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It was my second day in the capital. Today, I ventured to a secluded part of the commercial district. I planned to visit the robed man’s shop and was quite excited to see what products they offered.

However, the moment I saw the exterior of the shop, my tension disappeared, and I didn’t feel like going in anymore. The sign was battered, leaning, and worn, making it impossible to read the words. It looked like ****’s Store.

It looked like a shop, so they were likely selling something. Though it wasn’t like I didn’t already know that. It was a store after all. I had an idea of what they were selling here.

That aside, the store was dirty and looked rather old. However, that was expected given that it was built in front of the wall separating this and the noble sector.

Despite everything, I decided to go inside. After all, there wasn’t anything I could do by just staying here.

“Hello.”

I said as I pushed open the broken door and entered a dimly lit space, illuminated only by the light filtering through the windows.

But that was of no concern to me. I wondered if this place could truly be called a store. For one, it did have shelves with merchandise. And most of the items were accessories, just as I had been told.

I appraised some and discovered they were made from very expensive gemstones, though I couldn’t comment on their design. I did find them beautiful, but even before coming here, I’d never been one to care much about fashion.

Even simple things looked appealing because they were easy to style. But, at the end of the day, I wasn’t here to look at the accessories.

“Is anyone here?”

I called out to the back of the store, and the man with the hood came out.

“Oh my, oh my. Welcome. You came. You must be one curious little lady.”
“Not as curious as you. And it was you who invited me, no?”
“Really? To be honest, one would find it hard to resist the urge to talk to a beautiful girl such as yourself.”
“You’re hitting on a kid? You have a strange taste, mister.”
“Hahaha. Call it flattery.”

It had been a long time since I had such a lighthearted conversation, even before my summoning. That’s why I ended up going with the flow.

And even if it was just flattery, this was the first time I was being hit on. To be honest, it didn’t feel good.

“Since you’ve come all this way, how about buying an accessory?”
“I do admit that the accessories here are quite decent.”
“Hmm… Did something catch your eye?”
“No. I just came to look at the store. I remember you saying something about selling things besides accessories, no?”
“Fufufu. That’s right.”
“And I can imagine that the accessories here are not really the main product of this store, am I right? How should I put it, they seem like they’re just here to distract.”
“Interesting.”

The man said in an intrigued tone.

(It seems I piqued his interest. He’s starting to take an interest in me. Though that’s probably not entirely right. After all, he’s been interested in me since the beginning. If not, he wouldn’t have approached me. What’s important is that he responded the way I expected him to.)

“What makes you think that? I worked quite hard to make the ones displayed here.”
“With items of this quality, you’d usually have them on your person. You’re a merchant after all, aren’t you?”
“So that’s what you’ve decided to go with. You do have a point, but your argument seems a bit weak.”
“What do you expect? I’m just a kid. Besides, even a kid would be suspicious if you didn’t have samples of products.”
“Should you be the one saying that?”

The man laughed with a wry smile.

It was true that I had reached this conclusion mainly because I’d used my Appraisal skill to see that he possessed the Magic Tool Creation skill. But I wasn’t obligated to share that.

Then again, how useful was Appraisal in this world?

The fact that few people had it and that there weren’t any all-encompassing countermeasures against the skill likely made it quite valuable. Though being a demigod, I could see everything even if someone tried to cover it up, so it was quite useful.

“You’re a slaver, aren’t you?”
“You figured out that much?”
“I could feel several human presences inside the carriage. You won’t try to tell me that the carriage was packed full of accessories, right? Though I can’t seem to find the products.”
“That’s because they aren’t here. This store is merely a hobby of mine. It’s normal to have no customers for days. But that’s fine since it’s just a hobby. And if I do sell something, it goes straight to my pocket.”

As I quickly scanned over the item’s prices, I determined that most items cost between small and large silver coins. If he managed to sell two or three items a month, he could surely use the profit for spending money.

But at the end of the day, I couldn’t say for sure just how much he made.

“So, would you like to go to the main store? I mean, are you really interested in slaves, missy?”
“It’s not that I must go, but it wouldn’t hurt to pay a visit. I also want to see the real accessories you make.”
“To me, it seems like the latter is more appealing to you. Fine then. Come with me.” The man said and walked to the back of the store.

The back of a store felt like a secret space, and I couldn’t help but be drawn to it. Some private stores even converted the back into a living space, and I got excited the more I thought about it.

I couldn’t stop wondering what was behind this store. After all, it was built right next to the wall of the noble sector.

After walking for a bit, we reached a massive door that didn’t look like it belonged at this rundown store. The man then pulled out a single, needlessly large key from the sleeve of his cloak. He attempted to open the door, which seemed like it would barely budge.

Despite my concerns, the man opened the door with ease and led me through.