Chapter 235.2: The Usual Shopping (Part 2)
While taking deep breaths, Mira surveyed her surroundings through the mask's goggles. It did impact her visibility a bit, but considering the benefits that was a worthy sacrifice. As she evaluated that, she also began to feel like pretending that mask was part of her usual equipment.
Solomon would often geek out about military topics to Mira, who slowly began to develop an interest in that as well.
「Yes, this won't be a hindrance to my mission.」
So the moment the mask was on top of Mira, she quickly felt like she was also part of a special operations unit, and began acting accordingly.
Meanwhile, as Mira became fascinated with the mask, all the other customers in the store saw was a small girl clad in cute magical girl attire and a grim gas mask, crawling on the ground and peeking through shelves as if attempting stealth.
They found the scene slightly endearing yet more bizarre than anything else.
The mask also had a peculiar effect of softening the looks from people nearby when she wore it. After testing the Safe Breathing Mask for a sufficient time, Mira moved on to explore other products.
She continued walking along, admiring the large variety of the store's lineup, and as she tested them she would also laud their function.
Eventually she noticed that there was a cookbook on the shelf of new items too, which made her approach it with a quizzical look, wondering why would a cookbook be in a store with items for adventurers.
But she understood as soon as she saw what was on the level above it.
A device called the Magic Refrigeration and Preservation Bag was placed there. It was an improved version of a similar device, and it allowed the refrigeration of food ingredients to be transported fresh during trips, largely extending their lifespan and allowing for more complex meals to be prepared.
The cookbook was a collection of recipes that could be made with refrigerated ingredients, and included guides on how to best process them for refrigeration as well. That was why the cookbook was being sold there too.
「Hmm...」
Unlike the Operator's Bracelet most adventurers had, Mira's Item Box would preserve anything she put inside like it was frozen in time, meaning that she had no need for a bag to preserve fresh food. But the cookbook did catch her attention, so she muttered 「I need this too」 as she put one in her cart.
At first Mira thought that the Magic Refrigeration and Preservation Bag was only useful to extend the life of ingredients, but it actually had another secret use.
Some of the recipes in the cookbook also used the bag as a tool when cooking.
Those ranged from ingredients that simply tasted better cold, to sherbet or ice cream recipes.
Mira quickly began to imagine what enjoying fresh ice cream in the middle of a vast grassland while looking at stars in the night sky would feel like. It was almost romantic to think about, so she decided she would also go buy all the ingredients she needed for that.
The next item that caught Mira's eye was the Adaptive Magic Camouflage Mantle. At first sight it looked like a regular gray color piece of cloth, but as its name suggested, as soon as a switch was flipped it would change colors.
It could recreate various camouflage patterns, including grass, trees, rocks, sandstone, beach sand, and even sea waves.
It seemed to be pretty popular amongst adventurers who fought from the backlines, or for those with supporting roles. Hunters who had to remain concealed waiting for their prey also liked them.
The next item to catch Mira's eyes was called Magic Darkness Piercing Night Vision Goggles. Its name was pretty self explanatory, as they allowed the wearer to see even through pitch black darkness. It was also designed to fit in nicely on top of the Safe Breathing Mask - Amphibian Type from earlier too.
It did not emit any light either, so one could use it to hunt at night without any animals noticing too. Someone on guard duty could also use it to see far into the distance without the need for lights.
(Fantasy night vision goggles don't have any restrictions after all.)
Thinking that, Mira noticed a certain door next to where she was. It seemed like the store was really trying to sell those Magic Darkness Piercing Night Vision Goggles, as they had built up an entire dark room so people could test them inside.
(Still, I'm convinced that a former player was involved in creating these. Even their appearance screams night vision goggles.)
Maybe it was Solomon's kindred spirit behind them. Thinking of that, Mira took the sample goggles to test them.
Seeing the mask, the camouflage mantle, and now night vision goggles, Mira began to feel like it was all related to military items, which reminded her of Solomon. It also brought back memories of a survival game they played together, in which they had to use such items too.
But playing a VR survival game was very different to actually having to move her own body, so her struggles from back then felt like the pinnacle of comfort compared to doing the same now.
「Hmm...might as well...」
Mira wrapped herself in the camouflage mantle, then put on the mask, and attached the night vision goggles on top, completing her getup as she entered the dark room.
It seemed like the store had an immense confidence in the goggles' functionality, as the room was completely sealed from all light, and no matter how long Mira waited, her eyes could not get used to the darkness and nothing became visible.
(Hmmm...this seems to be a passage of some sort.)
She tried to wade her way around with her hands first, and she understood that the dark room had some sort of narrow passageway in it.
The room was darker than the night, and once she knew her naked eyes would never see anything there, she finally flipped the switch on the goggles.
「Ohh!」
She immediately let out a surprised voice, as her eyes that saw nothing but darkness a moment earlier were quickly filled with information.
The goggles presented a green image, like real life night vision goggles. Through them, Mira could clearly see how the passage went ahead of her. As expected of the Dinowal Store, the goggles worked flawlessly.
Now that she could see clearly, she also understood the layout of the entire room.
There was a winding path filled with various obstacles, and further ahead there was even a smaller room.
「Now this is getting me fired up.」
What she saw within the darkness really felt like a room one would find in a survival game.
That brought even more memories back to Mira, making her get excited. Now she was getting fully into the character of a commando in enemy territory, holding her hands in the shape of a gun and keeping her back glued to the wall, carefully peeking through the nearest turn.
「Clear. No targets in sight.」
Updating her non-existent unit, Mira carefully walked forward. She moved along the winding passage, cleared the small room, then went closer to a tall obstacle where she threw herself on the ground and began crawling forward under it.
As she crawled forward, she really felt like she was actually a secret operative leading a night raid somewhere.
There was a turn further ahead, and just as she was going around it, one man looked into the room from further ahead.
While the whole room was only around five meters long in total, Mira's face was so close to the ground that she did not notice the man who looked at her.