These Aren't Sneakers

"Nope. This is not it."

A battle axe sailed past my head and embedded itself into the wall.

I gulped. That was the third deadly weapon just narrowly missing me.

"Just how hard is it to find a pair of bloody daggers?", Dorothy grumbled as she walked around the storeroom, searching among an arsenal of weapons scattered around.

She couldn't find daggers that were suitable for me on display so she led us to the storeroom to find a good pair from the many weapons in the racks.

Although I said that I required a pair of daggers like the ones I had for my first battle, Dorothy insisted that I must get the best.

"Being royalty has its perks.", Felix remarked with a chuckle. He quickly caught an arrow that would've pierced his eye.

The guy has good reflexes.

"You don't have to be from the royal family to receive perks.", Dorothy said and scowled at Felix, "Your endless discount coupons are ruining our business."

Felix shrugged, "Hey! I can't refuse coupons given to me by old man Harold himself."

Dorothy sighed, "I told him many times not to go drinking with you."

She crossed her arms, "Looks like I am going to have to refuse coupons from you."

"Hey! You can't do that to your customer!", Felix protested and turned to me, "She can't do that, right?"

I just shrugged, "I don't know. I just came here."

He sighed, "Bugger."

Dorothy smirked, "That ought to teach you a lesson."

With that, she continued on the search. During that time I tried other weapons. I can say that ended well.

I almost lost my head when I tried to lift a huge scythe and the thing slipped from my hands, Felix almost had a lethal haircut when I accidentally shot a spinning blade from a launcher at him.

As the two of us were trying not to get killed by my selection of weapons, a second daemon alarm blared all over Necropolis, and Deathwalkers were teleported to the battlefield in a flash of green.

Again, neither I nor Felix was teleported.

"Don't worry. Third time's a charm.", Felix winked at me.

Very reassuring man. Very reassuring.

"But damn.", he picked up a dusty sword and examined it, "Althea is sure going to be busy today."

"Tell me about it.", Dorothy grumbled as she tossed away a hammer shaped like a goose.

I couldn't help but ask, "Why do you have a goose-shaped battle hammer?"

Dorothy sighed, "Please don't ask. Some customers are weird."

She glanced at Felix, "Well, Deathwalkers are cracked, after all."

"I heard that!", Felix called out as he examined a collection of different weapons. He raised an eyebrow at me.

"Don't just stand there! You also search. Dorothy will take forever to find a good pair of daggers for you."

And so I joined in the hunt for my weapon. I found many different types of daggers and tried them all but none satisfied me.

After about an hour Felix and I were sitting in the middle of the storeroom, resting after an exhaustive search. Dorothy had gone to take care of a customer.

"This is harder than I thought.", Felix wiped the dust off his hands.

"You must have a weapon to even have a small chance when you get teleported but you are too weak for any of the weapons here.", he sighed.

"Sorry.", My gaze went to the floor.

"Don't blame yourself.", he gave me a warm smile and got up, "Let's find you a suitable pair of daggers.", he held out his hand.

I smiled and he helped me up. That was when something caught my eye.

I brushed past Felix and approached a rack containing weapons. Swords, axes, bows, guns, spears, daggers, and many other deadly toys were arranged in the rack.

But what caught my eye was the dusty shoebox lying at the bottom of the rack, almost hidden by the other dusty weapons.

I carefully took it out, my nose wrinkled as a small dust cloud rose from the clattering weapons.

I looked down at it. The box was not remarkable, it was a simple cardboard box, used to pack a good pair of sneakers.

But it had weight.

I don't think this box contains the latest pair of sneakers.

"That looks old.", Felix remarked as he stood beside me and looked at the box. I nodded, "It's been here for years. Dorothy might know."

"What did you guys find?", Dorothy asked as she approached us with a smile. Her eyes fell on the box I was holding and her smile faded.

"Mordred. Where did you get that?", she asked, pushing Felix away to have a good look at the box.

"At the bottom of that rack.", I pointed out and looked at Dorothy who was still examining the box, "Do you know what is inside?"

She shook her head, "No idea. It appears that this box was here even before I took charge of the shop."

She frowned, "Weird that I never really looked into it."

Dorothy looked at me, "Well? What are you waiting for? Open it."

I admit, I am quite nervous about opening it. I gulped and lifted the lid.

All three of our eyes widened at what lay inside the box.

More packaging.

"Well. That was anticlimactic.", Felix remarked and looked carefully at the packaging and frowned.

"Judging from the shape, these aren't sneakers."

"We can see that, genius.", Dorothy rolled her eyes. They started bickering again.

I ignored them and carefully removed the packaging. 

Felix and Dorothy stopped their bickering when they heard me gasp. They looked at what I uncovered and gasped as well.

Inside the box, snuggled in the packaging is a pair of single-edged daggers unlike anything I had seen, even in my past life.

I picked up one of them and was surprised by how perfect the weight was. I examined it and was entranced by its beauty.

The blade was of the purest white with the edge tinted with bright green as if emeralds were powdered and turned to paint.

The handle is wrapped in grey leather that looked quite worn yet the blade had no signs of wear and tear.

Somebody once used these daggers and took really good care of them.

"By the Incarni.", Dorothy's eyes widened as she stared at the dagger. She held out her hand at me, "May I?"

