Published at 15th of July 2022 8:23 am

Chapter 165: Shop

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“All the members in the lodge are comrades. We behave without regard to the official position or the social status. I want you to not forget that. There was a time when his Majesty was a member of the liberation society; however, inside the lodge, he was equal to the rest. Even if the Emperor wanted to become a member but he didn’t have the ability, we would decline. By all means, it is necessary in order for the Empire Liberation Society to remain a force.”

What Baron Ester said is terrifying. It does not seem to be different from the Baron’s usual attitude. The Emperor was a member as well, huh? Even the Emperor would lose membership if he did not have the ability.

From what he said, he seems to no longer be a member. Was he adjudged to not be capable anymore? It is better that he is not a member. For peace of my mind.

If more people joined because of members like the Emperor or the Duke, sooner or later, the Empire Liberation Society would turn apart because of internal strife. Rules are necessary in order to preserve the power of an organization. However, in the Emperor’s case, the admission test should be easy.

Nah, will there be equality if that were the case? It will be impertinent for them to expressly ask to be a member like a commoner. Equality can be maintained by only admitting those of high official position or social status. There seem to be various considerations.

“I see.” “I will contact Brocken myself. It’s admission etiquette to not meet with the referrer within 5 days.” “Really?”

It doesn’t seem to be necessary for me to go to the Duke and express gratitude.

“It was the same for me. You will receive further explanation from the Secretary. I am counting on you from this point onward, Sebastian.”

The Baron addresses Sebastian. Is Sebastian a secretary, not a butler?

“Understood.” “He is the General Secretary, Sebastian. Ask him for the detailed information.”

So it was the General Secretary. I didn’t think much of it when he said Secretary. However, being General Secretary, he seems to be important.

“Got it.” “Well then.”

The Baron finishes his cup and stands up. The Baron pats my shoulder when I was getting up and leaves the room. Before leaving, the Adventurer from the Baron’s party opened his Item Box and paid to Sebastian.

The Herbal Tea wasn’t free, it seems. It was the Baron’s treat. Or the Adventurer perhaps only paid the Baron’s share and Sebastian will collect from us later. Anyways, since he had to open the Item Box, he probably paid in the silver coins. I am not sure how much since I didn’t see clearly but there seemed to be several coins.

Assuming it is 2 silver coins for 6 cups, it is an affordable price. It would be an outrageous price if it were only for one cup which the Baron drank. I might really go bankrupt. ‘This is a rip off bar!’ I should say.

“Then if Michio-sama doesn’t mind, I would like to explain about our lodge.”

The rip off bar master bows his head. Actually, Sebastian is the General Secretary.

“Please.” “Could you please come here?” “Sure.”

I drink the herbal tea left in the cup and stand up. Because it is expensive, I don’t want to waste it. Roxanne and the girls also finish drinking the herbal tea and leave their seats.

“This room is available for meetings or socializing with fellow parties. There is another similar room on the second floor. Please order it without any hesit

Sebastien explains while walking. The room is not charged but the beverages are? That is why it is expensive, I guess.

That reminds me, the Baron didn’t mention anything about the fees. There seem to be additional charges since there is no membership fee.

“I will order it when the time comes.” “This lodge basically is a private facility. There is a door that connects to the outside but it is for supplies and us secretaries’ use. Members can’t use it except for emergency, so enter through the wall in the lobby using [Field Walk」, please.” “Is that so?”

I already heard from the Baron that this lodge is in the Imperial Capital. Is it for the members’ exclusive use? Or is its location in the Imperial Capital kept secret, perhaps?

If it is called the Imperial Capital, it should be vast, no? The Imperial Capital should be a little vast since it is called the Imperial Capital. The consumption of MP in case of [Field Walk] and [Warp] changes based on the distance. I can figure out as to where it is located based on that.

“There is a big assembly room on the second floor and a reference room on the third floor.”

Sebastian shows us around the lodge and explains before the stairs. The first floor is large in itself and then there still is a third floor?

“Reference room?” “Yes, Sherry-sama. There are memos and activity logs of various members, and the labyrinth strategy guides left by the members.” “Can only the official members view them?”

Sherry has really gotten into it. I understand how much she wants to have a look at them.

“The party members of a member receive the same treatment. If Michio-sama becomes a member and is trusted, it is possible for Sherry-sama to have access to the reference room.” “I understand.”

The memos and the strategy guides may contain useful information. It will be good to let Sherry take a look later on.

“The back room there has become a shop.”

Sebastian enters one of the rooms. Do they sell souvenirs there? Is what I thought but I was wrong. There are some amours and spears. Oh right, the Duke did say that equipment can be bought and sold in the Empire Liberation Society.

“Equipment?” “Yes. Although we don’t have that many, we deal in powerful equipment made of Orichalcum and equipment with skills.”

This spear is indeed an Orichalcum Spear. Orichalcum Spear must exist for there exists Orichalcum Sword. I stand in front of the Orichalcum Spear and look at the tip.

“It appears to be a good spear.” “Here, buying and selling equipment involves points rather than money. When you sell a powerful item or an equipment with skills, you receive appropriate points in accordance with the item. When you buy from the society, you will need to spend points instead of money.”

You buy using the points you earn by selling, huh? So you will have to sell here before you can buy.

It will probably be useless to sell them a weapon which can be bought from an ordinary weapons shop. The weapons shop in Quratar didn’t have any Orichalcum weapon for sale. It has to be a powerful weapon, like the Orichalcum Spear, or a weapon with skills for it to work.

