Chapter 66: Shopping

I absolutely didn’t come here to do stealth marketing, okay.
I also had a proper reason for coming to this commercial city, and that was to look for a book or document about methods to capture spirits.

I also asked Ash and Butler about it, but they told me that those kinds of books were generally treasured and seldom lent to others.
They told me that if there was a place who had them, then it would probably be here in Nalluadhid.

Very few people formed contracts with spirits.
Usually, it’s just a temporary contract because a huge amount of mana is taken away from the contractor.
If the contract isn’t fulfilled by the time the mana runs out, the spirit — angry for the attempt to bind them — would kill the contractor.

The magical power used in temporary contracts, or what folks here call as magical arts and sorcery, could be curtailed, but that would only end in failure.
They would secure safety for the meantime, but there were also times when the summoned spirits were vicious and the caster would receive damage in return.

However, the benefits of successful contracts were really great, based on the guys who were liked by spirits, as well as those who had spirits lingering around them.
That was why a lot of people would still take on the challenge, and some were lucky enough to have permanent effects after doing a temporary contract.

The Book of Spirits clearly explained the origins and efficacy of spirits, and they were frequently sold to filthy rich nobles through stealth marketing or else put up in auctions.
And so, I looked for suspicious looking general stores and antique shops.

Because of that, I caught pickpockets and hoodlums a whole lot more than yesterday.
Plus, I got carried away seeing a bunch of curious things, so I ended up buying a lot of junk, like old clothes, a knife, candle stand, mismatched tableware and tiles, and a few things with unknown purpose.

「Laddie, what are you looking for? 」
「 A book about spirits.
」
It’s not like it’s a secret, so I just said it frankly.
If I managed to find it then it would be unbelievable good luck.

「 Why don’t you try going to the bookshop? 」
「 Ah, I’m hunting for bargains.」
I was prowling around here precisely because they’re not sold legally.

「Ain’t gonna find those around here, then, they’re rare.
You see, nobles love to buy books just to put on a show.
Shady bookstores handle those with hard to understand stuff.
Even merchants recently build their own libraries just to put on airs, you know.」

So, I still ended up in a bookstore to get the books, huh.

I bought two candles from the general store aunty and paid a large sum, and she told me about two ‘shady bookstores’.

「 Do you have any books for display? 」
「 Yes, we have.
Do you want something with substance, or not? 」
「 Please give me those with contents.
」

The ‘blank’ books were just small boxes with the book spine and covers plastered around them.
Heh, so they’re really just for display, or maybe they’re being used as a small box?

「 There are plain white papers, while these are manuscripts rendered illegible by spirit pranks.
」
「 So, the white papers are more expensive.」
「 Indeed, that’s because anyone who knows the proper protocol can fill it up and turn it into a book, after all.
」

I switched my spirit-seeing mode on, and yep, there’s one spirit frolicking around the books.
Is it rewriting the book in the present progessive tense? I reached out, took the book and opened it.

Yeah, I could read it.

「 Oh, that one is written in a unique set of characters, and only the person who wrote it can read it.
Sometimes, there are people who want to keep their own secrets no matter what, especially the magicians and sorcerers, right? 」
The shopkeeper shrugged his shoulders.

I could understand vocab and made-up letters thanks to my【 Languages 】, but I had a hard time reading anagrams and rearrangements of preexisting characters and words, though.

Well, I got the feeling that I could decipher something akin to Holmes’ 「 Dancing Men Code 」if I tried harder to read the original characters.
Ah, no, it wouldn’t work if I didn’t know the language normally used by the person who made the code.
I didn’t have an inkling about their most frequently used words and letters, after all.

Wait a sec, there’s another volume for this one, I’m positive about it.
It’s written here to combine the magical circles and other diagrams drawn in a separate book with the numbers in this book.

「 Is there a book with the same spine label as this one? 」
「 There is, but let me tell you, since it has illustrations and diagrams, it’s still expensive even if you don’t understand it.
」
「 Yes, of course.
」
Bingo.

There was a spirit coiled around it, not to do mischief, but because this was probably an original manuscript.

「 Can I also get some books written about history, medicinal herbs and spirits, if there are any.
」

My chest pocket was bulging with cash more than usual, thanks to all the potions I sold for the subjugation.

….Still, these books were crazy expensive; maybe I shouldn’t have bought that red glass.

The spirits told me bits and pieces about the history of this continent, but their stories were too abstract so I couldn’t really understand it.
Plus, humans have been fabricating history and flaunting it as the truth over the span of many years.
The conquerors —particularly those who used underhanded means to win in battles — had the tendency to tamper with history..

There was a bit of discrepancy with the story I heard from Ash and Butler, so I would use them for comparison and to fill the gaps in what I know.

I already spent all of my money, so I decided to go home.
Even if something caught my eye, I wouldn’t be able to buy it, after all.
I immediately settled beside the fireplace and started reading the books.

The first topic written was all about the risks and benefits of forming contracts with the spirits.
The risks were mostly manageable and could be cleared through compatibility of attributes and the amount of mana.
The benefits depended on the contracted spirits, but they had one thing in common — they would all come to you when you summoned them.

Usually, magicians and sorcerers could borrow the power of the spirits around them, but the efficacy was quite low.
There was no guarantee that they were always surrounded by spirits who had affinity for them, after all.
Having contracts with spirits would solve that, since they could summon them in most places.

I previously thought that spirits were all the same no matter where they were, given that there were a lot of them here and there, plus you could find fire spirits and water spirits everywhere.
I knew that was wrong when I observed the spirits who helped me after I named them and compared them to the others with the same attributes.

Mischt and Halfalfa are considerably different from each other even if they had the same light attribute.
The light ball sticking to Sis is out of the question.

Well, even spirits wouldn’t want to listen to the request of intruders who break into their dwellings and territories, right.

And then, I also discovered some things that I forgot to buy.
Ugh, I won’t be able to draw the magic circle without a compass and a triangle!

———
E/N: This chapter is related to Chap 63 where the spirit scolds Jean about his method of forming a contract.
(Spirit: Blast it!! I thought you would use a magic circle or a cage with an amulet, so you caught me unprepared….!)