16 — The Illumasian Reincarnation

16 — The Illumasian Reincarnation

A girl named Rina ran the store we were heading to, and I was reasonably certain that she had been reincarnated like me. But when we arrived, the store was gone.

The Holy City placed duties on its businesses, but not paying them was only grounds for repossession, not closing the shop entirely. And she hadn’t been hurting for profits even before I had come into the picture, meaning there had to be some other reason she wasn’t there.

“This is where it used to be,” I muttered.

Kefin immediately went to gather information and returned a few minutes later.

“Seems she moved in order to expand,” he reported. “She’s still in the city. I can take us there.”

“Good work. But what’s with the grin?”

All he had done, as far as I knew, was talk to a few people. I’d never seen him smile this widely before.

“I grew up being taught that no one would accept a beastperson in the Holy City,” he said, “much less a half-beast. I thought I would make things difficult by being with you, sir.” That was true; I had heard much the same myself. “But everyone’s treated me normally, even before I tell them that I’m with you. They’re so welcoming.”

I’d had no idea he’d been concerned about that. There I went being a bonehead again.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think about any of that,” I admitted. “I’m glad you aren’t being discriminated against.”

“Don’t apologize, sir. I’m sure you’re the reason everyone’s being so accepting in the first place.”

“That’d be nice.”

I noticed Ketty grinning as well. Kefin’s positivity was working wonders on all of us. He guided us away from the slums and through the city to a corner on the main street. It was definitely the place to be if someone wanted to attract customers with fat wallets.

“This is the place,” he announced.

“It’s almost twice as big as the last one,” I commented. “Definitely a lot nicer, but it looks like she didn’t do much remodeling.”

It seemed my investments had paid off. It made me happy to think my help had something to do with the upgrade.

Lionel entered the store first and immediately flinched, taking a defensive stance. Inside was the same talking golem that had greeted me on my first visit.

“Whoa there,” I said. “That was at the first shop too. Well, it wasn’t this pretty at the time.”

“WELCOME TO COMMEDIA ARTIFACTS,” the robotic construct said.

At a glance, the store’s stock had grown considerably in both diversity and quantity.

“Welcome to Commedia Artifacts!” a voice echoed from near the back. An employee, busy assisting another customer. There were a few other guests browsing around as well.

“Business is definitely booming,” I remarked. “By the way, this is where I get pretty much all of my magic items, like my magic stove.”

Lionel hummed with interest. “Perhaps we’ll uncover something unique.”

“Or something Pola or Lycian might be able to whip up,” Ketty added.

“Let me know if anything catches your eye, and we can pick it up,” I told them.

“Yes, sir,” all four said at once. In the middle of the store. Awkward.

We perused the shop’s items curiously, and the employee who had called out earlier approached us before long.

“Can I help you find anything?” she asked.

“Actually, is your boss in? Rina, I believe her name is.”

Her expression hardened a bit. Poor human relations?

“Rina? You want to see Rina?”

I kept my smile up. “Yes, ma’am. I have business with her.”

“One moment, please.”

The woman shot me a questioning glance before disappearing through a door meant for employees.

“Business?” Lionel asked.

“Yeah, just have a few questions. It’s nothing dangerous, don’t worry.”

A moment later, the woman returned with a girl wearing glasses—Rina. She wore a white coat and her hair rested on her shoulders.

“Hello, can I help you with something?” she asked. She took a good look at me. “Hey, aren’t you that church fellow who nearly bought me dry a few years ago?”

“That’s me,” I answered. “I’ve been out of town for the last year, so I wanted to come see what new stuff you had. It took me a while to find the place, though.”

“Oh, yeah. We scaled up a bit. You really put us on the map.”

She had seemed on guard at first, like she had been expecting someone else, but her demeanor was calm now.

“Pardon if I’m prying too much,”—I dropped my smile—“but I’m not the first visitor you’ve had from the Church, am I?”

I had a hunch the corrupted knights and healers from the labyrinth had shopped here.

“No,” Rina admitted. “No, you aren’t. But you’re definitely one of the nicer ones. I learned that lesson pretty fast.”

What in the world had they done? Had they threatened her? Shaken her down?

“I’m sorry.” I bowed. “I apologize if they’ve done anything untoward to you.”

