Goblin Heavy Dependence

Chapter 148 Extortion and Bone Treatment

"A boutique shop, my foot! Look at the quality of the equipment coming out of your shop!"

"I bought this leather armor less than three months ago, and I haven't even been to the Misty Forest many times, and it's already in such a state of disrepair."

"You must give me an explanation today!"

Holding a newly bought bottle of "Yanxin Dark Beer," Xia Nan walked down the street, not yet having had a chance to enter the store.

Then a series of rebukes came from inside the "Rock Hammer" shop.

Judging from the content of the voice, it seems that there was a problem with the blacksmith's quality control, which caused an adventurer to buy inferior equipment, and now he has come to demand an explanation.

I felt inexplicably strange.

He had been in Riverdale for a while and was a regular at Rockhammer, having bought almost all of his equipment there.

Naturally, I know the quality of this shop.

Just like the drunkard in the tavern said:

"The only problem with the rock hammer is that it's expensive."

Over the years, thanks to the dedicated management of the shop owner "Barn", Rockhammer has become a recognized high-quality blacksmith shop in River Valley.

It has even been featured in the Adventurer's Handbook, and has an excellent reputation with very few negative reviews.

Even if someone occasionally complains in the tavern, it's never about "quality".

Based on Xia Nan's understanding of Barn, the other party was definitely not the kind of unscrupulous merchant who would throw his conscience to the back of his mind in order to make money, and it was impossible for him to deliberately sell defective goods to deceive customers.

Right now, the [Decapitation Sword] behind him is made of "gray steel" from "Flame Forging Peak," which is quite expensive.

It was because of a tiny oversight during forging, so minor that it was uncertain whether it would even affect the quality, that Barn threw it into the scrap heap, waiting to be melted down and remade.

That's when it was my turn to pick up the bargains when I was short of money at the time.

On the other hand, at least from Xia Nan's subjective perspective.

The rather harsh rebuke was not what he had imagined—the feeling of having saved up money for a long time, carefully selecting and finally buying a piece of fine equipment that suited him in the blacksmith's shop, only to find that it was a defective product with quality problems.

Feeling cheated, all the effort and hard work wasted, and filled with grief and pain, I wanted nothing more than to kill the shop owner.

Instead, it carried a slightly sarcastic tone, with a deliberately loud voice, as if intentionally letting the sound carry out onto the street so that passersby could hear it.

With a mix of doubt and a desire to see the spectacle, Xia Nan didn't shy away from the question and walked straight into the shop.

What came into view was an adventurer dressed in simple equipment, and Barn, the owner of the "Rockhammer" shop in front of him.

"Guest, could it be that you've misremembered?"

“We have never sold this style of leather armor in our store, and the tanning process of the cowhide on this piece of equipment is not a technique that I usually use.”

"If you don't mind, perhaps you could let me take a look, maybe..."

Before he could finish speaking, the middle-aged adventurer in front of Barn, whose eyes were darting around, shrank back as if in response to a shock.

He had hidden the leather armor he was carrying behind his back, and with his neck held high, he threatened, his voice fierce but his heart pounding:
"I'm warning you, don't you dare lay a hand on me!"

"This isn't over until I get 100 gold coins!"

"You wouldn't want rumors to spread that your shop sold a defective item..."

He had only spoken halfway when he saw that Barn, who had been so sincere and friendly, seemed to have figured something out from the other person's words and actions.

He suddenly sighed.

He straightened up, letting the shadow of his imposing figure fall over the man in front of him.

"A newcomer, huh? How long have you been in River Valley Town?"

"How did you know..." The middle-aged adventurer paused, then suddenly realized, "Don't change the subject, I..."

boom--

An arm as thick as a normal person's thigh slashed through the air with a loud bang, and a huge fist, almost covering the man's entire face, was suddenly swung out with a whooshing sound.

Just as the blow was about to hit the other person's cheek, the force was suddenly withdrawn at the last second before the finger bone made contact with the other person's nose.

Amidst the surging wind, the man's pupils constricted sharply and his face turned deathly pale.

"roll."

"Ah...ah!"

The middle-aged adventurer involuntarily took two steps back, his legs buckled, and he fell to the ground.

Perhaps the impact of that punch was too great, so he didn't even dare to utter any threats. He scrambled to his feet using all four limbs and fled towards the door.

And because the action was too hasty, they did not pay attention to what was ahead.

