Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, Vol. 2 Read Free Page B

Guild’s main office and branches were the only ones.”
    “Nope, there is one here, too. But it is a little understaffed, so I hear the lines get a bit ridiculous. Anyway, one more thing. The Guild rents out open space to shops and merchants, and that’s where we are going today.”
    Okay, now I get it. The reason we’ve come this far is that we’re going to visit one of the equipment shops in Babel Tower.
    “Babel was built right on top of the Dungeon, so naturally all the shops there cater to adventurers. Many of them are run by mercantile
Familias
that specialize. I imagine you’ve heard of
Hephaistos Familia
?”
    “Y-yes.”
    My heart jumps. My hand grabs the knife currently tucked into the back of my armor.
    “How much do you know about
Hephaistos Familia,
Bell?”
    “Well, um, I know that that
Familia
makes very high-quality weapons and equipment that all adventurers want…”
    “Yep, that’s absolutely right. As it happens, we are going to a shop run by
Hephaistos Familia
today.”
    “Wh-whaaaat?”
    It’s the loudest I’ve yelped all day. Eina looks at me like a kid who just pulled a prank and I was her victim.
    I hurry up to her, hoping for some kind of explanation. But she just steps to the side and reveals a wide-open space at the base of Babel Tower behind her.
    “We’re here…”
    Central Park.
    It makes a perfect circle with the massive white tower in the center. With trees planted all over the place and fountains built into the ground, it really does feel like a park.
    Back on North Main, all sorts of people mingle together as they go about their business. But most people in Central Park are carrying big swords and long spears—they’re adventurers. The truly scary thing is that even though there are enough adventurers here to make my eyes spin, Central Park doesn’t feel full at all.
    “Eina, what is going on? Do I look like an adventurer who could buy anything from
Hephaistos Familia
?!”
    “Not knowing is part of the fun! You’ll see when we get there.”
    “I’ve been sweating bullets since we met up this morning! I can’t take much more of this!”
    She looks right at my strained face and crying eyes but is utterly unmoved by them. She won’t even slow down.
    “Here we go! Man up and stop complaining!”
    My face turns red and my mind is blank as Eina grabs my hand and pulls me into the tower.
    Her thin hands are soft and warm—the complete opposite of mine. Hands get rough when you work in the field every day. My head swims; I can’t grab onto any of my thoughts.
    As we weave through the crowd, I can’t help but feel like all the male adventurers about to go into the Dungeon are looking at me like they want to murder me…
    I take a deep breath and look up at the tower to calm down.
    “Ms. E-Eina, m-m-my hand…Please let go. I’m begging you…!”
    “Since we’re about to pay one of the top forging
Familias
a visit, it would be a good idea to know a little about the smiths themselves, right? Bell, do you know about ‘Advanced Abilities’?”
    I guess she’s going to ignore my bumbling request. I’m a man, but I can’t even get her to listen. I feel like I’m dying here.
    I do my best to shrink behind her, shaking.
    “No…I don’t.”
    “A blessed person receives an Advanced Ability by choice when their level goes up. They’re usually more specialized than basic abilities.”
    Eina simplifies it by explaining that an Advanced Ability is like a reward for your level going up…a “rank up” present of sorts.
    “The kinds of Advanced Abilities available for someone to choose are predetermined, but one option is called ‘Forge.’”
    Burst Ability and Forge. I’ve never heard these words before.
    According to Eina, Forge is necessary to become a smith in today’s world. Also, apparently more than half of
Hephaistos Familia’
s smiths have it.
    To put it another way, more than half of them are level two or above. That’s a very strong