Outfitting at the Dwarf's Forge (2)
As soon as they stepped inside, Abigail greeted Han Yeoul as if he'd been waiting just for him.
"Uncle, I'm here."
"Good, glad you made it. I had something to show you... Huh? Who's all these people around you?"
Abigail, who had paused his work to welcome Yeoul, spotted the questionable figures(?) surrounding him and asked.
Yeoul started by introducing An Jeong-hwa first. He explained that she'd always wanted to meet a dwarf, so he'd brought her along.
"She's also the owner of that dagger I took from you last time as a gift. Her name's Jeong-hwa. An Jeong-hwa."
"Ah~ the friend you mentioned back then. Jeong-hwa, eh? Good, good. Using the dagger well?"
"Ah! Yes, yes! The edge is sharp, and it's sturdy— I really love it!"
Whether she always carried it or not, Jeong-hwa pulled out the dagger and showed it to Abigail. She'd cherished and maintained it meticulously, so it looked as pristine as new.
"I can tell it's been well cared for. Glad to hear you're putting it to good use. Now, who's this one over here? Her stare's been burning holes in me since earlier."
"Ooh, a real dwarf...!"
Abigail, looking burdened by Jeanne's sparkling eyes—full of lively fascination despite her undead nature—urged Yeoul to introduce her.
"This is Jeanne. Everyone else besides Jeong-hwa are all my summons."
"Summons?"
"Yeah. I awakened my unique ability recently. Hey, you lot—introduce yourselves."
At Yeoul's words, Jeanne, Brina, and Slami removed their hoods hiding their faces and introduced themselves in turn.
"Pleased to meet you. I'm Brina. My race is high goblin."
"I'm Slami~ As you can see, I'm a slime~"
"Jeanne here. Race is dullahan. That said, do you perhaps make full-body plate armor? This mace was made by a dwarf too—could you take a look? And..."
"Quiet down a bit, Jeanne."
"Eek..."
With Jeanne silenced by Yeoul's rebuke, Abigail examined each of the onaholes introduced as summons.
"Well, I'll be. A high goblin, a humanoid slime, and a dullahan to boot? What in the world happened?"
"It's a long story. Anyway, the ability I awakened is called Monster Summoner. It lets me tame or summon monsters, and I can copy one skill from each registered summon."
"Truly, abilities of every stripe exist. Taming and commanding races incorporated into the Demon God's army as summons—humans really are a wondrous race."
Abigail marveled, tongue clicking in admiration at Yeoul's explanation. He glanced over the group before asking Yeoul,
"So, you didn't just bring them for a visit. Here to get them geared up, right?"
"Yeah. Do you have equipment that'd fit them? Their races are all different, so finding gear hasn't been easy."
Off-the-shelf factory-made gear didn't come in sizes for Brina or Slami. Especially for Slami—without acid-resistant equipment, she was better off without, since she used acidic bodily fluids in combat. Jeanne at least matched human proportions, so she could use factory shields. Plate armor was custom-made anyway, so they hadn't gotten any.
"Makes sense. Earth doesn't make gear for non-human races."
Abigail circled the three onaholes, inspecting them from various angles. Once he had a rough estimate, he pointed at each in turn.
"The dullahan here can probably use standard humanoid gear. The high goblin's build is similar to our dwarf women, so that'd work with some adjustments. But this slime... hmm... tricky, that one."
Seeing Slami's amorphous, jiggling slime form, Abigail scratched his bearded chin in consternation.
"Never imagined a slime wearing gear. Ahem, could you explain how this slime fights?"
"Usually she extends her hands into whips. She can also attack with acidic fluids. If those don't work, she smothers them with her body to suffocate."
"Urgh... thorny."
Seeing Abigail deep in thought, Yeoul asked regretfully,
"Hard to find usable gear for Slami, huh?"
"Is it urgent?"
"No, not really. We're heading into a 6th-grade dungeon with doppelgangers soon, so if possible, I'd like to boost our strength beforehand. Even without gear for Slami, we'll go anyway."
