Bete left at some point after Noah had stuffed the armor's instruction manual into his own pocket.
After today, Bete would probably have a hard time looking the Amazon sisters in the eye.
Noah was mostly to blame for what happened, but what was done was done.
He could only hope that time would heal Bete's wounded pride.
...
The next day, Finn paid a sudden visit.
The first thing Noah did when he saw Finn was check to see if anyone was standing behind him.
Once he saw Finn was alone, Noah realized one thing: the Pallum hero was not here to pay the bill in full.
Seeing Noah's excitement instantly vanish, the smile on Finn's face became a bit stiff.
"Noah, please do not look at me like that. I really did not expect you to create something so incredible. Even for the Loki Familia, coming up with 552 million valis all at once is a bit difficult."
The Pallum hero looked genuinely troubled.
The problem was, in Finn's eyes, the equipment was completely worth the price.
In fact, because the weapons were so powerful, Finn was too embarrassed to even try haggling it.
"I have prepared 300 million valis. Raul will deliver the money this afternoon. How about we pay the rest in installments?"
'Three hundred million valis.'
Noah immediately wondered if Airmid would accept his request if he offered her that money.
If he could buy the chance to study Dia Fratel for three hundred million, it would be an incredible bargain.
'Tsk. Magic, huh.'
'If i could also... wait.'
"Finn," Noah suddenly spoke up.
The Pallum hero politely gestured for him to continue.
"Do you have any Grimoires on hand?"
In this world, if an adventurer wanted to learn magic after receiving their Falna, the only way was to read a Grimoire to unlock their hidden desires.
Magic would shape itself based on what the person wished for the most.
Grimoires were strange items, often considered one of the three great types of magic items.
They worked simply by reading the pages, but they only worked once.
After being read, the magic inside would disappear, turning it into an ordinary book.
Noah did not have any magic.
But now that Finn was about to pay him 300 million valis, he certainly had enough money to buy some, right?
The price of a Grimoire was usually between tens of millions and over a hundred million valis.
Buying one was basically a massive gamble.
It was like trying to pull a miracle out of a lottery box.
Some people might unlock a world-breaking, heaven-defying spell, while others might only get a useless trick like shooting a tiny fireball.
Either way, the Grimoire only acted as a guide.
The true strength of the magic depended on the reader's own potential and desires.
Take Bell Cranel, the chosen hero.
He got his magic later in life by reading a Grimoire.
The person who secretly gave it to him was Freya, the Goddess of Beauty, while she was disguised as Syr, the waitress at the Hostess of Fertility.
Through that Grimoire, Bell got exactly what he wished for.
He wanted a fire spell with strong attack power, and he also wanted it to be fast enough to strike like lightning.
That was how he unlocked "Firebolt," a rare spell that did not require chanting.
Noah used to complain that Bell's "instant" skill was always getting interrupted in the stories.
It was only after Noah experienced real combat that he understood: "chantless" did not mean "instant."
You still had to move your body and gather your mind.
It was a process.
It was not like an old video game where you could just press a button and cast a spell while standing perfectly still and taking hits.
In real life, if you got hit, the pain would break your focus.
Noah did not have much confidence in his ability to handle pain.
If a fight got to the point where his arms and legs were broken, he would definitely just lie on the ground and give up instead of trying to stand back up.
If someone ever tortured him for information, he would probably spill all his secrets after just three lashes of a whip.
Even though he had never been in those situations, he knew that was exactly the kind of person he was.
"Grimoire..." Finn muttered, deep in thought.
A Grimoire.
For someone with an empty magic slot, it was definitely the most direct way to get magic.
Since Noah was making so much money, he could easily afford the high price.
'So, the power Noah has been using all this time is not magic after all,' Finn noted to himself.
As the captain of the Loki Familia, Finn never missed a single detail about anyone, whether they were allies or enemies.
His strategy was to gather all possible information so he could prepare for anything.
Even now, he had never stopped trying to figure out Noah's secrets.
And Noah knew exactly what Finn was doing.
"A Grimoire... Riveria might have some," Finn said. "However, even 300 million valis probably would not be enough to buy a book from the royal elven library. For them, it is not just a matter of money."
