Chapter 132 - Volume 14

The Secret Commissioned Statue

This chapter is brought to you by AnmesicCat, B4DDI3Z, BDark, Kirito, Masadeer, and Thunderhamster. Special mentions to Shadow.

Weed left the administrative agency and took a look around Kurueso properly.

The Dwarven Blacksmith and other Artisans were on the streets creating something items ceaselessly. There were also Blacksmith shops such as Fabio’s, Bambi’s, and Exper’s.

The names listed above are probably Blacksmiths who made a lot of money from the sale of distinguished items, that they’d crafted. Once the required contribution has been made to the Kingdom, it’s possible to become Knighted, and own a house or villa.

‘In Kurueso, people are evaluated based on their Blacksmithing skill.’

Unlike sewing and other crafting skills, Dwarves, by nature loved to gather high quality materials, and use the best of their Blacksmithing expertise, forge something new.

“I am the dwarf, Heins. The deadline is almost up, but is there a person who is willing take up the challenge of making 100 window panes with me? It’s a request from the blacksmith’s workshop.”

Colleagues were appropriated based on necessity, even in Kurueso.

“What an excessive request. We have to make 20 pieces of armor, but the conditions are a bit difficult to meet. We’re looking for experts in smelting with a smithing skill of at least Beginner Level 8. You’ll have to provide your own materials, and the cost will be about 300 Gold. This job is only available to dwarves who are interested in skill growth!”

“Monsters have appeared in 8 tunnels, making it difficult to mine. We need to take back these tunnels and restore peace. The pay is 20 gold per person.”

“Every single protective armor must be well made. It’s the Armor shop owner’s request, but I have to make and deliver shields with over 30 defense. Shall we make them together, Dwarf?”

In every castle or village, there was a place set aside for recruiting companions and buying and selling supplies for quests. And inside this place, they crafted their wares, therefore there were many requests to obtain the necessary materials.

When it comes to commissions, it is better to gather colleagues rather than trying to complete it alone.

Thanks to various commission that were constantly being given out, Dwarves with low skill level were given many chances to improve their skills.

***

Kurueso!

Named after the Ancient Dwarven Kingdom, a glorious city for all Dwarven Craftsmen!

Dwarven houses’ entrances were small and narrow, but the ceilings were high enough for a human to enter.

Inside various shops, there were dozens of different weapons and armors on display.

Among the many things, next to a blacksmith’s shop, was a pub where Dwarves drank alcohol.

“In my opinion, the weapon I made this time turned out good. It’s well suited to strike the heads of the Orcs.”

“If you’re a blacksmith, you definitely have to live in Kurueso.”

“In the entire Versailles continent, we have the highest technology, we should be proud.”

Outside the pub, the Dwarven users noisy conversations could be heard.

Many people that entered from the back roads of the abandoned mine like Weed, were humans and Elves.

“Heueeeng! Why is everything so expensive.”

The beautiful user Elf’s face turned grouchy. She had found the bow with the perfect shape for her. However, the Dwarven seller said uprightly.

“We have no choice but to sell it at an expensive price to Elves. If you don’t want to buy it, scam!”

“Hueng, But I really do want it…”

“Then give me the money for it!”

“What should we do. Don’t you have enough money for it Lumiya?”

“No, I’m about 1500 gold short. I wish they would give us a slight discount. They don’t ever give us discounts.”

Grumpy Dwarves!

Unlike their fellow Elves and humans, Dwarves were not so favourable with them, or other races for that matter.

Although there were five beautiful elves inside the shop the price was not reduced by even 1 gold. Weed approached quietly to the side where the Elves and the Dwarves were bargaining.

However he did not have even the slightest desire to help the Elven women. He was just wondering what kind of quality the bows sold in Kurueso were.

Furthermore, this shop has garnered plenty of interest since it was located in the center of the Kurueso and was known for the high performance of the items it dealt.

Weed pointed at the bow the Elven woman wanted.

“I would like to look at this.”

“I was looking at this product first.”

The Elven women said with a sigh. However, Weed’s expression did not change.

“Is that so?”

“However, I don’t have enough money…”

“Then can I take a look at it?”

“But…”

As the Elven woman nodded, she received sharp glares from her companions.

