After the situations I witnessed in the two zones, I walked towards the slightly deserted central region to catch a clue. Although there were still people clustered around the inscription, many of them were rapidly moving towards the outside of the shield.
This wasn't my destination; I had my eyes on the structures with sales counters opened in front of them. These shops were somewhat like small stalls set up by the seaside in summer resort towns; while they were surrounded by wooden walls on three sides, one side was closed halfway up, with the upper part of the facade left open for sales purposes.
It wasn't possible to enter inside them; when I arrived in front of a randomly chosen one, I would be surprised by a human welcoming me just like myself.
"Welcome to the Weapon Shop, sinner!"
As if what happened wasn't enough, now this seller was rubbing it in my face once more that I had fallen into Hell with his address. Damn, just for a tiny glass of raki... That was the only alcohol I could drink completely in my whole huge life...
After my nerves jumped, I needed to utter a few words of lamentation, but thanks to the fear of eight hours of torment, I didn't have much chance to act spoiled.
"I want to buy a weapon to kill Fallen; is there something like a catalog?"
As soon as I finished my words, three weapons appeared in the air: a club, a bow, and a short staff with a pale blue stone on it. These primitive tools, which had no appeal and consisted almost of raw wood, were floating accompanied by bright lights contrary to their structures.
"Each one is 100 gold; I recommend you choose the one suitable for your talent, sinner!"
"A hundred gold? These are logs, logs! Also, what are these currency units?"
The words had come out of my mouth involuntarily; losing my cool due to my astonishment, I shouted towards the human behind the counter.
"Silence, sinner! The shop is banned to you for a week!"
After the attendant constructed a single sentence while gritting his teeth accompanied by piercing looks, the sales stand that stood in its place a moment ago would disappear in an instant. I suppose he didn't like the outburst I made; looking at the crowd standing around, he was taking revenge by banning the shop, which I understood was still standing in its place, to me.
There was no need to get discouraged; I had to try my luck in the others. I would keep this incident in mind while going to the remaining four shops. I wasn't touring a shopping mall, and the person in front of me wasn't a store employee; if I didn't pay attention to my attitude and behavior, maybe worse things could happen to me.
"The Market welcomes you, Mr. Sinner!"
This time there was another human in front of me, but this attendant's voice and words seemed to come out of his mouth softer.
"Hello sir, can I get information about the content of the shop?"
"Of course!"
The attendant answered with a smile and waved his hand towards the air, causing many bottles to start flying; unlike the previous place, the product variety here was greater.
"Sinner, the bottles with red liquid inside are for regenerating life force, the ones with blue liquid restore magic power!"
I immediately focused my gaze on the mentioned tubes; these potions, which came in two sizes, were the versions of pots in games here, as I understood quite clearly.
"The small ones are 20 gold, and the large ones are 35 gold!"
The price was a rip-off again, but this time I had to think twice before opening my mouth; putting a sincere smile on my face, I started talking.
"Sir, is it possible for me to get information about their effects?"
"Of course!"
I guess the attendants use this pattern when they are going to give a positive answer to question sentences; let it be, as long as I get the answer, the rest is not very important.
"Small ones provide a regeneration of 10 percent of the total statistic, and large ones 20 percent!"
Units, terms were all determined in a way I could understand; although this topic had interested me from the beginning, I became completely sure after visiting two shops: I guess the Creator was treating us mercifully because we were on the First Floor of Hell.
"Besides this, there are two types of bags, small and large, in our shop; you will need to use them when your pockets become unable to carry your materials!"
While rushing from here to there in a hurry, I had skipped the most important subject; what was I wearing right now? I accompanied my hands probing my right and left in panic with my eyes for ten seconds; with a deep sigh of relief, I realized that an outfit consisting of two pieces covered my body.
There was a long-sleeved collarless top over loose and short-legged trousers made of broadcloth; both were unpretentious and simple, showing that they were only for covering purposes.
The trousers had two pockets on the right and left; apart from this, there were no details on the clothes. When I was done with myself, I felt the need to look at other people too; even though I didn't realize it before, I would see that everyone's outfit was the same regardless of gender.
"Speaking of this much gold, if you want to exchange your money to carry it comfortably, it is enough to come to me again!"
The attendant, who didn't mind my strange movements and funny state, had also conveyed the last feature of the shop to me; this time I was going to ask the question that fell into my mind without waiting.
"Sir, are there other currency units besides gold? If it's not too much trouble, could you tell me along with their order?"
"Of course!"
"The smallest currency unit is copper; 100 copper makes 1 silver, 100 silver makes 1 gold, 100 gold makes 1 pearl."
"Since our shop's money exchange limit ends here, I won't be able to give you more information, sinner!"
Every time "sinner" was said, my temper flared; okay, we got it, we made a mistake and fell into Hell, but as if it wasn't enough, the attendants using that word at intervals had started to get really annoying.
I had no choice but to leave swallowing my anger right now; I wanted to finish the job of wandering around the remaining three shops quickly. If I wasted time like this everywhere, I could become a victim of the eight-hour torment whose arrival time was unknown.
Although I didn't know exactly, I felt like I had spent about two hours on this business; half of the crowd had perished, but almost all the people like me who saw this had now gathered in front of the inscription and the shops around it.
I had been able to proceed with difficulty among the small buildings; finally, when I visited all of them, I threw myself into a calm place. I had to digest and understand what I learned.
There were five shops in total, and two of them were named Market; I could supply pots and bags for my materials from here. There was a place with three types of weapons and another shop with three types of armor in the same way.
If I didn't explode in the face of the price of armors separated as cloth, leather, and metal, it is only because I was afraid of not being able to use that place for a week. A fabric robe, which was just a little more decent than what I was wearing, was priced at 150 gold.
After hearing this, I didn't even ask about the leather and metal ones; I knew myself, if I said two more words, all hell would break loose.
The stall I visited last was called House of Abilities; it sold the techniques we sinners would use to destroy the Fallen. As you can guess, what I said was the attendant's definition of the shop; the price of a single one of the three skill books they had was 500 gold.
I had fled to the place where I was sitting right now without even looking at the face of the books he said were for archery, swordsmanship, and magic.
The more I thought about what kind of a setup I had fallen into, the more I unraveled it; it was not possible for me to buy the sellers' products in this state. My only option was to charge with bare hands like the people I witnessed perishing by being subjected to torture.