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[Was it supposed to be that easy?] (Eva)

[Yeah?] (Syrus)

The deer hunt was completed successfully. They didn’t have the spare funds to buy a bow just for the single hunt, so they made do with the equipment they had, which ended up working just as well anyway.

It was requested to have as minimal damage as possible, which still allowed for some wounds and damage, as expecting perfection was asking for the job to never be done. They chose to set up a trap using Eva’s Manipulation and string. Syrus justified this as training for Eva–which it was–but it was also true she was curious to test the usefulness of her ability while hunting.

They targeted the deer that wandered around the forests and used Eva’s string to catch them before Syrus put the creature to rest. They managed to keep the outer wounds low, which would help with the reward money.

A long gathering trip of multiple hard-to-find plants might grant them more money in the future than a simple animal hunt, but doing it occasionally was something Syrus wanted to do.

When it came to the hunting quest, most were simply hunting animals for food. There were a few that appeared to be for clearing up dangerous animals that had been roaming around. This happened frequently whenever there was a spike in the wolf population, and they increased their prowling range closer to the city–in the past people have died or gotten injured because of that. If a mutated animal appeared, a quest to hunt them popped up relatively fast, they were always dangerous and the majority of the time very hostile. On the other hand, if a monster appeared, the process was much different.

Syrus tied the deer with some rope and strapped it onto the top of the wooden frame of the backpack. Once that was done, it was time to return to the city and drop off the prize.

They were happy with her work, and she collected her pay without issue. Eva spent the rest of the day making simple potions.

The following day continued on without any issue.

Anlesa spent the first half of the day strolling throughout the city shopping with all the money she had saved, which wasn’t a lot, but it was something.

The goal wasn’t just to buy items, but to also find good places to buy products in the future. Syrus especially wanted to find a good place to get a sword now that they could wield one. She knew of the shops in the area, but she had to take a peek at all of them to find the best bang for her buck.

[Did any of the Smithies suit your preference?] (Luna)

They completed their lap of the shops, and Syrus had been mostly silent as she observed the places that were offering weapons.

[Is buying one from the supply market really that bad?] Eva asked. They could either order a weapon from a weapon forger directly or buy one from the general wares stores.

[Yes.] (Syrus)

The big difference was the price–with the non-smithies being cheaper–but it was something Syrus wasn’t going to budge on completely. Buying weapons for cheap was a good idea, and it was useful for their disguises to use different weapons–Syrus did have decent proficiency in most.

[Don’t you require specific-sized tools for your work?] (Syrus)

[A beaker is a beaker, and a bowl is still a bowl. The only thing for my current work that I need to be exactly the correct size are my potion containers. Yeah, I do need correct-sized measuring tools, but that comparison still isn’t great.] It wasn’t that Eva didn’t understand where Syrus was coming from, but she wouldn’t allow an incorrect comparison of her work to be made.

Syrus gave up and rambled. [I want a sword that is the correct length for our body, the right balance in material, and made by someone who I know, so I can come back and punch them if they purposefully make a shit product.]

[Speaking of which, what type of sword do you use?] (Luna)

[Eh?] Syrus halted in slight confusion; she thought the answer was known already. She had mentioned many times about wanting a longsword after all.

[From experience, we’ve seen you fight, but I have not seen you fight in your optimal form. Whatever fighting style you used, I assumed it was very aggressive, and I knew your preference is longswords, but that is about it.] (Luna)

[Ohhh, that’s what you mean. I mean, yeah, it was aggressive for human fights, but I can’t say I did the exact same for monsters. It was a self-developed style, you know, I threw what I learned, felt right, and what I found effective together.] Syrus thought for a moment. [My swords were a bit longer than the average longsword, and oh yeah, I did use two.]

[Two?!] Eva shouted, confused and concerned, because two full-priced custom swords would be a lot of money.

[Yep.] (Syrus)

[That’s a bit more of a financial burden.] Said Luna. It wasn’t that they couldn’t afford that, but they wanted to increase the amount they were sending to the kids.

[Yeah, I know, which is why I’m not getting two.] (Syrus)

[Do you want to?] (Eva)

[I’m not really sure, probably. But at the same time, I’m not sure how well using two swords will work with a joint combat style.] (Syrus)

[Fair point to make, and likely is correct. Blocking the use of both hands would be very limiting for us when we are working together.] (Luna)

[I see.] (Eva)

Along their walk, they stopped by one of the travelling merchants and their waggon. Most merchants dealt directly with businesses in this city, it was just easier to do business that way, but a few stopped on the side streets and sold directly from their carts.

Eva liked checking out these carts, it was fun to find something rare, even though she could never afford them.

[Looks like there is some interesting stuff in this one.] Eva mused. Unique jewellery, pottery she had never seen before, and a bunch of other items she could tell were junk or treasure.

[He’s at least been around the block a few times.] (Syrus)

The owner of the waggon, who was sitting on the elevated seat, said quietly, “Wow, a trio of attributes. They even worked well together, you’re lucky to have them, considering that they aren’t an aligned arrangement.”

It was a simple comment, but one that made them feel like a bomb just went off in front of them.

