## Chapter 96 – (3)
“Welcome.”
As soon as I entered, a grumpy-looking old man shook his head at me.
“Tsk… I must be having bad luck with business…”
It was then that I noticed the attire of the other customers inside.
A man with rings on six out of ten fingers, a noble in a fancy dress with lace, and a knight in armor that shone brighter than most jewels.
People in extravagant outfits and with elegant movements were slowly browsing the store.
I didn’t fit in with any of them.
My armor was hanging in my room, and all I had on was a plain cloth outfit from my closet.
I understood why the old man wasn’t thrilled.
Understanding it didn’t mean I liked his attitude, though.
Still, I held back and approached the old man sitting behind the counter.
“Do you happen to do appraisals here?”
“…I do, but if the quality is too poor, or if there’s a high chance it’s fake…”
Before he could finish, I placed the gold bar I had taken out of my inventory onto the counter.
He glared at me, displeased that I had interrupted him, but upon seeing the gold bar, the old man put on a monocle-like magnifying glass and began to examine it calmly.
At first, he casually touched the gold with his bare hands, but gradually his movements became more careful.
Eventually, he put on gloves he took out from under the counter and laid a soft velvet cloth on top, carefully placing the gold bar on it.
“W-where did you get this?”
The old man shouted in surprise, and a man in knight’s armor who had been shopping nearby interjected.
“It was too big to be gold, so is it fake?”
He flexed his shoulders as if he would punish me if it were fake.
“Fake, you say!”
The old man got even more worked up than I did.
I was taken aback.
“This is real gold! The, the purity is…”
The old man stuttered as he looked at the gold.
The knight, realizing he had butted in unnecessarily, grumbled and slowly backed away, watching the old man’s reaction.
But the old man was so engrossed in the gold that he didn’t even notice the knight retreating.
The high purity of 24K gold seemed to have moved him.
“How much?”
“Y-you’re really selling this?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t go anywhere, stay put! I’ll go get the gold coins right away!”
The old man swallowed hard and scurried away with small but determined steps.
He was as light on his feet as a child, as if he had been rejuvenated.
“Huh? But I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere before… Are you a knight?”
After stepping back for a moment, the knight in shining armor looked at me slowly and suddenly spoke.
Of course, I didn’t remember the knight in front of me.
Since he asked if I was a knight, I nodded and replied.
“I’m under Commander Dana.”
“Dana… Dana of the Black Knights…?”
When the name of the Black Knights came up, I nodded in affirmation.
Seeing this, his face turned pale, and he scanned me before stepping back little by little.
He looked as if he had seen a monster.
“Ah… i-is that so…?”
The knight stammered, struggling to get the words out, before hastily backing towards the door and leaving.
I really felt like I had become some kind of monster.
I could tell roughly how the Black Knights were treated by ordinary knights.
Clatter.
At that moment, the old man returned with a welcome sound, struggling to place a sack on the counter.
“500 gold coins. You might think it’s not enough, but no one around here will give you as much as I will.”
Even as he said that, he looked worried that I might not accept.
I looked at the gold coins in the sack and replied.
“Sounds good.”
I accepted the offer without much hesitation.
The old man’s mouth dropped open at my cool reply.
For me, it was an offer I didn’t need to think twice about.
It was a much higher amount than I had expected, and it seemed rare to find someone who understood the value of this gold bar as much as the old man did.
In fact, there might have been people who, like the old man at first, would have judged me by my attire and not even bothered to appraise the gold.
Maybe I should have worn my armor.
The old man, as if wanting to complete the transaction before I changed my mind, pushed the sack towards me, and I accepted it and stepped outside.
Carrying a sack full of gold coins made me feel secure in both body and mind.
My next destination was set.
The weapon shop I had seen when I first entered this city, and the blacksmith’s street behind it.
That was my next stop.
Clang—
As soon as I entered the street, the sound of metal rang out.
Starting with that sound, other sounds of metal began to be heard in succession.
“Seems like I’ve come to the right place?”
Dozens of different sounds of metal were ringing out steadily, like a single piece of music.
Starting with a huge weapon shop, there were various workshops and stores, large and small, lined up behind it.
