"Everyone, welcome."
Seeing customers arrive, Airmid stood up and came forward to greet them.
Beside her stood an old man with white hair and a white beard, giving off the aura of a God.
'So this is Airmid's patron deity,' Rayleigh noted.
"Oh, children of that Astraea girl is it? What is it you want to sell us?"
"It's this."
Holding an object wrapped in an Undine Cloth, Ryuu set it down on the counter.
'Hm? It's wrapped in an Undine Cloth,' the God noted. 'There are not many materials that need to be handled like that.'
Ryuu unwrapped the cloth layer by layer, revealing the colored dragon liver of Amphisbaena inside.
"This is—!"
"Dragon liver?"
Dian Cecht looked at the material in front of him with genuine surprise.
This was an unexpected delight.
It ranked five or six grades above what he had been expecting!
Many precious medicines required the dragon liver of Amphisbanea in order for the concoction to transform into a perfect state.
However, dragon liver remained precious.
Normally, substitute ingredients were used to make medicine instead.
Substitutes were cheaper, easier to mass-produce, and above all, dragon liver was something one could only hope to encounter by chance.
Which was only natural.
Amphisbaena's respawn time was one month, meaning it would only appear twelve times a year at most.
If one factored in the time needed for subjugation, failed expeditions, and special circumstances, the number of successful subjugations in a year hovered around ten.
Assuming the chance of getting a drop item was thirty percent, that meant all of Orario would only produce two or three dragon livers in an entire year.
It could not be called anything but precious and rare.
Likewise, miracle medicines made using Amphisbaena's dragon liver as a core material were also incredibly rare.
"I never thought you would defeat a Monster Rex during your expedition and even obtain a drop item. Good, very good."
"I will give you a price that will satisfy you. Hmm, how about this number?"
The girls all looked toward Rayleigh.
Feeling their gazes, Rayleigh put on a poker face and looked straight at the God before him.
Seeing that his smile was not friendly and instead somewhat sinister, Dian Cecht coughed awkwardly twice, then raised his other hand and held up three fingers.
Rayleigh said nothing and simply shook his head.
At the same time, he pulled the Undine Cloth back over half of the dragon liver.
Dian Cecht showed a pained expression and added another finger.
The curve at the corner of Rayleigh's mouth widened even more.
He grabbed Dian Cecht's hand and set it into the price range he had been expecting.
"Impossible!"
"At that price..."
Before Dian Cecht could make up some baseless excuse, Rayleigh had already wrapped the dragon liver back up and turned around.
"Now that I think about it, the Miach Familia should also be interested in this, right? Since the Blue Pharmacy is not that far from here anyway, maybe..."
"Wait! Fine, I get it!"
Dian Cecht changed his tune.
"Alright, alright, I understand. We will go with your price, so put the dragon liver down!"
'Heh.'
"Pleasure doing business with you."
Rayleigh shook hands with the unwilling Dian Cecht.
Seeing Dian Cecht's pained expression, Airmid turned her eyes away as if she could not bear to look.
Her God, although a great being full of compassion, harbored a greed for wealth and profit that was almost equal to the degree of his greatness!
And just like an upstart among mortals, this God's everyday personality was quite unpleasant.
"Tch! What an annoying brat."
Dian Cecht curled his lip, then added, "And you are that smith who forged that heretical cursed blade like Tensaiga, are you not? Don't go forging troublesome things like that anymore! or our business is going to get worse!"
The white-haired God looked like a miser, and at the same time like an angry cat with its fur standing on end.
'No—' Rayleigh thought, 'if one had to describe him, it would be more fitting to compare him to a pampered purebred cat.'
"Hmph!"
After taking the dragon liver, Dian Cecht snorted and retreated into the inner room with an ugly expression on his face.
Only then did Airmid dare to step forward.
She came to Rayleigh's side and softly spoke, "Um... it has been a long time, Rayleigh-san."
"It really has."
Rayleigh smiled and raised a hand to pat the girl's head.
For a moment, it made him feel as if he were looking at Ais.
'The first impression these two girls give really is quite similar,' he noted internally.
"Before... you took care of me, and I have always wanted to find a chance to thank you."
As she said this, Airmid nervously clenched the hem of her skirt with both hands.
The girl's skin was fair and flawless.
With the faint flush now on it, it became pale with a rosy tint, soft and delicate.
Her silver-white hair hung down in front of her chest.
It was as if every part of her reflected the girl's modesty.
In an instant, the expressions in the eyes of the Astraea Familia girls changed, and the way they looked at Airmid became like they were re-evaluating this seemingly innocent girl!
"Although I don't think there is anything worth thanking me for, since you insist, I will accept it frankly," Rayleigh said softly.
Seeing that he had accepted it, a happy smile appeared on Airmid's expressionless face.
She continued, "Then, Rayleigh-san, are you free the day after tomorrow? That day is the weekend, and I would like to treat you to a meal... if that is okay?"
Seeing her timid appearance, Rayleigh felt his heart stop.
'There probably is no one in any world who could refuse an invitation like that.'
"Mm, I'm free, but if we are going out, let me be the one to treat. As a senior Adventurer, I still need to keep a little of my dignity."
"Then... could you come here and pick me up at ten in the morning?"
"Understood." Rayleigh nodded.
After that, he left together with the girls of the Astraea Familia.
But on the way back, all of them seemed thoughtful
No one took the initiative to start a conversation, and the atmosphere was somewhat strange.
...
Rayleigh returned home.
Before he had even entered, he saw an Adventurer crash out through his own door.
It was a burly man over 180 centimeters tall.
After flying out, the man slid along the ground for a distance before stopping at Rayleigh's feet.
Looking at this man, Rayleigh realized he did not recognize him.
Very quickly, the man climbed back up from the ground and shouted toward the inside of the house.
"Damn it, how dare you lay hands on me—"
"Hmph!"
After throwing out that cliche line, the man stood there in a standoff for a moment.
Then he gave up on fighting and ran off.
Rayleigh blinked, then walked into the house.
And then he saw it—a graceful figure with a long black hair like a waterfall spilled down behind that perfect back.
The woman sat quietly in a chair, turning the pages of a book.
Seeing that scene, Rayleigh experienced for the first time what it meant for something to be "beautiful like a painting."
He felt a sense of belonging!
"I'm home."