Chapter 359 Going Shopping



A few days passed since the banquet.

Even though we had finished negotiating everything, the process of recording everything down was much more complicated.

Everything that we had discussed up to this point was nothing more than a verbal agreement and to put it in effect, we had to put it down on paper.

So we stayed in the Dwarven Kingdom capital to take care of this matter.

I just left most of this to Haley since this was what she was skilled at.

During this time, I had been building relations with the dwarves by working in the forge with them.

I learned how to forge and I taught them about runes and alloys.

With this, I was able to forge a reputation as an expert on runes and many dwarves treated me kindly.

But out of the corner of my eyes, I could see that there were a few that still looked at me with disdain.

I didn't even need to think about it to know that these were definitely the anti human faction dwarves that were here to watch over me. I could also sense that they wanted to act, but they knew better and held themselves back in the end.

So I wasn't able to cause any trouble for them.

But just to put my own mind at ease, I had Shaka watch over them for me.

This morning, we met with the Dwarven King who wanted to meet up.

I hadn't seen the Dwarven King in a few days since he was the king of this kingdom and quite the busy person. He didn't even come to the sessions that I had held at the forge, showing just how busy he was.

But he summoned us early in the morning saying that he wanted to meet.

When we met up, the Dwarven King said, "It's been a while since you've come to our kingdom, how are you holding up? Have you already had your fill? Are you getting tired of us yet?"

I was surprised and confused when I heard this question, but I didn't show it on my face.

Instead, I just calmly said, "How could that be? We would even want to stay here forever if we could."

The Dwarven King revealed a knowing smile and he didn't say anything on this matter. Instead, he changed the topic by saying, "I'm sure that you've been busy the past few days and will probably want a day off."

I couldn't help once again being surprised by what he said.

It...wasn't a lie that it had been busy.

I could see it when I exchanged looks with everyone else.

But at the same time, we could see the looks of doubt in each other's eyes.

The Dwarven King wouldn't suddenly suggest such a thing without a reason.

So what was the reason?

Was he trying to hide us because something had happened or was it something else?

The Dwarven King could see the doubts that we had on our faces, but he didn't answer any of those doubts.

Instead, he just calmly said, "I've prepared a carriage for you all. It will take you to one of the business streets where you can shop to your heart's content."

I didn't say anything in response to this since I still felt like there was something off about this, but I just couldn't put my finger on it. I couldn't think of what was wrong with this proposal of his, so it wasn't as if I could deny it.

After thinking for a bit, I gave a slow nod and said, "Alright, let's go with your plan."

I wanted to see just what the Dwarven King was up to, so I agreed to go along with this.

The Dwarven King revealed a wide smile and summoned someone to go with us.

This was one of his trusted aides and one of the dwarves that had been there when we had our forging duel. This dwarf was named Kali Stormhammer, the master of the Stormhammer Family.

This was a family that was on par with the Silvermine Family, so Haley was very happy to talk to him while we were on our way to the business street.

By the end, she was even able to get a trade deal for iron ores out of him for some of their liquor.

It had to be said that Haley really was something else when it came to her business sense.

As long as she smelled the scent of money, she would jump onto it.

Once we arrived, I couldn't help looking around to see if there was anything out of sorts here.

However, I wasn't able to find a single thing wrong with this place.

It just seemed like a normal street lined with businesses.

It didn't seem like any kind of trap at all.

So as time passed, my guard was slowly lowered as we went through the different stores.

Kali had wanted to say that the Dwarven King would pay for what we brought, but Haley immediately rejected this.

This was the last thing that she would accept since it would mean having a disadvantage in future negotiations as the one that owed something.

So in the end, I pulled out my wallet and started spending.

The things that Haley bought were all things that she would sell when we got back, so everything that I spent was an investment.

Or at least that was what I told myself as she emptied my wallet.

After shopping for a bit, Kali suddenly said, "If I may recommend a store, it's one that I'm sure that you'll like."

He had been recommending stores along the way and so it wasn't strange hearing him say this.

But I couldn't help feeling that the way that he said this sounded a bit strange...

Almost as if he was leading us somewhere...

Still, Haley followed him, so I had no choice.

She had found quite a few good things at the spots that he recommended, so she wasn't against following his recommendation.

When we arrived at the store, we found that it was the store for a forge.n--o-.v-(e/)l-(B)-1--n