The SSS-rank Guide Doesn't Need Saving novel Chapter 58

Chapter 58: Spending Money at the Association’s Market

With Ares finally gone, she was free to move at her own pace. Though she didn’t mind having him as her tour guide, his enthusiasm was strangely draining her.

She made her way first to a weapons shop she had noticed earlier.

The interior was exceptionally clean, with orderly displays of blades and firearms lining the walls. But one thing she noticed was... they’re all expensive--far more expensive than she had initially expected.

However, she simply picked out two artifacts that felt right in her hand. Stabbing and cutting through the air several times until she finally nodded.

"Good weapon," she praised. "But it’s too expensive."

Each of the weapons she liked was priced at 2,000 and 3,500 star credits. That was two or three trips to the Association.

The store owner on the side trembled with hands raised. Those were extremely high-quality pieces he got from another planet!

But seeing how she expertly spun the blades in her hands, he didn’t dare go over and scold her.

Fortunately, she didn’t break it.

Without bothering to haggle, she paid the listed amount and moved on.

Now that she had the money, and this was her first time spending it, Aisha thought she didn’t need to save for now.

She visited a few more stores, but what they had were just the same things inside the store she had just come out of.

Suddenly, just as she went further inside the market, a smaller shop further down the street caught her attention.

A young woman sat behind the counter. She had tired eyes and a posture that suggested she had been arguing for longer than she wanted to. In front of her stood a couple.

Judging by the uniform, the man was a Sentinel, and the woman beside him was a Guide. Both wore irritated expressions.

"This is outright robbery," the Guide said. She held up a slender dagger between two fingers. "This isn’t worth even half of what you are asking for."

"It’s been forged by hand," the young shop owner replied. "If you don’t want to buy, you can go elsewhere."

She dismissively waved them off, but the couple didn’t leave.

The Sentinel stepped in and said, "The price for a weapon this size is twice as expensive as the ones at the market. You should know that well enough."

Aisha slowed her pace.

She didn’t mean to listen to their argument, but they were too loud. And not only that... the items displayed on the counter made her stop.

Needles thin as hairpins. Small daggers no longer than a finger. A folding fan with edges that caught the light in a way that suggested they weren’t just decorative.

And finally, the small beads, dozens of them, arranged in neat rows. Each one, Aisha suspected, was something far more dangerous than it appeared.

They were concealed weapons. Every single one of them.

"Look," the Guide said, crossing her arms with a sneer. "We are being generous by even offering this much. You should be thanking us instead. No one else is going to buy this junk anyway."

"It’s not junk—"

"It might as well be," the Sentinel disdainfully said. "Do you really think anyone is going to walk up to a shabby stall like this and actually buy something? The Association does not allow overpricing. If we get them to shut this place down, you will have to surrender this trash to them!"

The young shop owner glared at them as she gritted her teeth. There was no rule placed upon them by the Association about overpricing. They only said not to use low-quality materials and to price them high.

Standing a few steps back, Aisha watched for this for a moment from a few steps away. There were also other people who came to a stop to watch the commotion.

With so many people, the young sop owner felt overwhelmed.

"Fine," She finally said, voice quieter now. "I will... I will lower the price. A little."

"See? Wasn’t that easy?" the Sentinel’s face turned smug. Instead of keeping this trash here where no one will buy it, you should just sell it to us."

Before the young shop owner could name a new price, Aisha stepped forward.

Moving past the couple, she picked up one of the small beads from the counter. She turned it over, inspecting it with genuine interest before bringing it to her nose.

It’s gunpowder, she thought.

There’s a lot of it inside the bead, but they were a little different from the gunpowder she knew in her past life.

"These are well-made."

Her calm voice drifted through the tense air, complimenting the quality of the beads.

The Guide glared at her, annoyed by the sudden interruption. "Excuse me? We are in the middle of a transaction--"

Aisha ignored her and picked up the folding fan next, casually running her thumb along the tips.

"You--!"

The young shop owner hurriedly tried to warn her.

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