All is Ready

"Get lost!"

Having his business snatched away again (even though it wasn't going to work out anyway), the blacksmith, nearly red-hot with rage, chased William out of the street entirely.

Li Wei had no choice but to follow helplessly.

"Whew—whew—Milord, I heard you, you're after gold, right?"

William, panting heavily after being chased down the street, still didn't forget to pitch his wares.

"Yeah, I'm after gold. But tell me, 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 punch you too."

"Haha, no, no, not every day. Just happened to be here today."

Li Wei's mouth twitched.

Not every day, huh? So that means often, then?

"Alright, let's hear about your goods. How do you sell your gold?"

"As a returning customer, just give me eighty percent of the market price."

"That cheap?"

"We Scrap Merchants are always cheap." William looked utterly earnest.

But remembering the rotten, crumbling equipment William had sold him last time, Li Wei took that claim with a grain of salt.

You'd better not be trying to pass off a batch of copper-plated gold on me.

Still, Li Wei wasn't too worried about being cheated. After all, no matter what it was, once it dropped into his backpack, it would be tagged with an ID, and he'd know the material at a glance.

Despite his skepticism, Li Wei followed William to his little warehouse.

This remote, out-of-the-way block hadn't changed at all—dark, quiet.

If anything, a few of the houses seemed dustier, like no one had been around for a month or two.

"Here they are, Milord."

William rummaged around and dragged a box out from the depths of the warehouse.

Li Wei opened the box and was a bit stunned.

Inside were dull, tarnished, rust-spotted ornaments.

"See, Milord? This is pure gold!" William picked up a bracelet and patted his chest in guarantee.

"Wait, this..."

Li Wei's eyelid twitched as he took the bracelet, its surface so spotted the original color was barely visible, and put it into his backpack.

[Rusty Gold Bracelet]

Estimated recyclable: 2-3 Gold Grains.

So that's it.

Li Wei understood.

The bracelet was indeed made of gold, but maybe due to poor storage conditions or just age, while gold itself is stable, it couldn't prevent things from adhering to its surface and ruining its appearance.

"Fine, I'll take it all."

Quality didn't matter much to Li Wei.

It all went into the Anti-Smelter anyway.

Hearing that, William immediately rubbed his hands together and flashed a number.

Li Wei didn't have any silver coins on him either, so he had to pull out another pile of antique ornaments. This trade alone emptied half of Li Wei's stock.

But the gold items he got in return were considerable.

Most of the antique ornaments Li Wei had scavenged from the Barrow-wight were silver, yet he'd exchanged them for more than twice the volume in gold goods from William.

In fact, in Middle-earth, silver items were priced high, especially among the elves—rumor had it they favored silver over gold.

Seeing the upward curl of William's lips, Li Wei knew he hadn't taken a loss.

But it didn't matter. The goal was achieved.

He had to admit, William had some skill. Sure, his warehouse was full of junk, but his business might actually be decent.

If something even remotely touched a customer's needs, he'd dare to pitch it.

That guy definitely wasn't as poor as he let on—he probably had a fair bit of wealth stashed away.

With business done, Li Wei didn't linger and headed straight back to the inn.

Back where he stood, William watched Li Wei leave and wiped the sweat from his brow.

"How'd this deal go?"

From a rundown house nearby, a scruffy, gray-clad figure suddenly stepped out.

"Barely broke even." William's mouth twisted.

"Did he notice anything?"

"Not as far as I can tell."

"My advice—whatever you've done, best he doesn't find out."

The big-bearded man spoke slowly:

"That night, I heard a thunderous commotion on the main road. A great fire blazed in the woods, then was doused by water falling from the sky... I couldn't resist my curiosity and went to investigate. In the end, I found a mess of craters and Orc corpses—none of them in one piece."

William's legs went weak.

"I did warn those scumbags not to go after him."

"But the weapons in their hands—you're the one who supplied them."

"Didn't you deal with those Orcs too!" William demanded in a low voice.

"That's all in the past. My suggestion is to pull back and leave this place. If he finds out, neither of us might keep our heads."

"..."

William sank into thought.

Li Wei had no idea what was happening.

But out of nowhere, a prompt popped up above his head: [Bree-land Reputation +10].

As if he'd accidentally done something good.

Back at the inn, bored, Li Wei checked his haul from this trip.

These gold items could probably be melted down into two or three gold ingots.

Not much, but enough to make two Golden Carrots.

The next two days were uneventful. Aside from resting and eating at the inn, Li Wei wandered around, taking in Bree-land's local customs and scenery.

During his free time, Li Wei also bought two chickens from a farmer, planning to take them back and raise them. As for pigs, cows, or sheep—honestly, it'd be a hassle to bring them alone, especially since he already had two horses.

Li Wei suddenly felt the inconvenience of being by himself.

But it wasn't impossible. The woods and plains near Roadside Fortress actually had plenty of wild animals, including boars and bison. He'd never thought about starting a ranch before—whenever he ran into them, he just killed and ate them. This time, he could try bringing some back to raise.

Anyway.

In Bree-land, humans and Hobbits were the most common.

But occasionally, other races passed through, like Dwarves.

"Every time a Dwarf caravan passes through, my coin pouch fills up with silver, and then they clean out my wine cellar," a brewer said.

Li Wei got lucky and happened to run into a Dwarf caravan.

Out of curiosity, he took a look. It was all wine and metal tools—well-made, but nothing Li Wei needed.

Still, it was his first time seeing Dwarves up close.

These short, big-bearded fellows were quite amusing. Every one of them talked like they were doing a comedy routine—funny stuff.

And Dwarves were also remarkably tough.

[25/25]

The same HP as the Dúnedain.

The Dwarf merchant he chatted with asked him every other sentence whether he wanted to buy anything, but after talking for a while, Li Wei still bought nothing.

In the end, under the Dwarf's bristling glare, he headed back to the inn.

As soon as he returned, the bartender came up to him.

"Sir, the horses you requested are ready."

"Good, let me take a look."

He went to the stable and found two spirited-looking horses.

Li Wei glanced at them, and their info appeared above them.

[26/26] Max speed: 11m/s.

[24/24] Max speed: 10m/s.

"..."

Honestly, both horses were a bit average.

But as riding horses, they'd do.

Now everything was ready—he could go home.

But just as he took the reins, a problem suddenly hit him.

He didn't know how to ride a horse.