My (Monster?) Hero Life

Chapter 255: Cheapskate

Kace had no idea about the value of the stuff that Shadow quickly listed off. However, Sophia's face became more and more incredulous with each new item that came out of Shadow's mouth. For a moment, Kace thought that Sophia had gone into shock. Since she failed to react when he called her name.

"Sorry, what did you say?" Sophia asked with a shaky voice as she finally realised that Kace was speaking to her.

"I said, do you have any idea how much all of this is worth?" Kace chuckled at the expression she was making as if she could not believe what she had heard.

"Um, it's worth roughly half of the entire wealth that my race saved up through the years. If you exclude the armoury." Sophia stumbled with her words as she tried to provide a rough estimate.

"And? What's that in currency?"

"Oh, well. Most races don't use money like we're used to. They prefer to trade for something that has more value to them."

Kace felt a headache brewing with these words. He would rather know the exact worth in a form he could understand. If he had to barter for everything, then there was a good chance he would end up getting ripped off. 'I wonder if I should suggest creating a uniform currency for our nation?' The idea had merit, even if it was just to satisfy himself more than anything. 

"I'll have to rely on you then, Sophia. I have no idea what would actually be worth trading." Kace said with an apologetic expression. 

"Fine. But you owe me one!" Sophia seemed put out by his request, but inside she was gloating. 'He's so rich he wouldn't care about getting me something slightly expensive, right? It's the least he could do!'

While Sophia was busy consoling herself with a large grin on her face, she led the group towards the store they had been headed for. The building was only a single storey that fit in with the norm for the city. There was a strange glyph like thing painted on the wall next to the door. 'I guess that's what passes as a shop sign around here. Shame I can't understand them.'

The interior was far from what he was expecting. He had assumed that there would be rows of different jewellery all neatly displayed. Instead, there were only five pieces on display. Each item was hung on its own stand on top of a sandstone counter. The native woman behind the counter stood up from the seat she had hidden from view.

Kace scrunched his face as she began to screech at their arrival. Sophia smiled politely and greeted the woman with a pleasant tone. Even though they were spending his wealth, he felt a little left out. Sophia was busy asking about the differences between each item that was displayed. From what Kace could gather from Sophia's side of the conversation, there were different translation enchantment levels.

"So, what do you think?" Sophia asked with a curious gaze.

"Um, you'll have to explain it to me" An awkward silence fell between the two. Sophia had been so caught up in her chat with the shopkeeper that she totally forgot that Kace could not understand all of what was being said.

"Ah, right. Well, the earrings will only give you the most basic of understanding of their language. While it's enough to get by on, you'll miss out on the more complicated words and nuances." Sophia pointed to the item she was talking about while pretending her little mishap never happened at all. "Basically, they're trash."

"All right." 

"This bracelet here is basically the same. It's just made out of more expensive material."

'So basically it's just paying more for the same garbage. Yeah, no. I don't think so.' Kace immediately scored these two items out of consideration. 

"This necklace will basically make you competent in the language. However, it's material is awfully cheap. You'll basically be looked down on in their society for wearing such a piece. You'd actually get more respect for wearing the bracelet." Sophia grimaced at such a thought. Having been a noble, she would never be caught dead with something so tacky. No matter how useful it was. 

Kace, on the other hand, thought that they had a contender. Sure, it did not look good. But who would see it if he tucked it into his armour? And the sound of a low price tag tugged at his heart. Since he did not know how long or far his wealth could go, he thought it was prudent to save as much as possible until he got the hang of things himself.

"This ring is probably the best item. It will make you completely fluent in their language. Not only that, but it's made from one of the best metals they have access to! You'll definitely be noted as someone important if you wear this!" Sophia practically gushed over the golden-green band that held a jewel that looked like a ruby.

Kace may not know the worth of these things, but from the sounds of it, this would be one expensive purchase. While it would be helpful to thoroughly understand the language, the high price tag would certainly make his heart bleed. 'Hm, she forgot that other ring?' Kace's eyes turned to a simple looking silver ring. It was far more tasteful in his eyes.

"What about that one?" Kace asked as he pointed to the last item.

The shopkeeper seemed to get overly excited when he expressed an interest in the superficial ring. A cacophony of screeches threatened to turn him deaf. Kace grimaced as he withstood the ear-piercing language, patiently waiting for her to stop. Sophia's expression looked disgusted as the shopkeeper blabbered on about what Kace guessed was meant to be its good points.

"Well?" He finally asked Sophia when the shopkeeper seemed to have finished her rant.

"It's trash." Sophia was straightforward and blunt in her assessment.

"That's not what I asked?" Kace gave her an annoyed look. By this point, he realised that the pair of them judged things such as this in entirely different lights. Sophia was more focused on the social standing the item could give along with a high price tag. Kace wanted something that focused on effects at the lowest cost possible. Of course, there would be differences in how they viewed things!

"Well," Sophia sighed as she looked at the ring. "Its metal is particularly cheap. It's practically worthless."

"What about its effects?" Kace was growing impatient. It was like Sophia was trying to make up his mind for him before giving out the most crucial information.

"Pretty much wasted on this ring if you ask me. It will give you fluency in their spoken language and their glyphic writing." Sophia wrinkled her nose in disgust. 'What were they even thinking? Why would you put such an enchantment on such a piece of crap! Nobody would ever buy this!'

"I'll take it!"

"Yes, that's right. Now, why don't we choose the nice ri Eh?!" Sophia cut herself short as she glared at him. Her expression made it seem like he had just wholly betrayed her! 

"I said I'll take it!" Kace could not get the words out fast enough. It was like he was afraid that someone would walk in at any moment and steal this bargain out from underneath him! 'Effective, and cheap! It's perfect!'Kace would not let anyone deter him from buying this piece. 

"H-hold on!" Sophia squealed, as the shopkeeper began wrapping up the ring in a piece of red silk. She obviously knew precisely what Kace had said as she had a massive smile on her face as she completed ignored, Sophia. 

While Sophia was flustering about, Kace took the small wrapped item from the shopkeeper who promptly held her hand out. She was obviously looking for payment. Kace sheepishly looked towards Sophia, who had not calmed down yet.

"Sophia! How much is it!" Kace did not want to wait around for nothing now that he got his hands on the ring. Unfortunately, he knew it was terrible to unwrap something recently bought and put it on while still in the store. 

"Ah! You idiot! You've been scammed!" Sophia shouted at him in her frustration. Despite her grumbling, she told Shadow to fetch two small green gems from the Shadow realm where the tribe stored their wealth. 

Kace thought it was quite handy that he could access his funds from anywhere through this method. It certainly beats having to cart it around everywhere. Not that it had affected him anyway since he had only just found out about it. Shadow quickly reappeared, two beautiful gems were clutched in his fist. 

Shadow had no qualms in handing them over to the shopkeeper. The tribe had only grabbed them because they were shiny. They held no value to the Tu'Thrag at all. The shopkeeper squealed in delight as she took custody of her payment. She smiled brightly as she waved out them out of the door.

"Cheapskate" Sophia grumbled with a gloomy expression as they left the store.