“I can’t help but think that I’ve wasted a lot of time, though.” Farah’s expression, which was currently made up of three parts frustration and seven parts fear, shifted slightly as Schwarz pulled out another barrier artefact. “We came all the way here for a bunch of Second Shadows? No matter how I look at it, it’s quite wasteful.”

“What do you suggest then?” Schwarz asked. “Surely you also feel the pressing need to grow stronger, right?”

Farah thought for a moment. “Well, I actually do have a suggestion. When my parents threw away Farah County and hightailed from their debts, I was forced to inherit a failing economy. One of the major issues with the county back then was how inefficient things were. For instance, ten people would be allocated to tend to a small field, but there was only one hoe.”

“Eh? Why would they do that?” Nero asked.

“Yeah, it doesn’t make sense. However, when I asked them, they told me that they were specialists. One person would do a certain thing and a certain thing alone.” Farah shrugged. “Ten people to a field was quite overwhelming, though. And the wages were quite high too. So I got my advisors to study farming, and then we came to the conclusion that manpower could be reduced if we used artefacts.”

She rocked back and forth on her heels. “Specialisation is pointless if the area itself is very niche. Therefore, we reworked the whole thing; one person with lots of artefacts per field. The key point, however, were artefacts.”

Dia thought about her words, which did make sense. Artefacts had very specialised effects, but…

“So, what suggestion do you have?” Dia asked.

“Simple. You guys got a bunch of Second Shadows, right? We explore the area using these Second Shadows while staying here,” Farah replied. “We use the same Second Shadow, but the user rotates every hour. That way, we get to explore the place and have a lot of time to burn more mana circuits.”

“Doable, yes.” Nero fiddled with his chin. “You’re suggesting that we explore…in that case, I suggest we explore the closest buildings.”

“The closest buildings? I was thinking of the lower floors of the Secretary-General building. It’s the closest one, and there are many rooms. Even if a Second Shadow is destroyed, we can promptly create a new one and resume our exploration that way,” Farah replied.

“Yeah, that’ll work.” Nero turned to Schwarz. “What do you think?”

“It’s hard to say. I’m certain that we won’t get anything out of this,” Schwarz replied. “Also, I would prefer a far safer environment to burn my mana circuits. Most importantly, however, is the fact that the five grand skies did issue Dia a mission. They also have the intention of blowing this place up or something. I’m not sure if it’s safe for us to be here.”

Dia nodded. “And the Trial of Aeons are going on right now. I’m sure that the five grand skies are not going to wait that long either.”

“It’s hard to make a decision like this, I suppose.” Nero looked side to side. “We could split up, but that’s just going to increase the overall danger. I’m ambivalent about this, to be honest, since I don’t think there are any particularly useful artefacts in Celestia right now. What about you guys?”

“…Let’s just check the trade fair, then.” Farah folded her arms. “The artefacts that are useful are those that have been documented in our intelligence gathering, right? If they’re documented, it means that people have obtained a few of them. And if people have them…”

“They might be willing to sell those artefacts,” Nero completed. “Yes. And I am not short of money, even if I’m forever short of alcohol.”

“Trade fair, and then go back.” Schwarz looked at everyone. “Anyone has a really, really violent objection to this?”

Farah had a dissatisfied expression, but Dia could tell that she was also thinking about what she had seen in Nero’s memories. Nodding along with the rest, Dia kept the last barrier artefact and then swept her gaze throughout the plaza. Small tents, portable homes and estates had popped up all over the place, and there were a bunch of stores in the middle that seemed to sell a whole lot of things.

“Let’s go, then.” Schwarz glanced at the stalls and walked towards them. As they left, another mercenary group, made up of very weak mana-users, filled up their spot and began to construct their own mini-base. Dia didn’t quite like the feeling, but they were going back anyway, so…

Despite being in a plaza that had nearly two hundred people, the noise level was relatively low. The main source of noise came from the trade fair at the centre itself, which was situated next to the washroom. Mercenaries bartered and brought all sorts of items with each other, creating a sight that Dia herself rarely saw.

