Chapter 28

"So, what should we do first?"

I asked the group.

"For now, let's get what Rosetta needs first"

Irina answered.

"Alright. Rosetta, is there any particular ingredients that you need?"

"Royal berry, rainbow fruit and starlight fruit"

"Is that all?"

I asked her.

"I will have to see what other ingredients available in here"

"Understood"

I leaded the group to the fruits sections. There were all kinds of rare fruits from all over the regions.

"Wow, amazing! Royal berry, rainbow fruit, starlight fruit, sand fruit, crystal berry, diamond fruit and even energy berry! I never expected to see all these rare fruits lined up at the same shelf!"

Rosetta exclaimed. Her usually calm eyes fluttered with strange light. She was making the same expression as Lucia when she saw sweets.

There were all kind of fruits in front of us. The bright red round royal berry, the mango-like rainbow fruit that could change it's color whenever the surrounding temperature change, the glimmering star-shaped starlight fruit, the cactus-like sand fruit with yellowish-gray color, the tender transparent crystal berry, the purple diamond-shaped diamond fruit and the bright yellow round energy fruit.

All of it were rare fruits with limited yearly output due to their harsh conditions to grow. However, they were sold like a grocery store in here. The shelf they were put on were embedded with magic formation to control the temperature close to their habitat in nature with rich mana. This was to ensure their quality won't drop even after being stored for a long time.

"Milady, please grant me permission to buy all these fruits"

Rosetta turned to Claudia and asked for her permission.

"Alright, Rosetta. You can buy all the ingredients you want but make sure to not waste any of it"

"I shall use it well and devote myself to make the most delicious dessert in the world"

Rosetta bowed her head and proceed to pick up all the fruits.

"Are you sure about that, Claudia-sama? The price here are 3 times the market price"

"I don't mind. I can always ask for more money from my family, but securing all these rare fruits is much harder. Not to mention, I could see their quality was above the one sold in the market"

"Well, I guess so"

There are 50 fruits each, that means a total of 350 fruits in total. Not to mention the expensive prices. For example, royal berry cost 3 gold each outside, but here it was 9 gold each. Just buying it alone cost 450 gold. Rainbow fruit cost 21 gold each, starlight fruit cost 18 gold each, sand fruit cost 15 gold each, crystal berry cost 15 gold each, diamond fruit cost 12 gold each and energy fruit cost 30 gold each.

Just these fruits alone cost 6000 gold in total. It's worth 5 years of my allowance. Damn it! Being a rich lady must be nice! Although my family was also rich, I don't think they would let me squander that much just for fruits!

I fell silent after realizing our differences. Although I could sell the magic tier equipments I got from the dungeon for money, I don't think it would be that high. I could get at most 3000 gold.

"Is there anything else you need, Rosetta?"

"No, Milady. It's enough for me to use for a few months. I could get other ingredients from the merchant in the west district"

"Alright, then. Let's visit the second floor next. I'm quite curious about the clothes there"

"Ah, you guys go ahead. I will catch up soon after buying something"

"We will accompany you, Rain"

"No, it's somekind of a request. So I can't let anyone know"

"Whose request?"

"Mari"

"Hmm. Alright, we will wait for you upstairs"

After saying so, Irina led Claudia and Rosetta to the second floor.

I went to the sections where potions were lined up. Healing potion, mana potion, enchant potion, various kind of poisons, antidotes and even some unknown potions were put on different shelves.

I walked towards one of the shelf where miscellaneous potions were put. I looked around to make sure no one saw me and everything was safe.

"Why the hell did Mari asked me to buy this thing?"

I held a heart-shaped glass bottle with pink colored potion inside.

Love potion, a potion that makes the one who drink it fell in love with anyone who he/she saw the first time after drinking the potion, regardless of gender or race.

Or it was supposed to be, however the real effect of this potion was just basically a strong aphrodisiac!

She won't use it on me isn't she?

I fell into doubt as I held the potion in my hand. The reason I couldn't bring the girls with me was because this thing. There is no sane man who would bring a girl with them when buying aphrodisiac! Not to mention a freaking teenager! It will be my social death if they ever found me buying this thing!

