worry about the prices." Said my mother, suddenly taking out a sack of coins, all gold and platinum coins.

SMACK!

"EH?!" The dwarf, who was so prideful, was left speechless that a pregnant woman was able to lift several pounds of heavy metal such as gold and platinum, and even more shocked at the money. His eyes suddenly turned into "$" marks for some funny reason, as he began looking at the money. "AAAH! Gold and White Gold! By Hephaestus, this is ridiculous! How rich are you?!"

"Well, getting rich is an aftereffect of being S-Rank Adventurers." Said Shade nonchalantly.

"S RANK ADVENTURERS?!"

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