Early the next morning.
Loulan didn't pause. After spending the night at Maven's home, he departed first thing in the morning, headed straight to Wina's mansion to collect a commission and noble warrant from her, then rushed without stopping to the Adventurers' Guild's marketplace district.
He intended to buy some necessities there before heading off to explore a Darkest Dungeon!
This time, he absolutely had to obtain his first monster-girl wife!
"There, yes, just like that. Massage my neck. Hiss~ That feels wonderful!"
Walking along the main road, Loulan placed Lulu against the back of his neck. The slime's elastic body wrapped around his entire neck perfectly before beginning a series of gentle, wriggling massages.
Combined with a slime's cool, delicate texture, it felt absolutely sublime!
At the same time, his behavior attracted many stares along the road. Most people couldn't understand why Loulan had put a slime around his neck.
Magical pets might be called pets, but they were still magical creatures. A moment's carelessness might lead to someone accidentally dying at the hands of their own pet!
"Good, very good. Here, this is your reward. Absorb it gratefully!"
Murmuring softly, Loulan took out the bottle of Allure Brew, now half empty, then made a show of pulling it from his pocket to hide where it had come from.
Aside from Lulu's daily ration of ten milliliters, Loulan wasn't stingy about rewarding her for certain actions.
That reward mechanism seemed to make the innocent slime more obedient. Lulu's craving for Allure Brew allowed her to force herself to understand many of Loulan's instructions.
Examples included massaging his neck and serving as a cold eye mask while he slept.
The wicked Loulan was developing a slime's uses one by one!
He gently dripped two drops of Allure Brew onto Lulu's body. As she absorbed it, Loulan could clearly sense her joy and excitement, and even her wriggling massage became more diligent.
Enjoying the slime's massage along the way, Loulan soon reached his destination.
Northwest of the Adventurers' Guild, at the northwestern corner of Coldiron City, stood a vast open-air marketplace.
Vendors sold all kinds of processed goods. Adventurers offered magical-creature materials of every variety, while many blacksmiths had established shops to forge equipment.
Bards hawked their performances, clowns put on comic shows, druids walked their birds, and newly minted loser alchemists struggled to sell the garbage they had concocted.
Humans, dwarves, elves, demihumans, orcs, dragonkin, half-elves, and even dragonfolk, goblinkin, drow, and all manner of other races mingled together. No one asked where they came from. They gathered here simply as adventurers and merchants.
Wherever he looked, adventurers and adventuring parties filled the streets. The place was exceptionally lively, comparable to the pleasure district at night.
Loulan soon entered a general store that looked decent. It stood beside an alchemy workshop and was obviously owned by the same group, so its inventory should be relatively comprehensive.
"Boss, one bearskin backpack, ten bottles of superior healing potion, three bottles of holy water, and everything on this list."
Most of Loulan's money was deposited with the "Imperial Bank," the otherworld's equivalent of a bank. He had brought only one pouch of gold coins on this trip.
Since he didn't need to purchase provisions, he didn't need much cash. He only had to buy a storage backpack, healing potions, holy water for removing curses, and similar supplies.
"Certainly. Please wait a moment, sir. Shall I put everything directly into the backpack?"
The shopkeeper was goblinkin, a race similar to goblins but shorter, more intelligent, and shrewder, somewhat like the relationship between humans and dwarves.
Like drow, dragonfolk, and orcs, goblinkin belonged to the chaotic races. Few human or lawful nations and cities accepted them.
That was especially true of drow, a branch openly blacklisted by every other elven race and also known as dark elves.
"Mm, that's fine. Tell me how many gold coins it costs, and you'd better not try to cheat me."
With that, Loulan deliberately ordered his body into battle readiness. The imposing aura of a powerhouse swept outward, making the goblinkin shopkeeper's heart tighten.
The chaotic races were considered chaotic because most treated people according to their strength. This was especially true for merchant goblinkin, who were even more cunning and stingy than human traveling merchants. When bargaining with them, one often couldn't secure so much as a single extra copper coin!
Sometimes, they might even swindle you.
"Three gold for the bearskin backpack, five gold for each superior healing potion, seven silver for each bottle of holy water, and a little over twelve gold for the miscellaneous items. Since you're buying so generously, the fair total will be just sixty-five gold~"
Rubbing his hands like a fly, the goblinkin merchant spoke with sweat on his brow, afraid Loulan might find the price unreasonable and smash his shop.
Although the Adventurers' Guild district had rules, they were generally used only to restrain the weak.
Loulan wasn't weak. He was strong, and the strong naturally enjoyed the small privilege of acting capriciously.
"Mm."
Loulan nodded, finding the price reasonable. After reading all manner of books for four days, he knew the approximate value of these supplies.
Gold, silver, and copper coins formed the familiar Western-fantasy currency system and were also the universal currencies of this world. Their purchasing power was roughly comparable to US dollars in his previous life, with gold coins retaining their value best.
The exchange rates of the other two currencies varied according to circumstances.
Sometimes it was ten to one or dozens to one. At other times, it could even reach hundreds or thousands to one, which was absurd!
"By the way, sir, judging from the supplies you're buying, are you preparing to explore a dungeon? If you have any materials to sell, you can bring them to my shop. I swear in the name of the Goddess of the Underworld that I'll absolutely give you a fair price."
After preparing Loulan's supplies and completing the transaction, the goblinkin merchant's words stopped him just as he was about to leave. The merchant then took out a roll of parchment, handed it over, and spoke.
"Of course, we also conduct a little other business. You can take a look on the road later."
"All right, understood."
【Swearing to the God of Lies and Deception. You're really something. As expected of goblinkin...】
With an enormous bearskin backpack on his shoulders, Loulan casually stuffed the parchment roll into his pocket and left, silently mocking the merchant's oath all the while.
This world had gods and faith, and those gods truly existed. The Goddess of the Underworld belonged to the chaotic pantheon and was also known as the God of Lies and Deception. Drow and goblinkin made up most of her followers.
Swearing upon lies... That was a little too far ahead of its time for Loulan.
"ROAR—!!!"
Not long after he set out, a long, continuous roar suddenly came from the distance.
His attention drawn, Loulan looked toward the sound and saw an enormous, pure-white dragon flying toward Coldiron City.
"A dragon! There's a dragon!"
"Dragon attack! Dragon attack!"
"It's an adult white dragon. Run!"