Chapter 24: Unexpected Commissions in Benes

“We’ve arrived!”

“Ugh, I’m so stiff! I’m not looking at a carriage for a while!”

After filling our stomachs, we spent several more hours in the carriage.

Because of the unplanned feast, we had rushed without breaks, so time was tight.

Having been cramped in the carriage, us users were in terrible shape.

As we got off the carriages, the NPCs busily moved as if they had been waiting.

“Let’s hurry and hand these guys over to the guard!”

“Let’s finish quickly and go have a beer with the bounty!”

“In broad daylight?”

“What’s wrong with you? Whether it’s night or day, a beer after work is always the truth!”

The mercenaries moved with the securely tied bandits.

Among them, their leader was still protecting his groin, unconscious.

Even if he came to, he probably wouldn’t want to accept reality.

My ‘Cracking an Egg’, used with stats beyond beginner level, was that powerful.

Next, the carriage owners, the merchants, approached.

“Travelers, thank you for stopping the bandits. Here, it’s a small token of appreciation, please accept it.”

“Wow, reward money! I’m going to buy equipment with this!”

“Awesome!”

The users received their rewards one by one.

Glittering gold coins.

Among them, my turn was last.

“We’ve prepared a particularly generous reward for you, traveler. Please take it.”

“Only me? You didn’t have to do that.”

“No, the others all agreed, so don’t feel burdened.”

“Well, he did work the hardest!”

“And he cooked! I can still taste the butter in my mouth!”

“Then I’ll gratefully accept. Haha.”

It was a scene hard to find in Unreal World before regression.

Not a single person jealous that one person received a larger reward.

I wondered if this was the power of delicious food.

And as if it wasn’t over, the merchants brought a large amount of the butter left over from making the butter-roasted baby potatoes.

“Please take this too.”

“Ah, as you said, this should be deducted from my reward…”

“No, this is from us. Don’t worry and accept it.”

“Huh? But…”

“The butter was ours, but the potatoes were yours, traveler. Please think of it as repayment for those. Haha.”

Though I didn’t remember the exact market value from ten years ago, since I had regressed,

I knew that butter was much more expensive than potatoes.

So I understood their sentiment.

Was this all thanks to cooking?

If so, I was definitely on the right path.

“Then I’ll gratefully accept.”

“Haha, if we meet again, please do us the honor of cooking for us.”

“Of course. Haha!”

After putting the butter into my Food Storage,

soon, the mercenaries returned with the bounty.

Feeling it was unfair to receive special treatment for the bounty as well, I declined their attempts to give me more and split the money equally before parting.

“Well then, until next time, traveler!”

“It’s a shame you’re turning down a daytime drink! Come to think of it, that butter potato would go great with beer. Tch.”

“See you later!”

After saying goodbye to everyone,

I immediately opened my inventory to check my funds.

[1,500 Gold]

The exchange rate between Unreal World gold and real-world money was roughly 1:100.

Meaning 1 Gold was about 100 won.

So the money I had now was about 150,000 won in cash.

I hadn’t set out to make money anyway, and for a beginner who had just hitched a ride on a carriage, it was quite a large sum.

This should be enough for simple maintenance in Benes.

– Master, what are you going to do now? You’re going to the market, right? In a big city this size, there will be an abundance of ingredients!

“No, first…”

I recalled memories from before regression and decided on a direction.

Before purchasing ingredients, I had items to sell or organize.

“I’m going to the blacksmith.”

***

“Haah, what is the world coming to.”

One of the blacksmith shops in the large city of Benes.

‘Douglas Blacksmith’, called a general-purpose blacksmith, making weapons, armor, and even farming tools.

But contrary to its grand name, Douglas, the blacksmith owner, had barely been able to hold a hammer lately.

Instead, he was stitching together shoddy leather to make various armor pieces.

“This isn’t why I opened a blacksmith shop. Is this what they call a loss of self-respect…”

The reason he had ended up like this was the sudden increase in outsiders recently.

No one knew where they came from, but they mostly brought in garbage-like leather to commission armor.

Conversely, for weapons, they sought cheap, good-quality iron weapons.

As a result, the amount of ore naturally decreased, while only the amount of cheap leather in the smithy increased.

“Blacksmith! I heard I can commission leather armor here, is that right?”

“Ha… Yes, you can. But if you commission now, you’ll have to wait at least a week.”

“What? Why does it take so long?”

Instead of answering the outsider’s complaint, Douglas turned his head to a corner of the smithy.

The outsider’s gaze naturally followed to the corner.

“Ah…”

In the corner, dozens, no, hundreds of pieces of leather, sorted by client, were piled up.

Seeing that, the outsider, perhaps feeling awkward, scratched the back of his head and said.

