Boundary Labyrinth and the Foreign Magician

“Come to think of it, exactly what was that black dimension stone those guys had?”

“That’s still under investigation. However, it will be given to us to deal with later on. It was…quite serious?”

Heather said with an apologetic look on her face.

“Well…it was troublesome.”

What Heather meant by ‘serious’ was probably that it was something psychological.

“For this reason, I request that you keep matters related to this stone confidential. Shall I relay this to Forest Bird?

Heather said in a small voice, as if she was whispering into my ear.
Ah…Although she had said that they were on a walk and were being guided, could it be that she was actually here on confidential business?
The way she had been speaking just now, the Guild might already have some information on their relation to the black dimension stone. For example, if the abilities or origins of the black dimension stone were investigated, it might be tied to the background of those guys.
Was it a problem regarding the black stone’s ability, nature, and the like, or was it the background of those guys? This had resulted in me concluding that her reason for coming here was necessary, since her lips were tightly sealed.

“…Though, I don’t think that they know anything. We also learned about it from Rossetta-san.”

“Understood. Although, I’ll be heading to where Rossetta-san is after this…Well, I’ll talk with her, since she’s a related party and there’s no need to publicize it recklessly.”

As I thought, it was confidential? Well, Rossetta might let her know about it, depending on the contents.

The Black Dimension Stone…was probably an item that was manufactured from the Red Dimension Stone and was dependent on magic. It was confirmed in BFO that when one processed a Red Dimension Stone, changes occurred to its abilities and improved its usability. If I were to say what the abilities of the black stone were…I would estimate it to be categorized as an elimination method.

As for whether one returned home from the stele via Dimension Stone or ran away from the labyrinth via a Red Dimension Stone…It could only send you to the stele at the labyrinth entrance.
However, the Black Dimension Stone was able to alter the normally fixed destination. I think this made it possible for criminals to kidnap, imprison, and partic.i.p.ate in the slave trade or other such activities.
It made more sense for those kinds of people to use it rather than us, who were targeted for our money.
…Well, rather than calling it interference, it was more of an approach that BFO players used to get the items they really wanted.

This was also the case for magic. Just like Curses, Lineage Magic was the kind of thing that was related to another person’s actions, which BFO players could never learn.
For the same reason, it was also impossible for people who used Mind Read for magic interrogations to acquire it.
If fellow players wanted to use magic that could read another’s thoughts, emotions, lies and the like, it would be troublesome to use, since they had to be close enough that they could be seen. Although Mind Reading Magic might have been possible if the VRMMO scanned your brainwaves, without that, it was impossible for it to make an appearance again.
Perhaps it was natural for dimension stones that could set a player’s destination at will to not appear in the game.

“I’ll confirm it one more time, it’s fine if I leave it to you, right?”

“Yeah. It appears that, after catching Snakebite, there won’t be any similar tricks for a while.”

…Well, that’s probably true. According to our schedule, it was fine if we did some shopping.
When shopping, self-defense tools, staffs…and furniture are our top priorities. The public order seemed to be questionable, so we should tidy it up all the more.

“Welcome.”

After entering the store, an unaccountable, pungent odor pierced my nose.
…The origin of the smell was probably inside the store. As expected, inside the store there were medicine bottles displayed beautifully in an orderly manner, and behind the counter, one could see a room that contained various experimental tools and stacks of paper scattered around on top of the desk with a cauldron situated on top.
According to the information from the Adventurer’s Guild, there was a skilled Alchemist who had a shop set up in the Northern District, so we headed to this store directly. The first things I should buy are Grace’s self-defense tools.

“Is this the shop of the Alchemist Beatrice?”

“Yeah, that’s right. I’m Beatrice.”

The shop owner was over there, a lazy looking person with dark violet hair and eyes.
She was fiddling around with a quill pen in her fingers, her chin resting on her hand which was on the counter.

Although she looked good, good enough to say that she was a beautiful person…I couldn’t feel any ambition from her at all. Was she fine with that?