Weed’s eyes shone as if he had captured prey!

The Dwarf owner readily handed him the bow.

“Our shop would be more thankful if a fellow Dwarf would uses this bow.”

Weed took the bow that was handed to him and looked at it carefully.

“Identify!”

‘Not bad.’

He received the information from his intermediate identify skills.

Because of his Intermediate Blacksmithing skill, Weed was able to get a more detailed information about the item.

After fidgeting with the bow for a while, Weed returned it.

“How much for this weapon?”

The Dwarf replied.

“15,500 gold.”

“Hmmm”

“Will you be buying it or not?”

Weed retreated a step.

“No, I will not be buying it.”

He was the person who had High Elves’ Bow. The reason why he was searching for items was not because he wanted to buy and use it but because he wanted to check the equipment’s price. That was the only reason he searched through the Dwarves’ equipment!

He had absolutely no desire on purchasing any weapon.

The Dwarf clicked his tongue.

“That’s too bad. Come to think of it, we Dwarves, don’t need a bow to win any battles.”

It was a weapon that she liked, since Weed said he was not going to buy it, she felt that another opportunity came.

Then Weed said to these people.

“Don’t buy that bow.

“What?”

The Elven women’s eyes were shining.

Although Elves were beautiful by nature, there were better looking people out there.

They had large round eyes, clean skin, and slim bodies. With pointed ears and green hair, it was natural that men would think they are very pretty.

“Its a cheap item.”

“What? What are you…”

“Little Dwarf friend! What do you mean by that!”

It was natural for the shop owner to have an outburst. However, Weed ignored the owner’s outburst and continued speaking.

“It is not a weapon that was made with careful consideration to its quality. Rather than Elves, it was made for non-Dwarves to use. The balance of the weapon is not good, and the average damage and durability is subpar.”

The weapon was not good enough for Elves to use. The Dwarven shop owner’s face was flaming red and was unable to utter a word.

“Huh?”

“The Dwarves have strong pride. Why did you not get angry?”

Weed continued saying.

“The fire rate is high, which would make it cost more, but this weapon was not properly calibrated in the center and is a complete rip off. If you want, you can get a shooting target and test the bow yourself.”

After he finished saying this, Weed quickly walked away from the store because there was nothing more to say.

He gave the Elf some advice only because she seemed to be his sister’s age.

The Dwarf was blushing bright red with embarrassment.

Dwarves start of with basic handicraft skills which made them excellent craftsmen.

The Dwarf knew that Weed was completely right and could not argue back.

“Elf, are you going to buy this or not?”

The Elf cautiously put down the weapon and nervously asked.

“What is the price for this bow?”

“12,500 gold.”

“But I heard that it’s not balanced…”

“Then don’t buy it.”

The arrogant Dwarf replied back and folded his arms.

The Elven woman understood that Weed helped her and ran after him in a haste in order to not lose him and to register him as a friend.

“Register Friend!”

– Your friend request has been denied.

“?.”

As a female Elf, he was the first one to refuse to register her as a friend.

On the battlefield and on quests, the elven race was always the most popular.

Because of their fast footwork, archers would react to surprisingly fast. And due to the Elven women’s pretty faces and slim bodies, men had always taken care of them.

In reality, their appearances were actually plain and they looked like model students who were engrossed with books, but they were popular in Royal Road.

The female Elf threw away her pride and tried again.

“Friend Request!”

– Your friend request has been denied.

“Friend Request!”

– You and Weed-nim have been registered as friends.

After three attempts for a friend request, in the end his name was Weed?

‘The name of that person is Weed?’

At that very moment, the Elf Edel sent a whisper, and just as she expected, the words she first heard were blunt.

– The Dwarves’ skills and devotion…

The whispered words Edel heard was exactly like that.

“It’s not that us Elves are doubting the skills and quality of the Dwarves, but this bow is too expensive for us plain elves to use. I know that the Dwarven Masters can make bows like this easily.”

“12,000 gold.”

An Elf was trying to bargain with the arrogant Dwarven shop owner who was said to be impossible to bargain with. It was a subject worth mentioning.

– Average damage…

Edel was carefully watching the Dwarf’s reaction and said.

