Chapter Two: The Fruits of Peddling
The next morning, we were ready and waiting for Castle Town gate to open.
I soon discovered that trying to pull a carriage down the city streets was no easy task. We needed to find a place to stash it.
The only place I could think of was the weapon shop, so we made our way there.
The owner of the weapon shop was a true rarity in the world. He was one of the only people who believed in me, and tried to help me.
Even after I’d been framed for a terrible crime, he sold me weapons at a fair price—I knew that I could trust him.
“Hey old man! Sell us some weapons and armor, would you?”
I hadn’t seen him in a while. He was leaning on the counter, his brow knit in concentration.
“Come on kid, give me some warning next time!”
“What’s business if not a series of unexpected developments?”
“I guess you’re right. How’s your budget looking?”
“Good question.”
I pulled out my three-and-a-half weeks of profits and dropped them heavily on the counter before him.
There were three bags, stuffed full of money.
“I haven’t counted it, but that’s all silver.”
“Come on, kid! Count it for me!”
“Pretty good, huh? That’s from my traveling merchant life.”
“This must be a hobby of yours—trying to give me a heart attack, that is.”
“Unfortunately for you.”
“Fine then. Let’s get to counting, shall we?”
“Sure.”
The old guy and I started counting coins. Raphtalia joined in too.
“Hey Princess, what’s wrong with you? Are you hurt? You’re moving differently than you used to.”
“Yes. Unfortunately, I was cursed quite badly in a recent battle.”
Without meaning to, I stopped counting and looked over at Raphtalia.
“Ah… A curse? Those can be real trouble. Guess you’re in recovery?”
“Yes. Once we leave your shop we’re heading for a church to get some holy water.”
“I see.”
Did we fool him? No, he had no reason to suspect me in the first place.
It seemed like a lot of money, but when I started counting I realized that there was actually a lot of bronze mixed in. Calculating the actual value, it wasn’t as much as I had been hoping.
“This is all worth almost 50 pieces of gold! You sure know what you’re doing there, kid.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice.”
I’d always prided myself on my business acumen.
Still, I’d made all this money off the misery of others. It didn’t put me in a great mood.
“We have some stuff to sell too—some equipment we lifted off of some bandits we met.”
Filo had been wandering around the shop looking at products. I snapped at her, and she quickly ran out the door and pulled in different items from the cart outside.
“Can I bring Mel back home?” asked Filo.
“Sure, but get back here before noon. And make sure that her parents show their gratitude.”
“Okay!”
“Holy Saint, thank you for all your help. I’ll see to it that you get what you are owed. Thank you again for your assistance.”
Filo finished dragging in our loot, and then she left to bring Mel back to her family.
That was fine. She had only come with us so that we would bring her home, and I couldn’t see there being any further complications. We’d only spent a day together, but still—I felt like I’d started to get a handle on just what kind of girl Mel was.
She had been very polite, and getting in her parents’ good graces certainly couldn’t hurt. When Filo was on her way out, I told her to run away at the first sign of any trouble.
“All right, so you want to trade this stuff in?”
I turned back to the weapon shop owner and returned to our negotiations.
There was a pile of equipment between us. We had managed to steal it from some violent bandits we had encountered.
“Kid, you’ve got your hands in all sorts of honeypots, don’t you?”
“With that, plus all the money, how’s our budget looking?”
“Let’s see here… you’re talking weapons and armor for her, and then armor for yourself, right?”
He crossed his arms and started mentally tabulating.
“Don’t get me wrong—I’m glad that you bring me all your business. But you know that you can try some other shops too, you know?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing in particular. The other Heroes have stopped coming around, so it made me think that there must be some other shop out there—a better shop.”
“Hmmm…”
It wasn’t impossible. The other guys already knew all about the world from their games. So there was a good chance that they knew a different store, one with better prices and equipment.
But his shop was supposed to be the best in Castle Town. So if there were a better place, it would have to be in another country. Right?
“You have any ideas?”
“Maybe if you went to our neighboring country, there might be shop with better equipment than mine.”