At the mention of doppelgangers, something seemed to click for Abigail, and he made a few requests of Yeoul.
"Doppelgangers? Hmm. If you can snag their cores or fragments—any byproducts—bring 'em back. I think I can make something usable for that slime with them."
"Got it."
Honestly, Yeoul hadn't expected much for Slami's gear. But dwarves were dwarves for a reason—Abigail's confident declaration that he could craft it with the right materials inspired trust.
"Alright, let's start with gear for that dullahan. You wanted plate armor, right? Got just the thing—follow me."
"Ooh...!"
Following Abigail's lead, Yeoul's group entered a warehouse-like space deeper in the workshop. Weapons, armor, and assorted mysterious items were displayed on the walls, each preserved in transparent cases.
Jeanne was enraptured, her eyes sparkling as she oohed and aahed nonstop amid the bounty of dwarf-made gear.
"So much dwarf-forged equipment..."
Yeoul was equally impressed. He'd only seen the items displayed outside before; this was his first time inside the workshop's inner storage.
As he passed, Yeoul checked the gear with his status window.
Starts at C-grade minimum, huh. Oh, that's a B-grade? How much does that even cost?
Most were C-grade or higher, with the occasional B-grade. C-grades and up could cost up to hundreds of millions, making this no less than a treasure vault.
Jeong-hwa, trailing behind without a status window skill to gauge values precisely, still muttered at the sight of the obviously priceless items.
"Everything looks expensive."
"Of course. The stuff outside is just practice pieces. This is where the real goods start."
Abigail shrugged proudly at his own creations and headed to the armor section.
Arriving at a wall where full plate armors stood lined up on mannequins, Abigail stopped before one as if he'd had it in mind all along.
"This is my recommendation. C-grade full plate armor, forged from an alloy of Earth's titanium and our world's steel. Includes basic resistances. It's heavy, but as an undead, stamina won't be an issue."
The sleek silver-gray full plate—from helm to greaves—enveloped the entire body.
Jeanne, clearly smitten, inspected every inch without hiding her excitement.
"Beautiful. Such curves... May I try it on?"
"Fitting it yourself is standard if you're buying. Hold on."
Abigail disabled the security magic on the armor and helped Jeanne don it personally.
Jeanne tested the fit by moving around, checking for discomfort.
While Jeanne tried on the plate, Abigail returned from somewhere with a metal kite shield about his own size.
"Looks like you use a shield too. How's this? Same titanium-dwarf steel alloy as the armor—a kite shield."
In her undead days without body control, she'd swung her head like a shield, but Jeanne originally wielded one properly. She took the shield, swung it around with her mace, and tested it.
"Perfect! Yeoul! I'll take it!"
With the armor and shield a perfect fit, Jeanne was set on buying immediately, but Yeoul asked the price.
"How much for both together?"
"Armor's 50 million, shield 30 million. 80 million total."
"Hieeek?!"
Jeong-hwa yelped in shock from the side, but Yeoul had expected as much and paid without hesitation.
"Card okay?"
"Doing business on Earth? Cards are a given. Lump sum?"
"Yeah, lump sum."
"Done."
Abigail took the card, pulled out his reader from his pocket, and charged 80 million at once.
"Sign here."
After signing and taking the receipt, Yeoul gave a wry smile.
Earn it quick, spend it in a flash.
He'd blown half the money he'd and the onaholes earned clearing 7th-grade dungeons over the past month on two pieces for Jeanne. No regrets, though. It was their earnings anyway—reinvesting in the onaholes.
Plus, without gear, I'd dry up first.
Brina and Slami each consumed 2-3 liters of semen per Repair after a 7th-grade run. Over the past month, he'd poured 5-6 liters daily into the two, testing the limits of his stamina.
Filling them mechanically turned what should be fun onahole play into a chore at times.
The onaholes, sensitive to their master's mood, yielded fewer onahole points on those days.
That's why I left Jeanne idle so long.
If outfitting reduced Repair semen costs, it was worth any price—a net gain. And with Jeanne joining the onahole crew now, cutting waste was essential.