“C-Come on now, raise your head,” she insisted. “I feel like your friends are about to kill me.”

I sensed a menacing aura emanating from behind me. They were probably enraged by the members of the Church who had just forced me to humble myself, but that was hardly the store’s fault. On the other hand, though, I was a little glad that someone was mad, because if it hadn’t been them, it would’ve been me. At least my apology had smoothed things over somewhat, and telling the others to relax helped me to earn more of Rina’s trust too. I needed to report this information to the pope later.

“Apologies again. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable,” I said, hoping to move the conversation towards my reason for being there, but Rina beat me to it.

“So, you have business with me?”

“I’d like you to give me a rundown of your newest inventions. Or I’ll take a pamphlet if you have any.” I took out a small ring. “I also want to hear what you know about this.”

Rina looked at it and thought for a while. “How high up in the Church are you?”

“Well, I can meet with the pope without an appointment, so fairly high.”

“My master serves no one but Her Holiness,” Lionel boasted. “No other surpasses his rank.”

“In that case...” Rina fiddled with her glasses. “I have a favor to ask.”

I wondered if maybe those things had some sort of lie detector functionality. In any case, she sure had guts to stand up to Lionel directly. Anyone else would have at least flinched.

“What is it?” I asked.

“I just want to make sure those men never come back here,” she said. She looked genuinely uneasy. “I don’t particularly like being threatened into doing my work.”

She didn’t have to worry about that, at least. They had already parted from this world. But a person would normally become public enemy number one for pulling a stunt like that. I could see why she wanted to ensure her safety.

“That can be arranged. In return—I mean, not that I’m asking for anything in return specifically—can you tell me what this ring is?”

“It uses the wearer’s mana to protect them from ailments,” she explained. “But it’s still a prototype. Several were stolen from me.”

“Well, that’s not good.” I gave three of the rings back to her, keeping four for myself.

“I can have them back?”

“Of course. Now, I’d like to hear about your new products.”

“Yes, right. Where should I start?”

“Anywhere. I’m buying anything that sounds useful today, so show me everything.”

Rina exchanged glances with the other woman, both of them grinning. “Thank you for your patronage,” Rina said excitedly. “Now, let’s begin with...”

But before she could get started, I remembered something. “Oh, that reminds me. Did you ever complete those glasses that can use appraisal skills?”

“Unfortunately not. That project still needs a bit more elbow grease.”

“Too bad. It sounds handy. Anyway, sorry for interrupting.”

She resumed her pitch, and I proceeded to judge the items one by one, deciding if they were worth purchasing. As we placed our orders with the employee, one person in particular seemed to be positively exhilarated by the experience: Estia. She was always the one with her nose closest to each item, asking the most questions. You wouldn’t have believed she was the same timid girl as before. And then, right as we were wrapping up, her excitement reached its peak and she asked a single innocent question.

“I knew it! I’ve heard of all these things!” Estia exclaimed. “Rina, are you from another world? One of those reincarnated people?”

It was like a bomb had gone off. Rina went dead quiet.

“I met Alice in the empire about five or six years ago,” Estia continued, “and she said she was reincarnated into a whole different body.”

Rina’s face had turned pale. “Where...” Her voice shook. “Where is she now?”

“The empire...killed her,” Estia said. “She protected me.”

Rina and I weren’t the only ones stunned into silence. Lionel and Ketty, who had been with the empire all that time ago, didn’t hide their shock.

And just like that, the secret of reincarnation was out of the bag. But why hadn’t the empire made use of that information? They surely had the money and resources.

“So she’s dead,” Rina murmured despondently.

“Alice taught me about all sorts of things,” Estia said. “Like flying birds made of steel and boxes filled with more information than you can imagine. A lot of your stuff reminded me of the things she told me about, so I thought you might be like her.”

Planes and computers. Hearing about another reincarnated person’s death shook me pretty hard. Rina was no exception. I could see her trembling.

“Maybe,” said Rina. “Maybe I am. But what does that matter? What does it matter to you where I come from?”

I was right there with her. This was a massive thing to reveal, so Estia had surely done it for a reason.

“Alice taught me that there are a lot of books and stories in her world,” Estia explained, “and that some of them are about ‘brolationships’ and forbidden love between men. She called it ‘the way of the world.’”

