Allen and Peromus walked through the streets of Patlanta.
They were looking for something.
"There's a lot of people around here too."
Peromus moved from side to side dodging people as he spoke to Allen.
"Yeah, it's almost like a festival here."
(Apparently there wasn't such a big mess even during the rebellion.)
Prostia had been taken over by Ignomas' rebellion.
Most of it was confined to the palace, so it had not affected the city too much.
The streets were lively, making it almost impossible to tell that there had been a rebellion.
The Songstress Contest that would happen soon was also an important festival for the people of Prostia.
Mermen from all parts of the empire were gathering in the imperial capital Patlanta.
(The flower's style keeps getting bigger.)
The crystal flower was larger than a hundred kilometers wide, and in its center a long column like a pistil was growing vertically.
It was around one kilometer tall, and multiple kilometers thick.
The Songstress Contest would be conducted on top of it.
That was made so whoever was singing atop the crystal flower's style could be seen by the Sacred Fish Makris.
"There's a lot of pretty girls, huh."
While Allen looked at the flower's style, Peromus was looking at the various mermaids passing by.
"I guess they're the participants from the provinces?"
"Hmmm."
They talked about random things as they headed to their destination.
They had told the officials in the palace that they would do some research in the city to know how to make money best.
The Sacred Fish Makris was protecting Prostia, so the Songstress Contest was an event to sing to him in gratitude.
It made sense to thank the Sacred Fish Makris, but there was a reason why it was made with songs.
The woman Makris' had loved, Diadora, had been a singer in her time.
Makris had fallen in love with a commoner singer who worked in the cities' bars and pubs.
They expressed their gratitude by singing, showing they also appreciated his love for Diadora.
Allen had no intention to go sightseeing, so they would not visit it, but there was a tavern from three centuries ago that had been preserved, and now was a memorial hall.
The Sacred Fish Makris would be swimming endlessly in the vast ocean, and only spent one day of the year in Patlanta.
But every time he arrived, it coincided with the time when the crystal flower produced seeds.
So they would always match the event's schedule to that, conducting the preliminary selections beforehand in the provinces.
Allen had also learned the conditions needed to participate in the Songstress Contest.
The requirements to participate in the Songstress Contest:
-Having a singing Talent like Songstress or Diva
-Being female
-Not having won the contest in the past.
A certain number of Talent Stars were not necessary to take part.
Diadora only had a 1 Star Talent, [Singer].
Since this was an event to commemorate Diadora and thank the Sacred Fish Makris, the only requirement was for the participants to be female.
As a contest, there was also a participant that would end as winner, but one person was not allowed to win multiple times.
The first five places obtained a reward and could participate again, except for the one in first place.
It reminded Allen of a certain comedy show that happened at the end of the year.
"Ah! There, it says Magic Shop. We found it, and there's a lot of people here too. I wonder if they sell crystal seeds?"
Peromus had spotted a store with a sign that said Magic Shop.
"I wonder. Peromus, make sure the owner doesn't say anything strange."
"I know."
The store mostly sold various accessories and equipment.
Usually Magic Shops also had rings that boosted various stats, or offered resistance to poison.
The participants' looks was important in the contest, so many of them came to such accessory shops.
Most of the clients there were probably participants looking for cute accessories, so when Allen and Peromus arrived their gazes all focused on them.
It was like they were questioning why two guys were there at such a time.
"This almost feels like we accidentally entered the train carriage for women."
Feeling everyone's attention like that, Allen recalled that one time he accidentally entered somewhere he should not have in his past life.
He had boarded a train, entering a carriage meant only for women, and everyone there had glared at him.
"What's that?"
"Never mind."
Peromus was the son of the village chief, and Allen was a serf, but he still had been interested in Allen, and they had spent a lot of time together in Kurena Village.
Unlike Kurena and Dogora, Peromus had a far more valuable and normal personality.
"Welcome. Please take a look around."
