Chương 115: Chapter 113: Is this a dagger I see before me?

After leaving Brienne's shop, we eventually come to a line of shops that sell weapons instead of armor. Rather than waiting for someone to come to me, I decide to be proactive and look for the shop keeper. The first shop we come to is run by a Veka blood, like Ash. His skin glistens black and his eyes glow red, but the smile on his face, even with the shark teeth, is still friendly.

"Hello hello!" he says, stepping forward and taking my hand and shaking it before I realized he was even close enough to do so.

"You fine adventurers must be looking for new weapons. Well, it seems like you already have some pretty amazing weaponry as it is. So you must be looking for a backup weapon, yes? Something to use when the chips are down, when the world is against you, and when you have to rely on the last resort?"

"Yes," I say.

"That's exactly right. How did you know that?" He smiles even wider at me and taps his nose.

"It's like I said: you already have a great weapon at your side. I noticed it as you were walking by, and I couldn't help but admire it. So I knew you weren't looking to replace something so amazing as that. Which just leaves a backup weapon. Everyone needs a backup weapon, for when the unexpected happens. For when everything goes wrong and you need that last bit of help. That's why you're here, right? So let's see what we can do for you." I'm a little put off, but I maintain my smile.

"So then do you have something in a dagger or a dirk?"

"You know," the man says, putting his hands on his hips in a very super hero like pose, "I've never really understood what the difference is between the two. One is a dagger and one is a longer dagger, but when do you switch from one to the other? Seems like one of those Greek paradoxes, you know? If I add an inch to the blade, does it go from one to the other?"

"Okay," I say.

"But do you have one you can show me?"

"Oh, I have several!" He laughs.

"Come inside, come inside. I'll show you what I have." He turns and walks into his little shop. It's basically just a lean to, but there is technically an inside, so I follow him in. He leads me to a rack of daggers. They all seem to be the same basic style of blade, long and sharp and double edged. The hilts all look about the same, each with a small cross bar to protect the hand and a thick pommel that I suppose could be used to inflict some blunt force damage to skeletons in a pinch.

It looks like he probably used the same basic recipe for each of the daggers. It reminds me of all the recipes that I collected during the tutorial stage, when I thought that I might take some time and become a crafter myself. That never materialized, at least so far, but I still have those sixteen recipes if I ever change my mind. And from the looks of it, I won't need to get too many different recipes. One recipe was clearly used on all the daggers here.

"What's the difference between them?" I ask. I haven't actually inspected any of them yet, but I'm curious what he's going to tell me.

"Mostly the material," he says.

"Some of them are more upgraded than others as well. But good eye! Good eye, they all come from the same recipe. So they're all daggers. Simple daggers, but made of good stock and with the greatest of skill by yours truly."

"You made all these daggers?"

"I made everything in the shop," he says, swelling a bit with pride.

"I spend most of my time crafting, and only come to the bazaar when I fill up my stock. Once all of this is sold, or once most of it is sold anyway, I'll close down for a while and go back to the forge to make more. Then, after a week or so of crafting, I'll reopen, with a whole new stock of weapons. Keep that in mind the next time you pass through town. I might have all new stuff to show you!" I smile at his sales tactic. It doesn't sound like a bad life. Make stuff until you run out of room, then sell it all.

Use the money to get more materials, and repeat the process. I bet he has plenty of money and can just take time off if he wants to. We can all take time off if we want to, technically. I could go live in the woods pretty much indefinitely, and for free, at this point. I don't have to work any harder than I want to. Just one more example of why this world is better than the one that I came from.

In my old world, if you wanted to take time off, you had to deal with getting approval from your boss, you had to earn the time off you were taking, and you had to make sure that you still had a steady stream of income so that you wouldn't end up homeless after your vacation. But here, I can do whatever I want. If my friends want to, we could go to the ocean in search of the god slayer, and just spend some time at the beach.

We could build a beach house if we wanted to, and just stay there for as long as the mood took us. We don't need anyone's permission to do that. We can do what we want. We're so much more free than we used to be.

"So what is your price range?" the man asks, his red eyes shining a little bit.

"I understand that not everyone has endless funds, so I don't want to show you something that would be out of your comfort level and have you fall in love with it, only to realize that you can't have it. That would be tragic. Tell me your budget, and I'll be sure you have a dagger that fits your needs." Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

"I only have three platinum," I say. Technically, I have the gold equivalent of five. But I don't want to tell him that I have five platinum. If I do that, I feel like everything is going to cost five platinum. He waves me away, almost dismissive.

"Nothing to worry about then, friend!" he says.

"All of these daggers are well within your price range. Even the highest quality dagger I have," he pulls one off the rack and hefts it in his palm, "even this one won't cost you more than two platinum. You've got coin to spare, my friend.

"So what are you wanting the dagger for? Just as a backup weapon, or do you plan to use it defensively as well? Do you want to be able to disarm your opponents of their swords, or do you just want it in case you're up close and personal with a creature, and the sword is too awkward for you to hit that close up?"

