“There be something more valuable than coin” the speed at which he closed the distance between me and him was astounding.
“Y-yea, just uh show me a sample of red you have and ill see if I can’t find the exact colour you ran out of.”
“Oh joyest of joys, you truly are a saviour, good sir, do tell me what you require of me.”
“Right so I need a sign for a general store of mine since people seem to mistake it for a hunting lodge instead of an actual store.”
“Ah yes, I see well no need to worry for I will create the best and most eye-catching sign that people will flock to your store simply to catch a glimpse of its majesty.”
“Now please go, go and find my salvation” he went pushing me out of the store.
“Hey, but I didn’t-“ but before I could utter another word I was pushed outside and the door shut with no amount of banging on the door getting it open again.
Well shit, guess the guy who’s supposed to make my sign is a loon but maybe not all hope is lost I could always ask Hotchlick if he has any good recommendations.
Later...
“Hmm have you tired the town carpenter Bortche.”
Oh goddammit.
“While I may be able to point you to better carpenters, only Bortche is the best when it comes to signs.”
*sigh* “is there really no one else.”
“Not unless you patrons wondering why your building has a child's scribbles as its sign.”
“Alright well anyway, that wasn’t my original reason for coming here.”
“Oh, well what might you need.”
“Well, you see I need a price chart.”
“A price chart?”
“Yes, you see I don’t accept coin in my store and since I come from a faraway land with different currencies and prices, I need a way to translate what everything costs.”
“Now why would not accept coin for your wares, I have run my business long enough to know that such an idea is not a good one”
“Yea, well my uh... suppliers don’t take the local currency, but not to worry I have a way to convert local coins to what I can use.”
“Alright if you say so, however it will still benefit you to have some of our coin as the church is not the only one who accepts generous donations from time to time.”
“Gotcha, as for the price chart could you help me?”
“Sure but you would first need to show me the prices of your store first.”
“Ah, right”
Reaching into my back pocket and retrieving my phone while turning it on I showed the peddler a screen showing the different denominations of the US currency. Though only after turning away from the phone's screen and looking back at Hotchlick did I notice him having a truly baffled expression on his face.
“Uh, you alright there?”
“W-what, oh yes perfectly fine I just... in all my years of setting up and running my prosperous fur-selling business have I ever seen a gick as powerful as this tablet.”
Oh right I never showed him any of the cool things I had brought with me nor did I show him any type of technology.
“It's uh... yea sure a gick, anyway that’s not what matters, could you help me with an idea of a conversion chat.”
Quickly regaining his senses the peddler stammered out an “o-of course” and with that, both of us spent the rest of the day figuring out a working price conversion chart for customers. The conversion chart production process went that I would show Hotchlick a US bill or coin and explain what it could buy and he would then do the same. While I might have known a general idea of what each coin might be worth in USD the peddler gave me a much more accurate depiction of what is what. After jotting down a graph of the price conversions on my phone it was already quite late with the sun nearly over the horizon.
“Well Hotchlick you’ve been a great help, drop on by sometime and I could possibly repay you in a way.”
“Oh, no need simply looking out for another local merchant, though I will take you up on the offer of perusing your store.”
Wishing the helpful halfing a good night I made my way back home though before I could get too far I heard Hotchlick call out behind me.
“OH BEFORE I FORGET.”
He comes jogging after me.
“Oh boy, you talk folk sure move fast.”
“Eh, long legs” I say slapping my calf.
“Well, you will need em, see a pack of Brush fangs have taken up residency in the nearby woods. They ambush lone travellers by hiding in the woods with their green bushy coats and while our hunters are adept enough at dealing with them the fangs are not what I’m worried about.”
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“Oh, well what is it that's got you so scared.”
“You might have noticed walking through town today but very few people are willing to be alone on the streets this late.”
“Why that?”
“Well you see just yesterday we heard several loud cracks like lightning, only there were no clouds nor storm that would usually accompany such things. Something is out there and it's riled up them Brush fangs to the point they have begun moving to the outskirts of smaller villages and farms.”
“Ah... alright thanks for the warning”
“No problem, I would offer you my repellent gick but I feel I might need it soon myself.”
“Don’t worry, I have my own deterrents,” I say holding up my hunting shotgun.
And with that, I truly was on my way back home though certain thoughts kept bothering me. Thoughts like “why are those dire shrubs (hey I like the name) so scared of me if all I did was shoot like 2 and scare off 1” and “if I didn’t scare them then what did”? While I may not be a park ranger or the like I still went on enough hunting trips to know what it takes to really cause chaos in a forest i.e. more than just killing two wolves who decided to cosplay as trees. What’s worse is that if this forest frenzy continues then people will get scared off and not spend their money at my store making me go under which won't be all too fun for me.
“Aaaaaaaand another problem rears its ugly head,” I say to myself.
I feel like I’m playing wack amole here or trying to flatten a scrunched-up carpet every time I knock a problem down another takes its place. Welp time to update my wonderful list of shit to get done:
Get step ladder: will need to buy that in the US seeing as most carpenters don’t accept paint for payment and Bortche’s reputation seems to leave something to be desired when it comes to his woodworking skills.
