After that, we walked into an empty back alley. Ethefelis canceled her invisibility, which startled me a little. It was honestly pretty scary. After she took off her hood, I asked her,
"Was anyone following me?"
"Two. I took care of them."
"Good job. Must've been hot, right?"
In that poorly ventilated space, Ethefelis had been wearing that coat for so long that she was drenched in sweat. Even the coat itself was soaked.
"Hot."
"Looks like we should install a wind magic stone in it. Come on, let's go eat."
"Okay."
It was one o'clock now—lunchtime. Instead of looking for Jacob and the others, Ethefelis and I went straight to a restaurant.
As usual, Ethefelis ordered a huge amount of food. Would my wallet survive this? I took out my wallet to check. Well, calling it a wallet wasn't really accurate—it was more like a bag for coins.
I had brought four of them. Each could hold more than a hundred coins, and anything that didn't fit I just tossed into my storage hole. The more I thought about it, the more I felt that paper money would be better. You could lie on it without it hurting, and when you were bored you could even play with a money gun.
Halfway through eating, Ethefelis suddenly spoke.
"Ren bro, liar."
"Huh? What liar? Didn't I bring you here to eat?"
"Autonomous district."
"What's wrong with an autonomous district? Say a bit more—I don't understand."
Just saying "autonomous district" gave me no clue at all. How had I lied to Ethefelis?
"Only a country can change things."
An autonomous district... only a country can change things... What did those two have in common?
Thinking back to what I'd said earlier, it had all been about the slums. Then I understood.
"...You're talking about the slums, right?"
"Yes."
"You called me a liar because I said only the country can change things, but then I suddenly said there was also the option of creating an autonomous district. Is that it?"
"Yes."
"I see. But I didn't lie. Only the country can truly change things. An autonomous district is better than charity, but it still needs the country's recognition. The country doesn't care right now, but once the place starts developing, they'll step in."
Managing land that belongs to the king—wouldn't that challenge the king's authority? It wouldn't work. An autonomous district still required the king's approval. In the end, everything still depended on the country.
"Lying to bad people?"
"It's a suggestion, not a lie. I don't expect them to actually do it. They're all alcoholics. The moment they heard about alcohol, they got excited. So the idea of them building an autonomous district—well, it's just something nice to imagine."
I didn't expect the boss to actually do anything. As long as he had alcohol, why would he bother with something troublesome? And adults' personalities were hard to change. If just a few words from me could make him become a leader serving the people, I'd be incredibly impressive.
"What if it's real?"
"You think they have that kind of determination?"
"Hypothetically."
"If they really decided to build an autonomous district, they'd first have to study and become civilized. Otherwise, if they solved every problem with violence, it would turn into a tyrant's rule. But honestly, the only thing they'll probably take seriously is brewing alcohol."
In a slum where only the strong survive, power naturally rules. But if the king of a country ruled that way—killing people whenever he was displeased—life for the citizens would be miserable.
"Agreed."
Ethefelis accepted my explanation. I picked up my spoon and said to her,
"Let's keep eating."
After we finished our meal, I put my equipment back on. We walked around for a bit, and before long it was time for our meeting. So we went to meet Jacob and the others beneath the big clock tower.
We shared the information about the employer, but none of them recognized the name.
Then Alice started showing Ethefelis and me her new clothes. I found it rather boring. I was more interested in hearing what kind of sword Grace had bought. But when I looked at Grace's waist, I saw only my beloved sword.
"Grace, where's your new sword?"
"Mr. Karen, I didn't buy."
"Why not? Didn't find one you liked?"
"No. I didn't have enough money."
"Even one hundred gold coins wasn't enough? What kind of sword did you see—something that can slice through steel?"
Any sword above 10 gold coins could be considered a good sword. One worth over a hundred gold coins could probably cut down a tree in a single strike. What on earth had Grace seen?
"It's not that exaggerated. That sword was extremely beautiful, as if it had been forged by a divine blacksmith."
Beautiful? Not sharp? I shouldn't have trusted Grace's taste. A divine blacksmith, my foot.
"You're the one exaggerating. Jacob, what does that sword look like?"
"White base, gold patterns, and lots of rubies."
"Rubies? Grace, could you buy a normal sword for once?"
Most of the price of that sword must have gone into the rubies, and they were completely useless. Grace replied stubbornly,
"But that's the only one I like."
Grace, this stubborn idiot, cared more about appearance than performance. I sighed and said helplessly,
"If you want decorations, you can add them when we go back home. You can even design them yourself. For now, just buy a simple sword that works, okay?"
"...Okay."
Grace agreed reluctantly. Honestly, I didn't know what to say. She had clearly been spoiled by the Sword Saint.
After that, we went to a weapon shop. I saw the ruby sword Grace had mentioned. Three rubies on the hilt, four on the scabbard. One ruby would've been enough, but they had embedded seven of them. Ridiculously extravagant.
More importantly, it didn't feel good to hold. The rubies made the sword heavier, and the blade wasn't particularly sharp. It was just an ordinary sword.
The price was 1,400 gold coins.
The moment I saw the price, I couldn't help whispering angrily to Grace.
"Grace, are you crazy? You want to buy this mediocre sword? Do you even know how much 1,400 gold coins is? Do you think it's pocket change?"
"Of course I know 1,400 gold coins is a lot. But for a good sword, it's not expensive."
"This sword is just an ordinary iron sword with fancy craftsmanship. You'll regret buying it."
"I'll regret it more if I don't."
I seriously felt like coughing up blood. The entire selling point of this sword was the rubies—there was nothing else special about it.
Well, Grace was the daughter of a duke. She had plenty of money. She just didn't bring it today. If she wanted to waste her money later, she could come back herself.
"...Then come back and buy it later. Let's look at this one."
I picked up a good sword—well crafted, sharp blade, comfortable grip, and a pretty nice appearance too. White base with yellow patterns.
"So plain."
Grace glanced at it and responded with a tone of disgust. I couldn't help whisper-yelling at her.
"You're complaining about this?! Don't you know that simplicity is beauty?!"
"How could simplicity be beautiful?! At least five colors are needed!"
"Five colors is way too many! Why don't you just say you want a rainbow!"
"No, seven colors would be too many."
I was completely speechless from Grace's ridiculous sense of aesthetics. Just imagining a five-colored sword made it sound ugly.
"...Does this one feel good to hold?"
I didn't want to argue anymore. I handed the sword to Grace so she could test it herself.
Grace took it reluctantly and gave it a few swings. Then her expression suddenly brightened.
"...Oh! Oh! It feels great!"
She swung it more and more happily. Looks like my judgment wasn't bad. And it only cost 17 gold coins.
"Then we'll buy this one."
After buying the new sword, Grace happily hung it at her waist. I also returned my beloved sword to my belt.
Then we walked out of the weapon shop and saw Jacob, Ethefelis and Alice were chatting, though I had no idea what they were talking about.
But I had asked them to handle something earlier, so they probably got the information.
"Jacob, did you find out where Laje Turin's house is?"
"Oh, you guys finished shopping already? The Turin baron's house is to the northwest."
Good. That meant we could go find the employer now. Earlier, Ethefelis and I had already eaten, but I wasn't sure if Jacob and the others had eaten while they were shopping for clothes.
"Did you guys eat?"
"We did."
"Good. Let's go."
We headed toward the northwest. Along the way, we asked a few more people to confirm the exact location, and it didn't take long before we found it.