40 - The Player's Open-air Store

The owner of the armor store, who gave his name as Elias to the best of his ability, was a cat-eared beastman woman who spoke to me. She had long, pale cherry-colored hair tied up with white flowers and was wearing a long, shiny white china dress that showed off her slender legs. Her skin is as white as her clothes. Her breasts are flat. ...... female, right?

"If you have a <>, I'll trade you that breastplate."

"Exchange?　Why, it would be a loss for the store, wouldn't it?"

There will never be just one material. You lose at least that much material.

"We have enough money for a normal sale. I'd rather improve my production skills now than make a profit, and I'd like to handle the highest grade materials possible. I want to deal with high rank materials as much as possible. But boss drops are still scarce in the market. If you have any of them, I'd like you to give them to me.

He looks up at me.

"It's not a bad deal, is it?"

What do you think?　He tilts his head as if to say, "I'm sorry.

"So you're good at producing and you're rated a 5. If it's mutually beneficial, there's no reason to say no. I'll accept the exchange.

"Thank you. As you can see, I'm good at chest-pieces. Not only am I good at it, but I have the title of [Blessed by the God of Blacksmithing]. If you use the circle moss for the breastplate, you can be sure that the rating will be 6.

If it fails, you can't count on it, but if you're good at producing, you can't fail.

God of blacksmithing?

"The god of blacksmithing?　Are there more than just the gods of the temple?"

"Oh, no?　Didn't you hear the world announcement?　It was still early days with the bugs, so I'm not sure if I'm missing something?　You should check the world announcements in the menu.

He explained it softly and carefully.

It seems that in addition to the higher deities such as the gods of the temple, there are various other gods in each lineage. They are said to grant blessings and titles more readily than the higher deities. The effect is not so great.

The god of blacksmithing is the god who appeared when Lusha, the god of gold, caught the breath of Asha, the god of fire, and struck his sword for the first time, and is said to give blessings and titles which, as the name suggests, compensate blacksmithing production.

Yes, when I looked at the menu, I saw that the world announcer who received the first blessing of the god received the blessing of [God of Cobblestone]. I am very curious to know what kind of blessing it is.

...... Are the blessings and titles of the higher gods hard to get?　Peter also has the blessing of the god of water. What's that?

"Does Homura have a consignment contract?"

I do.

"Well, I'd like to buy one of these chests for sale at this price, if you don't mind."

"Hmm?　Can't we just exchange them here?"

"Homura is fine if you want, but direct exchange is frowned upon because of rampant fraud. Circlemoss is a boss drop and has a fixed rating, so it can't be faked, but player-made items are easy to swap for something with a lower rating or to commit fraud.

"Yeah, I've heard that before. I don't care about the exchange, if you've already set up your stall this early in the game, you're going to keep on selling. I don't think they're trying to scam us."

And I want to get out of here as soon as possible because it's a hassle to move.

"Oh, you trust me. I'm glad you trust me.

I quickly exchanged breastplates with Elias, who smiled at me.

"I specialize in making light equipment such as breastplates, cuirasses, and legs," Elias said. But the materials are a little more special, and they are drop materials from monsters. I tried to use monster materials because I thought that ordinary minerals would be uninteresting, but I failed because I was too vigorous."

Oh, so he had an idea of how to get [specialty] and tried to set it to "monster parts", but inadvertently produced "drop equipment" from the material.

"Yes, I want you to bring me the dropped armor so that I can buy it. I'll pay more if it's of a rank that will increase the level of production.

"The equipment that would raise your production level would be of a rank that you would want to equip yourself with, but the ...... cloak is out of your range, right?"

If it's a cloak, I got a drop from Griffin, so I have an extra yagyakulu, but for all intents and purposes it's the dressmaker's one.

"The cloak is for the seamstress. If I find something I don't need, that's fine.

Sure enough, that was the answer.

"Is it possible to buy the equipment made only for the cost of other materials, instead of buying it?"

"It is possible to exchange the same equipment that you have already made, but I don't ask you to wait for the production process with the materials you received. The use of materials that would increase my production level is almost always fixed at a rating of 6, so there's no point in waiting or making me wait.

"Oh, well, I don't know the market price, but I'd like to trade you my equipment for this."

