Vol 9 Chapter 89 (1/2)

VOLUME 9 CHAPTER 89: DON’T TELL ME THIS IS A TEMPORARY RESPITE BEFORE THE NEXT BATTLE (4)

Liu Bei POV

But what is Chen Dao doing here? Shouldn’t she be in the training grounds? And what was that about a blacksmith?

Un… I could not figure out what Chen Dao was going to do but I figured I might as well follow her since I have nothing to do right now. The time is… Alright, I should be able to make it. As I thought so, I began to take a deep breath as I tailed her.

… Speaking of which, why did I not go up to her in the first place? Though I asked myself as such, I still kept some distance between us and disregarded that boring alternative. It’s a lot more fun to treat this as a mission/game where I would lose if I got found out.

*Jii*… But my suspicious actions attracted the stares of pa.s.sers-by. Firstly, I was wearing Nanman garb, secondly, I was skulking around. This was truly attention-grabbing and unbecoming behaviour. If I think about it, it really seems very chuuni of me.

“Boss!” Chen Dao roared just as I was about to give up on my little game. She might not think of it as much but it was really, really loud when she yelled.

I looked over and saw Chen Dao sauntering into a shop that looked like a blacksmithery. By the way, it needs to ne made clear that this is not like the RPG games. Not every village has the quintessential merchant and blacksmith. For a small city like Xinye, it’s already fortunate that there exists a blacksmith or 2.

For smaller villages to the north for example, they could only purchase goods if wandering merchants pa.s.sed through their villages. Not every place has a regular market or sufficient currency too so barter trade is still rather common.

As I engaged in these meaningless thoughts, I cleared my throat and got up as I entered the blacksmithery, taking a look around as I did so. There were soup stalls like the one we ate in the village before Xinye but they were still rather austere and simple. Unlike the shows I watched, there were no big, multi-storey inns that had large restaurants in the first floor.

However, I did not see any of these even in Xuchang. There were only slightly larger food and pastry stalls around. As expected, the quality of life is much lower in this era huh.

When I made my way to the blacksmithery, I found that it had no steps and I parted the curtains and went in.

*Dang*! *Dang*! *Dang*!

An intense heat wave a.s.saulted me the moment I stepped in as a continuous beating of metal sounded from within. I poked my head in and saw 2 people near anvils, engrossed in creating something. Nearer to the exit where I was, the walls were covered with metallic objects of all sorts.

There were many items but most were items for daily everyday use or farming equipment. On the side were 2 full sets of plate armour. I am no expert but the black metal looks very beautiful.

“Un…” I looked to the right and saw Chen Dao standing there and she was frowning. When I took a closer look, I saw that she was holding something that looked like a metal biscuit that had chains at the circ.u.mference.

Hmmm, it’s about time I told her about me.

“Yo, Chen Dao, you’re here–”

“Ah!!!”

“Waaah!”

When I called out to her, she gave a terrifying scream that made me scream and step back as well.

“Argh! It’s so hot!”

“Wah! Ah! It hurts!”

And it seems like the 2 people who were working with the anvil got a shock as well. 1 of them pressed his hand onto a red-hot piece of metal while the other got his finger hit by a hammer. This is not a gag manga… And because it is not, those injuries are not a joke

and are rather serious.

“Ah! Sorry! I’m really sorry!” Chen Dao immediately apologised to the 2 of them when she realised how much trouble her scream had caused.

By the way, is my hat really that terrifying? I reached out to flatten the leaves that were sent flying and saw Chen Dao walk over despondently. Looks like she got scolded but they should have forgiven her.

“Umm, I’m really sorry to you too. I shouldn’t have caused such a ruckus.”

“Chen Dao, you wouldn’t have forgotten this hat, did you? It’s me, me.” I said as I pulled up the front leaves slightly and revealed my face. I did not know if she got shocked because of the hat or because someone called out to her but I have to get her to calm down and recognise me.

“Eh? My… Ah…” She was about to call out to me when she realised what we just said and tried to recall the name Zhou Cang had given me, “Ah… Shalifei?”