Our client, the little Growth Chimera Lily, guided us past the different ships in our search for a good metalwork merchant specializing in kitchen utensils. There are TONS of weapon merchants, so many that I'm starting to fear an incoming war when I see all these swords for sale, but that might just be me. On the other hand, someone like Mira would be ecstatic seeing this selection... and just now, I realized using her as an example is a stupid idea.

  Yeah, this sandbox's soon to become the beach of a literal blood bath ocean." - Garami

  "H-HUH!?" - Lily

  "Ignore her. The Princess sometimes says silly remarks like that." - Iron

  How rude! He might be a knight made of shining armor, but his sense of delicacy requires another polish. Not that I can blame him for saying stuff like that. I do sometimes, just a veeeery few times, blurt out my thoughts aloud.

  Moving away from that embarrassing moment, let's see if there's something for Mira here. I wasn't wrong when I said that she would love all this stuff, but maybe not today. The merchants are more than likely to hide the real heavy hitters of their products within safes inside their floatships, so skipping the weapon shopping till after we reach town is way better.

  "Come and see, come and see! Here we have the revolution of throwing weapons!" - Weapons Merchant

  Can these guys smell disinterest or something? I was about to ignore the loudmouth, but our client's attention seemed to be easy to catch. Let's just get this over with and not forget about that pan.

  "Ladies and gents, adventurers and knights, this in my hand is a revolutionary product, especially for you warriors! When hunting for monsters in the desert, it's more likely than not that you would like being able to strike from a distance, no? However, not everyone can be multi-talented geniuses, hence why our newest product is here to help you!" - Weapons Merchant

  I'm starting to think his main aim is on Iron. I've got no proof except for my hunch, and that there's literally no other warriors or knights anywhere here except for him, but I've got confidence in my hunch here.

  "Behold! The Return-o-rang 200! A wonder of a boomerang that, for the small price of 1 MP for every 100 meters it flies, is guaranteed to return to your hand without any complications or embarrassing accidents!" - Weapons Merchant

  So, no hitting yourself in the face then? It sounds good, but that thing's got no special effects attached to it like other high-quality throwing weapons I've seen before at the Velantaz markets. It not being a consumable might be a boon, but it's more of a toy than a weapon. In short, it's not to my taste.

  "For those of you in disbelief, feel free to test our product on our homemade shooting range!" - Weapons Merchant

  "Yes! Me! I wanna try!" - Lily

  ...It seems my tastes aren't global.

  I swallowed my sighs and followed Lily to the "shooting range" the merchant had set up. It's nothing too fancy. Just a bunch of targets placed between two parked floatships.

  Lily received the test boomerang. It looks like it's made out of black wood with verdant letters written across its spine. Those look like runes. I'm no Rune Mage, but even I can recognize something that famous in the magic world.

  "Ehm, how do I...?" - Lily

  "Here, let me." - Garami

  Lily didn't seem to know how to add mana to magic items, an ability I thought everyone and their grandma had, and charged it for her. Looking giddy, Lily aimed at the center target and threw the black boomerang at it.

  Hmm, she's not a bad throw. Or maybe the boomerang has some homing features in addition to the return-to-hand gimmick. Whatever the case, the boomerang went straight to the middle target without diverting before doing a sudden brake right in front of the target...

  "Eh?" - Lily

  "Wh-what is...?" - Weapons Merchant

  The weird situation left everyone stupefied. Then, after being paused in the air for a few seconds, the boomerang started to fly back towards Lily at a ridiculous speed!

  "Watch out!" - Garami

  I dragged the Chimera girl out of the boomerang's flight path and saw it fly into the crowd. A loud noise could be heard..., scratch that. Multiple loud noises, including screams of agony, could be heard not too far from here.

  "Eh-, eh-, d-did I...?" - Lily

  "No way, Jose. That's the boomerang's fault, not yours." - Garami

  I reassured Lily of her innocence while throwing a stink eye at the weapons merchant, who turned pale when he realized what was happening.

