Golet Swamp
"Is there something wrong?" Elgin obviously noticed the stare Olga was giving him and wondered if he had done something wrong.
"..Where did you come from?" Olga asked.
"Eh? I... came from Ulya." Elgin replied.
He wasn't lying, was he? Although his identity was a bit special, he was originally a citizen of Ulya.
"You'd pay five gold coins for just one basic weapon? You're outright braindead."
[Hahah! See, it wasn't just me that thought you were stupid!] Cecily heard Olga's words and mocked him.
'Shut your mouth! Did I do something bad? Five gold coins for a nice weapon, I don't think that's too bad of a deal, right?'
"I don't mind if that's the price you want to put up.. You did offer me a bit of consultation too, and you seem confident in your weapons' quality. Am I wrong, perhaps?" Elgin scratched the back of his head in confusion.
"Boy, I'll assume that you just got gifted money to start out your journey. If you don't want to end up penniless in less than a month, then you need to learn about the world and how it works really fast. The price I mentioned before was a joke, it's a scummy price." Olga grabbed the jar of alcohol situated next to his work table and chugged it. "Where are your parents? How can they just leave you with money when your common sense is this lacking?"
"I don't have parents. I don't have a single memory with them, unfortunately. I didn't have a guardian with me either." Elgin answered truthfully.
Olga's eyes widened before coughing to clear the atmosphere.
"..Sorry. I didn't think before I spoke." Olga covered his mouth with a hand awkwardly before pushing away two gold coins from the pile Elgin gave. "Do you know how much a gold coin is worth? That's my grocery money for a month. For a weapon crafted with this material, it's not worth five gold coins."
It was made out of white steel, which was a relatively common metal to craft beginner weapons with.
"I don't know much about this kind of stuff.. But five gold coins isn't too much of a burden to me. So for the service you've given, I think it's still a nice price."
"I refuse. I won't let my customers get scammed. This sword is just one of my many creations. I take pride in it, but I know how much it's worth. It's definitely not five gold coins." Olga shook his head, stubborn.
"Hmm.. Ah, I forgot to ask about armors. I wanted to buy an armor that's.. light, preferably. One that doesn't restrict my movements."
"..That's a little better. Your body shape is a little tricky to work with, but I think I do have some armors that will fit you." Olga harrumphed before storming to another room and bringing out a set of protection made out from the same material as his sword. "Try this on."
The armor was comprised into several different parts with gaps that allowed better movement, while also providing good support and defense.
Elgin put the armor on and tried moving around. He was satisfied with how the equipment performed. It didn't look bad, and was just the right size. Not too heavy or too thick.
"This will do. Thank you very much." Elgin inspected the armor one last time before nodding. "Five gold coins for the sword, the armor, and the advice you gave earlier. How about it?"
"You have a knack for spending money unnecessarily, so it seems. Next time, come visit me again to throw away more fortune."
This time, Olga didn't say that he rejected the purchase.
"Thank you for the items!" Elgin said before leaving the store for good.
Outside, Cecily immediately contacted him and asked.
[Why did you insist on giving him five gold coins in the first place? Three would've sufficed for your items.]
Elgin didn't know how to answer, so he just threw out a random reply.
'I felt charitable.'
[Huh. You? Charitable? No way, are cats and dogs about to fall from the sky?] Cecily raised a brow and
'...'
Being a good guy is considered weird, being a bad guy is also not allowed...
The world is so complicated!
Elgin quickly checked out everything inside the city with one full session of walking.
He picked up some items here and there, before finally making his way towards the infamous Golet Swamp located below the peaks of Halle.
Once he got there, he recognized the figure of a certain someone entering his line of sight.
Rose was standing right next to the swamp's entrance, leaning on a huge tree.
"I thought you were gonna run away, but I guess you do have some courage." As Elgin got closer, Rose spoke.
'There she is again, is she out to cause more trouble?' Elgin couldn't help but be reminded of how nasty she was towards him before. He grumbled to himself.
"Are you going to follow me in? I thought you didn't like me. Why would you try to protect me if so?"
"Ha? Don't get cocky. Who said that I'm going to protect you? I'm just here to make sure that you don't lose your life. If you do, then I might get in trouble as the one who issued the task. It's called preserving one's reputation, it has nothing to do with whether I like you or not!" Rose retorted with an ugly expression.
"That's.. basically the same thing." Elgin sighed at her ridiculousness. "We'll see how it goes."
Elgin wariness was high from the start, knowing that there would be many troublesome monsters in this swamp.
He had bought a guide book that detailed some of the main points about those creatures, and what he should or shouldn't do.
Since he just entered the swamp, the real danger wasn't there yet.
The swamp monsters all shared one similar trait. They were poisonous. Which meant that in the area, a rather intense miasma was floating about.
It didn't affect Elgin, though. His resistance towards the ongoing fog was high enough to not be overwhelmed. However, as he makes his way through the area, the miasma would get worse and worse, with how close it was to the center where the strongest monsters roamed about.
The outer parts were mostly occupied by lesser monsters. Upon walking a few meters into the swamp, he was already able to spot a few of these known creatures.
There was a group of poisonous green toads hopping around and letting out an unnatural sound.
His first enemy- or rather, prey, the Lapal Frogs.