𝒐𝓋𝑙xt.𝐜𝚘𝓂
“Woah. Who knew the Crimson Forge would be this busy.” Later that day, a group of five people had appeared at the entrance of Valyr’s smithy, all of them wearing equipment from head to toe.
For a brief moment, the customers that were already in the smithy looked in the direction of the five, wondering if a similar incident to the one that happened yesterday would occur. However, these thoughts were quickly discarded once the five entered the smithy and perused through the items and equipment that were for sale, causing the customers to inwardly let out a sigh of relief.
Naturally, Valyr took note of the group of five as well, not wanting a similar incident involving the trio from the Hekaetos Forging Emporium to happen yet again. Though, once he stopped his work in the meantime to take a look at the people that had arrived, the neutral expression on his face was swiftly changed into that of excitement.
‘They’re here! The players are finally here!’ Recalling that he was supposed to be someone who did not know of the players at all, the expression on Valyr’s face quickly returned to normal as he took in a deep breath. Nevertheless, his brief moment of excitement was noticed by Wells, who sent him a message through the chat function in a moment of curiosity.
“Is there anything special about the five? To me, they just look like an ordinary group of adventurers.” Wells looked at him with a curious expression, letting his message do the talking to Valyr.
“Not really.” Surprisingly, it took a while for Valyr to respond to the message, keeping his eyes trailed on the five’s movements for a short while. “Aside from the fact that all of them are at the early stages of Rank 1. You do know what that means, right?”
“They’re here to buy new equipment that’s better suited for their current classes?” Pondering over the question Valyr threw at him for a bit, Wells eventually sent a message in response, which earned him a thumbs-up from the former.
Of course, Valyr had done all of that to mislead Wells’ train of thought into thinking that the players were not that different from a ragtag group of adventurers. Though it wouldn’t be much of a problem for him to explain to Wells what kind of people the players were, Valyr felt that something like that was better saved for a later time.
For now, he had to establish a relationship with them.
‘And here I thought I’d have to force a scenario to happen.’ Seeing that one of the five picked up a weapon from one of the display racks, Valyr went ahead and slowly made his way towards the five, waiting for the right moment to initiate the conversation as he heard some of them talking.
“A gold coin for a Common+ grade staff? Might as well empty my pockets instead!” As a light blue haze appeared in front of his field of vision, the man that had picked up the weapon started to grumble, noticing the price tag that was affixed to the base of where the staff was placed.
“You haven’t taken into consideration that it’s already been refined to the highest level.” Hearing the man’s words, Nephilim slowly shook his head. “Aside from that, the equipment also boosts your INT stat when you have it equipped.”
“Are you saying we should get the staff, then?” Void_Guardian raised his eyebrow in curiosity as he looked at Nephilim. “Even though we already deal more than enough damage as a group?”
“That’s not what I was trying to say…” Nephilim lightly frowned as his tone turned slightly meek. “It’s just that… we already deal too much physical damage…”
“Welcome to the Crimson Forge. What brings you to this place?” Just as Void_Guardian was about to respond to Nephilim’s words, Valyr felt that it was the perfect moment to interrupt the conversation, causing all five of the players to look at him with slightly confused looks.
Fortunately, it did not take too long for them to recover from their confusion, with Void_Guardian deciding to take the initiative in interacting with Valyr. “Er… we were planning to buy this staff, but we’ve changed our minds after talking to each other for a bit.”
“Hmm?” Valyr’s expression changed to that of curiosity before shifting his gaze to the man that had picked up the staff earlier. “I’m pretty sure the staff would be a good fit for your fellow adventurer there, no?”
“That’s…” In response, an awkward smile appeared on Void_Guardian’s face as he lightly scratched his head. Placing the staff back where it previously was, he looked back at Valyr before opening his mouth.
“It’s definitely a good fit for my friend, but we can’t really afford the price.”
“Is that so?” Hearing that, Valyr crossed his arms as he went silent, prompting the five to look at each other for a bit as they slightly wondered what was going on. Eventually, Valyr nodded to himself, looking at the five with a calm expression before letting out a sigh.
“Well, I can see that the five of you are fledgling adventurers, wanting to outfit yourselves with equipment more befitting of your classes,” said Valyr to the five. “I know how hard it is to earn money as an adventurer. After all, I, too, was an adventurer once.”
At this moment, something clicked inside the minds of the five as they awaited Valyr’s next words with a hint of expectation, thinking that the man before them was going to give them a quest.
On the other hand, seeing the expectant expression on the five’s faces, Valyr inwardly let out a chuckle as he acted according to what the players were thinking, opening the quest appointment feature in front of him as he posed a question to the five.
“So, how about this? What if you five collect a couple materials for me, and in exchange, I’ll give you a chance to select an item from the smithy?”
Ding!
Just as these words came out of Valyr’s mouth, quest screens appeared in front of the five’s field of vision, dictating the objectives that they had to fulfill, as well as the rewards that they would obtain. Eventually, their gazes were fixated on the lower portion of the screen, which prompted Valyr to continue with his words.
“To make things a bit interesting, the first one among you to complete the task shall be able to receive a few more things from me. Then again, I’m not even sure if all of you are willing to accept the task.”
“With that in mind, are you willing to fulfill the task I’ve given you?” As Valyr’s previous statement answered the query that was in their minds, the five looked at each other for a bit as the screens before them disappeared. With a nod, the five replied to Valyr in unison.
“Of course we are!”