Magni crossed his arms and looked Link up and down, his face entirely un-surprised.
The two of them had maintained a frequent correspondence over the years, so Link had already explained his transformation into an elf in his letters.
“You guy,” Magni said, poking Link’s shoulder with a thick, stubby finger.
“A guy as strong and sturdy as you should be playing the Vanguard in the party. I’m the one who ought to be playing the Hero.”
“In our party, isn’t the Vanguard just whoever runs the slowest?” Link responded with a smile.
“Come to think of it, that’s true. After all, our Hero’s Party almost never fights enemies head-on.” The old dwarf turned around and began walking back toward the shop.
“It’s a pity Anduin and I have gotten old. We can’t play house with you two anymore.”
Link didn’t reply to that, following Magni into the back room while Flamme stayed close behind her master.
“This is the disciple you took in, named Flamme, right?”
By now, Flamme also remembered—the old dwarf before her was the maker of that cursed alarm clock.
He was also one of the four members of the Hero’s Party, a somewhat honest dwarf Vanguard.
Just like her master Link, he was a guy who completely defied expectations.
“Hello, Grandpa Magni.” Despite her reluctance, Flamme greeted him politely.
Magni looked down at the little girl he had just scammed out of quite a bit of money, lifting a rough hand intending to pat her head.
Halfway through reaching out, he caught sight of his filthy hands, withdrew his arm, and rubbed them against his apron.
Even after wiping them, he didn’t reach out again, simply looking down with a light chuckling laugh.
“This old man was only joking with you earlier.”
Saying that, he returned the thirteen gold coins he had scammed from Flamme.
“Now it’s time for adult talk. Little one, go wander around outside for a bit.”
The door to the inner room closed.
Standing outside, Flamme could still hear Magni’s voice coming from the other side of the door:
“Such an honest little girl. Doesn’t resemble your disciple at all.”
Flamme shook her fist at the door in anger, mounting a silent protest.
Then she turned and walked away—she couldn’t be bothered to listen to adult matters anyway.
Inside the room.
Magni dragged two old chairs out from the corner, pushing one in front of Link and sitting on the other himself.
“What’s the matter? Did someone wreck your home again?”
“No. There is something far more important.”
“You want me to forge something else? I haven’t even collected my payment for the Sword of the Hero last time.”
Link didn’t play along with his joke.
He sat in the old chair and fell silent for a moment before speaking, his tone completely different from when he was banter-ing in the alley just now.
“I found something interesting, but I need the help of the three of you.”
Magni’s hand, which had been stroking his beard, came to a stop.
“I want to study and develop a [Spell to Reanimate the Dead], to resurrect those who have died.”
“Reanimating the dead? Is this round of playing house going to involve playing God?”
“Now that’s interesting.”
“You’re not tricking me, are you?”
“Of course not. Aren’t we all pretty much the same? None of us are inherently bad by nature; we just like to tell a lie every now and then.”
“Then I’ll reluctantly trust you one more time. After all, you’re a guy who never lets anyone feel bored.”
Saying that, Magni stood up and extended that calloused, grease-covered hand toward Link.
After half a century, the two hands gripped tightly together once more.
“I didn’t expect you to agree so quickly. I thought you’d ask me for a concrete plan.”
Magni released his grip and cast him a glance.
“How could a guy like you ever have a plan?”
“It’s precisely because of that that the four of us got along so well,” Link said with emotion.
The two looked at each other and smiled.
After exchanging pleasantries, Magni got up, rummaged through a corner drawer for a bit, found a small box, and handed it to Link.
Link took it and opened it.
Inside was a monocle.
After putting it on, Link blinked, his vision instantly turning crystal clear.
“Back then, I didn’t understand precision machining, but it’s no problem now.”
“Though wearing this doesn’t make me look like a good person. I look more like a refined scammer.”
“…”
“Doesn’t that just prove this monocle fits you even better?”
“Slander. Pure slander,” Link said, raising a finger with righteous severity.
“I haven’t lied to anyone for at least a day now.”
“Just today?”
“Just right now.”
Magni ignored his quibbling.
“Plenty of people over in the Royal Capital have been asking me to make one of these.”
Link raised an eyebrow.
“Are there that many bad people among the masses?”
“They’re all noble lords. I never scam money from the poor.”
