Whirling around, he saw Ellie the tailor standing behind him with a warm smile on her face.
In her arms was a wicker basket overflowing with neatly folded cloth, spools of thread, and a faint whiff of lavender dye.
Her bright smile contrasted his scruffy, corner-muttering figure.
"Oh! Hi there" Freddy greeted with a casual wave.
"Are you okay Mr Aegis?" she asked, her voice laced with concern
"Yeah, I'm good," Freddy replied.
"Are you sure?" she asked again, much to Freddy's surprise.
"Of course, do I look not-okay?" Freddy asked in surprise.
"Well, standing on the street muttering to yourself and dressed like that doesn't exactly scream 'okay,'" Ellie replied, a faint pinkish hue coloring her cheeks as she tried hard not to look below Freddy's face.
Freddy looked down and finally remembered that he wasn't putting on any shirts, while muttering to himself on the street.
'I can see how this makes me look not-okay' he thought and let out a mocking laugh.
Glancing around, he realized that some of the NPCs and even some players were sneaking weird glances at him.
"I had a really rough day." He replied to Ellie's concern with a smile
"Was it the Boar king?" Ellie asked, surprising Freddy again.
"You know about it?" He replied with a question of his own.
"Of course, most people in town knows that you fell that beast." She replied with a smile.
'It must be the system's way of increasing players reputation with NPCs,' Freddy thought, drawing what he felt was the most logical conclusion.
"Alright, we can't have you walking around like that."
Saying that, Ellie placed her basket on the ground, took off her cloak and offered it to him.
"Why don't you put this on for now and think of what to do later on." She suggested kindly. "What do you think?"
"Thanks a lot."Freddy accepted the cloak. He was about to put it on when he suddenly recalled something.
"Oh! Right, I have a leather armor, a little damaged though can you repair it?"
Freddy turned his hand, retrieving the leather breastplate he looted from Double Son and handed it to her.
"Taking something out of thin air... do you have a storage artifact?" Ellie asked in shock.
"Storage artifact? What's that?" Freddy asked again cluelessly.
"It's something only the rich and powerful can afford, small item containing magic that can hold large amount of other items." Ellie explained patiently.
'It must be their own way of referring to the system inventory.' Freddy thought to himself.
"Yeah, we realm-hoppers have an ability like that, it helps a lot with adventuring." Freddy replied, leaving Ellie gobsmacked.
Ding!
[Willy the kid: Boss I'm currently at the tavern, are you coming over?]
A sudden message from Willy jolted Freddy from his conversation.
[Aegis Kaelos: Yeah, wait for me, I'll be right there]
Replying to Willy's message, Freddy returned his attention to Ellie.
"So about the armor, can you repair it?" He asked, still holding out the armor towards her.
"Right, let me see that" she snatched the armor from him and began examining it.
After a few moments, she picked up her basket and dropped the armor into it. "It's not that damaged, so it's doable. Put on the cloak, let's go to the shop."
Freddy quickly put on the cloak and which helped cover his bare body and both of them started walking towards the busier part of town.
After walking for a few minutes, Freddy and Ellie arrived at her shop.
Located along a narrow cobblestone lane in Hillburry Town's small business district, Ellie's Tailor Shop stands out from the neighboring smithies and other stalls with its neat wooden façade and faint scent of fresh linen that always hangs in the air. A faded signboard above the entrance reads Ellie's Threads & Stitchery, painted in elegant cursive strokes that have begun to peel from years of sun exposure.
Walking into the shop, Freddy discovered that the inside was cozy, yet bustling with colors. Bolts of fabric in every hue imaginable were stacked against the walls, while spools of thread and ribbons hung from wooden racks above the counter. A large mannequin draped in a half-finished adventurer's tunic stood occupying one corner in the shop.
"Alright, give me a few minutes and this one would be ready to go." Ellie said and went behind a counter dividing the room.
Behind it was her sewing table, cluttered with different tools for her work.
"Sure." Freddy replied and began inspecting the various items, with the system providing him their informations.
[Linen Cloth – Common]
[Boar Hide – Unprocessed Material]
[Thread Spool – Basic Quality]
[Wolf Pelt – Unprocessed Material]
"Hold on. Can you craft new armor from hides?" Seeing the boar hides, Freddy suddenly had a thought.
"That's basically what I do." Ellie replied with a face that says 'well duh'.
"How much does it take to craft a set of leather armor?" He asked again. 'How can an NPC make such expression, damn the devs are awesome.'
"Usually, if the individual provides the material, I'll only take fifty silver. But if it's you, I can do it for thirty."
"I only have the hides and pelts, how much will it take to get the other items?"
"Hmm, let's just say a total of one gold, fifty silver should do it." Ellie replied after thinking a moment.
"Alright here." As he spoke, Freddy withdrew all the hide and pelts in his inventory and dumped them on the counter.
Among them was an even larger hide emitting a greenish glow.
Inspecting the hide, Freddy nearly facepalmed himself at the information he saw.
-----------------------------------------
Warthog King's Hide
Rank: Uncommon
Description: Useful material for leather work
-----------------------------------------
'I haven't even checked the loots from the boss yet. I really suck at gaming.' Freddy thought to himself.
"Th– this... This is the hog king's hide! This is really tough leather material!" Ellie exclaimed, picking up the hide.
"Yeah, took a lot for me and my teammate to kill it." Freddy replied.
"Oh right, I'd like you to craft a second armor set for my teammate. A cloth armor for clerics. Don't worry about the price" He added.
"No problem, but it'll take about a day for me to finish the them." Ellie replied.
"No pressure. However, if possible I'd like you to add some leather from the hog king's hide to my teammates armor to increase toughness." Freddy answered.
'Its about time we headed to Clover City.' He thought to himself.