Chapter 23 – Appraising Items

The great black dragon, Aileen Pritani, was in a very good mood lately. It turned out that the human who had entered due to her mistake was a lucky charm.

‘I want to brag about it, but I must endure.’

She could not afford to have her mistake discovered.

“Grr, grr, grrr.”

Aileen hummed as she went to the collection storehouse that stored the items gathered by the ancestors of the Pritani family from generation to generation. Since a permanent preservation magic was cast on the collection storehouse, the items inside would always maintain their state.

Click.

Aileen opened the door to the storehouse. The display cases inside the storehouse were lined with items that would easily be valued at tens of billions of won the moment they were released on Earth.

Aileen zipped past the displayed items and stood in front of an empty display stand.

And then,

Rustle, rustle.

She carefully placed her item on the display stand so it would not break, and watched it with pride.

On the newly added collection, ‘Yesan Washed Apple’ was written in Korean.

It was the washed apple bag in which Se-jun had put the dried sweet potato chews. The Yesan washed apple bag obtained the honor of proudly occupying a spot in the collection warehouse of the Pritani family, which boasted millions of years of history.

“Hehe. I should check what delicious food the human is making again.”

Aileen came out of the storehouse and sat in front of the crystal ball, watching Se-jun’s cave.

“Oh! The cat merchant returned. You cat rascal, just try tricking our human again!”

The black dragon, Aileen Pritani, stared intently at the crystal ball, wondering if Theo would deceive Se-jun.

***

Buzz, buzz.

Theo, who jumped down from the ceiling hole of the cave to announce his arrival, as soon as he heard the buzzing sound of the poison honey bees,

“We are on the same side, meow!”

shouted and ran quickly, slipping into Se-jun’s clothes. Then, he poked his face out from the neck of Se-jun’s clothes.

“What? You’re stretching the neck.”

“The poison honey bees are scary, meow.”

“Don’t worry. They won’t come.”

It was fine because the adult poison honey bees had informed the baby poison honey bees that Theo was on the same side as soon as Theo appeared.

“Whew, what a relief, meow.”

Theo came out of Se-jun’s clothes only after verifying that the poison honey bees did not draw their stingers.

“More importantly, did you do well with what I ordered?”

“Of course, meow! I completed all missions and even sold out everything, meow!”

Theo answered vigorously.

“Then did the contract to deliver news to my house go well?”

“It should be, meow. Here is the contract, meow.”

Theo handed the contract to Se-jun.

As soon as Se-jun grabbed the contract,

Whoosh.

Just in time, perhaps because the contract was executed, the contract began to burn with blue flames. It meant that Se-jun’s well-being and the 50 million won were successfully delivered to his family.

“Good job. Then, let’s start the settlement first.”

“Here it is, meow! I spent 50 Tower Coins for the deposit, and 14.2 Tower Coins for the shop errand, meow.”

Theo reported the amount he spent as he handed it to Se-jun.

“208.8 Tower Coins?!”

Se-jun was surprised by the amount, which was more than double the money he had thought of.

“I met a pushover this time and sold them at a high price, meow!”

What was this? How much of a pushover must one be to be called a pushover by a pushover?

Se-jun, who did not know the details of the transaction, was confused whether he should believe Theo’s words as they were.

“Here is your incentive. It was originally 10.92 Tower Coins, but I’m giving you a bit more.”

Se-jun handed 15 Tower Coins to Theo with a patronizing air.

“Mr. Se-jun, thank you, meow! And there is this as well, meow!”

Perhaps wanting to receive more praise, Theo hurriedly stood up and turned his bundle upside down, shaking it.

Clatter, clatter.

Condiments, Churus, and the items purchased for Se-jun’s errand poured out of the bundle.

“This is?!”

Rustle.

Se-jun carefully dabbed and tasted the powder inside the transparent bag.

‘It’s salty!’

A salty taste rushed into his mouth like a wave.

‘With just this… grilled fish and…’

While he was running various simulations in his head on where to use the salt,

“How is it, meow?”

Theo asked proudly as he climbed onto Se-jun’s lap.

“Huh?!”

“Am I Representative Theo now, meow?”

Only then did Se-jun regain his senses, patting Theo’s head and examining the items Theo had poured out.

