The Deal

Argus glanced at Shawn again. His gaze lingered on him for three seconds before he looked away disdainfully. "I'm busy making a Guard Set for old Grian. Where would I find the time to deal with you? You little brat, what kind of big business could you possibly have? Go play somewhere else. I don't have any candy for you."

Shawn was almost furious enough to fall ill. Where am I small? Are my eyes small? Or my mouth?

All right, he was a little young, but still—not so young that he deserved to be called a little brat, did he? He was at least a fine young man, wasn't he? What kind of eyes did old Mr. Argus have?

Shawn showed his displeasure at once, turning to leave. As he walked, he muttered, "He doesn't even want fine fish scales and Naga scales. He won't even take on a deal this big. What a complete idiot..."

Before he had even finished speaking, a loud thud rang out. A burly man appeared in front of Shawn. It was the blacksmith, Argus. In just two seconds, the guy had set his hammer down on the table and dashed over to block Shawn's path.

He'd been hiding his true strength!

Shawn was startled. He hurriedly used Eye of Insight on Argus, and only then did he learn that the guy was a level-six mid-rank Warrior, with a challenge rating of eight. You'd never have guessed!

"Young man, what did you say? You have Naga scales? Is that true?"

Argus had startled Shawn, but he quickly understood. It seemed Naga scales were very important to Argus. That made sense. Material of such high quality could be used to forge scale armor of at least blue quality. Argus had obviously taken a keen interest in it.

But Argus had just looked down on him, and Shawn wasn't too happy about it. So he shook his head. "You must have misheard. I don't have any Naga scales. What are Nagas, anyway? Are they tasty? I've never heard of them."

Shawn turned to leave.

But just then, Argus sneered. "Young man, I don't care where you got those Naga scales, but I'll tell you this: I'm the only one in all of Goldshire who knows how to work with them, and nobody else will buy them. Are you planning to keep them tucked away until you're old?"

At that, Shawn turned around angrily. "You're the one who's old! Your whole family's old! I'm not even fifteen yet, all right? Anyway, I'm not selling them anymore. What's it to you?"

Seeing that intimidation wasn't working, Argus immediately changed his tune and grinned. "Haha, little buddy, don't be like that. I was wrong just now. Just pretend I was talking out of my ass, okay? Come on, sell me those Naga scales. We can negotiate the price..."

Who could hold a grudge against money?

Besides, Shawn really had nowhere else to sell the Naga scales besides Argus's shop. So he stopped and looked back at Argus suspiciously. "We can negotiate the price? You're not planning to cheat me, are you? I still remember how you swindled Lord Grian yesterday."

Argus wasn't the least bit annoyed at having his past misdeeds brought up. That alone showed his skin was thicker than a boar's hide—thick as a wild rhino's.

Argus grabbed Shawn and patted his chest. "Little buddy, you should ask around about my reputation! I'm the master blacksmith Argus, and everyone says I'm pure and kind! Don't worry, I'd never cheat you!"

Shawn blinked, still unconvinced. "You really won't cheat me? I heard your reputation isn't so great! I came here with Old Saldean, and I know Lord Grian, so don't try anything!"

Argus hurriedly put on a smiling face. "Haha, of course not! You're a child Old Saldean adopted? I'll have you know that he and I are good friends. I made all the farm tools on his farm! Don't worry, I'll treat you fairly!"

Shawn thought about it. Argus probably wouldn't cheat him too badly, so he said, "All right. Wait here while I go get the stuff."

Argus: "..."

A while later, Shawn drove over from the Lion's Pride Inn in a wagon, bringing back a wagonload of goods.

When Argus saw the wagon packed full, he was completely stunned. His mouth hung open. "Th-this many Naga scales?"

Shawn rolled his eyes. "How could there be? Do you think I raided a Naga lair? Most of this wagon is full of murloc scales. Only a few are Naga scales."

Shawn took a bundle from the wagon and handed it to Argus. "Here, this is all of it. Besides 120 Naga scales, there are two Naga claws and one Naga hide."

Argus took the bundle and opened it.

The palm-sized Naga scales gleamed with dazzling light. Powerful currents of magic flowed across them.

Argus stroked the Naga scales, then suddenly looked up. "Little buddy, where did you get all this? I don't remember there being any Nagas around here."

Shawn raised an eyebrow. "I found them. Got a problem with that?"

Argus hurriedly said, "No, no. Wherever you say you got them, that's where you got them. It has nothing to do with me. These are good stuff—really good stuff. Look at these scales: smooth and hard, with magic flowing through them. They're excellent materials! And these two claws would be perfect for making fist weapons. This hide would be perfect for making leather armor, too. It's a shame I'm not a leatherworker..."

Shawn hurriedly said, "Let's make this clear first: I'm selling all of it as a bundle. The wagonload of murloc scales outside, too. I'm selling everything together, so don't think you can back out of that."

As if Shawn would sell them separately! Otherwise, where would he sell the Naga hide?

The only leatherworker and skinner in Goldshire were pretty strange. Shawn was worried that if he went to sell it himself, he might end up getting skinned. He'd heard the skinner specialized in skinning children...

Argus didn't object, though he looked a little dismissive. "That wagonload of murloc scales isn't worth much. One copper each... As for these Naga scales, ten silver each. How about that? And these two claws..."

"Hold it, hold it. I'm not selling anymore!" Shawn cut Argus off, wrapped the bundle back up, and turned to leave.

What a joke!

These were the scales of Kosta, a Murloc Guard. They weren't ordinary Naga scales. Kosta's colleague, Slardar, was a renowned Naga hero. Even if Skoda was a little weaker, he couldn't have been far behind.

His challenge rating had to be at least ten!

If the tens of thousands of Murloc Killer Crabs across Murloc Shoal hadn't thrown themselves into the fray like moths to a flame, how could Shawn have killed Kosta?

These scales were worth ten silver each?

No deal!

As soon as Argus saw how determined Shawn was, he panicked and hurriedly grabbed him, smiling ingratiatingly. "We can talk this over, we can talk this over. How about twenty silver? Uh, no, I misspoke. Thirty silver, thirty silver! Don't go! Forty silver, I'll give you forty! I'd be taking a loss at that price! Even if I made them into scale armor, they wouldn't be worth much... All right, my honest offer: fifty silver each! I really can't go any higher!"