Chapter 58 - 56: Mola Crystal Steel

Chapter 58: Chapter 56: Mola Crystal Steel

By the time Lu Wei dropped Aryan off at the "Sawing and Sewing" clinic and returned to the small cabin, the moon was already high in the sky.

"Captain!"

When he was still a few dozen meters from the cabin, Bai Ya ran over carrying a kerosene lamp. Blinking, she asked, "Where did you go? Why are you back so late?"

’You sure are nosy.’

Lu Wei answered casually, "I went to see a play."

"A play?"

"Yeah, a troupe came in from the south. They’ll be performing for a few days. You can go see it tomorrow night if you want."

"Oh, okay."

Bai Ya nodded. She was clearly uninterested in plays and the like. Instead, she happily reported, "I bought a new piece of Leather Armor this afternoon, and a pair of New Boots~"

"It only cost 3 Silver Coins. And because my old Padded Armor was still in great condition, I got a discount of 30 Copper Coins for it."

"Furen bought Leg Armor too, made of lizard skin..."

Chattering on, Bai Ya recounted her afternoon’s experiences for quite some time without taking a breath.

Lu Wei wondered why she had suddenly become such a chatterbox. After waiting for what felt like an eternity for her to finish, he finally asked with a sigh:

"Furen said you came back to wait for me without eating dinner. So, is something wrong?"

"Um, no."

Bai Ya seemed a little lost. "I was just waiting for you. It’s not like I have anywhere else to go."

"..."

’Right, makes perfect sense!’

’Definitely something a person with 1 point of Perception would say!’

Lu Wei took a deep breath. "Alright... By the way, Furen moved into an inn. Did he tell you?"

Bai Ya nodded repeatedly. "Mhm, he told me. He said the rooms here are too small and taking a bath is a hassle."

"Okay, then get some rest. Don’t forget to ask about the buyback prices for various goods at the market tomorrow."

Pushing open the cabin door, Lu Wei added one last reminder, intending to clean up a bit and go to bed.

But the next moment, he saw several heads of cabbage and some onions neatly stacked by the fireplace, along with a small cut of fresh meat hanging on the wall.

"Huh? Did you buy all this?"

"Yes, I passed by the market on my way back. They looked so fresh, I just had to buy a little."

"So, have you eaten dinner or not?"

"No, I wanted to wait for you to come back. If you haven’t eaten, I thought I could make something for us to eat together."

Bai Ya’s brain and mouth were on completely different wavelengths. Before her brain could issue the command ’Don’t say something so suggestive,’ her mouth had already spoken the honest truth.

By the time she realized what she’d said, it was too late.

"Th-that is..."

Seeing Lu Wei’s strange expression, her face instantly turned red. She stammered, trying to explain that she didn’t mean anything by it.

Or perhaps she did mean something by it, but didn’t want Lu Wei to know.

’A girl has to be reserved, after all.’

’But... but how am I supposed to explain this!?’

’If I say I "didn’t mean anything by it," Captain will think I don’t like him, won’t he!?’

’Ah, why am I worried about that!?’

’So I do like Captain after all!’

’No, no! I just...’

’Aaaah, am I right or not!?’

’My brain is turning to mush!’

Because her brain’s processing power for things like "hints, subtext, and subtle expressions" was practically nonexistent, Bai Ya’s thoughts grew more muddled, and the more muddled she got, the more flustered she became, until she ended up just freezing like a dunce.

Seeing her like this, Lu Wei felt his own brain go numb. Worried she might short-circuit her brain, he quickly cut her off:

"Okay, okay, I get it. Just go to bed."

"O-oh, okay, right..."

"Mm... Oh, right."

After taking two steps toward the main bedroom, Lu Wei suddenly remembered something. He pulled a small, shiny trinket from his coat and tossed it back to Bai Ya.

"It’s a commemorative Pendant from that troupe. I thought it looked nice, so I bought two. This one’s for you."

’Consider it compensation for swindling you out of your cut.’

’Plus, there was a discount if you bought two.’

’One Pendant was 40 Copper Coins, but two were only 60.’

’Sigh, they even understand sales promotions. The level of commercial development in this world seems much more advanced than I thought.’

’I really thought my business acumen could completely crush the primitives here.’

’This is too hard...’

Feeling a deep sense of pressure once again, Lu Wei completely forgot about Bai Ya and headed back to his bedroom after giving her the Pendant.

But she didn’t say anything either, just stood there in a daze, as if her brain was still rebooting.

"..."

The wind rustled through the weeds in the yard, a sound that harmonized with the ceaseless, cheerful chirping of insects by the corner of the wall.