I hurriedly hide it away to avoid being misunderstood. I don't why or how Mari going to use this thing, but just in case she decided to put this thing into my food as a prank, I should get some antidotes. No, I should just get a half-elixir that could cure all negative effects.

500 gold is so damn expensive for a half-elixir, but considering it's effect in the game, it's a useful item.

Should I get two of it in case it fail to remove the aphrodisiac debuff?

After pondering for a while, I remembered a certain wise emperor on earth once said, "prepare a rubber before a battle, prepare more in case of a prolong battle".

Those who were prepared will win the wars. Without any hesitation, I took 2 out of 4 stocks of half-elixir in here. If I have more money, I would buy all of it.

I feel relieved somehow after getting my hands on the half-elixirs.

In return, somehow I could feel my wallet screaming in agony.

After that, I went to the food section to get 2 royal rainbow jelly and went upstairs.

∆ ∆ ∆

"Over here, Rain!"

Irina shouted and waved her hand at me.

As I expected, they were looking for clothes.

"Are you done?"

"Yeah. I still need something on the 3rd floor, but we could do it later"

"Okay! Can you help me choose some clothes?"

"Are you sure? I don't really know much about dress though"

"I don't mind"

"Alright"

I started to looked around to find some dress that might fit her. However I was flabbergasted by the price.

The cheapest was 1300 gold while the most expensive was more than 3000 gold. 

What the hell is this price!?

Was dress always this damn expensive?

"Sis, are you sure you're gonna buy a dress here? We could get something outside with the same design and cheaper price"

"I guess, you really know nothing about woman, Rain. Should I teach you for a bit?"

Irina looked at me with pitiful eyes.

"Listen, Rain. The fabric used in this dress was made from the thin colorful fairy fabric. It was a fabric produced by monsters called butterly fairy. Dress made from this fabric was not only light but also mana conductive. You can control the temperature of the dress by chanelling mana into it. Not to mention, it was also tough enough as a material used to make robe. Unlike robe and cloak that couldn't be wear for formal occasion, a dress like this was hard to find. And yet we could find at least 50 kinds of this dress in here in various design. Not to mention the color of the dress were gorgeous"

I know about colorful fairy fabric, since it was one of the materials used to make a robe in the game. There was also a fishing line that needed it as the material to craft. 

"In short, you want to buy it because it's beautiful and also comfortable enough for everyday use?"

"Yes! You finally understand, Rain"

Yeah. I understand that you just want to have beautiful clothes to show off to other noble ladies.

"Alright. How much money do you have? That way I could get you something within acceptable range"

"Don't worry about money. I have around 7000 gold with me"

Hmm? What did she said? 7000? I know she is my sister, but why is she so damn rich?

"Sis. Where did you get so much money from?"

"My private money of course. I get 1000 gold for my allowance every month. I could ask for more from father if I ever need it"

I fell into silent.

She gets 1000 gold monthly while I only gets 100 gold. Am I actually an adopted kid? Or my father dote on my sister that much?

"It's weird. Why did you get 1000 gold monthly, while I only get 100? Sis, am I actually adopted?"

I asked her doubtfully.

"Huh? Rain are you an idiot? All this time, you stayed at home all day doing nothing while I have to ran around giving gifts and making connections. Of course mine is higher than yours"

"Y-You're right"

Being told about Rain's life as a NEET before I took over this body somehow hurts me. Rather, I feel bad for my family.

"What about big brother? How much did he gets every month?"

"He gets nothing. As the successor of the house, he can get all the money he wants as long as he make a report to father. I remembered he spent 50.000 gold last year for personal use"

"I-I see"

50.000!? What the hell! So, I'm actually the poorest among us!? I thought I was the richest because I have some magic tier equipments!

Damn it! Once I have the time, I will explore the tower and get filthy rich!

After thinking for a while, I took a deep blue colored dress, a ring with sapphire embedded on it and a necklace with light blue crystal.

"Here it is. Please try it on"

"Okay! Wait here for a moment"

I don't know about the dress stats, but I know the ring and the necklace.

＜Aquatic Ring＞

A ring made from fragments of oceanic crystal with sapphire as the cover.

INT + 15

Requirement : INT 30

＜Aquatic Necklace＞

A necklace made from oceanic crystal embedded on it.

