Chapter 15
“Seriously! You could've at least talked it over with me before doing something like that!”
“I'm sorry, Yura. But I want to see it through.”
“Miss, you're not even an adult, so you can't explore A-rank Gates solo! You won't be able to do that for another three years. What are you going to do!?”
This was the first time I'd seen Yura this angry.
She was genuinely so worried about me that her concern came out sounding like anger.
Still, now that I'd already gone and done it, didn't I have to find some way to make it work?
I felt bad for Yura, but….
“If I ask Great-Granduncle, couldn't we resolve that...? If it's a Gate owned by the family, it shouldn't matter.”
“If we get caught, it'll be a hassle. You know the Association is just itching to devour the Sword Emperor family.”
“I know. But the only way to protect the family from the Association is for the Sword Emperor family to unite. And the fastest way is for me to oust my father.”
“Ugh….”
Yura looked like she wanted to say something, but couldn't bring herself to say more.
There was no denying what I'd said, because it wasn't wrong.
“I can't bring myself to hate this reckless young lady…. Sighㅡ.”
“I'm sorry. I'm really sorry, Yura. I'll grant you one wish, so please stop being mad~.”
To soothe the sulking Yura, I even tried acting cute.
On top of that, I offered to grant her one wish.
I had to do at least that much to soothe Yura's mood.
“Hmm…. If you insist, miss…. All right.”
“Yeah, yeah. So you have to stop being mad, okay?”
“Yes. As for my wish…. I'll think about it.”
Fortunately, Yura let go of some of her anger.
But why?
For just a moment, I felt a slight chill run down my spine.
‘It's just my imagination, right?’
And it didn't take long for me to realize that this chill wasn't just my imagination.
The reason wasㅡ.
“Yura, do I really have to wear this…?”
“Yes. You said you'd grant me a wish. My wish.”
About two days after Great-Granduncle came and went, Yura suggested that we go shopping together.
And now she was asking me to wear this utterly adorable hoodie with rabbit ears.
All because of her wishㅡ.
“And go shopping downtown wearing this…?”
“You'll look adorable~. It goes perfectly with your pretty ruby-red eyes, miss. Hehe~.”
“People are going to think I'm weird….”
“Don't worry about that.”
Smile.
Yura gave me a subtly sly smile.
“Cute is all that matters.”
“Huh?”
“You're cute, miss, so everyone will think you look cute in anything. I'm one of them, too. Hehe~.”
I suddenly regretted saying I'd grant her a wish.
Of course, if I saw my favorite character wearing it, I'd be going crazy tooㅡ.
‘I'm the one wearing it, though…. Haha….’
Still, I couldn't exactly refuse to wear it, because then Yura would obviously sulk again.
No matter how I looked at it, I had to wear this.
This super-cute hoodie with rabbit ears.
“You…will wear it, right?”
At Yura's words, which seemed to have ‘I'll hate you if you don't wear it’ written all over her face, I reluctantly accepted the clothes.
“Mm…. It's your request, Yura, so of course I'll wear it…. Ahaha….”
“As expected of our adorable young lady~. You're granting your maid's wish~. Ehehe~.”
I hate the me from a few days ago.
There must've been some other condition besides a wish….
◈
“Hey. Isn't that girl cute?”
“Right? She even knows she's cute, judging by the cute outfit she's wearing.”
Every time we walked through downtown, I was overcome by embarrassment from people's stares and the things I heard them say.
At least having Yura beside me made me a little less embarrassed.
“If you're embarrassed, miss, I'll wear something similar!”
That's what she said, and Yura was wearing a hoodie with dog ears.
Maybe because Yura had an adorably youthful face with puppy-like features, that outfit suited her incredibly well.
“That girl beside her is cute, too. But isn't she a bit big to call a girl? Especially her chest.”
“Think about how kids are built these days. They're not like they used to be, you know?”
Just as they said, Yura was incredibly well-endowed.
I'd happened to see her measurements once, and I remembered they were an unbelievable E cup.
I was petite. Compared to Seol-a, Yura's size was downright violent.
It only looked smaller because she was wearing a hoodie, but if she took it off….
‘No, no. What kind of lewd thoughts am I having…! I can't look at someone precious to Seol-a that way!’
I quickly shook my head from side to side and banished those bad thoughts.
“Miss? What's wrong?”
“Mm? It's nothing. More importantly, how much farther until we get to the place we're shopping?”