Perhaps because it was so late, the moonlight was thick. It poured down silently from the vast canopy of the sky, passed through the window, and traced a silver outline around Bai Ya.

Staring at the little swan lying in her palm, for who knows how long, she finally, carefully, curled her fingers, gently closing her hand around the Pendant and the moonlight.

"It may not be my favorite animal..."

"But it’s a gift I like very much..."

...

...

The "Black Market" in Heitai Town wasn’t actually all that black.

At least, compared to real black markets filled with all sorts of stolen goods, illegal human trafficking, and evil artifacts, this one was complete child’s play.

Strictly speaking, it was more like a miscellaneous antique market—

finding a hidden treasure was difficult, but getting scammed was incredibly easy.

[One-handed Sword]

[Species: Weapon]

[Level: Ordinary]

[Value: 1 silver, 10 copper coins]

[Introduction: An ordinary iron One-handed Sword, but its surface is coated with a red dye. The texture has been specially treated to make it look as if it were forged from Crimson Ore.]

[Note: Fake!! It’s all fake!!!]

"You’ve heard of Echo Valley, right? The Crimson Ore from there is the best!"

"Say no more, just showing off this Sword is intimidating enough!"

"And it’s only 1 gold and 5 silver! You’ll never find a Weapon forged from Crimson Ore this cheap anywhere else!"

The next morning, at a stall in the Black Market, a shifty-eyed man was talking animatedly, spittle flying from his mouth, desperately trying to sell a dark red Short Sword to Lu Wei.

But to be honest, his appearance alone was a serious violation of the first rule of the Rules for Crafty Merchants: look like a good person.

So he wasn’t cut out to be a Crafty Merchant at all.

"Then why are you selling it so cheap?"

Placing the One-handed Sword back on the felt cloth, Lu Wei asked with great interest, "There must be a reason, right?"

"Well..."

The man pretended to be mysterious, looking left and right before lowering his voice. "I can tell you, but you have to keep it a secret."

"Mhm, don’t worry."

"Alright then. The truth is, this sword’s previous owner was a bandit, and it’s been stained with the blood of too many innocents."

"Look at its color, so dark and gloomy. These scuff marks... they’re proof of its crimes, from scraping against bone..."

As everyone knows, every counterfeit item is bound to have a fantastic backstory.

It was just like the "National Treasure Gang" claiming "The Forbidden City has one, and I have one too," or the brain-dead skits on those shopping livestreams that target the elderly.

The goal, of course, was to increase the credibility of claims like "legendary national treasure, only 99."

"What? That’s horrible!"

His goal achieved, having successfully collected another bit of material, Lu Wei put on a horrified expression. "Then I’m not buying it! I don’t want to be haunted by those Wandering Souls!"

"Huh? No, wait, this bandit was actually a kind-hearted bandit..."

"But you just said he killed a lot of people!"

"No, no, no, I said stained with blood, not that he killed people."

"But how does it get stained with blood if he didn’t kill anyone?"

"Er, well, he had a peculiar habit. He liked to clean his weapon with human blood..."

"That’s even more terrifying! Sorry, you should sell it to someone else!"

Leaving him with those final words, Lu Wei didn’t give the man a chance to change his story again and walked away without looking back.

He left the man standing there, stewing in his own regret.

He was probably thinking that he’d botched the story, causing him to lose such a big sale.

"Sigh, was it too scary?"

"Next time, I’ll just explain it away as stolen goods."

Muttering to himself, the man sat back down behind his stall, made up his mind, and began to wait for the next sucker.

Meanwhile, Lu Wei had already arrived at another stall.

Compared to the last one, this stall didn’t have many weapons, and only one of them was a One-handed Sword.

Looking at the groove where the hilt met the blade, Lu Wei was already used to this sort of shoddy forgery technique.

It was clearly made of ordinary materials, yet a groove had been intentionally hammered into it during forging to mislead people into thinking it was a High Level Weapon that could be inlaid with gemstones.

It was on par with the artificial aging of antiques in his previous life.

"May I take a look at this Sword?"

Although it looked fake at a glance, Lu Wei, still aiming to gather material, asked the stall owner for permission before crouching down and picking up the Sword.

And then...

[One-handed Sword]

[Species: Weapon]

[Level: High Level]

[Value: 3 gold and 3 silver]

[Introduction: A One-handed Sword forged from Mola Crystal Steel. The blade is relatively wide and possesses Magic Guide properties. It has a slot for inlay, but the gemstone within it has been shattered.

Power +1, Intelligence +1]

[Note: Was originally a Longsword, but something went wrong during the quenching, so it became a One-handed Sword.]

"..."

’Huh?’