INT +20

Requirement : INT 40

＜Aquatic Set Bonus＞

2/2 INT + 15

The sets bonus was quite good. From what I know, she currenly doesn't have a decent equipments outside her staff.

These two rare items should be enough to boost her power for the current stage.

Magic items cost 500-700 gold each. Depending on the types and effects, it could go higher but usually doesn't go over 1000 gold unless it was sold in an auction.

Rare items were sold around 2000-3000 gold each. In an auction it could goes up to more than 5000 depending on the effects and demands.

Accessories type rare equipments were sold higher than weapons or armors.

Just from these two equipments alone, she gained 10 levels worth of stats.

The dress cost 1600 gold, the ring cost 2400 gold and the necklace cost 3000 gold. I chose it based on the money she has on her. I was planning to give her some items, but since I found a better one suited for her here, I'll just have her pay it for herself.

Different from the equipments I got from the dlc dungeon, the equipments from shop and normal dungeons have minimal stats requirements to wear it.

This is why I didn't plan to sell the equipments I got from the dungeon. Magic tier isn't that strong so it's fine to sell it to May since her customers weren't that much. So if something unexpected were to happens, it's easier to track it down. If I were to sell it on auction, while I will get a lot of money it will be hard to track it down if it fell into the wrong hands.

I will save some epic tier for her once I get some. She is my only sister, so I can't let her suffer a tragic fate because of poor equipments. I have to prepare some for Lucia as well. 

Ash is rich, so I'm sure he doesn't have problem finding good equipments. I will tell him about one of the dlc dungeon with good training spot if I have the chance. Of course, that will be after I make sure he won't do something stupid like rebelling. It will take some time since I can't monitor him or the people around him.

I guess I really have to send a wife for him, one that can check on him at all times and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid.

From my interaction with Irina, she is safe as long as things keep going just as it is. Claudia also doesn't seems to be that obsessive over Leonhardt. Which is a good thing for now since I have less things to worry about.

"Rain? Where is Irina?"

I heard Claudia's voice from behind and came into sense.

I turned around and saw Claudia had changed her clothes into a black dress. 

The black dress with red crystal necklace combined with her dark hair and purple eyes and made her looked like a fallen angel.

"So beautiful..."

I muttered unconsciously when I saw her.

After 3 seconds I came back into my sense.

"Ah, my apologize, Claudia-sama. My sister is currently trying the dress"

"It's fine. Thank you for the praise, Rain"

She said softly.

Somehow, I feel like she smiled faintly. But, It might be just my imagination.

After learning my lesson from staring Lucia and Arteria face unknowingly, I have developed a certain resistance in staring at a girl's face.

If not for that experience, I might have stared at her with a blank look for quite a while.

"Is that so? Then, let's wait for her"

"Yes"

It's a bit unexpected she came here alone when she went with Rosetta. Is Rosetta was still changing her clothes as well? I kinda want to ask about it, but she might misundertood my intentions. What if she thinks I was aiming at her personal maid? Won't it just spell my doom if she told Irina about it?

And so, the best solution was to keep quite.

"Rain, is there anything you want to buy?"

"I don't know. I have to go to the third floor first and see whether there is something I want to buy"

"I see"

We both fell silent. It's awkward. The silent felt heavy somehow. It's far worse than the first time I went out with my crush back in middle school. 

Heck, I was doing much better that time!

Somehow, I could smell the faint scent of her body mixed with perfume. It made my heartbeat became faster for no reason.

I never thought just standing side-by-side with a girl could be a kind of torture.

Rain Scarlet, calm the hell down! She is nothing more than a girl 10 years younger than your actual age who happens to be the friend of your sister! Get a hold of yourself! You're not a damn lolicon, so don't get excited by her! 

After convincing myself over and over again, I finally calm down.

That was dangerous! The evil thought almost took over my body.

And thenー

"Should we go to the third floor first? It took quite a while for me to change even with Rosetta's help"

"Yes? But my sister will probably get angry if we did so"

"I will tell Irina I'm the one who asked you to accompany me. Or do you not want to be alone with me?"

She dropped a bomb out of nowhere with a pleading look.