Karp placed the dagger on the counter with everything else.
˝Well... Yeah... A water steel dagger is worth uh two, no, three times what you paid...but...uh…anyone that can afford water steel doesn’t want a dagger. They want um some big flashy weapon like a sword or maul. This dagger could uh cut any iron or steel weapon, but it could take two years to sell, and even then, it wouldn’t go for much. But um people will pay wayyyyy too much for a sharp steel sword or steel ax. Because uh well, it looks really good in armor. In three months, I can sell everything for a little less than the dagger.”
Slart fully extended one arm with three fingers raised, closed one eye, and peered through a small gap between her thumb and pointer finger with the other eye.
she’s dangerous. when I made an offer for the dagger, it only took her a few moments to calculate out precisely what she would need to sell at the same price and in only a fraction of the time.
Metal wasn’t natural to the world, but shifters had discovered the material in the Shift World. The eight types’ values varied significantly based on rarity and strength, but generally, the rarer the metal, the stronger and more valuable. Almost everyone owned at least one piece of iron. Hunters owned a few iron arrowheads, farmers owned iron picks or hoes, and city guards owned iron spearheads. Iron coins were the cheapest form of currency because iron was the most accessible metal to find and most straightforward to identify because it was the only dull metal. The soft gray never shone, even after hours of cleaning.
Steel was a lighter gray than iron and was luminous. Steel was rarer than metal but still common enough to be used in high-quality farming, mining, and with woodcutting equipment. Lords preferred steel over iron, and they owned steel pots, kettles, or other daily use goods that belonged only to the privileged. Fifty iron coins could be traded for one steel coin of the same size.
Sunshine steel was considerably rarer than ordinary steel and looked similar to regular steel but had a yellow hue when held at the right angle. A merchant could exchange a sunshine steel coin for one thousand iron coins of the same size. These valuable coins were usually only used for large-scale purchases, like transactions involving land or lordships. Sometimes a lumber baron or mining baron owned axes or picks made of sunshine steel for its increased durability. Generally, though, sunshine steel was forged into a lord’s armor and weapons.
Merchants adopted the white-hued seashell steel to represent their trade. Even though rarer than sunshine steel, many commoners had seen seashell armor, but not sunshine armor. Approaching a keep in full armor was an act of war except for merchants in seashell steel armor who used the armor to announce their presence and defend themselves from thieves on the highway.
Water steel had a blue hue and was more scarce than seashell steel, but not rare compared to sunshine steel. For every three pieces of sunshine steel, there were two pieces of seashell steel and one piece of water steel. A sharpened water steel dagger was strong enough to puncture any part of iron or steel but wasn’t guaranteed to break sunshine steel or seashell steel instantly. Water steel was more durable than seashell steel, which was more durable than sunshine steel. If two evenly matched opponents fought with one person in seashell steel and the other in water steel, the seashell steel would break first. Sunshine steel would break even faster.
Dragon fire steel was rare and made more scarce by the royal guard, who hoarded the metal. Some members of the royal guard were called the Dragon Guard because of their matching dragon fire steel. They owned thirty complete sets of armor as well as enough spare pieces to repair damage with unrecoverable slivers. Although dragon fire steel was legal to own, only a scattered handful of lords possessed the metal since the royal family would pay handsomely for any piece. When a shifter found dragon fire armor or a dragon fire weapon, they received enough land, stores, and coin to live comfortably for the rest of their life.
The purple-hued water dragon steel was so incredibly rare that there was no known complete set of water dragon armor in the whole world. High-ranking lords sometimes owned a single piece, which then became an heirloom of their lineage. That heirloom was so expensive that a trade of equal value was impossible and so it only changed hands through war, theft, or murder.
Demon’s steel had a black hue and was the rarest and most potent of all metals. There was only one complete set and two incomplete sets of demon steel armor. Demon’s steel had been a sign of the royal family since the days of Snorg the Conqueror. To secure all pieces for the royal family, The Demon Reborn declared wearing or owning demon’s steel a capital offense. The royal family would not pay for demon’s steel but spared the life and family of anyone who voluntarily relinquished the metal to the court. Tales said that no other steel could penetrate the legendary metal.
Karp finished talking to Slart and headed to the side door so that she could go to her room at the inn before departing for The Whitecoat’s compound. She couldn’t wait to try out the half-pound water steel dagger to see why it was worth more than eighty pounds of regular steel.
maybe after finishing with korg, i’ll come back to the tavern and play a game at the throwing board with slart.
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