Chapter 198: Chapter 197: Handling the Equipment
"Uh... where’s Kase? And why’d an Elf show up today? A Half-Elf, is it?" Donkexes said, sizing up Ale who had tagged along.
"Never mind that. I brought some materials. Take a look and see what you can use," Colin said. He pulled the collected Bear Claws, Bear Fangs, Bear Leg Hide, and four Wolf Hides from his Dimension Bag and placed them on the table. Finally, he took out the Fishman Blood he had gathered earlier.
The hides had all been treated with Antiseptic oil, so they were still in roughly the same condition as when they were first skinned.
Donkexes opened a few of the ceramic jars and sniffed. "Sahuagin blood. This is decent."
Then he looked at the other items. "There isn’t much profit for us in processing these. I suggest you take them to the tanners to sell. The price of Northern Furs has gone up quite a bit in Thousand Masts City recently."
"What are you guys working on over there? Find anything good?" Colin asked, jerking his chin toward Dorn.
"While you were out running around, our fighters were out gathering materials too. That came from a Dungeon," Donkexes said.
As the two were talking, the black-haired Dwarf Colin had seen a few times before emerged.
He wore a suit of half-plate armor and gripped a short, thick hand cannon. A very strange-looking dog was perched on his left shoulder.
The Hand Cannon’s barrel was as thick as a man’s wrist. It was inlaid with faintly glowing Gems, and you could clearly see intricate gearwork beneath them.
’Is that a so-called Magic Cannon? So this black-haired Dwarf must be a Mechanician.’
Colin thought to himself. He seemed to recall reading that some Mechanicians did indeed craft such weapons for combat, though he had no idea how powerful they were.
It was also worth noting that all the world’s mechanical technology originated from the Ancient Empire of Ora Kaim.
Donkexes spoke up. "A Hellhound?"
"Found it in an Underground City. How much can I get for it after it’s processed?"
"A few dozen Gold Coins at most. It’s not worth much," Donkexes said.
"Well, that’s bad news," the black-haired Dwarf said, but there wasn’t a hint of disappointment in his voice. He sounded as if he were just making small talk about the weather.
He turned his head. "You’re Colin, right?"
Not knowing what to say, Colin simply nodded.
"I didn’t get a chance to introduce myself last time. I’m Durkin-Shadow Anvil," the Dwarf said. "I heard from Donkexes that you want one of our people to join your party?"
"Is that an option now?"
"We can’t spare anyone at the moment. Perhaps there will be an opportunity in the future."
’Then what’s the point of bringing it up now?’ Colin thought.
"However, I’m grateful for your contribution to our cause. You’ll have a share in our accomplishments."
Durkin held out his hand. Understanding the gesture, Colin raised his own to shake it.
The Dwarf’s hand was covered in thick, hard calluses. Shaking it felt like shoving one’s hand into a narrow rock crevice.
After letting go, Colin said, "I have a broken piece of Magic Equipment. Can you guys fix it for me?"
"What kind?" Donkexes asked.
Colin took out the Magic Breastplate and placed it on the counter.
The other Dwarves heard this and gathered around, their small eyes fixed intently on the Chest Armor on the counter.
At first, the group chatted in the Common Language about how to repair it. Before long, they switched to speaking in Dwarven.
The conversation slowly turned into a debate, and soon they were speaking so fast that Colin wondered if he’d been hit by some kind of time-acceleration Magic.
Seeing the Dwarves like this, he had a feeling this was going to cost him.
"Colin? Are you still there, Colin?" Donkexes asked, his eyes still glued to the Armor on the table.
"I’m here."
"We can’t figure out the principles of the Array inside this Armor. It’s going to take a lot of time, and we’ll probably need to use some materials."
’This was the most troublesome kind of situation,’ Colin thought with a sigh. "How much will it cost?" he asked.
"How about this," Donkexes said. "Didn’t we give you a suit of Plate Armor last time? Give that to us, and we’ll fix this Magic Item for you. Then, depending on how it goes, we can refund you some money. What do you say?"