I didn't know where we were going shopping.
I was just following Yura without complaint because she'd told me to trust her and follow her.
“We're almost there. Ah, I see it!”
Point!
Yura pointed somewhere.
I looked in that direction, and it was a place I knew well.
“The place you wanted to go shopping was ‘Hunter Auction’?”
Hunter Auction.
It was a place that sold various items sorted by rank, and it also held auctions.
However, most of the items sold there were extremely expensive, so most Hunters could only stare longingly at them.
Because of that, there were other shops besides Hunter Auction, which were mainly used by Hunters with lower incomes.
They were still expensive, but Hunters bought items for their own safety, since it was difficult to fight properly in a Gate without the equipment sold there.
ㅡBut you earn more than you spend.
‘I forgot that shopping meant shopping for items. But I couldn't help it. She suddenly shoved this outfit at me and said we were going shopping. How was I supposed to think of that? Haha….’
Of course, I should've realized.
I was a Hunter now, and I'd recently said that I was aiming for the head of the Sword Emperor family.
It was only common sense to prepare the items I'd need for that in advance.
Yura must've brought me here because she knew that.
“Welcome to Hunter Auction. May I see your Hunter license?”
When we reached Hunter Auction and tried to enter—
the guard standing at the entrance greeted us and asked us to show our Hunter licenses.
Only Hunters were allowed inside Hunter Auction, so carrying a Hunter license was mandatory.
Swish.
Yura and I took them out of our pockets and handed them to the guard.
“Verified. Enjoy your time here.”
After checking our Hunter licenses, he stepped aside by the door and pressed the button to open it.
Whirr.
The screen door slid open to the side, and Yura and I went inside.
Once we entered Hunter Auction, an entirely different kind of downtown spread out before us.
Hunter Auction had been built by an ability user with an exceptionally advanced construction ability, so the size seen from outside and the size inside were completely different.
ㅡLike a pocket dimension.
As a result, an enormous number of display shelves were spread throughout the place.
Since it was a building, there were also escalators and elevators to reach the upper floors.
“We have plenty of money, so shall we go buy consumables to use inside Gates, as well as weapons and armor?”
“Oh, Yura. I don't need to buy a weapon.”
“Pardon? A weapon?”
“One of my abilities lets me summon weapons.”
I might need armor, but I had no particular need for a weapon.
It would only be dead weight taking up space.
That's why Yoo Seol-a in the story had only ever used the Dokkaebi Club (Sword Ver.), which was convenient to summon.
Since there was no mention of it consuming mana, I planned to do the same.
“Oh, is that so? Then was that the weapon you used to defeat the A-rank monster that appeared as a test problem?”
“Yeah, that's right.”
“…But I think it would still be best for you to carry a weapon.”
Yura looked at me with a serious expression.
“I say this just in case, but it's very bad for Hunters to reveal clues about their abilities to others. Especially when it comes to weapons.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. There are Hunters with the ability to summon weapons, and every one of their weapons is said to perform at Unique rank or higher.”
I'd heard of that.
Items were ranked Normal → Rare → Epic → Unique → Legendary → Mythic, and Yoo Seol-a's Dokkaebi Club had been described in the story as Mythic, the highest item rank.
That must be what Yura was getting at.
“Unique items are so rare they're hard to come by. But if you encounter an enemy prepared with an item of a higher rank, such as Legendary or Mythic, you'll be helpless against them.”
“Of course, miss, you probably have several other abilities besides that one, but you mustn't let your opponent predict what you can do. The more hidden cards you have, the more useful they are.”
Hearing Yura's explanation, I had to admit she made sense.
Now that I thought about it, Yoo Seol-a hadn't bothered to hide her abilities, so she'd let her enemies prepare for them.
As a result, she'd been in many difficult fights, and by winning them, she'd grown even stronger.
But did I really need to follow her example?
I could say with certainty that I didn't.
I already understood Yoo Seol-a's strength in the story better than anyone, and I knew how to use her abilities efficiently.
So there was no reason for me to reveal something that could become a weakness.
‘How did I only think of that now…. Have I been too full of myself all this time?’
If Yura hadn't pointed this out, I might've been in for a difficult fight for no reason.
As expected, ‘The Great Yura.’
“Now that you mention it, you're right. I'll do as you say, Yura.”
“I'm glad you thought it over! Then shall we go shopping?”
“Yeah! Let's go!”