Maseki Gurume – 022c ＊

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An hour had almost passed since they came to Majorca’s magic stone store. Ain enjoyed seeing a lot of magic stones.

In the end, he bought the White Bison one and another magic stone about 20 cms long from a Wyvern species called Green Wyvern.

The Green Wyvern had a smell somewhat similar to fried chicken, but it wasn’t as enticing as the White Bison, but still, he bought it. The magic from this one wasn’t large, so there wasn’t the danger of outflow and it was packed in a simple box. The price was 52,000 G. A bit more expensive.

“Well then, shall we go back, Chris-san?”

“I guess you’re right. Majorca-dono, could you bring what we’ve bought? I’ll be carrying it.”

“Yes, right away.”

『……』

Saying that, Majorca went back behind the counter to get the boxed magic stones. At that time, as Ain watched this happen, he heard something similar to a voice and turned to look in that direction. There was the reddish-black magic stone that he saw when he first entered the store. He felt like he heard that voice from inside the engraved glass case.

“Here, sorry to keep you waiting…… Ara, boy. Are you interested in that? ”

“Eh? Ahh, yes, I think the case is somewhat amazing.”

Since Ain couldn’t say silly things like he heard a voice, he lied when replying to Majorca’s question.

“It’s been five years since this came to my shop after bouncing from one place to the next in Ishtalika…… no, across the continent of Isthar.”

“Why bouncing from one place to the next? Did something happen?”

“You are not the one. You’ll be having dreams and in there, you’ll keep hearing the phrase ‘you are not the one’. All the people who had this magic stone were like that.”

Ain thought this was quite a disturbing story. In that case, was Majorca in a similar situation?

“This engraved case is special, it’s a seal. I made it in my store, after all, I’m quite adept at this kind of technology.”

“I see, then, if you didn’t seal it, would you be hearing that voice too, Majorca-san?”

“It appears it is heard without exception. It’s certainly a strange story……to hear a voice just because you have a magic stone.”

For Ain, who could sense the smell and taste of magic stones, this was indeed strange, but it didn’t feel particularly weird. With that said, this time, more than his appetite, his interest in this magic stone was greater.

『……』

Still, he could feel something from that magic stone. And from Ain’s point of view, if it wasn’t evil, he didn’t feel like it would do something to him. Thus, Ain couldn’t help but be interested in that magic stone.

“Majorca-san. That magic stone……how much would it be with the case included? ”

“Sorry boy. I didn’t quite catch on……what did you say? ”

“P-Please don’t joke! What if something happens?”

“Majorca-san. How much for that magic stone? ”

Majorca acted like he didn’t hear, however, Ain continued. There was no answer to Chris’ attempt to stop him, though.

“Why do you want this one, boy?”

“I don’t know. But I just can’t help being interested in that magic stone, I’ll be very careful when I take it out of its case……is it still a no? ”

“……It doesn’t seem like you’re being manipulated to say you’re interested in it.”

Majorca looked straight at Ain and declared so. He was good at looking into such things, so Chris was relieved to hear him say that.

“It’s okay. It’s all my own will.”

“Haaa……If something happens, come here, I’ll deal with it in the case something goes wrong. You got it, Chris? ”

“To be honest, I can’t give my consent. But I also know that once it becomes like this, I can’t do or say anything to persuade him, so I’ll be relying on you, Majorca-dono if something comes to pass.”

“Well then, I’ll just charge you for the material cost of the case. It’s 300,000G, is that okay? ”

“Okay, I’ll take it.”

How much allowance did you give him Your Majesty? ……After hearing Ain’s calm answer, Chris grieved in her head as she questioned that.

“Ahh, but this is pretty much the last of my money, thank god.”

“Alright then. Just wait for a bit until I wrap the whole case.”

Despite feeling troubled about it, Chris decided that for now, she’ll just report this to Silvird and Olivia.

In fact, Chris wasn’t in a position to be too forceful in stopping him, so she thought the best course of action was to leave this to Silvird’s judgment.

After receiving the third magic stone, Ain and Chris left Majorca’s magic stone store, where they had stayed longer than they had initially planned, and returned to the castle.

“He sure liked the strangest of things, was he someone important? Maybe the Crown Prince? ”

“For Majorca, it was easy to infer that the ‘boy’ was in fact Ain.

There’s no way the vice-captain of the Royal Guard would be escorting a simple noble. And he inferred that was the reason Chris wore a helmet outside the store so that her identity wouldn’t be exposed.

Still, Majorca was the owner of a high-end magic stone store that was often used by nobility, and it also supplied the royal family. His lips were just as sealed as Lloyd’s and the others.

『I found you……I found you……』