Elemental Cats

Seeing that sign made Toz realize they were in the same shop where Hassandra bought his lightning attribute grimoire. Although the receptionist seemed to have had a doubtful attitude with Hassandra, Toz couldn't help but look forward to what Dexter's Den would have. If they had something like what Hassandra got him, they could probably return satisfied. Though it was unlikely that there would be anything similar since that grimoire seemed to be pretty out of the ordinary, and not only in a good way.

However, Toz and the cats were still interested in looking around. Even if there wasn't a grimoire that was crazy in the same way as the one that Hassandra gave Toz, there might still be other grimoires.

Toz and the cats started looking around the tent.

The receptionist noticed them when they entered, but he quickly looked returned his attention to the book in front of him upon seeing Toz's slightly dusty and worn combat suit. It was an unglamorous model that didn't seem like something a combatant with enough contribution points to shop at Dexter's Den would wear.

But it wasn't the first time there were visitors who were only interested in browsing and looking around. The receptionist had already talked politely to those kinds of people several times. And when he finally got them to admit that they couldn't afford or weren't going to buy any grimoires, they all said something with the same general meaning as 'broadening their horizons.'

Instead of futilely trying to get a poor cheapskate to buy something and embarrass them in the process, the receptionist would much rather read his book. It was a little contradictory to the service offered by high-class shops on the same level as Dexter's Den. But the receptionist would have made sure to treat any valuable customers with utmost care. Letting one or two customers do their own shopping wouldn't hurt, as long as they didn't bother him.

Unfortunately for the receptionist, Toz didn't have any intentions of not being annoying.

The receptionist's decision to set up the no-refund sign had, in the end, led to Toz getting a great grimoire that suited him. But it was still rude to do that and intentionally mislead Hassandra.

Toz wasn't best buddies with the Lightning Rascals and Hassandra, but he was almost close enough to call them friends. And while he was shopping at Dexter's Den, he might as well get some retribution for Hassandra. Though since she probably wouldn't find out about it, it was more for his own sake than her.

Well, in reality, he was just feeling bored and thought it would be funny to annoy someone intentionally. He wouldn't feel guilty even if he had a reason. But it would be more satisfying with one, even if it was a fragile reason such as taking revenge for an acquaintance.

Toz was kind of looking forward to seeing the receptionist's eyebrows scrunch up in frustration while trying to read his book. In addition to taking revenge for Hassandra, taking revenge for how he had been so clearly looked down on also seemed like a valid reason to make the receptionist's day take a turn for the worse.

Since it seemed like it would be pretty easy to annoy the receptionist by doing the bare minimum and because the tent was otherwise empty, Toz chose a simple method of annoying the receptionist.

He shouted questions about the grimoires across the tent. At first, most of the questions were reasonable since they were mostly about what grimoires with weird names did or from where the grimoires came.

A fire attribute spell called 'Sneeze' turned out to be a spell that used the motions of a sneeze to send out a powerful burst of flames from the mage's mouth. Although it was an obscure and a little underhanded spell, it was supposedly powerful and could save one's life in the right situations. But its place was on a bottom shelf in the corner of the tent, which Toz understood.

Even if it was a decently powerful spell, it wasn't a spell that warranted a display case or a position where it was intentionally highlighted.

And in the same corner was another spell called 'Hugo's Dance,' which was a water attribute spell that let one walk on water. It could certainly be useful in some situations. But with large enough spatial rings, it was easy to fit at least a raft. Not to mention all the different kinds of magical items and tools to help people traverse water. But there was one other thing that rendered the spell a little unappreciated.

It was a water attribute spell, which meant it was for water mages. Water mages could innately manipulate water. They didn't need a spell to walk on water. Hugo's Dance would only make it easier, but it wasn't necessary.

While not as strange as Sneeze, Hugo's Dance wasn't as powerful or useful, and that was what warranted its palace in the corner. The only reason it was inside the tent and not on display outside was that Dexter was worried such a lackluster grimoire would taint his business's reputation. But he couldn't not put out a grimoire for sale.

Toz found out all those details by asking the receptionist questions. And since the receptionist only gave short, few-word answers, it took a whole heap of questions to get all that information he didn't even really need.

Toz acted like he didn't notice the receptionist's continuously souring attitude, but the cats giggled as the answers grew shorter and the receptionist's voice practically turned into a growl.

Toz continued browsing through the tent while asking increasingly nonsensical questions that put both the receptionist's patience and knowledge to the test. Some questions, such as which sock the creator of a certain grimoire puts on first, had the receptionist trembling.

Although he suppressed his happiness so that the receptionist wouldn't notice that he was intentionally pranking him, the questions were ridiculous enough that the receptionist noticed before long. And since Toz didn't seem like he was going to buy anything, there was no real reason to continue treating him like a customer.