Chapter 009: The Barbarian Blacksmith
“Well, respected Miss Ringtone, and my esteemed shaman priest,” Du Fan said calmly, “since you asked me to come to your market to see what’s here, shouldn’t you take off that damned mask? I don’t know what you look like, but don’t worry, Miss Ringtone—even if you had three eyes and two mouths, I wouldn’t be worried about you!”
To his surprise, Ringtone sneered and asked, “Aren’t you regretful?”
Du Fan smiled faintly and replied, “I’m not regretful…”
Then, Ringtone seemed to smile lightly before taking off her mask… and Du Fan immediately regretted it…
Shaman Priest Ringtone wasn’t ugly—at least her figure was a perfect devil’s figure. Unfortunately, their god clearly hadn’t taken good care of his people. This woman with a devilish figure still had a face that resembled a demon’s.
Du Fan sighed inwardly. Who told me that? Who told me that princesses of other races must be beautiful and charming?
Looking at that face that he simply didn’t know how to describe—such an ugly face—Du Fan sighed in silence. No wonder she kept wearing that mask.
He felt a bit embarrassed but still said softly, “I’m sorry… I didn’t know…”
“Are you not afraid?” Ringtone sneered again. Though her voice remained clear, paired with that face, it left no room for other thoughts. Her face was covered in long scars, as if it had been slashed countless times with a knife. Anyone with ordinary resilience would likely be scared away by such a face.
Du Fan forced a wry smile and said, “Why should I be afraid?”
Ringtone, seemingly thinking of something, sneered once more and put her mask back on. Du Fan let out a slight sigh of relief—wearing it was indeed better than not!
Are all nobles as self-deceptive as me? Du Fan thought with a faint bitter smile.
He slowly shook his head, forcing himself to shift his thoughts to other things, staring at those strange stalls in the distance.
To be honest, the barbarians’ goods weren’t very innovative. After glancing around briefly, Du Fan found that most of them were animal skins, herbs, linen, and the like. Moreover, the barbarians didn’t use standard gold coins; they relied on a barter system for trade.
Du Fan saw with his own eyes a man carrying a sack exchange the entire sack of some unknown beast’s meat for a few herbs, and he began to sigh.
After walking around a few times, aside from occasional items like wheat, jewelry, and cloth that caught Du Fan’s slight interest, everything else seemed utterly boring to him. Of course, he also understood that these items were likely plundered by the barbarians from elsewhere—given their low level of productivity, they couldn’t have made such things on their own. Yet these items seemed quite popular among the barbarians, which left Du Fan feeling puzzled and extremely bored. After wandering for about a day, as sunset approached, the two gradually headed toward what the barbarians called their sacred mountain. But at the foot of the mountain, they found rows of wooden huts emitting smoke, along with a constant ringing sound. Du Fan frowned and asked, “Miss Ringtone, what’s going on here?” Ringtone replied calmly, “This is where our Kara tribe forges weapons.” Du Fan took another look and became intrigued—he developed some interest in the barbarians’ method of forging weapons, so he couldn’t help but walk over. Ringtone seemed to frown slightly but still followed behind Du Fan. The wooden huts didn’t seem very large, but each one appeared sturdy. Even from a distance, a wave of heat could be felt. In front of each hut was a furnace with flames burning brightly. Several bare-chested barbarians were hammering away, while on the ground nearby lay weapons and armor that had already taken shape. However, these armors seemed to be made of leather, likely processed from the fur of magical beasts. Du Fan could see that these barbarians were still in a very primitive stage of blacksmithing. But with each strike, they would take out a powder-like substance and sprinkle it into the furnace, causing the flames to intensify. When the blacksmiths saw Du Fan approaching, they didn’t show any strange reactions. But when they noticed Ringtone behind him, each of them came forward to greet her before returning to their work. From their attitude, Du Fan deduced that these blacksmiths likely held a high status among the barbarians—probably second only to the shamans and priests, otherwise they wouldn’t have such an attitude. Du Fan walked over, picked up a half-finished dagger from the ground, and casually asked, “How much do these things cost?”
