2.11

「*Sigh* So, where are we going next? Weapon & Armor shops?」

I asked Picker-san in a tired voice.

「That's right.」

And the wagon resumed its travel along the paved road.

As for the prize money from the bandit's Intelligence Cards, I have put it into the drawstring bag in my backpack, just like everything else. I wonder if my Skill also worked on it? If it really works on the basis that the money had to be handed to me directly then I guess it probably did work, so I guess that whole mess of a situation at the guardhouse was all in all worth the trouble, since now I should have quite a sum of money to purchase everything else that I'm going to need. At least one thing worked as intended here.

The weapon and armor shop was located just a short distance from the central plaza, so we didn't have to travel far to get there. When we entered, the first thing I saw was a greatsword in a huge display case in the middle of the shop. Identifying it revealed that it was a Steel Greatsword with 3 Skills, which made me think that it could be a pretty decent weapon. When we initially entered the shop there was no one behind the counter, but when the bell above the door rang, a man soon appeared from the shop's depths. He was a Lv11 Weapon's Merchant. So apparently this world can have many separate Jobs even when it comes to merchants and salesmen, not lumping them all under a single category.

「Welcome to my fine establishment. How can I be of service?」

「We would like to sell some equipment.」

Picker-san said and proceeded to present the Weapons Merchant with all of the equipment that was at the back of the wagon.

「Hmm, let's see now… Souls dwelling in weapons, release your power! Weapon Appraisal!」

Weapon Merchant chanted the spell and began examining the Copper Sword.

*BA-THUMP BA-THUMP!* *BA-THUMP BA-THUMP!*

Uwaah, for some reason having the weapons appraised like that made me just as nervous as when that Knight from earlier was checking my Intelligence Cards. But on the bright side, appraisal of weapons should go a lot smoother than that previous endeavor and it shouldn't end with a nerve-wracking emotional roller-coaster, or at least I hope so with my whole heart. Also, if there are spells to examine Intelligence Cards and weapons specifically, then could it be that there are also spells meant for identifying Bonus Skills?

「How is it?」

「How many of those do you have?」

「Copper Swords? 18 of them in total.」

「Then I will buy them off of you for 250 Nar per piece.」

That was the Weapon Merchant's offer. Picker-san closed his eyes and nodded lightly, and I can totally see why. That's going to be quite a nice sum, even if it has to be distributed among the villagers in the end.

「Very well.」

「Next, that Iron Sword. I can buy it for 1000 Nar.」

「Oh really?」

「And then…」

He picks up the Flame Rapier and looks at it for quite a while.

「What's it going to be?」

「This weapon, the Flame Rapier, I see it has a Skill on it. In that case I'm willing to pay 18,000 Nar for it.」

I kinda expected the numbers to be different for a weapon that has a Skill on it, but for it to be that much?! I looked at Picker-san and he seemed to be just as surprised as I was, but nevertheless he nodded in acceptance once again.

「I am content with that amount.」

「And 500 Nar for that Scimitar.」

He says so after barely glancing at the Curved Sword that was among the weapons we intended to sell.

「Is this a price that include the Skill Slots?」

「With all due respect, Mr. Customer, please don't try to be smart with me. This weapon has no Skills in it, so I can only offer the usual price for it.」

That's what he said. So you want to tell me that even as the Weapons Merchant he is not aware of the existence of the Skill Slots?

「No no, of course it doesn't have any Skills, I'm not going to argue with that. By the way, what price would this sword here fetch?」

I handed the Copper Sword from my waist to the Weapons Merchant. It was the one with the empty Skill Slots that I obtained from killing the Bandits.

「Souls dwelling in weapons, release your power! Weapon Appraisal! This is just an ordinary Copper Sword. 250 Nar and not a single Nar more.」

I didn't like how this asshole emphasized the word 「just」. That Copper Sword is not the same as the other ones, because it has empty Skill Slots. As I thought, this guy simply cannot see them for some reason. Okay, that's fine, I just confirmed that Skill Slots don't have any impact on the item's price at all. All that matters are the Skills themselves.

「All right. We'll sell the Scimitar along with the other swords.」

「Thank you very much. Since it's such a large transaction, I'm going to give you a special offer and accept all of them for a total of 35,550 Nar. How about that?」

Is that the effect of my Bonus Skill? But this time the transaction wasn't made directly with me, so it shouldn't activate. Argh, I honestly don't know what is going on anymore!

