It was another slow midday at the Blacksmith's Guild's front desk, giving its receptionist, Caroline a chance to kick up her feet and relax from the morning rush.
Most would find it odd, finding a young half-elf like her helping to manage the affairs of the grouchy, stinky and generally unpleasant dwarves who made up the main population of the Blacksmith's Guild's members, but it really wasn't so bad. A lot better than the tavern she worked in before the Guild Master had taken a liking to her when she punched a guy in the teeth for trying to slip fake coins by her [Appraisal].
Her high level [Appraisal] skill earned her a cushy job sitting at the front desk of the Blacksmith's Guild.
Now, instead of being in an unpleasant and noisy place full of drunks trying to sexually harass her, she was instead in an unpleasant and noisy place full of drunks trying to sexually harass her and was being given good pay for it.
It wasn't so bad. She knew for a fact that the girls over at the Adventurer's Guild had it worse. Sure, her job wasn't exactly a leasurely stroll through a field of flowers, but she had never once had to be elbow deep in giant spider guts, and even dwarves were more professional than the worthless Mercs who always seemed to show up at the Adventurer's Guild's doorstep, too prideful to admit that they are beggars and too stupid to not cause trouble.
Caroline also never had to deal with one of her favorite clients not coming back from a job. She had more than once provided a shoulder to cry on for receptionists across the way when friends they had known for years bit off more than they could chew. In the last year alone, there had been more than a hundred Adventurer's from Aressa reported to have died, that's almost two a week, on average.
The closest the Blacksmith's Guild had to deaths on the job was when the idiots forget to keep their alcohol away from the flames, and even then, they don't die, and potions bring them back to full health within a week. The Guild's blacksmith's were famous for their high [Fire Resistance], because of events like that. It was actually embarrassing how often those stupid dwarves accidently set themselves on fire. Caroline half believed that they were doing it on purpose.
Yep, being the Blacksmith's Guild's receptionist was relatively easy… even if the guys around the Blacksmith's Guild generally won't very cute. Not unless you were into short, fat and sweaty.
Caroline looked up from his romance novel at the sound of the door opening. "I see you are slacking off at your post again, as usual." Flannel, or Nell as her friends called her, said accusingly as she walked towards the front desk with a playful scowl on her face, Daisy and Mill, two more Adventurer's Guild receptionists giggling behind her.
"You think I'm bad, you should see when they leave Grod at post. I have to disinfect the seat after his shift is over." Caroline said with a smile. "Sorry that we Blacksmith's Guild receptionists don't live up to the standards set by you girls. I assume you are here for the pick up of the new rookie class that old Donna is graduating?"
Slender and pretty as the girls were, the Adventurer's Guild staff wasn't known for having weaklings. Moving two or three crates of weapons and armor was no problem for these ladies.
"Yeah, it's that time of the season again." Nell said with a sigh. "So Carol, where's the second rate junk you people are pushing on us this time?"
"Hasn't arrived yet. The person who picked up the commission should be getting here any minute." Carol said with a shrug. "And before you accuse us of being late, you are two hours ahead of your pick up time. I'm guessing you are really here for gossip."
"Oh, you handed our commission off to completely fresh blood did you? I can't wait to see it." Nell grumbled, ignoring the accusations of her motives . "I hope it is at least better than the stuff we could loot off goblins."
"Considering how little the commission pays, you should be glad anyone took it at all. 20,000 gorudos isn't much when you are asking for ten sets of armor and weapons. It is barely enough money to cover the material costs." Carol countered. "If it won't for the new guy, I don't think anyone would have taken it."
"Yeah, I know. We want to increase the budget for it, but running a school completely off charity isn't easy. Especially when the nobility are all hoping that our guild goes under so that they can… you know." Nell said, hinting towards the subject of the guild exclusive dungeon, "Cobweb". It was materials farmed from that dungeon that kept the city alive, and it was the Adventurer's Guild and their reputation that protected the dungeon from foreign attacks. However, the Nobility would love for the ownership of the dungeon to be transferred away so that they could earn more coins from the place to help fill their pools of blood stained money.
"Yeah, I do know." Carol said with a sigh. Being her Guild Master's right-hand man, so to speak, Carol knew several of the towns dirty secrets, including the struggle between the Adventurer's Guild and the Nobility over the hundreds of millions of gorudos in Mana Stones that appear in the dungeon every month. "So, I know you three are dying to tell me something. So, what's the latest gossip?"
The trio broke out into guilty giggles. "So, have you heard about our newest rookies?"
The Adventurer's Guild girls started to brag and squeal about their rookies, a pair of young girls who appeared out of nowhere and started to beat up all the boys, and how the D and C-rank parties were all terrified of these two children. This seemed to amuse the ladies to no end, as did the way the two handled the mercenaries who couldn't take a hint.
