The Herb King

In the busy market area of Dominion District, Leric and Samira were walking around the stores in search of suitable types of wood that can be used to make the body of the guitar. Other than wood, they also searched for steel strings.

In their search, they ended up entering a shop that sells all sorts of wood. A fat middle-aged man enthusiastically entertained them when he saw them enter his store.

"Hello! What are you guys looking for?" The fat middle-aged smiled at them. Suddenly, his eyes widened when he took a clearer look at Samira.

"Miss Samira, greetings! This shop is under the jurisdiction of the Reynolds Household and I'm the one currently managing this store." He immediately greeted her respectfully. As a servant of the Reynolds Household, it was basic etiquette to greet their lords with respect. He has been in the shop for a long time so he hasn't heard of Samira's return from the battlefield.

"Oh. Just treat us as normal guests." Samira nodded her head calmly.

The shop manager immediately nodded his head in understanding.

"We are looking for rosewood or mahogany. If you don't have either of the two, maple is good as well." Leric said after a moment of thinking. His favorite kinds of guitars are the ones made using mahogany.

"Oh, that's perfect! We have all three that you mentioned. Wait. I'll show them to you." The manager jogged around his shop as he grabbed three kinds of wood. He then presented them to Leric with a smile on his face.

"You can check them if you want." The shop manager said.

Leric inspected the logs and nodded his head. "I want this mahogany and also this maple wood."

"Alright. I'll have them sent to your address. Just tell me where you want me to send them."

Leric smiled as he asked. "There's no hurry. Do you have steel strings here or magical beast tendons?"

The manager scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. He then nodded his head after hearing his question. "Yes! We have magical beast tendons here. They are good materials for making bows and crossbows. Hold on, I'll get some of them for you to take a look."

When the manager left, Leric turned his head at Samira and said in a teasing tone. "Hey. I think you are making him nervous."

Samira rolled her eyes at him when he heard his words.

Leric chuckled and looked around the shop while the manager was still searching for the magical beast tendons.

"Sir, these are the magical beast tendons that we have. Have a look at them." The manager's voice came from behind him.

Leric stared at the rolled magical beast tendons and grabbed them from the manager's hands. They looked similar to steel strings, but after closer scrutiny, Leric noticed that they contain traces of world essence. The presence of world essence made the tendons more durable. "I'll take one. There is no need to deliver them since I have a storage item." Leric said as he stored the magical beast tendons, mahogany, and maple wood.

Hearing this, the manager smiled sheepishly.

"How much for everything?" Leric asked while looking at the manager.

The manager stared at Samira and saw her nodding her head. He then moved his gaze back to Leric and entered into professional mode as he said. "The mahogany and maple wood are both mutated plant life forms genetically modified by our Reynolds Household's Alchemists so they are quite expensive compared to normal wood. The mahogany is 100 gold coins while the maple wood is 80 gold coins. As for the magical beast tendon. The shop got that from the carcass of a Rage Rhino, a magical beast with a power level at Level 3. That is around 500 gold coins so the total amount will be 680 gold coins."

After hearing that, Leric grabbed a sack filled with golden cards and handed one to the stunned manager. "You can keep the change."

"This... This is too much..." The fat manager looked at the smiling Leric with shock. Each golden card is worth around 10,000 gold coins so he would be left with more than 9,000 gold coins.

"Take it." Leric chuckled when he saw the manager's dumbfounded look. He then grabbed Samira's hand and the two left the shop, leaving behind a fat middle-aged man looking at them with a silly expression on his face.

Samira gently pulled her hands from Leric's grasp. "You gave him a lot of money." She muttered while hiding her blushing cheeks.

"It's nothing. You made him feel uncomfortable right there so he ought to be rewarded for doing a good job despite being under pressure." Leric explained himself.

"Whatever. We should go back to the clinic. I'm worried that there might be a patient. The clinic will lose credibility if we can't even receive our first patient." Samira walked inside the carriage without waiting for Leric's reply.

"She's right." Leric mumbled to himself as he entered the carriage.

"Let's go back to the clinic." Leric told the guard.

"Yes, Sir Aethelwolf."

Now that he has the materials for the guitar, he can start making them later, but he has to write up a hiring notice first since that is more important.

***

In the battle arena, the one-on-one matchups have already started. The participants were given ten minutes maximum to fight each other. The time limit was set to prevent major injuries from happening and there was also a team of medics on standby in case something bad happens. There was also a Level 3 referee monitoring the match at a close distance and his job was to prevent the participants from landing a fatal blow to their counterparts.

At this moment, the ones fighting in the arena were Grace Urgel and a young man in his late teens.

Grace was fighting her opponent barehanded, executing a refined set of boxing techniques. She was skillfully maneuvering, evading her opponent's attacks with great ease. She wasn't even showing any signs of exhaustion as she moved around the arena like a graceful dancer.

Meanwhile, the young man was getting irritated after his attacks failed to hit Grace. He is a mid stage Level 1 Esper with a Rare weapon in his hand. "Do you only know how to run?!" He roared angrily.

"Oh? You want me to be serious?" Grace grinned mockingly at her opponent.