Miri handed the shopkeeper the rune she got from the catacombs. Madame Laveau took the rune and started feeling it with her hands—rubbing the palm-sized stone gently with her fingertips in a manner similar to a person reading Braille. Since she was blind, this was likely her way of seeing whether the rune was authentic or not, although Miri questioned just how reliable that method was.

  “Umm, if you don’t mind me asking, how are you able to tell whether the rune I brought to you is the genuine product,” Miri asked. “It’s not like you can see it since well, you know, you’re blind and all. No offense.”

  Madame Laveau merely chuckled, as though the redheaded mage was simply telling a lighthearted joke. “Young lady, I’ve been in the rune-hunting business for over 40 years. I don’t need eyes to tell whether a rune is genuine or not. Besides, even those with eyes can be easily deceived. You see, one of the many ways to inspect a rune’s properties aside from vision is by touch and feel. Although certain runes may look similar on the surface, they can still possess minute differences that make them unique. The specific positioning of the engraved symbols, the surface texture of the materials, the distribution of weight—all these qualities give each rune a unique identity of its own, one that only those with decades of experience can discern. Additionally, I can also detect the faint mana signature emitted off of each rune, which allows me to determine the various characteristics of its magic.

  “Woah, you can actually detect a rune’s mana signature. That level of perception is incredibly rare,” Anne said with awe. “That’s like saying you can hear the wingbeats of a fly within the same room.”

  “Well, I do have a very high Spirit affinity, after all,” Madame Laveau said with a gentle smile. “Plus, when you lose one of your senses, your other ones tend to adapt to become more enhanced as a result.”

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  “Yeah, yeah, whatever, Lady Daredevil. Now can we get our money or what?” Miri said, waving a dismissive hand.

  “Ooh, aren’t you in a hurry. Don’t you at least want to hear the story behind this particular rune?” Madame Laveau said.

  “Wait, this rune has a story behind it?”

  “Why, of course. Every rune has a story behind it. How it’s made, how it was used, how it was discarded. This one, in particular, is actually made roughly a hundred years ago, owned by a very skilled and prominent mage. Don’t you want to stay and listen?”

  “Umm, no, not really. Each second I sit and dawdle is a second I’m not out there doing jobs and making more money.” Even back in her previous life, she rarely paid much attention to the lore of most video games she played, instead focusing mostly on the gameplay. Now that she’s actually living within the world of this game, she mildly regretted in not learning more about this world’s lore. Even so, she lacked the patience to dive deeper into every folktale or legend, only skimming over the bare necessities in order to move a certain quest along.

  “Ooh, but I want to listen to the story,” Anne said, her eyes brimming with childlike wonder.

  “Wait, seriously?” Miri asked rhetorically, turning to the cleric with a raised eyebrow.

  “Come on, Miri. Pleeease. Pretty please. I want to hear the story behind this rune.”

  Anne stared at Miri with something akin to puppy-dog eyes. Seeing something like that, Miri could never refuse any of Anne’s requests, no matter how bothersome it might be.

  “Alright, fine. We’ll stay and listen,” Miri said with an annoyed sigh.

  “Yay!” Anne cheered, pumping her fist in the air.

  “Alright, young ladies. Now, here is the rune belonging to Isobel the Wise…” Madame Laveau began.

  They ended up staying at the shop and listening to the story for over three goddamn hours.