"So, this is the place huh?" Kazuma said.

"That's right," Darkness answered. "If it exists I'm sure they'll have what you're looking for. Though your request is a bit strange."

"Is it? It seems to make perfect sense to me."

Kazuma opened the door to the shop and a little bell rang. It was a very neat and orderly place. The shelves were filled with bottles, jars, and other items. There was a hint of incense in the air that reminded Kazuma of oranges.

"Welcome to my shop honored customers!" The proprietor came out. She was a very pretty girl with long brown hair and huge titties. Kazuma thought she was in some sort of purple dress, but he wasn't sure as he had a hard time focusing on anything other than her massive rack. "My name is Wiz. How can I help you?"

"…"

"Ah, sir? Uhm, can I help you? Ah, sir?"

Darkness's cheeks blushed. "Kazuma, you're staring at her like a hungry wolf staring at a cornered rabbit. Please don't be so rude. If you must stare at woman's breasts so shamelessly, then please do that with me. I promise to endure it."

"W… Wha… What?" The poor owner was staring from one to the other.

Kazuma shook himself out of his daze. "Sorry about that. You're a very beautiful woman. Do you dress that way just to get attention?"

"W… What?"

"Such a beast," Darkness sighed happily.

"Uhm sorry, got a little distracted," Kazuma chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. "My name is Kazuma and this is my partner Darkness. We're a party of adventurers. We were wondering if you might have some items we could use."

"Oh certainly!" Wiz replied and clasped her hands together. "We specialize in many items that are very useful on a quest! Please look around and feel free to ask me anything."

Kazuma glanced at her chest again, opened his mouth, but thought better of what he was about to say. "Thanks."

He wandered over to a shelf stocked with brightly colored bottles filled with liquids. He picked up a blue one to examine it more closely.

"Please be careful with that!" Wiz rushed to his side. "That one explodes if you open it!"

Kazuma hurriedly and carefully put it back on the shelf. "Why would anyone buy something like this?"

Wiz looked embarrassed. "Ah, well, actually I haven't sold any yet. But I just know there's a market for it."

"Uh huh," he pointed to the bottle next to it. "What about this one?"

"Oh, that explodes if you shake it too hard."

Kazuma made sure not to touch it. "And this one?"

"That explodes if it gets too warm."

"This one?"

"That will explode if it gets too cold."

He took a couple careful steps back from the shelf and stared at the woman. "Is this a magic shop or bomb factory? Does everything you sell here explode?"

"No, of course not! That's just the shelf where I keep all the explosive items."

"Then why don't you have a warning sign next to it? Better yet, why don't you keep these behind the counter in case someone actually asks for them?"

"Ah, well…" she looked embarrassed and was playing with her hands.

Another pretty girl allergic to common sense, he thought.

"What's this?" Darkness was holding a small jar with the image of a snarling monster on it.

"Oh! That's a very handy item that will attract every monster in an area and cause them to attack the bearer."

"What kind of idiot would want something like that?!" Kazuma demanded.

"Does that include powerful and dangerous monsters?" Darkness asked.

"Yes, it does."

"I'll take three!"

"Of course," Kazuma muttered. "Oy! Darkness! No using that unless I say so! Got it?"

She immediately nodded. "Understood."

Since joining up Kazuma noted that she was surprisingly obedient. She almost always did whatever he said immediately and without question. As a partner she was the exact opposite of the lazy idiot. Then again, he thought. Given her tastes it only makes sense she is pretty submissive. A thought suddenly occurred to him. Wait! Does that mean she kind of sees me as her 'master?' Now that had some interesting implications. He shook his head. He wasn't ready to go down that particular road. Yet.

Kazuma strolled over to another shelf and saw a jar with the image of a monster crying.

"What's this? Does it blow up if you breathe on it?"

"Ah, that will cause any monsters in the area to avoid you."

"I'll take a dozen!"

"Wonderful!"

Darkness looked at him frowning. "Kazuma, we're adventurers. Why would we want to keep monsters away?"

"I'd like to be able to sleep at night if we're camped out. It might also be helpful if we're in a dangerous spot."

Darkness continued to frown but didn't argue. Kazuma would have liked to believe she saw the obvious logic in what he was saying. But he suspected it was her being submissive. What would happen if I told her to strip off her armor and do a hundred jumping jacks?