Even if you don't know the market price, we will offer to exchange it for an equivalent one without any hassle.

"I've never seen ......... before."

Elias lets out a mumbled sound.

Ah, <> is Griffin's <>!　It's a trap that I had overlooked the fact that it was the reward for the first solo defeat, because the solo defeat reward is so high in ability. I had no intention of offering or . Besides, they are both sewing .... These two are of good design, so I'm going to use them as they are.

The <> has feathers growing out from the elbow, and is white with brown and ochre patterns. It is not a bad design, but I do not like it, so I may replace it with a modified version. The performance should be better with a rating of 6.

"This is the first dungeon in Hoth that I've ever killed, come to think of it. I guess it doesn't count as a boss drop."

There should only be twelve in the world.

Twelve, that's amazing to think about! (Late)

The solo rewards are stronger, though!

...I knew that solo defeat was long overdue, I'm sure.

"No, I'm sure it's caught in your specialties.

"If you can get the design to match the chest, I hope so."

I feel like I've made a mess, but I'm not going to show my upset face!　Answer as you like!

Elias is speaking to me in a lowered voice, as if he is concerned about me. I hope the customers don't mind. Well, I'm not getting paid solo, so I don't think I'll get in trouble if they find out. A little bragging rights?　Maybe?

"I can get you a design, but you'll have to wait a bit. It's not something that can be used as a production material just for leveling up."

Noooo, it would be nice to have something with a rating higher than 6, but other producers probably don't have a good correction for monster drops, so the rating would be 3 at the most.

By the time we can hope for a higher rating, we may or may not be able to get more capable drops. It's a bit of a quandary.

"I'm going to rebuild my equipment for production, so you'll have to wait a bit longer to leave it with me.

Elias then hands me his partner card (patka).

While he is talking, customers seem to be coming in and out of the shop and buying equipment. The ability to buy without talking directly to the shopkeeper is a nice feature when talking is a hassle. The small size of the stall makes it close to the customers. The performance of the small hands should be visible only to Elias, the exchange target, but this is not the case if there is a guy with an exceptionally high tool appraisal level in the exchange.

Some of them glance at me as if they want to talk to Elias.

They are not bonkers, but they have supple and elongated limbs, white porcelain skin, and a s*xy look even though they do not have breasts. The armor he makes is of good performance and beautifully designed.

I see. So you want to talk to her and get close to her, if possible.

I give my patka to Elias, put away my small hands, and leave. I almost stood out.

At the end of the street near the slum, a guild member of a commercial guild had set up a store for consignment sales, so I looked around to see if there were any foodstuffs or novelty items for sale. It was a good thing that I could see the sales window from quite a distance. Another crowd here.

I got an item pouch!　It holds twice as much as the first one I bought!

Fruits such as apricots, plums, figs, chototots, mutton, aji...... are the last two bought in Secant and sold in Fast (here). It is convenient for those who still can only go there by horse cart, but it seems cheaper for me to go there and buy in bulk, even if I have to pay a transfer fee.

I bought a lot of meat from Chototzu. The amount of meat, including the one that came with the chottai, was quite a lot.

I also bought a lot of vegetables and fruits such as apricots and loquats. As I thought at the Narung Mountains, the lineup of fruits and vegetables sold at the market seemed to me that the fruits and vegetables available were determined by the season.

If I buy up all the fruits and vegetables that are not available, the price may go up the next time, so I will not buy them all. Some young herbs, such as bearauch, oregano, and sage, are also for sale. I would like to know where you got them.

After buying herbs, magic fruits, and other ingredients for alchemy, I go to see what I can use for alchemy. First of all, stones of various attributes. The name of the maker is on them, so they can probably be made by alchemy.

There are quite a lot of minerals, including attribute stones, that can be found anywhere in the world. While they are all priced similarly, the low-priced ones that are sometimes seen are quickly disappearing. Even those of relatively high rank as materials are sold at the same price. It is likely that lower-ranked materials still sell better for raising the level of production.

In addition to the cheap attribute stones that I was lucky enough to buy, I buy the ones with high rank but with low price because they are not used at the moment. Because they can afford to buy things that are not "for use now", they are able to buy things that are not "for use now".

