[Adventurer’s Handbook] (Rivervale Town Branch Special Edition)
Foreword … 1-2
Choosing and Using Weapons … 3-9
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How to Handle Your Spoils … 31-38
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9. [About Those Pretty, Sparkling Stones]
“Kukunur’s General Store,” at No. 62 Mist Street, offers the fairest prices in Rivervale Town.
That said, young Kukunur occasionally gets an appraisal wrong.
Remember: saving 3 silver isn’t worth risking 100 gold!
By comparison, the neighboring “Fey Wind” is notoriously stingy with its offers, but its shopkeeper, Farlio, was professionally trained in jewelry. He once worked as an apprentice at the most famous pawnshop in Neum and possesses the sharpest eye in all of Rivervale Town.
High-end goods? Take them to him!
Clack.
Three small, opaque green stones with faint stripes landed neatly in a row across the counter.
Xia Nan looked at them, then at the solemn middle-aged man across from him.
Gold-rimmed glasses.
Serious clothes.
A face that practically screamed professional appraiser.
Hope stirred in Xia Nan’s chest.
Perhaps today was the day he became rich overnight.
The man named Farlio had clearly recognized the stones the moment he saw them, but he did not immediately quote a price.
Instead, he picked them up one by one.
Turned them over.
Held them closer to the light.
Examined each from several angles.
Only after a thorough inspection did he finally sit back behind the counter, all interest gone from his face.
“Malachite. Ordinary quality. Ten gold each.”
…
16. [Where Do You Dump All That Scrap Metal?]
First, stop talking!
You need to understand one basic fact: secondhand equipment stripped off unlucky corpses sells for half price.
That’s common sense.
Magic items are an exception, of course.
Assuming you actually have any.
Second, if you’re looking for somewhere to dump all the heavy junk you nearly broke your back carrying home, I recommend “Hickory Forge” at No. 25 Mist Street.
The owner used to be an adventurer himself. He knows exactly how miserable it is to haul that garbage all the way back to town, so he usually gives a decent price.
There is one condition.
You have to survive the dozens of “glorious exploits” he’ll tell you while appraising your goods.
For weapons and armor, I recommend “Rockhammer.”
Rumor has it that the owner is one sixty-fourth dwarf.
He displays absolutely no dwarven traits whatsoever, unless you count his obsession with braiding his beard, but his craftsmanship is excellent.
He also accepts custom equipment orders.
“Oh, let’s see here. One moldy little round shield and several bloodstained pieces of leather armor.”
The burly man in front of Xia Nan stroked his thick brown beard.
“You’re lucky you came to me. Any other shop would turn these down even if you offered them for free.”
He slapped the armor.
“Ten gold.”
Then, without missing a beat, he continued in his rough voice.
“Can’t blame you, though. When I was young, I used to drag this kind of junk home too. I remember one time…”
Xia Nan remembered the handbook’s warning.
He sealed his lips.
Not a word.
Not even a polite grunt.
He would give this man absolutely nothing to work with.
The bearded owner looked mildly disappointed, but continued appraising the loot.
“These arrows were maintained pretty well.”
He inspected one.
“The poison’s already gone bad. Why didn’t you wipe it off?”
He set the arrows aside and picked up the greataxe.
“Add this in… thirty gold.”
Then came the morningstar.
“Tch. Bugbear weapon?”
The owner gave it a contemptuous shake.
“Figures. Beasts like that don’t maintain anything. Six gold.”
He glanced at Xia Nan again.
“Still, taking down a bugbear at your age isn’t bad. Back when I…”
Twenty minutes later.
Thump.
The door of Hickory Forge closed softly behind Xia Nan.
He stood outside in the fresh air, rubbed his stiff cheeks, and let out a long breath.
Free.
Finally.
Compared with the state he’d been in when he first emerged from the Misty Forest, Xia Nan was carrying far less now.
He had spent the entire morning selling loot.
The [Deathline] ring stayed with him.
So did Elki’s two daggers, still tucked at his waist. They were convenient enough in an emergency that Xia Nan saw no reason to sell them.
Everything else was gone.
Once he added in the small pouch of coins he’d taken from the goblin nest, Xia Nan’s total wealth had risen to an “astonishing” amount.
131 gold.
5 silver.
9 copper.
For his predecessor, a farm boy who had grown up working the fields, that was an unimaginable fortune.
The number by itself did not quite capture what it meant.
In actual goods, it was enough to buy flour to fill an entire storeroom.
Or more than a hundred goats.
Or over ten cows.
Back in the village where his predecessor had lived, that was more wealth than nearly any ordinary household possessed.
And this…
This was the return from a single quest.
Xia Nan shifted the backpack on his shoulders.
More than a hundred gold coins pressed heavily against his back.
Only now did he truly understand why so many people became adventurers despite knowing just how dangerous the profession was.
Why countless people willingly stepped onto a road where a single mistake could get them killed.
Money.
The answer was painfully simple.
One successful trip could earn what an ordinary family might struggle for years to accumulate.
Of course, there was a catch.
Against normal goods, these coins had terrifying purchasing power.
The moment adventurer-related products entered the picture, however, gold seemed to become a completely different currency.
To put it another way…
Not counting the [Deathline] ring, Xia Nan’s entire fortune could buy him about two healing potions.
That thought immediately cooled his excitement.
He shook his head with a bitter smile, forcing down the unrealistic sense of wealth swelling inside him.
Then he opened the [Adventurer’s Handbook] again.
He had been running around all morning.
It was probably time to sit down somewhere, rest, and get something to eat.
…
[White Chickadee Tavern]
Cheap food and drink, combined with its convenient location beside the Adventurers’ Association, make White Chickadee Tavern the first choice for low-level adventurers in Rivervale Town.
Xia Nan had actually been there once before.
Maji had paid.
If he remembered correctly, his predecessor had ordered gray rat fried rice and a cup of water.
Unfortunately, his predecessor had been too distracted at the time to pay any attention to the food. He had simply shoveled it into his mouth until his stomach was full.
Which meant the current Xia Nan had no useful impression of the tavern’s cooking at all.
[Still, if the handbook recommends it, it can’t be that bad.]
With that thought, he pushed open the tavern door.
Creak…
Noise hit him first.
Then warmth.
Then the rich smell of alcohol, so dense it seemed almost tangible.
Xia Nan stopped just inside the doorway.
Outside was a bright, open street.
Inside was a warm, crowded tavern.
Only a wooden door separated the two, yet it felt as though he had stepped into another world.
A red-faced young adventurer stood on top of a wooden table, waving a sheathed longsword while loudly boasting about something to anyone willing to listen.
In the far corner, a scruffy middle-aged man with a weathered face sat alone, drinking in silence.
Colorful tapestries hung from the walls.
Smoke curled beneath brass oil lamps.
Long wooden tables were crowded with rough benches.
Maps.
Dice.
Tankards.
Leather armor.
Robes.
Hands moving over instrument strings.
Xia Nan took it all in.
[Now this feels right.]
For the first time in a while, the reality of having crossed into another world hit him again.
The tavern’s warm light and the smell of hot food seemed to melt days of accumulated exhaustion from his body.
He scanned the room, found the tavernkeeper behind the counter, and headed over.