The other barbarians showed no reaction, but one of them put down his hammer, walked over, glanced at Du Fan, and suddenly said, “You want to buy something…”
Du Fan was stunned. Was he speaking Roland language?
He couldn’t help but ask, “Can you speak our Roland language?”
The man clapped his hands and said loudly, “Everyone in our Fire Tribe can speak a little…”
Although his accent was strange, it was still understandable.
Du Fan frowned slightly. Fire Tribe? It seemed to be the two people from last night… So this man…
He smiled faintly and said, “I do want to buy some weapons, but I’m not sure if there are any ready-made ones.”
The man grinned and said, “Please follow me…”
With that, the barbarian made a gesture inviting him to follow.
Soon, led by him, Du Fan arrived at a small wooden house.
There was a skylight in the house. Although it was crowded, it wasn’t very bright. Inside, there was a row of shelves filled with all sorts of strange weapons, all of which appeared extremely sharp.
Du Fan took a few glances and casually picked up a dagger, asking, “How much is this dagger?”
The man smiled and said, “If you want this, five wolf skins will suffice…”
Du Fan swung it around a few times and found it quite handy, but the idea of going out to hunt wolves just for it didn’t appeal to him. He put the weapon down and said, “Forget it. I don’t have wolf skins, but I do have some gold coins. But you barbarians probably don’t want those, right?”
The man scratched his head and said, “So you don’t like this dagger! Well… it’s not good. I’ve kept the good ones behind. Please follow me…”
With that, the barbarian opened a small door and invited Du Fan in.
Du Fan wasn’t afraid. He just nodded and went in.
The room inside was fairly clean, but there were no other unnecessary items. There was only a small table in the room, with a beautifully crafted dagger on it.
The man picked up the dagger and handed it to Du Fan, saying, “Lord Du Fan… this is what you should use…”
Du Fan felt a stir in his heart. He stepped back to the door and glanced outside, only to find that Ling Yin hadn’t followed in. He sighed in relief and said, “Who exactly are you? How do you know my name?”
The man suddenly smiled and said, “Lord Du Fan, there’s no need to worry. Our tribe’s high priest has already cast spells in this room, so whatever we say here, Priest Ringtone cannot hear it.”
Du Fan sneered and said, “It seems I’ve really stepped into a wolf’s den… Are you the person sent by the Fiery Tribe to contact me?”
“Of course not,” the other replied. “I’m just here to deliver a message to Lord Du Fan. Our chief has already agreed to your conditions from last night—once you kill Magnus, everything else will be taken care of.”
Du Fan frowned and said, “Where’s your chief? You can’t expect me to do anything just based on these words of yours, can you?”
The other smiled and said, “Lord Du Fan, you’re overthinking it. Someone of appropriate status will come to discuss this deal with you tonight. My task is merely to deliver this dagger to you.”
Du Fan asked, “What do you mean?”
The other handed the dagger to Du Fan and whispered, “This dagger is specially made. Ordinary people can’t tell it’s poisonous. To us Karans, it’s just a decorative item. But if it cuts even a tiny piece of skin, the person stabbed will die instantly! Please keep it safe, Lord Du Fan. It was prepared specifically for Magnus.”
Du Fan casually stuffed the dagger into his storage ring, but still couldn’t help sneering, “Are you really sure I’ll come to your little blacksmith shop?”
The man said, “The high priest said that if Lord Du Fan wants to know how advanced our Karan iron-smelting techniques are, he’ll definitely come and check it out. We’re absolutely confident about that.”
Du Fan snorted, just as he was about to say something.
But suddenly, the man whispered, “Bad news—someone’s coming… Lord Du Fan, remember, someone will contact you again tonight…”
As he spoke, the barbarian suddenly slapped the wall, and the room gradually disappeared, turning into a warehouse filled with weapons…