“By the way, did you have something other than apologizing for Kevin’s actions?” I asked the owner.
“I was hoping I could offer you some jewelry again. You did come here with the young Lady Watchman.” The owner said.
“I see. I’ll just warn you beforehand, I don’t have that much money on hand, so anything overly expensive is off the table.” I told him. “But if you are interested in a trade, I have something you might want.” I added. I still have a spare magic fanny pack and I was thinking of selling or trading it to him as a thanks for analyzing that pendant.
“I see. If it is from you then it must be something interesting. Shall we head to my room?” He offered.
“Alice,” I turned to my date. “What do you think? I can come back here later if you are not feeling up to it.”
“No. We can do it now.” Alice told me.
“Then please follow me.” The owner said as he took us to his office.
I was back in his office. I honestly was not expecting to be back this soon. I mean, I was here just yesterday. And I didn’t even buy anything last time. Why is he wasting his time like this?
I sat down on the sofa with Alice and the owner took his seat behind the desk.
“Now then, you mentioned a trade. What would you like to trade in?” He asked.
“This.” I said as I removed the empty magic fanny pack and placed it on the table. “A magic bag.”
“Impressive. This is the first time I’ve seen a magic bag this small.” He said as he took the fanny pack into his hands.
“Really? That’s surprising.” So small magic bags are rare, I guess.
“They do exist if that’s what you are wondering.” He immediately told me. “But the dungeon they were made in has died, so we can no longer get new ones. And like everything else, magic bags break over time.” He informed me.
Dungeon’s can die? I guess breaking the core would be something akin to killing it. But who would do such a thing? I guess the best guess is something like a neighboring country that doesn’t like what the dungeon can produce.
… But couldn’t another dungeon founder analyze one and just make them with a different dungeon? How does that work? Is there a reason it cannot be done?
(It might be that the dungeon’s don’t have a sufficient core to make something like that.) Laura told me.
(Well now I’m thankful the core in mine is complete overkill.) I joked back to her.
(It has its advantages, yes.) Laura responded.
“So… How much do you think it is worth?” I asked.
“Hmm.” He let out as he was checking out the bag. He checked the outside and the inside. “It’s not as large as the ones made by the other dungeon I told you about, but it’s still nice. Based on its storage capacity and outside dimensions, I would say it’s around 130 gold in value.” He said.
130? Lawrence appraised it at 120 gold if I remember correctly and I sold it to him for 100. Perhaps he just has different information from Bakula.
“With that being the case, would you be willing to sell it to me for 110 gold?” He asked.
110? So he wants to make a profit of about 20 gold. That’s not that bad.
“What?” Alice asked next to me. “You just said it’s worth 130 gold. Why are you offering 110 gold for it?”
“Alice,” I said as I took her hand. “It’s business. He can’t pay the same price for buying something as he sells it for. He needs to make some money as well.”
“It is exactly as you said, Sir Brian. Most don’t realize that. Are you perhaps trained as a merchant?” The owner complimented me.
No. I just watch youtube. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard ‘I need to make a profit’ on different pawn shop videos.
“I have some knowledge about it.” I told him.
“Would you like to work for me then?” He immediately asked me.
“No thanks.” I refused. “If I wanted to be a merchant, I would just make my own company.”
“Then I must hope you won’t do it. You would put me out of business.” He said jokingly. Actually I probably could do it, if I tried hard enough.
“I have no plans on doing it.” I told him. “I like my life as an adventurer.” Even if I haven’t done any adventuring work. I guess one day I will. Unless that one bison counts. That was adventuring work. The wyverns don’t count. That was an emergency so we needed all hands on deck.
“I suppose that is fine. Now, is there something you would like for this, other than money?” The owner asked.
… I don’t really have anything I need at the moment. I looked at Alice.
“Alice, do you want something?” I asked her. “Some jewelry? Or something else?”
“I already got this.” She said as she was stroking her staff.
“I can get you something else.” I told her.
“...but I don’t really need anything.” Alice said quietly.
“Then perhaps I can show you two some things. Perhaps you will show interest in some of them.” The owner offered.
I looked at Alice and asked, “Are you fine with that?”
“Sure. We can stay a little longer.” She answered.
“You heard her. You’d better impress us if you want that magic bag.” I told him. I want some pressure on him, so he’ll show us the best stuff.
“Then I’ll show you my best items.” He said as he went to get a few boxes.
“How about this?” He asked as he showed us a pendant with a crimson pearl. “This is a pendant with a fire magic stone. It boosts the wearers fire magic and has a design that could be worn to an evening party.”
Not bad, but wrong attribute. If it was for dark magic I would have considered it. I took a peak at Alice and she didn’t seem overly drawn to it either.
“I guess that’s a no.” The owner said. “Then how about this?” He opened a larger box next. From it, a book appeared. The book had a large green gem embedded into its front cover. “This is a wind magic book, written by the S-rank adventurer Ilmari the Sky Knight. It also has a wind magic stone embedded into its cover.”
… Is he just unlucky or lacking information? Neither of us can use wind magic, so the book would be basically useless to us. I think Rico could use some wind magic, but he only uses it to support his archery. And I’m not about to gift something like this to him. He can work for it on his own. Or is that why he is so money hungry? Does he know about this book?
