Trying to Buy a Sword

The man looked at Shiba before replying.

"Five hundred bronze coins."

The man spoke bluntly without paying too much attention to Shiba.

Shiba didn't expect a real sword to be that expensive.

"Are these swords special?"

Hearing the price, Shiba felt that maybe those swords had some special qualities. He didn't have that much money left, but if those swords weren't normal, he just needed to look for a normal one.

"No. These are ordinary swords. Five hundred bronze coins or scram."

The man didn't have a good temper, and he was already tired at that hour of the day, so his humor was worse than usual.

"More than two hundred bronze coins for these swords is a scam. These are worse than ordinary swords. Ask any big shop, and you can compare them. Don't let him fool you."

Shiba heard someone whisper those words to him. It was the voice of a young girl, but when he turned around, he wasn't able to see any young girl around.

"What are you going to buy it or not? Take out the money or scram. I don't have time for those without money."

That man didn't have any idea that someone had whispered to Shiba moments ago. He didn't even see someone go near Shiba.

He was asking for more than double the standard price for the swords, but although most people would say that it was too expensive, they would still offer more than the two hundred when bargaining.

"Don't try to scam me. I am a beast hunter and an official citizen. I will report you to the Beast Hunter Guild for scamming."

Shiba was quite extreme when it came to treating good and bad people. He was very respectful towards others when he considered them good people, but in front of someone he considered bad people, he only had endless despise.

He couldn't avoid considering that all the bad people were all like his previous owners, so there was no way he wasn't displeased.

That man scammed a lot of people, but he was far from the level of people that would enslave others and made them work to death. He set his prices very high, but he wasn't forcing others to buy it. What he was doing was shady and illegal, but he wouldn't be able to reach the extreme of killing someone for money or torture others.

However, Shiba lacked the experience to differentiate between different types of bad people. Thus, a small scammer and a murderer were the same for him.

"What are you saying? Do you have any proof? Don't slander me randomly."

Shiba wasn't the first one saying something like that, but reporting a scam was a serious matter, so no one dared unless they were absolutely certain.

Most ordinary swords in Border Town really had five hundred bronze coins as their price, but those swords were far better than the ones that the man was selling.

He said that the swords were ordinary, but those were failures that were discarded for not reaching the standards of the blacksmith. They were still useful, but their value wasn't even half of those properly made.

Failures were usually bought in batches to resell in small shops, but it would be difficult to check the prices set in each of those small shops.

On the other hand, checking only the bigger shops, an ordinary sword was indeed set at the price of five hundred bronze coins.

That was how that man had been avoiding that others reported him to the authorities of the town. Even if someone reported him, he would say that he didn't know that those swords were worse than ordinary ones, pushing the blame of the scam to who sold them to him. Of course, he would say that it was a cloaked person and didn't know anything else.

Thus, he wasn't really worried about being considered a criminal by the authorities, but he still preferred to avoid the problem if possible since it would affect his reputation.

"These swords should be at most two hundred bronze coins each one. If you are asking more, then this is a scam, and I will go to report it immediately."

Shiba didn't know who helped him before, but the man in front of him was being hostile, so he decided to believe the voice.

One tone of voice was gentle while the other was hostile, so it wasn't difficult to decide which one to believe.

"What did you say?"

The man didn't expect that Shiba would know the price of those swords.

Usually, the street shops allowed bargaining, so people with less money would go there and try to save some money instead of going to the big shops.

If someone were to ask in a big shop for a sword of inferior quality, they would bring out one like those the man was selling and ask for two hundred bronze coins. Those shops didn't allow any bargaining, so what they asked on the price tag was the amount to pay.

It was just that those swords were failures, so they weren't exposed. Unless someone asked for them, it was difficult to see them or know their price.

That man even tried to look like a poor bargain driver, so a lot of times, he just sold them for three hundred or two hundred fifty, which seemed a huge profit for the buyer, although the truth was that the swords were still overpriced.

