Ch 170 -- Anti-Dwarf Secret Weapon

"Bakayaro-! You want us to make WHAT? No way! Get lost!" I left the shop as the door was slammed shut behind me. I sighed to myself, that was the fifth blacksmiths I had tried and, thinking back on it, the most polite in their response to my request. The others had been much ruder.

After leaving the Adventurers Guild I had gone to the blacksmith's quarter of Doran to ask someone to make a barbeque stove for me. I had tried one store after another with no luck, getting turned down time after time in the same way. I'd open the door, I'd be welcomed then asked "What kind of weapon or armour are you looking for?" When I started to explain, "Well, it's not a weapon I'm looking for but this kind of thing..." the conversation would end at that point. Abruptly.

When you think about forges and blacksmiths in stories, Dwarves are what comes to mind and sure enough, all five of the blacksmith's workshops I had tried were run by Dwarves, just as pig-headed and short-tempered as you might expect. Still, they didn't have to shout at me quite like that, did they?

Ugor-san had warned me that the blacksmith's workshops in this city were mostly dedicated to making weapons and armour and that the owners were stubborn. I had to agree with him now I had visited some of them myself. Still, they were blacksmiths so they should be able to make things other than weapons and such. So what could I do? Ask the God of Blacksmiths to intervene on my behalf? I thought sourly to myself, as if that boozehound would do anything... then inspiration struck. Ah, booze!

The blacksmiths workshops were all run by Dwarves apparently and of course, Dwarves famously like to drink, if the stories I had read back in my own world were true. If I bribed them with alcohol I bought from the Net Super... he he he, a taste of something strong should do it. I quickly ducked into an alleyway out of sight so I could open Net Super and buy some booze straight away.

So, I thought to myself looking at the Net Super's drinks display, what sort of alcohol would be best? It would have to be strong with a high alcohol content. Whisky then, I decided, a little would go a long way. I didn't drink much whisky myself but I plumped for a famous Japanese whisky, 700ml in a very recognisable square bottle. I held it in my hand, thinking about the effects of items from Net Super in this world. Would it cause a dramatic change to the drinker? I decided to Appraise it just in case.

[ Whisky ]

Alcohol from another world. Expensive.

Reduces stamina by 2% for approximately 5 minutes.

Oh, whisky causes a decline in stamina, not an improvement? That was the first time I'd seen something from Net Super do that, a 2% drop for five minutes. Was it because it was booze, or was it because being drunk reduces someone's status? I didn't know but I'd discovered something new about Net Super which was good. However it wasn't a big change and it didn't last long so I decided it would be fine. I headed for the next blacksmith's workshop along the street, bottle in hand.

"Excuse me-" I said as I opened the door.

"Hmm, a customer?" An elderly Dwarf with a short but sturdy-looking body turned to me and growled. "What d'you want?" Yeah, that's exactly the sort of friendly welcome I had come to expect. Now to see if my secret weapon would work.

"I want to place an order ..." I started to ask.

"Oh, what kind of weapon d'you want?" he immediately interrupted, same as all the other Dwarf storekeepers I had encountered today.

"Well you see, what I'm looking for isn't a weapon, but ... could you just listen to what I've got to say please?" The elderly Dwarf had frowned as soon as I had said I wasn't looking for a weapon.

"It isn't a weapon? Armour then?"

"Well no, but I would be grateful if you could listen to what I've got to say.'' I repeated.

The Dwarf's frown deepened and he crossed his thick arms. "I'm not doing anything right now so I'll listen to you. I won't make it if it isn't a weapon or armour but I'll listen." Hooo, this was the politest Dwarf I had run into all day!

"Yes, that's fine." I said. I brought out a piece of parchment I had bought in advance and started to sketch my idea of a barbeque stove, explaining as I went. "You see, it's about this size and I put charcoal in a drawer here. I'd want you to make a hole, maybe a pattern of holes in the side so it will burn better. The mesh on the top will be removable, I'd grill meat on it." The design I had drawn up was a lot larger than the simple charcoal grill on the food stall we had visited in the morning since, well, I had Fer and company to feed. As I finished pointing out the details the elderly Dwarf harrumphed.

"...Haa, get out, get out!" the Dwarf's face grew red as he shouted at me. "If the other Dwarves heard I'd made something like this for you I'd get laughed at, I'd never live it down. Try someone else!"

As expected, he wasn't keen on the idea. "I've already been yelled at and turned away at five other stores today." I told him.

