It was time.

  Time to go back into the dungeon and meet that weird acolyte man. What was his name again? Something that started with the letter A, I think… Ar… Ar… oh yeah. Aranda. Acolyte Aranda.

  Going back with the family and with Grandpa here, they are relying on me to be a major player in battles. It was a bit less obvious if another scale of assault came onto us.

  Grandpa by himself wouldn’t be the solution to something like that, but in the meantime, while we did have time, I was going back into the dungeon, and if I remember correctly, when I left, the man said that there would be other people filling the counters.

  I don’t know where those people would be coming from, nor do I know where that acolyte himself came from, but I think enough time has passed that they should be in there.

  Not wasting any more time, I entered the Gauntlet Dungeon again, reappearing in the initial waiting area that we were used to, but the second I did so… I tried to move myself into the second waiting area.

  There wasn’t exactly any rules about how to go about doing this, and if I didn’t have to go fight all Fifty battles again to get to the second waiting area, especially since I wouldn’t be getting a reward for them, then I’d hope I wouldn’t have to do so.

  Thankfully, I was right, and not even a second later I was back standing in the same place I found myself after defeating the Leviathan.

  “You have returned, my good sir. Please understand how much joy it brings me to see you here once again. No one else has managed to complete all Fifty battles of the F Grade save for you, so it would have brought me nothing short of sadness if you had not returned.

  “Thankfully, that isn’t the case. Come, come. I do hope you have time to take that tour I wanted to give you before, and as you can see, the brazier is now filled with people.

  “Come now.”

  And just as I remembered last time, Acolyte Aranda appeared out of nowhere, seemingly just teleporting there. I’m not sure where the hell he was hiding before, but it simply felt as if he just appeared out of thin air, as if he was meant to stand where he was standing.

  Either way, he was still wearing the robes he had last time, and that weird smile on his face that made me feel slightly uncomfortable was still plastered there, and he was right in the direction he was pointing.

  The counters built into the wall of what I assumed to be the dungeon now had people. It wasn’t so numerous as he described, but there were indeed other people there. In fact, it was quite literally only five other people for the five counters I saw before me.

  What was weird though was how these people looked, and I was using the word people loosely. I didn’t see any hands, feet, or any other features that would have depicted them as people. Instead, what I saw were the same robes that Acolyte Aranda wore on these five individuals standing behind their counters silently, without moving.

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  The robes covered the entire being. I could not see what was underneath, just the figure of an individual standing behind the counters. It was odd and even more uncomfortable looking than the smile Aranda gave off. Either way, I came here for information, so I better not complain about who’s providing it, at least not yet.

  Anyway, I didn’t really respond to Acolyte Aranda because I didn’t really know what to say, so I just kind of gave him a light smile and followed as he walked me over to the first counter, where the individual covered in robes behind it still had not moved or made a sound.

  Try not to let that weird me out too much.

  I looked around the counter and around the area the individual stood behind, but I didn’t see any goods. I assumed this would be a place where they sold things, but there was nothing on display. Perhaps I’d have to ask?

  Turns out there was no need for me to. Aranda had it all under control.

  “I can see the confusion painting your eyes, young Freddy, but you’re not mistaken. This is indeed a market where we sell things. We just do things a bit differently from what you are likely used to seeing. Here at this counter, we have Havesh, and their products are weapons.

  “Only two weapons and one defensive item will ever be sold here. A scythe, a mace, and a thick plated shield that was also as light as a feather.

  “You may question the selection, but it is imperative you understand you will never find finer weapons of these variants on this planet.”

  Well, that was weird. What type of weapon store only sold three types of weapons, yet just as well boasted that they would be the finest I would find on this entire planet? It wasn’t like I’d been to many weapon stores in my life, but this felt like common sense. Yet clearly it wasn’t. A scythe, a mace, and a shield, eh…

  I looked at the acolyte and finally asked a question.

  How do I purchase these things, and how much do they cost?

  He gave me an odd smile in return.

  I will tell you now, young Freddy, you do not purchase these items with simple gold, but you will get to that a bit later. For now, let’s continue on our tour.

  He had all the information. I didn’t really know what else to say but to just accept what he said. The only other thing I could think of would be the system credit things that were in the faction shop, but how would he know that we had access to that? Either way, like he said, I’d learn eventually.

  For now, we continued on his tour. There were four more counters. The next one sold potions, of which there were only Twenty One that increased your healing, and another that increased your strength. Again, they were not on display, nor was there any talk of how to purchase them, or what I would be purchasing them with.

  From there, there was an information counter. This obviously piqued my interest the most, but there was very little information, funny enough, given about what this counter sold. All the acolyte told me was that I would only be able to get very specific pieces of information, all related to very specific situations.

  Then he moved on.

  Next came training, and unlike the previous counter, plenty of information was given here, and it almost superseded the interest I had for the previous counter. The name was very accurate for what was sold here.

  Training.

  You could quite literally get trained in a few different things at this counter. Those things were fighting, making potions, and something called the devotional rites. I didn’t like the sound of that last one, but the previous two were definitely extremely valuable.

  Last, but not least, my current least favorite counter. It was simply called Devotion. The description I got about that one was that it was where one could learn far more about the Church of Revigas.

  Yeah, this was all weird enough as it is, but I will do my very best to stay away from that particular counter.

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