Equipment looks matter too
Even if they are small fry, fighting against many monsters will eventually wear down your equipment.
If you keep taking charges from Pike Hoppers, even an iron shield will get bent out of shape. And if you miss a thrust and hack away carelessly with your sword, it can break or get bent too.
Nobody wants to easily lose their beloved equipment. You try to get it repaired by relying on blacksmiths, sharpeners, and various other technicians. But sometimes you come across equipment that is beyond repair and has to be replaced. In that case, there’s no choice but to buy a new one.
You tearfully bid farewell to the weapon you had been using… But on the other hand, the fun of shopping for new equipment begins!
“A strange piece of equipment… A huge discovery!”
“Here we go again, Mongrel-senpai.”
“I heard about something similar before.”
I visited the market again, together with Raina and Ulrika.
We each do quests in different places, but we often meet up at the tavern or guild hall at the end of the day.
I’ve known Raina for a long time, and my relationship with Ulrika has also deepened to the point where it’s natural for us to chat at the same table.
And so it came up that we’d go to the market together on our day off.
“I’ve earned some spare cash from working. Today I want to buy something to satisfy my pent-up material desires.”
“Mongrel-senpai, you always have material desires, don’t you? Well, the fingertips of the gloves I’m using are getting worn out, so I want to get some spare gloves too.”
“Me too… I kind of want a breastplate with a lining that doesn’t chafe as much. Haha.”
More than anything, equipment from the allied nations has been flowing in more recently. To compete with that, high-quality domestic equipment has also started being offered, with a bustling energy as if several new weapon shops had suddenly opened up in town.
If there’s good equipment, you want to get your hands on anything that catches your eye before someone else buys it.
By the way, designs that can’t be found at local equipment shops are considered fashionable, and female guildmates like to look around for these kinds of things. It might be the same as fashion from their previous lives.
As the three of us look around the market, we see not only townspeople but also burly figures who seem to be guildmates here and there.
There are shops that only sell shield belts, and undergarments to wear beneath armor also seem to be popular, with crowds forming at some stores.
“Senpai, senpai, Mongrel-senpai.”
“Hmm?”
“Is it true that you got into another fight with members of a different guild?”
“Oh, I heard about that too. They said you fought Basin’s party and won? I was surprised when one of the ‘Young Wands’ mentioned it.”
Oh, so the rumor has spread.
It’s nice that Artemis has started interacting with the ‘Young Wands’ too.
“So my tales of heroic exploits are spreading, huh?”
“I heard you got hit quite a few times too, senpai.”
“Tch, they’re even hearing about that? Couldn’t they at least embellish it and say I beat three of them unscathed?”
“There’s no way you could beat three people unscathed.”
To be clear, I have been bringing up the fight myself too.
I just casually mention things like getting hit and how it hurt, that kind of thing. If a rumor started spreading that I had an unscathed victory against three people, even if it was an embellishment, I’d be afraid of the repercussions later on.
That said, I do want to give a subtle hint about my own strength as a deterrent. It’s a delicate balance.
“Ah, look look Raina! Those gloves don’t look too bad, do they?”
“Eh, which ones? I can’t see.”
“These ones. Look, they’re slim and don’t look bad. The fingers also seem easy to move, and they have good reinforcement too.”
The two of them are enthusiastically looking at equipment for archers.
Apparently the fingertips get quite worn down from drawing the bowstring, so unexpectedly, equipment doesn’t last very long for their needs.
At the same time, it seems they want their equipment to look good, placing importance on both practicality and appearance.
I’m a guy, so I think practicality is important. But as a guildmate, I have a pretty good understanding about caring about appearances too.
No one wants to use a high-performance weapon that looks bad.
Especially helmets. Head protection is crucial, but I don’t like ones with an uncool silhouette. In the various games I played in my previous life, I usually turned off the helmet display… The fact that this preference carried over even after reincarnating into another world shows how committed I am to it.
“Hey, take a look at this.”
“Ehh, no way…”
“Hey hey Mongrel, what do you think of this one Raina has? Isn’t it cute?”
“Oh? Oh, that’s not bad at all.”
Raina was wearing new gloves in both hands, and a small leather belt with many little pockets attached around her waist.
Over a sleeveless shirt and loose shorts suitable for moving freely, she had tight leather gear fitted perfectly to her slim figure. It was smart and quite stylish, in my opinion. Well, being a rear-guard allows for lighter equipment like that.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT GADGETIZEDPANDA.COM
“…You’re pretty slim around the waist there, Raina. You should probably eat more.”
“Well, you know, Mongrel-senpai is just that type…”
“…Sorry about that, Raina…”
I’m not quite sure what’s going on, but I get the feeling I did something wrong…
But since I don’t know what it was, I don’t want to apologize again and risk stepping on a landmine, so I’ll just keep quiet!
“By the way senpai, what do you think of Ulrika-senpai’s equipment?”
“Eh, It’s fine.”
“I wish you said the same thing to Ulrika-senpai.”
