The First Legendary Beast Master

Chapter 949: Bargaining

While Lotus and Dana argued over who would get to pick the spot for lunch, Karl attended to the next shopper to stop at their stall.

It was an elderly Dwarf with age worn boots and no shirt under his coveralls, exposing his bare arms, while his beard hid his upper chest.

”How can I help you this morning? We have a variety of items available, and more in our Guild Bank, if you need something thatʼs not on display.” Karl offered.

The Dwarf looked the items over, and smiled as he read some of the runes.

”Water. I want a spell that makes water, as much as you can.” He insisted.

Karl gestured to the Overlord Ranked statue on the counter. ”Thatʼs about as much water as I can make for you, without causing property damage, that is.”

The filthy dwarf laughed. ”Well, I suppose that would be a consideration if you were making enough. How much is that spell intended to make?”

”A thousand litres a second for one minute per activation. It takes a fair bit of mana to make it work, but itʼs designed to fill irrigation canals without causing them to overflow their banks.”

The Dwarf nodded, then smiled. ”And if I asked you to make something that would be much more water, could you do it?”

”If you wanted to fill an entire lake behind a dam or something equally insane, I could personally create you about seven million litres a minute. But I donʼt have any material available that would stand up to a spell of that magnitude.” Karl explained.

A few passing shoppers stopped to stare at Karl. ”Did that translate wrong? I heard that as millions of litres.” One of them commented.

The Trollish shaman beside him nodded. ”I heard it that way too.”

Karl smiled and focused on speaking directly to the Troll. ”Yes, as an Overlord, the [Thousand Year Flood] spell creates seven million litres a minute. It would be more impressive if I were a Totem, but thatʼs what I can do with it.”

The Troll smiled, and the Dwarves nodded in satisfaction.

”You really did mean millions. Now, I canʼt afford that, but I wasnʼt expecting such a large number. Hell, you would probably need to make the statue out of pure Dwarven Mythril so it didnʼt shatter under the effects of a spell that powerful.” The shirtless Dwarf replied.

”What does a kilo of Dwarven Mythril go for?” The Troll asked.

”About a hundred thousand gold coins?” The Dwarf beside him replied, then burst into laughter.

The Troll shrugged. ”Guess I canʼt afford it either. We might could trade you the city for it?”

They all burst into laughter, along with a couple of the nearby vendors. Realistically, it would be about two gold coins for every resident of the city to buy the materials, but the majority of the people in town made less than one Gold Coin a month from their jobs.

Purchasing such a ridiculous item was simply out of the question, even if they had somewhere to store all that water.

”Spare me some coins, and we can split the use of the statue.” The shirtless Dwarf suddenly demanded of a passing farmer, who was giving a newly purchased pitchfork a loving expression.

”The what now? What are you on about.” The farmer demanded.

”Water creation statue. Itʼs enough to fill the irrigation canals between your farm and mine. I canʼt flood them without flooding your side as well, so shouldnʼt we share the cost?”

The loud voices were drawing a crowd, and a large Troll in silk pants pushed past the crowd to stand behind the Dwarves, who he could easily see over.

”That is the good thing? I heard from the shaman that there is a water thing here.” The brute insisted.

”We have two kinds. Enough for a farmhouse, and enough for a few square kilometres of fields. Which one do you want?” Karl replied.

”Fields. Got seventy kids. Need more water for the fields.”

Seventy children? The man needed a new hobby.

”Alright, this statue will keep the irrigation canals between your fields filled all the time.” Karl agreed.

The troll made to snatch the statue, but his fingers hit the barrier, and he cursed in pain.

”Money first, then I will give you the goods. Thatʼs just common sense.” Karl reminded him.

He was clearly used to simply taking what he wanted. But that was not going to work today.

The Trollish Brute frowned, then motioned for someone to come over.

A group of Trollish women in patched dresses scurried over to the stall.

”Yes, father?” One of the women asked.

”He wonʼt give me the thing. He says pay first. Canʼt take it without money.” The brute complained.

The young woman had the grace to look embarrassed on his behalf, then turned pale when she saw the price of the statue.

”Father, thatʼs a thousand Gold Coins. We only brought fifty silver to town for the shopping.” She explained.

The big Troll harrumphed, and then took a chest from his inventory and dropped it on the ground in front of her.

”Give him things, get the treasure.”

Karl wondered just how Troll genetics worked. There was a good chance that he had met houseplants smarter than this man, but all of his daughters seemed to be articulate and intelligent, though shabbily dressed.

Maybe it was a side effect of the Brute class? Or the Brute Class was a side effect of his lack of brain power?

The women began to sort quickly, and handed Karl a whole bag full of Commander Ranked rough gems, with a few Overlord Ranked Earth Gems on top.

They had to be sitting on a natural gem vein here, as that was the second time in a row that he got paid with the same items, and these ones werenʼt even clean.

They were also worth much more than a thousand gold coins in Drodh, so Karl accepted the payment and handed the statue to the daughter who had paid him.

The Brute roared in victory, then snatched up his chest of valuables and stomped away, while the ladies bowed apologetically to the crowd.

The shirtless Dwarf sighed. ”Well, it was a nice thought.”

Then Karl placed a new statue where the last one had sat.

”Wait, you have more?”

Beside Karl, Rae smiled at the crowd. ”Of course we have more in stock. Our Guild makes them, after all. We are also happy to accept high grade crafting materials in lieu of gold as payment.”