The owner of the [Pavilion Of Golden Sands] guided Aster and Yasenia's group to the top floor. Yasenia twitched her nose a few times, smelling decent-quality goods. Nothing too extraordinary, though.
After swallowing the Death Dunes Empire's treasury, nothing here felt appealing. If it was a Transcendence Ranked treasure, she had them in the tens of thousands. If it was Supreme Treasures, she had hundreds of them.
Either way, Yasenia smelled nothing interesting… Of course, that was from her perspective.
Today they were here to pick something else completely. Asterion was buying her a gift! Even if Asterion gave her a random rock he picked in the street, Yasenia would cherish it dearly. Naturally, anything he bought here would become one of Yasenia's precious treasures.
The owner spoke to Asterion as if he were a young adult. He didn't mince words and explained things in detail. "Young Master, how does this whip here look? Since you are buying your mother something, a weapon she can carry around at all times would be perfect."
Of course, the owner gave Yasenia a quick confirming look to ask if he could talk as such. Yasenia nodded faintly, giving him approval. As long as it was not something sexual, Yasenia didn't care what the owner talked about.
Asterion tilted his head. "It looks good, but Mommy uses giant swords and battle flags. Do you have anything like that?"
Draheart and the War Flag, listening from the Dantian, almost jumped out to complain. 'We are enough, Young Master! Are you trying to make your mother cheat on us!?'
Dramel smirked. "Hehe. Young Master knows who is the true weapon that can't be replaced—AGUH!"
Draheart smacked the smug little moon orbiting her with an energy whip.
The owner was also faintly surprised. 'A giant sword with that physique?'
No matter how professional he was, he was a living being in the end. Imagining Yasenia swinging the giant sword and her entire body following the motions caused his mouth to become parched. "Ahem. I see. Battle flags, you say. There are some, if I remember correctly."
Yasenia's eyebrow raised gently. 'Oh?'
Asterion smiled at him. "Let's go see them, Mister!"
The owner nodded and guided them to another room. When they entered, Yasenia could see seven flags planted in tall, beautiful display cases. They were leaning slightly backward, with a wind artifact at the sides causing their fabric to flutter slowly.
It was an elegant, simple, yet incredibly appealing way to display these artifacts. Yasenia sniffed around, and while there was nothing that came even close to her [Everlasting War Calamity Battle Flag], they were all One to Four Star Supreme Ranked artifacts.
For this world, that was a high-quality artifact difficult to obtain anywhere. Yasenia's gaze toward the owner changed a touch. 'This pavilion must have some impressive background.'
Still, her thoughts were relative to the world, not relative to Yasenia. The Spatial World in her Dantian could probably crush this pavilion's riches easily.
The owner noticed the slight change in Yasenia's expression for the first time. Until now, the woman had been looking around with a faint smile, but her eyes didn't even show surprise once. Clearly, she was not impressed by his treasures.
This hurt his pride since his pavilion was the best merchant group in this area of the world. 'So she is interested. Let's hint to the boy then.'
"These are our very special treasures, Young Master. They are Battle Flags crafted by my masters. Sadly, not many people use them, so even when their quality is high, selling them is quite difficult. Young Master is in luck today to find them. How about it?"
Asterion separated from Yasenia, trotting over and sniffing around while he looked at them. "Hm… They smell worse than Mommy's Battle Flag."
The War Flag in Yasenia's Dantian almost manifested to smack Asterion. 'Are you comparing me to those useless sticks!?'
Of course, if it did, the one getting smacked would not be Asterion but it.
Hearing Asterion's words, the owner was somewhat surprised. 'What kind of treasures does this family have? Did I mistake her interest for curiosity?'
Even then, Asterion felt that this was a great contender for her Mommy's present. 'Although it is worse, a Battle Flag can be used for more than fighting, can't it? I remember Mommy throwing the Battle Flag to summon some very scary armored people.'
"This is nice. Let's come back here if we see nothing else! Owner, do you have anything related to Transmutation?"
The owner was once again surprised. "Transmutation? That's… a lost art, isn't it?"
The man knew about it because of pure luck. He bought an ancient journal from somewhere, and it mentioned Transmutation. However, there was absolutely no one nowadays who practiced the lost art due to its astounding difficulty. 'If I recall correctly, only those with a talent in all professional paths can even begin to imagine practicing Transmutation. You can't be utterly clueless about alchemy and then try to Transmutate an alchemy product.'
Thinking that, his respect for the mysterious dragon woman soared even more than before. Until now, he had labeled Yasenia as a strongman that he couldn't provoke. However, if she was a Transmutation expert, her value went from "one of the strongest" to "unique existence."
The owner didn't know how accurate his statement was.
"Transmutation artifacts…" The owner muttered and nodded. "I think I collected a few just to have them. They have a collector value for some high-level experts. There are even some who are trying to revive it. Still, they are comparatively cheaper than other profession-related treasures."
