blacksmithoftheapocalypse
patreon
1279. A magic bag
🕑 Added 2025-03-03 18:14:30 +0000 UTCSpending 2000 gold to buy two pets with the potential to become legends for Mina and Fin was no problem for him. As for the other pets, he was going to get the money back, one way or the other. Either the recipient would pay him, or he would get Leana to reimburse him with guild funds.
Especially for the additional beasts. Mina's idea was not bad, to get at two individuals from a species to have Evan breed them. This was how he got the idea to ask the clerk to double up their earlier gacha success.
“Edgar? Are you still with us?” Seth asked a little worried. It kinda looked like Edgar.exe had stopped working, after Seth offered to pay the full amount in cash. He was growing paler at a visible speed.
“W-Would you excuse me for a moment?” Edgar.exe had rebooted with a shake of his head, but he didn't seem to be in the best condition. Slightly bewildered, the trio nodded, after which he put the box back down on the counter and ran into the back.
Seth shared a glance with the girls. This was the first time they had a clerk run from a good deal. With the clerk leaving the three alone, Fin suddenly started fidgeting, before she finally spoke up.
“Is it really okay?” Fin asked worried. Her eyes were glued on the floor and her voice was more of a whisper. “That's really a lot of money. Are you okay spending that much on...me?” she hesitated, but asked anyways. The girl-sized fairy suddenly looked very down.
The blacksmith's heart dropped. Where did that come from? Was Fin still worried about their relationship? She had not asked whether it was okay to spend this much in general, or for them, she asked whether she was worth it...
“Ouch!” the fairy exclaimed in pain. After a moment of serious deliberation, Seth had flicked her unprotected forehead.
“Stop doubting my feelings for you, Silly. Money is there to be spent, at least when it comes to my family,” he said offended. He crossed his arms and stared straight at the door where Edgar vanished, ignoring her. Mina chuckled and hugged the fairy's shoulders from behind.
“Look at him all flustered, because he doesn't know what to do. Stop worrying, Fin. As he said, you already belong to the family,” she whispered to her, hugging her tight. “Mina~” she sniffled and turned around to hug her back. At Mina's signal, the bard also joined the hug, squeezing the fairy between the two.
“I'm sorry for suddenly leaving. I had to.. freshen up and call the owner,” Edgar apologized as he returned, facing yet another unprecedented situation.
“Oh, you are back. Great. So, what did the owner say? Do we have a deal?” the blacksmith asked, releasing the hug without any hurry.
“...O-Of course,” Edgar seemed a little better after the short break in the back. “The owner gave his okay, We would also like to offer you VIP-status in our shop,” he said, controlling his expression, giving his best salesman smile.
“VIP-Status, what would I have to do?” the blacksmith asked interestedly. Why would he say no to special treatment?
“You just have to take this card and let it engrave your name from your status,” Edgar said and brought out a black metal card. In energetic cursive letters it said “Eggcelent Beasts VIP”. below that was a line for a signature. Seth didn't think Edgar would try to harm him, so he took the card.
<Ding! An item is trying to read part of your status. Would you like to allow it?”>
A system notification popped up. This was interesting. The card was an item that could view the holder's name to register it. He allowed it and as if written by an invisible hand, Seth Smith was written in silver on the line.
“Seth Smith...” Edgar mumbled shocked, but Seth paid him no mind.
“So, I'm a VIP now?” he brought the man back in the moment.
“Ah, yes, you are, Sir,” the clerk hurriedly confirmed.
“Then this will be 2875 for these four highest grade ones and ten eggs with same beasts we pulled earlier, correct?” the bard asked again for the clerk to confirm the deal and got ready to give Edgar another gold shower.
“Yes, please use this for the payment!” Edgar said hurriedly, pulling out what looked like a jute bag. It even had the sign for system gold, an S with a horizontal line through it, on the front. It reminded Seth of old bank robber cartoons, but he complied.
“What is this?” Seth asked a little suspiciously. “It is an item specialized for large cash purchases, a special bag of holding, so to say,” Edgar explained the suspicious existence of the bag. Maybe this was more practical, and safer from a business standpoint, compared to an employee collecting the money in their personal inventory.
Seth places his hand over the opening of the bag and opened the valve of his Money Bin. The moment the first gold coin from his inventory fell in the bag, a number appeared on the bag. The item didn't just hold the money, but even counted it, too!
The blacksmith also tested mixing in some silvers and coppers, but the bag was able to accurately count up the value no matter what coins were used. Having tested it, Seth trusted the displayed number. This bag also made it easier on the customer, as he didn't have to count the coins, he could just watch the number go up.
The number on the bag quickly rose until finally ...2872 ...2873 ...2874 ..2875! In a matter of minutes, Seth's personal wealth had shrunk to 4477, not counting his silvers, the copper, or the gold at the bank. The melodic ping of the last gold coin lingered in the room, then Seth placed his hand on the bag, holding it on the counter.
“I will go and prepare your additional eggs,” Edgar said with a bow, understanding the meaning of the gesture. Seth wouldn't let go of the bag, before all goods for the trade were present. The clerk left them alone on the second floor and went down the stairs to get their eggs.
“Here they are,” he said, when he returned 1 minute later. In the meantime, Fin had regained her excitement, which was dampened by the massive price tag. Seth was glad that her worries had calmed. Now she was simply looking forward to her Behemothling.
“I made sure to choose ones opposite the sex you already had,” he informed them with a smile. “At least for those it is important,” he added as he placed the ten new eggs on the counter.
“Sex?” the three asked in unison. “Yes?” Apparently, the three had missed that one of the information the display showed was also the most likely sex of the resulting beast. Mina had even purposefully chosen five almost identical eggs to improve her chances of getting different sexes.
“And here are the scrolls you need to undo the preservation magic on the eggs,” he said as he added 14 scrolls to the eggs on the counter. “These four are extra for highest-grade eggs,” he explained, pointing at 4 scrolls with blue ribbons.
“Thank you, Edgar. It was fun doing business with you,” Seth thanked the clerk as they exchanged the goods. Almost 3000 gold went into the pockets of “Eggcelent Beasts”, while Seth got 14 eggs, 29 counting their earlier purchase, of which 4 had the potential to become pets that grew past level 100 and maybe even become legends.
“If you get any more of the highest-grade eggs, please contact the branch of Minas Mar here. We will purchase them guaranteed,” Seth revealed in the end, confirming the clerk's obvious suspicion. He simply couldn't allow this chance to go away. These pets were another way to grow their strength and protect the people they liked.
“Yes, sir. When we get a new one in, I will make sure to contact you first, Tower Master,” Edgar promised, kind of motivated. Then it was time for them to leave.
The man's last service was providing them with egg boxes, which allowed them to stack the eggs in a single item slot. The girls pocketed their own eggs, while Seth took the remaining ones. They all said their farewells to Edgar and finally left the “Eggcelent Beasts”
“Should we get a private room somewhere so you can contract the eggs right away?” Seth asked
“I think it would be best to do it, when we return to the hotel. I don't want to rush it,” Mine gave her opinion.
“Right, we are not done here. There is still a lot of stuff to see...Can we go for lunch now?” Fin asked, once again facing the avenue filled with shops and restaurants. The highest-grade pets had stepped off the stage. Food was here, and the glutton was back.
“Sure, let's go.” The other two agreed.
Finally, they left the egg shop behind and continued their vacation.
