20-Why is Shakespearean weeb a thing!?

5/1/5/4353 M.A.C - Niwut - Afternoon

Is that what I think it is?

Doro approached a stall that appeared to deal with unrefined iron ores. Iron was easy to find, and his dad had quite a bit back home, but that wasn't what had piqued Doro's interest. The ores on display were small, dark, and roughly spherical in nature. Some of them seemed to have bits of a brick-colored mineral stuck to their surface, and that was what had attracted Doro's attention.

"Good afternoon. I was hired by this out-of-towner to help him find his way around, and buy what he needs. He asked me to inquire as to the origin of your ores."

Doro lied through his teeth, but Dhruvah's impressive figure was so distracting that his acting skills, or lack thereof, proved more than sufficient. For his part, Dhruvah nodded his head silently. Well as silently as could be expected from a man wearing a visored helm, a mail coiffe beneath, and a gorget to boot.

I'm surprised that he is even able to nod at all, considering all the interlocking pieces of armor he has on . Also, how has he not been boiled like a lobster in his shell wearing that getup in these temperatures, strolling under the sun?

"I welcome you to my humble establishment, Sir."

The man behind the stall wrung his hands and hunched his back slightly as he addressed Dhruvah respectfully.

"I apologize for not mentioning it but my employer is not very fluent in Modern Imperial, and thus, would rather have me deal with conversations. He comes from far abroad, you see?"

The shopkeeper bristled a bit at that last comment. Doro could see the subtle changes in the man's facial expression before he responded.

"Aren't you a bit young to be working? Can you even do sums properly? And you say you speak another language too? I don't mean to be rude but this seems highly unlikely. Is this one of those new city scams the other nomad traders keep telling me to look out for?"

Doro activated his sigil and presented his hand to the man, palm up.

"No offense. I can understand that this might look strange, but see? I have my first-tier merchant and second-tier scholar certifications. I'm just a quick learner. Don't worry, we are not here to scam you, just to spend some coin in exchange for some of your wares. If we can come to an agreement on price that is. Otherwise, we'll just part ways peacefully and try our luck elsewhere. No pressure, no threats."

As he finished his attempt at reassuring the shopkeeper, Doro realized he was now standing in the shade. He looked up and nearly jumped straight back into Dhruvah. The large man stood silently as he peeked down at Doro's hand from behind him.

"Alright, my bad. I wish my son was as smart as you. He is nearly twelve but still struggling with simple math. To be fair though, he is great at taking care of our sifters, and at driving the sand sled, much better than I was at his age at least. So you wanted to know where my ores came from?"

The man pulled up a melon-sized stone from under the counter and put it on the table.

"You see this stone here? It is found in great quantities at the foot of the Sutai mountain range, all the way to the Southern end of the desert. To be honest, it is one of the cheapest sources of iron because there is a lot of it, and it is not particularly good. It is fine for cutlery, nails, and the such, but isn't great for making arms or armor. Still, it's popular with the caravans, because the stone casing is lighter than most other iron-rich stones, and the iron is concentrated in small darker round bits in the stone. The stone is also not too resistant and can easily be chipped away with a small hammer and chisel."

Score! This is great. I was hoping to find some aluminum-rich minerals. Since it was one of the most commonly found elements back on Earth, I expected to at least find something. But if I'm not mistaken, this stone must be bauxite, and that means possible trace amounts of gallium as well. I don't remember the exact numbers, and don't feel like checking now, but it would only be in trace amounts. Not even sure I would pick it up with [Matter Analysis].

"There may be a technical name but we call it "Dotted Sandstone", because it is not too different from sandstone, and has a bunch of iron-rich dots. If you need large quantities of metal, and don't care about it holding a good edge or being particularly strong, this will do the trick. We are not really sure why, but the Iron and steel processed from them is sometimes a bit lighter than others."

Yup, definitely Bauxite. Even if this kind doesn't end up having much gallium, that is still a really good source of aluminum. Finding something with small amounts of titanium might also be doable, but what I really need now is some chromium.

Doro approached Dhruvah and spoke to him, in English.

"This should do the trick to fake a foreign language. Hey, big man! I know you can't understand me, but I've got to say something to keep up the ruse."

Doro waited, expecting Dhruvah to answer with some gibberish or a nod.

"Eh bikurishta! Thou knowest to Brihonian shaberi. T'is slightly heta but understand somewhat dekiru."

Am I having a stroke or did he just speak to me in Shakespearean Weeb?! How the hell does such an abomination exist here? I'm sure I heard at least one Japanese word in there...

"Huh......we ...uh, shouldeth speaketh? speakest? At a later time. Yamete for now?"