  Staying here would just cause delays, so I pushed Lily out of the shooting range and moved on. Let the merchant dealing with faulty goods be responsible for his wares, not us.

  ---

  "S-sir! Our grunts failed with the kidnapping of the two Solomar nobles!"

  "What!? Were they discovered?"

  "N-no. They...they were beaten black and blue by a flying boomerang."

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  "......"

  Mysterious_leader.exe has stopped functioning.

  ---

  After getting away from anything boomerang-related, we found ourselves stopped by another merchant unrelated to our goal.

  "Princess, are you done looking at the antiques?" - Iron

  "Just 40 more hours..." - Garami

  "The date will have changed twice by then!" - Lily

  Yup. I'm guilty. Guilty as the train here. But these items are quite intriguing. A strange cross, an old clock, a gothic lantern, not to mention that sarcophagus-looking casket. I say "looking" because there are some bits that are off about its design. I doubt pharaohs decorated their coffins with engravings of locusts.

  "You done looking, lady? No windows equal no window shopping." - Antiques Merchant

  "Fine. But you should be careful about this stuff." - Garami

  "Please! You think someone that's been so long in the business like me would break his-." - Antiques Merchant

  *CRASH!*

  Aaaaand there fell one casket down to the ground. All on its own~. The incident caused the old man merchant's face to turn red as a tomato. And now there's T-minus 30 seconds till it becomes white as snow.

  "No, not breaking it. But this stuff is super cursed." - Garami

  "Cursed?!" - Antiques Merchant

  And as I predicted, a huge bunch of ghostly locusts came spewing out from the casket's broken cover. The ghost bugs started attacking a bunch of weirdos in the crowd, causing quite the panic. Time to flee, yet again. *Sigh*. I wanted to buy some of that stuff...

  ---

  "Sir! Our grunts were in another incident!"

  "Dammit! Don't tell me they were spotted...this time!"

  "Ehm, sure, people took notice of them, but that would happen to anyone attacked by a swarm of locust specters."

  "Locusts?!"

  Mysterious_leader.exe has started to refuse reality.

  ---

  Phew. After getting away from the cursed items seller (or what it antiques?), we found ourselves in front of a fancy clothing shop. Finally, some merchants that match the market of Shaharin. The stuff they sell looks pretty nice. Let's have Bloom take some notes, then I can try to recreate them later.

  Iron took a shine to a cape that he could wear. Being all-armor all the time limits his ability to be fashionable, but wearing this, he's upgraded from looking like a knight to a king! Lily looks at him with starry eyes, and he sure deserves it.

  "Dear customer, would you like some other articles?" asked the clothing merchant while rubbing their hands. Sorry, pal, but I'm making my wardrobe.

  "No, we're fine. We'll just take this and be on our way." - Garami

  "Please don't be so cold, dear customer~. How would you think about this classic desert dancing outfit I have stored in the back~? It is sure to suit you perfectly~." - Clothing Merchant

  I knew merchants were part of the Sin of Greed, but Lust as well? Sheesh.

  "No thanks. But do you see those guys?" - Garami

  I pointed out a group that was trying to stay concealed in the crowd, but to no avail.

  "Hmm? What 'guys'?" - Clothing Merchant

  "The guys with mismatched eyes. There, over in the shadows there." - Garami

  "Aha~. Now I see them. Quite the...curious attire they have." - Clothing Merchant

  That's putting it lightly. They look like a chuunibyo pandemic that has been concentrated into a single person. And I'm talking about each person here!

  "Wouldn't they be the perfect market for selling some of the less-popular goods, hmm?" - Garami

  "Oho~. Dear customer, you have quite an eye for business. Please excuse me~." - Clothing Merchant

  After that, when we left the shop after having paid for Iron's new cape (I'm bad at making capes, so I need to study this one first), I could hear the merchant dragging the group of acute chuunibyo patients into his parlor-er, shop. Let's hope they get squeezed out of every Sol...

