[32] Sky-High Shopping and Sneaky Signals

"After we check this room, shouldn't we buy some armor?" I suggested.

"Now that you mention it, that's probably a good idea."

"Maybe we should look for something at Work〇n?"

"Honestly, I've never been to Workマ〇, so I wouldn't know."

It's likely not a place a typical high school girl would visit.

"Well, we'll figure that out later. Let's open the door."

"Alright."

I grasped my staff in my left hand and slowly pushed the door open with my right.

The next room appeared Sky-like in nature.

"Lily, can you please use Detect Anomaly again?"

"Of course."

Stepping forward, Lily shouted, "Detect Anomaly!" and several areas in the room began to blink red.

Counting from the entrance, this was the third room, and while it bore a Sky-like appearance, Lily's spell revealed multiple red signals indicating anomalies. The blinking alerts on the floor were all traps, which Lily carefully disarmed one by one, leaving just one solitary red signal on the wall.

"Identify trap!

It seems there are no traps."

"This must be hiding something, just like the walls in the entrance room."

"I'll try knocking. Knock!"

As Lily chanted "Knock" once again, the section of the wall that had been flashing red crumbled away, revealing a square Skyhole. Inside the Skyhole lay a single, silver gleaming half-helmet.

"A helmet?"

"It looks lighter than a metal helmet, but it's still a trophy."

When I picked up the helmet, I was surprised by its lightness.

"Huh? It's incredibly light.

Lily, you should try it on!"

I handed the helmet to Lily.

"Wow, it really is light. Is it made of aluminum?"

"It doesn't have the luster of aluminum, does it? And for aluminum, it seems too thick to weigh this little."

"Now that you mention it, I see your point."

"Why not try it on? If it fits well, it's a bonus."

Lily placed the helmet on her head. Her hair was currently braided around her head and tied at the back, so she wasn't wearing twin tails. Instead, this gave her head a larger appearance.

"It might be a bit big? Wait... did it just shrink on its own? It's a perfect fit!

And even without a chin strap, it doesn't feel like it's going to slide off."

"Does that mean it's a magical helmet?"

"Yes, I have an appraisal skill. I completely forgot about it. Let me try appraising it."

As Lily removed the helmet and held it in her hands, she exclaimed, "Appraisal!" In that moment, it felt like the helmet shimmered, though it was hard to tell if it truly did due to the bluish-white light above Lily being so bright.

"It's a half helmet made of mithril."

"Anything else you found out?"

"Just the name; nothing more."

"I see. There's not much we can do about that. Mithril is definitely a fantasy metal."

"I've heard of mithril, too."

"Let's see if I can copy it. Lily, can I borrow that for a moment?"

"Of course."

After receiving the mithril helmet from Lily, I placed it in the replication box of my item storage and attempted to create a copy in my alchemy workshop.

I successfully produced an identical helmet, but the effort left me feeling drained, though not as exhausted as when I made the ultimate heal potion. Moreover, it felt like something within me, beyond just energy, was being siphoned away, and I sensed a decrease in that unknown substance. I wasn't sure what it was, but it felt like it returned to normal shortly afterward. What was that?

In any case, it seemed that materials or elements not found in the item storage were consumed. Since there should be plenty of aluminum parts in the scrap heap in my storage, the helmet I just acquired must be genuine mithril, not aluminum.

I returned the original to Lily and quickly downed a stamina potion from my item box.

"Phew. That's better."

Afterward, I took out a helmet from the item box and put it on. It felt small at first, but soon it fit my head perfectly.

"This helmet is great!"

"Did you really make a mithril helmet, Rockwell?"

"I think I used some resolve and a few other things, but it looks like I managed to copy it well."

"You really can do anything, Rockwell."

"I can do quite a bit, but without Lily, I wouldn't have come this far."

"That may be true…"

"By the way, can you appraise this key I'm carrying?"

"Sure! Appraisal!

It's called a skeleton key."

"A skeleton key? Isn't that like a dungeon master key? With so many traps around, it's surprisingly kind to leave something like that near the entrance!"

As a gamer, I was a little unsure whether to be pleased or not, but I found myself genuinely happy with this considerate design.

"Well then, it's almost lunchtime. Let's use this place as our next base and head back to the mansion for now."

"Okay."

Without me saying anything, Lily took my hand.

"Transfer!"

Once I returned to the mansion, I took Lily's helmet and stored it with my own in the item box. I also put away the skeleton key and made a copy just in case I lost it. The helmet's copy drained a lot of my energy, but the skeleton key seemed normal, leaving me feeling relatively unaffected. However, I sensed something unusual slip away from inside me—though it recovered quickly this time. If it had been my soul, that would have been a serious issue, but given how fast it came back, I suspected it wasn't anything so significant.

After finishing lunch, I handed out ice cream brochures, suggesting everyone choose a dessert. It turned out everyone already knew what they wanted, so I was able to distribute the ice cream without any fuss.

"This ice cream is delicious!"

"Really!"

