Chapter 106: Vol 7 – Chapter 5 – Mines Of Moira? Not! (Part 4)

“Tek here, a lot of clearance sales appear during an economic deflation--this stands true even in a parallel world.”

“You heard what I said before, didn’t you, mister? Even among Dwarven blacksmiths, the only ones who can work with first-class materials, like Mithril, are the personal pupils of the Elder. An ordinary working-class Dwarf like me only makes swords from normal iron at best. I don’t do Mithril.” The Dwarf, who was being pressed by the noble-like man, shrugs his shoulders as he declares calmly.

“That can’t be. Then where should I go to buy one? I came here especially from Gururian City.”

“Unfortunately, I don’t know.”

“There’s a lot of people who are like that during this season. With the month changing in 8 days, the once-in-three-years Martial Tournament will open in the Capital--so people come here looking for Mithril weapons.” Jojori explains, “I’ll go for a bit.” She continues after a second--before getting up and walks over to the annoying noble.

There are a lot of hidden bodyguards, so she should be alright.

If the tournament is next week, I don’t think he’d make it in time. But, since the preliminaries are held in every city of the Dukedom, it should be alright for him. Though, the preliminaries aren’t held in Bollhart--since it isn’t technically under control of the Dukedom.

The guy seems to be the fourth son of a Viscount, level 6, and has the One-Handed Sword Skill--even if he has a Mithril sword, I don’t think he would do well in such a large tournament.

“Gober, what seems to be the problem?” Jojori asks the Dwarven smith.

“Ah, Ms Jojori--these people insist on buying Mithril swords.”

“Are you selling?” The noble asks while Jojori stands to the side and observes.

“I’m very sorry, but Mithril weapons are only created if you have a reservation. Moreover, it requires a letter of introduction from the Duke and Viceroy.” Gober spoke with a sigh.

“What--you say that I won’t be able to get a Mithril sword?” The noble mutters in a desolate tone and collapses to the ground--oops, looks like he fainted.

Judging from the state of his clothes, he seems to have been through a long journey.

Jojori comes back while carrying him in a princess carry--it is strange to see what looks like a thirteen year old girl carrying a large man so easily. She lays him on a bench at the corner of the cafeteria.

“It looks like he’s overworked. Among the second sons of nobles and below, as well as fallen nobles, there are a lot of cases where they collapse after managing to arrive here, following a strict schedule.”

It’s almost like a tradition, huh?

A woman dressed in armour, who seems to be the attendant of the noble, walks up. She’s a blonde woman with a childish face, who looks like she is 16. Her eyebrows are rather thick, and I can’t see her figure through her armour. She is level 7, with the One-Handed Sword and Shield Skills.

“I’m sorry for the trouble young master has caused. We’d like to get Mithril swords, no matter what, is there any way?”

“Even if you say that--If you bring the raw material, the Mithril ingot, then there would be several people who could help--but since they’re reserved for the Duke and Viceroys, beside doing that, it’s impossible.”

The warrior woman is easier to talk to than the noble, but Jojori’s answer isn’t favourable. By the way, the Viceroys seem to be nobles who govern the cities, other than the capital of the Dukedom.

Still, if the way to get Mithril weapons are so difficult to get…is it really okay for me to have this sword?

Oh well, it’s mine now anyway. Worst comes to worst, I will just keep it in storage when in the capital--or disguise it.

Since the conversation doesn’t really concern me, I wipe Pochi’s mouth with a spare napkin, since it got dirty while she was eating.

But, the argument turns this way.

“Mister, I assume that your sword is made from Mithril--I know it’s an impudent wish, but would you be willing to hand it over?”

“I refuse.”

I decline straight away, but she keeps pressing on, no sign of giving up.

“You won’t sell, no matter what?”

“In the first place, you wouldn’t be able to pay the cost, you know?”

“We’ll pay no matter how much. If we can’t, I’ll give you anything you want.”

At the woman’s words, everyone looks at my face--no, I’m not thinking anything perverted. I roll my eyes at them.

“Even if you say no matter how much, a Mithril dagger costs 40 gold coins, you know? For a straight sword this size, it’d be at least 120 gold coins.”

“Wha? Even though an iron sword only costs around 1 gold coin--One hund…120 you say?!”

I thought that iron swords were more expensive though?

When I check the woman’s sword out of curiousity, it’s just as I thought, it’s very poor quality.

Still, it’s bad for her to try to buy something if she doesn’t have any idea of the real Market Price.