At first, the two stayed at an inn with close connections to the guild, which allowed Adventurer's Guild members to use their bathing facilities, free of charge, so long as they cleaned up after themselves. So the receptionist girls had lots of chances to get the know the girls at the public baths.
Later on, Fran and Art purchased their own small house, but they still made a point to continue their nightly baths with the young women.
"And the littler one, Fran, she's just the cutest, her pale skin, with her black hair and eyes, she looks just like a doll!" Daisy said with a squeal.
"And that thing she does where she tilts her head to the side, so cute!" Mill added.
Carol couldn't help but to laugh. "You three are trying to make me jealous, aren't you? Maybe hoping that I'd transfer over and join you at the Adventurer's Guild?"
"Is it working?" Nell asked in her teasing tone.
"...No." Carol said, purposely making it so she didn't sound too convincing, and getting the others to laugh. "But you are making me what to trade our pain-in-the-ass rookie for the two. The guy is tall, handsome and strong, perfect Adventurer material. What do you say?"
"Not a chance." Mill laughed, with a shake of her head.
"We've got enough of that type around the guild already. We aren't giving up the two cutees for anything." Daisy agreed.
"Oh, I don't think you've got anything like this guy over there." Carol said dryly as the door started to open, and the man himself appeared. "Speak of the devil. Hey, Merlin! The people from the Adventurer's Guild have come to pick up their commission!"
Carol was amused as she saw the three girls turn to look, before each one of them flushed. Merlin, if that was his real name, wasn't your average big, tough guy, rather, he looked like he had stepped out of a painting. His skin was a beautiful bronze and his eyes were a sharp silver. Even though his hair was white, he still had the look of a younger man, with his more graceful facial features. His arms were muscular, but not inflated or bulky like some, and he was wearing the same black body armor with red cloth over his arms that he always wore, which made him look like some kind of war hero.
He honestly did look more like an Adventurer from a fairytale than a blacksmith.
"Already? I thought I was early." He said, his deep voice easily filling the empty space.
"Well be more considerate and be even more early next time. It's rude to make ladies wait on you." Carol joked.
"I'll try to keep that in mind." Merlin said with a bit of a teasing smile. Even Carol couldn't help but swallow slightly. If only the man wasn't such a giant pain in the ass. "Give me a second while I get everything out." He then lifted his hand and used his [Dimensional Storage] skill.
It was an extremely rare ability, with only one in ten thousand people having it, and the first time he had displayed it had made many a merchant burn with jealousy. But Carol hardly thought about that, as she was staring at the large crate, dreading what was coming next, hoping that the man had for once shown a bit of common sense.
"Well it's in better condition that we expected." Nell said as she managed to tear her eyes away from the man and down to the equipment. At first glance, it looked like normal equipment, the basic kind that one would see a newbie walking around with. It was undecorated and unpolished, with worn looking handles and scabbards for the weapons and rough patches on the armor. However, when you looked at it with [Appraisal]. "W...wait a second! This is a high-quality magic sword!"
"This one to!" "This armor is also enchanted!" The Adventurer's Guild girls were shocked, and rightfully so as they found themselves staring at a crate full to the brim with the highest quality gear, make to look like cheap crap.
"Merlin, you idiot. It's supposed to be equipment for fresh faced rookies." Caroline said as she rubbed her temples.
"I know that. That's why I made them look cheap and added an [Appraisal Cover] for them. Once the children attune with the items, it creates a [Appraisal Cover] which will make them look like low grade trash to anyone who attempts to appraise them. That way, no one will think to try to steal them." Merlin said, explaining the enchantments.
"That's insane! We can't afford this!" Nell said as she dropped the weapon she had been holding back into box it had come from before backing away with a look of terror on her face.
"What are you talking about? You already paid for the commission."
"We paid for 20,000 gorudo's worth of equipment. This is worth over 20,000,000." Mill said, almost stammering. If only the girl knew. From where Caroline was sitting, she could already tell that the equipment was worth more than that. It was literally her job to be able to evaluate these sorts of things, and she estimated it to be worth almost 400,000,000.
"It's fine. The material costs was only around 20,000."
"No it's not fine!" Carol shouted tossing the hammer she kept on hand at the white haired idiot, only for him to swiftly dodge it. "You moron! You can't keep buying materials for triple their normal price and then selling magic weapons for not even a quarter of what they are worth! Don't you realize that if you keep acting like this you're going to throw the entire market out of whack!"
"But, isn't it for a good cause?" Merlin said, as he backed away from the woman, his hands held up as if to try to fend off an attacking beast, the stupidist look on his stupid stupid face. "I'm not going to let kids walk around without proper equipment. Besides, this stuff is only second rate equipment at best."
"Second rate?" Mill mumbled, her voice sounding hollow as she lifted up a brown tunic and used her [Appraisal] on it. "These numbers are almost as high as the Guild Master's robes."
