Weapons Deal

Richard left the arena with the barbarians, seeing Big Wart and the servants' awestruck gazes off behind him.

"Sir, if things don't work out with your settlement, you could always come be a gladiator at our arena. You'd make a fortune," Big Wart said before they left. "Say one more unlucky word and I'll beat you up." Richard crushed his ambitions with a single sentence.

The future territory's armed guard had begun to take shape, but they still lacked many things—these musclebound barbarians had no weapons, let alone coats. Every last one of them was bare-chested.

Settlement expansion was nowhere near as romantic as knightly novels made it sound. On the contrary, it was an extremely serious military undertaking that required enormous initial investment.

Besides the five hundred gold coins his cheap older brother had given him, Richard had saved a little over a hundred gold coins himself, leaving him with just over six hundred in total.

At least three hundred had to be reserved for supplies, food, and construction materials, leaving only a little over three hundred for weapons.

That was actually a great deal of money—enough for an ordinary farming family to live comfortably for a lifetime. But used to arm fifty barbarians... it could only buy each man the standard three-piece militia set.

He led the group into the southwestern corner of Corun City. Though remote, the area was surprisingly bustling.

The Northeastern Province was a frontier region of the Pompey Empire, and the vast plains farther north lay beyond human rule.

Ever since the land-rush era began centuries ago, wave after wave of settlers had come in pursuit of wealth and land. Yet in the face of endless dangers, success remained as elusive as a dream—gamblers spent their fortunes on settlement permits, but few were ever heard of achieving their wishes.

Using up one's last silver coin and leaving in dejection was already the best possible outcome. More often, people lost their lives on those freezing plains as well.

In this myth of creating wealth, the people who truly filled their coffers were merchants. In Koren, settlement expansion was a business. The shops offering every imaginable related service had flourished beyond measure, gradually gathering here to form a specialized commercial district.

Weapons, armor, food, farm tools... everything needed for settlement expansion could be found here. One could even buy or rent entire squads of slave soldiers. A skilled Pompey soldier cost around thirty gold coins—though the barbarians claimed one of them could easily beat three such men in a fight.

But people like them, unruly and lacking discipline, were worthless no matter how capable they were in battle.

Hand three hundred gold coins to one of the specialized shops, and they would provide a proven, complete supply package, delivered right to your door. With more money, these shops could even handle regular supply shipments, leaving a settlement expedition with nothing to worry about.

Besides supplies, there were weapons.

Richard had already gathered intelligence. He brought the entire group flooding into a famous weapons shop—Nigen's Hammer.

The shop was renowned for authentic dwarven craftsmanship, and even its name carried a strong dwarven flavor. Beyond the entrance stood broad rows of display racks, while farther inside, more than a dozen dwarf blacksmiths could indeed be seen hammering around anvils.

"What weapons do you usually use?" Richard picked up a two-handed greatsword from the rack, but after one glance, hastily put it back down as though he had grabbed a red-hot iron—the hilt was set with an enormous cat's-eye gemstone, naturally enchanted with the magic effect of "beggars keep out."

"Spears and javelins are what we use most often and handle best. We use bows now and then too." The barbarians were nearly dazzled by the shop's dazzling variety of weapons. Only a very few could barely remain clear-headed enough to answer.

They had often hunted large beasts on the ice plains, and spears and throwing javelins were indeed the most suitable weapons for them.

"Big fellows, what would you like to buy?"

Richard looked around but saw no one. Only when he lowered his head did he discover a gnome looking up at him. He wore an extravagantly splendid purple silk coat, with two rounded words embroidered in gold thread across the chest—"Nigen."

Considering that the shop was named Nigen's Hammer, it was obvious that this gnome was the owner.

Gnomes were close relatives of dwarves. Dwarves were honest and skilled at forging, while gnomes were shrewd and adept at calculation. A gnome shopkeeper paired with dwarf blacksmiths was indeed the classic combination for a weapons shop.

"Spears and javelins. Don't try to fob me off with inferior goods."

"No such thing happens in Nigen's shop." Nigen gave Richard a glance and took out a portable counting board unique to gnomes. As he worked the beads, he muttered, "One spear and three javelins per person would be suitable. That's fifteen gold coins each. You have one, two... fifty people, for a total of seven hundred and fifty gold coins."

"This is all the money I have." Richard handed over a heavy money pouch containing three hundred and twenty Pompey gold coins.

Nigen counted the coins, walked to the counter, and locked them inside a black iron cash box. The counter, made of brown oak, had clearly been raised so that the gnome could stand on it and look ordinary people roughly in the eye.

"You don't have enough money. You can only arm twenty-one people, or you can choose cheaper weapons."

Gnomes were an exceptionally shrewd, calculating race. Once the money had entered his box, there was no turning back on the deal.

Richard drew the longsword at his waist and laid it across the counter. "Its name is Dragon Slayer. It was forged entirely from Starfall Refined Steel and weighs eleven pounds."

Starfall Refined Steel was a scarce metal found alongside iron ore, exceptionally heavy and solid. Usually, just a small piece was added during weaponmaking to improve performance. Using it alone as a weapon's primary material could only be called extravagantly luxurious.

Nigen lifted the longsword as if he had found a priceless treasure. He flicked the blade with a fingernail, producing a crisp, pleasant sound like fine Eastern porcelain being struck. Then he plucked a hair from his head, laid it against the edge, and gave it a light sweep. The razor-sharp blade effortlessly cut it into two.

"As expected of Starfall Refined Steel!" Nigen gripped the hilt one-handed and looked at his reflection in the blade. Due to the unique properties of Starfall Refined Steel, the edges of that reflection carried a faint purple tint. "This is a sword that could make a blacksmith proud for the rest of his life."

"I'm selling it." Richard had won the sword on the dueling platform. It had originally been called Listen to the Wind's Whisper, a family heirloom sword belonging to an unfortunate noble knight. After it came into Richard's hands, he thought the name sounded bad and renamed it Dragon Slayer.

From then on, Richard became famous in a single battle. Few people were willing to wager valuable items against him on the dueling platform anymore.

"What?" Nigen's movements froze. He looked up and raised an eyebrow.

It was easy to sell a fine sword for money, but buying another good sword after one had money required luck. For swordsmen, their personal swords were invaluable possessions kept at the bottom of their chests and should never be casually sold.

"I said I'm selling it." Richard removed the scabbard as well and placed it on the counter. "This sword, along with all my money, should be enough to equip every one of my subordinates properly."

After all, he had won it, and won it easily. He had never cared much for the sword. Since acquiring it, he had not even oiled and maintained it once.

Nigen immediately sheathed the sword and hugged it tightly to his chest. Standing less than four feet tall, he looked especially comical with the longsword against him. "Enough. Fifty steel spears and one hundred and fifty javelins, all good quality."

"Add fifty sets of fine leather armor as well."

Richard knew his trade. The sword was worth six hundred to six hundred and fifty gold coins, and together with his cash, it far exceeded the cost of the weapons. That damned gnome still wanted to cheat him out of more. How could Sir Richard, poor enough to hear his pockets jingle, possibly tolerate that?