Odd short man

"Thank you for helping me out. I learned so much from this quest." Malenia said, bowing slightly as she expressed her gratitude toward the Goblin slayer party. "Hopefully, we'll go on another quest someday."

Malenia had decided to part ways with the party after their first quest.

Her plans required her to act alone. Her goal was to locate a Goblin den, but staying with this party will make things complicated.

The party despised goblins, and Malenia didn't want to bring harm to either of them.

At first, she had suspected they might have ulterior motives, her initial plan had been to use them to find a goblin den and, if they showed any bad intentions, she would kill them.

Yes, kill them, Malenia wasn't affected by 'Killing' anymore, she had already ordered her minions to kill several humans to protect her dungeon before.

But after seeing their genuine intentions, she decided to leave—to keep them out of her complicated plans as it could potentially harm them.

The party protested, urging her not to venture out alone as a newbie.

They were concerned for her safety, but she couldn't reveal her true reason for leaving.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine." Malenia reassured them, smiling warmly."If I ever need help, I'll come to you first. Think of me as an unofficial party member, alright?"

Relith sighed, defeated. "Alright, since there's no changing your mind. But remember, I'm here if you need anything."

Malenia nodded and waved goodbye, walking out of the guild lobby, her mind focused on the plans as she walked gracefully.

"Man, she really is beautiful." Relith muttered as he watched her leave.

"What a shame she left the party."

Mollorie elbowed him with a scowl.

"So that's why you invited her, huh? Shameless man! Don't you already have me in this patty, yet you want another female!?" She said, even though she liked Malenia and didn't want her to leave.

"Shut up, old hag! Malenia's way way more beautiful than you, and aren't you also just a temporary member until we clear out 'that' goblin den?" He retorted.

"Whatever." Mollorie huffed, crossing her arms.

Meanwhile, as the Goblin slayer party argued, Malenia made her way to the forest

She had overheard rumours in the guild about an unusual goblin activity happening in the area.

It was strange—the goblins were behaving in ways that weren't normal, as if something or someone had begun influencing them.

Malenia felt excited; this odd behavior was exactly what she wanted from the start, even though on a much bigger scale than this.

But it was happening without her interference, as if fate itself were guiding her towards her goal.

"I wonder what's—or who's—affecting this," she murmured to herself as she kept walking through the streets of the capital.

While walking, she moved her gaze around. Before going in forest, She wanted to find a weaponry shop, just in case a situation arose where she had to fight, and her skills were on cooldown.

She wanted to buy a good weapon for herself. She didn't have any experience in wielding weapons, but with her strong body and high mental strength, she believed she could learn it in no time.

Several steps ahead, she finally spotted a weaponry shop; there were swords, bows, shields, and many other types of weapons hanging on display.

Malenia quickly wended toward the shop, entering it while examining the weapons and their price tags.

She wasn't worried about the price, as she had gotten several gold coins from Rick's treasury.

Even a single gold coin was plenty of money, as it equaled 100 silver. One could understand the difference just from the quest reward Malenia's former party received, which was only 20 silver for the whole party, risking their lives fighting monsters.

Although the difference between gold and silver was huge, it couldn't compare to the currency that held even greater value than a gold coin—they were called monster cores, and only rank 5 and above monsters formed those.

When Malenia learned this information, she asked Dante if he also had one, but unexpectedly, he declined, saying vampires were different and didn't contain anything like that.

"Well, it's not like I'll be needing that currency here anyway; one gold coin is enough," Malenia muttered as she noticed the prices were quite cheap.

The swords were priced at 10–30 silver, and bows around 5–20 silver, and so on.

"Hahaha... Yeah, one gold coin is indeed enough for these pieces of crap."

As she was looking at the weapons, a voice startled her, coming from very close by.

She looked around and found a very small man standing beside her.

"Eh, are you the shop owner? When did you get here?" Malenia asked, gazing at the small man—or rather, a dwarf.

"I've been standing here ever since you entered, lady. Don't tell me you didn't notice me till now..." The dwarf muttered, a hint of sadness in his tone.

"Eh, uh, sorry, I was just really focused on the weapons," Malenia apologized, feeling a little embarrassed.

"Forget it; it's nothing new... Anyway, since you're here—you want to buy a weapon, right?"

"Yes, and you said something about pieces of crap? Why did you call your own items that?" Malenia asked, confused by the short shop owner.

"Most people can't afford good-quality weapons, so only these 'crap' ones get sold out easily," he explained.

Malenia nodded in understanding. It was a harsh world, and most commoners only earned a limited amount of copper coins a month. For them, even silver was hard to come by, let alone gold.

And these weapons cost several silvers, likely the minimum for any type of weapon.

"So, lady, would you like to see some real weapons? What's your budget?" the dwarf asked with a sly smile, as if he were selling some drugs instead of weapons.

"Ah, sure, and don't worry about the budget," Malenia replied, getting an odd vibe from the dwarf.

"Okay, follow me," the man said as he started moving toward the door at the end of the shop.

'I've never seen her before, and I know almost all nobles in this kingdom. Who's she to say not to worry about the cost? Hmph, I'll show you my most expensive pieces and see if she can say the same thing.' The dwarf thought as he led Malenia to his refinery, where he kept his masterpieces...