Savage Ascension: Starting with God-Tier Plunder Ability-Chapter 69: That’s a Secret

The first place they went was naturally the blacksmith that opened early. It was an elongated house, pretty far out even in Torch Fortress. There was a smithy with no walls but only a roof, and next to it a house with a shop atmosphere displaying weapons.

They were together with just one wall between them.

’What do they call that structure again?’

"Aeon!"

At Yuval’s shout, the blacksmith Aeon, who’d been stoking the furnace, looked up. His face was fairly aged. To Rowan’s eyes, he looked about 40.

"Well, it’s been a while. You managed not to die."

Steel Smithy was a blacksmith frequently visited by mercenaries. Because prices were cheaper than other places. Weapon quality was average, but ultimately the cheapest place was best for mercenaries.

"This is Rowan, a mercenary I got to know recently."

"Looks pretty young. Not a greenhorn?"

"He’s a hunter. Called the Deep Forest Hunter. Even catches bears."

At Yuval’s explanation, Aeon was slightly impressed. That impression grew when he heard Rowan’s age.

"15 years old catches bears? Ha!"

Because it was Yuval saying it, he couldn’t not believe it.

"He’s decided to become a mercenary this time. So I’m showing him around where I go."

"Good timing. Let me introduce myself again. I’m Aeon of Steel Smithy."

Like a proud blacksmith, he spoke casually from the start. Rowan showed respect without hesitation.

"Please take care of me."

"I don’t have anything great. But nothing disappointing either. And prices are cheap."

"Most mercenaries around here come to this place."

He checked the weapons. Naturally there was armor too. Just ordinary. It gave a simple impression. But the prices—that was tempting.

"This is 50 copper coins?"

A perfectly fine mace didn’t exceed 1 silver coin. Even ones with decent iron didn’t exceed 3 silver coins. Mercenaries definitely had good reason to come here often.

"Why is it so cheap?"

When Rowan asked directly, Aeon laughed heartily.

"Hahaha! Well... that’s a secret."

No way he’d tell someone he’d just met. Moreover, Rowan had a young-looking face that couldn’t get deep into men’s conversations. Because he looked naive. Even stupid-looking faces were faces men would hang out with but not deeply.

You could say it was a man’s face that didn’t suit serious talk.

"Can I try using one?"

"Sure. As long as you don’t break it."

At those words, Rowan let go of the weapon he was holding. They both grinned. Rowan grabbed it again and banged mace against mace.

Clang!

The degree of hardness and elasticity seemed decent. It was a cheap price that gave the anxiety of needing to frequently check weapons to confirm durability, but this was satisfactory enough.

He didn’t buy anything. After leaving the smithy, Yuval spoke. He intended to teach Rowan many things, and actually told him even secrets. Because traveling together, he’d learned Rowan was definitely not a greenhorn.

"Stolen goods. Whether in a bad or good sense, stolen goods coming to mercenaries is natural. Aeon takes them and melts them down again to make weapons and armor."

"Ah. So that’s why..."

No need to buy iron ingots, so even selling cheap left a margin. Mercenaries were glad to sell iron stolen goods to Aeon, and Aeon could sell cheap by melting them into new products. A symbiotic relationship.

It didn’t matter if they were bad stolen goods. So Rowan felt repulsed, but greed for cheap prices extinguished his conscience. Ultimately, conscience for some unknown someone wasn’t that great. Like looking at traffic accident death toll numbers while driving.

Feeling the terror those numbers held was nearly impossible until you actually got in a fatal accident. The reason Rowan didn’t feel strongly repulsed by stolen goods was also because he couldn’t see the victims’ faces.

The next place they went was a general store at the end of an alley in Torch Fortress’s center. It was run by a female owner.

’Like a sprawling market floor.’

All sorts of items were messily piled on desks. Under the desks were also full of miscellaneous stuff.

"If you’re looking for something, just tell me."

Even hearing the door sound, the general store owner Sore, who’d been making clothes by hand without lifting her face, spoke up.

"You work without a day’s rest."

At Yuval’s words, Sore looked up. Then smiled warmly. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

"Well look who it is. Isn’t it Mercenary Captain Yuval. Here to buy something again today?"

Yuval seemed to have spent quite a bit of money here.

"No. A big spender like me buys in one big purchase, not frequently."

"Really? Too bad."

Yuval introduced Rowan.

"If you can’t find it, come to my place. Takes a few days, but there’s nothing I don’t have."

The general store was a familiar place to mercenaries because you could purchase all sorts of things. Mercenaries chased by commissions purchased items through Sore. Like this world’s delivery company.

"A bit expensive, but mercenary work creates situations where you’re pressed for time, and you can’t stay long in cities or villages, so sometimes you pay extra when purchasing items."

Prices were a few copper coins higher than market rates. Even so, the reason for coming here was business tactics.

She wasn’t ignorant of mercenary psychology like other merchants. When a mercenary tried to get something slightly hard to purchase, prices immediately shot up. Because it was mercenaries belonging to mercenary groups who were pressed for time, not merchants.

The refuge was exactly the general store.

"I don’t know many mercenaries. As you can see, it’s run by a female owner alone."

"My son helps a bit, but why does this one look so young?"

She took interest in Rowan too. Learning he was the same age as her son, she lamented greatly.

"I wish my son would earn money as fast as Rowan. Things are tough these days."

The nuance was like she’d lent money to her son. Rowan only answered briefly.

General store owner Sore talked quite a lot. But even here, Yuval didn’t purchase anything. Rowan wanted to ask about that too but held back. Because he couldn’t remember everything, asking tomorrow was fine. Or when parting ways.