The Darkness Was Comfortable for Me

Chapter 83: The Place of the Heart and Gojit Plate

“Rifreya, I won’t run away anymore, so how about letting go?” (Hikaru)

“Don’t wanna. I won’t be letting you go the whole day.” (Rifreya)

“It would be troubling when going to the bathroom.” (Hikaru)

“I will go too.” (Rifreya)

“Seriously…?” (Hikaru)

Rifreya walks on and on as if trying to get as far from the dungeon as possible.

Walking in the city holding hands with a beauty stands out a crazy lot.

However, I don’t plan on letting go of her, so it can’t be helped.

I gave up.

“And so, where am I being taken to?” (Hikaru)

“Hikaru, let’s go buy armor.” (Rifreya)

“Armor…? Why all of a sudden?” (Hikaru)

“This is something I have been thinking about this whole time. You are dangerous, Hikaru… At this rate, I feel like you would die in a place I am not even aware of. And the reality is that that feeling of mine was correct.” (Rifreya)

“It is not like I want to die.” (Hikaru)

“Going alone to a dungeon where a Demon Lord has appeared is a suicidal act… More so when you are a Loved One. If you were found by a Demon Lord, you wouldn’t be able to run away just by hiding in the darkness, you know?” (Rifreya)

A Loved One is even loved by a Demon Lord, huh…

Now that I think about it, she did tell me that.

“Even so, I am surprised you could tell that I was trying to enter the dungeon alone.” (Hikaru)

“Of course I would be able to tell. I have been watching you this whole time after all. I was actually suspecting the break days too, you know? But…I thought that you would hate me if I were to pursue it too much… However, I thought that I must stop you here today.” (Rifreya)

“I see…” (Hikaru)

When I went to the dungeon alone, I was hit by a Treant and was wounded.

I lied to her telling her that I went fishing and fell down, but I probably didn’t manage to deceive her there.

“Also…there’s no way I would just ignore a person that’s making such a terrible face, right?” (Rifreya)

“Face?” (Hikaru)

It is not like there’s mirrors anywhere in this world. You could say there’s rarely any chance to see my own face compared to the time in my previous world.

That’s why I don’t know what kind of face I am making right now. Maybe I should have bought a hand-mirror with my Crystals.

“Today and yesterday as well…you have been making a pale white face this whole time, Hikaru. It is as if your heart is not here… That’s why, when you said you were disbanding the party…I got really worried. That maybe you would disappear somewhere…” (Rifreya)

I couldn’t deny those words.

If I could meet the Demon Lord and get 1st place, I wouldn’t mind dying.

My heart has been entrapped in my previous world this whole time.

If I can bring Nanami back, my work coming to this world would be over; that’s how I thought of it.

Even Rifreya who is walking by my side…I haven’t been looking at her properly.

Just how was she feeling while watching that state of mine? Even though I would have been able to notice if I had thought about it even a little bit…

The heat transmitted from her hands was certainly proof that I am here, and it made me realize that I have not even faced those feelings of mine.

Even though she has been watching me this much…

◇◆◆◆◇

“Now, we have arrived.” (Rifreya)

“Armor shop…? Isn’t this an expensive store?” (Hikaru)

The place I was brought to was a splendid store that I would find hard to believe is an armor shop.

It is a 2 story building that has used wood unsparingly, and the white painted walls were in a city that has a lot of dirty buildings, so it really contrasted the fact that it is a fancy store.

“It is an armor shop for explorers silver rank and higher.” (Rifreya)

“If it is armor, we could have gone to the blacksmith’s place, right? I don’t have that much money.” (Hikaru)

“If you don’t have enough, I will pay the rest. I brought you here after all.” (Rifreya)

“Even if you tell me that…you also don’t have that much money, right?” (Hikaru)

“I did earn money too. I have no problem if it is to buy your armor, Hikaru.” (Rifreya)

I entered with Rifreya pulling me by the hand.

The armor that’s placed on the shelves were all the type that protects from the neck to the shoulders… In other words, it is armor to protect the weak point of the living beings in this world that is the center of the Spirit Veins.

The shop assistant was a gentleman wearing a classy shirt and pants hung with suspenders. I felt so out of place with my dirty outfit.

“Ooh, Rifreya-sama! Have you come today to inspect the armor?”