Print out and put up price conversion sheet: This one should be easy I can either buy myself a printer or go to a store with one to have it printed out.
Get red paint for Bortche: Shouldn’t be too difficult of a task either seeing as any old red paint should do as long as it fits the sample I was given (getting stuff for cheap items is always great).
Stockpile other world coinage: Really need to get on that, might be able to take the first few sales in coin rather than USD though my dwindling cash reserves might make that quite difficult.
Convert gold to useable currency: Gonna need to find a place where I could sell gold for USD though maybe putting that gold into the machine might work, will need to try that out.
Deal with the things that go bump in the night: Those dire shrubs are giving me quite the headache I need to somehow get rid of those things and hopefully for good.
Find out what is causing the forest to go crazy and if I’m the cause of it: This one will be more difficult as I may have gone on a few hunting trips with my uncle I am by no means an expert at dealing with invasive species. Hell, I’m not even familiar with the local forest fauna making it even harder to figure out what’s out of place and what’s business as usual. Maybe I could hire those two hunters that visited my shop but how will I contact the two bushy-faced guys I mean I don’t even know their names except the nicknames I called them in my head.
I internally sigh at the fact that my attempt at cutting down my to-do list seemed to have only expanded it instead. While wandering home my mind wandered to other things to hopefully keep me from stressing too much about the now elongated list of things I must do. Things such as what possible markets I could corner and maybe gain a monopoly in, clothing I could do quite well in if it were not for the fact that most halflings don’t have the average size of an American. Electronics might as well be magic to these people though getting them to run might be a bit of an issue seeing as there is no electric infrastructure to take advantage of. Tools/knives would possibly be the best option as I doubt any kind of local tool smiths could get the same amount of precision I could provide for tools. Foodstuffs or snacks are currently the best options with the whole party mix seemingly being a huge success for now with my biggest customer (and by the looks of his jolly expression repeat customer) being the barkeep.
Yup, that seems to be a good idea, I’m gonna specialize in foodstuffs to start off with and then slowly expand into tools/knives. Finally getting a good idea as to how I should run my store helped me put my mind at ease and made the continuously expanding list seem a bit more manageable now.
“Maybe everything wasn’t as bad as it seemed” I mumbled absentmindedly.
Though that peace of mind was short-lived after hearing a pile of leaves go *crunch* behind me as I reached my front door.
“Goddamit not again” I say to myself under my breath.
Not wanting to get mauled again I spin around gun levelled and ready to blow more of those fucking dire shrubs back to where they came.
“ALRIGHT YOU FUUUuuuuuuuck....” once I finally found out what was right behind me my fight quickly turned into a flight response and any bravery died in my throat.
Well, it would have been a flight response if I weren’t frozen solid with fear due to the big black beast standing before me. If I had to describe it the beast before me was a big and I mean BIG fucker with fur that seemed to absorb the light around it and bleed into the dark forest behind it. Its great big yellow eyes were the only things I could see on its face staring at though staring through into my soul I felt would have been a more apt description. The only reason I think it didn’t just pounce on me and rip me to shreds was probably because it didn’t expect my reaction and was cautious of me... or more likely was curious as to what I might be. Seconds felt like minutes which felt like hours as I stared down a beast bigger than a bear with the only thing between it and me being a flat dirt path.
While keeping my shotgun trained on the creature I slowly pried open the door behind me with my hand and then my foot. Once the door was open enough for me to slip into I slowly backed into the store, gun still trained on the creature ready to shoot if it so much as sneezed in my direction. The beast seemingly realising that its prey was escaping suddenly crouched and then was seemingly closing the distance between me and it in the blink of an eye. It would have gotten me, it would have ripped into me with its white razor-sharp teeth it revealed once it opened its mouth. The only thing that saved me was my quick reflexes in shooting and my foreplanning of loading a slug shot instead of bird shot. Though after shooting the beast in its centre mass I didn’t stick around to see if it had any substantial effect finished slipping through my front door and slammed the door closed behind me.
And I am thankful I did as the moment I closed the door loud banging started coming from its other side. Fucking hell if not even buckshot is enough to slow it down then I don’t even what would, I mean these aren’t BB pellets I’m shooting here this is a chunk of lead being blasted into its stomach at great speeds. And so I sat there waiting hoping that the doors would hold and that it would either get distracted by something else and leave me alone or get bored and wander off. Even after the banging died down, I dared not open the door or take my eyes off of it for more than a second and only after 30min had passed with no noise coming from the other side did I feel safe to approach the door. No not to open it but to engage the bolts on the door to secure it even better I am not opening it until at least 8 hours have passed or I get something with greater power to bring it down.
With the doors finally secure and me at ease enough to leave it be I felt fatigue overcome me as my adrenalin began wearing off. I trudged up the stairs to my room opened the door and sat down on my lone wooden chair brought up my phone and opened the note-taking app and made a new addition to my list.
Big Black Beast: find a way to kill it.
“maybe everything wasn’t as bad as it seemed” me and my big mouth.