Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, Vol. 4 by Fujino Omori Page B

Judging by his choice of words and angry demeanor, my best guess is he’s also an adventurer. Maybe the armor he bought was defective?
    “This is my lifeblood, you hear me? At least treat me like everyone else!”
    “This was a decision made by management…It needs to sell, and without that…”
    “Oh, so you’re going to bring that up, huh?! Well then, I’ve got a few things to say—!!”
    The adventurer in the black body-length jacket is refusing to back down, his rage building.
    The clerk behind the second counter watches the argument with a slightly annoyed look on her face until she realizes I’m standing in front of her. “Welcome!” she says with a smile.
    Doing my best to ignore what’s going on next to me, I rest my hands on the counter and prepare to ask my question.
    “Can I help you with something?”
    “Yes. Do you have anything made by Welf Crozzo…?”
    —Silence. The argument stops on a dime.
    The clerk’s eyes go wide, and the two people at the other counter slowly turn to face me.
    Huh…wh-what?
    Three sets of eyes are locked right on me; this is so awkward.
    “…U-um, are you looking for Welf Crozzo’s work…?”
    “Y-yes. I want to buy armor made by Welf Crozzo…”
    I’ve never heard someone so scared to ask a question in my life. Just responding felt like something bad would happen if I said something wrong.
    But the first person to react isn’t the clerk in front of me but theyoung man who had been arguing at the other counter just a few moments ago.
    “Hee…ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Would you look at that! There is at least
one
name on my list of clients!!”
    After laughing at the top of his lungs, the young man turns to face the clerk before slamming his hand down on the counter.
    The clerk can’t respond, he just stands there doing his best to avoid making eye contact.
    I am so confused right now…The young man must have noticed the look on my face because now he’s looking this way.
    “Yessir, adventurer, if you’re looking for Welf Crozzo armor…”
    “Eh?!”
    “Right here.”
    Swish.
He picks up the box and slides it onto the counter in front of me.
    Inside is a full set of shiny, white light armor.
    The shape is a little different from what I was using before…but there’s no mistaking it, this is his work!
    “So how ’bout it? Will you try it out?”
    “Eh? Umm, isn’t this yours…?”
    Is that a strange question? Because as soon as I finish speaking, he blinks a few times before smiling like a kid in a toy store.
    He looks me square in the eyes before saying, “Yep, it’s mine, all right…I forged it, you see.”
    “—Huh?”
    “Please allow me to introduce myself, fan number one. The name’s Welf Crozzo, currently a low-level smith belonging to
Hephaistos Familia
. Want an autograph?” he says with a genuine smile on his face. He has a very brotherly aura about him…Mr. Crozzo gazes at me for a moment as I try to collect my thoughts.

    “Seriously? You’re Little Rookie?! The new record holder!”
    “N-not so loud…What you mean by ‘record holder’?”
    I have no idea what he’s talking about, so what else could I say?
    There is a small rest area on the eighth floor of Babel Tower, right next to the elevator entrance. Mr. Crozzo and I are having a conversation on chairs just inside the rest area.
    After we met in the shop, he asked to talk to me in private and led me out here.
    I guess he wants to talk to me because apparently he’s sold only two pieces of his work in the past, and I’m the only one who’s come back looking for more.
    Everything that’s happened to him up to this point…doing everything he can to get a good reputation from the store and yet being treated like trash, the first item of his that sold was returned to the store, the underhanded tricks that his fellow smiths in
Hephaistos Familia
had used to get their way…He told me quite a bit.
    He seems to have lost himself in the excitement that someone wanted