“No, I was thinking about getting a gojit plate for this person.” (Rifreya)

“Ooh, a referral. Thank you very much.”

The hard to describe gaze of the shop assistant after taking a glance at me.

Well, Rifreya is like a noble lady and a guest of honor, so the fact that the one she brought was a dirty brat that looks like he would be swinging around a club must be disappointing.

“Forgive my rudeness, but can I ask for your name?”

“…Hikaru. Nice to meet you.” (Hikaru)

“What type of gojit plate have you been using until now?”

Judging from the flow of the conversation, a gojit plate must be the armor that protects the Spirit Vein center. A part of a metal plate armor that covers the neck, shoulder, and back with a thin sheet of metal. Rifreya obviously has one, and even the Lynxes have them equipped. It is basic equipment for explorers.

I didn’t know about that, so I don’t have any.

“I am a newbie, so this is my first time buying one.” (Hikaru)

“F-First time, huh…”

The shop assistant glances at Rifreya.

His face is fluently telling. It is a face that’s saying: ‘Our products are expensive. Can this guy pay for them?’.

Well, I don’t know if I can actually buy them, but the Garden Panther’s stone was sold at quite the high price, so it is true that I have a bit of leeway in my pocket.

“Hikaru, a mithril gojit plate would be good. I normally don’t take it off, and since it is something you have to constantly have on, it would be better for it to be light and sturdy. The ones made of iron are sturdy, but the maintenance is a pain, and it is heavy. In that case, leather ones would be better, but that has its own worries.” (Rifreya)

“Mithril, huh.” (Hikaru)

I don’t know what kind of metal is mithril in the first place, but it seems to be an impressive metal that is light and sturdy.

Is it like titanium?

The shop assistant that was listening to Rifreya brought a sparkly armor from the shelf that’s probably made of mithril.

“If it is for you, customer, I would say there would be no issues with this size. Please try wearing it.”

It is made in a way so that it goes through the head, and you adjust the size with strings to tighten the open spaces.

The inside of the armor has thick strings, and wearing it doesn’t feel uncomfortable.

It seems mithril itself has a stickiness to it, and there’s no feeling of obstructing my movements.

My neck feels a bit constrained though.

“It looks nice on you, Hikaru!” (Rifreya)

“I have never equipped myself with armor, so it feels weird. Even so, this metal is light.” (Hikaru)

I would say it isn’t that much different from leather.

It is thick at the base of the neck, but it is made thinly as a whole.

“Mithril is a special metal. It comes with the high price, but its lightness and sturdiness doesn’t fall short to steel.”

“Mithril is also called the magic silver. It is made by elves borrowing the strength of Spirits.” (Rifreya)

“Elves?” (Hikaru)

“Eh? You haven’t seen them before? There’s a number of elves who do dungeon exploration too.” (Rifreya)

“I don’t show myself at the guild that much after all.” (Hikaru)

In the first place, I don’t meet with other explorers that much inside the dungeon.

The dungeon itself is big, and when I feel the presence of people, I would try to change routes whenever possible, so there’s also that.

“And so, how much is this?” (Hikaru)

“Right…since this was a referral from Rifreya-sama…how about 1 gold?”

I don’t know the rate right now, but if it hasn’t changed much, that would be 40-50 silver coins.

It is not cheap, but it is a price I can pay.

A night in an inn is 2 small silver coins, so if we take that as 5,000 yen, then 1 silver coin is 20,000 yen.

1 gold coin would be around 800,000 yen to 1,000,000 yen. [10,000 usd.]

Converting it to japanese yen might be pointless, but what’s clear is that being a dungeon explorer is a job that you can earn a crazy lot.

I understand why Rifreya said she does diving in order to train her abilities and for money.

“The products here don’t have ornaments, and they are the simplest ones, so if you find something that’s to your liking, please tell me.”

These kinds of isekai stores must be a side that the viewers should be interested in.

I honestly don’t mind whichever we get, but I try checking all the shelves for now.

Looks like…this storewdw is exclusive for gojit plates. However, the materials go from steel to mithril, and there are even ones made of a mysterious metal (that has astronomical prices) on display as well.

The one I tried out was the cheapest one of the mithril, and the metal carved ones are even more expensive. However, it is not like the performance increases because of the metal carvings, and I will be hiding it with black cloth, so this simple one was plenty enough for me.