Chapter 39 …
The marketplace was brimming with energy.
Both sides of the street were packed tightly with stalls, and merchants were fervently calling out to customers, laying their goods out on tables or directly on the ground.
“Fresh live fish caught at dawn today—come take a look~!”
“Duck eggs for sale~! Fifty Dellins each!”
“Mushrooms here! Medicinal mushrooms too! I’ll give you a good price!”
This was a dungeon hub city.
It had originally been a small coastal town, but ever since a dungeon appeared nearby, the scale of its commercial population had been rapidly growing.
I looked around blankly and muttered,
“It’s way more….”
“Chaotic than you expected, right?”
“Yeah.”
At my easy agreement, Lysian chuckled softly. He’d been holding my hand tightly for a while now, with no intention of letting go.
“We can’t have you getting lost, Muriel. Cities like this are dangerous.”
“Who are you treating like a kid….”
I grumbled in a deliberately annoyed tone, but that was just for show. Honestly, it didn’t feel bad at all to have someone looking out for me.
“It’s almost evening. Should we look around the market and find an inn first? We can start business tomorrow morning.”
“Yeah. You must be tired too, after coming all this way….”
It took about two days to get from my farm to this city. We’d walked and run most of the way, so we arrived earlier than expected.
Of course, the one doing the running was Lysian—I was just riding on his back….
For the record, Ninabel was staying behind to watch the house.
There was no helping it. With adventurers flocking in because of the dungeon, we never knew when someone might stumble upon the farm.
One of us had to guard the house. I needed to sell goods, and Lysian had to escort me—so Ninabel was the only suitable choice.
—Masteeer… I miss you…. Waaah….
‘Hang in there a little longer, Nini. And take this chance to become more dependable.’
—Master, you’re so T~!
I casually soothed Ninabel, who was whining via telepathy as usual, and continued sightseeing through the market.
As befitting a hub city where all kinds of people gathered, the goods being sold were strange and varied.
Some of them made you think, Isn’t that a scam?
For example—
“Put this under your pillow when you sleep, and it’ll completely restore your fatigue! A miraculous stone for just 27 Rubels!”
‘Are you serious? There’s no way something like that exists….’
And it cost 27 Rubels, no less. That was about 30,000 won in Korean money. Ridiculous—
“Is that really true? Does it really restore fatigue?”
“Of course! It’s better than most recovery potions!”
“I’ll take one.”
He’s actually buying it?
A brown-haired young man handed over the money, and the middle-aged vendor—who looked like a scammer at a glance—grinned as he accepted it.
The so-called “miraculous stone” was just a round glass bead. It was a pale, transparent blue and kind of pretty, but still….
‘That’s just a decorative trinket….’
The poor guy left cheerfully, completely unaware he’d been scammed.
I narrowed my eyes like a Tibetan fox and shook my head.
“We’d better be careful not to get fleeced here. Their sales tactics are no joke.”
“Seriously. Even the food they’re selling looks kind of suspicious….”
“…Food?”
It seemed Lysian had been paying attention to the food stalls too. I followed his gaze to one of the stands.
Swish, swish—
A middle-aged man was stirring some unidentified liquid in a large pot with a ladle.
“Come try some monster meat stew~! The meat’s been aged for a whole week, so the umami flavor is incredible!”
Hearing that, I instinctively took a step back.
“Monster meat…? People eat that? That’s edible?”
“Well… it’s not poisonous. Though some monsters are poisonous.”
“No, I mean, it’s not meant for human consumption in the first place!”
“Honestly, humans are animals that can eat anything except the legs of a chair when they’re hungry.”
Lysian spoke calmly the entire time, even as he frowned in distaste.
Seeing my worldview crumble, he added an explanation.
“I’ve heard there are quite a few adventurers whose tastes change in strange ways. Those are probably the ones who buy it.”
“So being an adventurer really is a dangerous job….”
As I muttered seriously, Lysian burst out laughing.
