The Old Man Is So Good at Acting Like a Loser chapter 16

＜ 4. Worst choice (5) ＞

“I looked through the deck and found a nice unique card. I’ll give you 1000 gold, how about selling it to me?”

Pricing without conscience. Unique cards cost more than 3000 gold when purchased at the shop, even if the performance was not very good. But to hand over a fraudulent card like ‘Indomitable Will’ for the price of gum like that?

Andrea spat on the floor.

“From the price of the potion to the economic concept, it was at a level that flew beyond the dungeon, but the words that follow are very spectacle. All I can do with 1000 gold is show you this card.”

“Hey, you must be mistaken, but when you think of your appearance when you came here, you would have to hang your head and buy it even if I asked you to pay 1000 gold for a single medicine. But you’re getting angry at me for being merciful and giving me 300 gold per piece, and even giving me a card to pay for the lack of money?”

“I’m sick and tired. Who asked for such overpriced cures and antidotes? Why didn’t you just let me die?”

“…”

Even if the blacksmith didn’t show it, he was quite embarrassed. I was excited to eat Hogu, but to come out with such a shameless attitude. Meeting such a challenger on the lower floors was completely unexpected.

Andrea didn’t mean it either. Of course, it was better to live on potions and antidotes, even if they were ripped off, rather than dying from a misery. But in negotiations, it’s always easier to get what you want when you hide your true feelings.

Andrea opened her mouth in a slightly softened voice this time in order to adjust the pace.

“It’s not that I won’t pay for the potion either. Anyway, like it or not, since I ate it, I have to pay. But hey, isn’t 1700 gold too much? That’s enough money to buy more than 30 medicines?”

The black trader thought to himself that he was at a loss. Of course, he was a beginner, so he didn’t know the list price, so he charged an exorbitant price. It would have been quite embarrassing if I had already known the price.

“…then I’ll cut it down to 1500 gold.”

“Do it lightly and at the price. 300 gold.”

“…don’t talk nonsense. 1300 gold.”

“300 gold.”

“…1200 gold.”

“300 gold.”

“I’m crazy, but are you willing to bargain? Aren’t you going to have to come up with some kind of compromise instead of just being stubborn?”

“In that case, I will give you very useful information on top of 300 gold.”

The blacksmith snorted. If it was information that a challenger who had only reached the 7th floor could give, it wasn’t worth listening to.

However, upon hearing Andrea’s words, the black dealer had no choice but to completely change his mind.

“This is information about Arpan.”

Dark merchants and Arpan. Andrea didn’t exactly know what kind of bad relationship there was between them. In the past, I thought it might be a relationship between an illegal street vendor and a government official, but the more I looked at it, the more it seemed that they had a deeper grudge against each other than that.

In any case, what is certain is that they will not use any information related to Arpan.

The dark merchant pushed his upper body toward Andrea.

“Tell me in detail.”

“I will tell you the specific information if you promise to make a deal. All I can tell you now is the information related to Arpan’s weakness?”

The dark merchant was curious and impatient. Even if it’s just plain information, I’m willing to pay over 1000 gold, but information related to weaknesses? No matter what, I had to dig this out.

However, a merchant is a merchant, and he too was a master of bargaining. The blacksmith suppressed his curiosity and fired at Andrea.

“But come to think of it, how would a person who only came to the 7th floor know that? Do you have any evidence to prove your information?”

“evidence? If you’re going to prove the truth, shouldn’t you use the ‘Eye of Truth’?”

The ‘Eye of Truth’ is an artifact used to detect lies. Andrea had guessed and said that a black trader would of course carry at least one such artifact.

The dark merchant’s mouth fell open.

“How else do you know about that stuff? You… this isn’t your first time exploring dungeons. right?”

“Think whatever you want. So, are you going to make a deal or not?”

The merchant pretended to be troubled. It was already decided to make a deal, but it was clear that he was trying to rip off even one more thing. Andrea nailed it.

“If you don’t intend to make a deal, I’ll just pay you 1700 gold somehow. I’ll have to sell the information related to Arpan to another black dealer.”

“Wait, wait! why are you so hasty give your mind some peace Yeah, let’s make a deal. Are you done now?”

The tribes of the dark merchants cooperated when a big problem came, but basically they were in subtle competition with each other. Andrea didn’t know the exact circumstances, but she clearly pointed out that part and said that.

And, as you can see, the effect of the remarks was outstanding.

The dark merchant rummaged through the bundle and soon took out an eyeball-shaped artifact. Andrea squeezed the Eye of Truth handed to her in her hand.

If he lied from now on, the artifact’s pupils would emit red light.

Andrea told the dark merchant’s ear the information. The dark merchant’s eyes widened.

“Is it really?”

Instead of answering, Andrea opened her eyes to the dark dealer. The red light didn’t come out.

After that, Andrea returned the eyes of truth and robbed the money to finish the settlement. Now I only have 5 gold left. Andrea was broke.

Right now.

The dark merchant put on a satisfied face and picked up the bundle.

“It was a satisfactory deal. If you get similar information next time, I hope you will do business with me again, not with another merchant.”

“Are you going to close the deal here? I still have a deal I want to propose.”

