Fosah explained his offer to Dave “sincerely”.
And Dave knew that their offer was pretty good in the market. Dave’s own evaluation for the Tang Dao was around ten magic crystals. Fosah’s price was beyond his expectation.
Dave glanced at Angor, but Angor shook his head.
Since Angor decided so, Dave had to follow his wish. After all, Angor was the owner of the weapon.
“It’s not for sale for the moment. If you really want to buy it, please come back next week.”
Fosah was pretty confused now. “Can you tell me why?”
Dave hesitated. He did not know either since Angor had never told him the reason.
Fosah squinted his eyes. “Are you simply trying to send us away cause you don’t want to sell the weapon to us? ‘Next week’ is just an excuse, eh?”
Dave remained silent.
Angor spoke in a small voice. “Maybe he’s expecting a higher price? You know, something’s happening recently. Weapons will sell better by the day.”
Fosah looked at Angor and lowered his voice to be polite. “You mean the Moonfrost Passage, right? It’s been open for half a month. Those who need weapons already got them. I don’t think this blade’s gonna be any different from now.”
“Yeah! The price is fixed,” Laffitte spoke along Fosah, “and the price won’t go up even if there’s a second passage. People who’re bold enough to challenge the second passage all need tiered weapons. This one’s no good.”
“No one knows for sure,” Angor said.
“You don’t know about the market, Angor. My father is the minister of economy in my country, and I can tell you that the price will not get any higher,” Fosah and Laffitte concluded. They were trying to persuade Dave, not Angor.
“Anyway, I’ll only put it on sale next week. Who knows, maybe something will happen by then,” Dave insisted. However, he did not sound so sure himself.
“I’ll bet my head on it! With 15 crystals, I can get TWO weapons of the same class from Twilight Auction,” Laffitte yelled in protest.
Dave did not change his mind. “Go to Twilight Auction then. I’m not selling today.”
“Why you—” Laffitte pointed at Dave and was about to get violent.
Unlike Blackjack, Laffitte and Fosah were merely two apprentices who just came to Brute Cavern. Dave was not afraid of them in the least.
“Why, want to start a fight in Master Prome’s shop?” Dave stressed on the name of his teacher and grinned.
There were only a handful of people in the underground market who were bold enough to offend Prome. A couple of days ago, Prome took “Baron Milk” away from the arena and in the process, he killed off a number of people in the mob. Until now, no one had come looking for trouble yet, just because of his fame as an alchemist.
Hearing the name of Master Prome, Laffitte’s agitated expression immediately deflated. He glanced at his “boss”, Blackjack.
So was Fosah. These lackeys were now officially depending on their boss to help.
Blackjack frowned. Cowards! You two just keep buzzing him until he sells the damn weapon! And even if Prome comes later, it won’t have anything to do with me!
Blackjack was expecting his followers to help him attract enmity, and he was obviously wrong about Fosah and Laffitte’s character. When faced with a challenge, these two people would back out faster than everyone else.
Since he was on his own now, Blackjack could only step up.
He walked in front of his subordinate and pointed a finger at Dave’s nose… without saying anything.
He did not want to get on the bad side of Master Prome either!
A moment later, Blackjack finally spoke something irrelevant, “Keep hiding behind Master Prome then! If you ever come out… heh!”
With that, Blackjack quickly turned to leave while laughing in his strange style as if he just won a war.
Fosah and Laffitte exchanged a look and followed behind. Before going through the shop’s door, Fosah looked back at Angor with a smile. “We’ll be on our way then. Let’s have a drink at the Pinky Pub next time. My treat!”
Angor did not respond.
After the three left, Dave sighed in relief. “I mean, 15 crystals is a decent price. They were right. This blade… probably won’t sell for any better price.”
Angor did not know whether he should agree, but he did not really care about the tiny extra profit.
“Don’t worry about it. This thing’s easy to make. You can probably make something similar.”
“I don’t know how to make weapons,” Dave curled his lips.
“You wanted to join my project, right? Just watch me several times and you’ll learn it,” said Angor. He clearly remembered how Dave tried his best to save him from the mobs, and Angor was thankful for it. Alchemy knowledge would be a great reward for Dave.