[Luna! Don’t use Space or Moonlight at all.] Syrus immediately commanded, she wanted to ensure their whole disguise and cover system didn’t get blown up in a moment.

[Okay.] Luna

[What’s happening?] (Eva)

[A bull and tomas tomato.] Syrus’ previous life colloquialism went right over both Luna’s and Eva’s heads.

To prevent further risk, she had to reveal one more thing. Syrus flicked up her finger, and a small flame appeared at the time. “Four, though I can’t help but be concerned that you knew that.”

The man quietly laughed back, ensuring that he wasn’t causing a scene. “Don’t worry, I just have special eyes for this sort of thing.”

“I see…” Said Syrus, she made her annoyance evident. There was no reason to hide those feelings.

The man with fuzzy blond hair tipped his newsboy hat. “I apologised, I… thought I saw a weird mix, so I had to look deeper.” He opened his eyes wider. They were mostly closed before, but now, the nearly completely clear irises were visible. “Please look around, I won’t bother you anymore.”

Syrus looked over the waggon of goods and trinkets. It was a fat lie to say nothing seemed interesting, but justifying buying any of it was impossible.

“Nothing I’m interested in, or even afford, sorry for taking up your time.”

The man nodded. “Too bad, pleasure to do business next time.”

Syrus split ways and moved far out of the way down a different street.

[What was that?] Syrus asked, looking for Luna’s and Eva’s expertise.

[That’s what I would like to know.] (Luna)

[Sorry, everything happened too fast for me…] (Eva)

Syrus noted their reaction and gave a quick recap for Eva. [Someone could see our attributes, well, basing it off their words, they only saw three, which meant they only saw the attributes that had a passive effect on our body or what we were using, so Morph, Manipulation, and Blood.]

Manipulation had a passive effect on the mana within the body, well, it only really showed itself when Eva was in control, but it was still there; Morph was always active anyway; and Blood could fall into both categories, as Syrus was using the slow healing effects of it to repair the body, and the Attribute allowed mana to be stored in their blood. In Syrus' past life, she could only do this temporarily, but after the body reconstruction and the healing progress, small bits of mana started being stored there.

[Why did you show off Fire then?] Eva’s brain hadn’t caught up yet, the situation had rattled her for a moment.

[Because that’s a publicly known ability of Syrus.] (Syrus)

Eva paused. [Yeah… that’s fair.]

Silence formed between the three of them for a moment, as Eva and Luna processed the information and event that transpired.

Eva continued, [We need to narrow down the possible reasons.]

[Sight is technically an option, if we take his words literally, but from my and our experiences with Septurna, Sight isn’t that powerful to tell specific attributes, or maybe it was, but that path was not found by him.] (Luna)

[Could be a similar attribute with an overlapping function, those are common.] (Eva)

Luna replied, [True, but if an attribute had that power and its use wasn’t well known, that would mean it's a very high-level application of that attribute. On the other hand, it could also mean he simply has an extremely rare attribute, which it’s understandable for him to not give us, a stranger, a name for it.]

Eva and Luna went back and forth over a few possibilities. It could be one of the reasons they managed, or maybe it was an ability created from the combination of different attributes.

Syrus paused and deeply sighed. [Sigh, we are just overcomplicating this, aren’t we?]

Luna paused, [That… we are. I guess we are still very on edge, huh…]

They collectively sighed as they all agreed, they had been too tense recently.

[Want to go get something to eat?] (Eva)

[Yeah. Cheap or expensive?] (Syrus)

[The medium price is an option.] (Luna)

After discussing it for a moment, they turned down an alley, taking a shortcut to Jan’s Pan’s, a restaurant on 5th Street's east side. It was a place they hadn’t been to yet.

Once they were down the alley a fair bit, an annoying voice called out. “Where do you think you're going?”

[That’s him right…?] (Eva)

[Oh yeah; this city is a small place.] (Syrus)

The delivery boy, whose name they never got, had apparently noticed them and decided to follow.

“I heard about your exploits. Given potions out, huh? Trying to make a fool of the business. I even heard some people start to complain about our potions after trying yours.”

[Wow, this dude has some issues.] (Syrus)

He moved closer. “How are you going to make this up to the company? Joining will work; that way you even be able to do official business–”

Syrus stayed still, and she heard the man walk towards her.

“It’s a great deal for you, honestly.”

Dirt kicked up, and Syrus swung around.

“What are–!”

And punched the man straight in the face.

The delivery boy went flying into the dirty side street. His bright, tidy uniform was covered in dust.

Clap, clap, clap.

Syrus clapped her hands together three times and said, "Ah, yep, that was the relief I needed.”

[Let’s go get some food.] (Syrus)

[...Did we just cause an issue?] (Eva)

[Realistically? No, he seemed to be acting on his own. Just a whiny bastard who's got a stick up the rear.] (Syrus)

[But what he was saying… about the potions.] (Eva)

[It’s only a few days, at most he is purposely asking for comparisons and getting annoyed.] (Luna)

[Dude’s ego is really that low, I see why Ash finds him annoying.] (Syrus)

Anlesa left him on the ground and went to go get some food.