Tour

The young man moved after him, although he had to think about the options he had.

Returning to the shack was a great occasion to cultivate – the monster cores getting used up left very little evidence, significantly lowering the difficulty of hiding them. But, considering the poor state of the construction of his shelter, anyone could peek at him at any time, so it would be better to leave that training for after dark when it would be harder to spot...

Cultivation training also used up a lot of energy, so it was not wise to start it on empty stomach.

It also could take some time and even with the spiritual energy flow within Viria's body ten times the old him, doing so could take between three to eight hours out of his day at the least – which would certainly hamper checking out the workshops.

Apparently, Bossac had a day off to show him around, but Viria wasn't going to test his luck and check whether the guard could use the next day to finish the tour.

With that in mind, the most reasonable choices were between going around the workshops and eating.

"If you don't mind, let's check out the workshops first, and then you can show me to some restaurant or something – as long as those kids sell at least a part of the parts by then and I will get my hands on some bills, it will be my treat too."

Neither of that options carried a particular weight about them, but all in all, Viria decided that since food was important for cultivation, it was best to leave it for last.

"Oh? Boy, you don't need to feel grateful to me, I'm just doing my job! But if you insist, I will not refuse the offer! Off to check the workshops first then!"

Bossac raised his brows and his eyes lighted up at the mention of free food. The guard was trying to keep the bare minimum of professionalism but ended up agreeing on the entire matter.

And so the tour continued.

Although Viria expected to see weaponsmiths or armorers like in the common fantasy setting, the first workshop turned out to be a tailors'... then it was a pot maker, and a whole bunch of completely normal and definitely very needed workshops that provided the everyday items to the prisoners settled on the first floor.

"Say, Bossac – what did lord warden say about my artifact? Does he want to check it for himself?"

Viria asked as they were walking out of the cobbler's workshop and moving towards the next place.

"You're curious too, right? Unfortunately, the lord warden had to urgently leave the Prison Dungeon. Apparently, the king himself called for him looking for advice, so you will have to wait a few days... at least a week, sorry."

The guard answered shrugging his shoulders and smiling a bit apologetically.

"Oh... oh, I see..."

Viria nodded, lowering his head.

The threat of having the warden look into his artifact just like he did during their meeting was bothering the young man since he left the bathland of respite.

How was he supposed to explain a sudden jump in his artifact's grade without revealing that he was lying?

With no answer to that, Viria was getting more and more stressed out by the minute – but thanks to Bossac clearing things out for him, the young man could breathe out in relief.

"...!"

And with his head cleared out, an idea appeared in his head on its own.

As long as he got his hands on some tin trash, couldn't he just use it to remake his artifact to get it back to its original form?

It was worth giving a try – and with the warden out of the picture for at least a week, there was time to experiment!

"Now this one should interest you, boy. This is a good spot for getting equipment."

"!!!"

Bossack tapped Viria's shoulder, turning his attention to the next building they were going for.

The first – and apparently better - out of only two places that dabbled in the equipment that could be used for fighting monsters was at the very end of sixth street.

It was a general blacksmith, and judging by the item that the blacksmith was working on at the time that Bossac and Viria walked in, hunting monsters, despite allegedly being the most profitable job and allegedly having almost everyone doing it on the side, wasn't the focus of most prisoners after all.

The place was also almost spotlessly clean which was definitely not what the young man was hoping for in his search for trash...

Just as in every single workshop before, the blacksmith had a guard waiting at the door to check whether the customers were allowed to use the services provided or not.

"Guard Bossac and the prisoner Viria from E-11."

"Go ahead."

No matter what, Bossac never missed the introduction, and they got greenlighted immediately, with the blacksmith's guard merely glancing over at their faces.

"Sir guard. What can I help you with today?"

The prisoner in charge – who was also the only worker – put down his tools and grabbed a handkerchief from his backpocket to wipe his hands.

"Just showing a new prisoner around, this here..."

Bossac immediately began saying the lines that he must have repeated well over a dozen times already, with the difference this time being that Viria wasn't paying any attention to him.

Instead, the young man was focused on checking all the materials segregated neatly right by the blacksmith himself.

[Iron ore (material)] [Copper ore (material] [Iron ingot (material)] [Copper ingot (material)] [Tin ore (mineral)] [Tin ingot (material)] [Steel ingot (material)] [Cured leather (material)] [Cure leather stripes (material)] [Coal (material)]

No matter how much he searched for and squinted his eyes muttering -what is it- under his breath to make the dialogue window with a short description show up, he didn't find a single trash item.

The whole place was just too well-maintained!

But... there should be some sort of remains after creating something...

Or was the prisoner blacksmith that much of a master that he never produced waste...?

Viria wondered to himself with a rather bitter expression before his eyes landed on a few pieces of shining material underneath the table, where they managed to escape the broom by hiding close to the table's leg.