All at once, the tension in the air evaporated. Alice, evidently, had been quite the well-read individual...of a very particular genre. Now I’d seen everything.

“I was just a little curious about these...ways of the world,” Estia went on.

“I...think that’s a bit of an exaggeration,” said Rina.

I was in full agreement. Now I knew where Lihzalea had gotten her information from.

“Oh,” said Estia, a bit disappointed.

“I mean, some people are into that sort of thing, I guess.”

“I see. Then what about the steel birds? Or the horseless carriages? Could you make those? Do you think you could do it?”

She was flipping back and forth like a light switch. Did she not know that Rina would have to admit she’d been reincarnated just to answer that question? I couldn’t tell if Estia was an airhead or an exceptional actor.

“I don’t know, but they’re interesting ideas.”

“You haven’t tried yet?”

“I’m really not skilled enough to make anything like that, and where would I get the materials for any of it? You’re talking fairy tales.”

Suddenly, I had a thought. Perhaps I could tap into and refine her talents as one of the reincarnated. I had intended to keep it in my head, but before I knew it, my lips were moving.

“You like inventing things?” I asked her. “Plan on doing anything with it? Have any goals for the future?”

She looked at me and replied at once, “I do.”

We ignored Estia’s fervor.

“Mind telling me what?”

We chatted for some time after that. I wasn’t going to reveal myself as one of the reincarnated, but I was going to entice her over to my side.

Our last destination was Sagius’s restaurant in the slums. Despite its location, the building was large and clean. It stood out quite a bit compared to its surroundings.

When we entered, the staff froze and cried out at once, “The S-rank’s here!”

Well, that sure was a great way to make me want to leave. We sat down at an empty table and Sagius made his way over. He seemed to be the one in charge.

“Welcome, Mister Luciel and friends,” he greeted us.

“I hear good things about this place,” I said.

“And we owe that reputation to our meeting with you as well as the Valkyries for pleading our case for us.”

I noticed he didn’t mention Lumina in particular. “So what, you gather information from here or something?”

“Oh, no, sir. This is a simple restaurant.”

He didn’t even blink. He was totally gathering intel on the side. To be fair, it was probably for Lumina.

“I heard you have a past with Lumina,” I said. “Be there for her, all right? Don’t worry about me.”

“I’m afraid I have no idea what you’re referring to, but I will assist her however I may.”

“In that case, we’ll all have whatever the chef recommends.”

“We’ll have that right out for you. Order up!” he called to the kitchen.

“Chow down!” they called back.

What kind of call and response was that? My gripes aside, the food turned out to be pretty good. I offered them my congratulations on a successful opening, let them know I’d come back for a bulk order sometime, then set out for HQ with a firm pat on Sagius’s shoulder. I had entrusted Lumina to him, after all.

That night, Dhoran had something important to discuss with me, so I stopped by the inn they were lodging in. The three of them were packed like they were about to head out on a trip.

“Ah. Leaving the city?” I asked.

“That’s the plan,” Dhoran said. “All I wanted was ta give Pola more of a taste o’ the world, y’know? It’s a big one.”

“Have she and Lycian finished doing that market research on your competitors and stuff?”

“Commedia Artifacts,” Pola affirmed. “Rina.”

“She still lacks experience, but she rivals even your flashes of brilliance,” Lycian added.

So Rina was their potential rival now.

“Then you’re going back to Rockford?” I asked. “You could stay as long as you like, you know.” I suddenly felt really bad about having left the three of them to their own devices since getting here. I’d put them off for too long.

“Heard from Lionel that you’re goin’ back to Merratoni to train,” Dhoran replied. “So makes sense we get back to our roots too, eh?”

“It’s been fun,” said Pola. “But we can’t let that girl beat us.”

“Over my dead body,” Lycian added. “Artificing simply needs a proper workshop.”

“All right,” I acquiesced. “Let me take you to the gate, at least. And here.”

I gave them the magic stones I’d gathered over the last couple of days.

“My boss is the best boss,” Pola praised me.

“He’s my boss too,” Lycian quickly said back.

“Contact me by arclink if anything happens,” I told Dhoran. “I’ll be there right away.”

“Appreciate it, lad.”

And with that, they were off. Back to Rockford.

“Wait, crap. I forgot to tell them I might be hiring Rina. Oh well.”

I watched their carriage disappear into the distance.