"—Are you okay?"

She touched the girl's cheek while stroking her head.

"Mm, I'm fine. Onee-sama."

Seeing the happy face made by her sister, Arche started to smile.

"...I shall leave the two of you be, then" Arche expressed her thanks towards the butler that did not wish to disturb the two of them, and then turned around to once more stroke her sister's head.

"Ulei... when in the hall..."

Arche suddenly stopped speaking halfway. She was about to say that it was inelegant for daughters of nobility to run inside the house, but after having told her father that they were no longer nobles, scoldings like these were no longer needed.

During this period, Arche's hand did not stop once, though the girl whose hair had already become a complete mess did not mind at all and continue to laugh.

Arche looked around her surroundings, and confirmed that one other person wasn't here.

"Where's Kuude?"

"Inside her room!"

"Is that so... there are a few things that I wish to speak with the two of you, let's go together."

"Mm."

Protecting the cheerful smiles of her sisters was Arche's responsibility. Holding Ulei's hand, a warm feeling quickly grew inside Arche. Ulei's small hands were something that even Arche's hands could fully cover.

"Onee-sama's hand is really hard."

Arche looked at her other hand. Due to injuries received from numerous adventures, these hardened hands could no longer be called hands befitting an ojou-sama from a noble family. However, she had no regrets. These hands were proof that she was living her life together with friends—her comrades in 'Foresight'.

"But I still really like it!"

With her hand tightly grasped by her both of her sister's, Arche smiled and said;

"—Thanks."

♦ ♦ ♦

As usual, the North Market of the Empire's Capital was full of energy. However, the number of customers that frequented the North Market was a lot less when compared to the central market, due to the specialisation of the sold products. As such, it wasn't difficult to navigate through the less crowded streets.

Seeing the usual atmosphere surrounding the market, Hekkeran and Roberdyck relaxed their shoulders and started browsing.

The reason why they were able to relax their guards was because they were at the northern market—it was probably one of the safest districts within the capital.

"Well then, Hekkeran. What do we need to buy?"

"First would be healing items. We'll need to stock up on those ‘Wands of Cure light wounds’. Depending on the situation, we might also need some ‘Wands of Cure moderate wounds’... Don't select any that have a low number of uses. From what I've heard, our target location is a tomb, we might need to use them on the undead. After that, we need to stock up on items that counter undead creatures, poisons and diseases. We also need to have counter-measures against negative energy and undead without physical form... Items that have unlimited usage are too expensive, so it might be better to also stock up on scrolls inscribed with magic as well."

Wands were a type of item that could hold multiple charges of a single spell. The user could keep casting the spell until the number of charges were used up. As such, when compared to scrolls that could only be used once, wands were much more valuable for certain applications, such as healing.

"Is that so? I had thought that we were here to buy gifts, and you wanted my advice."

"Gifts?"

"... Don't worry about it, Hekkeran. Let's start searching for what we need."

"...Oh, okay."

The stores within the northern market were all open-air markets, neatly arranged and filled with items for people passing by to see.

The items on display were typically placed on single sheets. One sheet per item. However, the majority of the items on sale at each store were only medium-quality goods. New or unknown items were rare sights here.

The majority of the vendors here seemed to be capable of handling themselves well. They either possessed powerful looking weapons or were dressed like magic casters. Compared to typical merchants, these looked like seasoned warriors.

At first glance these vendors looked out of place, but they really were the owners of their respective stores, even if it was only for the current day. During other times, they would usually be working as adventurers or workers. In other words, the actual profession of the vendors were similar to that of Hekkeran's and Roberdyck's.

They usually sold equipment or items they no longer needed, or whatever they found during their adventures. When compared to selling to merchants who specialized in magic items or to the Magician Association, finding their own customers could eliminate having to pay processing fees and thus lower the price of their items. The amount saved from this was larger than the fees one had to pay to set up their own store.

Due to this reason, adventurers and workers like Hekkeran frequented the northern markets first in order to look for bargains. Some even came everyday if they had the time.

And lastly, this was the main reason why the crime rate in the north market was low. Who would be crazy enough to cause a ruckus in a district full of combat veterans?

After spending some time looking around, the faces on the two of them were neither gloomy nor glad.

"Found anything?"

"Nothing."

Since the merchandise on sale were mostly unwanted goods, it was hard for Hekkeran and others to find the items they needed. Although these items might be suitable for Adventurers or inexperienced workers that were lower ranked, for the two of them—even when taking their companions into consideration—there simply wasn't anything useful.

"How regrettable. As I thought, it would have been faster if we had gone to the usual place to buy them."

"I only came here hoping to find bargains. It can't be helped if we can't find anything. Well, this is only the first step for us to start saving."

"Savings huh... Hekkeran, what do you think we should do?"

"Having only said this much and you already caught on, are you a super high ranked magic caster or something? ... It's obviously about Arche."

"You already know about that."