“Besides, you’ll have to go to the Royal Capital eventually anyway. Anduin is still over there.”
Outside the door, Flamme was staring intently at a chest-type magic item in the shop.
According to the description, the inside of this chest had a mana-connected passage capable of storing a massive amount of things.
It was practically an essential divine tool for going on an adventure.
Although this thing was great, it had only one flaw: it actually cost a whopping 300 gold coins!
Her total travel funds right now weren’t even 500 gold coins.
Flamme was locked in an intense internal conflict.
Just then, her master came out alongside that old guy who had called her honest and completely unlike Link’s disciple.
Equipped with his brand-new monocle, Link’s vision was exceptionally high-definition; the yearning in Flamme’s eyes could no longer escape his sight.
“Do you like it, Flamme? Then let’s buy it.”
“Oh, that magic item.”
Before Flamme could even speak, Magni chimed in, “That’s the treasure of our shop. It costs at least 3,000 gold coins.”
Magni spoke with a beaming smile, opening his mouth wide for an exorbitant price.
“You might as well just rob us,” Link said, immediately shielding Flamme and the money behind his back.
Seeing this, Magni prepared to expose Link’s dark history.
“Little girl, back then, it was your master who scammed all my money away.”
“We were taking a bet, do you understand? Do you even understand what probability means?!”
Seeing that Magni still refused to budge, Link gave Flamme a look. The source of this chapter is g.com.
“Flamme, get the money out. I, Link, am the last person to be short on cash.”
This time, Flamme seemed to be infected by her master’s generosity, handing the money over without feeling a single shred of heartache.
Clutter, clutter.
Three thousand gold coins—not a single piece short.
“You guy… where did you get so much money? Just the annual maintenance for the Dragon Stronghold costs a fortune!” Magni found it somewhat hard to believe.
“Heheh, when I came back from the north back then, I paid another visit to the old King.” Link pushed his monocle, the corners of his mouth curving into an arc Flamme was all too familiar with.
Every time her master was about to talk about his “glorious achievements,” he wore this exact expression.
Magni snorted through his nose, having already prepared himself psychologically.
“You asked him for startup capital again?”
Before Link could answer, Magni said with certainty once more, “No, that old guy wouldn’t give it to you.”
“I knew he wouldn’t give it, so I didn’t ask for it.”
Link gave a secretive answer: “What I asked for was bereavement compensation.”
“I told him the three of you died in battle.”
The room fell instantly silent.
Magni trembled with rage, roaring, “Get out, you damned bastard! You aren’t human! You have no heart!”
Amid Magni’s stream of verbal abuse, the master and disciple left the dwarf shop.
Of course, they were also carrying that magic item chest.
“Flamme, don’t look down on this place just because it seems inconspicuous.”
Link walked down the alley, the sunlight falling on his shoulders once more, his tone returning to its usual composure.
“The counterfeits that come out of here are often even better to use than the real thing.”
He wasn’t speaking empty pleasantries—Magni’s craftsmanship couldn’t be matched by a single soul in the entire Southern Lands.
“Grandpa Dwarf is actually that amazing?” Carrying the chest, Flamme looked back at that run-down little building.
Then, realizing something, she looked up at Link.
“Since he’s so incredible at counterfeiting, his appraisal skills can’t be bad either, right?”
“Naturally. During our adventures, we relied heavily on those two skills of his.”
“Then what class was he when he went adventuring with you?” Flamme was eager to know Magni’s combat capability.
“He was the Vanguard.”
“Huh? That doesn’t seem very related to his skills.”
“Of course. His identity as the Vanguard was fake too,” Link said as a matter of fact.
“In our party, whoever ran the slowest was the Vanguard.”
Flamme fell silent for a moment, then nodded thoughtfully.
“Then let this fine tradition continue onward.”
Before Link could register what that sentence meant, Flamme stopped in her tracks, a pale green glow shimmering beneath her feet.
[Gale Acceleration Magic]
The very next second, Flamme shot forward like an arrow released from a bow string.
Immediately after, a shout could be heard from behind:
“Link! You really aren’t human!”
“It’s all counterfeit money! Not a single piece of it is real!”
Link looked down in the direction where Flamme had vanished, muttering to himself:
“This child… learns way too fast.”