Although the commercial street was brightly lit in the middle of the night, there were hardly any shops open except for some bars. Of course, the exception was Lanya's magic prop shop. From afar, I could see the 24-hour sign floating in the air, shining like the sun. I had a feeling that the capital city would eventually pass a "Neon Light Management Law" at night, otherwise people who were sensitive to light would never be able to sleep.
However, it was quite dangerous for the three of us, "girls," to walk on the streets late at night. From entering the commercial street to almost reaching the entrance of Lanya's store, we encountered several groups of intoxicated young men or older men trying to strike up a conversation. I chose to ignore them, but before they could say anything, Oyado had already taken them down and left them lying by the roadside.
"Who dares to gaze at Lady's beauty? These brainless fools!" Oyado said as she knocked them out.
Cough, well, I used to be the same gender as them, so I didn't know how to respond to that.
Although I always kept a low profile, now I didn't know what to do after you said that.
But Aliyah remained silent throughout the journey, pondering with her head down.
"What's wrong?" I asked Aliyah as I looked at her.
But it seemed like she didn't hear me, still lost in thought.
"Hey, Aliyah, what are you thinking?"
"Huh?"
When she heard me call her, she suddenly snapped back.
"Oh, I was wondering why Lanya only prepared things for Oyado and not for me."
"... "
I felt embarrassed. You were actually pondering about something like this?
Besides, you didn't even know how much money you took from various treasuries. Just buy whatever you want directly. Why do you need someone else to give it to you?
"Well, forget it. I guess this person doesn't have anything good anyway."
She said that, but she was the first one to enter the shop.
I wiped the sweat off my forehead, called out to Oyado who was still leaving the knocked-out people on the roadside, and entered Lanya's store.
"Welcome!"
As soon as we entered, 'Lanya' greeted us enthusiastically.
Of course, I put quotation marks around Lanya because this wasn't the real Lanya, but a combat humanoid created in her likeness... or rather, an identical humanoid.
There were several more humanoids walking around the shop, which made me further understand Lanya's peculiar taste.
However, these store employees seemed idle, probably because this Lanya's shop... actually used vending machines!
Yes, those coin-operated vending machines! One of them even had a funnel on top, probably for people to pour in hundreds of silver or gold coins.
I mean, there are banks, aren't there? Can't you make it card-operated?
"Hey!"
Suddenly, a side door opened, and Lanya's noumenon walked out from inside.
"You came really fast. I thought you would take a while longer."
At that moment, Lanya was wearing a complete set of alchemist work clothes, the kind that looked like they were made of explosion-proof armor. I wondered if she was experimenting with new bombs inside.
"Philia can't stay out too late, she needs to go home soon, otherwise her sister will worry," Aliyah explained beside me.
"Oh really..."
Lanya looked at me and stared at me for a while with narrowed eyes.
This look made me feel uneasy. Has this guy noticed something?
"I see, so that's how it is," Lanya nodded.
"Alright, I won't waste any more time then. First of all, you guys are planning to go to the Abyss, right?"
"Huh? How did you know?" Oyado exclaimed.
"Well, Fran told me. You found out where Fir is, right? The journey there is bound to be dangerous. I originally wanted to give Oyado some new equipment, but since you guys are all going, I'll let you all test out the new weapons together."
After saying that, she took out a box. When she opened it, the light coming from inside made me feel a bit uncomfortable.
"Well, these are specially designed weapons for undead, developed using light crystals. Pick the ones you can use."
The box was filled with various styles of weapons – daggers, long swords, bows, crossbows – everything you could imagine.
"Thanks to Yabber, our business with the church is quite good. They provide the light crystals, and we provide the weapon development."
No wonder, I remember Lanya used to rely on the light crystals I made to develop new products. With so many weapons now, they must have used up a significant number of crystals.
"Oh well, I'll just take it then."
Aliyah took the dual swords first, looking very happy.
Oyado still chose the dagger. With her Dagger of Death and this white one, Oyado could now have a complete set.
"Miss Filia, why don't you pick one too? You're going to the Abyss too, right?"
"Huh?"
Hearing Lanya suddenly say that to me, I was slightly surprised.
"How did you know I'm also going?"
"Well, anyone who can get involved with Oyado and the others is not an ordinary person. Since they are not ordinary people, this kind of excursion is a must."
Hey hey hey, isn't it already common knowledge that being with Oyado and the others means you're not an ordinary person? I feel like I've heard this line before today.
"...Well, then I won't hold back."
After saying that, I directly took a bag of crossbow arrows and a few grenades.
"That's it."
"Oh...I see."
Lanya nodded.
"Well, take care of yourselves. I won't accompany you. I have a busy business to attend to, and my old bones can't move much anyway."
Lanya said.
Hey hey hey, what do you mean by old bones? Although you are quite terrifying in terms of age, at least your appearance is that of a loli. Can't you speak properly?
"Anyway, I'll leave it up to you guys to bring Fir back. If you need anything, just let me know. I have plenty of things waiting to be tested here."
...
Are we just test subjects for free?
—————————poi—————————
After Philia and the others left the shop, Lanya pushed open the door to her laboratory and walked in.
"Hmm, interesting. If this is Fir, then who is the person in the abyss?" Lanya pushed her goggles up and looked at the person in the container in front of her. If Phylia were here, she would definitely be able to recognize that the person in the container was the female ninja they fought against that day. Her one eye was missing and the other showed no signs of life.
"Fir, who are you really? Why are you so different?" Lanya looked at the container with a cute smile on her face. "As a researcher, I'm very interested, you know."
