Chapter 60
“Ah—yeah. We were in the same orphanage when we were kids. Oh, by the way, this is Meteo Pluto of the House of Pluto—”
I hadn’t even finished introducing him.
Sirilote put on a polite smile and extended his hand to Meteo.
“Of course I know you. Prince Meteo Pluto. I’m honored that such distinguished people would stop by my humble weapons shop.”
“….”
Meteo stared at Siril for a moment, then glanced down at the hand offered to him. A little later he clasped it.
“I didn’t expect the owner of a weapons shop to know Crescent. And I certainly didn’t expect someone our age to be running a weapons shop.”
When he finished speaking, Meteo released the handshake.
Siril lightly withdrew his hand and answered with a smiling face.
“Everyone who comes in says the same thing. You’d be more surprised if you saw the weapons I’ve invented.”
“Really? I’m so curious. What kind of weapon is this that ‘links with holy power’?”
This time I stepped in.
Paladins could usually infuse holy power into any weapon. Swords were simply the most common choice.
So I wondered why someone would deliberately put that obvious fact on a flyer.
“Ah— I meant to serve tea first, but a knight is a knight. I heard Crescent became a paladin. Or should I call you ‘Lady’ now? I also heard you were officially taken into House Pluto. Congratulations.”
“Ah, right. I was only formally adopted a few days ago, so it’s still awkward. Thank you.”
It was true — my becoming a member of House Pluto was shaking the whole empire.
Open any newspaper and that was all anyone could read about.
It was shocking that the premier paladin family, which placed bloodlines above all, had adopted an outsider as their descendant.
Siril naturally turned his gaze to Meteo.
“Then you will now be my friend’s older brother.”
“…Where are the weapons?”
But Meteo ignored Siril’s words—if he heard them at all—and looked around the shop. His attentive scanning made Siril beam.
“I happen to have a weapon I especially want to show to paladins. It should be particularly useful to Crescent—no, Lady. Please follow me.”
“Ahem. When it’s just the two of us you can still call me Crescent…”
I mumbled quietly and followed Siril. Thinking about it, there were three of us together, not two.
It felt unbearably awkward to have someone who’d known me since childhood calling me ‘Lady’.
Well, I’d get used to it eventually.
Siril led us to the stairs going down to the basement. Even here the carpet was colorful.
It made me realize Sirilote had this kind of taste.
I suddenly realized I hadn’t asked how he’d been.
“You haven’t changed a bit. How have you been? The flyer said you studied abroad in foreign countries.”
“Oh, yeah. About a year after the Lady left the orphanage I left too and wandered around. I drifted wherever my feet took me, visiting neighboring countries and learning various things. Then I realized invention was my calling and opened this weapons shop.”
“Wow. That’s amazing. I didn’t know you had that talent. I guess you always seemed a bit unusual…”
I muttered to myself and remembered the young Siril.
I couldn’t exactly say why, but Siril was definitely different from the other children.
“If we’re talking about unusual, the Lady wasn’t exactly ordinary either.”
Siril said with a laugh.
Indeed, by his account I wasn’t exactly a normal child either.
Back then I studied herbology and research every day to find out why my father had disappeared.
But that was in the tutorial. In this iteration I hadn’t done anything particularly odd… right? Maybe my face was just unusual?
We reached the basement, and Siril spread his arms and introduced the space.
“Here are the weapons on display. Everyone who comes is amazed and places orders.”
Finally the basement opened up before my eyes.
I widened mine in surprise.
Unlike the toy-like exterior, the basement was as luxurious as a capital city jeweler’s.
The floor and walls were finished in marble; chandeliers glittered from the ceiling.
The glass-and-crystal display cases looked like they hadn’t seen a fingerprint in years.
I truly admired it.
“Wow. It’s dazzling. Siril, you made a lot of money.”
“I poured all the prize money I got from invention contests into this.”
“A genius, then.”
As I admired, Siril gave me a coy smile — the same relaxed smile he’d always had.
I walked slowly and inspected the weapons on display one by one. Each item had a name and description in front of it.
‘Do-not-use-if-you-go-to-the-demon-realm lucky roly-poly firecracker: attracts demons’ attention to increase survival chances.’
‘High-concentration acacia-scented perfume grenade: rumor has it demons hate the scent of acacia. Throw it at a demon’s nose — might asphyxiate them.’
‘Magi gas mask: fitted with a special filter to filter demonic energy. Air-tight inside.’
They were all things I’d never heard of.
They were weapons, but they felt more like inventions.
From the looks of it, these were items ordinary people could use if they were swept up by demonic energy, not weapons meant for trained warriors.
Even so, the products — things I couldn’t imagine being made by ordinary knowledge and technology — were clever.
“How did you make stuff like this? You must know a lot about the demon realm.”
“I did some studying. I figured the Demon King’s return would bring more demonic energy, so I could make some money.”
He finished speaking and, like a gentleman asking for a dance at a ball, bent one knee slightly and swept his arm in a flourish.
“Distinguished visitors of House Pluto, I will now show you the product I am most proud of.”
“Go on!”
What could it be?
My heart thumped with expectation. Meteo watched with a curious look as well.
Siril fetched something glittering silver from another display case.
It was small enough to fit in one hand.
When I finally saw the weapon, I recognized at once what it was. Meteo, however, did not.
“What’s this?”
“You could call it a gun, Your Highness.”
“A gun?”
A gun?
Why was a gun showing up here?
I was so startled I forgot to make a sound, only staring back and forth between the object and Siril.
The silver weapon, decorated with luxurious details, resembled the shape of a gun I knew, but it was slim. It had a trigger.
But this world had no guns. People had never seen one and didn’t know about them.
How did Siril even have one?
He began his explanation.
“This is a weapon I developed after brainstorming for about an hour on how to use holy power more quickly and powerfully. If you can load holy power into it like a bead and fire it by pulling the trigger, it can shoot far.”
“Wha—?”
Meteo looked incredulous.
To people here, Meteo’s reaction would be natural — it was completely unfamiliar.
“You made this? How?”
“It just occurred to me. Do you think it seems genius, Lady?”
Siril pulled the corner of his mouth into a charming smile.
Did he really make this?
Well, there are inventors in any world who might come up with a gun-like device. It wasn’t exactly impossible to conceive.
“Making holy power into beads isn’t that hard, either.”
I said that and picked up the gun.
Its contours were smooth and it fit nicely in my hand. It was cold, but the light weight felt satisfying.
“Why don’t you try?”
“Okay.”
Answering Meteo, I focused on drawing out my holy power. Siril gave a small sound of excitement and watched eagerly.