Unlike other streets, the proportion of adventurers and knights among the customers was overwhelmingly high on this street.
I walked along the street, looking at the weapons.
“…They all look the same to me?”
The problem was that even when I looked at the swords on display, I honestly couldn’t tell which one was well-made.
So, after much deliberation, I decided to go by price.
I figured that expensive weapons would be worth the price.
And I found the place that was selling the most expensive weapons.
“This small dagger is 4 gold coins…”
The medium-sized mithril sword I had seen when I first came to this city was 20 gold coins.
This small dagger was just made of steel, but it boasted a price of 4 gold coins.
The other weapons in this store were the same.
Any weapon was more than twice as expensive compared to other stores, and the shapes were also simple.
“Even so, 4 gold coins is…”
“Don’t buy it if you’re going to complain.”
I turned my head at the gruff voice, but I didn’t see anyone.
And as I slowly widened my field of vision, I saw a man holding a hammer.
The reason the man didn’t catch my eye at first was simple.
The man’s height was much shorter than I had expected.
A dwarf.
That was the race of the man who was the owner of this store and the protagonist of the voice just now.
“It’s a dagger made with dwarven craftsmanship, so the price is natural.”
He said with his arms crossed, as if he was proud.
A dwarf.
In many fantasy novels and games, dwarves are often depicted as a race with very excellent craftsmanship.
Considering the contents of the short story that faithfully followed various clichés, there was a high probability that dwarves were also a race with good craftsmanship in this world.
It didn’t seem like a bad idea to commission something.
“Do you also take custom orders?”
“…It’ll be expensive, you know?”
At the dwarf’s words, I unhesitatingly pushed the sack forward.
The dwarf, who had received the sack, checked the inside with a suspicious expression.
Then the dwarf opened his mouth.
“What…”
And taking advantage of the moment when his gaze was focused on the gold coins in the sack, I took out the jungle machete from my inventory.
“Please make this type of weapon with the best possible materials.”
The dwarf’s expression changed to a serious one as he received the jungle machete.
He looked at the jungle machete this way and that, muttering to himself.
“Is it iron? No, the weight and elasticity are better than iron. It looks like an axe, and it looks like a sword…”
The dwarf looked around at the jungle machete for a long time before nodding.
“Alright, I’ll give it a try. I’ll have to consider the materials, but it probably won’t exceed 100 gold coins.”
Since the jungle machete itself wasn’t a very big sword, the price was cheaper than I had expected.
No, in fact, 100 gold coins was by no means a cheap price.
I had made a lot of money just now, so my sense of money had become strange.
He said that it would take quite a while to make the sword.
“Where should I send it when it’s done?”
“Do you also deliver?”
“I have to if I’m getting paid this much.”
The dwarf chuckled and fiddled with the gold coins.
I told him to bring it to the Black Knights’ dorm.
“Are you a Black Knight?”
“Yes.”
I was worried that he might be horrified like the knight from earlier, but he didn’t have that expression.
“Hmm, I’ll have to consider fighting monsters as well.”
The dwarf simply nodded calmly and just stared intently at the jungle machete I had given him.
“It seems like the sword is too short to fight orcs or large monsters…”
Without disturbing the dwarf, who had already entered concentration mode and was muttering to himself, I carefully bowed my head and came outside.
And as I returned to the dorm, I bought small items.
Several large towels, perfume with a floral scent, body oil and cosmetics that nobles use.
These were the items to target Commander Dana’s wall, massage, that I had seen before.
With this, I was planning to gradually change my dorm room.
Roughly, with the feeling of a massage room in this world.
To do that, I needed various items, so I bought them all while I was out.
All that was left was how to naturally lead the commander to this massage.
But I couldn’t think of anything for that.
Massage was on the wall, but it didn’t seem like Commander Dana was the type to enjoy massages.
“Should I let it spread by word of mouth naturally?”
Places like the Knights, where they use their bodies, are always tired.
There were plenty of knights who wanted a massage.
Cecile came to mind first.
She was a female knight who was quite friendly to me.
“Should I bring up the story?”
For some reason, I had a feeling that Cecile would accept.
