Thorn House

"Burp—"

He left the inn with a full belly.

Gauss confirmed once again that Sophia hadn't been responsible for the awful food.

After all, how could anyone make the cheapest black bread taste good without spices or other ingredients to pair it with?

You'd probably need magic that made food taste better to pull that off, wouldn't you?

But did such magic even exist in this world?

Though others now considered him a Mage Apprentice, Gauss was still a complete novice when it came to magic, so he had no idea.

The afternoon breeze that swept through the town streets was scorching. Gauss walked close to the roadside, carefully avoiding the carts and wagons hauling goods along the main road.

"Widow's Alley. It should be over there, right?"

Even though his predecessor had lived in this town for a year, there were still plenty of places he'd never been.

Widow's Alley was one of them.

He'd only heard vaguely that there was such a place.

By asking people for directions along the way,

he finally made his way to a narrow, shadowy alley.

He crossed the clear stream that trickled along the roadside and stepped onto the flagstone path.

Rows of houses stood on either side, home to all kinds of people.

Artists, herbalists, small-time artisans.

There were little taverns run by the locals, as well as certain establishments best left unmentioned.

Women dressed in skimpy clothes and heavy makeup stood at the doors, waving their pale arms to beckon customers.

Gauss glanced over curiously a few times. When one of the women turned to look at him, he averted his gaze and hurried on.

He had serious business to attend to today.

"Thorn Hut. Thorn Hut..."

"Found it!"

He'd nearly reached the end of the alley before he finally found his destination: a gray, moss-covered little house.

In fact, he'd missed it the first time he passed by.

But just as he walked past, something suddenly felt out of place. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.

So he turned back, and only then noticed the wooden sign nailed to the wall. It read "Thorn House."

"Am I in the right place?"

Gauss looked at the dust-covered oak door with its brass bell and couldn't help feeling doubtful.

The old house seemed to have been abandoned for a long time.

After hesitating for a moment, he knocked.

His knuckles struck the wooden door with a crisp sound.

There was no answer from inside.

Gauss waited a few seconds, then knocked again.

Unfortunately, there was still no response.

Had they moved away?

Gauss hadn't spent long at Gron's Blacksmith Shop, but during the time he'd been there, Gron had hardly ever left the place.

It wouldn't be surprising if the information he'd gotten from Shopkeeper Gron was out of date.

Just as he was wondering whether he should leave,

the old wooden door creaked open. The rusty hinges groaned like a wounded animal, letting out a strange, grating squeal that made his teeth ache.

Gauss looked up. Behind the door was an empty, pitch-black hallway.

Who'd opened it?

As Gauss stood there, puzzled, a clear female voice suddenly came from below him.

"Who sent you?"

Gauss looked down and realized there had been someone standing in front of him all along.

She was just so short.

So short that Gauss, standing close to the door, hadn't noticed her without looking down.

In contrast to her height, her face looked like that of a woman around twenty. Her skin was slightly flushed, and she had smooth, straight black hair.

But she really was short! Was she even eighty centimeters tall? Even goblins were taller than her, weren't they?

If they passed each other on the street, Gauss worried some tall fellow might accidentally step right over her head without noticing.

Halfling? Gnome?

She was probably a Halfling, right?

Gauss wondered to himself. He'd seen these nonhuman races on the road before, but this was his first time observing one from so close.

Halflings and Gnomes were both small-sized races.

But Halflings were closer to "miniature humans," with their entire bodies scaled down while retaining human proportions. They also moved and carried themselves more nimbly.

About ninety centimeters tall, weighing thirty to thirty-five pounds (14–16 kg). Small creatures, with rosy skin and straight black hair.

Gauss recalled what he knew about Halflings and realized that the description matched the petite woman in front of him.

"Kid, I get the feeling you're thinking something rather rude."

"Now, who are you? Who sent you here?"

The Halfling seemed certain that no stranger would come looking for her little shop, and asked again.

"Hello, ma'am. I'm Gauss. Shopkeeper Gron from the Black Anvil Workshop sent me. Gron Bates." Gauss added Gron's full name in case she didn't recognize it.

"Gron?" The Halfling raised an eyebrow. "Then come on in."

As she spoke, she stepped aside, though Gauss wasn't sure it made much difference whether she did or not.

He passed through the entrance and entered the main hall.

Unlike the shabby, unremarkable walls and door outside, the interior of the hall was dazzling.

Dozens of brass candlesticks hung from the vaulted ceiling, and honeycomb-like wooden niches filled the walls all around.

Every cubby was packed with all sorts of objects. The sheer variety was overwhelming at first glance.

Materials and specimens from ordinary monsters and beasts, dried herbs of unknown purpose, books, statues, eggs of unidentified species.

There was so much to see that Gauss turned this way and that.

Suddenly, his eyes were drawn to a neat row of long, narrow objects hanging on the wall.

Were those...?

Wands!!

The wands in the row varied in length.

The shortest was about the same size as the one used by Daphne, the Cleric in the Night Owl Squad—only as long as a forearm.

As for the longest, Gauss estimated it was about 1.8 to 1.9 meters long. It looked like a wand, but also like some kind of heavy melee weapon.

It was a large wooden staff of deep brown, its surface covered in fine cracks like snake scales. Cloth was tightly wrapped around the grip, and a slightly enlarged tip held an egg-shaped gemstone that glowed with an eerie green light.

Gauss guessed the longest and heaviest one weighed at least ten pounds. An ordinary Mage would need some strength to use it comfortably.

What a shame. They were all way beyond what I could afford.

The gemstones set into the wands—whether they were imposing, heavy ones or delicate, slender ones—were clearly expensive, at least to Gauss's untrained eye.

He reluctantly looked away.

The Halfling woman had already climbed onto a wicker chair and stretched out, paying no attention at all to the outsider in her shop.

"My name is Andeni. I run this shop."

"What are you to Gron?"

The Halfling Andeni rolled lazily onto her side and looked at Gauss with interest as she asked.

Gauss explained his relationship with Gron.

To his surprise, Andeni looked incredulous when she heard him.

"You're just a shop assistant? One who only worked a few days as a temp?"

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I just never expected that old man to change so much. You see, he used to be no kind soul eager to help others." The Halfling Andeni blinked. "In fact, he used to kill without batting an eye."

Gauss was taken aback.

But he didn't comment. Gron had treated him well, and what he'd been like in the past had nothing to do with him.

Noticing that Gauss was briefly stunned before quickly regaining his composure, Andeni thought to herself that he was no fun.

"Were you close with Shopkeeper Gron?"

"We used to be close. We were in the same squad, but we haven't been in touch for many years. We're both in Grayrock Town, and yet he's such a heartless man." Andeni shook her head with a sigh. Though she said that, her expression remained calm. "In all these years, this is the first time Gron's ever sent an outsider to my place."