Elemental Cats

Like Toz had expected, Linda's Bookstore was open when he got to the alley where it was located. And like last time, it was empty except for Linda sorting through a few books and placing them on one of the shelves in the store.

Hearing the tinkling of the bell that signaled the door opening, Linda gave a welcoming greeting as she placed another book on the shelf before turning around to look at Toz standing by the front desk.

"It's you again. Welcome back!"

"Indeed. And this time, I have enough money to buy at least one grimoire."

After greeting Toz, Linda had already started walking to the front desk, but hearing Toz's words, she continued to the back of the store so she could bring out the grimoires she had shown Toz last time.

"Business has been slow these past few days, so the same selection as last time is still available. What budget are you working on?"

"Thirty thousand gold."

Although Linda was slightly shocked that Toz had managed to get so much money in such a short time, she didn't lose her composure.

"Then... Do you wish to purchase all three right now? If you do, I can wrap them up for you."

"Yes, please, but there's no need to wrap them.

"Right! Before I forget to ask, is there a limit to how many times a single grimoire can be used?"

It was something Toz had wondered ever since he heard the price of a grimoire. Why was the grimoire so pricy? Even if it was a book containing advanced magic, would it really cost that much? Eventually, he realized that if a grimoire needed someone who mastered the spell to create it and it wasn't written like an ordinary book, maybe the knowledge of the spell was copied and transferred using the book as a medium.

"Yeah. I guess that's so obvious in the grimoire dealing business I forgot to mention it. Sorry about that.

"Every time a grimoire is used, you could say a little bit less of the spell remains. If you understand it quickly enough without needing to read it several times, the grimoire can be used several times. But otherwise, not even one grimoire might be enough. It depends on how great talent the reader possesses, and how deeply the one who mastered the spell really understood, and how much of their knowledge the grimoire contains.

"It only happens very rarely that someone finishes an entire grimoire without learning the spell, so you shouldn't worry too much about that."

Linda's answer confirmed Toz's conclusion that the magic spell in a grimoire wasn't unlimited.

Thankfully, he had enough money to buy a grimoire each for him, Nil, and Mindle. Although, it was unfortunate that there wasn't anything for Lucy. However, Toz wouldn't be too overwhelmed by surprise if Lucy developed his mind interference magic into a spell.

After listening to Lucy's explanation of how he did it and attempting it himself, Toz realized that Lucy was abnormally talented in how well he used darkness magic.

Toz didn't hesitate as he spent twenty-eight thousand gold to purchase all the grimoires Linda had brought out from the back of the store. While the Fireball spell was only eight thousand, the other two cost slightly more, with the metal one at nine thousand and the other fire attribute spell costing eleven thousand gold.

Reading the descriptions of the grimoires, Toz wasn't surprised by the different prices since it only made sense that a more advanced and difficult spell would cost more.

After getting the grimoires, Toz could hardly move his gaze away from them, but he still looked up at Linda when she told him that she bought grimoires at a higher price than what she sold them for. Even if he was far from mastering the spells he had just bought since he had literally just bought them, it was good to know if he ever needed money.

Toz made sure to secure the three grimoires tightly in the same safe pocket as Rick's letter before almost rushing back to the room at the inn.

It was the long sought-after grimoires he and the cats had worked so hard to buy. Since Lucy was the only one without a grimoire, he was the only one not overly excited. Though, he was still pretty interested in what a grimoire could do and why it was so expensive.

While Toz, Nil, and Mindle started inspecting the grimoires, Lucy made sure to secure the room. Both from external interference and in case something went awry when learning the spells. Even if shadows and darkness weren't the best at defending, with Lucy's strength, it shouldn't be a problem to keep both the group and the room safe.

There was no need to consider who would get the metal attribute grimoire. Even if Toz could use metal mana, he could also use fire which there were two grimoires of.

The problem came when deciding which grimoire should go to Toz and which one should go to Mindle.

Even if they were confident in their talent and could possibly learn the spell before the grimoire runs out of magic, neither of them wanted to be careless and just assume they would be able to use both grimoires.

But the problem was that both Toz and Mindle gave the other priority when choosing the grimoire. They wanted the other to choose first so they could get what they wanted.

Nil wanted to begin reading the grimoire he got at once, but with the endless stalling and shifting of grimoires by Toz and Mindle, he couldn't concentrate.

Eventually, he convinced them to flip a coin. And the one who wins is forced to choose first.

Mindle hadn't flipped a coin before, but with Toz calling out king as the coin was in the air, she accepted that she would win if the side with the palace face-up when the coin landed.

Nil was responsible for the coin-flipping, and he made sure Toz didn't interfere and gave Mindle the win.

After the coin landed flatly on the bed, the engraving of a grown man with a regal expression and a crown was the one visible.

Toz had won the coin-flipping and was forced to choose a grimoire first.