Once he returned to the shop where he bought his first set of armor, Bell saw something he didn't expect. The older shopkeeper he met the other day was in the middle of a screaming match with some younger redheaded man.

"And I'm telling you, yer crud doesn't sell! If it doesn't sell, it doesn't get hung on the walls." The shopkeeper snarled.

"It doesn't sell because you never hang it on the walls." The redhead retorted. The shopkeeper scoffed and turned away from the redhead only to spot Bell, who had been waiting patiently for the argument to end.

"Hey kid, would you be willing to settle this? This greenhorn ere is gettin all uppity that I won't hang his works on the wall. Thinks his stuff is better than everything else here." The shopkeeper said in a huff. bell then took a look at the box of thing the redhead was carrying.

"Would you mind?" He asked, motioning towards the box. The redhead scoffed but did set the box down and set some of the items on the counter for him to see. On the counter was a short sword, dagger, chest piece, and some leg armor. The armor had an armor rating of 50 and 20, respectively. It was above average as far as the stores wares went, but nothing too special from what he could tell. The weapons were much more impressive however. The dagger had a damage rating of 20, twice that of other daggers in the shop, and the sword had a rating of 45.

"Your armor isn't bad, but it's not really special compared to anything else here. Your weapons are really good, though. Your dagger holds twice the worth of any other here." He explained to the redhead neutrally. The redhead looked at him with surprise before his face morphed into a frown, and the shopkeeper took the dagger, giving it a closer second look.

"Really asshole? I don't even know you." The redhead complained loudly, confusing Bell.

"I don't know you either, I was just answering the shopkeeper's question." He said calmly, trying to defuse the situation.

"It's true Welf. Boy's got a skill, tells em how good a piece of gear is just lookin at it." The shopkeep said, "By the way boy."

"So you really weren't complimenting my weapons just because of my family name?" The redhead asked.

"No offense, but I really don't know who you are." He said honestly. Welf looked at him for a moment before nodding and sticking out his hand.

"My name is Welf Crozzo. Nice to meet you." He introduced.

"Bell Cranel."

"So Bell, I suppose if yer here, yer interested in my offer?" The shopkeep asked.

"I still want to be an adventurer, so I can't accept a full time job. I would be willing to stop by once a week and rate all your inventory though." He said after taking a moment to deliberate. He was given a few options to choose from each with varying amounts of pay, but Bell wasn't to terribly concerned with the valis since he could fight on lower difficulties if he needed. What made that option so appealing was how convenient and non-committal it was.

"I suppose that works. What's yer goin rate?" He asked.

"1,000 valis per rated item." He said, choosing the least likely option to succeed so that he could negotiate from there. Mark mulled it over for about a minute before shrugging his shoulders.

"Once a week on weeks' end." He nodded offering his hand for Bell to shake. Or Bell could pass the charisma check first try. Lucky!

"So Bell," Crozzo said as Bell was shaking hands with the shopkeep, "Would you like to form a contract with me?"

"Contract?" Bell asked. He wasn't entirely sure what sort of contract Welf would even want.

"When a blacksmith asks to contract with ya, it means they want you to exclusively use their gear, and generally they give you a pretty healthy discount on their stuff. It's a way for them to advertise their gear. After all once yer strong enough, other adventurers will ask who ya got yer gear from." The shopkeeper explained. Honestly, if that was all Welf wanted, Bell was going to refuse him. Welf's gear may have been above average, but Bell would prefer to make a bunch of money on easy mode and just shell out the valis for higher tier gear.

"Well there was one other thing," Welf said sheepishly, "I also wanted to join your party."

Accept (Welf Crozzo) into party [Y/N]

(Y)

Ba da da da Congratulations Welf Crozzo has joined the party!

"I'll be happy to have you." He said extending his hand toward Welf as he saw his health bar pop up at the top left of his vision just under his own health and stamina.

"Hold on kid!" Mark hurriedly said, trying to interrupt Bell, "With yer skill yah could contract with a better smith."

"Bite me!" Welf snapped.

"It's alright, I need a new party member anyways." Bell dismissed. It was always best to recruit new members as soon as physically possible as it gave party members as it would allow them to become as powerful as possible by endgame.

"If ya say so." He said boredly.

"So Bell, how far into the dungeon have you made it?" Welf asked.

"I've been as far as the third so far. I could go further, but I wanted some better weapons and armor first." He explained to his new party member. "Huh, what a coincidence, I have some weapons and armor here. And for my contracted partner, I'd be willing to let you have these ones free of charge, assuming we could explore the dungeon today?" Welf dais with a smile and offering his hand.

"I have a feeling we're going to get along splendidly." Bell grinned almost maniacally, shaking Welf's hand. "Shall we?"

And so the two adventurers made their way into the dungeon.