Also, Angor believed that practical experience was something he really needed right now. Working together with Dave also meant he could learn something.
“But I don’t want to make a music box. Ask me again if you’re planning something else,” Dave grinned. “You didn’t stay at your house these days? Every time you finished a match, I’ll go wait for you there, and I never saw you.”
Dave looked a bit frustrated.
“Oh, um… I’ve been staying at my professor’s place. I’m only going home today.”
It was Number 233 who was fighting on the stage, but Angor could not tell it to Dave.
“Oh, I forgot. It’s Mister Sunders. Heck, if he’s my professor, I’ll probably stay at Phantom Island all my life.” Dave still remembered how he and Master Prome were terrified by Sunders’ appearance in the shop. “No wonder you’re so talented.”
The talk reminded Dave of his sad experience with his previous teacher, and he really wanted to change the topic. “So whatever happened to you during the match with Parasite Queen? Why did you suddenly faint?”
Dave was still a little disappointed at the fall of Parasite Queen, but he no longer admired her.
“That woman…”
…
Away from the shop, Blackjack and his lackeys already left the area.
“That arrogant bastard thinks he got a strong shopkeeper behind his back! Man, I want to punch his face so bad,” Laffitte boasted and glanced at Blackjack. “And to hell with Prome. Mister Blackjack’s gonna get way better than him, and the asshole will regret not joining us while he still has a chance.”
“Yeah. There are many people who want to join Mister Blackjack!” Fosah chimed in.
Blackjack’s cold expression did not change, but he somehow felt better at all the flattering.
“So you know that kid? I mean the one wearing the same style as me but who looks less handsome?”
“Angor? We’re recruits of the same year,” Fosah answered.
“Those were pretty nice clothes. I wonder where he ordered them. Did he bring them to Brute Cavern himself?”
“I wouldn’t really pay attention to the clothes of a guy—” Laffitte said when Fosah quickly pulled his sleeve to stop him.
“Ahem!” Fosah continued, “I think I heard that he’s the child of a noble family of some place. But we never saw him wearing an adult gentleman suit before.”
Laffitte tried to remember as well. “Yeah… but I think I saw his teacher wearing similar clothes.”
“Teacher? Who’s his teacher?” Blackjack grew curious.
“Well, he’s called the ‘killing machine in the south’, Phantom Master Sunders. Lucky bastard. I don’t know how they knew each other. Sunders was already giving Angor special treatment before we even reached Brute Cavern.” Laffitte grew a bit jealous.
Blackjack stopped his movement.
“What did you say??” Blackjack grabbed Laffitte’s collar and revealed a frenzied expression.
Laffitte had no idea what he had done wrong. “Uh, I said Angor was really lucky-”
“WHO IS HIS TEACHER?!”
Laffitte jumped at Blackjack’s outburst and stuttered. “It’s Sun-Mister Sunders.”
Blackjack pushed Laffitte away. “I heard that Mister Sunders took a new student, but he chose such a useless brat?? Balls!”
He turned around and stomped toward Prome’s Alchemy Shop with an angered look.
“What’s the matter, boss??”
“I’m going to kill that sh*tter! I should be the one! I want him DEAD!” Blackjack advanced on heavy steps as if nothing in the world would change his decision.
Fosah and Laffitte looked at each other in doubt. The one? What did Blackjack mean?
More importantly… why did both of their bosses want to kill Angor so badly??
Blackjack pushed his way into the shop in rage. He did not notice that a big figure entered the shop along with him.
Blackjack went straight toward Angor. “Get the fu*ck out, you loser! I’m going to cut you in half and no one’s stopping me!!”
He took out a card at the same time. There was the picture of a wilted man whose neck was tangled in a rope on the card.
“Card: Death Invitation of the Hanged Man!”
As Blackjack called out, the shadow of a hanged man emerged from the card and rushed at Angor with a rope in his hand.
Angor looked at the attack with unchanged expression.
“Get lost!” Someone bellowed beside Blackjack.
Blackjack found himself kicked out of the door by someone before he could react.
The card in his hand was torn in half, and he vomited blood at the same time.
“Messing up my shop… Blackjack! You think I can’t kill you?!”