The Black Iron Forge, famous for working with black iron, a spiritual metal known for its hardness and incredible weight, few are able to wield weapons and armor made from this metal.
They have several branches throughout the empire and are open to any buyer, which is why they are so successful because they don't judge who they are buying from.
Of course, they have a branch on both the first and second levels of Andrés City, as for the third level, I suppose those on the third level will have their personal blacksmiths, which is why the branch is not necessary there.
The store was not very striking, above the entrance there is a wooden sign with a hammer hitting a piece of black metal.
Upon entering, I was greeted with a grand sight, all sorts of weapons hung on the walls, each with a tag marking its price, rank, and quality.
Exploring a little, the most expensive weapon was a pair of hand axes called "Ice Twins" their price was more than two thousand gold coins, which was an astronomical sum even for some alchemists who are the ones who move the most gold in and out of the city, although as second-rank weapons, they are certainly worth it.
There were also a few weapon display cases in the surrounding area, however, the weapons in the display cases weren't as amazing as the ones on the walls, some of them were not even above beginner grade 1, which was the equivalent of a first-stage refiner.
However, they were the only weapons that fit my price range, as even the most expensive weapon in the display cases didn't cost more than 200 gold coins.
Checking each weapon one by one, my attention was drawn to some gloves made of leather that were coated with metal in specific parts of the glove.
The position of the metals seemed to be intended to block and redirect attacks from sharp weapons since the metal parts were round except for the knuckles which had a diamond shape and small metal tabs covering the middle part between the knuckles.
The gloves are priced at 19 gold coins, so if I buy them, that would leave me with 6 gold coins, which could easily buy me two beginner-grade pills or one advanced-grade pill.
I wasn't sure if I should buy them, although the price was within my budget, it was still a non-ranked weapon, if its toughness wasn't enough, rank one weapons could easily destroy them.
Gritting my teeth, I called out to a woman who stood to the side, watching each customer as they walked in.
—Excuse me, I'd like to buy a gun—
The woman, who seemed somewhat bored, instantly came to life when she heard that someone wanted to buy a gun.
"Of course. What weapon are you interested in, sir?" the woman asked politely.
Pointing at the gloves, the woman looked at me in surprise. Someone who used these kinds of things as weapons was unusual, as people usually preferred things like swords, maces, or spears, weapons par excellence.
However, as a professional, a sale was a sale and she wouldn't waste it.
The woman took out the gloves and gave them to me to try on, the texture was similar to leather, but there was something that made it different from traditional leather, I wasn't able to say why, another thing that took me by surprise was the metal that the glove was coated with, it looked like steel, although steel wasn't a spiritual metal, its hardness was comparable to some of them and it was still expensive, the price of 19 gold coins shouldn't be able to cover it.
Seeing my confused look, the woman seemed to understand and began to explain, "These gloves actually cost over a hundred gold coins due to the complexity involved in making them. Also, the materials behind their design are quite expensive. However, since they are such an unusual weapon and don't protect as well as armor or do as much damage as a traditional weapon, people aren't willing to buy them, and so the price has been dropping to its current price."
No wonder, even though steel is a great material comparable to a spirit metal and the leather of the glove was very flexible and tough at the same time almost comparable to that of the so-called spirit beasts, it was still a weapon without rank, if one did not have enough skill, one could even lose one's hands against someone wielding a sword or a spear.
After thinking about it for a bit, I decided, "I'll take them." Upon hearing that I would be buying the gloves, the woman broke into a big smile and started talking again.
—Of course, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask —
Taking 19 gold coins out of a small cloth bag, I couldn't help but ask the woman, "Does the person who made these gloves still work here?"
—It still does, if you have any future orders, don't hesitate to come and I'll let you know when they arrive. —
Thanking the saleswoman, I left the place.
. . . .
The next day, in the middle of the training grounds, a commotion was taking place among the practitioners.
—Did you hear? Baron Andrew wants to wage another war to take over the neighboring city. He seems desperate to take over the neighboring city.
—Shhh, speak lower, what will you do if they hear us? —
The neighboring city should be Azure City, despite being a relatively new city, has been gaining a lot of power lately, no wonder considering they own a spirit stone mine.
These stones seem to have great value for spiritual practice, so much so that within a few years several powerful talents could be created from a mine of spiritual stones.
However, I do not know what these stones look like or how they are used, I only know that apparently only those who are above the second rank of spiritual practice can use them , if someone below that rank tried to use them they would suffer from poisoning for some reason that I do not know.
— No wonder, I heard that the Count of Galleon wants to make a move, Baron Andres must be desperate to obtain the spirit stone mine long before him —
—Yes, it still has the advantage of being the closest city to Azure City, but if Baron Andrew delays, that advantage could soon end—
—I just hope I don't get picked as a soldier, I just got in a month ago—
—It's a shame, I just made my first breakthrough, at this rate many people will want to flee the city rather than be forced to participate in a noble war—
Andrew City, as the two fellow practitioners mentioned, is the closest city to Azure City, the expenditure of resources and manpower for Baron Andrew should be small compared to other cities that need to cover large amounts of land, however, if he is planning to take Azure City so quickly, there should be news about it in a short time.
Whatever Baron Andrew's attitude toward the matter is, it is no good to me. As a servant of the martial arts school under his power, I am obliged to participate in the war if ordered to do so. That is the bad thing about selling yourself to the devil; you lose all rights to your own life.
If I wanted to revoke the contract that binds me as a servant of the martial arts school, I must get the hundred gold coins before the martial arts school decides to increase the price for revoking the servant contract, according to rumors, they used to do that so no one would escape from the war.
And even if someone paid the price, they would still benefit, so it was a win-win for them.
As for me, I couldn't allow myself to be chosen and die at the hands of a greedy man without first finding out who I am and why I have no memories of my past.
After hearing about an impending war, I no longer had the desire to continue training. The best thing was to earn money as soon as possible, and the best way to do that was through circus fights.
There is no set limit on the number of fights you can participate in, so as long as my body can keep up, I can participate in several fights.
For now I'm going to rest for the rest of the day and tomorrow after I've done my job as a guard, the first thing I would do would be to head to the circus, although I had planned to rest for three or four days before having my next fight, with the current situation, two days should be enough.
I just hope I gather the hundred gold coins quickly enough or else I might be forced to find a way to escape the city.