Both Dumbfounded
Blacksmith Frel had been feeling somewhat troubled lately.
Quite a few travelers from distant lands had appeared in the city recently. They spent lavishly, never haggled, and bought piles of goods every time they entered a shop. Occasionally, they even brought rare items to sell. They were far easier to fool than those adventurers from the Adventurers' Association whose edges had been worn away by society.
The only downside was that they behaved a little strangely. But considering they spent every day adventuring outside, it was understandable if they had some mental issues.
Logically, these travelers should have had a considerable demand for weapons after arriving in a new place. Yet whenever Frel saw them carrying weapons stamped with his mark, he could not remember them ever patronizing his shop.
As his fellow craftsmen cast looks at him that practically said, "Watching that kid make money hurts more than losing money myself," Frel became utterly depressed.
Those weapons had never been sold by him at all!
"Could it have been that guy?"
Frel thought of the Man in Black who had knocked on his door late at night some days ago.
After handing over the job, the Man in Black had exchanged a huge pile of ore and gold coins for many weapons from him. Frel had been delighted at the time, thinking a big deal had come his way. Now, it looked like he had lost a fortune.
"Damn resellers!"
Frel cursed bitterly. Yet when he saw a traveler dressed distinctly differently from the city's residents walking toward him, he immediately changed his expression.
"Sir, what can I get for you? My shop has been in business for a century. The quality of my equipment is second to none within a hundred miles—well, no one dares claim first."
However, the traveler did not reply immediately. Instead, he looked Frel up and down and muttered quietly, "This is the blacksmith Little Black recommended? He doesn't even have a level. He's just an ordinary person. Could this be a smokescreen meant to lower our guard? Is there actually some even more mysterious existence hidden in this blacksmith shop? Do I need some sort of password to trigger it?"
"Sir? Sir?"
Frel waved his large, densely furred hand before the traveler's eyes.
"Ah, sorry. I got distracted," the traveler said after coming back to his senses. "Do you have any weapons for sale? My sword was damaged in battle, so I thought I'd take this chance to replace it with a better one. Wait, forget it. I probably won't be able to save enough money for better equipment before the servers shut down. How about you just repair this sword for me?"
"Sure, no problem." Frel eagerly pulled out a hammer. "Please let me take a look at your sword."
The traveler took out his sword and handed it to the blacksmith.
Frel accepted the sword, but instead of raising his hammer, he stared silently at the mark on its hilt for a long time.
He slowly asked, "May I ask you something, sir?"
"Huh? Sure. What is it?"
"Where did you buy this sword?"
"From Little Black."
"Little Black?"
The traveler scratched his head. "I don't know his actual name, but he likes wearing black clothes, so we call him Little Black."
Frel asked anxiously, "Does he have any distinguishing features?"
"Features?"
Faced with Frel's question, the traveler immediately became serious.
A player's intuition told him that this Frel was definitely not as simple as he appeared.
Little Black had been so kind. There really was something suspicious about him.
"He's very handsome, wears all black, is a mage, and he has a very beautiful young female knight by his side."
So it really was him!
Grinding his teeth, Frel asked, "And was he the one who directed you to my shop?"
The traveler nodded and said solemnly, "That's right. It was all under his guidance!"
After stocking up from me, he doesn't give me a share, and now he wants me to handle the after-sales service too?
Frel took several deep breaths and finally calmed himself down.
Today was the Truth Society's Day of Worship. The gathering point for this region was in Leibu City. He would definitely have a chance to settle accounts with Linton!
"So it was all under your guidance, huh? You little brat, you'd better be hiding in some corner—wait, guidance?"
Frel's expression immediately turned uncertain.
Perhaps others would not have found anything strange about that answer, but the Truth Society's doctrine was, "The True Lord guides your way forward."
To confirm his suspicion, Frel asked the traveler again, "Excuse me... by guidance, do you mean showing the way, or...?"
"It's more than just showing us the way," the traveler replied. "When we wanted to level up, Little Black guided us to all sorts of hidden Secret Realms to explore. When we wanted to learn skills, Little Black prepared all kinds of skill books for us. He even prepared all the necessary materials. In our eyes, Little Black is an omnipotent existence. He's like the brightest light shining upon our path of exploration. And for this nanny-level experience, we don't even have to give up anything. His ambitions might be grand, and he might even become our enemy someday, but at least for now, we need him."
"You don't have to pay?"
"We do! But the help he gives us is far outweighed by what we gain. In our eyes, he only charges a token information fee, so whenever we turn in quests, we always hand over a little extra to repay him."
By the time Frel heard Little Black compared to a light shining upon their path, he had already gone numb.
That black-hearted merchant actually dared to profit in the True Lord's name!
Frel did not even know how to describe Linton's audacity.
What he had done was far beyond anything a mere word could describe.
"I have to report this immediately!"
The fact that Frel could serve as a transfer point for collecting Offering Gold meant his status within the Truth Society was not low. And among ordinary members of the Truth Society, the higher one's rank, the more devout one's faith.
Thus, exploiting the name of a god for profit had undoubtedly enraged this fervent believer.
This was not merely crossing the line. This was blasting music and dancing wildly all over it!
"Sorry, the shop is closed."
Frel no longer cared about business. He slammed the door shut and sprinted toward today's gathering point, leaving the thoughtful traveler behind.
"Little Black really is connected to this blacksmith... Could I have revealed some secret information during our conversation? But I didn't say anything. Yet this blacksmith..."
"Sure enough, a big boss is a big boss. It's as if he knew what I would do and what I would say. He passed on the information without me, the person involved, knowing anything at all."
After thinking for a long time, the traveler still could not pull a single complete thread from his tangled thoughts.
"Forget it. The closed beta is almost over anyway. I'll investigate again when the open beta starts."
"Still, I helped him so much. Wouldn't it be unreasonable if he didn't reward me with a legendary weapon? A weapon, a weapon..."
"Wait! Did that blacksmith steal my sword?!"
"Come back here!!!"
At the entrance to the gathering point, Linton was preparing to put the "borrowed" cultist robe on Iris so she could sneak in with him.
But just after she had put it on, the furious Frel appeared before him.
"You little brat! You actually dared to profit by using the True Lord's name!!"
The necromancer and the Puppet Knight froze at the same time, exchanged a glance, and were both completely dumbfounded.
Thanks to "Dawn Hanging in the Sky, Remembering the Past" for the 100 Qidian coins donation. Thank you so much! or2!
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