It looked like nothing, and honestly, it really was pathetically little.
For a solo purchase it might've been fine. Play it careful while exploring, and these potions could barely sustain one adventurer for a few days, maybe even a week.
But they were six people. A full adventurer party. And this trip into the Dungeon wasn't some routine mob-grinding cash run. It was pioneering. An expedition into unknown territory.
Under those conditions, accidents, emergencies, injuries... that was all par for the course.
Everyone knew that extermination runs and frontier expeditions were challenges on completely different levels. The potion consumption alone was worlds apart.
And now... only twelve vials?
That wasn't even enough to be a rounding error.
Behind the counter, Airmid's expression was calm, a professional smile fixed on her face, her tone perfectly even.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Leon. It's not that Dian Cecht Familia is unwilling to do business, and I have no personal grudge against you whatsoever. We're simply out of stock."
Leon: "..."
"I'm sure you've seen the state of the treatment center. Before you arrived, a massive number of adventurers and ordinary citizens had already come to purchase potions. Right now the ward beds are completely full, and even the corridors are packed with the injured."
"The sheer volume of casualties has strained our already limited medical resources. The fact that you can still walk away with twelve vials is, in my opinion, quite fortunate."
"If you'd come even a little later, these potions... would probably belong to the gentleman behind you."
Leon glanced back at the adventurer in line behind him. The man was glaring daggers at him. He whipped back around and managed a strained smile at Airmid.
"Sorry, Airmid. I had the wrong idea."
He quickly pocketed the potions, settled the bill, and then, under a gauntlet of hostile stares, he and Kureha hurried out of the treatment center.
Watching his retreating figure, Airmid's delicate, doll-like face shifted ever so slightly, her painted lips parting as if to speak.
But she noticed several figures slip out after Leon, and in the end she only let out a soft sigh.
"When is this chaos going to end..."
"Even potions have become hot commodities for people like that..."
"Mr. Leon, it seems all I can do is wish you luck."
...
"Boss, twelve vials of potions! Recovery potions alone have jumped from ten thousand to twenty thousand valis on the black market! And magic recovery elixirs are even crazier. The price has shot from fifty thousand all the way up to a hundred and thirty thousand!"
"Just the six recovery potions, flip those and that's over a hundred thousand right there! And that's not even counting the magic elixirs, which are the real payday!"
One of the adventurers rattled off the day's market prices to his boss, greed plastered across his face, his pulse kicking up at the thought of his cut from the job.
"It went up that much again today?"
The boss lurked at a corner, eyes locked on Leon and Kureha's backs.
"Heh. We're talking a million-valis score here... No idea where these two suckers came from."
The moment he saw them casually turn into a secluded alley, the boss's face lit up with manic glee. He waved his arm.
"Move! After them!"
"Block both ends!"
"Do not let these fat sheep get away!"
"Haha, you got it, boss!"
His lackeys drew their weapons, savage grins on their faces.
...
Thirty seconds later.
"Pathetic. Bunch of broke losers. No wonder they were staking out Dian Cecht's front door. Small-time thugs, every last one."
Leon rifled through the pockets of the men sprawled across the ground with practiced ease, weighed the bulging coin purse in his hand, tossed it to Kureha with a look of disgust, and then, without the slightest hesitation, stripped every piece of armor off their bodies. He scooped up the weapons scattered across the ground and let out a derisive snort.
"With skills this garbage, you thought you'd play mugger?"
He punctuated the remark with a few kicks to the groaning, bald-headed boss lying on the ground, voice dripping with mockery.
"Run home to mommy, small fry."
With that, he strolled out of the alley whistling, not looking back once.
Kureha: "..."
She stared, utterly dumbfounded, at the sequence of slick moves Leon had pulled from the moment they entered the alley. Her eyes nearly popped out of her skull.
"You... you can just do that?"
By the time he'd gotten some distance, she finally snapped out of it and broke into long strides to catch up.
"Hey, Leon... why are you so good at that?"
Seeing the curiosity written all over her face, Leon clicked his tongue.
"Miss Sword Saint, you come from a knight house, noble blood and all. What would you know about how the other half lives? Sounds like... I need to set aside some time to give you a proper education on how things work for low-rank adventurers."
"Education."
The word seemed to flip some kind of switch. Kureha's body jolted, and her whole face went red.
A highlight reel of all the ways this man had "educated" her flashed through her mind, and her body went weak, tingling all over, practically boneless.
Her grip on the bag slackened. It slipped from her fingers and hit the ground with a soft thud.
Leon watched her reaction, bent down to pick up the bag for her, and when he straightened up, his gaze carried a hint of something deeper.
Didn't expect it... the Sword Saint is even more sensitive than I thought...
...
...
Seventh District, home.
"We're back."
Leon pushed open the courtyard gate, calling out as he entered.
Jeanne, Rose, and the others, having finished their errands first, were already seated around the stone table drinking tea.
"Your destination was right here in the Seventh District. You should've been the closest of all of us. How are you the last one back?"
Jeanne set her teacup down calmly, her pale violet eyes narrowing slightly as she studied the man standing before her with a perfectly serious expression.
Feeling the curious stares from the women, Leon spread his hands.
"Couldn't help it. Ran into a little trouble."
Then he added, "And it wasn't just Airmid's place. Over at the Guild... if Rose Fannett hadn't happened to be there to help, we might still not be back."
"Rose Fannett?"
The instant she heard that name, the image of the wolf-woman flashed through Jeanne's mind, and one eyebrow twitched.
Beside her, Rose Marbleheart continued smiling sweetly at him, her emotions unreadable.
Leon: "..."
"Ahem... you all know me. Running into Rose Fannett really was just... a coincidence!"
Jeanne's expression remained flat, her voice cool.
"I don't believe you."
"..."
As a man with a considerable rap sheet, Leon was, admittedly, a bit lacking in confidence when going head-to-head with the women of this household.
Nothing he could do about it. If he couldn't win a fair fight, he could hardly be blamed for resorting to some underhanded "special tactics."
Midnight.
Laurier lay spread-eagled on her bed, the blanket draped loosely over her stomach, sleeping like a baby with a blissful look on her face.
In the next bed, Aura gazed at her carefree friend and couldn't help a twinge of envy.
"Ignorance really is bliss."
She muttered under her breath, cheeks faintly warm, shoved in her earplugs, and forced her eyes shut, counting sheep and willing herself to sleep.
...
At the far end of the second-floor hallway.
From behind a certain door, muffled, broken sounds drifted out. Whimpers threaded with sobbing pleas for mercy, floating faintly into the night sky.
"Still gonna glare at me?"
"...nnh..."
"Still gonna give me attitude?"
"...mm... mmh..."
"Still gonna gang up on me? Still gonna team up!?"
"Ahh... nnh..."
Looking down at Jeanne's face, her expression caught between humiliation and defiant shame and yet still impossibly beautiful, Leon felt the Demon Lord's Crest on his back blazing wildly, burning hot.
"Whoa, power surge!"
...
...
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