Asterion smiled. "Let's go see!"
The owner nodded and tried to recall where he left them. They only came up once every century or so, at best, so he had some trouble recalling.
"Was it… I remember. Come with me, Young Master."
As he was about to continue guiding, someone walked over with a haughty gait. "Are you the owner? Why are you guiding some unknown people when I am here?"
Yasenia and the rest turned to look. The owner spoke with a flattering smile. "Oh my, Young Master Song is here. Still, today I must excuse myself and leave you with Miss Geria. Would that be fine with you, Young Master Song?"
The man snorted and turned to look at Yasenia. "You, I will give you one million Sanculles. Now scram." Looking down, he smiled a little. "You, as a mother, should make sure to lead by example."
Yasenia chuckled and stepped forward. "Indeed. A Mother shall lead by example."
The guards behind Young Master Song reached for their weapons, looking at Yasenia coldly. "Madam, don't take another step. We don't want to become aggressive in front of a child."
Yasenia spoke to Asterion. "Aster, when you see people bothering you, first wait for them to provoke you. If you see that they lack brains, then you need to take into account their background."
Young Master Song snorted. "I am the third son of the City Lord. Now, go and scram."
Yasenia smiled. "After you confirm that, Aster, you must ask yourself. Is it worth making enemies? In our case, it is."
The guards unsheathed their weapons. "Madam. Don't cross the line."
Yasenia continued to step forward calmly. "When someone bothers you, just treat it as a mosquito bite. If the mosquito continues to buzz annoyingly… splatter it."
One of the strongest guards stepped forward with the intent to attack, but Yasenia was quicker. Her hand grabbed the sword and swung at her with no protection. Even then, the weapon was unable to pierce her skin.
A single punch flashed forward, striking the guard's stomach.
BANG!
The loud sound was like an explosion going off. The guard's eyes bulged, blood pouring out of his mouth in large quantities. When she let him go, the man slumped forward, dead.
The rest of the people were stunned. That man had been their captain and the strongest among them. Young Master Song's smile faltered, and Yasenia spoke to the nervous owner. "Don't worry, nothing will happen to you. I will have some of my maids visit the City Lord's mansion and make sure they don't mess with you."
The owner blinked and gulped. "T-Thank you, Madam."
Usually, he would side with the most influential. He had some strong people, but provoking a City Lord was normally not worth it. This time, though, he decided to bet on Yasenia out of pure instinct.
For the next few seconds, Yasenia stepped forward and punched stomach after stomach, blowing up their insides and souls every single time. The fight ended in a matter of seconds, and now, Yasenia was standing in front of Young Master Song. She smiled. "So, how was it? Did I lead by example well enough?"
Young Master Song answered, his face pale and his teeth chattering. "T-That, S-Senior, this one was at fault. M-Mercy! I am a favored s-s-son!"
Yasenia smiled. "No."
BANG!
Another punch landed, and Young Master vomited over a liter of blood, falling to his knees and dying silently. Aster clapped. "Wow! Mommy is so cool!"
The maids smiled faintly and moved to clean up everything. Yasenia spoke. "Eve, Doriel, you two go send these gifts to the City Lord. Before that, though, go back to the house and bring ten more maids with you, just in case."
"Understood, Young Miss."
The two of them disappeared from the shop in an instant, cleaning up the bodies and blood. Everything returned to normal in a fraction of a second, causing some spectators to wonder if they just saw an illusion.
If it weren't for the cracked floor where Yasenia had punched each time, they might've become truly confused.
Yasenia glanced back at the sweaty owner and spoke softly. "Please, continue guiding Asterion."
The owner quickly nodded and smiled at the boy. "Young Master Asterion, come this way. I remembered where the Transmutation treasures were."
Aster nodded without a change of expression. As a dragon with inherited memories, fighting and death were not foreign events. He had seen it plenty of times in the memories inherited from Yasenia.
Instead, he understood that the people Yasenia just killed were much stronger than he was, and yet they couldn't even last a punch from his Mommy! 'Mommy is so strong! Ehehe.'
Eventually, they arrived at the back area, and the owner opened a spatial drawer, from which he took out three items. The first two were cauldrons similar to the one Yasenia owned, so nothing new. What made her curious was the third.
"What is that, Owner?"
Hearing the question made Asterion and the Owner feel happiness. 'Something Mommy/Madam doesn't know about! This is it!'
"This is a [Transmuting Rectificator], Madam. It is an item you can use to gauge the rate of modification of an item to a certain degree. As for the detailed usage, it comes with a small booklet. If you buy the item, I will give you the booklet for free."
Yasenia glanced at Asterion, and the boy smiled widely. "We got Mommy's birthday present!"
Yasenia smiled lovingly and hugged Aster, giving him a big kiss. "I love you, baby."