“I-I’m sorry Juniper… I didn’t know you felt so strongly about this…”

“N-No… I didn’t mean to yell… I… I just…”

She suddenly stands up and hastily returns to her own room, I could just barely catch a glimpse of her expression, she looks really upset…

“I don’t really mind the yelling! Sorry if I was insensitive!”

I don’t think she heard me… *SIGH* Guess I’m still not good at handling women, should I apologize? Or would that just make things worse? I didn’t really do anything wrong anyways…

No, it’s normal of her to say things like that after hearing me try to justify murder. It’s weirder that Sara and Miss Izumi didn’t react like that… Well, that’s just the place this world has become.

Still though, I’m not looking for everyone’s approval… Although I would have liked Juniper’s support, I thought she would understand me as a fellow immigrant… Well, even if she doesn’t agree, as long as I don’t betray my own values, I can still sleep at night. Don’t murder innocent people and don’t become arrogant.

I quickly finish my bowl of cereal along with Juniper’s one, she probably isn’t hungry anyways and I could use the extra sugar for my mana-cultivation.

After eating a third bowl of cereal I head to my room and gather some stuff to prepare for my train-ride to the black market, this time, I suck it all up into my dimensional tattoo though, alongside the shadow-steps cartridge. Even though I still can’t use it, It might come in handy.

I take the first train to Shinjuku and arrive there in the evening.

After entering the black market, I noticed that the spot on the ground where rat-man used to peddle his stuff was already occupied by someone else. This really is a cut-throat place…

After some walking and looking around, I enter Miss. Izumi’s shop, whereafter the old guy, Viktor, immediately notions me towards the back, he looks a bit frustated. I can tell that the miss has been sitting there for a while due to the empty coffee cup on the table.

“Ah, finally decided to show up? I didn’t expect you to take so long, it’s rude to keep a lady waiting you know~”

Ugh, look at her trying to act coquettish at her age…

“Well, I’m here now. I decided to listen to your proposal, whether I take the job or not depends on the conditions and rewards.”

“Ooh good! I’m sure you won’t be disappointed with the reward! Please sit down honey~”

She is a bit more flirtatious than normal… Wait, her coffee cup smells like alcohol… Did she drink an Irish-coffee while waiting on me or something?

“Are you sure you’re able to negotiate with me in that state miss?”

I point at the coffee cup.

“Oh my, quite a good sense of smell you have. But don’t worry…”

She leans forward on the table showing off her ample bosom through her revealing cleavage.

“I’m sure the negotiations will go in my favor dear~”

*GULP* Damn, she really knows how to use her best assets… Those are some big assets though…

“A-As long as you’re fine with it… Let’s start the discussion, what exactly do you want me to do?”

“Mmm, I’d rather start off with the carrot though… Let’s discuss the rewards first!”

Urgh this woman…

“Fine, what are you offering?”

“Hi-Hi don’t be too surprised boy… 2 Orange cartridges! I’ll give you 2 orange cartridges of your choosing for this job, they could even be mana-cultivation ones!”

…

“Uuh kid? I thought you would have been more enthusiastic about this…”

Two orange mana-cultivation cartridges are indeed worth a small fortune, but you should never take their first offer.

“Hmmm… We are talking about a human life here Miss. Izumi, don’t you think 3 orange cartridges of my choosing would be more appropriate?”

“This kid, really… Don’t be unreasonable! I have other options too you know… Two orange cartridges and one yellow one, final offer!”

“… Fine, but I first want to try out all the yellow and orange cartridges in this shop before choosing.”

Ha! I got her! She’ll probably agree, just trying out the cartridges here shouldn’t really be a disadvantage to her, but I can analyze all of them… He-he, I’m pretty good.

Miss. Izumi smiles.

“No.”

W-What?!

“I don’t like your smug expression right now, like you got the upper hand in this negotiation.”

Shit, I shouldn’t have been so sure of myself.

“B-But me trying out the cartridges shouldn’t affect you in any way right?”

“Do you think I don’t know what you’re trying to do? People would pay a premium for detailed information on all of the orange and yellow cartridges in this shop. Oh dear, even if I’m a bit tipsy, you don’t think I’m dumb do you?”

Shit, I didn’t think about that, I guess trying out cartridges could give me more insight about all the different types of magics my opponents could use…

“You got me… How about 2 blank orange cartridges, a yellow cartridge of my choosing and the cartridge-tryout thing?”

“Hmmm… Make the yellow cartridge also blank and we have a deal!”

“Urgh, fine… Wait, I don’t even know what I have to do exactly?”