“It’s so lively here,” Dia muttered.

“Really?” Farah asked. “It’s quite normal, though? It looks like a small street market. I wonder if there are any law enforcers or security guards here. Theft is quite easy, after all, and—”

A loud crash interrupted the rest of her words as a mana-user kicked at a storefront, overturning the entire store with her foot alone.

“I wonder what happened,” Farah said, her voice filled with a burning curiosity. “Let’s get closer!”

Dia wanted to reject her proposal, but Farah had already compromised earlier. Besides, the woman that had upset the store didn’t seem to be particularly powerful…in fact, both sides didn’t quite register as a threat to Dia for some reason.

“Alright,” said Nero. “Let’s see if we can help. If we can help, we’ll probably get some freebies here and there, right? We’ll get to save some lifestones here and there by interfering—”

“Stop fighting!”

Multiple presences bloomed, and three uniformed fellows sprang onto the scene. Barriers appeared, separating the attacker from the toppled storefront and its maddened owner, and Nero made a sad noise.

“What a shame. It seems that there’s actually some security after all…”

“Cheapskate. Still, I wonder what’s going on,” Schwarz muttered.

“Let’s get closer then.” Dia glanced at the guards, who were busy surrounding the woman. “It seems like there’s a dispute?”

“…of this?”

“He sold us a fake artefact! It broke after two uses and nearly killed my party member!” The woman pulled out a warhammer. “I want an explanation, or I’m bashing your head in.”

“You’re ignoring us?” one of the guards asked.

“Three one-folders? Absolutely,” the woman replied. “And this guy definitely scammed a lot of people too! Anyone who brought items from this asshole, check them! I’m sure he did something shady to them too! You three who interrogated me…did you even both asking why I did what I did? Your justice is meant to protect the sellers and not the buyers, but from what I can see…maybe the three of you are in league with this person.”

Murmurs filled the air.

“Interesting,” said Farah. “Would you look at that? She’s now casting doubt on the people who organised this, and then narrowed the scope to create a narrative of three guards colluding with a seller.”

“What’s wrong with that?” Nero asked.

“It’s just that she turned these three guards into a liability,” Farah replied. “And to make matters worse, she isn’t weaker than the three of them. She can freely pelt them with all sorts of accusations to make them yield, since they won’t make a move on her too. And the longer she abuses them, the more riled-up the crowd gets.”

“Can you tell who’s the guilty party here?” Nero pressed on.

“Hard to say, but either this woman planned the whole thing out or is really just that good,” Farah replied. “Come on, let’s check the other stores instead. We’re not going to get anything if we just stand around here and smile at each other gently.”

“Good point.”

The four of them backed away from the source of trouble and started poking through the rest of the stores instead. Dia, who usually did her artefact shopping at actual shops and established outlets, now found herself confronted with the fine game of telling whether something was a working artefact or not.

“Let’s see.” Schwarz squatted down and pointed at a weird artefact. It looked like a sword hilt, but the blade was completely gone. “Is that an Energy Blade?”

“Why yes, it is. According to the words written on it, it’s the NX-2 Short Range Energy Blade,” the storeowner replied, before picking up the weird hilt. He pressed a button, and the air hummed as a blinding blade of light grew outwards. “This weapon can cut through almost anything…but I suppose you don’t need an explanation, right?”

“Yeap. How many do you have in stock?” Schwarz asked.

“Five. These blades can be used for twelve hours, and then need another twelve hours to recharge. If you have two, you can cover a whole day. If you’re a dual-wielder, you can buy four instead.”

“I’ll buy all of them. Do you have any ranged artefacts? Or reconnaissance artefacts?”

As Schwarz continued to ask around, Dia found herself bamboozled. The bartender was a bit too…confident, wasn’t he?

What was the basis of that confidence?