"I'm so happy!"

Everyone had their own reactions, but they all wore cheerful expressions as they savored their treats.

After I finished my ice cream and moved to the living room, I enjoyed some tea that Lisa had made for me and took a moment to relax. Soon, everyone else joined me after cleaning up from lunch. With free time until dinner preparations began, I casually put on some classical music by inserting a CD into the player.

"Lily, let's go buy some gear," I said.

"Just a moment, I'll change into some clothes," she replied, stepping out of the living room. I returned to my room to change and went back downstairs to wait for her. In about two minutes, Lily reappeared, wearing the outfit we had bought a few days ago at the supermarket. It was surprising how even inexpensive clothing could look quite upscale when it was well-made. There wasn't a full-length mirror around, so I rarely got a good look at myself, but I felt confident my own outfit, bought from the same store, didn't have the same high-end appearance.

As Lily took hold of my wrist, she said, "Transfer."

In an instant, we were transported to the parking lot of a nearby Walmart. A cart was available right inside the entrance, so we grabbed it.

"I already have a helmet, so we just need gloves, a top and bottom, and shoes."

"Okay!"

Creating duplicates is easy and their sizes can be adjusted freely, but for me right now, the cost of clothing seemed minimal. Besides, there were subtle design differences between men's and women's clothing, so we decided to find the right sizes together.

We started with sturdy gloves. Given their purpose, we found some heavy-duty ones. After selecting a fitting size, we tossed them into the cart. The shoes were substantial safety boots and felt quite heavy. They had rubber slip-resistant soles, Kevlar fibers in the bottoms to prevent punctures, and steel toe caps for protection.

I found a great pair of gloves and shoes, but the store didn't have any protective gear that could prevent knife penetration, as I expected. It looks like I'll have to buy leather armor in the New World. Here, I decided to get breathable, waterproof tops and bottoms that are lightweight enough to wear under armor. I also picked up knee and elbow protectors made of reinforced plastic with carbon fiber, which caught my eye.

Everything I bought was black. Lily chose the same series as mine, all in black, but in different sizes and styles.

After completing the payment, I stored our purchases and quickly made copies of the items for both of us so I wouldn't forget. Since everything is black, I figured that if Lily and I wore them while walking around, we would definitely stand out—especially if we added sunglasses.

"We'll have to get our armor when we return to the other side," I said.

"The stuff we just bought looks pretty impressive already," Lily replied.

"True. Now that I've got a helmet, I should be able to find more armor in the dungeon. It might render some of what we just bought useless, but it's smarter to reduce our risks."

"Absolutely."

With our basic gear from the store, Lily and I transferred back to the mansion.

I headed to the armor shop to get a matching set of leather gear. Ideally, I should have worn the set I bought from Work○n to have my measurements taken; however, strutting around in just that would seem odd in this world. Since I could easily buy ready-made armor and have it adjusted later at the alchemy workshop, I decided to change into my casual clothes for the shopping trip.

"Do you know where the armor shop is, Lily?"

"Um, I think it's a bit away from the town center?"

"Why's that?"

"Well, leather and metalworking tend to create odors and noise, so it probably wouldn't work well in the center of town."

"That makes sense. The foundries in the town with the cupola were pushed farther out as well."

"I guess I'll just have to go ask at the Adventurers' Guild."

"There's an Adventurers' Guild?"

"It's like a job agency for adventurers."

"Now that you mention it, Iona said they deliver potions, right?"

"They're one of our regular clients. Let's check out the Adventurers' Guild first."

As soon as Lily took my hand, we used 'Transfer!' and appeared in an alley next to the guild building. We quickly made our way to the front and entered the guild. To make sure I didn't forget, I pulled out my copper adventurer's badge from my item box and hung it around my neck.

Since there was no one in line at the reception, I took Lily over to a suitable clerk and said, "Excuse me."

"Yes, how can I help you?"

"I'm a newcomer from the countryside. Could you tell me where I can find a store that sells armor around here?"

"In that case, if you exit through the front entrance and walk about 100 meters to your left, you'll find Borii Armor Shop on your left, and across from it is Kirenu Weapon Shop. Both shops sell weapons and armor, but as the names suggest, Borii specializes in armor, while Kirenu has a larger selection of weapons."

"Thank you very much."

The store names seemed rather unusual to me, but I supposed it was just a cultural difference.

"Well then, let's check out Borii Armor Shop, even if the name is odd."

"Alright."

As I started to leave the Adventurers' Guild with Lily, I heard a voice from the back of the hall.

"Hey, you over there, old newcomer. Looks like you're taking that young girl shopping? How about this: if you pay me some money, I'll teach you the ABCs of being an adventurer. It'll be a lot more useful than armor."

An old newcomer, huh? It was true that someone my age starting out as an adventurer was pretty rare. I turned around to see a muscular and burly man stomping his way toward us. His face was scarred, a clear sign of a tough life; but those scars likely indicated a lack of caution. Still, his survival suggested he was either incredibly tough or just lucky.