'Ancient elven books? Things like that actually existed?'
'Tsk. Just as expected from the elven royal family,' Noah thought.
Rumor had it that the royal palace of Riveria's family was built using a super rare ore called White Holy Stone.
The staff used by a certain golden-haired elf in the Loki Familia was made from that exact material, and her staff alone was worth nearly 40 million valis.
'And the elves used that insanely expensive material to build a whole palace!'
'Mom, I don't want to work hard anymore!'
"Noah, do you want to awaken your magic?" Finn asked.
"I definitely want to, of course."
Who wouldn't? Magic was a power every adventurer dreamed of having.
"If you are determined to buy a Grimoire, then I can only suggest you check the black market," Finn said, spreading his hands openly.
Even though the black market was full of illegal activities, it was the only place to find rare items that could not be bought through normal shops.
Still, for the captain of the Loki Familia—one of the strongest factions in the city—to be casually recommending the black market...
Noah found it a bit strange. "The black market, huh... I will think about it. Thanks."
"Right, there is one more thing I was hoping you could help me with," Finn said, finally getting to his main point.
Noah knew this was the real reason Finn had visited him today.
"What is it? I will listen first before I decide."
"Haha, you are very cautious. However, I agree that it is best to be careful about this matter." Finn's face turned completely serious.
Then, he brought up a name that caught Noah completely off guard.
"Do you remember Jura?"
'Jura?'
Noah was surprised to hear that man's name right now, but he nodded anyway.
Then, Finn said something incredibly ominous. "He wants to see you."
Noah froze.
'What?'
He frowned and asked, "What do you mean?"
'What the hell, is Finn here to kill me?' Noah was totally confused.
"Why are you suddenly acting like this? Why are you so wary of me?" Finn asked, looking blankly at Noah's sudden panic.
"...You are asking me? Jura is dead! And now you are suddenly telling me a dead man wants to see me?!"
Noah did not try to run away.
After all, trying to outrun a Level 6 adventurer was completely useless.
Instead, he shot a worried glance toward the kitchen, where Haruhime was cooking.
Hearing Noah's panic voice, Finn finally realized his mistake.
He suddenly burst out laughing.
"Ah, my apologies! So you did not know that Jura is actually still alive."
"What?!" Noah was shocked. "You are saying Jura is alive? How is that even possible?!"
"It is true. The Astrea Familia saved his life using an expensive elixir. He is currently locked up in the dungeon underneath Babel Tower."
'What the... Alise and the others actually saved that guy's life? Was it so they could interrogate him about Evilus?'
It had been a while since that fight.
Why would Jura suddenly want to see him now?
Deep down, Noah felt that something was very wrong.
"It is normal for you to be worried," Finn said. "After all, he is an enemy who tried to kill you. It makes sense that you do not want to see him. It is just that the man suddenly became willing to talk recently. He said that if we let him see you just once, he will reveal everything he knows about Evilus."
Finn gave a wry smile as he spoke.
Jura was already chained up in the Babel Tower dungeon.
What more could he possibly do?
Or rather, what could he do?
Did he really just want to see Noah and say a few words? Noah could not figure it out.
Noah looked at the Pallum hero and asked, "Finn, what do you think his true motive is?"
Finn must have already thought of several theories.
Otherwise, he never would have brought this up.
Finn rubbed his right thumb and spoke in a low voice, "We have too little information right now to figure out his plan. But... my thumb has been aching faintly. It feels like something huge is about to happen."
Finn's thumb.
It was basically a cheat code, second only to the strongest cheat skills in the world.
Whenever a crisis was about to happen, his thumb would throb, warning him of danger and stopping him from making the wrong choice.
If Finn's thumb said something bad was coming, then a disaster was absolutely on the way.
Noah quickly searched his memories of the original story, trying to remember every single event that was supposed to happen around this time.
But according to his memory, he had already dealt with most of the major threats.
He had reached his limit.
Looking back at everything he had done, Noah suddenly realized that the timeline of Orario had completely changed from the story he knew.
One person's existence could change so many things.
Even though he was just a fragile butterfly who could not summon a storm on his own, his wings had created ripples in the pond, making the future of this world completely blurry.