Luckily, the location of Zahir’s store was marked on the map, so Kaizen immediately headed there, forgetting the idea of going to a tavern for information because he already got the knowledge he sought after he spoke with Pavin Dunhall.

With his next destination set, Kaizen knew he needed to gear himself before he went to venture into the Howling Canyons. Visiting Zahir’s store would help him with this problem and also help with his profession as a blacksmith.

Although he had made a masterpiece of Mutant Classification, Kaizen did not evolve from the profession of Apprentice Blacksmith, so he could not yet create his own diagrams. Maybe the best thing to do now at the time would be to start working for another blacksmith in exchange for a salary while he tries to figure out what is needed to evolve his profession.

The way from the Adventurers’ Association to the store of the dwarf Zahir was short since both were near the spawn square.

When Kaizen arrived at the store, he noticed the lights were still on, showing that Zahir had not yet closed the store. This relieved the newcomer that had been nervous in the way, afraid that Zahir might not keep the store open at night. Anyway, it had been dark for a little over an hour, so it was normal for some stores to stay open until then.

Before entering the dwarf’s store, Kaizen already heard the characteristic sound of hammering against iron.

*Tttaaang!*

Since he didn’t care whether Zahir was busy or not, he entered the store anyway.

The hammering stopped as soon as Kaizen stepped onto the welcome mat of the place.

“The store is closed! Come back later!” From the back of the store, the dwarf shouted.

“I want to buy some armor!” Kaizen exclaimed back as he started walking toward the counter.

Zahir recognized the visitor’s voice because no matter how many dozens of people he saw a day, his memory was always perfect. After dropping the hammer at the ground of the forge in the back of his store and arriving at the counter with his feet tapping angrily on the floor, he saw Kaizen’s unusual face. At the same time, he clicked his tongue and crossed his arms in disgust.

“I knew it… You’re the poor guy who bothered me two days ago, right? Go away, I won’t give you any more free arrows. In fact, you should be a little ashamed of yourself and never come back here again without money.”

After complaining, Zahir didn’t even hear what the man wanted and went back to the back of the store, swinging the black tarp that separated the two rooms.

Zahir had to count to five to not lose his temper when he was treated so discourteously. Zahir was extremely the opposite of the friendly receptionist at the Adventurers Association.

“Wait, I have money today!” Kaizen stated loudly, moving even closer to the counter.

“How much money?” asked Zahir, interested, turning back to the counter area slowly. “My store is the choice of many nobles when it comes to weapons. I am the only remaining blacksmith dwarf in the entire region, you know what that means too, right? The items I sell are not cheap.”

“I don’t care. I want armor that can withstand attacks from a Steel Claw Mantis.” Being direct was the way Kaizen found to deal with the grumpy dwarf.

Zahir frowned suspiciously at what the man in common robes was saying.

A few days ago, Kaizen had almost nothing in his pockets, perhaps only enough to buy a loaf of potato bread, but now he had money to buy armor. Zahir couldn’t believe it.

“Are you going to stand there with this angry face, or are you going to serve me like a normal customer?” Kaizen questioned as he placed a large bag of coins on the counter.

The dwarf seemed more interested in the matter when he saw the bag. He climbed up on the stool behind the counter, and as he opened the bag, he blinked twice to ensure that the several gold coins contained were not an illusion.

‘…Gold coins?!’𝑶𝐕𝓁xt.𝒸𝒐𝑚

His jaw dropped as much as Kaizen’s when he saw the value of the bid for the Mutant Ranked Swift Arrows, losing his composure entirely.

“All right, most of the coins here are silver, but I can say for sure that these little beauties here are not counterfeit…” stated Zahir, holding up a gold coin and looking at it closely with the monocle that hung from his blacksmith apron.

For the first time, Kaizen noticed Zahir’s appearance.

Since this blacksmith was a pure dwarf and not a half-dwarf like Therkara Ironstone, he was just over three feet tall. His beard was long, and his braids were also quite large. Like his beard, his hair was black, and, paying closer attention now, Kaizen noticed that Zahir didn’t look like such an old dwarf, he didn’t even have white hair.

Despite that, he still sounded just like a grumpy old man to Kaizen.

“All right. I recognize that you have enough money to be interested in my items, but I’ll warn you once again: don’t go near the Sword of Hudyr. The owner of it will one day come back for it…”

“Okay, I get it. At the moment, I’m not looking for a weapon, I guess. As I said, All I want is an armor.” Kaizen leaned on the counter.

“You mentioned that you want armor that can withstand attacks from Steel Claws Mantis Gods… So, you intend to go to the Howling Canyons. What kind of armor are you considering using? I suppose I have some models for mages in my storeroom.”

“Mage?”

“When you came here that day, you claimed to be a mage, remember?” Zahir clenched his eyes. “I found it odd that you chose to buy a bow, but you only had 3 bronze coins, so I just thought you were desperate. Now, I’m beginning to believe that the bow brought you luck and didn’t curse you, as the other owners claimed.”

Kaizen gave a closed smile because the bow actually got in his way quite a bit while he was trying to hunt the Black Vultures. However, he didn’t regret spending the only money he had on this weapon because at least it fulfilled the role of hurling the arrows hard, Kaizen would just arrange the trajectory they followed.

“Actually, I am a Combat Mage. I’ve currently stopped using a bow, and I am using a spear, so having armor that benefits me in that would be the ideal.” Kaizen had to lie because he didn’t trust revealing his true class even to an NPC.

Zahir took a second to remember his armors that suited Kaizen’s requirements, and when he thought of a possibility, he said with a crooked smile:

“I have the perfect armor for you, but it will cost a lot of gold coins.”

…

Edited by: DrHitsuji

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