Chapter 270: 270 Hero’s Will

Having received Ian’s permission, the merchant let out a suspicious chuckle and stepped into the base.

Everyone was guarding against the merchant with faces full of disbelief, but the suspicious merchant, unconcerned by their glares, placed his bundle on the table.

Ian sat in the chair across from him, waiting for the suspicious merchant to prepare his wares.

When you purchased a base, random guest visit events like this would occur.

Sometimes a mercenary would visit first to ask to be hired, sometimes a merchant would come to sell goods, and sometimes people would come to offer commissions.

“So, what are you selling?”

“Ah. I shall show you now.”

He seemed like a strange person, but since Ian had allowed it for now.

Thinking they might as well see what he was selling, the members also took their spots in front of the table.

The merchant took items out of the bundle one by one and lined them up.

Everyone’s eyes gathered on the few products the merchant had pulled out.

[Suspicious Pouch] [Suspicious Necklace] [Suspicious Book] [Suspicious Potion]

“….”

“….”

“….”

Is this for real?

The gazes of those three gathered on Ian simultaneously.

The items the merchant pulled out were a pouch and potion of unknown contents, a necklace wrapped in cloth, and a tattered book.

The expressions of the members, who thought he might pull out something decent, turned cold.

They were all items that wouldn’t even sell at a street stall.

However, Mika showed interest in one of the items.

The item that was at least the most interesting among them. The book.

It looked like a shabby book on the outside, but it might potentially be a magic tome.

As is the case with most mages.

Mika also suffered from a disease where she couldn’t simply pass by an old book or staff.

“What kind of book is this?”

“I do not know the contents myself.”

“…You’re trying to sell something without even knowing what it is?”

Mika said as she reached out to pick up the book.

If she looked at the contents, she’d have a rough idea of what it was.

If it was a magic tome and the merchant didn’t know, she might be able to buy it very cheaply…

But the suspicious merchant blocked Mika’s hand.

“No touching before purchase.”

“….”

Mika started to make a slightly annoyed face, but managed to suppress it.

Whew. Right, merchants are all like this.

“Fine. How much?”

“10 gold coins.”

“….”

Mika’s hand gripped her staff tightly.

Watching this, Rin approached Ian’s side and whispered in a small voice.

“Should I kick him out?”

“…No, just leave it.”

In the meantime, Mika, who had been arguing with the merchant, stepped back. This time, Tanya asked the merchant.

“What is in this pouch?”

“I do not know the contents myself.”

“…Can I not open this one before buying either?”

“5 gold coins.”

“….”

Eventually, Mika and Tanya also approached Ian’s side.

Let’s just beat him up and kick him out.

Seeing him calm down the two making that suggestion, Rin sighed and spoke.

“That’s why I told you not to just let in any peddler. They won’t leave if you don’t buy anything.”

Rin pointed at the merchant, who sat shamelessly with his items spread out, showing no intention of moving.

But Ian was deep in thought about what to buy as he looked at the items the merchant offered.

An NPC who looked suspicious and sold suspicious items.

No matter how you looked at it, he seemed like he’d sell cursed items or run a scam. However, this NPC was actually a merchant who sold truly rare items.

Even if what he sold was random, the items themselves were the real deal.

It was to the point where, when beginners asked, veterans would tell them to just buy everything if they weren’t sure.

Ian had also been saving gold coins in preparation for this merchant’s visit.

The item information didn’t appear because it was random, but he hadn’t played this game for show all this time.

He could tell roughly what kind of item it was by looking at the appearance.

After a moment of deliberation, Ian pointed at the items in front of the merchant and said.

“Excluding this potion. I’ll buy the rest.”

“Pardon?”

“You have an excellent eye!”

When Ian chose the items, the merchant let out a disagreeable chuckle and took the gold coins.

25 gold coins.

“Wait, hold on….”

Before the panicked three could even stop Ian, the pouch of gold coins was handed over to the merchant.

While the merchant, having finished the trade, began packing the remaining items back into the bundle, the three rushed to Ian and hurriedly tried to stop him.

“Why would you buy that!”

“Captain, it’s not that I wanted that book that badly….”

“5 gold coins when we don’t even know what’s inside….”

Of course, they had earned a massive amount of gold recently. Enough to move into a building of this incredible size.

But even so, to waste gold coins on junk that was obviously a scam?

While the three were trying to change Ian’s mind, the suspicious merchant, having packed all his things, stood up.

“I look forward to seeing you again next time.”

“…Wait! Grab him first!”