"See, second rate."
"Merlin, you absolute moron."
Merlin was not your average rookie. After showing up from seemingly thin air with a letter of recommendation from one of the country's only Magic Blacksmith First-Class members, Merlin had quickly risen up the ranks of the Blacksmith's Guild faster than anyone in history. In just ten days, he had become a Magic Blacksmith Third-Class, the third highest rank in the entire Guild, and equivalent to a B-rank Adventurer in social status.
The dwarf who had observed him during his promotional exam had burst into tears after witnessing the man's skill, claiming himself to be unworthy and had to be stopped from throwing himself into the fire. Merlin seemed to have the power to turn crap into gold just by touching it, as he used nothing but low grade materials to produce results that were on par with what most of their seasoned smiths could accomplish with the highest quality materials money could buy.
But the thing that had unnerved Caroline the most about the man was his [Skills]. While he had an [Appraisal Block], Caroline could still look past it with her [Skill Evaluation] skill. As long as she knew the name of the skill she was looking for, she could tell what level someone had in that skill, even if they were using an [Appraisal Block].
When Merlin had first shown up, she had been convinced he was trying to pass someone else's work off as his own, because he only had a [Blacksmithing] skill of Lv2. They bought the weapons he was selling for a quarter of their market value, after checking to make sure they weren't stolen, and then let him go. She had honestly thought they were never see the man again.
But the very next day, he came back with even more equipment, and Caroline's jaw almost dropped as his [Blacksmithing] skill had increased from Lv2 to Lv7 seemingly overnight. After selling more of his weapons, he started to buy all the scrap Magic Stones they had, for triple their normal price, saying that he would buy more for the same if then could find them.
While he didn't come by every day, when he did, it was always the same. His level would be higher than before, he would be selling them extraordinarily good equipment for far less than its market value, and then he would use the money to buy whatever they had on hand, including Magic Stones, monster materials and metals ranging from high quality mithril bars to scrap iron.
After just 10 days, he had sold to them over 4 billion gorudos worth of items for around 200 million gorudos, and he had gone from a [Blacksmithing] Lv2 to a [Magic Blacksmithing] Lv6. He was just one level behind Gallus himself. It was completely unnatural!
His actions had nearly caused the entire market to turn on its head as he bought raw materials for far too much money and sold final products for too little. Several other Blacksmiths were complaining that there was no way they could compete. It wasn't just that his equipment was of a higher quality, he seemed to work at a speed faster than ten dwarves put together.
He had also somehow managed to buy nearly all of the scrap magic stones in the area, causing the city to start having shortages problems. She didn't even know what he was doing with that crap. Scrap stones weren't as cheap as they were because of their abundance, but rather because they didn't have any use besides being cheap fuel. And yet Merlin just kept buying as much of it as he could for seemingly no reason. It wasn't going into his weapons, and it was far more than he needed to operate the smithing equipment. He had bought enough of the stuff to keep every forge in the city going for a month.
The guy just didn't make sense.
Merlin ended up having to convince the ladies from the Adventurer's Guild that he was completely serious that they could have the equipment. He even told them they could sell it and buy lower quality equipment if they really felt it was for the best. Caroline couldn't blame them for being in a daze. The entire thing was just so ridiculous.
"Before I go, do you know if anyone manage to find one?" Merlin asked Caroline, sounding hopeful.
The woman sighed. "Sorry. The Doppel Snake is a rare species. Some people even doubted its existence. It doesn't matter how much you offer people for its Magic Stone, it's going to take time."
"I suppose your right." Merlin said with a sigh.
"You are looking for a Doppel Snake's Magic Stone?" Nell asked, as the other two started to organize the crate of equipment to be moved.
"Yes. I got my hands on one a little while back, and got some very interesting results out of it. I've been trying to buy one so that I can try to recreate the same results, but it didn't seem like anyone is selling them." Merlin said, scratching his head. "Maybe I should just go back to the Demon Wolf Plains and see if I can't find another snake myself."
"What!? You were in the Demon Wolf Planes!?" Nell shouted in surprise.
"When!? Why!?" Caroline added her own voice to the shouting as she resisted the urge to try to strangle the idiot.
"Huh? I sort of lost my way, and ended up passing through it almost two months ago." Merlin said, seeming surprised by their reaction. "Why, is there something wrong?"
"Merlin! That place is an A-rank haunt! It's one of the most dangerous places in the world! How could you be so stupid as to walk straight through it!?"
"I think you're exaggerating a little there. Sure there were a few C-rank Demonic Beasts, but the place wasn't that dangerous." Merlin said, causing the women to stare at him with disbelief.
"Well, at least he wasn't there when the place started to act up." Nell said with a sigh.
"Act up?" Merlin said, perking up a little.