Dammit, I only know a few words in Japanese, and I'm not a friggin lit major. Aside from a couple of Shakespeare plays, and dubious usage in Game of Thrones or Monty Python, I have no clue how to speak any other English than the modern kind. Let's put that aside for now and get a deal sorted.

"My employer wanted to know what you did with all the rock you chipped off to get the iron-rich bits out."

"The rock? We usually throw it out in the desert as it builds up. Some mix it in clay to give it a darker orange color, but it isn't that popular, and other pigments give better results."

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"My employer is interested in acquiring some. How much do you still have, and how much would you be willing to sell it for? Considering you just said that you usually dispose of it, and we'd be saving you the trouble, I'm sure you can give us a good deal."

***

Twenty minutes later, Doro left the merchant's stall in high spirits. As it turns out, the merchant wasn't overly greedy and even offered to collect more from some of his acquaintances in the market. After a bit of friendly haggling, they had settled on ten librae for a silver mark, and Doro decided to get three hundred librae for thirty. He was going to pay an additional fee to have it delivered, as an imperial libra turned out to be roughly three-quarters of a pound, or a third of a kilogram. To his surprise, Dhruvah just picked up the package, one-handed, and held it up onto his left pauldron, keeping his right arm free.

"Instead of paying a delivery fee, just let me do it and get me a bit of extra food. Also, I'm surprised you know some Brihonian, the language isn't very widespread due to Brihon's insular nature and youth. I mean, the country is nearly a hundred years younger than I am."

"Uh...yeah...I picked some up from a sailor...?"

"Doro, if you want to keep things secret, it's fine, but please don't lie to me needlessly."

"My bad, but how come you know Brihonian?"

"Ah well, my friends and I spent a few years in Brihon during the tail end of their revolution. Then once more , in the aftermath, the Free Legion was called in when one of the three resulting factions of Brihon broke multiple rules of engagement and committed war crimes against the Majaya Archipelago a century or so ago. It's because we went and protected them from the Brihonians that the Majayans have such close ties to the empire now, and basically operate as if they were one of the empire's vassal states, with slightly more autonomy. My friends and I spent a few years in each country, and well, you pick things up."

"That's cool and all, but I only know about the Empire and the official vassal states really. You could be telling me about make-believe places from some children's story and I would be none the wisest."

"Don't feel bad, it took me over two hundred years before I felt ready enough to go any farther than the coastal waters of the Motherland myself. I mean, can you imagine if I fell overboard in all that armor? Won't happen now unless the ship gets destroyed though, I have a pretty nifty Ability that lets me use energy to root myself to the ground. I've stopped a cannonball with my chest, and my feet never left the bridge. I say that though, but that's mostly because a chunk of the bridge got torn off and stayed stuck to my feet. luckily the railing caught me before I could fall into the water but yeah, I'd say that counts as ship destruction."

"Not sure I can wait that long. There are a few things I need to do out there in the world, and I'd like to achieve them before two centuries have passed. Don't worry though, I don't plan on attempting an ocean crossing as a kid below level 10."

"Oh yeah, I never asked but, What are your Choice and level?"

"I'm a level 1 [Phase Meister], my Choice Day was...Damn, it was only two days ago! I guess so much new stuff made it feel like longer."

"Only two days ago? You should have said so earlier. Happy belated Choice Day, how about we get some food to celebrate?"

"Aaah. I see what you did there. No worries. Now that we've made a purchase, I have 70 silver marks in change and we can finally get some food in you. Sorry for the wait."

"Good lad. I'm famished"

Dhruvah slapped Doro on the back with his free hand, almost sending him sprawling onto the floor. Doro managed to regain his balance before reaching the point of no return and started to look around for something Dhruvah might like to eat.

***

"Ah, that hit the spot. Nothing better than bits of spiced meat on a skewer. I swear they're all pretty much the same, but every large town or city keeps telling me it's a local specialty. Am I missing something?"

"What are you asking someone who's never left this city for? Anyway, I've found one of the three things I was looking for. One of the things I'm looking for would probably either show up as a fine bright white powder or a somewhat reflective opaque black stone with dark orange or rust-colored veins."

"White powder? Like chalk or flour?"

"Nah, even brighter white."

"Oh, like sifter sand."

"Like what?"

"Sifter sand. You know, the bright white sand that can be found on the outskirts of the desert, where sifters roam? If you keep walking past the farms and to the edge of the desert, it'll be as far as you can see for a day's journey."

"Ah, I've been to the Farms once when I was younger, but never up close to the desert. Do you think they'd sell some here, I could check it out."