Putting the bundle down again, the black merchant looked at Andrea with interest. Having already made a decent deal, I was curious to see what this man would offer.

“You could buy a curse card from your kind, right? If you sell curse cards to me, how many can you sell?”

A curse card, a card that adversely affects the player just by drawing it.

In dungeons, you can not only obtain cards that have good effects on challengers. Certain events or encounters with monsters sometimes add curse cards to the deck.

The effect of the curse card was varied. Effects that take damage, effects that cause abnormal conditions, effects that strengthen monsters… What they all have in common is that they make combat difficult.

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Normally, putting this curse card into a deck on purpose would be madness.

However, like trials, there is a cost to purchasing curse cards.

“…You must have done business with us black traders quite often. Curse cards are sold only to regular customers.”

“Well, I did as much as I could. So, how many chapters will it be?”

“The limit I can sell is 10. I can give you a reward of 300 gold per chapter.”

If you buy a curse card from a black merchant, you can get gold as a reward.

Andrea didn’t know why the black marketers were doing such a deal. It’s just that there is a hole in the setup to get some profit, so I’m just guessing that the black marketers are doing this.

Andrea had a lot of knowledge about the items needed to pass through the dungeon with ease. I met a merchant at best, but it was unacceptable to blow this opportunity because I had no money.

Andrea spoke without hesitation.

“Give me all ten.”

The dark merchant doubted his ears.

“Are you serious? You want me to give you all 10 curse cards?”

“yes. You said you could sell up to 10 copies?”

“No, no matter how…”

It would depend on how many cards were in the deck, but even if there were only 5 curse cards, the deck could not be used properly. Every time you draw, a curse card comes out, and on the contrary, the more cards you draw, the more you get weaker.

But what about chapter 10? Such an absurd proposal was one that could not have been made unless he had decided to commit suicide.

The dark merchant shook his head. In fact, he didn’t know what to do with this reckless challenger. All he had to do was give money along with Curse, a black marketer who didn’t mind any dirty dealings.

When the black dealer unwrapped the bundle, curse cards popped out of it and went into Andrea’s deck.

‘[Curse] Pain of Dawn: This card is unconditionally included in the first draw, takes 5 damage.’

‘[Curse] Traitor’s Blessing: Increases the strength and resistance of enemies by 10.’

‘[Curse] Surprise Box: You fall into a stunned state.’

·········

Curse cards had various effects. In an instant, Andrea’s deck grew thick.

“Now, here is 3000 gold. It’s hard to carry gold on your back, so I’ll give you a subspace pouch as a service.”

The blacksmith handed over a small pouch. When I looked inside, I found a pile of gold coins.

The subspace pouch was larger inside than outside. It’s a very useful item, but it wasn’t that hard to find when wandering around the dungeon.

‘I wouldn’t be disappointed with that much as a gift from the underworld.’

The blacksmith was sure that Andrea would die without leaving the next floor once the deal was over.

But the deal isn’t over yet. No, that was just the beginning. Andrea began memorizing a list of necessary items in front of the black dealer.

“Let’s buy some stuff with this money. First, give me the map. I would like it to be a map with a wide range and an intermediate level or higher.”

“Give me the miser’s contract and the bloody seal. Oh, do you have a crow mask?”

“It would be nice to have the shell powder of the rock snail, the sap of the World Tree, and the feathers of the harpy.”

“If you have any good equipment, please recommend it.”

The black trader was stunned by the list of purchases that flowed endlessly.

“Now, wait. You can’t sell that many things at once. Arpan will surely notice when there are so many trades going on and off. Let me tell you about three or four essential items.”

As expected, the idea that they were like illegal street vendors and civil servants was not very wrong. Andrea stroked her chin as if in trouble.

“It’s all necessary.”

Well, even in the game, the items that could be bought from the black merchant were limited. Andrea also asked if there were any restrictions here.

“Then there is nothing you can do. Just give me the map, the powder of the rock snail’s shell, the sap of the World Tree, and the feathers of a harpy.”

After rummaging through the bundle for a long time, the black merchant took out all the goods.

“Intermediate maps from the 8th to the 20th floor, rock snail shell powder, world tree sap, red harpy feathers. The total price is 500 gold.”

Even as the black merchant took out the goods, he wondered why he was buying these goods.

Although they were loot items that were dropped with a low probability, they were all japtems with no other uses. But Andrea didn’t show it, and was happy to pay the full price.

After a while, the dark merchant had no choice but to stare at Andrea with an absurd expression. Andrea was sitting on the floor, stirring the sap of the World Tree with powdered bark with a harpy feather.

It wasn’t just the black market that was absurd. Marco, who was watching from the side, asked.

“What are you doing?”

“We are realizing the creative economy.”

“…?”

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No matter how much it was stirred, when the rock powder was completely dissolved in the sap, it suddenly began to emit a brilliant light. At that moment, Andrea pushed the harpy’s feather inside.

Fung –

The smoke rose low as he entered the harpy’s feathers.

The three items are combined to create a new item.

‘[Unique] Archangel’s Tears (Consumables Card): Permanently removes all curse cards from the deck. This card cannot be traded.’

It was a consumable card that removed all curses.

＜ 4. Worst Choice (5) ＞ End