Chapter 36: Magic That Alters Appearance
Aside from Shirou, neither Hestia nor Bell suspected that the supporter girl had stolen the dagger.
Their reasoning was the same as Shirou's earlier thoughts: they couldn't imagine such a young girl doing something like that, nor did they believe Bell would lose his weapon so easily.
As a proper adventurer, Bell might not be extremely experienced, but he had at least reached the level where he could handle most situations. There was no way a little girl could steal his weapon without him even noticing.
In truth, Shirou himself wasn't completely convinced his theory was correct.
After all, even in this world, magic that can alter appearance is extremely rare.
And if such magic didn't exist, then Shirou's entire theory would fall apart.
That's why he didn't share his suspicion with Hestia or Bell. He simply said that he would find a way to investigate and retrieve the lost dagger.
Bell was deeply moved. He even wanted to rush back to the dungeon immediately and carefully search the path they had taken earlier.
But he was just too exhausted. After an entire day of dungeon exploration, he had no strength left. All he could do was resolve to search again the next day.
Shirou, on the other hand, left the Hestia Familia's base right away and started asking around, looking for the location of a pawnshop in Orario.
Yes—Shirou believed that if the supporter had stolen the dagger, she would definitely try to sell it.
In that case, a pawnshop dealing in secondhand goods would be the most likely place to find it.
"Do you know where the nearest pawnshop is?" he asked.
Under the dimming evening sky, Shirou asked a passerby.
"Hm?"
The passerby turned around—and Shirou realized, to his surprise, that it was someone he knew: the blonde-haired Sword Princess, Ais Wallenstein.
"It's you?" Ais looked at Shirou, a flicker of surprise flashing across her otherwise expressionless face.
"Sorry, I thought you were someone else."
Not expecting to run into Ais, Shirou had no interest in getting involved with her. He immediately tried to leave.
But after just a few steps, she grabbed his arm and stopped him.
Ais silently stared at his face, with an expression that clearly meant "I'm not letting you go until you tell me what's going on."
"Uh… I'm just out for a walk. You don't need to pay so much attention to me, right?"
Since she was part of the Loki Familia, Shirou didn't want to have too much contact with her.
But Ais seriously asked, "Then why are you asking about pawnshops while taking a walk?"
"…That…"
Seeing he couldn't hide it anymore, Shirou helplessly explained his purpose.
"Searching for a stolen weapon?" Ais still showed no expression, but she replied seriously, "I'll go with you."
"Why?"
"Because I can't turn a blind eye to wrongdoing."
"…"
Although Shirou suspected that Ais had ulterior motives—probably wanting to use this as a chance to gauge his strength—he wasn't in a position to refuse, so he quietly nodded.
Ais then led Shirou to the Black Street district, where most of the city's black-market pawnshops were located.
"You seem really familiar with this area," Shirou noted in surprise.
"Loki-sama often sneaks around in places like this," Ais answered flatly. "I've had to come here and drag her back so many times, I've gotten to know it pretty well."
"Seems like every deity has their quirks."
Shirou didn't quite know what expression to make in response.
Ais, meanwhile, walked straight into one of the pawnshops and asked the shopkeeper about the dagger, based on Shirou's description.
Faced with a Level 5 Sword Princess, the shopkeeper didn't dare lie—perhaps more out of fear of the deity Loki behind her.
Regardless, Ais's presence ended up saving Shirou a lot of trouble.
The two of them investigated pawnshops quickly, and by the time they reached the fifth one, they found the dagger Shirou had forged himself—Hassan's Dagger.
The shopkeeper, a balding gnome with a white beard, said that a Pallum girl had come that afternoon to pawn the dagger. He had bought it for 50,000 valis.
"Fifty thousand?"
Before Shirou could react, Ais already frowned.
As a seasoned adventurer, she could tell at a glance that this dagger was no ordinary weapon. At the very least, it was a third-grade item—worth anywhere between 100,000 and 1,000,000 valis.
If it had any special effects, its value could rise even higher—into the millions.
"Uh… well, the little Pallum girl was a bit of an idiot," the shopkeeper said awkwardly. "She had some street smarts, but didn't know the dagger's true value. I sweet-talked her a bit and she agreed to sell it to me."
He scratched his head. "After a proper appraisal, I found it actually has dual effects—it's a high-grade weapon that could easily sell for over a million."
"You're really good at business, huh."
Even Shirou couldn't help but click his tongue at the shopkeeper's brazen profiteering.
The gnome shopkeeper responded awkwardly, "Situations like this are rare. The more powerful a weapon is, the more famous its maker usually is. A powerful weapon without any maker's name is extremely uncommon—only a few people can even appraise them. Anyway, if you want it, I can sell it cheap. Just 500,000 valis."
"…"
The gnome's absurd markup actually made Shirou laugh in disbelief.
But before Shirou could say anything, Ais slapped the counter and said coldly, "That weapon belongs to him. Hand it over—now."
"That's robbery!" the shopkeeper protested. "I bought that dagger for 50,000! You can't just take it!"
"Then we'll give you 50,000."
"Wait, don't I get to make a profit?"
"If you insist," Ais said, "I can report this to Loki-sama. If I remember right, you still owe her quite a bit of money, don't you?"
"Wait, wait—take it for free! Just take it, okay?!"
Hearing Loki's name, the pawnshop owner panicked and instantly gave the dagger back without asking for a single coin.
Shirou didn't expect the situation to be resolved so cleanly. Even his expression turned a bit awkward.
But the most important thing was that the dagger had been found in the Black Street, which meant it was highly likely that the supporter had indeed stolen it.
However, a new problem emerged.
Bell had described the supporter as a beastman girl, while the pawnshop owner described the seller as a Pallum girl.
Assuming both accounts were correct, there were only two possible explanations:
One possibility was that this was a group effort—the thief and the seller were not the same person.
But considering the difficulty of stealing Bell's weapon, Shirou leaned toward the second possibility:
That the culprit possessed magic that could change their appearance!