That was precisely why Wiz—who had been slumped behind the counter moments ago, looking like the very picture of despair—lit up with such unmistakable excitement the instant Ren Kuroda walked in.
After all, as long as Ren—her ahem, reliable big spender—showed up, some of the junk that had been rotting at the bottom of her inventory was bound to sell. At the very least, today's revenue might finally crawl its way out of the red.
"Welcome! Oh—Ren! What are you looking to buy today?"She bounced over energetically, her voice bright and eager. "Actually, the shop just got a new shipment in, and I think it's really good this time. Want to take a look—?"
Watching the beautiful young woman hurry toward him, her overly generous bust swaying dramatically with each step, Ren calmly raised a hand to stop her, cutting her off before she could launch into another enthusiastic sales pitch.
"I don't need any of your weird new products," he said flatly. "I just want some high-grade magic crystals and recovery potions. If you've got higher-level resistance potions, I'll take a few of those too. As for everything else—please spare me. I'm not interested in taking my enemies down by dying together with them."
To be fair, Wiz was flawless when it came to looks and figure. Any normal person would have trouble resisting a sales pitch from a girl like her. Unfortunately, the actual effects of the magical tools in her shop were… difficult to describe politely.
Take, for example, a magic tool that enhanced paralysis spells. After activation, it drastically boosted the spell's power, rendering enemies completely paralyzed——and paralyzing the caster as well.
Or the device that strengthened swamp magic. It expanded the swamp's area of effect, trapping enemies more effectively——while also including the caster within the range.
In other words, using it guaranteed mutual destruction.
And those were just the combat-related items.
There was also a magically compressed, instant-deployment portable toilet that activated the moment you opened the box—convenient, washable, and loud enough to attract monsters due to its absurd noise-suppression system. Or a water-generation device so powerful that it caused localized flooding every time it was used.
Ren honestly wanted to ask—what kind of adventurer would willingly pay Eris to buy something like this?
Anyone with eyes could tell these magical tools had serious design flaws. Yet Wiz, as the shop owner, had never once questioned her own judgment. Instead, she remained perpetually baffled and distressed over why her "excellent products" never sold.
"Come on, Ren, just take a look," she pleaded pitifully. "This time they're really good! I was even planning to make them the shop's main featured items.I spent all the money in the shop's account to stock this batch, so if I don't make any sales soon, I'll seriously starve to death…"
Despite how tragically sincere she sounded, Ren's expression didn't waver in the slightest. He felt absolutely zero anticipation for these "new products she had such high hopes for."
After all, this wasn't the first time he'd been deceived.
And more importantly—this big-chested girl in front of him was never actually going to starve to death.
Because Wiz wasn't human.
She was a lich.
A type of demon—an immortal, undead existence. While liches still needed to eat, their vitality was absurdly resilient. And despite her frail, mascot-like appearance, Ren would bet without hesitation that there were only a handful of beings in all of Akuseru who could match Wiz in raw power.
As a high-level lich, even if Wiz went hungry for weeks, death was simply not on the table. Give her some bean sprouts or a bowl of sweet soup, and she'd be back to full health in no time.
Honestly, if she didn't have that kind of durability, there was no way her catastrophically wasteful habits would have allowed her to survive this long.
"You went and stocked new products again?!" Ren snapped, grabbing her shoulders as he stared at her in disbelief."How obsessed are you with new items, seriously?! You'd rather risk starving than stop buying this junk?!Wiz, with your talent for business, you could bankrupt an entire national treasury!"
The girl in front of him was already starting to look slightly translucent—clear proof she hadn't eaten properly in quite some time.
Liches were tough, but they still needed food.
"That's not an option," Wiz replied stubbornly. "Running a magic tool shop has always been my dream! I want to see adventurers walk in with excitement in their eyes.And this time, I really believe the new products will sell! Once they do, I'll finally get rid of the shop's deficit!"
Faced with her mysterious, unfounded confidence, Ren could only cover his face in silence. He had genuinely lost count of how many times he'd heard her say those exact words.
Still, even if he didn't understand her obsession with running a magic tool shop, Ren knew everyone had their own story. If she was clinging to this dream so stubbornly, then there had to be a reason she refused to let go.
Otherwise, given her strength, becoming an adventurer and earning Eris would have been laughably easy for her.
"If you're going to run a shop, then at least run it properly," Ren sighed, pulling food out from his coat while watching the starving shop owner devour it ravenously."Stop selling all this bizarre nonsense. If you just stocked normal items, with your reputation and connections in Akuseru, business would actually be pretty good."
"Mmm—mmgh—but then I'd be no different from the other magic tool shops," Wiz replied between mouthfuls, chewing at an alarming speed."If I don't have something unique, how am I supposed to stand out in such a competitive market?"
"So this is why you almost starved to death," Ren shot back. "Even someone like me—who's never run a business—can tell your current strategy is a disaster."
Honestly, managing to run a perfectly normal magic tool shop into a deficit this severe was, in its own way, an impressive feat.
What puzzled Ren even more was how Wiz kept finding the money to restock. Based on the prices of her items, most of her inventory couldn't have been cheap to acquire in the first place.
So where was the money coming from?
…Don't tell me she really was some kind of princess, like he'd once half-jokingly suspected?
No, even a princess shouldn't be able to squander national wealth like this. And judging by the sheer amount of inventory in this tiny shop, buying everything here outright would probably strain even a kingdom's finances…
Just as Ren was lost in thought, Wiz suddenly froze mid-bite. Her eyes widened, shining brilliantly as she looked straight at him.
"Ren," she said excitedly,"Come work here as a shop clerk! Help me run the magic tool store!"