"What, you went to five other workshops before you came to my place?" the Dwarf harrumphed again. "Slow learner, ain'cha? There's no place around here that will take your order to make that, that THING." Well, I knew that, the blacksmiths in Doran were only interested in making weapons and armour but I had my anti-Dwarf secret weapon in my hand. Would he be able to resist it?

"Changing the subject, do you like booze?" I inquired. The Dwarf threw his arms out, inviting inspection.

"Look at me. I'm a Dwarf, in case you hadn't noticed." He obviously didn't have a high opinion of my intellect. "Of course I like to drink, no question about it." he explained as if to a child. Well, I expected that answer but I wasn't totally sure, it was a good idea to check.

"Well you see I have something special here..." I got a cup from my Item Box and held it out along with the bottle of whisky to the store owner. "This is a very rare kind of booze, extremely strong. I was wondering if it might suit a Dwarf's taste." The Dwarf's eyes fixed on the bottle in my hand and I saw him swallow a couple of times. I definitely had his attention now.

"Why don't you try some?" I cracked open the bottle of whisky and poured a generous helping into the cup. I saw his nostrils widen as the sweet alcoholic fragrance wafted from the cup as I swirled it around. He took the cup and peered into it then he lifted it to his lips and threw the contents back into his mouth.

"Gaaah, wow!" he exclaimed. "This booze, it's..." he blinked, licking his lips. "It's the best-tasting booze I've ever drunk!" Hehehe, my anti-Dwarf secret weapon seemed to be working perfectly. Time to close the deal.

"This booze is not sold around here because it is made in a remote location of a small country far from here." The Dwarf's eyes remained fixed on the bottle in my hand. "I have some more of this booze, not much though. If you accept my order then I'd include five bottles of it as an extra along with the price in coins." The Dwarf didn't think too long about my offer, not surprising given the way he had reacted when he tasted the whisky.

"...Ten. Gimme ten bottles of this booze, separate from the actual price and I'll make that thing for you." He crossed his arms again, staring at me and the bottle in my hand. Yosh! The whisky was an outstanding success.

"I'll give you 10 bottles, then. As a thank you for accepting my order, please take this one." I handed the bottle over to the Dwarf who quickly poured another cupful and downed it as quickly as the first one.

"Haaaaah, really tasty. I can't believe this booze is so delicious." he muttered. I hadn't lied, it really was made in a remote location in a small country far away, in another world actually. I wasn't a connoisseur of whisky myself but it had been a popular best-seller for a long time so I had figured it had to be really tasty.

"How long will it take to complete?" I asked the Dwarf who was starting to pour himself another cup from the bottle. He stopped and looked down at my drawing before thinking for a few moments.

"Ummm, three days. Come back in three days and it'll be ready."

"How much will it cost me?"

"It's a pretty big thing, lemme see..." he thought for a few moments more then said, "About 350 gold coins, including materials." That much wasn't a problem for me and I nodded.

"Thank you, please go ahead with my order. I'll come back three days from now."

"Oh, don't forget the booze." the Dwarf added. It was clear what he thought was the most important part of the deal. Dwarves really did like to drink, as expected.

"Don't worry, I won't forget." I said as I left the store. Fer and Dora-chan were asleep outside and Sui-chan was in my shoulder-bag as usual, also asleep of course.

"Hey, let's go back to the inn." I said telepathically to Fer and Dora-chan.

"Nuuu... are you finished?" Fer said grumpily.

"Fuuuah, finally?" Dora-chan added, flying up from the ground.

"Sorry you had to wait. That's me finished for the day. We can go back to the inn now."

"I'm hungry, let's get back and eat." Fer was already up and moving as I peered up at the sky. Was it really that late? But the sun was definitely sinking towards the horizon. I had spent more time trying to find a blacksmith that would make a barbeque stove for me than I thought. Ah well, it was sorted now so as I followed Fer I started thinking about dinner. What meat was left in the Item Box, what was I running out of? There wasn't much Orc General left but I still had plenty of Bloody Horn Bull and Wyvern in stock plus a lot of Orc meat from the dungeon and elsewhere. I still had about half of the Giant Tarepo left and of course the Cockatrices and the Rock Bird Fer had caught recently. Cockatrice, now that gave me an idea, remembering something the Black Magic Cooking Stove salesman had said to me. Could I make use of the big oven of my Black Magic Cooking Stove? I was pretty sure what I was thinking of making would fit.

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