Overgeared

Chapter 23

“Hey, Old Man! You still haven’t decided? Will you hand this building over to us? Then won’t you be able to buy alcohol every day until you die?”

The men who entered the smithy were rough looking and their physique was good. They reminded me of the employees from Mother’s Heart is Happy. They took a heavy-handed attitude as they handed a sheet of paper to the elderly blacksmith.

‘What’s this?’

It was a contract to sell this building and the land to the Mero Company. I instinctively realized it.

‘If I analyze this based on my recent successes and troubles, it’s likely that I’ll get involved in a stupid quest as I stand here.’

That absolutely couldn’t be allowed to happen. The urgent thing right now was to earn money by making items.

‘There’s no time to waste on unwanted quests.’

I admired my brain’s quick thinking and moved to avoid this situation. But how many things ever went according to my will? I only managed to move a few steps before I was caught by the gangsters.

“Hey, where did this newbie come from? You trying to sneak into our business like a rat?”

They started to question me in an intimidating manner.

“Did you come to steal the contents of our contract? You, are you a spy? Did the Skaner Company send you?”

Why did I get caught up in the contents of that piece of paper? This was really some useless curiosity.

‘I should’ve just stayed in the rear and avoided looking at them.’

I shrugged as if to say ‘Spy, me? What are you talking about? It isn’t like that, so don’t worry about me. I just want to go my own way.’

But they continued to act tough.

Gulp.

‘Damn.’

My saliva dried up and sweat beaded up on my forehead. I remembered my low-level days in Satisfy.

Was it due to the fearful memories of being a bread shuttle, or being threatened by teenage gangster NPCs in the back alleys? Or maybe it was because they resembled the employees from Mother’s Heart is Happy Financial Services.

I reflexively shrank back from the group; I couldn’t cope with this.

‘I should behave.’

Violent NPCs didn’t fear the law. It was entirely possible to be severely injured or killed if I even so much as touched these guys. Of course, I could report the NPCs to the guards, but their fists were closer than the law was. It might be possible if I was stronger or quick enough to flee from this building. However, that wasn’t the case so it was better to avoid irritating them.

‘Judging by their appearance and atmosphere, they aren’t back alley bullies. They don’t just smoke cigarettes and use bread shuttles.’

the Eternal Kingdom. They wouldn’t give jobs to losers. These

their equipment, they’re at

in order to level up? I couldn’t imagine all the sins that these people

am only level 3. While my stats are superior compared to those of my level, they’re all still around level 20. Not only that I am alone

matters worse, I was unarmed. I would only lose if I got into

let’s act prudently and discard

here to spy

shame. The hand

“Customer? At this smithy?”

“Yes.”

A customer

of the man’s hand on

‘Ouch, it hurts.’

patient. Instead of scolding him, I tried my best to maintain my smile. Why? Otherwise, I

eyed me

Company has a large number of weapons stores, so why would you come to a smithy

many weapons stores, but this is the only smithy. I don’t want to buy a weapon, but instead find a blacksmith for production-related work. Therefore, it was

would be the perfect candidate for the New Actor Award at the end of year ceremonies. My appearance and tone were subservient. I continued to smile and

weak that you can’t be a spy…

Did I look poor and weak? These scum thought they could make fun

thank you for believing in me. I’ll

the smithy. Then the old blacksmith’s angry voice was heard behind me, “Yes… there’s nothing to be gained from dragging this dirty work out too long. It is better to

old man blinked his

that contract. I’ll sign it as

“Eh? R-Really?”

thinking Old

you

The one who seemed to be the leader handed

to do is sign. Then you can take it

“……”

trembling hands. At that moment, tears fell from the old man’s eyes. “Ahh! This is the end of my seven generation family business! I won’t be able

and depressed old man was

it natural for the customers to turn away? And Old Man, didn’t you have a child? Your only son died, so you turned to the bottles? You don’t have a successor, so once you

mention my son with

so loud? Do you want to be

gangster called ‘Johnson’ threatened to hit the old man. I was angry

only did he speak rudely to the old man, but threatening to

gangster called ‘Um’ spoke, “Look,

the one called ‘Praga’ jumped in like an excited foal, “No, I’m mad. Didn’t we have to wait a few months for the old

called ‘Neil’ continued, “I agree… Fuck, we couldn’t even properly handle an old man. We received less pay on the scheduled

smiled coldly and said, “That’s right, you must compensate us

you receive the money for selling this smithy, half of it will be used to pay off your debt, while the other half will be handed

bastards!” The old man, Khan, angrily

to feed, so why do you need a large amount of money? You should help the poor, young