  ---

  "Sir, there has been more bad news."

  "How did our grunts fail this time?"

  "Well, they discovered a clothing merchant that sold quite fashionable sets of outfits, and...they spent all their budget on everything."

  "WHAT!? ...What? Just that?"

  "Y-yes, sir. Here are some pictures of their purchases."

  Mysterious_leader.exe has left the hideout to buy some new edgy costumes. Mysterious_leaders_wallet.exe will not survive.

  ---

  Aaaand finally, we have found the kitchen merchant. This feels like it took the whole day.

  "E-excuse me! We are looking for a pot!" - Lily

  The acquisition of the container is technically Lily's assignment, so we're keeping our hands out of the purchase. Alright, now that she's busy...!?

  "Iron, keep a watch over her for me!" - Garami

  I had plans to talk with Iron, but seeing what was put up on display on the other side of the "street", that idea flew out of my mind. So, I left the chimera-sitting duties to "king" Iron and went shopping on my own.

  The stall facing the kitchen shop is related to alchemy, having various alchemy circles for sale along with random materials that can be used for said crafting art. None of that interests me, the stuff I have back in Damavand is way better, but there is one item that I've never seen before.

  "Excuse me," I asked the merchant, "but what is this thing?"

  "This? Miss, despite being blindfolded, you sure have eyes for a good deal. This contraption is a 'Skill Gem Generator'. It can take an unwanted skill from you and convert it into a gem that can be used for crafting afterward." - Alchemy Merchant

  I knew it! I couldn't believe the results from [Identification] at first, but it's true!

  "Ehm, is this related to the items I've heard rumors about? The ones that can be developed by using skills and materials?" - Garami

  "Yes, the development of this generator is related to those legendary items. Do you mind if I ask..." - Alchemy Merchant

  "No, heavens, no. I'm just a curious Alchemist myself." - Garami

  "Riiight," said the merchant with a knowing look on his face...! Dammit! Next time I upgrade the outfit's base form, I need to add some sort of "Identification blocked" effect to the whole thing!

  "And as I might guess your next question, the Skill Gems can be used as a replacement for skills of the owner of those legendary items that you, dear customer, are sure not in possession of." - Alchemy Merchant

  "Ahahaha...yes..." - Garami

  "This allows other crafters to grant enhancement to these items, making it possible to upgrade them regardless of the original owner's abilities as a crafter." - Alchemy Merchant

  Phew. I've only got Alchemy and Weaving under my belt, so if I could ask Flint to fix the weapon's upgrades, or have Noire look at the headgear's abilities as an accessory-like item... Yeah, I can see the potential growing here.

  "Do note, however, that while Skill Gems cannot be used for the material part of the upgrades for these legendary items, they can still be used as materials for normal crafting purposes. As for whether the skills in the Gems can be perfectly crafted onto the items in question, that depends on the crafter's talent." - Alchemy Merchant

  Working with such "rare" materials is still bound to give you a boatload of EXP for your crafter skills and classes. Most people wouldn't even dare to use their skills in such fashion, but our Guild has that nice double-AP cheat from my "Ultimate Champion" Blessing. Plus, our luck with Skill Scrolls and Skill Orbs is incredible.

  "I'll take one." - Garami

  "Just like that?! I mean, as you wish. Do you want it wrapped? We can send it to your floatship for an extra payment." - Alchemy Merchant

  "Nah. I've got my personal moving team," I said while producing a pair of Gloom Skeletons to have them carry the large machine back to the Marauder.

  Now, time to get back to Lily and Iron. They should have gotten the pot by now. And... I need to summon one more undead. It needs to deliver a message to Mira and Noire. I can't handle all these bad guys that are constantly aiming at us for who knows why. At least not in secret, and do I look like I could mentally scare a cute little Chimera girl by having her experience the disgust of having stalkers after you? If the answer is yes, then you're on my list of future necromancy materials.