"Young friend, in the small street shops like mine, there is a thing called bargaining, so prices aren't fixed. Of course, before a bargain, the prices may be a bit higher to avoid huge losses. Everyone knows this here, so this isn't a scam. Two hundred is the lowest price I can allow for the swords without having losses. I can sell you one at that price since you don't seem used to this, and I failed to notice it. I didn't have bad intentions."

The retail price was two hundred, but it was obvious that merchants bought everything at a lower price, or they wouldn't obtain any benefit, so even selling a sword at the proper price was still alright.

Since Shiba knew the price, the man decided to sell it at that price and let the matter go instead of provoking unnecessary problems.

He still didn't think that the authorities of the town could punish him since he could always play the fool, but he felt a bit of madness in Shiba's eyes, and he didn't want problems with a mad beast hunter. After all, that man was still a Level 1 Mortal, and he didn't know how to battle.

However, given what he said, he believed that there was no way Shiba would reject his offer.

"More than two hundred bronze coins is a scam, so I think two hundred bronze coins is the upper limit, not the lower one. It isn't a matter of buying it or not anymore. I can't tolerate having a scammer here, so I will go to report it, so they can investigate this matter. If you aren't guilty of anything, you don't need to worry about it."

If that man had said that from the beginning, Shiba might have believed him, but he had seen the change in the man's behavior after saying the price he had heard on that whisper, so he wasn't willing to believe what the man said after changing his behavior.

Shiba was ignorant about the requirements to report someone, but it was just because he didn't fear to make a false report that he was someone problematic for that man. In fact, someone asking for just an investigation because having doubts wouldn't even be harmful to the one reporting as long as it wasn't done repeatedly and always proved false, but most people didn't know about that.

Although he didn't think that Shiba would really reach that extreme, his reputation would be affected even if the authorities believed that he had been scammed first when buying those swords.

Moreover, seeing Shiba's face, he firmly believed that Shiba was an honest fellow that didn't know how to lie or was the best liar he had seen in his life to be able to have those reactions.

Usually, people tried to use threats against him to get a lower price, but they weren't willing to do something as troublesome as reporting him, but he could see that Shiba was different.

"Wait! Don't be like this. This is just a misunderstanding!"

There weren't too many people on the street, but that shout caught the attention of a lot of them.

"Don't look at here, just a problem when bargaining."

It wasn't strange that a merchant was too greedy and made a customer leave, so he wasn't the first one to shout to get the customer back.

However, Shiba didn't plan to return. He decided to ask for an investigation of the Beast Hunter Guild. He wasn't sure of the situation, but if that man wasn't guilty, just being investigated shouldn't be a problem.

"Alright! I agree with your offer! Please return!"

Shiba turned back when he heard those words. He hadn't made any offer, so he didn't know what the man meant.

Seeing that Shiba turned back but wasn't walking towards him, the man picked a couple of swords and walked towards Shiba.

"Young friend. Take them. They are a gift for the problems I provoked you."

Shiba's eyes were far too scary. The man could tell that he wasn't bluffing at all. Shiba really had a deep hatred for scammers and planned to ask for an investigation at any price. The man was guilty, so he didn't want it to happen.

"Do you admit that you tried to scam me and promise to not do it again?"

Shiba wanted those swords, but he also wanted that the man in front of him stopped with his evil deeds.

Seeing the pathetic state of that man, Shiba noticed that the man wasn't at the level of his previous owners despite being a bad person.

"Yes, I admit it, and I won't do it again. I swear it, but don't tell anyone else."

Seeing that situation, Shiba accepted the swords and decided to let the matter go. He didn't pay attention to the loophole of his words. That man swore that he wouldn't scam Shiba again, but he wouldn't stop with other people.

No one else had heard their conversation, so it seemed that the man gave up and admitted defeat on the bargaining.

"If you can live an honest life from now on is the best."

After putting the two swords on his waist, Shiba left. He couldn't use two swords simultaneously, but at least he had a spare one if one broke.