At the consignment tent, we can leave our silos and purchased materials in storage, and now we have only our equipment, seasonings, and cooked food. Storage expansion is just a matter of time.

While I was browsing through the consignment sales, Luba informed me that the work was running a little behind schedule. I told her that I was in no hurry and that it was no problem.

"I can't guarantee your safety from there on."

As I turn out of the alley lined with stalls and step into the slum, a security knight calls out to me.

"Yes, I know."

There's a reason I left everything but my food with you. I was curious to see how the slums were faring after being partially evicted for creating an open-air market for players.

I heard that the evictees were assigned to other houses in the vacant slums.

Since Leo and Peter must have joined the Thieves' Guild when they were at a lower level, I left all the baggage I could, though I thought it was safe to do so, but my equipment was still in place. I'm a mage without gale boots in case of emergency, and I can't run away from them.

I'm going to shadow them with caution.

I thank the knight for his concern and continue on.

Just a short distance from the street, the cobblestones are peeled and cracked, and after a while there is more ground than stones. There is a musty, stale smell, as if the sewage system is still clogged, but there is surprisingly little garbage.

Unlike in modern society, garbage is a fuel for the fire, so it is quickly picked up. As a result, there is almost no garbage, although there are some crumbled walls, some paving stones, and something like muddy mud.

At first, I thought it was because it was a game. Little kids were picking it up.

Sometimes you see a skinny kid or a man who looks like he is crushed from drunkenness.

Many of the buildings seem to be unoccupied, which means there are places to hide even if you are chased from your roost to expand your stall. I feel a little relieved.

It would be hard to wake up if things were miserable for us players. Well, from the looks of it, the environment is not good from the beginning.

As we walked to fill the map, we heard sounds of struggle and screams.

I ran toward the direction of the screams, just in time to see a man with a bad looks attacking a woman. He was an animal man with cat ears, probably a slum dweller judging from his clothes.

Oh, come on, the adult designation is not a given, is it?

And there it is.

The guy's a client of the assassins' guild.

Die!

I'll have you for that.

I thought I must be in the event field, but it turns out I was, and I was able to use attack magic. In the normal town, you can't use attack skills, including magic.

I died instantly, hahaha!

I thought I would have no hesitation in killing people, but I was wrong. Even though it was a game, I didn't want to actively kill them because I didn't want to be aware of it too clearly, but it's no use having two reasons to attack them.

Well, I am confident that I would never do it in the real world unless I am socially blameless. It's too much trouble.

The woman is unhurt and looks at the man who fell on her with a blank expression on his face. The rest is her territory and she will run away or do whatever she wants.

I reapply my , which has been undone, and head back down the alley.

There's a reward for turning in a corpse to security, the assassins' guild's request details list a man with that many extra crimes. The woman had a scary experience, too, so it would be nice to get that kind of reward.

I'm not going to come forward, after all, it's a request from the Assassins Guild. Let's keep it that way.

Yeah, I won't raise any crazy flags!

And then we turn down an alley and now we're dead.

Two young children with black dog-eared ears were cowering in an embrace at the corner of a dusty alley. They were not lying around drunk and disoriented. <

"Hey, what's up?"

His forehead is normal to the touch, but his hands are cold. He is thin. No external injuries.

Is he sick?　Was it wrong to touch him? Or starvation?　I don't have much knowledge in that area.

"Hey, I've got a ......"

One of them is barely conscious. He spoke up, but weakly.

"Are you hungry?"

Now, is this a bad idea to have a normal meal, even if it is a fantasy, with someone who is so debilitated?　I wonder if recovery works on an empty stomach, and apply recovery.

E!? I wonder what happens when E! I don't remember what happens when E! I seem to have regained a little bit of energy when I apply recovery. My sister, who had been unconscious, opened her eyes.

Wasn't that sugar water with a little salt absorbed well?

I had the ingredients, so I made it on the spot and gave it to my siblings. By the way, what I made was treated as medicine, not food.

"Drink as slowly as possible."

When I put it close to their mouths, neither of them seemed to be able to swallow it easily, but they drank it. Which recipe can make a candy that can be put in the mouth? Harden it or chill it. For now, just drop a small amount of honey into their mouths and let them recover again.