“Pfuah!! That sure hit the spot.”
A day has passed since then.
After disbanding her assistants and threatening them not to tell a soul what happened in here, I was now left alone with Rose since I owed her an explanation. Since she thought it was going to be a headache, she was currently leaning on a chair with her feet on the table and with a bottle of liquor in her hand.
“First, I would like to express my thanks for you providing these clothes… no. For providing all this gear for me.”
“Don't sweat it. Consider this as me investing in you. After all, I look forward to a profitable partnership. At least for a while. And besides, that stuff was just gathering dust in the cellar of the temple. Nobody claimed it for years so nobody is going to miss it.
That aside, how about you start properly talking now? I'm gonna try keeping an open mind, but it's not every day a human turns into a lizard.”
The Dragon Heart reconfigured my body. In order for all that experience to not tear my body to shreds, it was necessary for me to evolve. However, placing a Dragon Heart in me doesn't mean I became a dragon myself. I have become a lizardfolk capable of using magic.
This body… does feel weird. I won't deny that having scales instead of skin feels quite different, but at least compared to my old scrawny body, this one has some decent bulk. Not to mention I was skeptical at even looking at my own ‘plumbing’. Well… I will say that it’s bigger than before.
Leaving that aside I told Rose a simplified version of what happened to me. Rose is an acquaintance, not a friend, so I am not prepared to open my heart to just anyone. In fact, I’m not sure I’ll ever be, even if I wanted to.
She did feel pity for me on one end, but on the other, she analyzed it through a business standpoint and she also says it wasn't unusual for people to get thrown out of guilds for being too weak. That aside, she almost fell off the chair when I told her that what she implanted in me was a Dragon Heart.
“Why didn’t you tell me that sooner, you fucker!?”
“Can you blame me? Sorry, but after what I’ve been through you could say I have some trust issues. If I had told you what that was before the operation, would you have still gone through with it? What guarantee would I have that you wouldn’t run with both my heart and the Dragon Heart?”
“Fair enough. In that case, can I at least appraise you?”
“Pardon me?”
From her cleavage she pulled out some sort of monocle.
“See this? This is a high grade artifact. It can appraise items and even people. In fact there’s not much it can escape its gaze. So… may I?”
“Well, I would lie if I said I wasn’t curious myself. This saves me having to go to the temple or a guild for an evaluation. So, please proceed.”
As she put the eyeglass close to her eye and looked at me, a pale blue light shined in the glass.
“AWAWAWAWA!!!”
“Huh?”
“Sorry… but I can’t believe what I’m seeing. The pure pressure coming from you… You are… level 666. And… your magic tier… is 10.”
I violently stood up when I heard that appraisal.
“Rose-san… is what you’re saying true?”
“There’s no mistaking it.”
Magic and Magic Users are generally categorized in Tiers, ranging from 1 to 10. The Tier of a magician usually coincides with the tier level of their spells, this is due to Magic Tiers determining a magician's overall mana capacity. But even I was shocked. The strongest mage in our age is the Magic Tower Master, Abel Detrius. A person every mage respects and just being in the same room as him would be an honor. Even so… he is only a 7th tier mage. From my own knowledge… there is nobody in our day of age with a higher tier. So for Rose-san to tell me straight in the face that I am at the maximum tier…
“You’re… not going to blow up the town or something, are you?”
“I wouldn’t know how to do that, even if I wanted to. Rose-san, remember, you can only cast up to tier 3 spells by hand. You need a catalyst for higher level spells. I’m no exception to this rule. Also please put yourself in my shoes. I don’t even know what this body is capable of. Naturally I’m not even remotely thinking of using any form of offensive magic until I can perform some tests myself. Maybe in the desert or an abandoned plain.”
She eventually managed to calm down again. For a few minutes we couldn't think what to say to each other. This has become awkward pretty fast.
“That reminds me. Rose-san, would you mind appraising one more thing?”
I pulled out the Staff of the Storm Ruler. Aside from its name and rarity I couldn't get any more information from it.
“Sure, I guess.”
I handed the staff over, and she once again looked through the monocle.
“Kyaaaaaa!!!”
A cute kya sound leaked from her mouth.
“Is this for real? Something like this is so rare… if I recall only the Magic Tower Masters staff is superior. But to be able to see something like this with my own eyes…”
Staff of the Storm Ruler
Rank: SS
Damage caused by offensive type spells is increased by 50%
Effectiveness of all enhancement type spells is increased by 120%
When casting spells, reduce MP cost by 10% and increase casting speed by 15%
Moreover, this staff was made from a rare material, it could even be used in close combat to block Sword Aura strikes. Assuming you have the MP to feed it.
“This is such a premium catch! If I were to sell this, we both could live a carefree life!!”
“Well, I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to wipe your drool and return it to me. I don't intend to sell it.”
“What!? Aww, come on. You can't just show me something this amazing and leave me hanging!”
“You’ll have to bear with it, unfortunately.”
Reluctantly she returned the staff to me.
“Ah, one more thing. I just remembered.”
She once again reached into her cleavage and pulled out a small coin pouch.
“Catch.”
“This is…?”
“The change for your heart. Your loan and interest have been paid. And of course my commission as well. You got 120 thousand eris worth of change in there.”
“...”
“What, were you thinking I would keep it to myself? I have a reputation.”
“No… I was just wondering how much you can store in between your breasts.”
“Ara? Did I catch your attention? Wanna pull out your lizard dick on me?”
“S-stop saying such vulgar words!!”
“You're cute when you're embarrassed. But unfortunately this is a service you can't afford, dear customer.”
.
.
.
“Anyway, what are you planning to do now?”
“Honestly… even with a new heart… the pain in my chest is still there. I really… don't want to be alone at a time like this. But I don't want to go through that ordeal again. I want… a partner I can trust.”
“That's a tall order.”
After pondering for a while and after taking more sips from her bottle, Rose tilted her head and replied:
“Have you ever thought of getting yourself a slave?”