"So you brought me a mysterious box you found in some catacombs..." Matt smiles as he watches Hiyama's face, "Actually, I have several questions, but..."
Matt pauses, looking at the beautifully decorated box for a moment before looking at Hiyama.
Matt doesn't remember when this guy started looking like some kind of old movie Japanese villain to a worn, stooped young man who looks more like an old man.
Matt then, to the expectant looks of Armin and Hiyama, places one of his hands on the small box.
The texture of the box is smooth with that tanclassic woody feel.
Then, without much hesitation, Matt lifts the top of the box, "the lid", to reveal the contents inside.
A slightly intense woody smell wafts from inside the small box along with the sound of something like small sparks.
Inside, in the small box you can see that the inside was decorated with some sort of bright red cloth, and the contents were covered with a white cloth, on top of the white cloth is a small sheet of paper, on the sheet it said.
"Wirt's leg", written in large letters and with a black ink, Matt squints his eyes, because he feels like he has heard this name somewhere, Wirt.
However, Matt's hands seem to move with a life of its own, moving quickly until Matt reaches for the white cloth and lifts it up.
Beneath the cloth rests a small wooden leg, an antique prosthesis according to Matt, made of old wood and some rusty iron.
Matt lifts the small wooden leg, which is no more than two feet high, slightly into the air.
Armin and Hiyama look somewhat quizzically at the wooden leg in Matt's hands.
"That's the artifact Sir Hiyama brought for Sir Matt, Why a wooden leg?" Armin mutters under his breath before moving a little closer to the counter.
However, before he could get any closer to take a closer look at the wooden leg, a strange force stops his advance.
"Boy, you better stay away, the object is cursed," a man's loud voice rings in Armin's mind.
The boy stops dead in his tracks, his mind freezes for a moment before he tries to open his mouth to scream in fear.
However, he can't do that, Armin simply stands still as a statue, blinking every now and then as he stares at Wirt's leg.
"My name is Alexandros Mograine, boy, I am the former owner of Ashbringer, and now I have returned to inherit my power to you," Mograine speaks inside Armin's mind.
Alexandros Mograine, Armin remembers Matt mentioning that name before, the former owner of the Ashbringer, the sword that seems to be attached to his soul somehow.
The warmth in Mograine's voice seems to calm Armin's anxiety, he takes a couple of breaths before blinking and calming down.
"Sir Mograine, you?", Armin has several questions he wants to ask Mograine, but, for now, he just stares at Wirt's leg.
On the other hand, Hiyama observes Wirt's leg with slight admiration, his previously slightly vacant eyes filled with a spectral glow.
The skull on Hiyama's staff glows with a faint green light for a few seconds before fading, and Hiyama smiles.
""Sir Matt, it seems that this artifact has come into your hands thanks to fate...", Hiyama mutters with slight envy, but, seeing Matt, Hiyama doesn't dare to have any bad feelings, after all, Matt was the one who sold him the Baculum of the last necromancer.
"Is this good for anything?" Matt smiles as he waves the other Wirt's leg in the air for a few moments before putting it back in the small box.
"Well, I don't think at this point it's good for anything, but if we manage to find the other Wirt leg, it's likely that having both legs will make something... spectacular happen," Hiyama says with a slight smile.
"I see," Matt nods without much interest before looking at Hiyama with slightly curious eyes.
In fact, the look Matt is giving Hiyama is a look that tells Hiyama to finish the business he has come to do in his store.
Hiyama understands the meaning in Matt's look and smiles, "I want to invite you to a meeting with the Blue Roses," Hiyama says.
There was a short moment of silence.
Blue Roses.
Armin is not so surprised this time, after being contacted by Mograine and seeing Hiyama being so respectful to Matt, Armin now sees Matt with new eyes.
Those eyes are not of admiration in general, but of deep respect for someone who is probably incredibly powerful.
