The vendor was stunned, but he didn't say anything as he took out an artifact and handed it to Arthur. Studying the item, Arthur furrowed his brows.
"Are there any genuine artifacts?"
"Hm? Customer, do you think I'm the Magic Vault?" The vendor furrowed his brows.
"The what?" Arthur was confused. The vendor shook his head and snatched the artifact back.
"I'm guessing you are travelers. You won't obtain a genuine artifact without the Magic Vault's permission. The King himself runs the vault, so unless you are a Knight or a Runes Master, I suggest you give up."
"It's that strict?" Arthur raised his brows. "What if someone wants to buy them?"
"Unless you're a Noble or an Aristocrat, you can't buy a genuine artifact. Are you buying or not?" The vendor seemed annoyed. Arthur pondered before standing up and leaving, allowing the vendor to resume selling.
"So, the kingdom has hold of all the artifacts?" This system piqued Arthur's interest. "Is that how they keep their monopoly?
"Freda is a young kingdom. If not for King Solomon's artifacts, the nation would have collapsed. His subjects use the artifacts he created in war and their daily lives." Gala answered. "It's understandable that he doesn't want others to get hold of them."
"This kingdom is a lot more interesting than I thought." Arthur smiled. "Let's buy some items."
"We don't have any money," Gala said. "What you obtained for the dishes is all we have."
"Is it a lot?" Arthur took out the coins the Lustful Rouge had given him and handed them to Gala. The witch peeked into them, and her eyes widened.
"So many gold coins, what kind of man is that rogue?" Gala muttered as she handed Arthur the money.
"A prodigal," Arthur smiled. "Let's go and buy ourselves some items." He walked through the city, looking for a good shop to buy items he could inscribe.
As they looked through shops, Arthur was more disappointed by the second. The items were alright, but that was the extent of his evaluation. There was nothing special about them.
They were walking when a group came running through the alleys. Arthur looked at the enraged mob and wondered what they were after.
"Over there!" One of the men shouted as he pointed at another alley. Arthur glanced in the direction he pointed at and found a short, stout figure running away. "Catch him!" The angry mob came running after the fleer.
"This city is vivacious," Gala said in sentiment. "I miss living on the streets and running away from angry men."
"Why did they chase you?" Arthur asked without taking his eyes off the short man running in the distance.
"Well, I..." Gala was embarrassed. "I had several affairs with their wives." She said as if she was shy, but Arthur could feel the pride in her words.
However, his attention didn't leave the incident that just happened. He began walking after the mob at a brisk pace as the two followed after him.
"S... Seia! Where are you going?" Gala almost called him Seika in public but adjusted in time to call him a different name.
"Let's follow after them," Arthur said without slowing down his pace.
"I expected the witch to get herself involved just for fun, not you," Dia said beside him as she covered her head with the hood.
"Fun?" Arthur smiled. "I think it's fate." He said with an excited voice that the two didn't hear before.
They followed after the men until they reached another street. They overheard the sounds of fighting from one of the alleys, and the young man came flying and rolled on the ground in front of them.
"Pay up, bastard!" A roar came from the alley as an old man with a crooked nose came out. "If you don't pay what you've cost me, I'm going to rip you to pieces! What kind of animal can't even use a hammer?
"You're the animal, old man! I told you, the materials were cheap!" The young man spat as he dusted himself and picked up a hammer that fell from his hand.
Arthur noticed that the young man's face was sharp, his eyes sinking deep into his face with thick eyebrows above them. He was shorter than Arthur by almost a foot, making him relatively short.
"You ungrateful halfling!" The old man was fuming. He was upon that young man in an instant, throwing a punch at him.
'Hm?' Arthur frowned. He teleported and stopped the old man's punch with his spiritual power. The old man froze in front of him as the young man behind Arthur tensed up.
"Old man, aren't you being too hasty?" Arthur smiled. "That punch would have dislocated his jaw if it didn't kill him."
"Who are you?" The shop owner retreated as he held into his fist. The feeling of Arthur's powers blocking his punch made him uneasy.
"Just a traveler from afar." Arthur shrugged. "What did this young man do?" He asked with interest.
"He's a fraud! I accepted him into my shop with open arms, but he turned out to be lying! He's supposed to be a dwarf with excellent craftsmanship, but he only knows how to waste materials!" The shop owner huffed with anger. "Now, he dares disrespect me!"
"How much money did he make you lose?" Arthur asked. The old man was taken aback, and he looked at Arthur with doubt.
"Four gold coins," The old man muttered while glancing at the dwarf.
"Old man, you're lying!" The young dwarf roared. "It's barely half of that!"
"You've also wasted my time! I could've hired someone competent and made some profit!"
'Sly bastard.' Arthur smiled and took out four gold coins. He threw them at the shop owner and turned to the dwarf. 'This must be... fate.'
Ordinary people might not feel it, but it could never escape Arthur's notice. This young dwarf might not be a good craftsman, but he was a Seika.
A Loved One.
As to what he was loved by, Arthur glanced at the ground. There were bits of metals inching ever so slowly toward the young man. No wonder that no one noticed it. This man has yet to awaken his affinity, allowing it to run rampant.
'What is the cause of this?' Arthur wondered to himself. He had seen it before, how the metal bent at his will when he used his Art. Why could this young man do the same? Were his powers a part of something that these people shared?
He was determined to find out.
"Is that all?" Arthur asked the men in front of him. The leader of the group looked at the gold coins in his hand and then at Arthur.
"These are enough to repay the losses he made me, but I also hired these men to catch him. I paid each of them one gold coin."
"You're unreasonable!" Gala stepped forward. "My Lord has shown you kindness already. If you push things further, then I'll deal with you myself!"
Her mana seeped out of her body, creating a suffocating pressure. The men retreated in fear as the witch's dangerous eyes glared at them. However, Arthur simply patted her on the shoulder.
"Forget it," Arthur took out four more gold coins and threw them at the old man. "Take it and leave. Otherwise, I'll leave things to her."
Gala followed along and unleashed the killing intent she harnessed over hundreds of years. Before they pissed themselves, the men took the money and ran away.
"Why did you let them get away with it?" Dia asked with cold rage. "Do you want me to follow them and kill them?"
"Woah, take it easy!" Arthur was dumbstruck. "It's just a few coins. Why do you need to kill them?"
"It's not about how much it was. It's about being fooled."
"Fooled?" Arthur shrugged. "I knew that he was lying, so he didn't fool. I just wanted to be done with it. After all, nothing outweighs this young man."
"You mean the one who's currently running away?" Gala asked as she looked at the dwarf who was making a run for it.
"Well, he thinks his debt was quadrupled. I would've also run away." Arthur laughed in amusement. "Let's follow after him."
"We're wasting our precious shopping time!" Gala sighed as Arthur started following the young man. He strolled as if he was on a picnic. "You're not even trying to follow him!"
They lost sight of the dwarf, but Arthur kept walking. They reached a residential district with many shabby mud houses. Dia pinched her nose because of the smell of feces from nearby sewage.
"We've lost him ages ago," Dia said. "How about we look for those men instead?"
"We didn't lose him. We're here." Arthur stopped at a wall and placed his hand on it.
The mud disintegrated into fine powder under the effect of his skill. The three walked into the house to find the dwarf catching his breath.
"Hi there!" Arthur walked in like a professional scammer. "Do you want to live the life of your dreams?"