Hearing the sudden polite tone, Daru stopped, deciding to hear the young man out.

He turned, crossed his arms over his chest, narrowed his eyes, and coldly locked gazes with the apologetic former young master.

He then froze for a moment after feeling something strange that he didn't expect, and put his arms down again, expression easing slightly as he cleared his throat.

"It wasn't so hard talking with proper manners, was it?" Daru began. "Speak."

Fritz scratched his cheek in embarrassment, slightly uneasy after being reprimanded as though the other party was his mother.

"A-Anyway, I need crafting materials, low-tier equipment, and that mold, if possible. Again, I can give you what you need in exchange if you can help me."

Daru fell silent.

He had a lot of low-tier equipment just lying in his inventory, ready to be sold.

He planned to ask Max for help regarding this matter.

However, if he can directly benefit without going to such trouble…

"I will not give the mold, but I do have a few low-tier equipment in my inventory. As for the crafting materials, I don't know how I can help you with this."

Fritz was unsatisfied, but he had already somewhat expected this.

A mold was incredibly difficult to obtain — impossible, even, for someone like him.

How could someone give it away so easily?

It was already good that he would be able to obtain a few low-tier equipment to work with.

As long as he could manage his finances well, he would be able to consistently practice.

But first, he decided to address the matter of crafting materials, as he needed to practice both manual forging and upgrading.

"Well, you'll head out there, gather materials for me, and I'll pay you in the currency you want after you deliver them to me. Swordcoins or Neo-Earth Dollars, your choice." Fritz explained in a puzzled manner.

How else would such a transaction work?

To his bewilderment…

"No, I can't waste time traveling to Agaron." Daru firmly refused.

He was willing to help the F-ranker, since he could somehow put himself in their shoes — how difficult their lives in the realm would be if they didn't have his level of swordsmanship, and obviously, the young man in front of him didn't.

But he didn't want to sacrifice his own progress for Fritz's

He could gather materials for him for a day or two, but that's it.

Daru was also learning, and he had a plan, which was why he decided to hear the young man out in the first place.

He would've simply left, otherwise.

"What? Then how could we–" the bespectacled young man was about to throw his chance away when, suddenly, an idea popped up in his mind.

Although there would be added fees, he could take it.

Fritz was confident that as long as he could get through these tough times, he would thrive.

"Then what about we use a courier?"

"That…would make our transaction possible." Daru nodded.

If a courier delivered his rewards in exchange for the gathered materials, then he could see himself helping the young blacksmith.

He would earn rewards, the blacksmith would improve, and he would be able to build connections — something he had been trying to do but was failing spectacularly at.

"Great! Follow me," the gray-haired young man said, clearly delighted that he was somehow able to secure the assistance of an A-ranker despite failing to control his mouth again.

The two headed towards the Novice Inn of Agaron and negotiated at the lobby.

As it turned out, all Fritz needed were the materials needed to forge Reinforced Steel Armor: Steel Horns, Bronze Chitin, and Raw Hide.

Daru considered gathering seventy units each rather easy.

After all, he had already farmed more than ten times the amount just recently.

He agreed in exchange for five bottles of twenty-percent experience boost tonics and ten thousand Swordcoins.

…Until a better idea formed in Daru's mind.

It could be said that although he hadn't tapped on the full potential of his mold yet, he would outgrow it soon, and he would have no decent means to provide himself with decent armor sets after that.

He suddenly appreciated the potential of the Manual Forgers — the Blacksmith Bladeborns, in other words.

Their potential isn't fixed like molds.

And the young man in front of him seemed fairly confident of his skills…

Before their discussions concluded, however, Daru suddenly asked: "Hey, how good are you?"

"Huh?" Fritz was naturally bewildered at the confusing question. "What do you mean?"

"Ah, sorry. As a blacksmith."

The bespectacled young man's brows curved upwards, not expecting an A-ranker to suddenly ask about his prowess in smithing.

To Daru's surprise, Fritz's response was quite grounded and humble — at least compared to how he snapped back at the green-haired young man at the cafeteria, although there was still a hint of defensiveness in the smith aspirant's words.

"I'd say I can be a Master Smith, at the very least, but I'm working to become a Grandmaster. Why, you think an F-ranker like me can't?"

"You said you can be a Master Smith, so who am I to say otherwise?" was Daru's response, greatly disorienting the gray-haired young man.

He then continued: "Fine then, since you're so promising, you only need to compensate me with a twenty percent experience boost tonic for every two hours I would spend gathering materials for you. That way, I won't be left behind. But in exchange, I want to be able to request armor sets from you. I'll provide the materials."

Fritz was dumbfounded for a moment.

This was the first time someone trusted his words, and for some reason, the moment his eyes met Otsuna's, his heart skipped a beat.

The bespectacled smith aspirant collected himself by fixing his glasses and clearing his throat.

He was strangely happy. Very happy.

"I see that you have an eye for people, Otsuna," was Fritz's attempt at praising Daru. "Fine. Since you genuinely believe me, then I shall enter this partnership with you. You can consider yourself lucky to have secured such an important ally."

"Here, take this."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.