The Desperate Dwarf's Discount
Was business usually this slow? The female dwarf hurriedly cleared away the clutter around her workshop to make a spot for me to sit, then brought over a teacup filled with cold water.
"Ahem! So, what brings you here? Or, uh, what can I do for you?"
"Just speak casually. All the other artisans around here use informal speech anyway."
To kick off the conversation, I couldn't stand her awkward attempts at formality anymore and told her to relax. Every dwarf craftsman I'd visited before this had spoken casually from the start.
"R-Really?"
She actually seemed uncomfortable with polite speech. Her eyes lit up at my words, and she immediately switched tones.
"Nice to meet ya. Name's Brina, owner of this forge."
"Ah, I'm Yuseong, a C-rank adventurer."
"Got it. What can I do for you? Looking for a weapon? Armor maybe? Whatever it is, I've got some decent stuff on display over there..."
After a quick intro, Brina fidgeted restlessly as she pulled out swords and armor from nearby, launching into her sales pitch(?).
"Check this out. It's a one-handed straight sword, base of black iron mixed with bronze and century-old nettlewood. The guard's bronze for that blue flair, and the blade..."
"No, not a weapon... armor. Custom-made, if you could."
"......!!"
I pushed aside the sword she'd politely offered and got to the point. Brina, who'd been shoving various items at me, suddenly leaned in closer, eyes gleaming.
"Custom order! Yeah! What're you after? Got materials? If not, I can source 'em myself, but that'll add to the fee..."
She jumped straight to money talk before I'd even mentioned materials or details.
...Can I trust her?
She looked suspiciously stingy, desperately in need of cash. It made me wonder if I should just bail now. But as I paused, I glanced down at the sword she'd shown me earlier.
...Impressive.
I lacked the eye to appraise an item's true value, but thanks to Karen's steady lessons on swords, I could at least judge blades decently. And by my standards, Brina's sword looked plain but well-balanced—top quality.
Her skills seem legit.
"Might need some secondary materials, but for the main one, I'd like to use this."
I pulled out a small sample of leather I'd cut in advance, holding it before Brina's eyes, which seemed to heat up with excitement. And in that instant—
".....!"
Her sleazy vibe from the money talk vanished. Her gaze sharpened in a flash.
The atmosphere shifted?
"Ho."
With a short exclamation, Brina—her demeanor utterly flipped—snatched the leather from my hand before I could continue and examined it intently. She stroked it slowly, tugged it lightly, then appraised it aloud.
"Ogre hide... and judging by the mana intact, from a dungeon specimen? Not a normal one either—a variant..."
".....!"
"Mana hasn't dispersed much... magic stone. You've got the magic stone too? Planning to incorporate it?"
Just from a quick touch, she'd pierced the leather's identity and even guessed at the ogre's magic stone I hadn't mentioned.
The other artisans figured the hide but missed the stone...!
Something was different here. Her eye for quality felt trustworthy. I nodded slowly, pulling out more leather and the ogre's magic stone.
"Yes. I'd like armor for myself made from these."
"Hoo...! Even the stone! Perfect. Just perfect...!"
Brina's eyes sparkled as she lunged at the leather like she might drool. Suddenly, she grabbed tailoring shears and moved to cut it—
"What are you doing?!"
"Ah... s-sorry. Haven't seen good material in ages, got carried away..."
Startled. We'd barely discussed timeline or cost, and here she was manhandling the leather. Could I really trust her? Yet watching her honey-dripping gaze on the hide, my confidence in her skills kept rising oddly.
"So... what do you think? Can you start right away? How long would it take, and what's the cost?"
"I can start immediately. No customers any—er, my schedule's wide open. Cost-wise..."
Her eyes twinkled until cost came up; then she trailed off, eyeing me up and down—my gear, the sub-space magic tool for the ogre hide—to gauge my wealth before quoting softly.
"160... no, 150 gold...?"
...Damn.
It was cheaper than the other forges I'd hit. For a skilled dwarf with sharp eyes, it was a fair price. Problem was, I was still short on funds.
Ugh... Feels like nowhere else will beat this. Guess I'll have to give up on ogre hide armor...
A fresh C-rank like me aiming for full custom from a dungeon variant was greedy to begin with. Karen said it'd hold up even past B-rank. Maybe settle for standard C-rank gear...
"...What's with the face? The price too high? Ugh... f-fine... 140 gold!"
".....?"
"Still too much? P-Please... I need cash now... Argh! 130 gold!"
While I brooded silently, my expression must've shown. Without me even haggling, Brina slashed the price herself.
"...I've yielded plenty! If that's still no, what's your budget?"
"100 gold..."
"100 gold?!"
I stared, letting her cut it further on her own. Sensing my gaze, she asked about my finances. At my answer, her brows twitched like she wanted to curse but held back and explained.
"Phew... Yuseong, right? Listen up. That hide's tough and chewy—beyond normal craftsmen or tools. Got that?"
"Yes."
"And you want the stone integrated, so I need to handle mana without loss—special techniques required."
"Yes."
"Plus, it's not properly tanned, so special solutions for that, and handling premium stuff means no other work during—lost income included... Point is, it ain't cheap."
She rambled about how tricky the hide was, why labor costs ran high. Conclusion:
"130 gold. No lower."
"...Understood."
Her firm expression said no more cuts. Regretfully smacking my lips, I gathered the leather to leave—
"...W-Wait!! Why're you standing? You get it by now, right? I'm cutting deep here! 130 gold—anywhere else is 200 at least! The 150 was already a first-order discount!"
...First custom order, huh. Explained the total lack of customer prep. Yet the forge was oddly clean... New place maybe?
"Still... sorry. Budget's capped at 100, as I said."
"Wait, really just 100? Not haggling?"
She'd thought my gloom was fake bargaining. Recalling my intro, she eyed me oddly.
"...C-rank, yeah? Then 100's your max scraped together... How'd a C-rank score that material?"
She'd assumed I was loaded from the premium hide, 100-gold budget (big for C-rank), sub-space tool. Misunderstanding cleared, but funds short—I moved to stand.
"H-Hold on. Don't leave yet."
"....?"
As I rose, her face grew urgent again. She muttered to herself, deep in thought.
"Ugh... 100 gold? Enough to pay back loans maybe... But solutions and metals... No, I can mine the secondary metal myself..."
"Uh..."
"100 means I lose out... But who knows when the next customer... Screw it, first-customer special..."
She ignored me, calculator whirring in her head. Seeing hope, I waited quietly. Finally, with a reluctant grimace, she decided.
"...Fine. 100 gold... I'll do it for 100."
"Really?!"
I'd hoped a bit, but half the others' quotes? My face lit up.
"Yeah. But... you know, right? That hide ain't easy. Huge concession on my end. If I wasn't desperate, no way I'd take a loss."
"Yes, truly gra—"
"Too early for thanks."
"Huh?"
Grinning through obvious regret, Brina continued.
"To cut to 100, I'll have to source some stuff myself—legwork."
"Uh... so?"
"So you're helping."
"Helping?"
"Yeah. C-rank adventurer, right? You'll do."
She grabbed paper and pen from a corner, sketching an armor blueprint while glancing at me.
"You asked timeline? Any deadline?"
"Uh... leaving in two weeks, so ideally done within."
"Two weeks... Tight with sourcing. Fine."
She finished the rough draft, dusted her hands, and met my eyes with a declaration.
"Be here early tomorrow morning."
"...Early? And helping with what exac—"
"Said it already. Some materials need legwork."
She plunged a hand into nearby junk, pulling out a tool.
...A pickaxe?
"Need metal too, so we'll mine it ourselves."