Well, it doesn't matter to me.
“Still no reaction? How? I heard Miss Watchman started using magic and even took part in the wyvern extermination so how come you don’t want this?” The owner asked.
“So you know she can use magic now, but don’t know what attribute she uses? Your information is lacking.” I told him.
“The Watchman family has always specialized in wind magic. That is why I bought this book for a high price. But they’ve never come asking for a wind magic book for some reason.” He complained.
“I can’t use wind magic.” Alice told him.
“So you learned earth magic then. I have a staff with an earth gem. Let me go get it.” He said as he got up.
“Don’t bother. That’s also wrong.” I stopped him.
“Then please do educate me. What magic can Miss Watchman use? I’ll have something for her if I know.” He told me.
I looked at Alice and allowed her to answer.
“I use dark magic.” She said.
“I see, so dark mag… Dark magic? Really?” He seemed surprised.
“Yes.” I answered. “She uses dark magic. So, do you have anything for dark magic?” I asked.
“I… please excuse me for a second.” He said as he left the room.
—
“Do you think he has something?” Alice asked.
“I’m not sure.” I told her. “As far as I know, dark magic is the rarest attribute of magic, so he might not.”
“Will you still sell that magic bag to him, if he doesn’t have anything to trade?” She asked.
“Probably. I have no real use for multiple ones and I can just make new ones with the dungeon.” I told her.
“Could you make me one?” She asked.
“Sure. I’ll make you one when I name your mother as the dungeon master.” I promised.
“Thank you, Brian.”
—
“Here we go.” The owner said as he returned to the room. He was holding two bracelets that seemed to be made of gold. “These are magic bracelets, but as you can see they have no magic stones in them yet. How about I sell you these and the appropriate monster cores that can be converted into dark magic stones?”
I took a peak at Alice and she seemed interested for the first time. I have no idea how the converting process actually happens, but I do have two experts that I can summon.
“So, I take it that you are interested?” He confirmed.
“Yes!” Alice let out. “Brian, please.” She turned to me with stars in her eyes. Well that escalated quickly. From no interest to all the interest.
“You heard her. How much?” I asked.
“Thirty five gold per bracelet and for the monster cores will depend on the rank. I recommend c-rank cores. I can sell you the c-rank cores for 3 gold each.” He told me.
“So that will be 76 gold if my math is correct. Will you be paying the other 34 gold coins with cash then?” I confirmed.
“Yes. I’ll have it prepared.” He said as he called out to an employee to get the coins for him.
I made the trade (or sale) and I left with Alice. I was still holding onto the bracelets and the cores, so I could make the dark magic stones for them later. I don’t want to gift a DIY project.
“So, shall we head to the Boar’s lounge for lunch?” I offered.
“Yes.” Alice answered.
The shopping had taken more time than I predicted. Especially the stop at Bakula’s store. The clouds are closing in. I hope we won’t have to walk back to the manor in the rain. Just kidding. I’ll just summon Overdrive and we’ll drive there.
Now let’s go check if this inn really has the best food in town.
Man the way he talks is arrogant. For instance when trying to get impressive merchandise brought out he could have done so with the same words and a smile, maybe add a wink, making the interaction playful. This would have been a much nicer way to interact and would have the same outcome.
Been thinking about this the whole book so far.
True. It wasn't my original plan, but Brian just ended up that way. I think it comes from the way I write the series. As I try to write 1 chapter a day, my own personality swings affect Brian in his day-to-day going. If I'm having a good day, Brian will generally be nicer. But if I have a bad day, Brian will be more snappy and prone to doing stupid things. Brian also has the problem of getting away with basically everything. The Watchman family don't want to do anything to him because he has system support (and he saved the town), and adventurers/townspeople don't want to oppose him because he is strong (and he saved the town).
It's fully possible that Brian's arrogance will eventually come back to bite him in the ass, or perhaps he will just learn to be less arrogant after someone points it out to him.
@nro_8 understandable my writing does the same
lol, I wonder if Bakula had someone spying on them, thus overheard that convo.
If I were in his shoes, that'd be what I'd do. Plays out well too, since he leaves after presenting one product at a time, instead of taking a bunch with at once; would let the people talk it out, allowing him to glean info to sell better and such
Considering the location and the fact that Bakula gave the order to be nice to Brian, there is good chance someone heard them. But Bakula would most likely find out about it soon anyway even if he didn't hear it at this point. The magic bags are one of the most valuable items from the dungeon and they will be the big money makers. Or more like the ones that sell for a lot of money. New fabrics are always going to do descent on the market, especially if they are of high quality.
Tbh MC been growing a stick up his ass recently, knowing tropes he's prolly up for a smack in the face soon, TFTC
lol, as the saying goes, power corrupts. He get isekai'd to a fantasy land, gets a unique skill + extras, and keeps being proven how powerful the skill is.
Tack on how he basically received the power for no effort, and trouble hasn't affected him personally/grievously and it's a recipe for arrogance, at least. -- Undeserved power and all.
great now you lead the shopowner to your secret of handout magic attributes. fumbass doesvthis every chapter