“It says that the average damage is not consistent. If a bow’s damage is not consistent, it’s a big problem. I have to hunt the evil Orcs before they get close.”

It was known to all that the Orcs were the Elves’ and Dwarves’ common nemesis.

One could say that the Dwarves hated the Orcs existence.

“11,000 gold. Thats the lowest I can go.”

“I’ve heard that the durability is bad…”

“10,500 gold.”

If the price was about this amount, Edel could sufficiently buy it with the money she had.

“Wow!”

“I didn’t know Edel had a talent for bargaining.”

Edel’s fellow Elves cheered her on, however Edel decided to press on the matter.

Edel has yet to buy the bow. This was because she was unsure of the price.

Edel asked one more time to confirm the price.

“That is… Is it okay if I shoot a far target and check the results? If it’s a weapon that Master Dwarf has made there should be no problems, but I want to see how good the bow is before I decide. However, if the arrow strays even a little bit from the target, you’ll give me a discount, right?”

For the first time, the Dwarf’s complexion changed and turned pale.

“Give me 9,000 gold for it. Although the bow is somewhat flawed, it’s not bad if you bought it for 9,000 gold.”

That was how Edel finalized the purchase price to 9,000 Gold.

There was a slight disadvantage when you use the bow because of the inconsistent damage attack!

However, skills in archery would be more than enough to compensate the shortcomings of the bow.

It was amazing to be able to get a bow that provided a strong base damage as well as rapid fire capabilities at this level and at that price. A Human would find Elves to be amicable, but it was amazing to be able to bargain with the introverted Dwarves.

Edel tried to sending a whisper to Weed with a word of thanks.

– Thank you very much. Because of you I was able to buy the bow…

– The recipient has blocked you.

***

Most of the quest that were commissioned in the Kingdom of Kurueso were for the Dwarven race or Blacksmiths.

Sculpting was as rare as beans sprouting in a drought, and it was a situation where no one could say that they were proficient in it.

“Heolheol, I can’t buy any ale since my money for ale is gone. Although this is really unfortunate, I can’t beg due to a Dwarf’s honor. Luckily the lady who owns the bar said she likes sculptures; won’t you make her one? In return, I’ll give you the pickaxe I’ve been using. You can’t sell it anywhere, but you can use it in a variety of ways.”

Ttiring!

“I will get started on the sculpture right away.”

– You have accepted the quest.

“You say you’re a Sculptor? A Sculptor… When I was young, I was also able to see some spectacular sculptures. What, you say I don’t seem the type?”

“That’s not it. Dwarves are legendary artists, and they are delicate craftsmen.”

“That’s right. The arrogant Humans say that the Dwarves have no interest in the arts; unlike the Orc bastards, us intelligent Dwarves love beautiful and durable things. Even in our city of Kurueso, we have many Dwarven warriors who don’t know the meaning of backing off. I want to store those memories in my house. Make me a sculpture of a proud Dwarven warrior.”

Ttiring!

“I’ll get started right away.”

-You have accepted the quest.

He received this quest without even accepting the Rank F difficulty quest.

One could say that it he was good at getting job quests!

He had hope that there would always be a Sculptor quest anywhere he went.

In this way, he randomly received Sculptor-related requests.

‘Kurueso is a small place.’

There were no more than a thousand Dwarves living here.

There were a lot of empty buildings, and it was quiet for its size.

If there were no Elven or Human adventurers, it would truly become a lonesome place.

‘If I keep doing the sculptor requests, I guess there will be a request to sculpt some unknown thing.’

He thought that he would be able to find a clue at the very least.

However, even though he finished dozens of requests, a special request never appeared. Although the difficulty of the requests rose on average after he mentioned Iron Hand, they never exceeded rank D.

Chain quests were hard to find, and, at best, they introduced him to another Dwarf who needed a sculptor.

The scary thought that flitted through his mind at that moment!

‘This can’t be the limit for sculptor quests, can it?’

If he was a combat-related profession, he could just go adventuring.

There was no need to talk to go on an adventure. He could excavate a ruin, or study the local fauna and flora. He could capture a monster.

The interesting requests were linked together without an end.

Even priests were able to experience special rites that the Church had laid down.

