Chapter 43 - Shopping
n
n
nWhile Sitreg was tiding up his old forge and getting ready for work, Evan headed to one of the gun stores. Thanks to Fien, Evan knew where all the decent stores with a good selection were, so he quickly made his way to the right place.
n
nHe was looking at a large two-story building with a name that spoke for itself,
"Ore Paradise
". The name was very similar to a restaurant he had visited not so long ago.
n
nHe turned out to be absolutely right. Just as Fien had said in Mossy Vulture, one-third of all the establishments and stores belonged to Marcel. So bumping into one of them was very easy.
nClick.
nOnce inside, Evan was struck by the interior. Bright walls, crystal chandeliers, lots of stands with glass cases. It looked as if it was not a store, but a real museum, and the staff here were also dressed accordingly.
n
nNot ten seconds later, a short girl with a pretty face approached Evan.
n
"Hello, can I help you?
" As in the
"Berry Paradise
", the staff was not embarrassed by Evan's unkempt appearance.
nThe young man nodded and clearly said:
"Five kilograms of
"Black Iron
", 300 grams of
"Rain Steel
", some oil of the
"Volcanic Flower
", and 100 grams of
"Amber Powder.
"
nEvan's order was quite large, but there were many more such materials to be found at the
"Ore Paradise
".
nThe girl was a little surprised at such a request, but after a second, she smiled and quickly said:
"Sure, please follow me.
"
n
nThey stopped at one of the stands where
"Black Iron
" was located. The girl put five identical pieces of iron into the store cart and went to the next stand. So after a couple of minutes, there were five pieces of
"Black Iron
", one small, blue piece of
"Rain Steel
", a bottle of red
"Volcanic Flower
" oil, and a bag of yellow
"Amber Powder
" in the cart.
nWhile they were shopping, Evan saw a lot of interesting materials, but nothing super outstanding. Sure, there were expensive ores, oils, and various minerals, and there were plenty of them all. This only meant that they were easily renewable resources, without uniqueness.
nThat's when Evan realized why Sitreg had told him about the auction. It would be the only place to get something truly extraordinary.
nAfter getting everything he needed, Evan headed to the cash register with the girl, and suddenly Evan remembered that he had forgotten something important.
n
"Excuse me, I also need some
"Coal of Centennial Birch
" Calmly Evan said.
nThe girl turned around and said thoughtfully:
"Mister, pardon my rudeness, I take it you're going to forge weapons out of these materials?
"
nEvan simply nodded. He saw no point in going into detail and saying who was going to do the work.
nSeeing that, the girl muttered:
"Then, maybe, you'd like to see the smith hammers? There are many worthy choices for both beginners and masters of their craft.
"
n
nEvan really didn't need a hammer, but when he thought about it he remembered the state of Sitreg's tool. He wasn`t going to buy the anvil, as Sitreg had it in good order, but his hammer looked quite unsightly.
nEvan nodded and with a slight smile on his face, said:
"Okay, I'll take your offer right after we take the coal.
"
n
"Okay
"
nAfter buying the coal, Evan and the girl headed to the second floor of the store. There were no weapons, armor, shields and such on the first floor, only materials.
nUnfortunately, Evan had absolutely no knowledge of blacksmithing, so all he could rely on was his intuition and a keen eye. He didn't need to buy the best hammer in the world anyway. Just a good one would suffice. Moreover, compared to what Sitreg was using now, any hammer would look like a masterpiece.
n
"You can choose any one, but personally, I would recommend this one.
"
nWith these words, the girl pointed to a small hammer hanging on the wall. On the outside, it looked quite ordinary, nothing supernatural.
n
"Of course, it's a rather simple and common model, but of very high quality. Not rare, but good materials were used in its creation. I think it's one of the best options when viewed from the quality-price side.
"
nThe girl spoke at length about the hammer she offered. It was clear from her words that she has a lot of experience in sales.
n
nEvan's thought was simple. If he bought a specialized hammer, he would probably make the wrong choice. However, if he chose a hammer with all the parameters equally good, from the material to the price, the so-called
"golden mean
", he would most likely get a good tool in his hands.
nSo Evan looked around and pointed to one of the hammers,
"I'll have that one, please.
"
nEvan chose one similar to the one the girl had recommended to him. It also looked quite ordinary. The materials were different of course-they were better quality, but nothing unique. However its price was three times the price of the last one, 150 gold coins. This difference in price was because this hammer was better than the previous one in every way, which was why there was such a difference in price.
n
"Mister, are you sure?
" The girl asked calmly.
nEvan only nodded in response.
n...
nEvan paid exactly 400 gold coins for everything. It was actually a little more than that, but they gave him a small discount. Shopping in the
"Ore Paradise
" cost him a lot of money. It is worth noting that 400 gold coins was simply an astronomical sum for the average person.
nIf Sitreg hadn't found out how much money Evan actually had, he would have ordered the ingredients much cheaper. Of course, only 250 of the 400 coins went for the materials, but it was also an impressive sum.
nThe staff did not expect to see a credit card at such a man like Evan. But they calmly accepted the payment.
n
nClick.
nEvan walked out of
"Ore Paradise
" and with a backpack full of materials went in the direction of Sitreg's forge.
n...
nClick.
nEvan opened the front door of the forge and said loudly:
"Old man, take it all. Delivered in the best way.
" Saying this Evan put the backpack on the table.
n
"Oh, kid, you`ve got back so fast. I was just in time to clean up. Well, it's time to get to work.
"
n