There were only two kinds of seasoning: salt and pepper. And 15 coffee mixes. Just at a glance, it seemed likely to yield twenty 1-hour coupons for Representative Theo.

“Fine. I will appoint you as Representative Theo for 24 hours.”

Since Theo handled his request without any trouble, Se-jun decided to grant him a bit more time.

“Good, meow!”

“Representative Theo, you worked hard.”

Se-jun picked up a tuna-flavored Churu that fell on the ground, tore open the dotted line at the end, and held it out in front of Theo.

Lick, lick, lick.

While Theo was eating the Churu like that, Se-jun examined the items he had asked Theo to buy.

A pot, ladle, bowl, spoon, and dagger. They were items bought for cooking and eating.

Se-jun first picked up the pot to examine it.

[Cast Iron Pot]

Made of cast iron, it was sturdy.

The handle was wrapped in wood so that the user could use it comfortably.

Usage Restriction: None

Creator: Undisclosed

Grade: D

“Undisclosed?”

Se-jun also picked up the ladle and examined it.

[Cast Iron Ladle]

Made of cast iron, it was sturdy.

The handle was wrapped in wood so that the user could use it comfortably.

Usage Restriction: None

Creator: Undisclosed

Grade: D

The same went for the rest of the bowls and spoons. They were all undisclosed.

“That’s strange.”

Slurp, slurp, slurp.

Theo’s speed of eating the Churu slowed down significantly due to watching Se-jun’s expression.

Lastly, Se-jun picked up the dagger to examine it. He planned to ask Theo after checking this. Why the creator was undisclosed.

The dagger was quite heavy, more than Se-jun had expected.

[Dagger]

???

Usage Restriction: Lv 10 or higher, Strength 5 or higher

Creator: Undisclosed

Grade: E

“Huh? Why are there question marks here?”

There were only three question marks where the description of the item should have been.

Grip.

Since he met the usage restrictions for now, Se-jun held the dagger. Then, he tried cutting the dried green onion leaves spread out for his bed.

Slice.

Although they were thin, the dried green onion leaves, which would harden like wood, were cut too easily. He thought he could use it sufficiently when cooking.

“Representative Theo, where did you get this?”

“Huh?! I bought it from the blacksmith’s draw corner, meow.”

Theo, who thought Se-jun would interrogate him about the creator being undisclosed, answered in embarrassment when asked something else.

“Draw corner?”

“That’s right, meow. Since they said they were selling them cheap at the blacksmith’s, I bought it there, meow.”

The blacksmith owner, when Theo asked for a dagger to use when cooking, had told him to pick one from the draw corner where equipment they could not appraise was gathered.

“Give me a discount, meow!”

Theo attempted the three-discount strategy in the draw corner just as Se-jun taught him, and brought a dagger after discounting the price of 20 Tower Coins per draw to 13 Tower Coins.

“Right. Good job.”

Well, there was no need to know what kind of dagger it was. It was fine as long as he bought it cheaply.

Although it was heavy, it was fine as long as it cut well.

At that moment,

[The administrator of the tower stated that using unappraised items carelessly could lead to big trouble, and offered to appraise it.]

“Really? Then do it.”

[A quest occurred.]

[Quest: Send the unappraised dagger to the administrator of the tower.]

Reward: None.

Upon Rejection: Cannot appraise

[An additional quest occurred.]

[Quest: Gift dried sweet potato chews to the administrator of the tower.]

Reward: Appraised dagger

Upon Rejection: Cannot receive the dagger

“…Do we have to do it this way?”

[The administrator of the tower said that items could move back and forth only by utilizing quests.]

[The administrator of the tower strongly denied it, saying that it was absolutely not because he wanted to eat dried sweet potato chews.]

He had heard that a strong denial meant an affirmation, though?

[The administrator of the tower wiped away his drool with a slurp.]

[…!!!]

He knew it would be like that.

[The administrator of the tower said that although he wanted to eat dried sweet potato chews a little bit, it was also true that the quest was necessary.]

“Okay.”

Se-jun decided to appraise the dagger. Hearing the words of the tower’s administrator, he felt uncomfortable using an item with unknown information, and giving a few dried sweet potato chews was not a difficult task.

