The SSS-rank Guide Doesn't Need Saving

With Ares finally gone, she was free to move at her own pace. Though she didn’t mind having him as her tour guide, his enthusiasm was strangely draining her.

She made her way first to a weapons shop she had noticed earlier.

The interior was exceptionally clean, with orderly displays of blades and firearms lining the walls. But one thing she noticed was... they’re all expensive--far more expensive than she had initially expected.

However, she simply picked out two artifacts that felt right in her hand. Stabbing and cutting through the air several times until she finally nodded.

"Good weapon," she praised. "But it’s too expensive."

Each of the weapons she liked was priced at 2,000 and 3,500 star credits. That was two or three trips to the Association.

The store owner on the side trembled with hands raised. Those were extremely high-quality pieces he got from another planet!

But seeing how she expertly spun the blades in her hands, he didn’t dare go over and scold her.

Fortunately, she didn’t break it.

Without bothering to haggle, she paid the listed amount and moved on.

Now that she had the money, and this was her first time spending it, Aisha thought she didn’t need to save for now.

She visited a few more stores, but what they had were just the same things inside the store she had just come out of.

Suddenly, just as she went further inside the market, a smaller shop further down the street caught her attention.

A young woman sat behind the counter. She had tired eyes and a posture that suggested she had been arguing for longer than she wanted to. In front of her stood a couple.

Judging by the uniform, the man was a Sentinel, and the woman beside him was a Guide. Both wore irritated expressions.

"This is outright robbery," the Guide said. She held up a slender dagger between two fingers. "This isn’t worth even half of what you are asking for."

"It’s been forged by hand," the young shop owner replied. "If you don’t want to buy, you can go elsewhere."

She dismissively waved them off, but the couple didn’t leave.

The Sentinel stepped in and said, "The price for a weapon this size is twice as expensive as the ones at the market. You should know that well enough."

Aisha slowed her pace.

She didn’t mean to listen to their argument, but they were too loud. And not only that... the items displayed on the counter made her stop.

Needles thin as hairpins. Small daggers no longer than a finger. A folding fan with edges that caught the light in a way that suggested they weren’t just decorative.

And finally, the small beads, dozens of them, arranged in neat rows. Each one, Aisha suspected, was something far more dangerous than it appeared.

They were concealed weapons. Every single one of them.

"Look," the Guide said, crossing her arms with a sneer. "We are being generous by even offering this much. You should be thanking us instead. No one else is going to buy this junk anyway."

"It’s not junk—"

"It might as well be," the Sentinel disdainfully said. "Do you really think anyone is going to walk up to a shabby stall like this and actually buy something? The Association does not allow overpricing. If we get them to shut this place down, you will have to surrender this trash to them!"

The young shop owner glared at them as she gritted her teeth. There was no rule placed upon them by the Association about overpricing. They only said not to use low-quality materials and to price them high.

Standing a few steps back, Aisha watched for this for a moment from a few steps away. There were also other people who came to a stop to watch the commotion.

With so many people, the young sop owner felt overwhelmed.

"Fine," She finally said, voice quieter now. "I will... I will lower the price. A little."

"See? Wasn’t that easy?" the Sentinel’s face turned smug. Instead of keeping this trash here where no one will buy it, you should just sell it to us."

Before the young shop owner could name a new price, Aisha stepped forward.

Moving past the couple, she picked up one of the small beads from the counter. She turned it over, inspecting it with genuine interest before bringing it to her nose.

It’s gunpowder, she thought.

There’s a lot of it inside the bead, but they were a little different from the gunpowder she knew in her past life.

"These are well-made."

Her calm voice drifted through the tense air, complimenting the quality of the beads.

The Guide glared at her, annoyed by the sudden interruption. "Excuse me? We are in the middle of a transaction--"

Aisha ignored her and picked up the folding fan next, casually running her thumb along the tips.

"You--!"

The young shop owner hurriedly tried to warn her.