He bumped right into Xia Nan, who was standing in front of the shop.

It was as if he had crashed into an unmoving iron wall, and he immediately cried out in pain and fell to the ground.

Rubbing his nose, which was sore and numb from the head-on collision with the armor.

His eyes widened, his lips parted slightly, as if he was about to say something.

His gaze couldn't help but fall on the iron-gray longsword that the person before him was carrying on his back.

His expression suddenly changed.

He almost forced the words that were already on the tip of his tongue, lowered his head, lowered his body, bypassed Xia Nan, and fled towards the shop's exit.

I glanced at the figure rapidly disappearing into the distance on the street.

Xia Nan withdrew his gaze, not caring too much about it.

"Coming here to deliberately cause trouble?" he joked with Barn ahead of him.

Over several months of frequent visits, the two gradually grew closer and could be considered friends.

Upon seeing that the visitor was Xia Nan, "Rock Hammer" Barn also revealed a helpless smile and shook his head.

"do not worry about it."

“This kind of thing happens several times a year, I’m used to it.”

Unlike the mage apprentices in magic academies, or the students and teachers in city campuses.

There are almost no barriers to becoming an adventurer.

In theory, you could wear your pajamas, grab a kitchen knife, take a couple of walks on the grass at the edge of the forest, and come back calling yourself an adventurer.

Furthermore, due to the widespread rumors of the high income, the adventurers at the bottom level who have not yet been screened by monsters can be described as a mixed bag, with both good and bad.

There is something for everyone.

As the owner of the town's most famous blacksmith shop, Barn deals with a large number of customers every day.

In this situation, it's actually normal to occasionally encounter one or two oddballs.

Speaking of which, it's in Hegu Town.

If you were to actually go to a dwarven settlement like "Flintbridge" or "Dumb Iron Fortress," and face the same kind of slander targeting the quality of your equipment...

His loud-voiced brothers and sisters, whose personalities were even more fiery than a furnace fire, would never let him leave the shop with all four limbs intact.

Thinking about it, Barn suddenly realized that after so many years in town, his temper had been worn down a lot.

If it were me when I was younger...

"Never mind." He pulled a rag from his waist and wiped the countertop twice. "Haven't seen you in a while, huh? How was it, hunting day..."

Barn only managed to say half a sentence before suddenly shutting his mouth.

Seemingly sensing something, he frowned, his eyes scanning Xia Nan's body from head to toe.

"You...you've really become a professional?"

Although he had heard rumors about the "Gray Sword" before, he thought they were just exaggerated by the spread of rumors. Unexpectedly, when Xia Nan stood in front of him, he actually felt the same aura as his several veteran adventurers.

"Just luck."

Without deliberately concealing the fact that he had already obtained a professional level, Xia Nan nodded in reply.

"Something went wrong during the mission, so I need to trouble you to check these two pieces of equipment I'm wearing again."

The expression on his face still showed surprise at Xia Nan's advancement to a professional, but upon hearing what he said, a strange sense of déjà vu suddenly appeared on his face.

"It's broken again?"

"Ah."

Looking at the two pieces of armor that Xia Nan handed over, which clearly showed signs of damage on the surface.

At this moment, Barn began to doubt whether there was really a problem with his forging skills.

As if sensing the other party's thoughts, Xia Nan placed the "Yanxin Black Beer" that he had just bought at Baishanque on the counter.

They mastered the art of interpersonal relationships.

"The armor is excellent and helped me a lot in the battle."

"The damage was not due to the quality of the equipment itself."

Barn was only surprised by the frequency of Xia Nan's equipment damage, and didn't have any other thoughts.

Seeing the other party's actions, their already friendly attitude became even more enthusiastic.

He accepted the stout and bent down to stuff it into the counter.

—It's his habit not to drink alcohol during work hours.

Then they helped to carefully check the extent of the damage to the armor.

His fingertips traced the iron rings on the surface of the chainmail, his gaze carefully sweeping over a few barely perceptible details.

He frowned again.

"What's wrong? Can it be repaired, or do you need to replace it with a new one?"

Seeing the other person's expression, Xia Nan scratched his head and asked.

"As you should know, the reason why chainmail has remained popular among adventurers for so long is because of its special structure made of metal rings. Even if some parts are damaged in battle, without considering other aspects of durability, you can quickly repair it by simply replacing the iron rings in the corresponding positions."