They entered the shop and a rockfish merman wearing glasses greeted them.
Allen and Peromus were wearing rather good clothes, considering they had to look acceptable in the palace, so the shopkeeper spoke to them with respect.
This was a rather expensive shop, and they looked like they were decently rich.
There was nothing more flattering than gaining respect through looks alone, rather than through words or attitude.
"Excuse me, do you have any crystal seeds?"
Allen asked about the crystal seeds, which had been mentioned during the girls' meeting two days ago.
"Crystal seeds? There aren't many left."
The shop was crowded, but attention was swift and proper.
The shopkeeper took out something that was hiding under the display window.
It was a shiny light blue sphere, the size of a baseball.
"That's a crystal seed? It looks pretty."
"We only have two in stock now. One goes for a hundred gold coins, do you want it?"
It seemed quite valuable as well.
Those were the crystal seeds.
They would be carried away by water currents, and wherever they fell a new crystal flower would sprout.
The people of Patlanta would often go collect crystal seeds, since they could be sold at quite high prices.
"I'll take both of them. Are these really the only ones you have here?"
Saying that, Allen quickly bought the two crystal seeds, paying their full price.
Then he asked that, his voice suggesting a second meaning.
"Thank you very much. And I'm sorry, but are you two servants from the palace?"
"Pretty much. We're really thankful for your services, so I'm sorry we weren't able to supply you with too many crystal seeds before. The other shops were willing to pay more."
Allen continued talking with him, trying to accomplish one of his goals.
Peromus continued listening attentively, trying to spot any deception.
"Other shops? I have connections with other shops too, but I don't believe the emperor sold many to them either."
The rockfish-faced shopkeeper's glasses gleamed, seeing through Allen's lies.
"I see, so you're aware of that."
Allen made a defeated face.
"Of course, don't underestimate the networks of merchants. I assume they were necessary to keep the nobles happy?"
"Well, essentially yes. There should be more crystal seeds incoming this year though, I'll make sure you get a good deal on them this time."
Ignomas had emptied the palace's treasure to buy support from nobles.
The merchants were aware of that.
"Sure, I hope you'll keep your word when that day comes."
(Oh wow, that doesn't seem to be a lie, even though it didn't show up in the accounting books.)
Allen had raised his Intelligence to examine his conversation with the shopkeeper.
Because of his higher Intelligence, it was easier for him to tell whether he was lying or not.
But it was not quite perfect, and a merchant who had been selling at such a major spot for years had plenty of experience with weaseling through words was Allen's worst match.
There was a 10~20% chance a lie would slip through.
Allen looked at Peromus just in case, but he also shook his head.
Peromus was also wearing equipment that raised his Intelligence, and he felt like the rockfish-faced shopkeeper was also being genuine.
Obtaining a crystal seed had also been a reason why Allen went to Prostia.
But when he checked the palace's warehouse, and the treasury, he found no crystal seeds.
He had asked Princess Rapsonile about them just in case, and according to her there was supposed to be a large amount of crystal seeds in storage.
Now the merchant had just verified that Ignomas had used the crystal seeds to pay off the nobles, something Allen had already suspected.
But for some reason there was no record of crystal seeds in the treasury's accounting books.
There were mentions of paintings, sculptures, and other art pieces being distributed to nobles, but nothing about crystal seeds.
Allen figured there was a possibility Ignomas had sold them to merchants in exchange for gold coins, but that did not seem to be the case either.
They were useless for nobles, but they were valuable, so any merchant would have bought them at decent prices.
The accounting books were supposed to detail where and what had been sold.
For some reason crystal seeds had never been mentioned though.
A reserve of around 3000 crystal seeds was supposed to exist in the palace's storage rooms.
After the rebellion months ago, there had been no movement on them according to the accounting books, but they were not in the storage rooms either.
(Where are they? Was there a reason why Ignomas could not write where they went?)
There were still secrets left to uncover.