“Raina, that’s a bit spiteful.”
Ah, so this is an established way of picking on me, is it? This feels like bullying.
“For Ulrika, it’s the breastplate.”
A ranger outfit for women that cinches at the waist, made of soft leather that was probably expensive. Below that is a skirt and outdoor boots.
Over the outfit is a sleek, hard leather breastplate. Looking closely, the hard leather seems to only be on the surface, with metal underneath. So the surface is made of leather just for appearances.
“…Come to think of it, most archers seem to wear something like that.”
“Ah yeah, it’s partly because it hurts if the bowstring hits you. Even if you get used to it, it can still happen occasionally, so wearing a breastplate with a smooth surface means the string won’t snag or lose as much force when it hits. That’s one reason we wear them.”
“I see.”
“Of course, there’s also the aspect of physical protection.”
I had figured it would hurt to get hit in the large breasts, but I didn’t know that was the reason.
For Raina and Ulrika, I don’t need to worry, But I can see the huge landmines… even I know better than to voice an observation like that out loud.
“This breastplate is a bit more voluptuous than my previous one, but that means… it doesn’t chafe as much. The feel against the skin is gentle and nice… or so I think.”
“If it’s comfortable to wear, that’s good, right? Ease of wear is important for that kind of thing.”
“Exactly. Rigid equipment tends to come loose easily.”
The two of them seem satisfied now that they’ve gotten their new equipment.
Yeah, you do feel that way when you get new gear. I totally understand the feeling.
“Is Mongrel-senpai not going to buy any weird equipment today?”
“Calling it ‘weird equipment’ isn’t very nice.”
“Ahaha. There’s a lot of stuff for sale over there, let’s go take a look.”
I came to find some stylish equipment. I’m not interested in weird stuff.
“Welcome, we’ve got lots of rare items here.”
…But looking at what’s laid out, there doesn’t seem to be anything too out there.
They’re selling it after all… Oh?
“Is this… a kusarigama (chain sickle)?”
“Oh! You’ve got a good eye, sir. That’s kind of an experimental new weapon we’re trying to sell.”
“I’m familiar with it. You hold the sickle in one hand, and swing around the weight on the other end with your other hand, right?”
“You really know your stuff! …Is this a famous weapon or something?”
“Well, I’m not sure about that.”
“How does Mongrel-senpai know about stuff like this…”
The strange weapon in front of me… a sickle with a chain attached, and an iron weight on the other end.
This is a weapon that existed in my previous world too. And its place of origin is Japan. Ninjas in period dramas sometimes used it.
“Mongrel-senpai seems interested in it.”
“Eh, are you going to buy it? Really going to buy it?”
But… my intuition isn’t picking up on this at all.
“Well now… From my perspective, this kusarigama is no good. It’s just not clicking for me.”
“Not clicking… Sir, but I’ve heard this is supposed to be… quite formidable…”
“I get the basics, don’t I? With this weapon, it’s not the sickle part that’s meant to be the weapon, but rather this weight that you swing around, right?”
“…I see. You know your stuff, sir. But I’ve heard that attacks with this weight can be quite powerful. And yet you still think it’s no good?”
“That’s right. Swinging around the weight… that’s the problem.”
Certainly, the weight can deal powerful blows. Swinging a blunt weapon around on a long reach to batter the enemy. It should be formidable.
But you see…
“Why aren’t you supposed to swing around the sickle part?!”
“…Well, that’s probably because it’s hard to control where the blade is pointing, and it’s also dangerous for the user…”
“For a sickle with a chain attached, this ‘bind the enemy and then hack away’ use is just lame! It’s the worst, absolutely the worst! Zero Mongrel points for that lame use!”
“What’s that about?”
“I know practicality is important too, but geez… When it comes to equipment, I wish there was more of a focus on the combat visuals too…”
“…Sir, let’s not get too carried away mocking it, shall we?”
“Ah, my bad.”
In my previous world, I wouldn’t play favorites even for Japanese-originated weapons. If it’s lame, it’s lame!
“…I’m surprised. I thought Mongrel would be into anything garish like that.”
“Yeah, I totally thought he’d shout ‘I’ll take it’ at the asking price and all.”
“Now listen up… I carefully evaluate the merits of any equipment. I have absolutely no shallow preference for overly complicated weapons or anything like that, you know?”
“Uh-huh, uh-huh.”
Raina, don’t you always make that kind of noncommittal response? I’m not imagining it, am I?
“Ehh… Well then Mongrel, how about that one over there?”
“That one?”
“Yeah, that one. The one propped up against the wall. Isn’t that the one the knights have adopted? The halberd with the sickle blade on it?”
What Ulrika was pointing at shone brilliantly –
it was unmistakably
the legendary halberd adopted by the mounted knights of Halpheria, the Great Halper!
“Please…sell me that! I’ll take it at any price!”
“See, you do like the garish ones after all!”
“Woah… the price on this is crazy…”
That day, my weapon collection grew by one, and my impoverished life began anew.
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