Nobody moved, and nobody made a sound. Everyone was both shocked and confused at Eisen's blunt words. Even Hendrick stopped in his step and looked around himself, trying to figure out if Eisen was joking.
But he just stood there, with a gentle smile on his face, scratching his beard, reading through the notification he just received.
[Quest Failed - Hendrick's Duel]
[Description] After defending a Fey-Kin from Hendrick, he felt offended and requested a duel. You don't know what's to gain or to lose from this.
[Reward] Hendrick will run around town naked and embarrass himself, making chicken noises and yelling at passers-by
[Failure] You have to give Hendrick all of your current belongings
[Under the Authority of Lord Belrim McBarthon of Melroe, you have to hand all your current belongings over to Hendrick Argon within 24 hours. If you do not oblige, you will be punished accordingly]
"Eisen, what are ya doin'?! Ya just want to hand over yer sword and tools ta that bastard over there?! Did ya lose yer honor as a craftsman?!" Denmir yelled with a deep frown.
[Reputation with Denmir Dimhide has decreased significantly]
"Who cares about those damn tools?! What about your beautiful clothes, Eisen? Your suit was such fine craftsmanship! I would throw up even seeing a hint of Hendrick in that!" Folmirra followed up angrily.
[Reputation with Folmirra Brighthood has decreased significantly]
"Tsk, and I thought ya were a good guy. How can ya do something like this? Just look at the prick, all smug like that!" Jekyll interjected at last.
[Reputation with Jekyll Jackson has decreased significantly]
"Hah… haha…. Hahahaha! So you understand, old man? That you will never be able to beat me in a fight?!" Hendrick yelled out with a maniacal laugh and handed his sword and shield to some of his goons, stomping over to Bree with an evil grin.
"Now all of your belongings are mine! Including your slave here!" He yelled out and held out his arm to grab Bree, who quickly dodged. Everyone else was quite shocked, of course. Most of the people in this town loved Bree, and as such were angry at Eisen, who placed one of those cold, disgusting slave collars on her.
However, none of them knew that said collar was the broken metal ring that Eisen borrowed from Morrom the day before. And it was all part of Eisen's plan.
Thus, Eisen walked up to Hendrick and pulled him away from Bree. "I don't know what you're doing, you're getting what I currently own, and that's all."
"Yeah, that's why I'm taking your… slave… wait, why can she take off the fucking collar…?" Hendrick asked, staring blankly at the metal collar that Bree now happily held in her hands.
Eisen smiled at Hendrick and shook his head, "Sorry, I think you might have misunderstood something here. Bree isn't my slave. She's my friend." He said and scratched his beard with a smile.
"Tsk, fine! Then I'll take your items at least!" Hendrick yelled out and grabbed the Zweihänder that Bree was holding in her hands, but once again, Eisen stopped him. Scowling at the old man in front of him, the human adventurer frowned angrily. "What do you think you're doing? This is mine now! My men were watching you for the past few days! I know what Items you made! Some dumb clothes, armor, and this sword!"
Eisen shook his head and began to laugh. "Yeah, I made them. But, yesterday I came across a little bit of money, you see? So I decided to pay Bree for helping me out so much." He smiled and slowly grabbed the bottom of his shirt, pulling it off of his body. Of course, everybody was confused, and Hendrick just grew completely agitated.
"You see, it just so happened that Bree's help was worth exactly the amount of money I had on me, so I was short on money for the Inn last night. So, I decided to sell my items to her for a fair price." Saying these words, Eisen also stripped out of his pants and placed them into Hendrick's arms together with his shirt.
"How much was it? 10 Copper?" Eisen asked as he turned around to face Bree, and she nodded, her red face hidden behind her hands. "So after paying for the Inn, and for the food and drinks I had, I am now left with a single copper." He smiled and placed the small coin into Hendrick's hand.
"Now, I hope you'll at least leave me with my underwear, except if you wish to see this old man as he was born. Although before that, I would have preferred if you bought me dinner." Eisen smiled gently, his eyes closed as he scratched his beard.
Hendrick looked at the pair of pants, the shirt, and the copper coin in his hands and instantly dropped them to the ground, his face twisted in anger. "What the fuck are you talking about?! This is against the rules!" He yelled and turned to look at Belrim. "Apprehend him! He's refusing to abide by the rules!"
Belrim, who was barely holding himself back from collapsing on the ground because of immense laughter, instantly turned away his face and grumbled in annoyance. "What are ya talkin' about kid? I don't think me friend over 'ere did anythin' wrong. Jamie, you tell 'im."
A short young man about the height of a Dwarf, but with a much less stumpy build and no beard to speak of, opposed to every single Dwarf that Eisen saw, stepped forward from amongst the guards. "Y-Yes, M'Lord! According to the rules of the duel, in the case of the duelist Eisen losing the bout, he would need to hand over all the items in his possession at the start of the Duel. However, as the transaction of the items between Eisen and Bree has been confirmed by both parties to have happened before these terms were even set, there was no case of anyone having broken any rules."