When the merchant tried to leave quickly after the transaction, Rin decided to persuade Ian later and tried to catch the merchant first.

But….

“Wait, he’s gone?”

“What? Look properly!”

“No, he really vanished!”

The three dashed out the door to catch the merchant who had gone outside. But the merchant had disappeared like a ghost.

“Did you find him?”

“He’s not here….”

“I asked nearby, but no one saw him either.”

Thinking he might be hiding, the members searched every nook and cranny around the building before eventually giving up and returning inside.

25 gold coins….

Of course, it was Ian’s money, but Rin couldn’t help but worry because he spent money so recklessly the moment they had some saved up.

When a sighing Rin returned to the lounge, Ian was seemingly aware of her feelings.

Ian was leisurely inspecting the items he had just bought one by one.

“Captain…. Merchants like that are all swindlers.”

Rin plopped down on the lounge sofa and let out a deep sigh.

Tanya and Mika, thinking they might as well check what they were since they’d already been bought.

Approached the table where the items were placed.

In the meantime, Ian, who had checked all the item information, nodded.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

[Magic Tome: Barrier Magic]

– Trait Item

– Adds [Barrier Magic] trait upon use

[Crystal Necklace]

– Accessory Item

– [Charisma +10]

– Increases Likability further when used as a gift

[Fairy Stone]

– Charm Item

– Grants [Affinity +10] [Luck +10] when held

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Ian picked up the tattered book Mika had been interested in and held it out to her.

“Here, Mika. Learn this.”

“Learn it?”

“It’s a magic tome.”

“…What?”

Startled by the word magic tome, Mika almost dropped the book, but managed to catch it and hugged it dearly to her chest.

Well, naturally, Mika was a mage after all.

When she saw an old book… she always thought, could this be a magic tome? so she often peeked at them whenever she found them in the market.

But this was the first time she had found a real magic tome that way.

Just in case, she flipped it open to glimpse the contents, and it really was filled with stories about magic.

“A magic tome?! Then I get to learn magic?”

“Mika. You are a mage….”

Of course, she had been a mage in name only until now….

Although it was a bit of a pity that it wasn’t an attack spell, Ian was satisfied because it was a fairly high-tier spell for the support branch.

Next, Ian opened the leather pouch and took out the contents.

What rolled out of the pouch was a round stone that emitted a mysterious light.

Inside the stone, which was made of a transparent material, blue light swirled like a wave.

“Tanya, you carry this.”

“Wo-wow…. Is it a gem?”

“It’s like a charm, so keep it in your bag.”

When she heard that a pouch with unknown contents cost 5 gold coins, she thought it was ridiculous….

But the gem that came out of it looked like it would easily exceed 5 gold coins no matter how you looked at it.

Tanya accepted the blue-sparkling stone with care.

“And this is….”

Now only one item remained on the table.

The necklace.

Since the option was only Charisma, it was useless for ordinary mercenaries except for special classes like dancers.

However, thanks to the added Likability, it was useful as a gift.

Especially when given to an NPC who preferred such valuables, it could immediately make their Likability ’Positive,’ which was useful for opening trades with high-ranking female NPCs or receiving exclusive missions.

“….”

When he picked up the necklace to tuck it away.

Ian belatedly noticed that the atmosphere in the lounge had turned a bit strange.

Rin was staring at Ian.

Mika and Tanya were also whispering quietly while looking at the necklace in Ian’s hand.

In a situation where they were face-to-face rather than behind a game screen.

A few actions that were common sense strategies in-game became things one shouldn’t do in reality.

For example, taking away good equipment used by an existing mercenary to give to another.

Or trying to fill a base with only functional facilities without any rest areas.

…Or getting new equipment for everyone except for one person.

It wasn’t intentional, but Ian realized that only Rin hadn’t received anything.

It wasn’t Ian’s fault that the merchant didn’t sell any items Rin could use….

The merchant was already gone. Either way, at this point, it was Ian’s fault.

“…Rin?”

“Ye-yes….”

For some reason, Rin, whose face had turned slightly red, hesitantly… leaned her head forward.

As if waiting for him to put the necklace on her.

Ian… lacked the courage in this situation to say that it wasn’t actually her item.

If he had taken [Hero’s Will] as a potential, he might have been able to do it, but.

Unfortunately, he hadn’t gathered enough points for that yet.

After a moment of hesitation, Ian eventually tried to put the necklace around Rin’s neck….

Thinking it was strange to put it on her personally after all, he carefully placed the necklace in Rin’s hand.

Rin giggled and accepted the necklace with a word of thanks.

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