Furina walked out from the back door and looked at Cissia, who was standing there in a daze.
He tilted his head in confusion, just about to ask what had happened.
As a result, his gaze landed on the stranger lying on the ground.
He was wearing a filthy suit, with torn clothing stained by dried blood.
Furina’s footsteps faltered.
He trembled and took a step back, pointing a finger at the stranger lying there.
“H-he…
what happened to him?”
“I-I…
I don’t know either~”
The door closed automatically, and faint blue energy shrouded the crack.
Furina took a deep breath, suppressing his nervousness.
He slowly walked over to Cissia’s side.
“Have you been wandering for nothing all these years?
How can you be scared just because you encountered someone who fainted…”
Just as he reached her, before Furina could crouch down to take a closer look, Cissia grabbed his arm tightly.
“I-I have certainly seen the world, but, but as soon as I opened the door, this person covered in blood fell onto me.
Who wouldn’t be scared!”
“D-don’t panic…
I’m here~!”
“But, Store Manager Furina, you seem to be shaking even worse than me~”
Hearing this, Furina turned his head to look at Cissia, shook off her hand, and brushed the dust off his blue dress.
“Get off~ Watch me…”
Taking a deep breath, Furina crouched down beside the injured man in the suit.
His gloved hand trembled as he flipped the stranger over.
The man’s face looked slightly weathered, with blood flowing from the corner of his mouth.
“Cough, cough…
Finally, you, you finally…”
A wrinkled glove reached out toward Furina, the man’s hoarse voice coming through.
“What?
You, you know me?!”
“…No, I don’t—”
“Then what do you mean by that?”
The originally confused Furina was instantly dumbfounded.
He looked at the man in the suit and asked.
“If you don’t flip me over, I might…
actually die…
cough, cough~”
In an instant, the emotions on Furina’s face drained away like flowing water.
He stood up expressionlessly and looked at the dazed Cissia.
“Come here.
Let’s throw him out together—”
“Ah, okay, okay.”
Upon hearing this, the man in the suit was instantly displeased.
He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, sat up, and spoke in a flustered tone.
“Don’t, don’t, don’t…
They might still be waiting for me.
Let me stay for a little while, please…
Urgh!”
Perhaps he had spoken too quickly, as the pain from his chest made him groan involuntarily.
He clutched his still-bleeding chest, gasping for air as he desperately tried to regulate his breathing.
“By the way, do you have a first-aid kit or something here…
I need to treat this briefly.”
Hearing this, Furina’s cat ears instantly perked up.
He looked at Cissia and waved his hand grandly.
“Good opportunity, hurry~ Bring the recovery potion over…”
“Got it.”
“Hm?
recovery potion…
What is that?”
Curling his lips, Furina patted his chest and introduced it very confidently.
“A type of potion I just brewed.
It can quickly restore your life and treat injuries.
It works wonders whether applied externally or taken internally!”
Rubbing his chin, the man nodded.
He looked at the two bottles of red liquid Cissia handed over, took them, and opened the stoppers.
Instantly, a foul smell wafted out.
The man looked at Furina with some concern.
“Can this really be taken internally?”
“Of course.
If I’m lying, I’m a puppy.”
“Aren’t you a Catgirl?!”
“Oh, just hurry up and drink it.
Don’t just drop dead here in a moment; how unlucky that would be…”
After such a simple interaction with him, Furina and Cissia felt much more at ease.
The man in the suit leaned against the wooden cabinet by the door.
At this point, he had no other choice; the last bit of magic power left in his body was acting as a lifesaver, barely sustaining his life.
He couldn’t spare any to heal his injuries at all.
Closing his eyes, he downed the two bottles of potion in one go.
The seemingly clear red liquid, upon entering his mouth, felt just like blood—slightly viscous and not very pleasant to drink.
Subsequently, the man’s pupils shrank instantly.
Faint cyan-green energy surrounded his body.
If there were a health bar, it would be like recovering thirty or forty points of health instantly from a locked-at-1-HP critical state.
Although his condition was still poor, at least he could slowly circulate the magic power in his body to begin healing the more serious injuries.
A wave of refreshing sensation swept through his entire body.