I’ll give her a warning once again, to make her give up.

“Even if you get yourself a Mithril sword, you won’t suddenly get stronger. Rather coming here to buy one, you should use that time and effort to hunt Monsters instead.”

“That’s not so. For the sake of entering the Imperial Guard of the Dukedom, the young master needs either a Mithril or Magic sword.”

I ask her for details, since I’m not sure what the relation between those are.

According to her story, it seems that the people who possess Mithril or Magic weapons are able to pass the first preliminary round. Then there’s a story circulating among the young nobles that if you manage to participate in the second preliminary round, you’d get accepted into the Dukedom’s Imperial Guards.

It seems that entering into the Imperial Guards is the most popular way to be successful in life, beside being the first child. This is why the noble has participated in the martial tournament since he was 15, but he never passed the first round. It would be the his third time entering, this time.

Luckily, Liza keeps her spear wrapped in cloth, because it would be troublesome if the woman notices it.

Arisa, who has just finished her meal, repulses the woman, who’s still persisting.

“You’re being rude to our master, even though he’s being humble. This person is a respected noble, with a peerage, Chevalier Felspar.”

After hearing that, the woman says, “I earnestly apologize for my rudeness.”, and lowers her head, going pale.

As expected of Arisa.

“Please be careful, there are a lot of frauds who are selling weapons made from Monsters as though they’re Magic Weapons recently.” Jojori advises the female warrior.

Now that Liza and the others have finished their meals, I give them the sign to leave. When I glanced back, I saw some Weaselman Merchants approaching the woman, but I decide to ignore it--it’s her fault if she gets scammed just after ignoring Jojori’s advice.

***

We quickly stop by a Magic Shop that is above the ground, that anyone can visit, which is run by a childhood friend of Jojori.

“Hey, Jojori. It’s unusual for you to come to this shop! Are you finally fed up with that muscle-brain idiot, Zajir? That’s good! That’s really good.” The male Dwarf says with a laugh.

Jojori rolls her eyes, “Hello, Galhar. Please don’t say such a think about Zajir.”

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His first words were poking fun at Jojori’s fiance, and she responds as though it’s a common occurrence--they are obviously childhood friends, and it’s likely that he competed with Zajir for her affection as well.

They start having a conversation as we look around.

I end up getting three scrolls: Nature Magic: Short Stun; Nature Magic: Sonar; Nature Magic: Fence.

Beside Short Stun, they seem like Magic I’m unsure how I will use them.

Then, after thinking for a short time, Galhar went into the back of the shop and brought back some stock that he had apparently bought from a Weaselman merchant in the neighbouring city of Daregan.

The first is ‘Nature Magic: Signal’, which Nana also has, but it’s useless since there’s no one who could receive it. It’s probably usable as a beacon.

The second is ‘Nature Magic: Cube’, which is a Magic that seems to be a mixture between ‘Shield’ and ‘Floating Board’, and it’s used to create cubes of arbitrary size that float in the air. I think I can use it to create stairs in the air.

The third is ‘Fire Magic: Furnace Flame’. Which seems to be a Magic that’s used to smelt ores into ingots.

The last one is ‘Light Magic: Condense’.

This was a good shopping trip--I got some scrolls that I was very pleased with, especially the last. As for it’s usage, that will be a surprise for now.

***

Next, Jojori was going to take us to a massive waterwheel that looks to be a tourist attraction. However, something forces me to change my plans.

As we walk down the main street, a slaver’s wagon trundles past us. As soon as it goes past, I look over at Arisa, and she meets my eyes. It seems that she saw it too, she also understands my thoughts.

“Jojori, where is the shop of the slaver who just passed us?” I asked the Dwarven woman who was currently leading us towards the waterwheel.

She looked at me with curiousity, before pointing down the street in front of us, “Just at the end of this street, the last shop before the intersection.

“Well, change of plans. We will be stopping by that shop, and then going back to the Mayor’s Mansion.”

Everyone just calmly nods at my words, no one other than Jojori looked curious at my decision--maybe they are used to me just randomly changing plans.

The slaver actually has a shop, unlike most of the nearby merchants who primarily used sheets on the ground, or rarely had stalls. The shop is rather small, in width, but it was two-stories tall.

Jojori chose to stay outside as the girls and I entered.

As soon as we enter the building, I hear a bell ring and two skimpily-dressed girls guide me to a small leather couch, before they went into an office at the back.

Most of the girls stand behind me. But Mia sits beside me, and Tama and Pochi sit at my feet and cuddle up to my legs, I feel Arisa place her hand on my shoulder.

