Chapter | 4 [Skill-Slot]

Chapter | 4.

"Oh, that's really unfortunate. Do you have any experience visiting the city of veil, akiyama-Sama?" Pitzker inquired after noticing akiyama's denial about not having enough space to store all of the equipment.

"City of the Veil? No, I've not heard anything about it." Despite the fact that he was aware of the city of veil, Akiyama retorted, since Pitzker might have asked leading questions if he had accepted the truth.

Upon hearing Akiyama's response, pitzker nodded his head in understanding and said, "actually, I happen to be heading back to that city for some personal business, in which case I was hoping that if it's alright with you, then perhaps I could give you a hand about transporting all of these equipment to the city of the veil where plenty of shops might be interested in grabbing all these items from you in a negotiated prize."

Pitzker's offer left Akiyama seemingly astonished since, up until this point, everything that he had been thinking about was an arbitrary collection of information. Nevertheless, now that this experienced businessman with weird name was willing to help him by loading these weapons onto his carriage and helping him sell them to an armour or weapon shop where he could make some serious money.

He wasted no time in accepting his offer because akiyama also felt that this individual could potentially come handy if he ever had trouble with work or financial matters in the future.

"All right, so that takes care of the transportation issue. And here is another thing that belongs to you as well."  Pitzker nodded as he took out a notepad-sized card and presented it to Akiyama.

"oh! It's an intelligence card," akiyama exclaimed.

"So you're aware of it, huh. That's good since I won't have to give a lengthy explanation lecture." Pitzker responded, his smile turning a little awkward as subsequently he had intended to maintain the the sense of being a kind person that had initially guided him in understanding the fundamentals, but Akiyama had given him an unexpected surprise.

There were many things in this world that could lead to unnecessary long conflicts or the party in danger, such as the sword [Durandal] akiyama had, if its effect and additional power got leaked to the masses, the only thing awaiting akiyama was slaughter, whether the one slaughtering would be him or the other way around, but that is not the case with intelligence card because every human being in this world has an intelligence card stored somewhere in their left hand.

And since Akiyama knew quite a bit, he didn't want to pretend to be ignorant about everything except the topic that could harm him, and more importantly, this [I-Card]was going to be the second thing that would fetch him a lot of money.

Taking the I-Card, akiyama started inspecting it. The name of the bandit [Hugo] was written on the card, and his class and level were written on the back. After finishing the inspection, akiyama slipped the card back into his pocket and reverted his focus to the weapons.

'All right, let's put the appraisal to use.' Akiyama paused before muttering the word "[Identify]" to activate the skill.

[ Copper sword ] [ Copper sword ] [ Bronze Sword ] [ Bronze Sword {+Skill} ]

'Huh! Why does this sword have "+Skill" showing on it?' akiyama pondered curiously, noticing an empty slot on a sword as there were tens of swords placed around, but none of them had anything similar to this.

"did something caught your attention Hayashi-Sama?" Pitzker inquired, noticing a strange glint in Akiyama's eyes.

'Are my facial expressions that readable.' akiyama pondered as he turned around to look at him upon hearing Pitzker's voice. because the man grasped what he had in mind with precision. But, in the end, he didn't know what this slot thin was, so he replied anyway, "yeah, actually, this weapon seems pretty good compared to the rest," in the hopes that he might get an answer. 

"it seems like you've got quite a good eyes, for someone who's not a merchant." Pitzker chuckled as he got another chance to shine in the spotlight.

Akiyama, perplexed by the phrases, asked, "Why do you say so?"

"Well, typically a merchant, and that too an experienced one, could determine the potential value of any item just by looking at it. Anyway, did you happen to find a skill spot on that sword?" Pitzker stated with a knowledgeable expression, while the chief appeared indifferent and left the hut as many of the people crowded around them.

Pitzker, on the other hand, continued to explain to Akiyama how a blacksmith creates a skill slot on a sword or any weapon by fusing corresponding skill crystals, and when he was finished explaining, he asked decisively, "by the way, does that sword you're holding have any skill assigned to it?"

"No, sadly the slot seems to be empty." Although he had never handled a sword before, Akiyama responded by waving the blade in a different way. As he waved the blade, it appeared that a part of him wanted to do more with it than just swing it around.

The village chief walked back into the hut and, stopping at a safe distance, he called out, "E-Excuse me, Hayashi-sama?" as Akiyama, was lost in his thoughts, carrying on with his unrestrained behaviour.

Upon hearing the chief calling out to him, Akiyama halted swinging his sword and put it back down. And as he approached him, he asked, "What is it, Somala-San?"

"Is Hayashi-sama able to tell if a weapon has a skill attached to it or not?" the chief sought out solemnly.

"Well, I could tell if they are good or not by looking at them, if that is enough to answer your question." Akiyama responded seeing chief's genuine expressions.

Hearing Akiyama's response, the chief cracked a small smile and asked, clasping his hand once again, "If that's the case, can I bother you with looking at the rest of them with your discerning eyes? If we could choose the best ones for defending ourselves and sell the ones we won't need, it would make our lives a whole lot simpler."

Note : Should I make somewhat changes to the plot or should I leave it as is?