By Zephyria “I, isn’t that… a heart? And it’s still, alive?”
“The nerve tissues are moving. The main body is already dead. I cut off its head.”
At the customer’s calm answer, the owner, clutching his surprised chest, only rolled his eyes and asked.
“…Did you cut it off?”
“Huh? No. I’m just a seller, I can’t do things like that. How could I catch such a brutal thing? Anyway, so, are you a little tempted?”
The customer, replying nonchalantly, tilted his head slightly and looked at the owner’s face. He was much taller, but he lowered his upper body, crossed his arms, and looked up, showing that he was not a novice at sales.
The owner swallowed hard, grabbed the armrest of the wooden chair, and barely stood up. With trembling hands, he moved the ashtray and cup, grabbed the amulet hanging around his neck, and held it out.
With each pump of the heart, the counter shook, the pulsation and pressure were tremendous. At this size, the main body would easily be over 200 feet. Even in death, its energy was so strong, it must have been an uncontrollable brute when it was alive.
The owner chuckled, mulling over the man’s words.
“Tempted?”
Honestly, he was tempted, but he didn’t know what would happen if he kept something like that in the store. Even now, as a ghost, it was clamoring to devour living things.
“Sorry, but I can’t accept something like this.”
“Huh?”
The Gold Eyes, which had been curved like a crescent moon until just now, widened greatly.
“Why?”
“If I keep such an evil thing close, I’ll be consumed first. It’s a loss to bring in troublesome things.”
“You handle cursed items, don’t you?”
“But you said this isn’t cursed?”
“No—.”
The customer, at a loss for words, opened and closed his mouth. Soon, he frowned and replied.
“You can’t get this easily. Will you regret it later? Even though it’s a young one, it’s a Dragon, a freshly caught Dragon.”
“I know that, how many years have I been in this business—. But an item like this costs a fortune just to suppress its energy. You have to get a sealing chest and put it in with amulets. Do you know how much that all costs?”
The owner, seemingly with no intention of buying, gestured firmly for him to take it away. In the meantime, the blood that had leaked from the sack had spread all over the table and flowed down to the floor. The sticky liquid, smelling of animal stench, raised its head as if it were alive.
The owner, having moved away, took out a heavy ax half his size from behind the chair. Then, he brought the ax blade down on the bizarre head that was solidifying on the blood.
The liquid, writhing as if it had a self, made a soft sound and spread loosely.
“Ugh, the floor’s dirty now.”
He looked at the bottom of his blood-stained shoes and muttered, pretending not to care.
“Well… I might consider it if there’s more merit than the cost of cleaning the floor or sealing it.”
“…How much do you want?”
“The seller knows that, how would I, the buyer, know?”
The customer, narrowing his eyes, glared at the owner before opening his mouth.
“…Ten big ones.”
“Five.”
“Isn’t that too much? I should be getting more than twenty for this—.”
“Then go look somewhere else. Oh, by the way, you know that if something like this is circulating in the black market, the Council will catch it right away, right? Seeing as you came all the way here, it doesn’t seem like you’re in a very legitimate position either.”
“…Tch, as if there’s anyone more legitimate than me.”
The customer said that and looked back at the glass window once. Unlike his words, he seemed very conscious of the eyes around him. Just then, the owner, holding up his index finger, waved his hand towards the window.
The curtain, which had been tied with a string, was released at once, covering the entire window. The customer, turning back around, asked with a displeased expression.
“Are you a Mage?”
“I’m ashamed to call myself a Mage. So, how much?”
“…Nine, no less.”
“Seven.”
“Ugh, seriously—.”
“Alright, I’ll be generous. How about seven and a half? Instead, take a couple of items you like from the store. Our store is the oldest magic supply store in Riverside.”
The owner began to show off his own collection behind the counter one by one. There were various weapons inlaid with dazzling jewels, a helmet shaped like the sun, and a gold bracelet engraved with ancient inscriptions.
“As far as I know, this bracelet is over a thousand years old, and it was given by the King to a loyal knight along with his name. When you think about it, isn’t it more valuable than what you brought?”
It was flashy, but it wasn’t something he particularly needed as a seller. When trading goods, the one who has nothing to lose takes the lead, but he felt like he had been completely swept away from the start.
Seeing that the golden eyebrows were only twitching silently, the owner, who had been watching, delivered the final blow.
“This heart will be troublesome if I don’t buy it, right? It doesn’t seem like you can put it up for auction or register it as an official item after paying a brokerage fee.”
“Ah, okay. Okay, so eight and another item. No less than that. I’d rather use it myself.”
As if he was getting heated, the customer pulled the balaclava connected to his turtleneck down. Then, with a displeased expression, he took off his hat and swept back his hair.
“Ugh… too cheap.”
The owner, who had been grinning slyly, suddenly stared blankly at his face.
Because something more than he had expected from just seeing his eyes appeared, he momentarily forgot how to react.
Far from having a skin disease, the smooth lines of his face, harmonizing with his sharp nose, and his crooked lips revealing his discomfort, were so captivating that it was a pity to see them in the dark. It seemed absurd to use the adjective ‘beautiful’ for a man, but truly, no other expression came to mind to describe his outstanding beauty. The owner unknowingly opened his mouth and pulled the rope hanging from the ceiling.
