When I took a gold coin out of my purse and handed it to her, the woman gave me twenty silver coins as change, handed me the armor, and showed me how to put it on. It was done by tying the leather straps on the side...
I had never thought about how to put it on, and it was more complicated than I thought, to the point that I would have had a hard time putting it on if she hadn't kindly shown me. I tied the boots the way I used to tie my bootlaces in the military, but they were tied more tightly than I thought, so I decided to just wear them.
"Thank you for buying them for me. Those boots were also made with the leftover leather from the armor. Since my father rarely lets beginners look around the shop, this armor hasn't been sold yet."
... Is that so? Despite all that, that dwarf from earlier let me look around the shop right away. And before we could even start a conversation. Did he realize that I was talking about him? The dwarf from earlier came into the store.
"Did you buy it? It finally sold... It didn't look good enough to keep on display, so I hoped it would sell quickly."
"Oh, Dad! You praised me when I first made it!"
"That's right, it was pretty good considering your skills back then. But objectively, it wasn't that good."
"That's because your standards are too high!"
Judging from the way they bicker like that, it definitely seems like father and daughter. The daughter is taller than her father, and their races seem to be different, so the picture is a bit odd, but...
A woman who looks a bit young because she's short calls a man who looks rough around the edges 'Dad.' It's a good idea. That is a good idea.
The dwarf, who finished talking to his daughter, looked in my direction and spoke.
"My name is Gram. This is my daughter Miranda."
"Oh, yes. My name is Ian."
"What's going on? Dad, you should say your name first. Don't you think you don't like new adventurers?"
That's curious. From the way he talked, he didn't seem to like beginner adventurers very much, but he spoke to me first.
"Hmm... You. Do you have a dexterity skill or something similar?"
"A dexterity skill? I don't have anything like that..."
"Or is there a skill that says 'correcting actions when using your hands' in the skill description?"
"What? Dad, she has that skill?"
....How did he know? My newly acquired skill, [Heavenly Hands], has the effect of 'correcting all actions when using your hands.'
"...Do you not know the usefulness of that skill?"
"I just got it, too. Or rather, how did you know about it?"
"Artisans like me can tell just by looking at the way you move your hands. And you just got it? Did you learn some kind of mystery from the Labyrinth?"
I got the skill from giving a massage once. I thought it was a good-looking skill, though.
"I'm curious as to how you got it, but it's rude to ask. Anyway, if you're not a dungeon explorer and want to learn hammering, come here."
"Is this skill really that useful?"
Gram looked at me as if to ask if I was serious, then grumbled and said, "You don't even know this..." before explaining it to me.
"You know the mechanism for obtaining skills, right? Among them, [Dexterity] is an extremely difficult skill to obtain."
"Why? Wouldn't you obtain it if you do things that require Dexterity?"
"Are you by any chance from another world? You don't know this... What kind of 'job requiring dexterity' is this?"
"What... isn't it like blacksmithing or sewing or cooking? If you look at it broadly, you could say that combat also requires Dexterity."
"Yes. But the skills you get from doing those things aren't [Dexterity] skills, but rather skills like [Metallurgy] or [Sewing]. Let me give you an example. If you handle iron a bit to get the [Dexterity] skill, you'll get the [Metallurgy] skill. If you keep doing that, will you get the [Dexterity] skill? Not at all. From the point where you get the [Metallurgy] skill, almost all of the experience points you get from metallurgical activities go into the [Metallurgy] skill."
"Because of that, in order to get a skill like [Dexterity] that 'corrects all actions when using your hands,' you have to do many actions like metallurgy, sewing, cooking, sculpting... without any other skills, to the point where those skills take all the experience you gain. It's practically impossible to raise other skills by that point. Because of that, people who get the [Dexterity] skill basically try to be apprenticed wherever they go. Or at least those with similar skills."
To summarize, it was like this. If you do metallurgy to get the [Dexterity] skill, 99% of your experience goes into [Metallurgy], so skills that correct 'all' hand actions like [Dexterity] are extremely hard to get and precious. I don't have the [Dexterity] skill, but I can also use the effects of the [Dexterity] skill...
Still, even after receiving such a tempting offer, I had already made my choice.
"I'm sorry, but I want to go to the labyrinth."
"You'll know when you see it. That's why I told you to come if you're interested. I'm not forcing you. Still, come visit me sometimes. I'm planning to pass the store down to my daughter, so there will be more times when my daughter is there than me."
"I'll come visit often."
I have no intention of turning down a connection with a dwarf. But I also don't plan on learning metallurgy yet, though.
"Oh, if you come visit the store sometimes, can you hang out with me?"
Miranda, who had been listening to the conversation, joined in as the story was wrapping up.
"Hang out with me, please? I don't have the [Dexterity] skill yet, and I'm learning a few things from my dad, and although they're not [Dexterity] skills, I think your skills, which are similar, will help me acquire the [Dexterity] skill. I'm not asking you to show me for free, but when you come to visit, I'll take care of your equipment and teach you basic equipment maintenance methods. It'll be good for you to learn."
"Sure, why not?"
"Perfect, then. I hope you take care of me then."
I swear that I wasn't doing this because she was beautiful and that I might have a chance of using my [Adaptation] skill… but then I get some thoughts of that nature.
Get out of my head impure thoughts!