Novel Bin Chapter 97 - Trade
"Not one spirit stone at all?" the woman asked while massaging her right temple. "What do you have to offer in exchange then?"
For a moment, Viktor turned to his thoughts and looked around the room. After a brief observation, he became aware that there were more weapons than food available.
This prompted him to ask, "What about food?"
When Viktor mentioned the food, the woman\'s expression instantly changed. Her previous subtle frown had turned into interest.
From the looks of it, Viktor\'s offer had a high chance of being accepted by the old lady.
"What do you have?" the woman queried, her voice full of curiosity.
Viktor recalled Andrei mentioning that if he ever decided to exchange his premium products, it would be worth more than gold. With this in mind, he presented the old woman with a tin of high-quality caviar.
As expected, the moment Martha saw the high-quality fish roe contained within, her curiosity turned to delight.
In recognition of the fact that caviar was a highly favored delicacy for any Russian, Viktor threw in a bottle of blue label vodka to make the old woman even more enthralled. It was clear to see that all of the high-quality food and drink he provided to the lady was successful in winning her interest.
At this point, Martha was completely smitten.
"So what do you think? How much would this be worth?" Viktor asked.
His voice startled her, and as if she had just returned to herself and realized the significance of the question, she let out a sigh.
"Seeing as you are a member of the town and have been helping Jessie out, I will explain."
In spite of the fact that she was genuinely interested, the old woman said that the majority of survivors who lived in Arkhangelsk Town were simple people. They did not enjoy such delicacies as much as those who lived in the city. As a result, she was concerned that she would not be able to sell these items to the people and that high-quality food would be wasted.
As for normal canned food, it was very valuable at the beginning of the apocalypse, but now that everyone had a stronger physique, they barely needed to eat once a day. In turn, it was not too hard to provide the town with food from hunting, causing canned food to only have a little sentimental value.
It was somehow still valuable and people would trade for it, but not too much. One can of meat was worth 10 spirit stones, whereas vegetables and fruits were worth two or three times as much.
Martha also kindly explained that the only reason there were so many weapons for sale in this place was because only a few villagers had the ability to use them. Furthermore, these items for sale actually came from those who died protecting the village.
After expressing his understanding, Viktor showed the last card he wished to show her. He took out a sheet of grey skin pelt, which attracted the old woman\'s attention even more.
"Mutated leopard seal skin!" Martha exclaimed in surprise.
Viktor hoped that the surprised reaction was a sign of something good, which would prove his instinct the first time he killed the seal.
Even though the material was quite thin, it was actually very durable. It had to be worth a fortune, and the woman confirmed it.
"I won\'t lie to you, this skin is actually very valuable," she added, her expression still full of amazement.
"Really?"
In her explanation, Martha pointed out that armor sold by the pillars was three times more expensive than a weapon of the same tier. As a result, people were constantly on the lookout for alternative armor.
The leopard seal skin used to be very popular and Arkhangelsk used to have a lot of people who hunted for them, but because of how hard the skin was, only powerful sky-realm fighters were capable of hunting for them. Meanwhile, these people had long since moved to the big city and went to upgrade themselves with better equipment.
They had no interest in returning to such an isolated place, especially during winter when it was difficult to move around without a proper boat.
"That\'s great! So how much?" Viktor asked with glee.
The woman thought about it for a moment before answering, "We don\'t have spirit stones to give, however, I am willing to trade one tier 1 weapon for five pelts of the skin."
"Two pelts!"
"Four, no less! These pelts are very hard to cut and process, after all," Martha added.
Hearing this, Viktor\'s interest was quickly piqued. He asked for additional details, and fortunately, Martha was willing to kindly explain.
Apparently, the town had a few ladies who used to be reindeer herders and made a living by making clothes out of animal pelts.
These seal pelts were much harder to make into clothes, but when they were done, each of them could be sold to approximately 300 spirit stones in large settlements. That was a 1:1 ratio for a tier 1 weapon.
Viktor\'s business degree instantly kicked in.
"Two pelts!" he said again.
"As I already said, we can\'t…"
The old lady seemed to be firm in her stance. However, Viktor interrupted her to explain.
"No no, listen…" Viktor quickly took a bunch of pelts that he had painstakingly collected over the last 2 days.
"I will give you two pelts for every five pelts as a cost for making them into armor. Here are 20, and I will get you another 80 soon. That\'s 40 pelts for the town, which is more than enough for every warrior to use. As for the weapons, you can just give me 10 for free as a signing bonus gift. How is it?"
The woman made a quick calculation before saying, "Five weapons!"
With his palm poised to shake, Viktor made another offer, "Five tier 1 weapons and one tier 2."
That was his final offer, and fortunately, the woman agreed to it as she accepted his handshake. Both of them finally came to an agreement.
In truth, Viktor was confident that the woman would agree to his offer when he provided her with the last one. Those 40 pelts they had on hand were exactly what they needed to trade with six weapons sitting unused in the storage. Plus, he had seen how the women in this place had nothing else to do, so he assumed that the activity must be something that a mayor\'s wife would like to see as well.
As for Viktor, he would receive 60 pieces of armor that he could trade in for the same amount of tier 1 weapons later on in a bigger settlement.
After everything was said and done, the reason he settled for 5 weapons was that he had seen all of the weapons in storage. Knowing how his skill worked, Viktor would only need to choose 5 of the biggest weapons as heavier weapons would give him more essence.
After looking at the tier 1 weapons in the storage, in the end, Viktor chose a hammer, a large ax, a long spear, a broadsword, and a heavy saber to take with him.
Finally, it was now the time for him to choose a tier 2 weapon. When it came to tier 2 weapons, there were not many to choose from.
With only a dagger, a sword, and a hammer, Viktor decided to try the hammer instead. In theory, while dealing with a well-armored opponent, a hammer staggering attack should be more effective.
After holding the hammer with intent, the tier 2 weapon began to glow. Viktor was excited to see that it gave him a strength boost equal to 4 points.
"Amazing!" he exclaimed in delight.
With this, both parties were happy. Not only that, but Viktor even opened the vodka bottle for Martha to raise a glass in toasting their agreement. Additionally, he left the bottle of the vodka as well as the canned caviar for her and the mayor to enjoy.. Then finally, he left the place with a very happy business partner.