‘I planned to give him some more soon anyway, so I can just finish it with this.’

“Take it.”

The dagger disappeared from Se-jun’s hand.

[You completed the quest.]

[The administrator of the tower used the Appraisal skill on the dagger.]

[The administrator of the tower said that fortunately, it was not a harmful item.]

“Is that so?”

Se-jun took out a handful of dried sweet potato chews stored in the leather pouch that had held the seed potatoes, which he kept by his bedside.

“Here, take it.”

As the dried sweet potato chews disappeared from Se-jun’s hand, the dagger appeared.

[You completed the quest.]

[You obtained the appraised dagger – Keynes’s Training Dagger, as a quest completion reward.]

“Keynes’s Training Dagger?!”

A name was attached to the equipment. If so, this was named equipment!

Once outside, named equipment was something whose starting price began in the hundreds of millions of won. Se-jun hurriedly checked the dagger.

[Keynes’s Training Dagger]

It was a dagger used by Keynes, a ranger of the Red Mountain, for training in his youth.

Black iron was used to give weight to the dagger, making it heavy for a dagger.

A small amount of Mithril was mixed when crafting the dagger, so once the blade was sharpened, the sharpness of the dagger would be maintained for a long time.

Usage Restriction: Lv 10 or higher, Strength 5 or higher

Creator: Blacksmith Leven (Black Hammer Dwarf)

Grade: B

Skill: [Proficiency Increase Lv. 1]

[Proficiency Increase Lv. 1]

The proficiency of all skills used with this dagger increased 5% faster.

As it was a powerful appraisal skill used by the administrator of the tower, all information was revealed, even including the information about the creator that was restricted by the Wandering Merchant Association.

Thanks to this, Se-jun’s thought of asking Theo about the creator vanished cleanly.

Lick, lick, lick.

Theo’s speed of eating the Churu became fast again. He felt that Se-jun’s mood was good.

And then,

“Mr. Se-jun, scratch my back too, meow.”

Theo demanded proudly.

“Sure.”

Scratch, scratch.

Se-jun, who was staring at Keynes’s Training Dagger as if possessed, looked at Theo anew while scratching Theo’s back.

What was this? He had thought this guy was only a pushover… but Theo possessed a different talent.

To think he had such golden hands, no, golden front paws… As expected, the world was fair.

Suddenly, Theo’s front paw looked very pretty.

“Representative Theo, do you want to eat more Churu?”

Se-jun said as he touched Theo’s plump front paw.

“Isn’t that obvious, meow. Give it to me quickly, meow!”

Theo said arrogantly. He was saving his front paw as a finishing move, but Se-jun touched his front paw first. And then, the voice full of affection followed.

‘Puhuhut. As expected, since you, Park Se-jun, are also human, I knew you would do that, meow.’

He had fallen into his evil clutches. As expected, all humans knelt before his front paw, meow.

What was this? What was this insolent attitude?

Se-jun felt uncomfortable at Theo’s arrogant attitude.

And his intention to reinstate Theo as representative also faded away.

Like that, Theo missed the opportunity to become Representative Theo right in front of him.

Lick, lick, lick.

Without even knowing that the opportunity to become Representative Theo had just passed by, Theo licked the Churu diligently.

At that moment, an existence that felt uncomfortable with Theo sitting on Se-jun’s lap approached.

Squeak!

The black rabbit glared at Theo and squeaked. That’s my spot!

“What are you talking about, meow? This is the representative’s spot, meow!”

Squeak!

The black rabbit answered while pulling out his hammer. I don’t care! Get out right now!

A war of nerves between Theo and the black rabbit over Se-jun’s lap began.

“Hehehe. Cute little things.”

Although watching the war of nerves between the two was fun, it was bedtime now.

Hug.

“Now, let’s sleep together.”

Se-jun hugged the two tightly so that Theo and the black rabbit could not escape, and lay down on his spot.

“What is this, meow?!”

Squeak?!

Although they struggled to escape Se-jun’s chest at first, after a short while, the two fell into a deep sleep while listening to the sound of Se-jun’s heartbeat.

161st day of being stranded. Se-jun, Theo, and the black rabbit slept soundly while sharing each other’s warmth.