As for me, Sherry can fuse monster cards without failing. So I can sell equipment with skills. Then I can buy powerful weapons using the accumulated points.

It is not like I particularly want this Orichalcum Spear. And it doesn’t have any skill slot either. However, since I can tell if it is the real thing, I can tell if it has empty slots, too. I must wait for when they have one for sale.

The problem is, how much will the equipment cost? Not many equipment are on display. There is no more than one spear. Maybe there is not that much supply of Orichalcum Spears.

Even though it is the Empire Liberation Society shop, who would want to sell? Both the Duke and the Baron have money and they fight on higher floors in the labyrinths, one can guess that there is more demand to buy than the people who want to sell. This system where you cannot buy unless you sell is really ingenious.

“Does it sell well?” “If not a service provided by the society, it’s not to the extent to be called business. As for individual equipment, it may sell immediately but sometimes it may remain unsold for long.”

So it is like this, huh? I will need to frequently visit and keep an eye, it seems.

There are a few other equipment beside the spear. The only one available in multiple numbers is the Sacrificial Misanga. Three Sacrificial Misangas are on display.

“Sacrificial Misanga?” “You know it well. Sacrificial Misanga is not an equipment that can normally be purchased. It is treated as a consumable item.” “Is it consumed frequently?” “As it frequently breaks, we have it in stock since many members buy it. Since consuming it requires points, it is normally procured through Quratar’s auction house unless there is an emergency.”

So there is no need to spend points on something which can be obtained through the auction? They probably buy it for emergencies since no one knows when it will be exhibited at the auction. What if it broke and there were no spares?

“True.” “As for pricing, we receive it at an appropriate price. The price at which we buy here is considerably less than the price it can be sold through the auction.”

Isn’t it better to sell it through the auction then? Well, that is expected. I can receive points if I sell here, though.

On the contrary, there may be people selling here after buying at the auction. There’s a financial loss but they can obtain points. It is like exchanging money for points.

“I have a spare Sacrificial Misanga. How many points can I get if I sell it?” “It will give you one point.” “Can you please tell me how much does a Sacrificial Misanga cost?” “Around 10,000 Nars.”

That’s awful. If it were purchased through bidding at the auction and then traded here for points, the required amount of money would increase. Here, 1 point tends to be equal to 10,000 Nars. Whereas, at the auction, the price can go up to 20,000 Nars. It is natural for the price at the auction to increase.

Even if there is no such thing as 20,000 Nars Sacrificial Misanga, there are other equipment they deal in here which can go for several tens of thousands of Nars at the auction or even higher. If I were to sell a 100,000 Nars item at half the price, I would incur a loss of 50,000 Nars. It is a rip off.

“I wonder if the one from before was an Orichalcum Spear.” “So you are familiar with it, after all.” “And the points required to buy the Orichalcum Spear-” “It requires 3 points.”

So I need to sell three Sacrificial Misangas to buy an equipment made of Orichalcum? Furthermore, the purchases will have to be covered separately. It’s quite a chore.

I should resume ordering Caterpillar Monster Cards. I can even ask right now. I just have to say that I was careless in the labyrinth and broke my Sacrificial Misanga.

The news may reach the Duke immediately. It may be a good thing if he gets to know or it may be a bad thing. It is complicated.

“There seems to be a Large Shield.”

Roxanne points to a shield.

“Large Shield?” “Is that a Large Shield?”

Vesta cuts in. Dragonkin are the ones who use Large Shield.

“I saw a person from the dragonkin tribe using a shield of similar size before, so it should be a Large Shield.”

It is a Large Shield according to Roxanne. It is named Rugged Damascus Steel Large Shield. I have a Strengthened Hard Leather Hat. Because I don’t remember using a Kobold Monster Card at that time, this (Rugged) skill seems to be better than the Strengthened skill.

“This is Rugged Damascus Steel Large Shield.”. I knew already because of Appraisal. However, does Sebastian know about all the items here? What a competent man. I approach it and take a closer look. I didn’t realize how large it was since it was lying on a rack but it is quite large.

It can easily hide one person. A physical attack cannot pass through its defense, can it? What about magic attacks? Do you blow it off with the shield?

On the other hand, it will be really difficult to hold this. To be able to hold it in one hand, as you would expect from such cool chuunibyou people as dragonkin. If it is only about defense, other people than the dragonkin can use it, too, I think. However, it is incomprehensible to go hunting in the labyrinth and do nothing but defending.

Can a Wizard use it? If the stick could be replaced with a Large Shield, it would be great. If I could, I would like to use it.

Can a Priest or a Monk use it, too? However, isn’t it questionable to reduce your offensive power when there can only be six people in a party? And I believe it is difficult swinging it around lightly, when it is this big, in order to deal with the monsters. Even if you want to temporarily switch to defense, you can simply fall back and be a rearguard.

Or is it possible arranging 4 or 5 shields side-by-side to make a wall like Roman legion’s? Wouldn’t it induce monsters from 23th floor onward to use area of effect magic attacks? And the damage would be rather high.

“Damascus Steel Large Shield?” “There are many dragonkin amongst our members and their parties, so we deal plenty in Large Shields.”

I can obtain Large Shield here, it seems. As it is now, however, I am not worried about Vesta’s defense. Using two two-handed swords is better, isn’t it?

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