"Is there anything else I can help you with?" Wiz asked as she cheerfully gathered jars on the counter.

"Yeah, actually the reason I came here was to ask if you'd ever heard of gasoline."

Wiz blinked and tilted her head. "Gas-o-line? I'm very sorry, I'm not familiar with that."

"It's a clear liquid made from black oil. It burns and can also explode."

"It sounds very dangerous. Why would I keep something like that in my shop?"

Kazuma looked back over his shoulder at the shelf filled with unmarked explosives. "Look, you do have oil in this world, right? Petroleum? Black oil that comes up out of the ground?"

Wiz nodded. "We do. But I am very sorry, I have never heard of this gasoline material."

Kazuma frowned. It wasn't like he knew anything about science or chemistry. He knew gasoline came from oil, but that was the limit of his knowledge. It probably required some sort of complex process that hadn't been invented yet. This world had medieval level technology after all. They could use magic to do something that matched modern technology; like say flight or long distance communications. But you couldn't expect them to have things that existed in the modern world.

"Okay, so you don't have gasoline, but you do have oil. That could still be useful. So what do you use oil for in this world?"

Wiz tilted her head to the side. "This world?"

"That is just something he says sometimes," Darkness said. "He comes from a very barbaric land with horrifying but wonderful customs. I'm sure it's a common saying there."

"Ah, well black oil is mainly used for making torches or lamp oil, you know kerosene."

"Wait! You've got kerosene in this world?!"

She blinked. "Ah, yes."

"Why didn't you say so when I asked about gasoline?"

Wiz stood there looking confused. "Ah, why would I?"

"She has a point, Kazuma." Darkness said. "Everyone knows what kerosene is. If you wanted lamp oil you should have asked for it."

He sighed and put a hand to his face. It was annoying stumbling over what was and wasn't common knowledge here. "Never mind. I want to buy kerosene. Do you have any?"

"Certainly! If you are interested I also have a couple cute lamps for sale too. One is made of brass and-"

"I don't want them in lamps." He picked up on of the clay jars with the monster repelling potion. It was about the size of a coffee can and had a screw on top so no liquid came out until you opened it. "Pour it into jars like this and I'll take a dozen."

"But where will you put the wick?"

He shook his head. "I'm not going to use it as a lamp. I'm going to throw these things at enemies and then light them up with Flame Arrow."

"Ah, I see, that's an… interesting idea." Wiz said looking and sounding uncertain. "I've never heard of anyone using lamp oil that way."

"Why am I not surprised?"

"Wouldn't it be more effective just to use the Fireball spell?"

"Yep, I'm sure it would. The problem is I'm an Adventurer not a Wizard. So learning an advanced spell like Fireball isn't an option. But if I can douse an enemy with Kerosene and light them with Fire Arrow I can get the same effect."

"I see," Wiz gave him a wide and beautiful smile. "That's actually very clever. I have some empty jars. Let me make them for you. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Do you ever give customers lap pillows?"

"W… What?" Her face blushed. He thought it was from honest embarrassment rather than sheer masochism like a certain crusader.

"So shameless," Darkness sighed.

XXX

Loaded down with jars filled with monster attractor, monster repeller, and kerosene the two of them headed back.

"Kazuma?"

"Yes, I'm Kazuma."

"Did you get kind of a weird feeling from that store owner?"

"You mean that she's a little insane? Sure did. But I'm getting more and more used to it."

"No, no, I mean, did you get a sense that there was something… unnatural about her?"

"Huh?" He glanced over at Darkness.

"I mean, well, I had a strange sense that she was not what she appeared to be. That she was somehow an undead abomination. An impure creature that should not walk among the living."

Kazuma came to a stop and so did his partner. "Undead? Seriously? You think Wiz is undead?"

Darkness rubbed her chin. "I am not certain, but it was a feeling."

Kazuma sighed. "Are you an idiot? She jiggled, Darkness! The undead don't jiggle! You really are a moron sometimes."

Darkness let a shudder run through her. "S… Sorry, I guess I was wrong."

He nodded and started walking again. "If Wiz is an undead then I'm a sadist who likes tying up women."

Darkness gasped. "Really?! I knew it!"

Kazuma ignored her and kept walking.