“If I have to gamble on a hunch, I’d just as soon take my chances with you.”
“There you go, kid! I won’t let you down!”
“Worst case scenario, I’ll just have you make me whatever I need. Those look like skilled hands you’ve got.”
“Good eyes! When I was younger I was the apprentice of a famous blacksmith to the east.”
“That’s what I’m talking about. That’s why I like working with you— for your skill and your efficiency.”
“I’m on it, kid. I won’t let you down!”
The old guy jumped over the counter and started pacing his shop, considering all the products there.
“Hmm… For the little lass, I’d think that a magic silver sword would serve her well. Of course I’d include a Blood Clean coating also.”
After some discussion we agreed on a price of 10 pieces of gold.
The Blood Clean coating he referenced was a way of making swords so that blood and guts wouldn’t stick to the blades and ruin them.
If you don’t get the guts off your sword quickly enough, the blade will rust and lose its edge. The coating was really important if you planned on using the blade for long.
“As for armor, I think magic silver armor that’s been manufactured with magic defense properties. Yes, that should do it.”
“Magic defense manufacturing?”
“The wearer of the armor will absorb magic from the enemy. It increases
the wearer’s defense proportionately.”
“Sounds great.”
If I wasn’t able to perfectly protect her, that armor would help her escape battles unscathed. If I make a mistake, that is. It would be important going forward.
The old guy was still thinking of equipment we could make for 10 pieces of gold. That was a pretty expensive piece of equipment.
“Hey, we have more money. If we went all out here, what could we get?”
“Kid, you gotta think about the girl. It will cost money to get that curse lifted. Besides, what if the equipment doesn’t work for you? You’ll lose money trading it in and all that.”
“Hmm…”
“Right. Also, that’s about the best I can do with the materials I have on hand right now.”
“Fair enough.”
If it was the best equipment he could make, then I guess it was good enough for me.
“If you want to push for something different, I’ll have to make it custom. I can do that, but it will take a little time.”
“Yeah, I guess you’d need time to make it.”
“Right. I have a bunch of different materials now, but still not enough. Mostly, I’d need ore.”
“I thought that maybe we could use the skin from that dead dragon.”
“Put that aside for a second. What about you, kid?”
“What about me?”
“If we are talking about your armor, I could make a heavy armor with the Air Wake processing, that way it would be lighter. Or I could make something new from all the stuff you brought in.”
“What would be better?”
“It would probably be about the same.”
“Hey, I remember you said that you could improve the Barbarian Armor if you added some bones.”
“You’re right, I was about to suggest that. Chimera and dragon bones are really great materials. Then we could cover it with dragon skin, and fix the dragon’s core into the center. That would be perfect!”
The dragon core he was referring to was a crystal-like core that had reanimated the dragon after it died. It was like the heart of an undead dragon. Filo had eaten most of it, but we still had what I’d set aside.
I bet that items like that, rare items, would make great equipment.
“Awesome. Sounds good to me, old man. Let’s do it.”
“Thanks! I’ll add the bones for free, which means that you just need to cover the manufacturing and material costs.”
He took 5 gold pieces, a pile of materials, and took them all back behind the counter with him.
“Hey kid, you better leave your Barbarian Armor with me when you leave.”
“Sure.”
I went to a changing room and slipped out of the armor, and then I set it on the counter.
“All right, I should have this all done in two days or so. So come back then! I’ll have good stuff for you.”
“Thanks. Oh hey, old dude.”
“What?”
“There’s a star next to my level now. Any idea what that means?”
“Oh yeah? Guess you guys are about ready to change class.”
“Class?”
“What, you don’t know? Class-up. You are going to advance into the next class. Once you break through your class, you can reach even higher levels—plus you get a huge power boost for breaking into a new class.”
Say what? What now?!So it was like a game where you could change jobs at a certain level?
“Normally only knights, wizards, and adventurers with special permission from the Crown are permitted to go through the class-up process. But you’re a Hero, aren’t you kid? You should be able to.”
