— Oberon, Krax, and Kaelen were strolling leisurely through the market as if they were tourists, looking around carefully for anything useful to buy. There were clothes, bags, maps, and flashlights; if it were up to Obi, they would have bought everything. The problem was that only Krax had money, and with a limited budget, they had to choose carefully the things that would truly be important —
I need weapons, but they have to be throwing weapons. I can't fight hand-to-hand right now, which means the only thing I can do is fight from a distance using blades or daggers to cause fragmentation, similar to what I did against the wolf, but from a safe distance.
"What exactly are you looking for, Obi?"
— Krax said, snapping Oberon out of his thoughts —
"Weapons that can be thrown and aren't too heavy."
"Perfect. I think I smell iron over there."
— Kaelen replied, pointing in a direction with his finger. Following that direction, they found a shop with the name "Weapons for Legends" clearly displayed —
"What a pretentious name," — said Obi —
"Don't say that; you haven't even seen the weapons yet,"
— replied Krax as he entered the shop, announcing his presence with the sound of the bell. The shop was a little more spacious than the living room of a normal house, yet it was filled with weapons of every kind, ranging from classic swords to more complex ones like the Urumi; there were spears, scythes, small and large bows—no matter where Obi looked, there was a weapon hanging there. There were even spears behind what appeared to be the shop owner, who, upon seeing customers enter, jumped to his feet and ran toward them with a big smile—
"Welcome to my shop, 'Weapons for Legends.' You won't find better weapons than mine on any of the twenty-two floors of Babel."
He talks like a con artist—how lucky I am to have Krax for these kinds of things.
"Do you have any throwing weapons for my wavy-haired companion? Lightweight and easy to carry."
"Sure, that's already taken care of."
"Well, I'd also like some flexible armor pieces, something suitable for an anthropomorph."
"An anthropomorph?"
— The man said, somewhat confused, as he shifted his gaze to the only one in the group with his torso bare. Obi could see a look of disgust in the man's eyes as he looked at Kaelen, as if he'd spotted a cockroach in his kitchen —
"Yes, of course, I'll get all that ready for you right away."
Even the tone of his voice changed slightly; he really isn't a good actor.
— The shopkeeper entered the room through the door next to his counter, leaving his customers alone in the store. —
"Aren't you going to have a drink, Krax?"
"Don't worry about that, Obi. What I'm carrying is fine for now, and it's not like I have much money left anyway."
"Now that I think about it, when you were unconscious, Elena mentioned your sword for a moment. I don't remember exactly what she said, but she seemed to find it strange."
— Krax picked up his sword, holding it as if he wanted to show it to the heavens —
"It's just a somewhat strange sword."
"Does it have a name?"
— The shop owner asked, emerging from where he had been with a box —
"It's a rather beautiful sword; it must have a name."
"It's better if you don't know. Show me what you've brought."
— The man placed the box on the counter; it seemed heavy from the loud metallic clang it made. He began taking out all kinds of throwing weapons, laying them out on the table. There were knives, daggers, balanced blades, chakrams, darts, and axes. Oberon didn't hesitate to reach in, beginning to move them around, gauge their weight and balance, and tap them lightly to test their durability —
"They're not bad, but I don't want them to be too durable; that would cost me more Malice to make them explode. Still, there's plenty to choose from."
— Having made up his mind, Obi took eight balanced blades, six throwing knives, and a dark tomahawk —
"It's perfect. With this, I'll be able to defend myself more easily—or so I hope."
"So you ended up taking a melee weapon after all."
"Yeah, better to be safe than sorry, even if I can't fight up close right now. And how's it going with the armor, Kaelen?"
— Kaelen was only wearing a few pieces of armor—the forearms, shoulders, and waist. The problem was that, since he was an anthropomorph, it was difficult for him to wear full armor, and a full set of flexible armor cost a lot of money—money that Krax didn't have —
"Well, it's better than nothing," — said Kaelen —
"You look good."
"Really?"
"No, but I'm out of money now."
— After Krax paid for all the group's gear, they left the shop as dusk was falling —
"Before I go back to Elena, I'd like to practice a little with the throwing knives."
"Really? Isn't it too late?" — Kaelen replied to Obi. —
"I still have plenty of energy."
"Well, there must be a park around here. I'll train a little with you too. You can go with Elena if you want, Kaelen."
"No, I don't mind staying a little longer."
— With that decided, the group started walking again. This time, they watched as all the shops were closing. The sunset was beautiful to behold, reflecting both the canal and Oberon's eyes; it was the kind of scene that brought a sense of calm just by looking at it.
They walked for quite a while, as the streets lit up thanks to the floating anti-gravity spheres. Eventually, they arrived at a quiet area where a handful of trees were spaced out, a place where the noise wouldn't wake anyone up —
"It's not bad here," — Obi said as he looked around —
— Krax kept walking until he stopped in front of Obi, drawing his sword to take a fighting stance —
"Well, let's get started."
"What? You want to train like this?"
"Of course. This is better than each of us training on our own."
"What if I hurt you? It's not out of pity; it's just that my chances of survival are pretty much tied to your physical condition."
"Don't worry about that. Even if you wanted to, you couldn't do it."
"Want to bet?" — said Oberon, smiling at Krax —
"The rest of my coins," — replied Krax, returning the challenge and the smile —