’So they’d be using the Plate Armor to cover the cost of materials.’
Colin took a careful look at the item’s Panel.
He asked, "The problem is, I don’t know what the item’s actual Magic Effect is yet. It’ll be a waste if it’s not suitable for me."
"We understand that," Donkexes said. "Tell you what. If you don’t need the Magic Effect on the armor, it becomes ours. You can keep wearing that Plate Armor, and we’ll give you gold as compensation."
Colin asked, "Is it possible this is a Cursed Item?"
"No way. If that happens, we’ll take care of it," Langgrin declared, puffing out his chest.
Cursed Items were indeed a real thing in this world.
According to legend, if someone carried a cursed piece of Magic Equipment for too long, they would become unwilling to part with it. The Curse on the item would also inflict certain negative effects.
These could include making the user fall ill, go blind, or become deaf. Of course, there were also stranger effects, like turning the user into a talking yellow duck—at least, Colin had read about such cases.
"There’s also Kase’s axe. He thinks it’s too heavy and wants it modified a bit." After speaking, Colin opened his Dimension Bag and called over a few Dwarves to help him haul out the Big Axe.
"This is a Frost Giant’s Axe," Langgrin said, glancing back at Colin. "You can take down one of those things?"
"It was just a reanimated Skeleton."
"That’s still no simple feat," Langgrin exclaimed. "As for this Axe, I’ll see about cutting some grooves in it and adding counterweights to the handle."
"And finally, my Hand Half Sword."
Colin drew his sword. "This thing was acting strange when I fought the Frost Giant. I felt the hilt vibrating. Could it be a piece of Magic Equipment?"
’Although the Panel says it isn’t,’ Colin added silently.
Hearing this, several Dwarves immediately crowded around.
"There’s no Magic Spirit on it..." Donkexes trailed off, seemingly recalling his previous misjudgment of the sword, Silent. He cleared his throat twice. "Just leave it with us for now."
"Oh, right. I also have a Magic Scroll. Can you take a look and tell me what’s written on it?" Colin asked, pulling out the Object Positioning Skill scroll.
Donkexes took the Scroll. "Sure. Come back for this in a few days as well."
Colin nodded. "I’ll be going, then."
"Just leave it here. I’ll let Kase and the others know when it’s ready. They’ll probably be coming over to train later anyway, right?"
"They will."
With that, Colin shouldered his backpack and led Ale out of the sewers.
Everything went smoothly after that.
Worried that the tanners outside the city wouldn’t be able to afford the price, Colin went to the Tanner’s Guild within the city walls to sell the Sable Fur, Bear Leg Hide, and the four Wolf Hides. The remaining Bear Fangs and Bear Claws were sold to the Sculptor’s Guild.
In the end, all the items sold for a little over two hundred and ten Gold Coins.
The three Sable Furs were the most expensive, each worth around sixty Gold Coins.
The guild also paid directly with Gold, but this time they did so by cutting off two-fifths of a standard-sized gold bar and then breaking that portion into smaller pieces to make payment.
After everything was taken care of, Colin took Ale to a safe place to settle their accounts, handing her the Gold and loose coins.
All told, each member of the party should receive a share worth over two hundred Gold Coins.
"Speaking of which, aren’t you going to sell your Sable Fur?" Colin asked.
"It wouldn’t sell for many Gold Coins anyway. I’d rather keep it as a memento," Ale said, taking out two Copper Coins and handing them to him. "Here, let me pay you back, Mr. Colin."
’What does she mean, "wouldn’t sell for many Gold Coins"?’ he thought. ’Who was it that couldn’t even afford a meat roll this morning and had to borrow two Copper Coins from me? This Half-Elf is like some fallen noble.’
Despite his internal complaints, Colin reached out and took the Copper Coins from her.
"So, what are we doing together next?"
Ale asked, as if it were the most natural question in the world.
(Image reference: A muscle cuirass. Because the one the protagonist acquired has an Enchantment, it looks brand new and is golden in color.)
