"Get lost!"
Having had his business stolen again—though it would not have gone through anyway—the blacksmith was so furious he nearly turned red and drove William a whole street away.
Li Wei could only follow helplessly.
"Phew—phew—sir, I heard you wanted gold, right?"
William panted heavily after being chased down the street, yet he still did not forget to hawk his wares.
"Yes, I want gold. But I'm curious—do you squat outside people's doors every day waiting to steal their business? If I were that blacksmith, I'd want to beat you too."
"Haha, no, no. Not every day. I just happened to be there today."
Li Wei's mouth twitched.
Not every day meant often, then?
"Enough. Tell me about your goods. How are you selling your gold?"
"As a regular customer, you can have it for eighty percent of the market gold price."
"That generous?"
"Us Scrap Merchants have always been generous." William looked utterly sincere.
Yet remembering the rotten, crumbling equipment William had sold him last time, Li Wei found that hard to believe.
Don't tell me you're bringing me a batch of gold-plated copper.
Still, Li Wei was not worried about being scammed. Whatever went into his backpack would be marked with an ID, and he could tell what material it was at a glance.
Though still suspicious, Li Wei followed William to his little warehouse.
This secluded side street had not changed in the slightest. It was dark and quiet.
If anything had changed, it was that several houses seemed dustier, as though no one had been active there for a month or two.
"This is all of it, sir."
After rummaging around, William dragged a box out from the depths of the warehouse.
When Li Wei opened it, he was momentarily dumbfounded.
It was filled with dull, tarnished jewelry covered in rust and spots.
"Look, sir, this is pure gold!" William picked up a bracelet and patted his chest in assurance.
"No, this..."
Li Wei's eyelid twitched as he accepted the bracelet, whose surface was so spotted that its original color was nearly impossible to make out, and put it into his backpack.
Rusty Gold Bracelet Estimated recoverable: 2–3 Gold Grains.
I see.
Li Wei understood.
The bracelet was indeed made of gold, but perhaps it had been poorly stored, or perhaps too much time had passed. Gold itself was stable, yet that did not prevent things from adhering to its surface and ruining its appearance.
"Fine. I'll take all of it."
Condition did not matter to Li Wei.
It would all be the same once tossed into the Anti-Smelter.
The moment William heard that, he immediately rubbed his hands together and held up a number of fingers.
Li Wei was truly out of silver coins, so he had no choice but to take out another pile of antique jewelry. This transaction directly emptied half his inventory.
Still, he received quite a few gold items in exchange.
Most of the antique jewelry Li Wei had looted from the Barrow-wight was silver, yet he had traded it with William for over twice its volume in gold goods.
In truth, silverware was quite valuable in Middle-earth, especially among the Elves. It was said that Elves loved silver even more than gold.
Seeing William's upturned lips, Li Wei knew William had definitely not lost out.
But it did not matter. His goal had been achieved.
It had to be said that William had some real skill. Though his warehouse was full of junk, his business might actually be quite good.
As long as something had even the slightest connection to a customer's needs, William dared to pitch it.
This guy was definitely not as poor as he looked. He must have had quite a bit of wealth.
With his business finished, Li Wei did not linger and returned straight to the inn.
Back where he stood, William watched Li Wei leave and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"How did that deal go?"
A scruffy, darkly dressed man suddenly emerged from the dilapidated house nearby.
"Barely didn't lose money." William's mouth twitched.
"Did he notice anything?"
"So far, no."
"My suggestion is that he'd better not find out about what you did."
The bearded man spoke slowly:
"That night, I heard sounds on the road like rolling thunder. A fire broke out in the woods, then was extinguished by water that came from nowhere in the sky... Unable to suppress my curiosity, I went into the woods to investigate. In the end, I found huge craters and Orc corpses. Not one of them was intact."
William's legs went a little weak.
"I told those thugs not to set their sights on him."
"But all those weapons they had came from you."
"Didn't you deal with those Orcs too?" William demanded in a low voice.
"That's all in the past. My advice is to stop and leave this place. Otherwise, if he finds out, we might not even keep our heads."
"..."
William fell into deep thought.
Li Wei had no idea what had happened.
Yet for some inexplicable reason, a notification appeared above his head: Bree-land Reputation +10.
It seemed he had accidentally done something good.
Back at the inn, with nothing better to do, Li Wei checked over this haul.
These gold items could probably be smelted into two or three gold ingots.
Not much, but enough to make two Golden Carrots.
The next two days passed uneventfully. Aside from resting and eating at the inn, Li Wei wandered around, taking in Bree's local customs.
While he had spare time, Li Wei bought two chickens from a farmer, intending to bring them back to raise. As for pigs, cattle, sheep, and the like, they were honestly a bit hard for one person to manage, especially with two horses already.
Li Wei suddenly felt the inconveniences of being alone.
But it was not like there was no solution. There were actually plenty of wild animals in the forests and plains near Roadside Fortress, including Wild Boars and Wild Bulls. He had never considered starting a ranch before, so whenever he encountered them, he simply killed them for meat. This time, he could try bringing some back to raise.
Back to the point.
In Bree, Humans and Hobbits were usually the most common.
But members of other races occasionally passed through as well, such as Dwarves.
"Whenever a Dwarf caravan passes through, the pouch where I keep my silver coins gets stuffed full, and then they empty out my wine cellar."
So said a brewer.
Li Wei's luck was fairly good. He happened to encounter a Dwarf caravan.
Out of curiosity, he went to take a look. The goods were either alcohol or metal tools. Though they appeared finely crafted, Li Wei had no need for them.
Still, he got to see Dwarves.
These little, bearded fellows were indeed rather amusing. Every one of them spoke as though performing a comedy routine, and they were great fun.
And Dwarves were remarkably hardy as well.
25/25
The same health bar as the Dúnedain.
Though the dwarf merchant chatting with Li Wei asked every other sentence whether he wanted to buy something, after talking for half the day, Li Wei still bought nothing.
In the end, he returned to the inn under the glaring send-off of the bearded Dwarf.
The moment he returned, the bartender approached him.
"Sir, the horses you requested are ready."
"Good. I'll go take a look."
At the stable, there were indeed two horses that looked quite spirited.
Li Wei took a glance, and relevant information immediately appeared above them.
26/26 Maximum Speed: 11 m/s. 24/24 Maximum Speed: 10 m/s.
"..."
To be honest, these two horses were rather average.
But they were decent enough as mounts.
Everything was now ready, and he could go home.
Yet the moment he took the reins, Li Wei suddenly remembered a problem.
He did not know how to ride a horse.
Before you continue