“Boss! Three bowls of stew over here!”
That was when it happened. A lunatic who wanted to eat three bowls of monster meat stew appeared.
And unexpectedly, that person was a stunning beauty. She looked to be in her early thirties, with a healthy complexion and a long scar running down one cheek.
‘Unni… don’t eat that stew!’
I screamed internally in shock. Th-that—someone that cool eating monster meat?!
My prejudice was being completely shattered.
That amazing woman really did down three bowls of the weirdly colored monster meat stew. She even added two more.
Staring blankly, I eventually snapped back to my senses. I swallowed hard and turned to Lysian, asking hesitantly,
“Sh-should we… try it too…?”
“…Are you serious?”
Needless to say, we did not eat the monster meat stew.
Instead, we bought a fairly ordinary food that looked like flatbread, and a sweet juice made from grated pears.
After that, we walked along the market street to help digestion, when we noticed a crowd of people gathered in front of a shop.
‘What is it?’
Curious, I tugged Lysian along toward it.
When we got there, we saw it was a booth where you shot a toy bow to hit targets and win prizes.
‘Oh, I know this. I’ve seen it at amusement parks.’
It seemed that this kind of game culture existed everywhere, regardless of world or country.
“Baby, I want that deer plush! I really want it!”
“Aww, our baby wants the deer plushie? Big bro will win it for you for sure~”
“Kyaa~! You’re so cool, honey!”
The couple whose turn it was exchanged dialogue so cringeworthy it made my skin crawl.
‘Ugh….’
Without thinking, I grabbed Lysian’s sleeve and made a face of pure disgust. It felt like my limbs were curling up like octopus tentacles.
Soon, the man of the couple picked up the toy bow. The arrow tip was blunt, with no lethality whatsoever.
He struck a pretty cool pose and pulled back the string. “Ooh,” sounds of admiration rose from around us.
‘Oh… he looks like he knows what he’s doing?’
I watched with interest too.
But then—
Pshuk!
Pshuk!
Every arrow missed the target as soon as it left his hand!
“He’s seriously terrible!”
“Just give up already!”
“Boooo~!”
Criticism and jeers poured in from all sides. People were truly merciless.
“Khk…!”
The man clenched his fist and lowered his head, as if his pride had taken a devastating blow.
Then someone snatched the bow from his hand.
It was none other than the woman from the couple.
“Hey, you can’t even hit that? Move, I’ll do it.”
Just moments ago she’d been all “honey~,” and now her tone had suddenly turned like a thug’s.
Caught off guard, the crowd stared at her with wide eyes.
“Hoo….”
She brushed her bangs back with one hand, then pulled the bowstring in a textbook-perfect stance.
Thump!
The blunt arrow struck the deer plush.
“Woooaaah!” Cheers erupted all around.
“She’s good!”
“Shoot more! More!”
After that, she shot about five more times and hit the target three times. It was quite a respectable performance.
“H-honey… you’re amazing….”
The man muttered with a flushed face as he accepted the deer plush she tossed to him.
She grabbed him and dragged him away, scolding him nonstop.
“Practice your archery! Are you really an adventurer?!”
“I’m a swordsman, honey…!!”
I stared blankly at their retreating figures.
‘What a weird couple….’
They both seemed like adventurers, and once again, it really felt like there were a lot of eccentric people among adventurers.
“Muriel, is there anything over there that you want?”
At Lysian’s voice, I turned to him. Our eyes met, and he smiled brightly. I blinked and asked,
“You want to shoot the bow too?”
“Not really. I was just wondering if there’s something you’d like. The prizes look pretty well made.”
“Hm….”
Resting my chin on my hand, I hummed thoughtfully while looking over the display.
As Lysian said, the prizes weren’t shoddy—they were fairly well-crafted. And there was quite a variety, too.
‘Looks like about thirty items….’
Then, one thing suddenly caught my eye.
A very cute fox plush, with platinum-colored fur.
