Chapter 1296: Dwarf’s scowl
"Woah."
Those were the only words they could muster once they saw the assortment of armors and weapons on display in this blacksmith shop.
When they entered here, they weren’t expecting much. Probably something that was only made in a hurry, something that was light and easy to carry as well. After all, why would they want to bring that much armor down here?
But as it turned out, they were wrong. Upon a single glance, they could immediately tell that these armors were even better than the armors they were already proud of wearing.
"Do you see the metalwork on this?! Did this come from the Hepheasteus workshop?!"
"No, I think it’s even better. Look at this weapon. I feel like it’s going to cut me even before I touch it."
"I didn’t think the Reborn company would specialize in armor and weapons too. I thought they just produced those automobiles."
After picking out what they were interested in, they immediately went to the counter in order to ask for the price.
"Excuse me? We would like to purchase some items."
After a few seconds of silence, the adventurers thought that there was no one here. But then, someone said;
"What do you want?"
They all looked around, wondering where that voice came from.
"I’m over here, you dimwits."
It took them a good while to realize that the one talking to them was under the counter itself.
They had to go on their tip toes just to see the white hair coming off of the blacksmith.
"Oh... we would like to purchase—"
The adventurer’s words were caught in his throat as he realized who he was looking at.
Slightly pointed ears... extremely short stature... long beard.
No way. It was an actual, real-life Dwarf! They’d only seen them in textbooks!
"A Dwarf?!"
The blacksmith looked at them with a scowl. "A human?!" he spat on the ground. "Tell me what you want."
The adventurers couldn’t come up with an answer immediately. They were still trying to digest the fact that they were staring at a Dwarf right now!
Weren’t they supposed to be closed off from the world?
If this Dwarf was the one who created these armors and weapons, then there was no wonder its quality was so high.
"Come on. Out with it," said the Dwarf. "Will you want to buy something or not? I don’t have all day!"
Finally, the adventurers were spurred on. "Oh... uh... yeah... I’ll want a new armor set for myself..."
"A spear for me..."
"Do you have some boots?"
The Dwarf simply glared at the adventures for a good minute, before he exited out of the counter and began walking through his own blacksmith shop.
Wordlessly, he took out an armor set, a spear, a pair of boots, and more weapons and paraphernalia.
"Here," the Dwarf said.
The adventurers didn’t know what to say. This wasn’t what they wanted. The Dwarf just chose it for them!
But not wanting to offend a Dwarf, they eventually chose to test out the armors and weapons he chose for them.
And they were pleasantly surprised that it fit them perfectly. Not only that, but it seemed as if they had finally found their partner! It was as if their vision had been blurry this entire time. But now, they had been given glasses and now had perfect vision!
These equipments were exactly what they needed, even if they didn’t know what it was they needed in the first place!
And even the items that the Dwarf gave them that they didn’t need, they eventually realized that they, in fact, needed it!
Once they wore it, they didn’t want to let it go again.
"Amazing! So this is what quality work is supposed to be!"
"I’ve never felt so free with such heavy equipment. Thank you, wise Dwarf!"
"I’ll never want to wield anything ever again! This spear will be with me forever!"
Seeing their responses, the Dwarf’s scowl turned a little bit better. "Hmph. Of course. I made them.
It seems that being stationed here isn’t that bad at all. I’ll get to meet more people like you. People who can finally learn the difference between something good and something perfect. Whatever. I wanted to build automobiles, but this is good too."
The adventurers turned to the Dwarf. "How much does it cost? We only have a few million gold coins on us, but we can get more once we get out of here."
The Dwarf waved his hand. "If you are able to provide our Supreme Leader some important information about the demi-humans and the magical monsters, then you can have those for free."
The adventurers looked at each other. Of course, their answer was easy!
...
...
...
"Is that true?" Michael asked the adventurers.
"Yes. We’ve seen it ourselves. We were lucky that we were able to get out. If it weren’t for the Vanderbilt army being there, we would have been toast."
Michael was just told that there had been sightings of demi-humans in some obscure part of the chasm.
And these demi-humans were standing atop those magical monster monkeys, seemingly controlling them like they were horses.
Unlike most of the demi-humans who used guerilla tactics by hiding in the shadows before attacking and retreating into a tunnel, these demi-humans instead had their own territory and was out there prowling with the magic monsters under their hands.
And it seemed that the Vanderbilt army had just made contact with them.
Michael immediately wanted to get over there.
"Can you tell me where they are?"
The adventurers gave Michael the map they made for themselves, detailing a good amount of the explored tunnels in the Chasm, including the place where the demi-humans were spotted.
Michael thanked them for their help, but they thanked him instead. They said that the armors and weapons were well worth it for something as mundane as that.
"Sorry, but I don’t think we’ll be able to escort you there. We don’t have the strength to fight in that kind of battle," said the adventurer.
Michael nodded and let them go. They decided to wander the tunnels by themselves and defeat some stray magical monsters to earn their money.