"That's right. About a month ago, were started getting unusual magic signal from that place, suggesting that B and even an A-rank Demonic Beast might be emerging." Nell explained "The Adventurer's Guild sent almost all of our best men out to help bring the sudden emergence under control. We've gotten word that the A-rank Demonic Beast has been dealt with, but there are still several B-rank Demonic Beasts in that area."
"Is that so. Sounds like I got lucky and managed to avoid that mess." Merlin said, though he had a bit of a far off impression as he said it. Then he blinked himself awake. "Ah, that's right. I've got to go and check on the Merchants Guild, see if they had my orders in. I'll see you around, Miss Caroline."
And with that he left, leaving the receptionist with an uneasy feeling. "That idiot."
Archer checked around town, looking for news and anything of value he might need. This ended up with him meeting with the receptionists of the Merchant's Guild, and getting himself entangled in an incident involving a young lady being robbed, after which he let the Doppelganger dissolve and returning his full attention to his sword body.
"Hey mom, welcome back." "Welcome home." Art and Fran greeted him as they sensed his consciousness returning. His sword body was leaning against the wall near the entrance of the small house that Archer had bought for them using the money he had made as a Blacksmith. With swords being one of the main tools of defense in this world, Archer found himself making a surprising amount of money selling what he considered to be his failures.
Having their own place became a necessity, as Archer needed full access to a kitchen in order to prepare enough food to keep the two girls satisfied, and he didn't have unlimited access at the inn.
[Hm, you two seem to have had some fun today.] Archer said as he observed the two. [Where did you find those clothes?]
"Do you like them? After we finished our job early, we decided to have some fun and went shopping. There was this fun clothing store near the creek side which sold costume pajamas." Art said as she grabbed Fran and pulled her forward her forward in order to show her off. "It's she just the cutest?"
"I'm a cat." Fran said as she lifted up padded paw like hands. She was dressed in black cat themed pajamas with Art's being themed after a red cartoon devil.
[They are very cute.] Archer chuckled, using his telekinesis to pat the two girls' heads. Though he couldn't help but wonder why a world like this had that kind of stuff.
Archer then listened as they told him about that day's job, which had involved checking out a poison bog for possible Demonic Beasts, and either report back on or eliminate them. The entire thing was supposed to take days, but Fran had the brilliant idea to simply absorb the entire swamp into their [Dimensional Storage] so that they could see whatever was hiding down there. They were apparently paid extra for helping to get rid of the poisonous mess, since the main goal was to try to reclaim that land.
Then, with their job complete, they turned around and headed back to town, before going on a shopping trip. Archer was glad that the two of them were having fun, but after switching on his [Appraisal] skill, he found that neither girl had gained a level, even after killing two dozen of the E-rank Demonic Beasts that had been in the swamp.
It seemed that Art took more experience than a human to grow her first level, and even after getting enough EXP for a normal person to grow their first ten, she was still stuck at level 1. While Fran's level had grown rapidly before because of the Demon and Dragon, her growth had come to a stop ever since. It was likely that they would need to face stronger opponents, or extremely large numbers, if they wanted to see any growth at all.
[...What in the world?] Archer said as he noticed something new in Fran's status page. [...What exactly did the two of you do after you got back to town?]
"Huh? Well, nothing much. We just want to a few food stands and… hey, wait a second! Are you assuming that we were causing some kind of trouble, just because you weren't paying attention!?" Art shouted indignantly. "I'll have you know that we didn't cause any more trouble than normal!"
"They started it." Fran added.
[That's not what I...You know what, forget I said anything.] Archer said with a sigh. [I want the two of you to be prepared to leave for a few days starting tomorrow. The three of us are going to be heading over to a local Haunt where some B-rank Demonic Beasts have been sighted.]
"B-rank?" Fran said, perking up.
"Finally, some real action!" Art cheered.
[Don't get cocky. We will remain hidden to observe and plan each encounter before we strike, and if I say something it too risky, then you will both listen, understood?]
"Yes." "Yes, mom." Fran and Art said together.
[Good, now, what do you want for dinner?]
""Curry.""
[Of course.] Archer said with a mental shake of the head before floating towards the kitchen. But as he went, he glanced again at Fran's status page, and at her unusual new title.
(Title: Lady Killer | Awarded to one who can steal the hearts of five or more women in a single day with nothing more than a winning smile. | Effect: Improves first impressions when the other party is female. Decreases the barrier to making women fall in love.)
Fran… what exactly were you doing?
So Archer is trying to get his hands on another Doppel Snake so that he could get another [Body Split] slotable skill, so that he could use his [Doppelganger Synthesis SP] more freely without worrying that he is sacrificing his own trump card.
Since actions preformed by Archer reflect in Fran's titles, Archer's natural charms have caused Fran to earn the 'Lady Killer' title. But Archer didn't realize he was making girls fall in love with him, so he assumes that Art and Fran were doing something weird.