“Hmm, then forget the leather armor. Do you have any decent iron weapons?”

“Yes, I don’t.”

“Then let me see a… huh? What do you mean you don’t?”

Again, Douglas answered by turning his head.

There was a sign there that said ‘Iron Weapons’.

And on it, only dust had settled.

“No, what kind of blacksmith doesn’t have weapons?”

“I can’t make them due to a lack of raw materials. If you bring ore, I can…”

“Forget it! What a quack! There must be other blacksmiths in Benes besides this one! Don’t do business like this! Hmph!”

“…Haah.”

Normally, a merchant’s principle was to apologize and calm the customer’s anger no matter what.

But Douglas just sighed.

‘How many times has this been now?’

Because he knew well that without ore, there was no way to satisfy them.

Just as he was diligently making leather armor with a thick needle instead of a hammer,

“Is anyone here?”

‘Another outsider. Haah…’

A new customer appeared.

The shoddy leather armor worn by outsiders who had come through the training ground.

As if experiencing deja vu, he felt the upcoming events replay automatically in his mind.

“Yes, customer.”

Still, a customer was a customer.

Just as Douglas was about to put down the leather he was working on to greet the customer,

Growl!

A thunderous rumble came from Douglas’s stomach.

“….”

“….”

At the same time, the smithy fell into a brief silence.

‘Come to think of it, thanks to this cheap leather, I haven’t had a single meal yet. Damn, what kind of situation is this in front of a customer?’

Even if it was cheap leather, he couldn’t ignore the commissions he had received.

With the pile already accumulated, it would take at least a week to work through, so he had been working without even eating today.

Fortunately, the outsider broke the silence and smiled awkwardly.

“Haha, it seems you haven’t eaten yet.”

“Ahem, as you can see, there’s a lot of work…”

“If it’s alright, would you like some of this?”

“No. More importantly, what business… Sniff, sniff! Sniff?”

The last thing he wanted was to create a problem by accepting something from an outsider.

Just as Douglas was thinking that, a sweet aroma entered his nostrils.

A rich, soft fragrance.

“This is, butter?”

Butter was one of Douglas’s favorite foods.

Forgetting to refuse, he looked at the outsider’s hand and saw a small bowl with potatoes.

“It’s called butter-roasted baby potatoes. I think it’ll be better than you expect.”

“Ah, no. For a customer to…”

Growl!!

In an instant, Douglas’s reason and instinct completely diverged.

And since Douglas was human, over time, he was inevitably dominated by instinct.

“Then just a little…”

The golden baby potatoes.

As far as Douglas knew, there was no place around here that sold such a dish, yet they looked as warm as if freshly made.

He used his chopsticks to pop a bite-sized baby potato into his mouth.

“This is Atlenn butter!”

“Yes, so I was told.”

First, the rich flavor unique to Atlenn butter filled his mouth and nose.

Next, a subtle sweetness.

As he bit into it, the soft potato surface crumbled delicately.

“Delicious!”

He couldn’t stop with just one.

Without realizing it, Douglas quickly ate all five baby potatoes in the bowl.

But even then, his instinct wasn’t satisfied.

Growl!

“…Would you like some more?”

“Thank you!”

His reason had completely surrendered.

Forgetting that the man before him was an outsider customer he was seeing for the first time, Douglas put the potatoes into his mouth.

After eating about thirty more baby potatoes,

as he began to feel full, his reason, which had gradually faded, started to return.

“Gasp! I’m sorry, customer! It was so delicious, I just…”

“Haha, it’s fine. I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

“Ahem! Still… Ah, did you come to commission equipment?”

“Yes. I came to ask for some things.”

The outsider took out a massive tusk and a piece of hide, placing them on the table.

For a moment, Douglas was a little disappointed that it was more leather.

“I won’t charge a separate commission fee as thanks. I imagine the materials are shoddy, so… Huh?”

Just as Douglas was about to explain the quality of the equipment as usual, he realized the materials the outsider had brought were unusual.

[Reckless Tusker Tusk – Magic]

[Reckless Tusker Hide – Magic]

“This isn’t cheap leather!”

It wasn’t the garbage-like leather the outsiders usually left.

It was clearly boar hide, but it was tough and elastic, seeming like it could make quite usable armor.

“And this too!”

The tusk was also no ordinary boar’s.

It was large and hard enough to make a decent dagger.

Though it couldn’t be forged since it wasn’t iron, a perfectly usable weapon could be made from it just as it was.

Seeing the two materials, Douglas’s dormant crafting desire flared up intensely.

“You’re here to commission a dagger and leather armor, right? It won’t take long!”

“Leather armor is correct. But could you make the tusk into a kitchen knife?”

“Huh? A kitchen knife?”

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