Thinking back on it, it would explain why the bandits were so much weaker than I would have expected. They weren’t able to break through level 40! So adventurers and villagers that weren’t trusted were kept under a certain level—that’s how they were able to keep the peace. They controlled everyone’s power.
That reminds me—when we’d been fighting the bandits, I think the bodyguard had something similar.
“When you go through a class-up, you have to decide what direction you want to take your growth. It sure worried me when my time came. Once you get that star, your options really open up. It’s a big deal.” “Where can I do it? Where can I class-up?” “Haven’t you already been there? The room with the dragon hourglass.” So that’s where it happened. Thinking back on it, it did seem important and well protected. The dragon hourglass was a giant hourglass that counted down to the arrival of the waves of destruction. A while back I’d met up with the rest of the heroes there. Could it be that I’d met them there because they’d gone to class-up? Just what level were they at, anyway? I felt myself getting flustered. “Anyway, the immediate priority is getting Raphtalia’s curse lifted.
Filo’s busy too—so I’ll worry about it once we’re all back together again.” If I could, it would be better to class-up as soon as possible. “Okay, old dude, you mind if we all meet up here?” “If that’s what you want, I’m fine with it.” The guy really did treat me well. I wanted to give him all the business I
could. We finished up at the shop, and Raphtalia and I left for the church.
There was a large church in the center of town, looming over everything and immediately visible. It was huge. There was a symbol over the door; it looked like a sword, spear, and bow combined.
I didn’t like the look of that. There was no shield.
“Sh… Shield Hero?!”
We walked into the building, and one of the sisters there shot me a cold glare. Putting aside what they thought of me, is that how they behaved in their church? Or were those accused of rape not even allowed to enter the church at all?
“Do not let it upset you.”
A man, some type of church patriarch by the look of him, admonished the sister.
Something about it made me uncomfortable, but whatever it was I let it go.
“Father!”
“What brings you to our holy space today?”
“My friend here has been hit with a powerful curse. We’ve come in search of a powerful holy water so that we might cure her.”
They hadn’t done anything rude to me yet, so I saw no need to be combative right off the bat.
“We will require a financial offering.”
The wall was plastered with various items and their prices, but I decided to ask anyway.
“How much?”
“Holy water is not very expensive, but it is available in different potencies. Starting with 5 pieces of silver, 10 pieces of silver, 50 pieces of silver, and up to 1 gold piece.”
Well at least they weren’t out to get whatever they could.
Had they tried to wring money from us, I’d been prepared to show them how I felt about it.
“Well, I certainly wouldn’t want to start debating over money here in the house of God. We’d like the holy water for 1 piece of gold, please.”
“We can’t, Mr. Naofumi. I can’t accept such an expensive item.”
“It’s fine. We already went over this. You’re important to me. What’s a piece of gold if it will save you?”
“Th… Thank you so much! You won’t regret it!”
I took out a piece of gold and passed it to the priest.
“Thank you.”
He pointed to a sister, who immediately came over with a bottle in her hand.
I remembered my appraisal skill and used it on the holy water.
Low-level holy water: quality: poor
I glared at the priest. He looked taken aback, then took the bottle from me. The color left his cheeks.
“Why did you bring this cheap holy water?”
“But I…”
“The Lord is merciful. If you have done this to appease your own sense of justice, then you must repent immediately.”
“I… I’m so sorry!”
“I beg your pardon. A member of our church has behaved rudely to you.”
“If I get what I paid for, I’ll have nothing to complain about.”
“Thank you for your understanding.”
The priest left to retrieve the water himself, then returned with a bottle. I used my appraisal skill on it again.
Curse-lifting holy water: quality: excellent
“Looks good to me.”
I took the bottle of holy water from him.
“Please thank the Lord for his guidance. All is delivered through the mercy of the Lord.”
Religions sure did have an air of self-righteousness. He spoke as if it were to be assumed that I was evil, and that I should be grateful for his forgiveness.
Raphtalia and I left the church. I was ruminating about their behavior as we left the building behind.
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