kscans

Chapter 230 - # The Spring Grand Market ~A Ladies First First Day~ 6. Cutlery (Part 2)

Wondering what was going on, Yuri looked up and saw...

"This? ...Mister, these are all just odds and ends, you know?"

"They may be odds and ends, but they're genuine silverware, I tell you."

"What part of this is 'genuine silverware'? This knife is even bent."

"A little tap and that'll straighten right out."

"Then why don't you do it, mister?"

"Huh? That's because if I mess it up and it becomes unsellable, I'll be in trouble, of course."

It was a comedy routine between Dona and the shopkeeper.

Yuri peeked over from behind and saw a medium-sized box with a jumble of mismatched silver cutlery of various types and shapes thrown in together.

"...Is this, perhaps... a collection of matched sets that became incomplete because pieces were broken or lost?"

"Oh, the old gentleman has a sharp eye. That's exactly right. They're mismatched, so I'm selling them cheap, but there's nothing wrong with the items themselves, I assure you."

Apparently, he had bought up sets that had become incomplete due to lost or broken pieces at a low price. The sellers had also handed over only the parts that were left after removing what could still be used as a set, so it was a collection of rather unusable odds and ends. Since there were few people who would buy individual pieces of silver cutlery, it had likely become dead stock.

"Well, it's still genuine silver, so at worst I can just melt it down for the material, but that seems like a waste, too."

The shopkeeper said this with a prim face, but...

"...Genuine silver? You sure about that?"

He shrugged his shoulders at Fray's skeptical remark.

"Well, there's a bit of other stuff mixed in, but it's definitely at a level that would pass for 'silver,' I can assure you of that."

In fact, in this world, because of the Appraisal skill, there was very little falsification of quality. If you sold something bad, you'd end up in trouble with the law. Well, the kind of thing this shopkeeper was talking about was generally overlooked.

However, this explanation made sense to Yuri. He had been wondering why the shopkeeper didn't just melt it down quickly, but if he heard that it wasn't pure silver but had other things mixed in, and that those things were all different, then he could understand. When considering the trouble of separating the mixed metals and the risk of the quality being unknown if they were melted down as is, it probably wasn't worth it for an artisan either. It was no wonder it was still unsold.

(...However, for personal use or for processing, there shouldn't be a problem...)

And depending on how you looked at it, you could say that you were getting pre-mixed raw materials. In terms of training for Alchemy and Smithing, for Yuri, who didn't know the ratios of mixed metals in this world, it could be said to be an invaluable sample. No, rather, wasn't it the perfect practice material?

As Yuri was vaguely thinking about such things, the back-and-forth between Dona and the shopkeeper reached his ears.

"...What I want is tableware, not material. If it's this mismatched, I can't serve it to guests, can I?"

"Now, now, young lady, just having silverware is a big deal, right? You have to overlook a little bit of mismatch. And... here you go, this one and this one, they look so similar you can hardly tell the difference at a glance, right?"

"It's true that some of them look similar, but at best I can only cobble together one set. Since it's for guests, I want at least three sets, you know."

"Now, now, if you combine this and this, and this one too..."

It seemed Dona was concerned about whether she could create a set by combining the odd pieces, but for Yuri, who had, albeit crookedly, the skills of Alchemy and Smithing, with the (Strange) suffix, it was certainly crooked, it should be possible to do some minor reshaping. In that case...

"Excuse me, I'll take all of the silverware there... for this price."

"...Eh? ...Now, now, sonny, there's no way I can sell it for this price, right?"

Yuri presented a rather aggressive price, and as expected, the shopkeeper did not look pleased, but...

"Shopkeeper-san, you're not from around here, are you? Unsold, mismatched silverware is just going to be extra luggage, isn't it?"

"Ugh..."

"If you can sell it all in one go here, your luggage will be lighter, and you can load other things in the empty space to take back with you, right?"

"Ughh..."

"As for me, I don't necessarily need to buy it here. It's not an urgent need, so I'm just considering it if we can agree on a price."

Yuri calmly pointed out that it was a buyer's market. It was infuriating to be outmaneuvered by a child like this, but there was a lot of truth in what he was saying. It was dead stock that had no prospect of selling anyway. There was no point in clinging to it. Considering that, it wasn't a bad enough price to call it a loss...

"Hah... I can't be helped. I'll consider this a lesson learned for today."

"Thank you for your business♪"