However, he began to think that such quests were nonexistent for the sculptors in the first place.

‘That’s right. Even the quest to make a tomb for the King in the Rosenheim Kingdom was like this.’

It was a rank B difficulty sculptor quest!

If the difficulty was higher than the other commissions then experience and rewards would be greater and it might also give influences throughout the Versailles content.

But what made the tomb of the King so difficult was the physical labor needed to build it.

‘It was a task that could easily be done with simple workers. Furthermore, when sculpting the statue of the Goddess Freya, there were no special challenges.’’

Weed was proficient at laboring, and whenever a new job appeared, he accepted it with optimism.

It was true that he was scared of the other difficult sculpting requests in reality.

How troublesome would it be if there was a request to turn some gems worth tens of thousands of gold into a necklace that would be left behind in the world for centuries?

Weed gladly accepted simple labor, and had created a significant portion of his sculptures that way.

However, it seemed as though, while he was doing that, he had never earnestly thought about the sculptures.

‘It’s possible that the quests I receive through sculpting are stuck at this pitiful level.’

While he did specially make large statues, it could be that those were the limits of the sculpture requests.

It did not fit the image of a Sculptor to do things like search for a party, battle, or go on an adventure!

It might be better to hole up somewhere and create sculptures endlessly.

One could say that Tailors and Blacksmiths were in a similar situation, but whatever the case, he began to hold doubts that, as a Sculptor, he might not be able to go adventuring.

‘No. Damn it. This is reality. There can’t be any Sculptor who goes on adventures, can there?’

Weed fell into despair.

***

Every day, the Predators of the Land Guild and Daymond were gaining more and more attention.

The reason the Humans were concerned about this incident was because it was about time they went to hunt the King Griffin in the Havelin Gorge.

It was considered impossible to kill the King Griffin!

They went on countless adventures to the Land of the North to hunt the Yellow Griffins.

As Griffins could fly in the sky, they had high agility, and were clever, thus they were considered suicidal to hunt.

The Havelin Gorge was a place that lured many adventures to their deaths.

Daymond and the Predators of the Land Guild entered the Havelin Gorge fearlessly.

The clever Griffins lightly greeted the intruders by rolling boulders on them and tossing branches at them while airborne.

However, the Griffins with not use any frontal attack.

‘If you want to come further, then come. There is no way you bastards will be able to survive.’

This terrified them, and with night raids every night they had to watch their surrounding carefully.

They were about the third of the way into the Gorge, which was too far to turn around, the Griffins’ attacks began in earnest.

The Predators of the Land Guild experienced a series of deaths. Words of their failed attempt were up for discussion.

Other guilds laughed at the Predators of the Land guild for their recklessness.

“Unless you’re crazy, you can’t challenge the Havelin Gorge.”

There are other guilds who had larger military strength compared to The Predators of the Land guild. Nevertheless, they would not dare to challenge a dangerous area such as Havelin Gorge.

Especially when defeat was guaranteed.

Because their guild had high prestige, they would be the focus of all players in the Versailles continent. If they were to fail, their reputation would drop significantly.

Additionally, even if they were successful, if many of the core players died, they would suffer great losses.

Although the guilds occasionally exercised their military strength, they were very cautious about it. Therefore the Predators of the Land guild were ridiculed for fearlessly challenging the Havelin Gorge.

“Since they’re leading the guild recklessly, they will fail and end up lost in the North.”

Nevertheless, the Daymond and the Predators of the Land Guild continued to stay strong despite their losses.

However, they were anxious because of the Griffins.

Because Griffins were aerial monsters, only arrows and magic could slay them.

Nonetheless, there was a place of refuge for them.

Griffins’ nest was in the centre of the Havelin Gorge!

In the nest, there were baby Griffins that did not have wings or knew how to fly.

After the Predators of the Land guild, led by Daymond, arrived at the nest and started a terrible and bloody fight, they obtained an unbelievable victory.

In order to kill the Griffin King, they had to capture 35 little Griffins. The value of successfully capturing and taming one Griffin in an aerial battle, was enormous.

There was a movie in real-time of the battle in Havelin’s Gorge posted on the Hall of Fame. Many lost their lives in the battle but the guild fought until the Griffin King had been killed which impressed many of the viewers.