"Sure, they use it to make white paint or cloudy white glass. Plus, it's cheaper than dirt around here. Well, actual dirt, not the poor excuse for the stuff you guys have in the area. I mean, back home in Ashrama, a field of the same size can support more than four times as many crops. No wonder food is so damn expensive here. Also if you check in the cracks of my armor, you might find some. Only arrived yesterday and had to trek through the stuff for a while before getting here."

"If we can't find any in the stalls, I'll check. The other thing that I'm looking for is probably rarer. If we are lucky, we'll find it as a deep green powder, nearly emerald colored. If we are even luckier, we'll find it as an opaque black mineral. It's slightly different though. It should be more reflective than the first and uh, instead of the veins being dark orange or rust colored, they would be a darker reddish brown. Also, it may or may not have a slightly greenish hue, sometimes. Damn, my bad, I hadn't thought about how similar they appear."

Damn, ilmenite and chromite are very visually similar now that I describe them out loud. Chromite would come in clutch. Well to be fair two of the biggest sources of chromite on Earth were Kazakhstan and South Africa, two arid regions with large deserts. Not sure under what conditions it forms but if it's anywhere on the continent, it will probably be either in Manzat or Umayer. Plus nothing says that chromium is not more abundant on this planet.

"No worries, dark black stones with orangish streaks or bright white or green powders. Simple enough to remember."

***

"Damn, that ended up being expensive! I'm happy we found it as, well as another nifty thing I wasn't actively looking for, but it ended up costing more than I expected."

Ilmenite had been a bust, and the nomads had laughed at him when he'd asked if they had any sifter sand. One of the kinder merchants had told him that no nomad would bother traveling hundreds of miles to try and sell something found at the doorstep of their destination. His hunt for titanium had ended in failure up to that point, but he had still been hopeful that he could get his hands on some sifter sand soon. By the time tenth bell had rung, Doro had been about to give up for the day until he'd spotted a stand that appeared more solid and permanent than most of the others he'd seen thus far. It was decorated intricately and the man behind the counter was equally well adorned.

It was there that Doro had gotten lucky, and his funds had dipped dramatically. He found chromite ore, but it had been extremely expensive compared to his previous purchase. As it turned out, it was one of the preferred sources of iron for high-end smiths because they had noticed that iron extracted from it had the tendency to resist rust slightly better. The good news was that it was rather abundant. The bad news was that the closest mines were in Umayer, on the other side of the Sutai mountain range. Due to requiring a journey by boat before reaching the nomads, and needing to be brought over from the western coast of Manzat, the price had been understandable. After haggling as much as he could, to little avail, he ended up buying sixty librae for a total of thirty silver marks. He had almost left with his purchase but at the last second, he noticed something in another section of the display.

The merchant had a small number of precious gems on display in a glass case, and next to them were an assortment of large uncut crystals and split geodes. What had caught his eye was a large cluster of black crystals, which he had confirmed to be manganite after closer inspection. Luckily it turned out that they were only considered semi-precious, and were routinely mined in the crown mountains, to be used for inexpensive jewelry and decorative pieces. The merchant even cut him a good deal due to the volume of his previous purchase, and Doro left with another hundred librae of raw materials, his pockets another twenty silver marks lighter.

"Thirty at the first stall, two at the food stall, and fifty at the last one. With the three I'm giving you for the night at the in, that leaves me with fifteen for the sifter sand, if it turns out to be what I'm looking for."

"You know, that's a lot of money to spend this quickly for a boy your age. You don't have to pay for my room if you ended up spending more than you expected."

Doro laughed at his savior turned bodyguard turned pack mule.

"I'm even making you carry an amount of weight fit for a camel. You deserve at least this much, even if we don't take everything else you've done for me today into account. Don't worry! With all this stuff, I should be able to practice my Abilities and turn a huge profit. I'm not boasting or being naive. I know exactly what I can turn a lot of this stuff into, and I'm fairly sure they'll go for good prices. Sorry, I can't tell you much for now, but I'll have a small gift for you tomorrow if all goes according to plan."

"I guess I'll just have to believe you at your word then. At least this time, if I am being lied to, I'll end up with more money instead of less, unlike with the last person I trusted. "

"Yeah, doesn't this young level 1 boy's mysterious get-rich-quick scheme just fill you with confidence? Wait, I just thought of a dumb prank we could pull on my mother. You interested in having a bit of harmless fun?"

"Probably gonna regret it, but sure. If it'll make you happy, I'll go along with it."

"Are you only doing this to help me keep my mind off the....incident from earlier? If you don't feel like it, it's all good."

"Aah, don't be like that. Tell me what you are thinking about, I might be more motivated once you tell me your plan."

"Alright, so we are still about ten minutes away from my house. When we get there, this is what we're going to do..."