In fact, if Armin knew that Matt is a simple human without any power and that the store is not owned by Matt but by a girl who gave the store to Matt as a gift, Armin would not respect Matt with such behemothic respect.
The same would go for Hiyama, who believes that Matt is some sort of powerful existence who has decided to play around a bit by selling things in a store.
In fact, Matt's existence in Hiyama's mind is that of a man who is mysterious, powerful and a complete enigma.
Matt, on the other hand, a bit tired of all this, is looking for a slight excuse to get Hiyama and Armin to leave his store, so he can close up store and get some sleep.
However, something in Hiyama's words makes Matt's eyes narrow, and that something is
"Blue Roses," Matt mutters under his breath, he has heard of that legendary group of S-ranked adventurers, a group that is considered the best in the entire Re.estize kingdom.
Matt doesn't understand for a moment, Why would Hiyama meet with the Blue Roses?, and, Why would Hiyama want him to be in that group?
Matt squints his eyes, his mind working at speeds never before seen to come to a conclusion, but, Matt's mind can't find any answers to his questions, so Matt simply sighs.
Maybe Sir Hiyama is some kind of high-status man or something....
Matt draws that little conclusion inside his mind before shaking his head, "I'm not going to meet with the Blue Roses," Matt says with a serious voice and face.
After all, What would he do at a meeting with S-ranked adventurers?, Matt smiles at the thought of even sitting at a table with such people.
However, Hiyama has another kind of thought, has think he bothered Matt-san, after all, for Hiyama, who sees Matt as a powerful man, he can only think of one reason why Matt would refuse, the group, Blue Roses and he are not on the same level to meet acording to Hiyama's thoughts.
" Sir Matt, you are definitely a powerful man," at Matt's refusal, Hiyama says in his mind with admiration, in fact, Matt's refusing made Hiyama admire him even more.
"By the way, it's closing time, you guys understand, Don't you?", Matt says with a slight smile, hoping that the two people, one a boy and the other a young man will leave his store as soon as possible.
"Then I won't bother you anymore, Sir Matt, have a nice evening," Hiyama bows to Matt before walking out the door of the store.
"This...," Armin approaches the counter, he looks at Matt with a pitiful face and shining eyes, Armin swallows saliva before opening his mouth, "About the Ashbringer..."
Matt who was stroking the edge of the box shakes his head to look at Armin before smiling slightly, "Ashbringer, that one right, Do you want it?" Matt looks at Armin with o a slight smile.
Armin nods his head like a little chicken pecking at rice to which Matt can't help but let out a laugh....
"Then it's yours..." Matt says, he quickly moves his hands and smoothly pulls the Ashbringer from inside the counter to place it over Armin's outstretched hands.
The sword, over four feet long in Armin's hands, feels... weightless.
Despite the sword being more than half Armin's size, with a blade half as thick as his body, the Ashbringer doesn't seem to exert any weight on Armin's nearly non-existent and undeveloped muscles.
"Ashbringer... how long has it been since the last time, we will purify the world and make the demons bow at our feet,," Alexandros Mograine's voice echoes in Armin's mind, filling him with a strange sense of power.
Armin stands motionless, Ashbringer in his hands seems to throb, heat up, and give off a glow that covers his body.
"Armin, I... Alexandros Mograine and you, we will be one existence, we will form one being..." said Alexandros Mograine's voice became weaker and weaker.
Armin's astonished appearance, a relaxed and weak body and a kind predisposition began to change.
As the seconds passed, various desires, ambitions, and power were planted in Armin's mind, his frail and childish body grew stronger as Ashbringer's light, invisible to the eye, but powerful, entered his body.
*Shock*
The light strengthens Armin's body, his sight, his senses, Mograine's bravery, courage and ambitions implanting themselves in his mind, and the Ashbringer, as a catalyst for all this, seems to beat like a heart in his hands.
However, these changes are unnoticed by Matt who simply watches Armin with curious eyes.