A Fortune Spent

Heka returned the short sword to its sheath, then slipped his hand back into his pocket. When it emerged again, there were already thirty copper coins in it.

The materials and workmanship of this short sword were both excellent. If he had bought it from a blacksmith's shop aboveground, it would probably have cost one or two hundred copper coins.

But the thing had appeared here, just like the hand crossbow Heka had scavenged from the general store before.

Everything that surfaced through these channels was dirty merchandise. In other words, sooner or later, it came with trouble attached.

The short sword in Heka's hand was clearly a standard-issue weapon from some noble's private army. Who knew what trouble it carried with it? Its price plunging was only natural.

"If you're not buying, don't cause trouble, sir."

The man in the darkness raised his head. Heka still couldn't make out the man's face, but judging from the outline in the darkness, he seemed to be a thin fellow.

Heka drew the short sword again, then tapped the spot on the blade where someone had deliberately ground away the markings. That spot had originally borne the crest of some noble lord.

"Add another thirty copper coins. We picked this sword up by the roadside. It absolutely has no blood on it."

Heka returned the short sword to the stall, then turned and walked toward the stall beside it.

Although he still had some copper coins on him, he didn't know how long he would have to wait afterward, so he needed to use them carefully.

Of course, more importantly, the man was obviously spouting nonsense. If it had no blood on it, why would it have ended up here? Once merchandise reached this place, everyone should know what they were dealing with.

As for the silver coins, Heka planned to buy two or three high-draw-weight crossbows from a blacksmith's shop in the city after collecting the grain. He would take the opportunity to spend the silver coins in his possession while exchanging some of them for copper coins.

Although Heka had seen crossbows on the racks behind the blacksmith's shop, he had never actually seen anyone buy one.

The things were probably regulated within the city. No one in the gang possessed a similar weapon. Even Fatty, who had money to burn, had only a hand crossbow rather than a higher-draw-weight crossbow.

"Fifty copper coins, and you can take it."

Seeing that Heka had already walked over to someone else's stall, the owner immediately waved and gestured for him to come back.

Heka didn't turn around. After looking over the stall in front of him, he picked up a short sword slightly longer than the one at the previous stall. For Heka, this sword could hardly be considered short anymore.

The merchant immediately beamed when he saw another customer's arrival. It seemed the two stalls had competed with each other quite a bit.

Heka weighed the weapon in his hand, then examined the goods before him.

Compared with the stall selling grain, these stalls were clearly much more crude.

These two stalls, along with the three behind them, seemed to primarily deal in secondhand equipment.

Here, Heka saw slightly damaged chain mail, iron gauntlets, somewhat battered leather armor, secondhand leather boots, ropes, and even a breastplate whose family crest had been ground away.

If these things were taken to a legitimate blacksmith's shop, they would probably be heavily underpriced. They might even attract the original owners looking for them.

So they had ultimately been purchased by merchants dealing in the underground black market. After being patched up and repaired, they had appeared here.

Unfortunately, after scanning the stalls, Heka found no crossbow mechanisms at all—not even a hand crossbow.

There were a few solitary crossbow arms, but there was no telling whether they were in good condition. If one broke when the time came, it might hurt him before it hurt anyone else.

The short sword in Heka's hand still had a short length of leather strap attached to it. It was used to secure the sheath to a belt.

At last, seeing the duck nearly in his beak about to fly away, the owner could no longer stand it.

"Forty-five copper coins. Not a coin less."

"Customer, our sword is clean. It's just that the blacksmith's shop pressed us too hard on the price before. Give us forty-five, and you can take it."

The owner opposite Heka smiled. As soon as his fellow merchant quoted a price, he immediately quoted his own, placing particular emphasis on the word "clean."

Heka looked up at him, then turned to glance at the first owner. He saw that the man had already stood up.

Although the black robe still covered most of the man's body, Heka could sense that he was probably somewhat angry.

Feeling that the timing was right, Heka set down the clean short sword whose blade had already been ground down many times and risked breaking, then returned to the first stall.

Heka casually picked up a lump of iron from the stall, then lifted the first short sword he had seen as well. At the same time, he placed forty-five copper coins on the stall.

"Forty-five copper coins for just one sword? That thing is an iron item at the very least. Even if you threw it to a blacksmith, you'd get four or five copper coins for it. How can you count it as a free extra?"

Heka tapped the pile of copper coins before him, then added one more coin on top.

"All right, all right. You win. Take it, take it."

Heka tucked the short sword into his belt, then toyed with the iron object in his hand.

It was a hook used to catch the string of a crossbow mechanism, making it easier to draw the string back.

The roller—or winch—that Heka had made himself for drawing the string used a wooden hook. But wooden hooks were ultimately not strong enough. Now that he had found a usable replacement, he immediately bought it.

Buying it separately would probably have cost quite a bit more. Adding it to the short sword as a free extra saved him a considerable amount.

He had only just come down, yet he had already spent a hundred and ten copper coins. The two major expenses, fuel and a crossbow mechanism, had not even been purchased yet. He still needed to buy two sets of clothes and, finally, a quilt.

At the thought, Heka couldn't help sighing.

If he hadn't been carrying the huge fortune of twenty-three Heka gold coins, he absolutely wouldn't have been so generous in buying these things.

At the very least, with the short sword just now, he would have had to risk exposing himself and haggle with the other party a little longer before being willing to stop.

After all, this money was earned through his blood and sweat. On average, saving fifty copper coins meant taking a beating.

Heka made a circuit of the area and regretfully discovered that the black market truly had no stalls selling clothes or fuel.

That made sense. Unlike secondhand weapons and embezzled grain, these two things weren't so illicit that they couldn't be sold openly on the street.

Heka left the black market with his purchases, then immediately turned left and entered a narrow tunnel. Beyond it was another tunnel sloping upward, barely wide enough for one person to pass through.

Heka climbed over the slope, then took out his hand crossbow and quietly waited for any pursuers who might come after him.

There was only one entrance here. If they came in, they would inevitably have to show their faces within his line of sight. One arrow would be enough to strike them in the face, and at most, one more arrow would finish off the enemy.

There were three tunnels behind this one. Even if there were too many pursuers, he would still have a chance to flee.

Heka waited in silence. With every breath, the surrounding darkness was drawn into his abdomen bit by bit, as if it intended to swallow Heka whole, inside and out, into this deathly silence.