I gave her the dagger and she examined every single detail of it. I thought I saw recognition in her eyes which was immediately replaced by curiosity.

She touched the edge and immediately drew back her finger as if she touched a hot object.

A thin stream of blood slowly trickled down her hand. "Oh shit.", she swore before she stiffened and the dagger clattered to the ground.

"Dorothy!", Felix yelled and I almost dropped the box. Dorothy looked like she was frozen in place when she blinked.

"I'm fine.", She slowly moved her limbs and her neck, "Good thing I am immune to most poisons."

She noticed me and Felix staring at her, "What? Crafters consume small amounts of poison to build up immunity. Very helpful when you are making stuff involving poisons."

"Anyway.", she picked up the dagger, "I still can't believe I'm holding it. This is Moonsilver."

We just looked at her dumbfounded, "What?"

She sighed, "Of course, you guys won't know about this. This is something known only to Crafter families."

Dorothy held up the dagger for us to see properly, its white blade glinting in the light.

"These daggers are made from the rarest form of silver in the world."

She began to explain, "The formation of Moonsilver takes place over thousands of years under very specific conditions. The silver ore has to be exposed to moonlight and darkness."

"That seems highly unlikely.", Felix frowned.

"If moonlight can fall on the ore, then surely sunlight will also fall on it.", he pointed out.

Dorothy nodded, "Indeed. You have a good point."

She then smiled, "But there is a place that has never seen the sun and has the moon and stars as its partners in the sky."

Felix widened his eyes, "No way. Someone actually went there?"

Dorothy looked at me, "Have you heard of the island of Nyxios?"

Ah. I may know it. Time for my new knowledge to be in the spotlight.

"The island of endless night?", I asked. Dorothy nodded.

"Yep. Located in the far north. It is the only place in the world where the sun never appears in the sky. The perfect place for Moonsilver to form. But the journey there is very dangerous. Violent storms, sea monsters straight out of nightmares. and a lot of other nasty stuff."

She held up the dagger, "Moonsilver is extremely effective against supernatural beings like the daemons, more than schattium."

Dorothy put the dagger back into the box, "My father once told me that someone had brought Moonsilver from Nyxios after facing the dangerous journey there and asked him to craft a pair of daggers."

"There was enough Moonsilver to make a sword but he made the daggers anyway. I believe these are those very daggers."

She pointed at the green-tinted edges of the daggers.

"Looks like my father had added powdered basilisk emerald to the edges. Talk about making things more deadly."

"Basilisk emerald?", I am confused.

Dorothy nodded, "It is an emerald that mimics the paralysis ability of a basilisk's eyes. Many say the emerald is found inside a basilisk and gives the power of paralysis to its eyes."

She shook her head, "That is clearly bullshit. The basilisk is a powerful creature. The reason people say that stuff is because basilisk emeralds are usually found in the nest of the creature."

"For some weird reason, basilisk hoard emeralds. The most accepted explanation is that the emeralds absorb the aura of the basilisk and manifest its paralysis ability."

Dorothy looked at the daggers, "Judging from the intensity of the color, it seems my father used a fair amount of the stuff."

"With that amount of powdered basilisk emerald, I guess there is a twenty-five percent chance of the daggers inflicting the opponent with paralysis for a set amount of time."

Felix whistled, "That's sick. For how long?"

Dorothy shook her head, "I guess you should find out."

I looked at the daggers. Looks like there will be some experiments in the future if I buy them.

My gaze went back to Dorothy and she had a distant look in her eyes, "I once saw the client using them and it was a truly beautiful sight."

"Do you know who the client was?", I asked.

Dorothy looked at me as if she wanted to tell me but she shook her head, "Sorry. I never asked for the name."

I can see that she was lying. She is hiding something. 

I didn't press it. She might have a good reason not to tell it. I don't have to worry though. She will tell me soon enough. Until then, I'll wait.

I removed the daggers from the box and held them in my hands. They are perfectly balanced and the weight is exactly what I prefer.

"Please stand back.", I told Felix and Dorothy. They wisely heeded my words.

I gripped the daggers and did some practice swings. Dorothy was quite surprised to see my movements with the daggers.

"Have you received training before?", she asked.

"In the Dawn Palace. The commander once showed me the basics and my brother helped in my training.", I replied.

I did a few practice swings and smiled, "This is the one."

I nodded to Felix. He grinned and gave me a thumbs-up. I turned to Dorothy.

"I would like to have this dagger. I'm aware that it is very valuable and I may not have enough money to pay for it. Please let me have it and I will make sure to pay the full amount in time."

"So how much is it?"

Dorothy looked at the daggers and then at my face. She had a rather curious expression on her face.

"How much do you have?", she asked.

I looked at Felix. he checked the amount that Kay sent him. He looked quite worried.

"Ten thousand draigos.", he gave me a sympathetic look, "I don't know Mordred. The cheapest dagger here costs about two thousand and those are made of Moonsilver, an extremely rare metal."

"Ten thousand?", Dorthy raised her eyebrows.

I nodded awkwardly and proceeded to pick up the box. Back to weapon hunting, I guess.

"Wait Mordred.", Dorothy called out. She was smiling.

"You wanna buy those daggers? That will be two thousand draigos."