"I, um, I don't know." I hadn't really thought this through. I've never really needed a dagger. I've had several times where I wished I had one, but the truth is that I don't need a backup dagger. I've still got the throwing knives, and while those don't do that much damage on their own, they can act as a backup weapon. I can always throw them. I just never really have to. So what do I need a dagger for? I'm probably going to teach myself to fight with both sword and dagger, keeping the dagger in my off hand.

That's where the buckler is strapped to my forearm, so I won't really have all that much mobility in my wrist. Still, I should be able to move the dagger a little bit, so I'll have it there to help with defense. More defense than attack.

"More defense than attack," I say.

"I plan to fight with both sword and dagger."

"Ah, so you need a dagger worthy of that sword." He scratches his chin. I don't see any stubble there, but I can hear it as his hand moves across his cheek.

"I don't know that my daggers are high enough quality to really do that." He shrugs.

"I'm just being honest, but my daggers are only of the rare quality. They won't hold a candle to your sword. It's a legendary sword, isn't it? Where did you get it?"

"From a dragon," I say.

"You fought a dragon?" He looks impressed. He looks me up and down, as if seeing me for the first time.

"Then no," he says, "this dagger is not for you." He places the dagger back on the rack.

"You need something a bit more. Something more impressive. Come, come." He walks a bit deeper into his lean to, until we stand in front of a small chest.

"In here is where I keep all my best items," he tells me, fishing a key out of a pocket and unlocking the chest.

"Only for the most discerning customers, you understand." I can almost see the price tag increasing. He opens the chest and begins to sift through the weapons inside. After a few seconds of looking, he comes out with a dagger. This one is a bit longer than the others he had on display, with a handle that looks like it's made of gold, but in the shape of bones, two curved bones pressed against one another to form the handle.

"This," he says, "is the dagger you're looking for." I take it in my hand and inspect it. Fine Bone Dagger. Very rare weapon 19/30. Base damage: 119-123.

"Well?" he asks, looking at me expectantly.

"Isn't it wonderful?" I'm not going to lie; it's a nice dagger. It feels good in my hand, it does a surprising amount of damage for a weapon of its size, and it's undeniably pretty. It doesn't have any stat bonuses or anything, but it's still pretty impressive.

"It's nice," I tell him. I heft it in my hand. It's well balanced; feels like I could throw it pretty accurately. That would certainly add to the amount of damage my thrown attacks do. I think my throwing knives have a base damage of like 4 or something; I never really even consider them in combat anymore. I more or less only have them out of habit. This is nicer than any knife I've ever owned. I rub my thumb across the blade, testing its sharpness. It feels pretty sharp.

I don't want to slide my finger over the blade, or I'm sure I'd cut myself. But it still feels like it could slice through paper pretty easily and without any real effort on my part. Do I want to get the first dagger I looked at, though? What if there's another dagger that does have a stat bonus, or that deals more damage? What if there's a dagger that actually adds a defensive rating? Even just one or two armor would make a difference for what I'm looking for.

"Nice?" he asks.

"Just nice? Ah, I see. It doesn't make your heart jump, does it? Doesn't spark that joy that probably came when you first saw your sword. That's okay, I understand." He takes the dagger back from me and puts it back in the chest.

"Maybe it's not for you. Maybe you'd prefer something else? I noticed your friend has a mace. Would you want something like that? Something she could teach you to use?" It's like this guy is reading my mind. I shake my head.

"No," I say.

"No thank you." I start to walk out of the shop. Then I stop and turn back around.

"Just out of curiosity," I say, "How much is that dagger?"

"That one might be at the edge of your price range," he says.

"Normally I'd charge four platinum for it, but I think we might be able to make a deal, if you're interested?" I let out a whistle. Then I shake my head.

"No," I say.

"Thank you anyway."

"Of course, of course," he says.

"If you won't buy it, I'm sure someone else will. Do come back if you ever need any other weapons." I smile at him. I'm glad his attitude didn't change when he realized I wasn't going to buy from him. Means he isn't desperate to make these sales, which makes me think he's pretty successful at what he does. He doesn't need to worry about his commission, and he isn't dismissing me as wasting his time. He sees that I might come back at some point, and sees the value in treating me well just in case. I like that.

I look at few other stalls and see that while he was nice, he was also ripping me off. Most of the daggers on display at the next three stalls I look at cost under a hundred gold, even for rare quality. Daggers just aren't that expensive, because they're not that big. He was trying to get me to spend as much money as possible. That's why he asked how much I had to spend. I forgot one of the basic rules of negotiation. When you're negotiating price with someone, whoever speaks first loses.

I don't mean that literally. You can talk as much as you want while negotiating. But the first one to name a number loses. If I offer more than he was looking for, suddenly the price goes up. If I offer much less than he was looking for, then I'm not a serious customer and he doesn't need to waste his time with me. Similarly, if he asks for an amount way out of my price range, then I don't need to waste my time with him.

But if he asks for any number that I'm willing to pay, that immediately becomes the maximum, and we start negotiating down from there. He asked my budget, and I told him. Immediately, my budget became the price point he was looking for. If I'd told him I only had a hundred gold, would he have shown me the same daggers? Probably not the one in the chest, but the others? He very well might have.