「Do we have ourselves a deal?」

「I believe we do.」

「Very well. Please wait a minute while I get the money.」

The Weapon Merchant went to the back of the building again and returned with the money shortly. He had three gold coins, five silver coins and an assload of copper coins. I took my share of the coins without even counting them because at this point it is just too troublesome.

「Thank you very much for your patronage.」

「Pleasure doing business with you.」

I put all of my coins in the bowstring back and gave Picker-san the two gold coins.

「Those two coins are the entire village's share, right?」

「That's right, Michio-sama.」

「I gotta say, this is quite a lot for that number of items.」

We managed to sell all of our Copper Swords, Iron Sword, Flame Rapier and two Scimitars for a total of 20,000 Nar.

「Right? Even I'm surprised we managed to sell all of them for so much. I guess luck is on our side today.」

Yeah, right, luck. And the name of that luck is my 30% Increased Prices Bonus Skill. Go ahead, thank me, praise me for it!

... what? A man can dream, right?

Next shop we stopped by was the Armor Shop.

「Since the Bandits who attacked the village didn't wear any armor we have nothing to sell here, but if you want to become a proper Adventurer it is a purchase we just can't neglect, Michio-sama. Don't worry about the price and just pick whatever will best suit your needs. If it'll be necessary I will lend you some of my personal funds.」

「Thank you for the offer, but I don't think going that far is going to be necessary…」

「No no no, this is once again to express my thanks to you for saving the village. If you hadn't shown up, it is quite possible that as one of the wealthiest villagers I would have been killed and had my goods and savings robbed. It is no exaggeration to say that I probably will never be able to fully repay you for what you did yesterday, so allow me to do whatever I can, when I can.」

You say that, but such gratitude from a guy is kinda gay in my book. Then again, at the very least you thanked me. Teirichi-san, on the other hand, did not visit me during the night to thank me with her body.

We parked near the shop and went inside the shop, browsing through all the different pieces of armor before we decided that the best fit for me is going to be a Leather Breastplate and a pair of Leather Shoes and we called the shopkeeper.

「Welcome, welcome, oh esteemed customers! How can I be of service?」

I glanced at him with Identify and confirmed that he was The Armor Merchant. Man, they are really going all out with how many Jobs this World has. Could it be that every merchant has his own Job depending on what he is selling? Because if that really is so then the possibilities are literally limitless!

「Yeah, we would like to buy this Leather Breastplate and these Leather Shoes and also sell this Bandana here.」

「Souls dwelling in armor, become an unbreakable wall! Armor Appraisal!」

Armor Merchant took the Bandit Bandana I presented him and appraised it with his spell. I would very much prefer if they did it normally without using magic, but if the appraisal can only be done in such a way then I guess there's no helping it. While we're on the subject of magic, I wonder if everyone can use every appraisal spell, or is it limited in such a way that Weapon Merchants can only appraise weapons and Armor Merchants can only appraise armor?

「So? How much for it?」

「First things first: what the hell is this?」

Armor Merchant lifts the bandit Bandana and waves it in front of my face. Is he also going to suspect me of something shady just because I had an item which had the word Bandit in its name?!

「A Bandit Bandana. What of it?」

There is no sense in trying to fool him so I just gave him the name of the item without even trying to hide it.

「Oh, so you do realize what this is? Then again, you look surprised so allow me to give you a free lecture, kid: This is a Bandit equipment. It raises the physical abilities of its wearer, but only if he or she has a Bandit, Thief, or any Job that is connected to being an outlaw. Bandits could pay you up to 10,000 or maybe even 20,000 Nar for it, but since this is a normal store, I'm afraid I cannot accept this.」

So it's only useful for Bandits and the like? All right then, since he won't even touch it let's just leave it at that then.

「Okay, just forget about it and let's do business with something else.」

I put the Bandit Bandana away and continued to sell the other goods to him.

Well, I have a Thief Job, so technically Bandit Bandana should be of use to me. I'll have to test it if the opportunity to do so ever presents itself. But for now all I can say is that buying and selling things in this world appears to be needlessly complicated, so if I want to make my life easier in the future I need to make a mental note to limit such escapades as much as possible or else my poor Japanese heart won't last long.