章節 13: Street quarrels.

Hmm, I can't really fight with this relatively blunt dagger, so I need a new one, and since I'm not short on cash, I'm planning to get one which is custom fit for me.

I have a great idea for a dagger in mind, but I need to find a blacksmith who is actually skilled enough to make it for me.

And here is when some more money comes into play.

I just need to go to an information trader and find out where a blacksmith that suits my need can be found.

I myself am not too good at bartering, but I'll do my best, I suppose.

I walked around the city for a while, looking for the shadiest guy I can find, and my search has proved to be successful. This guy looks perfect, with his black robe and a hood pulled over his face. I bet he knows a lot. It's more of a hunch than anything else, but that's enough of a reassurance for me.

I tapped him on the back, and, what can can I say, I definitely chose the right guy. I didn't even manage to see it with my passive [analytic thinking].

What didn't I manage to see, you ask?

The dagger, which is now pointed at my neck.

"Hey, hey, calm down, I came to you to get some information. Is that how you treat your customers?" I said in a casual voice, because I'm sure that he wouldn't want to kill his customers.

"How did you find out what I do?" He asked, still keeping the dagger close to my neck.

"Oh, you know, I just searched for the shadiest guy I could find. If you want to sell information only to those you trust, you should try to hide yourself better. Your whole outfit just speaks «illegal»." And just to clarify, yes, information trading is illegal here. Of course, I wouldn't know that without the help of my companion, Lime.

During the whole sentence, I kept my cool, and spoke to him in a way that you would speak to an old friend you just met.

"Ahh, fine. So, what do you want to know about?" He sounded a little annoyed, but why should I care.

"The request is very simple, I need to find a blacksmith." I said in a serious tone.

"And you spent a bunch of time looking for me just to find a blacksmith? Come on now, I don't have time to mess about, tell me exactly what it is you need to know." Straight to the point, his personality is somewhat similar to Lime's.

"As you wish, Sir." I said in a slightly taunting way.

"Do you want something or not?" He said as he presses his dagger against my neck, and I felt a little cut appear.

"That's an improper way to treat a person who can pay you, is it? Don't worry though, I can excuse you for a small discount." Alright, the hardest part is done, plus I get to save a bit of cash.

It's impossible to get something from another person's inventory, even if they die, which is why it's in his best interest too keep me alive.

"Ughh, do I really have to do this? Tsk, fine. What information would you like to buy from me, Sir?"

"Tell me where to find a blacksmith who can make soul weapons. Soul daggers to be exact."

"Hoh, kid, you do realize that information about a blacksmith who makes illegal weapons is not cheap? Are your pockets heavy enough, kid?" I think he knows that I have a bunch of money with me, so what's the point if this?

"Tell me already, you know fine well that I have enough money, otherwise I wouldn't have spent my time searching for you in the first place."

"Fair enough." He says as he pulls out a map.

It's a map of the whole continent, or at least that's what the label on it says.

He then tapped the map with some kind of magic stone, and it zoomed in on a single spot, almost like the map apps you get on your phone. Then, with the same stone, he circled a rather large tree, and a black outline appeared on the map, around that spot.

Then, he pulled the map out of my hands, and stuffed it back into his inventory, after which, he held out his hand, waiting for me to play.

"Do you really expect me find a single tree in a huge forest, just after seeing where its located once?" he cant possibly think that my memory is good enough for that, so it's a clear attempt to scam me.

"Then, you can look at it again." He was going to show me the map once more, but the second he pulled it out of his inventory, someone grabbed him from behind. That was Lime, who was doing so on my command.

I took the map out of his hands before he had time to recover from being surprised, and then when he tried reaching for it, he managed to break free of Lime's hold, because of the difference in physical strength. While reaching his hand towards me, he took out a small knife from his pocket and tried stabbing me with it, but of course, I expected this much. That doesn't mean, however, that I had time to do something about it, so instead of trying to dodge it, I grabbed the blade from the back side, which looked like the non-sharp side, and, yes, I did say "looked" for a reason. I think it might have been illusion magic or something of that sort, because the second I grabbed it from the back, I felt a cold sensation along with strong pain.

I guess I'm not going to be able to fight for a while with a hand like this, but for the time being, one hand is more than enough to land a punch in his face.

He didn't expect me to punch him right after being cut, so obviously he was a little shocked, which gave Lime enough time to hit his knee from behind. It's a great spot to hit someone in, as it always makes them collapse, even if there is a huge strength gap.

Now that he was on the ground, I gestured Lime to take out her shield, and the gesture was none other than a wink. I know, I'm not very original, but it gets the job done. With the shield, I whacked him on the head as hard as I could, several times, until he finally got knocked out.

~~~

"Well then, that was fun." I said with a sigh, as we dragged him into a dark valley to avoid unnecessary attention.

"Don't worry shady trader, your sacrifice is in the name of the greater good, in other words - me. You won't be missed."