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The next morning.

Now that I was free from the eyes of the a.s.sa.s.sins, I returned to Gaiger’s monster armor shop.

If I were going to have something good made, it seemed like this was the place to do it.

But first, I would see if there wasn’t anything already made.

Slimes aside, there were lots of wolf-type monsters, so perhaps there would be something here that was a finished product.

If I didn’t have to make a special order, well, all the better.

And so I looked at the various products in the store…

“Are you a customer?”

Came the blunt question from behind me.

It seemed like the person was a clerk.

“Yeah. I’m looking for armor for some slimes and a Proud Wolf.”

“Slimes? …What’s your rank?”

“F.”

Though I had done a lot of quests, I was still F-Rank.

There were conditions other than doing difficult quests, and I hadn’t fulfilled them. So that’s why I hadn’t gone up in rank.

Still, the last guild I had been to had told me that at this rate, I would reach D faster than anyone else in history.

The clerk heard my answer and…

“You should leave now. This place doesn’t sell armor that an F-Ranker would be able to buy.”

“…I have a decent amount of money. And it’s something that would affect my survival, so I want armor that is good.”

“Sorry, but you need to beat it. I would feel bad for the armor if it was used by a mere F-Ranker.”

He did not give an inch.

I stood there and wondered what to do—when suddenly, an angry voice shouted out from the back of the store.

“Hey! What are you doing!”

“…This poor guy thinks he can come in here and buy your armor. So I’m driving him out.”

“It’s true that only those with my approval can use my armor–but that’s for me to decide! Why are you trying to make decisions!”

Apparently, the person who was shouting was the owner. Master Gaiger.

He was still far away, and yet my eardrums hurt.

His voice was very powerful.

“But this guy is an F-Ranker! He’s not worth looking at, father.”

“That’s not very promising. But, it’s still my decision. …I’m going out!”

And then a storm of loud footsteps followed.

The face that then poked itself out—was of a bearded man.

“…Are you the F-Ranker who’s trying to buy monster armor?”

“Yeah. For this Proud Wolf and my slimes.”

I said as I pointed at the Proud Wolf.

The master looked at him and then started shouting at the clerk.

“You! You b.l.o.o.d.y idiot!”

“Hey, stop kicking me.”

“You should know better! Why the h.e.l.l were you trying to get rid of this guy! He’s the strongest person to ever come to my store! Just look at this Proud Wolf! It’s so strong!”

…Did he get all that from a glance?

Perhaps working as a craftsman for so long gave you the ability to see such things.

Well, surely he’s exaggerating about the part where he said I was the strongest Adventurer to ever visit.

And the Proud Wolf wasn’t that strong either.

“It’s because you only see people as their rank, that you are still a novice! …I’ll take care of this from here. Get out!”

So saying, Master Gaiger drove the clerk out of the store.

And then he pointed at the slimes and Proud Wolf and asked me,

“So, you want monster armor for these guys?”

“Yeah. And I have the money to pay for it.”

The most expensive piece I had seen in the store was 500,000 cicols.

And I had over 6 million on me.

So while things were expensive here, I could still afford them.

“Don’t worry about money. A person of your ability will be able to make as much as he wants. You could even pay me later. …But what I want to know now, is the direction.”

“Direction?’

“What features do you put the most weight in? Most Adventurers care about attack power… But your monsters don’t really look like the attacking type.”

I see.

Indeed, my battle style didn’t really require the monsters to have much attack power.

That being said, it wasn’t like I wanted more defense power either.

What I did want was…

“What about scouting ability and movement speed?”

“…That’s rather unusual. It won’t help them much in combat. Are you sure about this?”

“Yeah. My slimes have a very special way of fighting.”

Master Gaiger heard this and thought about it.

He was now looking at the Proud Wolf.

—And then after some time, he opened his mouth.

“They’re so strong that I don’t think my current materials will work. And it would be quite pointless if the armor broke during a fight.”