Chapter 208: Hekaetos Forging Emporium

"I repeat…" After the entire storefront became deafeningly silent, the voice from earlier resounded throughout once more.

"Owner of the Crimson Forge…"

"Those from the Hekaetos Forging Emporium request a forging duel!"

"Sigh… it's those guys from the Hekaetos Forging Emporium again…" Unlike earlier, where everyone went silent at the voice's announcement, the people that entered the Crimson Forge now started verbally expressing their dislike for the voice's actions, with many of them conversing with one another as to how they were sick of the announcement.

Naturally, this displeasure visibly written on most of the people's faces did not go unnoticed, with Valyr taking a look at the person who had voiced out those words from earlier. Surprisingly, the person who had made the abrupt announcement was dressed in a kempt suit, a drastic contrast to what Valyr had in mind regarding the person's appearance.

After all, the man was talking about a forging duel with the Hekaetos Forging Emporium. It wouldn't be odd for one to think that the one saying those words was a fellow blacksmith, right?

Nevertheless, Valyr discarded that thought for now, watching the man stand there in silence as the people continued to murmur about their displeasure regarding the man's actions. Even Arcenne had a frown on her face when she heard the announcement, looking at Valyr with a light sigh. "I had a feeling they would come to annoy you at some point once they heard a new smithy was opening. I just didn't expect them to appear on your smithy's opening day."

In response, Valyr shrugged his shoulders, not finding it surprising that a nuisance would appear, recalling the multiple experiences he had with such nuisances in the past. Though, his thoughts focused on a certain phrase the man had uttered, prompting him to wonder whether what he knew in the past as a player was still the same now that he was an NPC.

With that, he looked at Arcenne and posed a question to her. "What's a forging duel?"

"It is what it is. It's pretty self-explanatory." Arcenne glanced at the man for a bit before looking back at Valyr. "A duel between blacksmiths where both of them could choose the type of equipment they would be forging. Most of the time, these forging duels are done for the sake of experience. Veteran blacksmiths would engage in a forging duel against novice blacksmiths in order to impart the latter a few lessons in forging. With that in mind, there's no bet between the two sides whatsoever."

"However, that does not mean that one can't add bets to a forging duel, and that's what the Hekaetos Forging Emporium does." As Arcenne said these words, a slightly grim expression appeared on his face. Though, just as she was about to continue, the man's voice bellowed throughout the room one final time.

"Owner of the Crimson Forge…"

"You have three days to respond."

Seeing that the man from the forging emporium had finally left, the customers who were in Valyr's smithy inwardly let out sighs of relief as they continued on with what they were doing earlier. Unsurprisingly, Arcenne let out a sigh of relief before continuing her explanation.

"As I was saying, the Hekaetos Forging Emporium uses the forging duel mechanic to harass newly built smithies, which, in this case, is your Crimson Forge."

"They would bet that the winner would own 10% of the profits the opposing smithy makes, which was more than enough for the owner of the newly built smithy to gamble and agree to the forging duel. After all, the Hekaetos Forging Emporium was the most well-known smithy in the city."

"However, more often than not, the forging emporium would win the duel, causing the newly built smithy to give 10% of their profits to the emporium. Now, have the forging emporium request a forging duel with the newly built smithy a few more times with the same bet and win all of them, and hey presto, another smithy has gone out of business yet again."

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"The worst part is that the bets are made under a legally binding contract, which means the losing side has no choice but to do it, lest they want to incur great fines from the government by not following it." Taking in a deep breath, Arcenne let out a long sigh as she recalled all of the newly built smithies she had encountered in the city in the past. Unfortunately, all of them were now gone thanks to the Hekaetos Forging Emporium's misdeeds.

Processing all of the information he had received from Arcenne's explanation, Valyr rubbed his chin for a bit before asking her the question that came to his mind. "So… should I respond to the forging duel or not?"

"I'd say no. After all, the binding contract only takes place once the forging duel becomes official." Arcenne lightly shook his head. "Though, considering the weapon you've forged for me sometime ago… I'd say saying yes wouldn't be a bad idea either."

"Anyways, let's move that topic aside for now and talk about the light armor set I want you to forge." Hearing these words that came out of Arcenne's mouth, Valyr could not help but let out a chuckle before acquiescing, talking about her custom order as he attended to the needs of other customers along the way.

…

"That was mentally draining." Noticing that there was only an hour left before the sun went down, Valyr inwardly let out a sigh of relief, taking note of the few remaining people that were still looking through the selection of items and equipment he had for sale.

During the rush of the opening day, Arcenne finalized the custom order she wanted him to forge, with its set effects prompting Valyr to ask her if he could forge a set of the armor for himself as well. Unsurprisingly, she told him that he was free to do whatever he wanted with the blueprints she gave him, making him think that this was her way of repaying for Glacial Edge.

Nevertheless, recalling the amount of money he had made during the first day, a wide grin could not help but appear on his face. With that, he suppressed the urge to close up shop and count his earnings for today, reminding himself that the time he would close up shop was exactly at sunset.

"And here I thought your smithy was already closed." Just as he was about to remind the few remaining customers that the smithy was nearing its closing time, a familiar face appeared at the smithy, who had a light smirk on his face as he moved closer to Valyr and embraced him.

Reciprocating the hug, the two eventually released each other as Valyr looked at the man that had appeared with a smile. "To be honest, I thought you'd appear at the smithy some other day, Tryndall."

"And miss out the opening day of my friend's smithy? No way!" Tryndall laughed. "Anyways, I'm here to request a custom order for a weapon, specifically a saber."

"Got any specifications and modifications in mind?" In response, Valyr nodded, grabbing a nearby piece of parchment to write Tryndall's custom order down.

As Tryndall nodded in response to Valyr's question, the expression on his face turned somewhat grim. "I do. Though, before that, I almost forgot to tell you something."

"What is it?"

"The five suspects have been detained."

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