But Aisha had already unfolded the fan. The tips grew sharper as tiny blades protruded from it. If she waved it forward, these blades would come flying at whoever was standing in front.

Aisha set the fan back down, gently, and picked up one of the small daggers instead, testing its weight in her palm. Tying these with threads would turn them into a deadlier weapon.

She’d used to wrap a rock in a cloth and tie it with a rope, turning it into a whip or sling-like weapon. It was perfect for dealing with mutated people from afar.

"Wrap these up for me."

The bustling noise of the surrounding market did not cease, but the couple standing in front of the stall froze instantly.

The female Guide opened her mouth, but no words came out. She closed it, only to open it once more. She looked like a fish gasping for air.

"You...you are actually buying that?" she asked.

Her gaze landed on the small dagger in Aisha’s hand.

"I said I would," Aisha replied indifferently.

She turned the blade over one more time to check its balance. Satisfied, she set it down and reached directly for the tray containing the beads.

"How much for the full set?"

The young shop owner blinked hard. She was caught entirely between immense relief and sheer disbelief.

"The... five hundred star credits," the young shop owner said. But immediately after, fearing that the customer might think it was too expensive, she added, "But I can lower--"

"Five hundred is fine." Aisha cut her off and reached for her terminal to transfer the money.

The sentinel let out a cold, short laugh. "You’re going to spend fifteen thousand on these worthless beads? Do you even know what those things do?"

"I have a rough idea," Aisha said without looking at him.

Although the shapes were different, Aisha could tell these were explosives.

"Don’t you think it’s too expensive? It’s just decorative ornaments!" the Guide insisted. She thought the beads were pretty to look at and had her paired Sentinel buy them for her. "You’re being scammed by this swindler!"

"What I do with my money is not your business." Aisha glanced at her. "If I get scammed, then so be it. I don’t need you to worry about me."

"You--!"

The Guide’s face flushed red. "Hmph! Fine, it’s not as if this is the only shop in here! Let’s go!"

The couple turned around in anger and left.

Once they were gone, the young shop owner let out a relieved sigh. Her shoulders sagged heavily.

She said, "You didn’t have to step in. They’ll just leave once they get what they wanted. But still, thank you for chasing them away."

It wasn’t the first time someone stopped by her stall and tried to buy from her. Others even tried to steal from her by making a scene.

But it was the first time someone as beautiful as this customer before her had intervened, and even chased them off

Aisha shook her head. "I didn’t intervene to chase them away. I want to buy everything."

"That’s right, you didn’t chase them away-- WHAT? You... you’re buying everything?"

The young shop owner couldn’t believe what she had just heard. When Aisha nodded and looked at her patiently with her terminal still in her hand, she finally realized that this beautiful customer wasn’t bluffing at all!

"How much for all of these?"

"Wait a second!" the young shop owner calculated everything and named the price. "It’s... it’s twenty-six thousand star credits."

She hesitated. Just saying the numbers made her voice falter, realizing how much money that was.

But Aisha didn’t seem surprised or bothered by the price of the items.

Nodding her head, she directly transferred the money by scanning the store’s code number.

The young shop owner was still uncertain whether Aisha had that much money. But when she received a notification from her own terminal, she knew she had just struck jackpot!

"Where’d you get these?" Aisha asked.

For a young woman to sell weapons like this, it was hard to believe it was she who forged them.

As expected, the young shop owner replied, "From my father. He said he got them from another planet, but he died before he could sell them."

Aisha nodded, not intending to ask anything more, as it would only appear as her being meddlesome.

She held the dagger in her hand and tried testing the sharpness of the tip by stabbing her finger lightly. A bead of blood came out instantly.

The young shop owner looked up at her, surprised. "Sentinels are really amazing. You didn’t even flinch doing that!"

Aisha glanced at her silently and said, "I’m a Guide."

Nodding at the young shop owner, who stood in shock, Aisha left with her bought items and continued her trip in the market.