The bat-shaped lights decorating the store turned on. As the surroundings brightened, the customer, who had been tidying his hair, put his hat back on just in time. The illuminated lower half of his face and the eyes hidden by the brim formed a stark contrast.
Nevertheless, the Gold Eyes, with their unique brilliance, stared intently at the owner and asked.
“What will you do?”
He had thought that his personality wasn’t entirely easygoing, but that, combined with his sharp eyes and lips, exuded a strange charm. The owner couldn’t take his eyes off him, but he deliberately pretended to hesitate and clicked his tongue.
However, his head was already nodding incessantly as if possessed.
“Alright, eight.”
Leonardo’s furrowed brow finally relaxed.
“By the way, is this really a Dragon? Wow, I’ve never seen anything like this in my life.”
The owner, who had appeared from the warehouse behind the store with a large chest, placed the chest down with a thud on the newspaper he had laid out to absorb the blood. Then, he carefully closed the opening of the sack containing the heart, and in that state, he lifted the heavy sack and put it whole into the chest.
Following that, he tore open a bag of salt, poured it over the sack, and buried the sapphire-studded amulets one by one.
Leonardo, who was sitting at the round table in front of the counter and looking at the gold bracelet, turned around with a momentarily puzzled expression.
“What, didn’t you already know? I told you it was a Dragon earlier. Don’t tell me you didn’t believe me and that’s why you lowballed the price like that?”
“Heh, geez. Why do you have to say it like that—. I’m just saying that I’ve only seen dried-up ones before, never one that’s jumping around. And when did I lowball the price? Considering it’s an illegal transaction, this is a generous price.”
“…….”
“Do you think it’s common to find a store that can give you eight right away in the first place? Didn’t you come here after looking around because you had your own circumstances?”
Whether it was the spirit forged by business, the owner made it impossible to argue whenever he opened his mouth. It wasn’t this difficult to haggle with other store owners, but here, it was particularly hard to make a single rebuttal. Leonardo turned his head away with an annoyed look.
In fact, what the other person said wasn’t wrong. There was a reason why he had bothered to find a supply store tucked away in a corner of this small town.
If he sold a Dragon heart carelessly, he was likely to be tracked down. The fact that the owner here was actually a substantial rich man, that he collected expensive items, and that he guaranteed confidentiality. He had come after finding out about all of that in advance, so he was able to thrust the sack forward from the first meeting.
It was a shame that he had sold it for less than he had expected… but he decided to put aside his regrets since he had gained something additional.
Leonardo turned his eyes back to the table, leaving behind the owner who was grumbling that he wasn’t answering.
He put down the gold bracelet he was holding for a moment and then boldly drew a Magic Circle on the high-quality parchment with a charcoal stick. After that, he grabbed a handful of Siculus minerals contained in a sack and placed them on the Magic Circle. It was one of the items he had obtained as an extra.
The mineral, which had flashed brightly, crumbled like fine grains of sand. The owner of the supply store, who had been watching what the customer was doing, asked casually.
“Did you catch this Dragon?”
Leonardo, who had been repeating the same action, paused. The owner chuckled, as if he had understood just from that.
“I knew it, you’re not just selling it, you’re no ordinary person. You seem to be a pretty strong Mage.”
“…….”
“Did you butcher it too? You’re not a novice at it.”
“Stop asking so many questions. Don’t you know that secrecy is the key to these kinds of transactions? I’ll only watch until you seal it, so finish the work.”
“How kind of you, you could just do it yourself. You have a pretty face, but you talk back so much.”
“Why are you talking about that now—”
“By the way, where did you sell the rest of the parts? If you haven’t sold them yet, why don’t you bring them to our store? I’ll give you a similar price.”
Leonardo sighed as he looked at the owner who only said what he wanted to say.
“I’m not selling the rest. I didn’t catch it to sell it in the first place.”
“Is that so? Are you going to use it as a medicinal ingredient somewhere? This one’s too toxic to be used as a medicinal ingredient. You could use it as an amulet to ward off evil spirits, though.”
The owner said that and glanced at the navy blue handkerchief tied around Leonardo’s neck. It didn’t seem like a grown man would have chosen it himself, so he guessed that someone close to him had given it as a gift.
“Or what, did you give it as a gift to your lover? You could carve the scales and make them into accessories, that would be nice. It’s also the New Year, and they’re quite valuable, so your lover would like it.”
At that moment, Leonardo’s listless eyes stopped in mid-air.
At the same time, the owner, who had caught the reaction of his potential customer, kept talking non-stop.
“We also have lover’s curse prevention amulets in our store, which are perfect for gifting around this time. How about it? I’ll give you a special half-price discount. You can’t get them anywhere else.”
When did you meet, where did you meet, the other person must be quite the looker…. Unlike his first impression, the owner bombarded him with questions to the point where his ears were bleeding. He also subtly criticized the general store, saying that things like chocolate were gifts that old people gave. However, Leonardo, resting his chin on the table, did not reply easily.
He was just covering his mouth with his hand and mulling over what he had heard a little while ago.
‘Lover?’
It was a very novel word, as he had never thought of defining the relationship in such a old-fashioned way. But at the same time, a corner of his heart suddenly tickled. He felt quite embarrassed, as if he was getting ahead of himself.
As one person reflexively came to mind, Leonardo barely erased the smile that was about to spread across his eyes. However, he couldn’t help the subtly raised corners of his lips.