What could possibly be found in a place like this?
Shawn walked to the edge of the canal, where the water flowed almost stagnant, carrying the same foul odor.
"Hey, are you taking me there or not?" the little witch behind him said with some dissatisfaction.
"Shh! Keep it down for now."
Shawn made a pause gesture and crouched down near the market trash to examine it. Because in his line of sight, if he focused, these things still popped up with attributes...
[Household Waste]
Even the classification was skipped.
Still, Shawn began using the wooden stick the girl had used earlier to poke through the trash. If there was anything special among the garbage, he should be able to see it.
"What... did you find?" Suddenly, the girl crouched down right beside him out of nowhere.
Shawn turned his head and saw her face, so close this time that he could even see the traces of makeup smudged by sweat on her cheeks.
"Nothing found!"
He tossed the stick aside. After searching through it all, there was indeed nothing, and his nose couldn't take much more.
"When was the last time you found something here? If it's been a while, someone might have already taken it. This is a dump, but you never know—a homeless person might have passed by and picked it up."
Finding something good in the trash wasn't impossible, but if too much time had passed, it might have been taken. Searching along the river wouldn't make sense either.
But the girl shook her head.
"Impossible. That thing absolutely cannot be discovered by anyone."
"So sure?"
"Of course!" she replied confidently.
"Don't let my size fool you—I'm a witch... What I can find, ordinary people could never discover." The girl bluntly revealed her identity.
In Koga City, wizards weren't as mysterious anymore. Unlike in the Taylemian region, where many had never seen one, the city even had specialized organizations to cover wizards' daily magical tool expenses. It was practically a public profession now.
"You mean that thing has magic?"
"Yeah, not just magic—it's a very strange kind of magic." Then the girl began explaining what she was looking for.
It turned out to be an animal, seemingly carrying energy within its body. A while ago, when she passed by Brukan Avenue, her magical tool suddenly reacted. She chased it all the way here, but the thing had already jumped into the water.
"I've never seen anything react so strongly before. I think it's a magical beast."
"A magical beast?" Shawn asked.
"Oh, you wouldn't understand even if I explained."
"How would I understand if you don't explain?" he retorted. These were common knowledge points that Lucille had occasionally mentioned when teaching him, and he'd even taken notes—though those notes were left at home in Taylemian.
"It's the kind of... oh, forget it. Basically, it's an animal that carries magical energy on its own. They're usually very hard to find because they can learn magic. Many high-level wizards keep magical beasts to help them."
The girl's words reminded Shawn of the crow that followed Lucille—he'd even seen that crow use magic before!
So that's how it was.
"I think I get it."
"Ah~ Do you know where it is?" the girl asked excitedly.
"Not sure, but if you really found it here, it was probably hungry. There's edible stuff in the trash dumped from the market, so it must have come looking for food."
Thinking about it, wasn't that exactly what the stray dogs in the market did all the time?
"That's so pitiful," the girl said.
"Come with me. Let's look elsewhere..."
With that clue, Shawn found it easier to search. Brukan Avenue was divided into several districts, and near the trade district by the canal, he just needed to check a few spots where trash might be dumped.
Especially near the poultry and seafood areas—dead birds would be thrown into the river...
He wondered if Count Hamilton had ever ordered the cleanup of this sewage, or if the citizens were just used to tossing things in casually.
Koga City looked prosperous on the surface, but it had all sorts of hidden problems.
Shawn led the little witch around a wide area, but they still hadn't found the magical beast she mentioned. They were almost at the point of jumping into the river to dive for it.
"Still nothing."
After circling back, the little witch stared gloomily at the tool in her hand.
It was something like a compass, mechanical in appearance but without a needle inside. Instead, it had a special water container with two droplets—one red, one blue. Normally, shaking it wouldn't move them, but according to the girl, if a magical beast was within ten meters, it would react.
Seeing the little witch hang her head in frustration, Shawn stepped over to a nearby stall...
"Here!"
When she looked up, an apple was handed to her.
Instantly, a [Happy!] status appeared.
"It's not that easy to find. You've been searching for so long and haven't found it either, right? Try looking a few more times later—maybe you'll get lucky." Shawn crouched down beside the little witch.
"That's not comforting at all!"
"Is that so? I wasn't trying to comfort you in the first place."
Originally, he had planned to find the girl selling peaches today to ask about peach tree saplings, but instead, he'd ended up spending the whole day with this little witch.
"Hmph..."
She puffed out her cheeks but still took a bite of the apple.
"What's your name?" Shawn asked.
"You finally asked for my name!"
"Huh?" He looked at her with confusion.
"They said I can only tell if a guy asks first."
"Who's 'they'?" Shawn asked, amused.
"You wouldn't know anyway... My name is Igunia. What about you?"
"Shawn."
Igunia's eyes swept over him, sizing him up...
"Pretty ordinary name."
"You're not much better..."
After that, they fell silent again until Igunia stood up first.
"Where do you live? Let's look for it together tomorrow." She pulled off her hood, revealing her golden hair. With her naturally pretty face, she actually looked quite beautiful.
Not a bit inferior to Miss Aelia from before.
"I might not have time..."
"Then I can wait until you do!" Igunia smiled.
"Skove's Shop," Shawn said.
Igunia thought for a moment, looking like she was about to leave.
"I'll remember that... And thanks for the apple." With that, she jogged off.
But Shawn still noticed the change in her attributes... That [Friendly] had already turned into [Kindly].
Lately, his favorability was rising way too fast.
...
After Igunia left, Shawn returned to Skove's Shop. Only Claude was at the front counter today, and when he saw Shawn, he suddenly said,
"Brother Shawn, someone from the trade market just sent a letter. It should be from Taylemian Town."