“What do you want with me?”

I let out a sigh. I wonder if I came to the wrong place?
Yet, when I was about to doubt her, I recalled something.

“Umm, here is the Adventurer Guild’s letter of introduction. I want to use alchemy to create a Magical Beast for self-defense.”

…Speaking of this, it was an item that I had been looking for in Alchemy.

Beatrice asked me about it while she received the letter.

“Even if you say Magical Beast, I have various kinds, you know?”

“The Mercury Shadow, Mercurius.”

“Unexpectedly, it seems like I’ve received a big job. By the way, what’s your budget?”

“How about around 1500 Kilig?”

“That’s fine.”

Beatrice squinted her eyes and showed me a smile. This was according to the market price though. Well then.

“Theodore-sama…you don’t have to go this far for me…”

…Grace’s words were within my expectations. Perhaps she would consent if she were given a proper reason.

“Even if we searched the Labyrinth, it wouldn’t become useless if you created one with a high performance, right?”

“I see.”

Mercurius. It usually mimics the form of small animals, and as the name implies, it hides within the shadows. However…its true form was that of an amorphous magic beast with the ability to harden itself into various shapes. In other words, an artificial slime.

“But, I can guarantee that it will have a high performance, you know…? Although the Mercury Shadow is born as a superior familiar, its abilities shouldn’t exceed that of its owner’s, since it is a familiar.”

“I’m fully aware of that.”

That’s why I chose the Mercury Shadow.
Regarding the prices of magical beasts, the Mercury Shadow was comparatively cheap…and its performance was largely dependent on the quality of the blood used as catalyst.
With 1500 Kilig, it would perform exceptionally, and conversely, it wouldn’t be too inefficient.

However, this time, I had plans to feed it Grace’s and my own blood.
I wasn’t being conceited, I couldn’t imagine that it’s performance would be worse than ours.
In view of its price and performance, I had chosen this since I could expect it to be the most cost-effective.

After that, it was fine if we didn’t feed it any bait items and the like, since we would be able to maintain it by just supplying it with our Mana. Even if it was used openly, it wasn’t noticeable since there wasn’t a sense of intimidation coming from it…for various reasons.

It would be completed in three days. There was an advanced payment of 750 Kilig. After it was completed, I would pay the remainder of the price, and she would hand it to me.

As for the blood that we would give to the Mercury Shadow as a catalyst, the two of us would give it later.
After leaving Beatrice’s shop, the next thing we should buy was probably furniture?
Staffs would take care of themselves in the earlier levels of the Labyrinth, and although I could hope to obtain them while diving down into it, furniture couldn’t be obtained in the labyrinth. First, we should buy the things we needed, and put together a budget for Staffs afterwards.

For these reasons, the two of use were consulting with each other while shopping.

“A canopy bed is for a different type of character though.”

“But, I think a style like this is necessary for the master bedroom…”

“Hmm.”

“It’s proper to have a dresser, right?”

“I don’t really need a hand mirror.”

“We’ve also compromised on a dresser for clothes…Let’s go ahead and buy this.”

“This couch has quite a good feeling to it.”

“Seriously, this one is good. How about a table to place in the dining room?”

“What are you going to do for things like that?”

In this manner, we were currently going around choosing furniture in a furniture shop in the Northern District, while indecisively conversing with each other.
It appeared that they could deliver the things we bought for us later. It was wonderful to not have to deal with the ha.s.sle of carrying it.

The last question, as I thought, was Staffs.
I hadn’t found any that I was satisfied with at the shop in the Northern District. Though, the shop owner had said that he could create a good, efficient Staff if I had the best materials for it.
Should I search in the Labyrinth for them, or go look in another District? What should I do?

Speaking about not having Staffs…although it looked like I wouldn’t be able use Joujutsu with them, if I used them when attacking with Advanced Magic, the Staffs would be damaged by the recoil. I didn’t really want to experiment with that, so I want to be forgiven a little for this.