People were completely captivated by the Predators of the Land Guild’s recklessness.

***

Weed’s concerns about the value of the sculpting request was deepening.

“Though, it can’t be helped. They say that learning is theft…”

There was no other way to develop the art of sculpture. He could only accomplish the requests in silence!

“Good work.”

“No, not at all.”

Even though the Dwarf who had entrusted the request to him came, Weed only gave curt responses.

“Oh! It’s a really great piece of artwork.”

“I simply carved it.”

“To think that you could trim the surface so smoothly… And look at the curvature of the surface. To think that we could see the pinnacle of grace in the curvature!”

“Since I made it with a lot of consideration, please stop the cheap talk and give me money.”

The height of exhaustion!

Even if he earned favor, the sculpturing requests did not compensate well. He would only get the amount that was already agreed upon.

Of course, if he made a sculpture that was better than requested, he could get a bit of a raise in compensation. However, the reward would not raise if he simply traded words.

The Dwarves gently laughed at Weed’s haggardness.

“If you’re a Sculptor, you have to have at least this much pride.”

“Ah, well! You could go act like one.”

“A engraver with a wonderful personality. If I have another request, I’ll come again.”

“Please request a commision that pays well next time.”

Even though Weed showed his frustration, the Dwarves took the sculpture and left satisfied.

He even had situations where he received mundane sculpture requests!

He also had a lot of times when he created things like graves or a Goddess in the continent of Versailles. However, there was nothing the Dwarven Artisan city of Kurueso did not have.

There was a lot of monuments, memorials, museums, etc, piled up by extraordinary Dwarf craftsmen, but commissioned sculptures were rare.

“There really is not even a stall.”

Nevertheless, Weed continued to carve sculptures.

He was getting used to the murmurings of the unknown presences.

Weed only did business at certain sculpture stores, sculpture materials stores and a certain spot on the side of the road.

However, one day the sculpture store owner held out a sculpture that looked like a bat.

: “Art Hand, take a look at this.”

“Why?”

“Can you give your impression of this work of stone?”

Weed examined the work as he handled it.

“It’s annoying, but you do know that sculptors are naturally not very good at this job?”

“I know, but I wouldn’t ask for no reason. Yes, you won’t be disappointed with the compensation.”

“Then will the sculpture I make be sold for a high price?”

“Just to gain 1 percent more. A popular sculpture will sell for a very high price, and other sculptures can sell for a high price even if they are not as popular…”

Also according to the transactions the prices of sculptures could rise.

If many merchants came to want the statue then the price will also rise. In reality, the value of the defensive equipment in Thor and Kurueso were expensive due to their popularity.

In order to set the price following the economy of the market, the sculptures couldn’t be sold for a particularly high price, even if it was Weed’s sculptures. It was a poorly made sculpture, not one made using superior materials and without a lot of consideration.

“Since it’s only one impression, I’ll try it.”

Weed closely examined the bat sculpture.

“I don’t think there is anything special about it…”

Since he made many sculptures, his observational skills had vastly improved.

The bat sculpture that was made using a rock consisting of poor quality clay did not seem to be a piece that was made with great skill.

‘It wasn’t elaborately presented, and there are many crude knife marks. It’s barely average.’

It was a piece that Weed would have regarded as a failure.

It was a rule that the more time you invest in a sculpture, the more the mistakes will be corrected, but this sculpture was filled with mistakes.

“I’ll know more if I take a closer look. Identify!”

Weed was about to pass the sculpture back to the store owner and said.

“It seems to be nothing much. It has no worth and it seems like it was made simply.”

“Is that so? That’s disappointing. I had a lot of expectations for this sculpture, since it was found in the rapids of a lake .”

But it was at that moment.

Weed looked at the eyes of the sculpture.

Thrilling!

The eyes of the Vampire Bat whose eyes were alive with fright!

They say that a bat’s eyes were degenerated, but it still had eyeballs. It seemed as though the surprising bright eyes were moving about.

Its eyes were not made of stone, but were made of precious rubies.

Weed swallowed and examined the stone piece again. He touched the rubies with his fingertips, and observed it while shining a light at it.

