When Wiz suddenly heard Izumi say that he wanted to learn skills, she froze in place.
"…Learn skills?"
The gentle, airheaded lich tilted her head in confusion.
What skills?
Learn what, exactly?
Her thoughts clearly failed to catch up, and she stared blankly at him.
Seeing this, Izumi's mouth twitched slightly before he patiently repeated himself.
"I said I came here to learn skills from you, Wiz-san."
"Magic skills."
At those words, Wiz suddenly flushed bright red.
"Ah—! I-I'm sorry! I'm really sorry!"
"Um, what kind of skills would you like to learn?"
"As long as it's something I know, you can learn it!"
She hurriedly pulled out her Adventurer Card, completely skipping any talk of payment or conditions.
Just take whatever you want.
It was the behavior of a textbook good person.
Izumi could only sigh internally.
No wonder her shop is always in the red…
Between her kindness and her habit of selling bizarre, impractical items, it would be a miracle if she wasn't broke.
"…You're not going to charge me?" Izumi asked, trying to be helpful.
Wiz blinked.
"…Learning skills costs money?"
......
The atmosphere froze instantly.
Behind Izumi, Le Fay and Kanon both wore complicated expressions.
Should they call her innocent…
or just unbelievably kind?
Without hesitation, Izumi took the Adventurer Card and began tapping through the listed skills at high speed.
[Freeze] — Creates ice and freezes targets.
[Cursed Lightning] — Black lightning infused with curse energy.
[Cursed Ice Crystal] — Ice spikes imbued with curses.
[Explosion Magic] — A high-tier fire spell that grows stronger with mana input and causes massive explosions.
[Sword of Light] — A golden holy blade capable of cutting through anything, scaling with the user's strength.
[Bottomless Swamp] — Converts terrain into a swamp, drastically reducing enemy mobility.
[Cursed Crystal Prison] — Summons countless cursed ice crystals, freezing everything in sight and poisoning enemies.
[Teleport] — Allows teleportation between marked locations or random unknown destinations.
[Magic Resistance] — A buff that greatly enhances resistance to magic, nullifying weaker spells entirely.
These were exactly the spells Izumi needed.
After finishing, he handed Wiz's card to Le Fay and Kanon so they could learn as well.
Then he turned back to Wiz.
"Mind if I take a look around your shop?"
At that, Wiz's eyes sparkled.
"D-Do you need something, customer?"
"Please feel free to browse!"
In her mind, this had to be a business opportunity.
It had to be.
After all, she was already so poor that she'd been surviving on liquid food.
More than once, she'd nearly starved—saved only because townsfolk pitied her enough to give her sugar water.
Honestly, Wiz's life was tragic.
Izumi, meanwhile, showed no hesitation as he wandered through the shop.
The longer he looked, the stronger his urge to complain became.
Magic items whose effects and side effects were perfectly balanced—or worse, where the side effects were stronger.
For example:
A paralysis-enhancing magic tool that massively boosted the spell's effectiveness, rendering enemies completely immobile…
…but also paralyzed the caster just as badly.
......
Izumi stared at item after item in disbelief.
This shop truly had everything—and none of it made sense.
They weren't entirely useless, either.
It was just that Wiz had never thought to apply them properly.
Take the water-generating item.
Yes, it caused flooding—but in drought-stricken regions, wouldn't this be invaluable?
Or even as a throwing weapon in combat.
And the "portable toilet" item?
That thing was practically a taunt generator of mass destruction.
Yet all of these were labeled as daily-use items.
Izumi had no idea how to even begin criticizing that.
Combat tools sold as household goods…
As expected of you, Wiz-san.
And to make matters worse, the genius behind many of these inventions was apparently Megumin's father.
After skimming through everything, Izumi finally spoke under Wiz's hopeful gaze.
"…Sorry, Wiz-san."
"There's nothing I want to buy right now."
Her eyes immediately dimmed.
"I see…"
"It's okay."
"If you ever need anything, just tell me."
"I can even sell it below cost."
Izumi felt his chest tighten.
She's willing to sell below cost…?
Just how desperate has she become?
Unable to ignore it any longer, Izumi looked at her seriously.
"Wiz-san… would you like to work for me?"
"I'm planning to open a shop in another world."
"One that sells equipment and magic items."
"Would you like to come with me?"
Wiz blinked.
"…Another world?"
"But… can people from this world really go to other worlds?"
She knew Izumi and the others were visitors from elsewhere—but could she go too?
She'd never heard of such a thing.
Izumi rolled his eyes.
"Why wouldn't you be able to?"
"Just because no one's done it doesn't mean it's impossible."
"So don't worry about that."
"I just want to know—are you interested?"
Izumi had plenty of ways to take Wiz across worlds.
And honestly, abducting a lich sounded kind of fun.
Wiz hesitated.
She did want to see another world…
But she couldn't just abandon her shop.
Sensing her conflict, Izumi laughed.
"Don't worry about your inventory."
"We'll just take everything with us."
"Who knows? Your items might be incredibly popular in another world."
That was the final push.
Wiz's eyes lit up.
If her creations could truly be appreciated…
That would be wonderful.
She looked at Izumi seriously.
"Th-Then… I-Izumi-kun."
"Please take care of me."
She bowed deeply.
If she couldn't sell anything here, then why not try another world?
There were countless worlds out there.
She wanted to see them.
Izumi smiled.
Convincing Wiz had been a spur-of-the-moment decision.
She might have zero business sense—
But as a poster girl, she was perfect.