Barn held the chainmail by both sides, unfolded it in front of him, and carefully examined it as he explained to Xia Nan.

“I have no intention of probing you, but your chainmail, although it appears that only the area around your chest is severely damaged, has also been corroded by some force in other areas, especially at the joints between the iron rings.”

"If you have any doubts about this, you can take this piece of equipment to other blacksmith shops in town and ask them. I believe most of them will give the same conclusion as me."

Upon hearing this, Xia Nan couldn't help but recall the dark red energy emanating from the goblin's bone club during their previous battle.

I pondered that perhaps this was the reason.

"So it's unrepairable, right?"

"If we want to maintain the strength of the defenses, repairs are indeed necessary..."

"Then help me get a new one," Xia Nan said, waving his hand.

He believed that the other party would not ruin the good reputation they had built up over the years for such a small amount of money.

As is customary, he had already made all the necessary changes before he arrived.

The total cost, which is no more than one hundred gold, is easily manageable for someone with seven hundred and fifty-six gold in savings.

Surprisingly, perhaps because the chainmail shirt blocked most of the energy impact, the studded leather armor underneath was not affected by the energy erosion.

With just a few simple repairs, it can be put back into service.

It saved Xia Nan 45 gold coins.

Just as he was about to choose another piece of armor to wear over his clothes, he noticed Barn's gaze sweeping over his hands from behind the counter.

He pointed to the arm shield he was wearing on his left hand and asked:

"You've been using it for a while now, haven't you? How is it? Is it alright?"

“Of course.” Xia Nan gently stroked the dark snake-scale arm shield, feeling the cool touch from his fingertips. “The craftsmanship is excellent, and the equipment is very reliable.”

Upon hearing this, Barn couldn't help but burst into laughter.

Deep down, he knew that he had only done some fitting work, and that 99% of the shield's defensive capabilities came from that scale whose origin he couldn't fathom.

"Now that you're a professional, you should get one or two enchanted items."

"This scale is extremely strong, more than enough to be used as the main material for equipment, and it will also save a lot of money."

Xia Nan nodded in agreement, but she wasn't particularly excited.

The gold coins he currently has are more than enough for daily life and simple equipment replacements.

However, when it comes to magical equipment, it's just a drop in the ocean.

My current situation is far from requiring me to go bankrupt or even go into debt in exchange for advanced equipment.

Save money slowly, leaving yourself plenty of room for error, and things will fall into place naturally. There's no need to rush.

As for Barn's suggestion that he acquire one or two enchanted pieces of equipment...

All I can say is that, with my cheat-like attribute panel, I have absolutely nothing to lack in this area.

[Death Line] Ring, Wooden Sword [Pine Tree], [Coin of Fate]...

To some extent, although the [Decapitation Sword] is just a weapon of ordinary quality, it also has bonus attributes for "durability" and "decapitation damage", making it no different from ordinary enchanted equipment.

Xia Nan didn't think there was anyone in the entire River Valley Town with better equipment than him.

Thinking of this, he noticed that there were hardly any people in the blacksmith's shop hall.

He took out the pale bone club from the Red-maned Bear Goblin and handed it to the other party.

"And this, I'd also appreciate it if you could help me identify it."

“Okay, let me see.” Barn took it with both hands, showing that he took it very seriously.

If it were any other ordinary adventurer, he might not have reacted this way.

The bizarre tales from bards led adventurers who were good at dreaming to often find a bone or a rusty weapon in the forest and mistake it for a dragon bone or a fragment of a divine artifact, which they would then bring to themselves.

Xia Nan, however, was different.

On the one hand, there's his status as a long-time customer and a professional;

On the other hand, it was also because of that snake scale that Barn had previously believed that it possessed a certain ability to distinguish.

Feel the weight of the bone rod with both hands, gently tap the surface of the bone with your finger bones, and listen carefully to the crisp sound that comes out.

Barn raised an eyebrow.

really!

"Although we cannot yet determine the identity of this bone, its hardness and quality suggest that it is most likely not an ordinary animal bone."

His gaze fell upon Xia Nan in front of him:
"What are you going to do about it?"

"Should we sell it directly, or turn it into equipment?"

As he spoke, he seemed to suddenly remember something, and his gaze swept towards the temporary snake scale arm shield that Xia Nan was using in his left hand.

"and many more!"

"I have an idea."

(End of this chapter)