“How can I help you, sir?” The Weaselman slaver leaves his office flanked by the girls, who quickly wander off to prepare drinks. He sits down on the sofa across from me with a relaxed expression. His clothing looks fairly expensive.

“I happened to see a slave who caught my attention, and I wish to buy her--she is a young Dwarven girl with sapphire-blue hair.”

Tama and Pochi look up at my words, tilting their heads in confusions--because I was speaking like a noble.

I rested my sword in such a way that he could so Dohar’s mark. Normally I wouldn’t show off like this, but the girl I saw had somethings in her information that made me feel the need to buy her, even if I free her soon after.

But I really wanted her to join me and the girls.

I can’t ask for her by name, so I had to hope he brought the right one and I didn’t have to keep thinking of ways to describe her.

“Ahh, Mara. I must warn you that she is a new acquisition, so she hasn’t been trained--we don’t give refunds. Go, fetch Mara.” He nods to me, warning me that she is new--which makes sense, because if she had been appraised, it was likely that he would only sell to high-rank nobles.

While he had been speaking, the slave girls came back with two mugs of cheap-looking ale.

“Yes, Master!” One of the slaves nodded at his final words, going up the stairs--she soon returned followed by Mara.

Mara is an 18 year old Dwarven girl, standing at one meter tall with waist-length Sapphire-blue hair. Her eyes are light tan, with no pupil or sclera, looking almost like polished dirt, like other Dwarves.

Her skin is a pale white, unlike most Dwarves, who tan from constantly working at a forge.

She is definitely cute, with a small upturned nose, thin lips, and a freckly oval-shaped face.

At first glance, she looked like a mini 13 year-old, but when you look closer, her body was much more mature--she had curves.

Her slave clothing was mostly transparent, like most slaves wore when on display. But, strangely, even though she was newly ‘acquired’--she wasn’t at all embarrassed. However, she did seem nervous as she inspected me, quickly relaxing when she saw my sword with Dohar’s seal.

I could feel Nana almost vibrating behind me. She had wanted to wander off and cuddle all of the ‘small organisms’--whether they were adult or child Dwarves, well not so much the male adults. If we had a ‘small organism’ join us on our travels, Nana would probably be in heaven.

The Weaselman watched as I looked at Mara, and he smiled, “Her price is 5 gold coins. However, I haven’t had a chance to have her appraised, so I cannot guarantee her virginity--but she has had all the major Healing Magic used on her by someone with a skill-level of 5 in Holy Magic.”

I had more than enough money to pay for that, and I had the feeling if were to try to negotiate, it may backfire--letting the trader know that my interest in her may be more than it seems. While negotiating could work in a lot of situations, it could also lead to the failure of a transaction. Of course, there are other ways to get this girl. However, I would prefer not to, because it could end up incredibly troublesome.

“Alright.” I place a pouch, with the coins in it, on the table.

Arisa’s grip on my shoulder tightened, she probably didn’t like how much I was willing to spend.

Well, it was ridiculously over-priced, since her Market Price was only 5 silver coins.

A look of shock flashed incredibly quickly through the Weaselman’s eyes, most people would have missed it.

He reached out for the pouch, but I pulled it back a little, “The contract?”

“Oh yeah, how could I forget?” He let out a fake laugh, telling one of the slaves to get the contract.

It was a simple contract, almost identical to the one that was used when I bought Lulu and the others. Arisa’s was different, but that was because she deliberately had it altered.

Once the contract and ceremony was over, I stood up. Since Mara seemed lost because of how quick and easy the process was, “Mara, come on.”

She paused for a second, “Yes, Master.”, nodded and followed me.

As soon as I left the building, Jojori looked over at Mara, who stood behind me, “Mara?”. She raised an eyebrow, something that looked like a small smirk tugged at her lips, “So, you finally get out, after so many years of complaining--and you get captured, enslaved, and brought back.” There was a surprising tone of schadenfreude in her voice.

“Jojori, it seems you got your wish…” The girl looked defeated.

“I’m not sure about that, your new Master, Tek--is a nice guy. He will also be leaving soon. So you will get to go traveling like you dreamed.” She sighed as she spoke, her tone changed,

“Mara, please explain?”

It seems that the two of them have a history, and not a pleasant one. Well, they are of a similar age, so it’s understandable.

“Yes, Master.”I noticed when she first said it in the shop, but she sounded a little awkward when she said ‘Master’.

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