The room I'm staying in is quite luxurious for being a guest room. It has wooden walls covered in a welcoming colour of the wallpaper. It's cozy staying here. Aside from the room's colour, it also has a bookshelf of random books like Green... I'm not too interested in that one—But nevertheless, it has furniture like a chair and table for studying and a closet–

Knock

Knock

Slam!

The door to my room was busted open by none other than Amaelia. Of course it will be! I immediately sat up on the bed with my thoughts of the room disturbed.

— "What was that even for?! I was sleeping!"

— "You have no right to complain when you are residing in this manor. Get up and get dressed."

I guess I can't complain about her argument there. I did use this manor last night to take a bath and request some food.

— "You're as uncaring as a machine, y'know that...?"

— "I won't take the words of a shrimp seriously. Get up; get dressed; and go down to the dining room. Now."

After that, she slammed the door and I got up from the bed to go to the closet only to find a wide assortment of clothes. From fancy suits that clearly won't fit me to normal casual clothing... Naturally, I went to grab the casual clothing—a green plain t-shirt with white trimmings and black shorts. Much better...

...But as I started removing my clothes, I noticed something hard in my pocket. It was a dark solid key with peculiar and vague pins that clearly won't fit in a door. It has pins in irregular patterns—from zigzags to random shapes but the way it was made was precise because it's just a small black key. And then I remember that this thing was my family's heirloom.

I never thought much of it because what can it do? It's just a key for crying out loud. I went out of the room after donning my clothes only to realise that I... I don't know the layout of this manor. I even forgot the path Amaelia took to drag me in the guest room.

The only clue that I have is that the dining room is downstairs but I don't even know where the stairs are!

— "This is so annoying!"

My voice echoed through the manor. This place is huge. It's like a maze; I could get lost in here—as if I'm not already lost!

I composed myself and started walking in a random direction and by stroke of luck, I found the stairs that lead... That leads... That leads upstairs! There's probably more than three floors here!

After spending about thirty minutes roaming around this maze-like manor, I finally found the stairs down but only to be greeted by another pan of realization: I don't know where the dining room is!

Thankfully, it didn't take that long for me to find the dining room. I was met with people already there eating breakfast and talking amongst themselves. But as soon as I entered the room, they all went silent like they'd seen a ghost. I could hear them say something among the lines of: "...Is that him?", "He's his, isn't he?" And other things of sorts. I seriously don't understand!

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

It looked like the manor had some guests today. They're all so pompous and posh. Couldn't be me, really... Oh wait, I was a son of an aristocratic family before I ran away from home. Shame. The joke could've landed perfectly– Anyway! I'm getting out of track!

They're all looking at me as I walk into a random empty chair to sit on and join them in breakfast.

After an hour or so, the guests finished their discussion, completely going around the topic of me "being his" and whatever that means. After they finished their discussion and food, they leave with each of them saying farewell to Edwards and Ms. Florenza.

After they all left, Amaelia came up to me.

— "It took you half an hour to get here. Are you dense or are you slow?"

— "Isn't it the same..?"

— "You dare talk back to me now, huh?"

What did I seriously do to this girl?! We've only met for a single day and she's already treating me like I'm a wild animal! After that, she left to continue her work and routine with the other maids of this maze-like manor.

I decided to leave the manor for a while only to find Edwards tending to the land dragons that are used for carrying carriage for travel and for carrying a merchant's carriage.

I've always wanted to be a travelling merchant because I heard that there are many beautiful kingdoms and forests that are worth seeing

As soon as I started to ponder off my thoughts, Edwards was already looking at me who is looking at the land dragons.

— "I can tell that you're interested in becoming a travelling merchant, am I right?"

— "Yeah... How can you tell?"

— "It's all a merchant's instinct, really."

— "Is that an actual thing...?"

— "Nope. Not at all. I was just lying until I was correct. You miss a hundred percent of shots you don't take, as they say."

— "Okay..."

This guy is interesting. I want to learn to be a travelling merchant like him! I could finally pursue becoming what I've always wanted in life! I finally realized that I'm finally free to do as I wish!

— "I have one question: how do you become a travelling merchant?"

— "You sign this parchment."

Edwards showed me a parchment with no signature like it was something special... Wait, why does it have a faint magical energy, if it makes any sense.

— "This isn't a normal legal parchment, boy. It's a magic contract that once you sign will grant you sets of abilities that a travelling merchant needs. I can give you one, for sure. But you have to work for it. I'm not going to just give it to you without actual experience. First, you have to–"

— "I gladly accept!"

And with that, I spent a whole month travelling in a carriage with Edwards. I learned a lot, like, learning how to talk to people that are interested in your wares, trading information with other merchants, haggling with people, and roads to take from kingdoms to kingdoms—but I'm not very good at navigation... I hope I'll become better soon.

After a long month of non-stop travelling, I learned a lot. We then stop back at the manor to take a break. Edwards then came up to me with the parchment and an ink and quill.

— "Sign it. You earned it."

Without hesitation, I signed it with my name. Edwards then took out a blank paper with the same magical energy feel.

— "Now hold this paper to see what skills you have. By signing the contract, it gives you random skills that range from absolute worst skills to skills that will make you famous in a single day. And no, there's no way to change it."

I complied and held the paper. As I did, texts started writing itself on it. From random incomprehensible lines to words and finally to understandable sentences.

Edwards then took the paper and stated looking at it with narrow eyes.

— "Let's see... You have: "Merchant's Eye" to appraise items. Not that horrible. "Item Duplication" self explanatory. And "Item Scan" to scan for items around you that are worth selling. Not that horrible set of skills."

— "Really? You're not lying, are you?"

— "Nope. Not even a little bit."

— "Sweet!"

My vision then started fading to black as if my soul got pulled out of my body... Ah... It was a dream of how I became a travelling merchant... How could I forget? I could hear a high-pitch voice waking me up.

Slap

Slap

—"Wake up!"