‘It’s a ruby that hasn’t been cut and is rough. Since it’s a ruby that I can get thousands for if I touch it up a little, I can’t see how something like that should be in something like this Bat Sculpture.’

Then he had received a message!

Weed felt another weird feeling.

“Identify!”

***

In Kurueso Kingdom, the region behind the lake that was littered with caves.

It was certain that without a guide, one would get lost within the complex anthill-like cave.

Thanks to the Dwarves’ innate senses and the ability to read the traces of ore deposits they could never get lost underground. However, since anyone could get lost in a complex cave even with a map, if it wasn’t a particularly brave Dwarf, they never ventured in too deep.

The young Dwarf Gudolph cautiously walked into the cave.

‘This time… Have to find courage to go to the gemstone mines.’

Gudolph was highly noted as an artisan, but even more than that, he had a good grasp of the underground ore deposits.

“I ought to give her a pretty brooch as a present.”

He wanted to give a brooch he created with the gems he found to his lover when he proposes.

Gudolph took up a fast pace towards Shaspin cave.

“This is the way that leads to a cluster of ruby viens.”

The Shaspin is a place Dwarfs do not dare to go. Gudolph was blind in love and cautiously went into the depths of the cave.

Dark, and narrow cave!

He passed by stalactites and the vampire bats sleeping on them.

He was willing to risk his life to move further into the cave to mine jewels.

And from the depths of the cave, he discovered traces of light emitted from jewels.

“It’s here!”

Cheered, old Gudolph as he struck his pickaxe into the vein.

He found the mine of high graded red ruby gemstones!

“This will be more than enough to make a brooch for her!”

Gudolph sank into happiness.

However, the sound coming from the pickaxe as he was digging the ruby out woke up all of the Vampire Bats in the Shaspin Cave. The Vampire Bats beat their wings and flew over to sink their teeth into Gudolph.

“S, Stop! Spare this Dwarf!”

Gudolph fled deeper into the cave while having bats hanging off of his body. He did not have the leisure to search his surroundings and recklessly ran away.

The place he arrived at was a zone that had hot lava boiling!

The bats ran away from the heat, but Gudolph had no more strength left. The blood loss left his consciousness hazy, and he did not have the strength to walk out of the cave.

Even if he searched for a way out, it was the Shaspin Cave, where Vampire Bats were waiting for him.

“I don’t have any way to go back…”

Gudolph took out the ruby gemstones he had and fashioned a precious brooch out of it.

It was an item that he wanted to use while proposing to the Dwarf maiden Jena.

He chiseled a small stone into one of the Shaspin Vampire Bats, and inserted the leftover rubies as its eyes.

“I hope someone will discover…”

Gudolph felt that he did not have much longer to live. That’s why he wrapped up the stone sculpture in some of his upper clothes and sent it flowing down a fast stream.

It contained his hope that it would reach Kurueso after flowing and flowing down this waterway…!

The bundleed up Bat Sculpture rode the underground stream.

Kuleuleuleuleu.

Udangtangtang!

There were times when it became as deep as a river, or its speed slowed down, and without leaving time to relax, the blocked off labyrinthian passage became overly turbulent.

The bundle accumulated damage as it collided with the ground or stalactite of the underground. Every time that happened, the sculpture also received some impact, but because it was bundled in Gudolph’s clothes, it remained safe.

And so, as Gudolph had hoped, it made its way all the way to Kurueso’s lake.

Although it had already been more than a month, it safely flowed to Kurueso and was discovered by the Dwarves. That was how it came to be at the sculpture store.

***

The moment Weed used his insight, he was able to see the origins of the Vampire Bat of the Shaspin Cave.

Ttiring!

Ttiring!

Weed felt like he had been struck with a hammer, as he was shocked senseless.

Sculptors have always been ignored and ridiculed by others!

But when he puts a lot of effort and hard work in creating a sculpture, it never betrayed him.

“I am a Sculptor. A Sculptor.”

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There was no need to dwell on the opinions of others.

There was no need to beg for low ranked commissioned quests, it was given without asking.

There were hidden quests in Sculptures only available to Sculptors.

With the Sculptor’s profession, anything is possible!

That is what it means to be a sculptor.