"Hey, young man, is there anything else you want to buy? Tell me about it. You're one of my big customers, after all. Perhaps I could give you some advice?" Elhart had overheard Chuan Wenwu muttering to himself and eagerly struck up a conversation.
"I'm planning to visit the Monster Shop and get Bruce another set of equipment he can wear in his monster form," Chuan Wenwu replied.
Elhart looked surprised. "Bruce can still turn back into his old form?"
"Of course. Bruce only gained the ability to turn into a kobold after he grew to a certain size, after all. But his original form is a bit too big now, so I can't really show you. If he changed back inside your shop, I'm afraid he'd make a mess of the place."
"Make a mess of my shop?"
Elhart instinctively looked around his shop. His weapon shop wasn't huge, but it certainly wasn't small, either. Many adventurers who bought equipment here could try it out in the open space in the middle without feeling cramped.
Yet Chuan Wenwu said that if Bruce returned to his original form, he could easily leave the whole shop in chaos... Just how big was Bruce's true body?
Hadn't he been only a little under two meters long when they last parted?
"Bruce's actual body is seven meters long now. He's a super-cool desert death hound!" Chuan Wenwu sounded boastful, though also a little troubled. "His appetite has gotten a lot bigger, too, though..."
"...Leaving aside that strange name of yours, 'desert death hound,' if Bruce really is as big as you say, then yes, he'd better not keep changing forms in my little shop. He wouldn't fit."
Elhart pressed a hand to his forehead. "So, young man, what do you have in mind for Bruce?"
"Haven't I heard there are merchants in town who sell monster equipment? I'm planning to buy some equipment from them that Bruce can use in his original form. Ideally, something that changes size along with him. Otherwise, if Bruce keeps switching between big and small, won't everything he's wearing get stretched out and ruined? I just don't know whether equipment with that sort of size-adjustment effect will be expensive..."
Chuan Wenwu hefted his rather thin coin purse and let out a pauper's sigh.
"Hmm... I really can't advise you on that. Different trades are worlds apart, after all. We may both craft and sell equipment, but treating beasts and treating people aren't the same thing. You could try asking in the southwestern district. That's where the monster merchants are based," Elhart suggested.
"Okay, got it. Thanks for the tip." Chuan Wenwu clasped his hands in thanks. "I won't take up any more of your time, then. Sorry for the trouble with our equipment order, boss."
"No trouble at all. In fact, I'd love to have this sort of profitable trouble every day."
Elhart laughed heartily and waved the two of them off-with Bruce in beastman form, he could finally count as a "person," rather than making them "a man and a dog."
"Bruce, do you think we went the wrong way? Why does it feel like it's getting more and more deserted around here? This doesn't look like the southwestern district with all those monster merchants the boss mentioned!"
"Boss... you're... asking me? I... don't know, either..." Bruce stammered, still speaking Chinese.
Holding up the town map he had bought from the weapon shop owner, Chuan Wenwu struggled to work out their current location, muttering, "North up, south down, west left, east right... The castle's over there. We left the weapon shop... which is here, and then we went this way... Tch! This is so annoying. Why is another world still using something as primitive as paper maps? Where's my navigation system? I'd even settle for one of those lousy map apps!"
"Brother Chuan, you said it yourself... this is another world... and it's still the Middle Ages... How... could there be... navigation... woof..."
"You don't have to tell me! We're buying equipment for you! Why don't you lead the way, then?" Flustered, Chuan Wenwu angrily shoved the map toward Bruce's face. Bruce answered him with a pair of clear, innocent eyes.
"The Shield of the Hero doesn't react to the map, either. I was hoping it could absorb the map and unlock a minimap function for me... What a piece of junk." He tried feeding the town map to the Shield of the Hero, but the dark green orb showed no response.
Suddenly, his gaze shifted to Bruce, who looked utterly innocent beside him.
"Bruce... you're a dog, right?" he asked.
Bruce: "?"
Exasperated by Bruce's failure to live up to his potential, Chuan Wenwu said, "Hurry up and activate your racial talent! Use your nose to find the way!"
Bruce froze for a moment. "But, boss... no matter... how good my nose is... I can't find... somewhere... I've never been..."
Chuan Wenwu said, "Then can't you sniff out which direction has the biggest mix of smells? If it's a monster market, there must be all sorts of monsters. The smell's bound to be strong and easy to recognize."
Bruce looked aggrieved. "Boss... the smells here... are all mixed up... I can't..."
"Then what good are you!"
Chuan Wenwu buried himself in figuring out how to read this other world's map again.
"Maybe... we could... ask someone?" Bruce suggested, pointing to a figure not far away.
"Huh?"
Chuan Wenwu followed Bruce's gaze. Sure enough, deep in this secluded alley, someone was actually standing there like a guardian at a gate.
"There really is someone... Bruce, you're so clever! Come on, let's ask for directions!"
The two of them hurried toward the man, whose bearing seemed a little too stiff and formal.
"Hey, buddy, sorry to bother you. Could I trouble you for directions? Do you know where the monster merchants around here are? My brother and I seem to be a little lost."
Chuan Wenwu struck up a conversation with easy familiarity.
The "passerby," who had been somewhat wary of the strangers approaching, froze for a moment at Chuan Wenwu's question.
Monster merchants?
There aren't any monster merchants around here... Wait.
He looked up and noticed Bruce behind Chuan Wenwu. Bruce was tall and broad, and his conspicuous canine head clearly proclaimed his identity-a beastman.
Whatever thoughts had gone through this passerby's mind, an understanding expression crossed his face. Then he nodded quietly and pointed Chuan Wenwu in a direction. "That way..."
"Okay, great. Thanks! Here's a little something for the directions~"
Chuan Wenwu slipped a copper coin into the helpful passerby's hand, then called Bruce over and headed in the direction the man had indicated. As they walked, he smugly challenged Bruce:
"Well? I told you I hadn't gone the wrong way. See? Even a local says the monster merchants are over here!"
Bruce looked rather hurt. "Boss... I never said you went the wrong way... weren't you the one who asked me...?"
"..."
"Shut up! You're hurting my ears!"
"Woof..."
After the two of them had bickered their way into the distance, the seemingly socially awkward passerby they had asked for directions wore a cold expression.
"Someone's come knocking... I need to tell the master."
Following the route and asking a few more "passersby" along the way, Chuan Wenwu and Bruce finally reached their destination.
It seemed to be an especially remote, deserted area, with very dim lighting. A huge circus-like tent stood in the empty square.
A man wearing a top hat and tailcoat stood outside the adventuring party's tent. He seemed to be soliciting customers, yet also looked as though he were waiting for someone in particular.
He was an exceptionally stout man wearing a strange pair of glasses. If Chuan Wenwu had to describe his first impression, he looked like one of those deliberately caricatured Western gentlemen he had only seen on screen-or perhaps his stereotypical image of a capitalist?
Chuan Wenwu asked politely, "Hello, are you a monster merchant?"
"A monster merchant?" Upon hearing Chuan Wenwu's question, the man immediately let out a strange cackle. "Heh heh heh! That's right! I'm a monster merchant, and a very special one with all sorts of special 'merchandise'! Whatever kind of monster you wish to buy, dear customer, I have it here!"
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