Allen looked at Peromus, signaling they needed to investigate more.
Peromus nodded a little, agreeing with him.
The shopkeeper watched, making sure Allen and Peromus looked satisfied.
He seemed interested in the crystal seeds which would mature soon enough.
That enormous crystal flower was the only one that produced crystal seeds, around 10000 of them being released all at once at the same time of the year.
While Allen and Peromus pondered about that, the shopkeeper seemed to be in a good mood, thinking about the promised crystal seeds.
There were many reasons why Allen traveled to Prostia.
One was to retrieve the Beast King's Emblem, so Shea could become Beast King, and have one more Sacred Bead in his hands.
Another reason was to find new comrades with buffing Skills.
Talents with Skills to buff allies were common amongst mermen, but Allen did not have a specific plan for that, so it was merely a faint hope that he could find someone.
The last reason was to strengthen his equipment further.
Master Craftsman Habarak had mentioned he really wanted crystal seeds.
They were an important material for [Alchemy].
Master Craftsman Habarak was the main blacksmith working in Heavy User Island, together with all the other blacksmiths with the Blacksmith Talent.
The Blacksmith Talent changed a little depending on the number of Stars:
-1 Star, a Village's Best Blacksmith
-2 Stars, a Town's Best Blacksmith
-3 Stars, a Country's Best Blacksmith
-4 Stars, a World's Best Blacksmith
-5 Stars, a Legendary Blacksmith
Habarak had a 4 Star Talent, and his 9 assistants had 3 Star Talents, all in Heavy User Island.
Those with a blacksmith's Talent could use the [Crafting] Skill.
Without a Talent, one could only work on iron.
One needed a blacksmith's Talent to work on metals like mythril.
More Stars meant being able to work on mythril, hihiirokane, adamantite, and other harder metals.
Habarak had a 4 Star Talent, meaning he could work on orichalcum.
There was another type of crafting that only those with a blacksmith's Talent could do.
The [Alchemy] Skill, which allowed them to grant a specific effect or attribute to equipment.
[Alchemy] could be used to boost a piece of gear's stats like Attack too, and various other effects.
Things that could be given through [Alchemy]:
-Higher stats
-Higher critical chance
-Higher attack damage
-Shortened cooldowns
-Extra attributes
The magic of Attribute-Supports could change attributes too, but only momentarily. [Alchemy]'s effects were permanent.
With more Talent Stars, it was possible to modify even harder metals than mythril, hihiirokane, or adamantite.
Habarak had a 4 Star Talent, and he could not use [Alchemy] on orichalcum.
He could only work on adamantite at best.
Allen's friends were slowly transitioning to orichalcum weapons and armor, so [Alchemy] would mainly bring benefits to Allen's Army.
Crystal seeds were a rather powerful material for [Alchemy], and there were few materials on the same level.
Apparently [World Tree Branches] from Rosenheim were quite effective too, but damaging the World Tree was a serious criminal offense.
Only branches that fell off on their own were allowed to be used.
When Allen heard that, he attempted to get branches to fall off without cutting the tree, placing a summon with enhanced stats at the foot of the World Tree and violently shaking it.
The elven queen turned ghastly pale, falling on her knees and stuttering "W-why…", but that was not something that bothered Allen.
Another famous material came from the Garresia continent, where Albahar was also located. There were villages of dragonkin there, who were said to be just as strong as demons.
Dragon Eye Rock could be gathered there, which was also a powerful [Alchemy] material.
"Did you want the earrings too?"
"Yes. I wish you could've seen Basque that time too."
Allen kept showing valuable items to Peromus, so he could give them a value with his Skill.
"Ehh…I'd die if I saw a Demon General from close up."
Peromus said, his voice a little shaky.
Allen had fought Basque not too long ago, and had noticed he wore earrings. They seemed to block all debuffs.
Merus' Attribute Enhancement at full-power was blocked entirely.
Allen had noticed the earrings looked like seashells.
