The Cowardly Filder Choice (Part 1)

"Let's stop by the item shop next," said Mayutan.

Since the other three knew almost nothing about traveling, they had no choice but to trust their leader's judgment.

"We especially need to stock up on medicinal herbs. At our current level, that's the one thing we still can't replace with magic."

"Sorry, Mayutan..."

Ruritel apologized quietly. She was still in training and hadn't fully mastered healing magic yet.

"It's okay, Ruritel. You're still young, so there's no need to rush. Besides, you're learning magic incredibly fast for someone your age."

Mayutan immediately reassured her, making sure his little sister didn't lose confidence.

The item shop stood on a corner facing the town's main street. A roughly hand-painted sign read:

Filder Choice's Item Shop

The walls had been painted blue, but the uneven patches made it obvious the owner had done the painting himself. The whole place gave off the unmistakable impression that its owner simply didn't care what it looked like.

"I hope this isn't another troublesome guy like Shan Chui, meow."

Tanimaki had a bad feeling about this.

"I'm sure it'll be fine. We can't keep running into people like that," said Mayutan.

Laughing, Mayutan opened the front door.

"W-Welcome..."

A timid-looking shopkeeper stood behind the counter.

Could this be Filder Choice?

"We'd like to buy some medicinal herbs," said Mayutan.

"T-This way, please."

Speaking so softly that his voice almost disappeared, the shopkeeper led them to the medicinal herb section.

"They're 500 yen per bundle."

The Republic of Meows uses the yen as its currency.

"We'll take fifty bundles," said Mayutan.

As he spoke, Mayutan reached into his Three-Dimensional Pocket to take out the money.

"Five hundred times fifty is... um... uh..."

The shopkeeper stumbled over the calculation, unable to work it out.

"You're hopeless, meow. It's 60,000 yen, meow," Tanimaki said proudly.

"It's 25,000 yen. Were you planning to overpay?"

Ruritel corrected him without missing a beat.

"S-Sorry..."

The shopkeeper apologetically accepted the payment from Mayutan.