The man in the suit slowly exhaled a breath of stale air.
He stood up from the ground, looking somewhat disheveled.
His height of about 1.8 meters made him appear quite tall to the two small figures, Furina and Cissia.
“Hmm…
Thank you both for saving me.”
“4 Hydro coins.”
“Hm?”
“Pay up~ 4 Hydro coins!”
Furina held out his hand.
After speaking, seeing the confused look on the man’s face, he emphasized it again.
“What is that?”
“Hydro coins are the exclusive currency of this shop.
If you don’t have any, you can exchange items with me using whatever valuable things you have on you.”
As he spoke, Furina walked behind the counter on his own.
For this, he even picked up the monocle hanging on his collar.
Following him to the counter, the man observed the surrounding situation.
Because his condition had recovered quite a bit, the magic power he was slowly generating was also enhanced within this shop.
The injuries on his body were also healing steadily.
He briefly cast a detection magic spell, only to find that he couldn’t detect anything at all.
“I see…
I don’t have anything on me that can be used to exchange for currency.
How about this, let me look, uh…”
Reaching his hand into the inner pocket of his suit, he rummaged for a while before placing a strange book in front of Furina.
“Take a look at this book and see if it will do…”
[Detection Observation: This book is: The Notes of the Great Magician Joniat.
It contains a large amount of magic, including the Magician’s ID card~]
His teardrop-shaped pupils flickered slightly.
Furina then cast his gaze onto the man and sized him up for a long time.
“Why would a magician’s notes record magic…”
“You can actually read it?”
“Hm…
Yes, I can.”
“Haha…
It seems the two of you and this General Store come from outside the world~ That explains it well.
In our world, mages are not allowed to exist.
Organizations similar to official ones strictly control them.”
“But some kind of force that appeared suddenly is searching for the magic of that legendary magician, Joniat.
They expose magic in front of everyone to cause destruction and slaughter hidden mages.”
“I am not a person who likes to look for trouble, nor do I disdain seeking any powerful force…
Keeping this thing on me is just a source of danger.
Look, I almost lost my life because of it…”
As he spoke, the man placed the magician’s notes on the counter in front of Furina.
“Let this item serve as my Reward.
Mr.
Shopkeeper, please estimate its value…”
Nodding, Furina couldn’t help but think more highly of this man in the suit.
To have such a mindset was truly clear-headed.
He took the notes and placed them on the cash register to scan.
The price and quality were quickly displayed on it.
[The Notes of the Great Magician Joniat]
Quality: Legendary
Estimated Price: ~12000 Hydro coins
When he saw the estimated price, Furina was stunned.
Twelve thousand Hydro coins, that’s incredible…
“The price is a bit high~ Twelve thousand Hydro coins.”
“Is that so?
It’s normal, after all, it’s the notes of that legendary great magician, and it records many spells that have only been seen in history books.”
So the question arose: a first-time guest, and he had already obtained such an awesome item.
Furina didn’t really want to convert it into Hydro coins.
He wanted to keep it to read himself; after all, he could understand it, and it was magic—who wouldn’t be curious?
“I can’t provide change for such a large amount~”
“Haha, it’s me who is dumping a big trouble onto you anyway, no need for change.”
The man laughed loudly.
He flicked his coat tail and turned to leave.
When passing by the shelf, he casually picked up two bottles of life recovery potion.
“My injuries have recovered enough, so I should be going.
Taking two bottles of life recovery potion, is that okay?”
“Hm…
O-of course…”
Nodding, Furina stared blankly at the back of this dashing magician.
The man held the two bottles of potion, waved his hand, and pulled open the shop door to leave.
The shop returned to quiet, and Furina turned his gaze back to the magician’s notes in his hand.
Beside him, Cissia, who had fallen asleep on a chair at some point, slowly woke up.
She looked at Furina, dazed.
“Hm~?
Has the person left…
That’s great, let’s hurry upstairs and sleep~”
“Okay, let’s go.”
Nodding, Furina put the magician’s notes into the drawer, walked to the door to flip the “Open” sign, and then locked the door.
Watching Cissia’s back as she went upstairs, he took a few quick steps to follow her.