章節 35: Chapter 29: To the Dungeon (Part 1)
"In exchange for our labor, we'll trade the khopesh for several items in your inventory."
"Julian…?" Juliet was taken aback.
"O... Oh?" And she wasn't the only one, Bran seemed even more confused. His eyes flickered to the glowing [Epic] khopesh they had just made, still radiating with power on the table. His mind raced, realizing how rare and valuable a Mid-tier [Epic] weapon like this was—especially in Ethaca.
Epic weapons were graded into tiers—low, mid, and high—and this khopesh was clearly in the mid-tier, far superior to anything Bran had displayed over the shop.
"Deal! Take whatever you like from the shop," Bran quickly agreed, his voice dripping with satisfaction. He didn't want to lose this opportunity, thinking that Julian must be some fool to make such an offer.
Juliet, standing next to Julian, could no longer hold her shock.
"W-Why?" she stammered, her eyes wide as she looked at him. She couldn't believe he was trading the khopesh so easily.
"It's fine, Juliet," Julian whispered as he leaned closer. "You can make more… And don't worry. [Juliet's Devotion] won't be with them for long."
"What...?" Juliet blinked in confusion. "How can you be so sure?"
"I need you to trust me on this, please."
"That…" Juliet hesitated for a moment before nodding slowly. And with a deep and hesitant breath, she handed the weapon over to Julian.
"Give me that!" Bran, still smirking, quickly snatched the khopesh from Julian's hands. He admired the blade for a few seconds before scrambling to secure it somewhere in the forge.
"Can I pick anything I want, then?" Julian asked calmly, though Bran was too preoccupied locking the sword in his vault to notice.
And since Bran wasn't minding him anymore, he walked over to where the weapons were laid out on racks. There were swords of all shapes and sizes, shields, axes, spears—and without even looking at them too much, Julian's fingers brushed lightly over the hilts and blades as he moved down the row.
Julian did not bother checking the weapons and equipment with [Guidance] at all, he just felt the metal in his hands—letting them feel all that he needed to know.
But very soon, however, a frown slowly crawled on his face.
"There's… nothing of worth here," he muttered under his breath but not silent enough as the other smiths nearby could hear him. They glanced at each other. They were annoyed, sure, but they couldn't say anything at all—not after what they'd seen earlier.
"Just a waste of metal," Julian let out a deep sigh as he shook his head, "I can almost feel them crying, begging to be melted down and reforged."
The blacksmiths clenched their jaws, but they couldn't argue. Julian wasn't wrong, and they all knew it. The quality of their work didn't come close to what he and Juliet had produced.
"I… suppose this will do." Finally, after a long moment, Julian picked up a short sword…and a shield. He looked at them thoughtfully, then turned to Cyrus. "Is this good enough for the dungeon?"
"Y—"
<PrettyOneeChan: YES. YES. YES. SHIELD. YES.> Before Cyrus could answer, MEGAN's messages popped up.
"Huh..." Julian blinked a few times. He wasn't used to reading chat responses yet, but MEGAN's enthusiasm was impossible to ignore. This was only MEGAN, Julian couldn't imagine what it would be like if he learned to read and actually started responding to them.
"Okay. And then..." He then turned back to the pile of steel ingots in the corner of the shop and gestured to them. "Can we take some of the ingots and this black thing as well since I only picked up a sword and a shield?"
Bran, still busy securing the khopesh, barely paid attention to what Julian was saying. "Take as many as you want! Just leave the shop already!"
Julian glanced at Juliet, who was still a little reluctant. But with a nod, she started loading the cart with the steel ingots they would need. Juliet was looking at Bran from time to time as she piled up the cart filled with steel, but he had no response at all.
And so… Juliet took that as a sign to take more. A lot more.
After what seemed like half an hour, the group left the shop with Juliet rolling a cart filled with a mountain of ingots—the wheels could barely even hold the weight anymore as they started to creak across the stone street.
"Uhm… I know this is a lot of ingots, but did we really need to give up the khopesh?" Juliet finally broke the silence, her voice slightly heavy. "And you said it wouldn't be with them for long? What… do you mean by that?"
"Well…" Julian let out a quiet sigh as he readied himself to say the lie he had practiced in his mind over and over again, "...I thought about it—but someone's been stealing my work, and then they stole the ordinary sword we made as well. So... it's likely whoever's been stealing my stuff will take the khopesh too."
"That…" Juliet narrowed her eyes in suspicion.
As for Julian, he did his best to keep a straight face even though he was feeling the tension.
"That... makes sense!" Juliet gasped, "Someone's been stealing your work this entire time, pretty boy!?"
"Yes," Julian's quiet sigh turned into relief as Juliet seemed to believe him.
"I still feel bad about losing the khopesh," Juliet sniffled, her fingers tightening around the cart's handle as she trudged forward, "But you're right—we made it twice, we can make it again. But for that to happen…"
Juliet's voice lowered as she seemed to have suddenly been wrapped in her own thoughts. And once again, the only sounds being made were the struggling wheels and Cyrus's incessant whispering.
And soon enough, they arrived back at Juliet's humble outdoor smithy. But as soon as they settled the cart…
…Juliet suddenly dropped to her knees in front of Julian.
"Julian!"
"What... what are you doing!?" Julian immediately tried to pull her up, but he couldn't even budge her for even a single millimeter.
"I've thought about this and I want you to hear me out…" Juliet groveled, her head almost touching the ground,
"...Make me your apprentice!"
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