Yukino Yukinoshita was incredibly depressed. She had no idea why her sparring sessions with her classmates had yielded such phenomenal results. Among the girls who fought her next, aside from a few who simply lacked any talent for martial arts, the rest had all broken through to Tier 3.
It was just that the way they looked at her was a bit strange, almost as if they were on guard against something.
The whole situation was incredibly bizarre. Even after school ended, Yukino still had no clue what had actually happened, leaving her feeling endlessly frustrated.
However, she didn't dwell on it for too long. After school, Ren Isana, Megumi Kato, and the others left the campus together, heading straight for Maya's shop.
At the moment, Maya's shop was quiet and deserted, without a single customer in sight. When Ren walked in with Megumi and the rest of the girls, Maya was momentarily stunned.
"Maya, I brought you some customers! Bring out the good weapons, these girls are all loaded," Ren shouted the moment he stepped through the door.
Hearing Ren's words, Maya didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She looked at the young girls he had brought in, the corners of her lips curling up slightly. *Are these Ren's new classmates?*
*They're certainly gorgeous. It looks like Ren's luck with the ladies is pretty good. If this kid actually bothered to dress up a bit, he could probably charm quite a few young girls to death.*
"Welcome. What kind of weapons are you looking for?" Maya adopted a more professional tone. Since they were customers brought in by Ren, she naturally intended to treat them seriously.
"Hello, I'm looking for a dagger. Do you have any recommendations?" Megumi stepped forward to respond first.
Beside her, Yukino also voiced her needs. "I need a short sword."
Hearing their requests, Maya nodded. After a moment of thought, she said, "Ren, could you do me a favor and watch the shop? I'll take them upstairs to look at the weapons."
Since Ren had personally introduced them, it was obvious they wouldn't be satisfied with the standard wares on display. Plus, Ren had just explicitly stated that these girls were wealthy.
Maya knew exactly what kind of weapons they wanted. The truly good stuff wasn't kept out here; it was either stored upstairs or safely locked away.
"Go ahead, I'll keep an eye on things," Ren nodded, not refusing the request. He was more than familiar with watching the shop, so Maya could leave it to him with complete peace of mind.
Maya nodded and walked toward a room on the first floor. Seeing this, Megumi and the others followed close behind. Once they were gone, Ren took a seat in the shop.
However, Ren didn't get to relax for long before more customers arrived. Moreover, they were all people he recognized—his classmates.
"Huh? Ren? What are you doing here? Is this your family's shop?" The classmates were quite surprised to see him upon entering.
The one speaking to Ren was none other than Sora, the classmate he had previously suggested Yukino should slap.
"It's not mine, I'm just watching the shop for someone. Feel free to browse whatever weapons you need; the prices are all listed." Ren was a bit surprised to see his classmates here, but he still greeted them warmly.
He figured they were all preparing for next week's event, so he let them browse freely, telling them to just let him know if anything caught their eye.
"Oh, alright. I thought this was your place, Ren." Sora sounded a bit disappointed, but she didn't say much else, instead turning to browse the shop with a few of her close friends.
However, looking at the prices of the weapons on display, she didn't seem very satisfied. These weapons were simply too common and couldn't really be considered high-quality gear.
If they were going down into the Dungeon to fight monsters, their weapons would be their lifelines. Naturally, they wanted something a bit better.
Sora walked up to the counter and asked Ren, "Are these the only weapons in the shop? Do you have anything better?"
The others also stepped forward at this time. Everyone was quite dissatisfied with the current selection; if there were better options available, that would be ideal.
"We do, but they're a bit pricey. Are you sure you want to see them?" Ren looked up at them. *I couldn't tell, but are these girls loaded too? Does my class just have an abundance of wealthy ladies?*
"Yes! Weapons are incredibly important. If we can get our hands on better ones, that's obviously for the best. Can you bring them out for us to see? Money isn't an issue!" Hearing Ren's answer, their eyes immediately lit up.
With that assurance, Ren felt relieved. He immediately said, "Follow me. You can head up to the second floor yourselves. The boss is up there, and Asuna, Yukino, and the others are there too."
Saying that, Ren opened the door and gestured for them to enter. Behind the door, aside from a storage room, was a staircase. The lights were currently on, so they just needed to head straight up.
"Alright, let's go up and take a look!" Sora's eyes sparkled. Without another word, she walked right in. Truth be told, she was starting to get quite curious about this place.
*It seems like a pretty incredible place, doesn't it? It even has a secret passageway or something. Usually, places like this have the really good stuff, right?* With these thoughts in mind, the group headed straight upstairs.
Meanwhile, Ren continued to watch the shop. He figured more people would probably show up soon. And they would likely all be his classmates, since they were the only ones who urgently needed weapons right now.
Things went exactly as Ren expected. Over the next little while, the rest of his classmates trickled into the shop. They were all momentarily stunned to see him there.
Everyone assumed it was his family's shop, but after he explained the situation, they didn't say much else and simply began picking out their weapons.
Not everyone came from a wealthy family. This later batch of students all bought their weapons from the downstairs selection; no one else asked for the higher-end gear.
Once they had chosen their weapons, Ren gave them a discount. He did have that much authority; Maya had told him as much back when he used to work here.
He could give his classmates up to a thirty percent discount. However, Ren wasn't about to let Maya lose out on too much profit, was he? A five percent discount was the absolute maximum he was willing to offer, which was more than enough.
When the classmates found out they were getting a five percent discount, they were pleasantly surprised. After all, this wasn't Ren's family shop, so the fact that he could give them any discount at all was already pretty great.
With a discount, what more could you ask for? Therefore, the students were highly satisfied and eagerly promised to recommend the shop to others in the future.
Upstairs, Maya saw the payment notifications coming through. Looking at the amounts, she couldn't help but smile. She didn't say anything, knowing full well that these were the discounted totals.
Maya looked at the girls in front of her and said, "See anything you like? Just let me know when you've made your choices. The quality of the weapons I have here is quite excellent. Anything better than this would require a custom order."
The weapons displayed in this room were the absolute best her shop had to offer. Because of their steep prices, she didn't put them out on the main floor.
Generally, she only brought people up here if they specifically asked for something better. However, very few people ever asked; most just took one look around the shop downstairs and left when they didn't find what they wanted.
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