He explained, and Hendrick turned back to Eisen angrily. "This is not over!" He yelled and turned around, leaving the crowd behind as his goons followed him.
Immediately, conversations began amongst the crowd and a few people he knew came up to Eisen, while the others simply left the scene. Those that stayed were, of course, some of the people that Eisen got to know during his time in this new world, his skill teachers, Bree, and Belrim. The first ones that spoke up were Denmir, Folmirra, and Jekyll.
"Well, I'll tell ya, Eisen, ye had me fooled completely. Shoulda known ye wouldn't give in so easily."
[Reputation with Denmir Dimhide has risen to the max]
"I can only say, well done. Hendrick is not a good person, so I'm glad you managed to trick him like that."
[Reputation with Folmirra Brighthood has risen to the max]
"Hmm, ye're a tough guy, gotta admit. I'm glad ye showed a racist prick like that who's the boss."
[Reputation with Jekyll Jackson has risen to the max]
Eisen could barely hold back a giant grin forming on his face. At first, he was scared when he read the notifications that said he lost a fair bit of reputation with them, as although they were technically just code, they were the closest thing Eisen had to friends these days.
After those three spoke up, Belrim decided to drunkenly tune in as well. "Ye did well, my friend! Ye're fuckin' hilarious! It was super funny when that ass asked you to fight 'im already, but seeing you trick 'im in front of the whole town was even better!"
Once he listened to Belrim blabber on for a few more minutes about how much he disliked Hendrick, Eisen crossed his arms and looked at him with his eyes slightly narrowed.
"Once you're sober, I would like to talk about the fact that you hid being the Lord of this town, if that's alright with you. Morrom told me you're working the night shift at the Mines as well, so I thought you were just a simple Miner."
Belrim shrugged and nodded. "Eh, I've got nothin' much to do as the lord. There was some stuff to do at the Mines, so I thought why not relax a bit. I used to be a Miner, so… Ye can still come to my Mansion soon, whenever ye have time. These guys 'ere know what ya look like, so ya should be able to come in whenever ya want." Belrim yawned and pointed at the guards behind him, some of which smiled and nodded at Eisen as if to tell him that there's no problem. "Whatever the case, I'll be goin' now. Getting' a bit tipsy, so I should take a nap." He muttered out and turned around, making his way up one of the slopes of the town.
Eisen shook his head and sighed out loud. Unbelievable what youngsters these days are like. After that, Eisen turned back to the others. His four skill teachers, including Morrom now that he taught him Alchemy, were talking about something while standing a bit away, obviously trying to make sure Eisen couldn't hear them.
"What are you four doing there?" He asked, and they shortly turned to Eisen, muttered some last few things, and then walked back up to him.
"Nothing, nothing, don't worry. I was just telling them about your Alchemy progress. Talking about that, should we get back to our shops? It's about opening time…" Morrom explained and the others seemingly agreed.
"Alright, then let's go. Can't wait to learn Enchanting, haha!" Eisen laughed and began walking toward one of the slopes before he was stopped by Bree.
"D-Don't you think you should m-maybe put on some clothes..?" She asked, her blushing face still hidden behind her hands, and Eisen looked down at his body.
"Well, this is embarrassing. I barely noticed… Hehe…" Eisen laughed embarrassedly and took his crafting clothes, shoes, and belt, together with his bag of money. After getting dressed, the group finally made their way upward toward the 'Crafting district' of Melroe.
On their way, they began talking about Eisen's plan to trick Hendrick.
He explained that not actually all that he said was a lie. Eisen really did pay Bree, just not the whole 15 Gold. He paid her 5 gold coins and kept the rest. He would have split it 50/50 but didn't do so because Bree rejected that offer, and since Eisen would spend some of his money on supplies and materials for their travels, once they began to do so. He gifted the rest to her and sold his items to her to make sure the system would recognize them as not belonging to him anymore. Of course, he couldn't say it like that, and he convinced Bree that it was just a gesture for good luck.
Eisen was thinking about tricking Hendrick somehow for the whole week before the Duel, but he didn't have any details fleshed out, and only when he saw the broken Slave Collar at Morrom's shop, he managed to think something up.
Hendrick was obviously interested in Bree in some way, and he already hinted at treating her as a slave, basically an object, instead of as a person, so Eisen hoped he would bite with just a little bit of provocation, and it worked even better than Eisen could have hoped.
After a while, the group reached their district, and everyone went to their respective shop when they passed it until only Morrom, Eisen and Bree were left walking toward Everything Magic.
Morrom unlocked the door and stepped inside, followed by the others.
He turned around and looked at Eisen with a smile. "Alright, let's keep going, shall we?"