"Pricey, you say? I’m quite stingy..." He pulled her back and fell, sitting on her chair as she sat on his lap. "Do you think you can turn me into a spender?" He lifted his hand, and on his palm a piece of charcoal appeared floating in the air. "Is this pricey?"

As he asked, she looked at his face for a second, and then turned toward the mundane piece of charcoal. Indeed, here in this frozen city, charcoal was expensive... but that was just because it was cold. Even then, it isn’t that unaffordable. With how much she makes each day, she could probably buy a cart full of charcoal each week. In fact, that was exactly what her father was doing for his blacksmithing.

So, is the king testing her? What is he talking about? Of course, that piece of charcoal won’t cut it. How should she answer his question? She had already wasted a lot of time thinking, and it won’t be long before he gets bored with her. She is sitting on the King’s lap; if she doesn’t take advantage of this chance and at least climb into the royal court or get a noble title, the regret would haunt her for her entire life.

"I do not know. Do you think it is enough?" As she replied with a smile, trying to avoid the question, Gojo smiled, and she started sweating. He wasn’t angry, was he?

"Of course, you are worth more than this worthless piece of charcoal. But it is a good example of what you are worth today, and your worth will be after being in my hand." The piece of charcoal started twisting as the space around it crumbled and twisted, crushing it into a tiny ball that Gojo grasped in the palm of his hand and crushed with all of his might.

Seeing that, she froze in fear. She wasn’t a wizard, but an enchantress, and could tell the horrifying amount of mana Gojo used to do that. It was absurd, far too massive to the point it was disgusting. It was like seeing a hundred royal mages all fire their spells at once, or a great monster unleashing its most powerful attack.

But that wasn’t the only scary part about what Gojo just did in front of her; it was the raw grip strength he has. He might not match his much bulkier and physically talented younger brother, but he was horrifying on his own.

When Gojo opened his palm and produced a freshly crushed diamond that was a bit bigger than a plump grape, the young woman sitting on his lap, still feeling his other hand gently holding her waist, imagined what would happen if he decided to clench that hand as well. He would crush her bones and organs with ease. If she hadn’t emptied her tank just minutes before Gojo arrived, she might’ve caused a disaster for herself.

"I didn’t come here today to look for an enchanter, but I don’t mind taking you back with me. Given time, care, and effort, I can turn you from a worthless piece of charcoal to a priceless gem." He showed her the crystal-clear diamond. "Careful, it is still burning hot."

"Sorry for interrupting you, but how does this mace’s magic work?" Alcott approached them with a frilled steel mace in his hand. "I tried pouring mana into it, but it didn’t work."

"Ah, that’s a special one. It doesn’t run from the wielder’s mana, but from magic stones. Have one on you, and it’ll use that to unleash whatever elemental type the stone had stored." She explained as she quickly jumped away from Gojo’s lap. "But it also has an upper limit on what it could endure, so don’t use a magic stone that is too powerful."

Alcott pulled a small magic stone from his magic bag and gave the mace another swing. Immediately, the mace’s head burst into flames. He smiled, "Can it use any magic stone?"

"I’m not sure about that. I tested it with the available elemental ones like fire and lightning, but the rest are too rare and expensive for us to afford just for testing." She shook her head. "But you can try it if you want, and if you have any spare stones."

Alcott did just that and pulled something she could only call a national treasure from his mundane-looking magic bag. It was a black crystal infused with a horrifying dark magic that was a lich’s phylactery.

As Alcott infused the magic into the mace, it spoke and roared. "I AM FREE! Finally, the day of my return has dawned! This world shall know pain!"

"Free my ass, Vultmaron." Alcott looked at the mace with a smug face, and it gasped. "Wait, you’re alive... no, why am I a mace?!" The lich was confused, unable to understand what was happening to it. The last thing he remembered was fighting Alcott, losing, and having his phylactery stolen alongside his soul that was sealed in it. Then he had spent decades in the darkness, unable to feel or sense anything, and now...

"What did you do to me?!" The lich growled, and Alcott smiled. "I’m going to use you as a power source to fuel a magic weapon. With a lich acting as the core, I’m sure you’d make it into a fantastic necrotic weapon."

He stored the screaming lich mace back into his bag and approached the desk. "It’s a decent item. I’ll buy it. How much does it cost?" Hearing his question, the woman gasped and pulled the shop’s ledger. "That mace was... fifteen gold coins."

"Standard rate? I’ll pay twenty gold coins, but if you got any similar weapons in the future, maybe a bow or anything ranged, contact me first. You can reach me either through him or the adventurer’s guild." She blinked several times. "I’m sorry, but father doesn’t like holding items. First come, first served. I’ll only take fifteen gold coins, and I’ll contact you if we got a similar weapon. But if anyone comes before you, then they can buy it."

Alcott shrugged, "Fine by me. Here, my guild card; register it on your ledger." As he handed her his guild card, the first thing that drew her eye was the golden color and red stripes. That instantly made her freeze in place and not be able to breathe.

The golden card was only issued to S-rankers, and the red stripes were only on the cards of a select few of the S-rankers, those who are so powerful that the kingdoms approve that the law cannot be applied to them.

Reading the name on it, made her pale even further. "Alcott Demorian... The Dragon Slayer and Mediator."