On our way to the trade city, we encountered a roaming band of goblins, and nothing else but sand. Evidently, I didn’t gain much experience points; however, I gained enough to level up once.

Level 1 --> Level 2

Exp (10/600)

Intelligence

Resistance

Endurance

Strength

Agility

Perception

Charisma

Mana

32

23 (+1)

39 (+1)

27

30

34 (+2)

42 (+1)

167 (+1)

Finally, after a few more days of travel the trade city appeared. It was a moderately large city with a few hundred houses spread in a large basin, flanked on all sides by sand dunes. Here, shrubs became bushes, cacti became trees, and sandstorms became flocks of birds. The city didn’t have any walls, nor moats, and the packed earth houses blended into the yellow sands, say for those who had the bright blue oasis as their backdrop.

When we approached the town no one stopped us. We passed by four armoured guards dressed in the same manner as the guards of the village, however, with a bit more cloth to shield their faces from the sand.

Our caravan went directly to the market. There, while the merchants set up shop, we stood guard. Since, we weren’t going to help unload, nor did it look like anyone would attack us I decided to start analyzing the price, and availability of goods.

First came the currency. People seemed to use bronze coins for the least expensive items. A loaf of bread went for three bronzes, spices were sold for a couple of silvers. Mid quality jewelry went for a couple dozen silver coins and then, ever so often, I would see merchants buy whole stocks of goods for a gold coin and some change. This made me wonder about the conversion rate between silver and gold coins, so I turned to my trustee scout.

“Hey, Fresia, what’s the conversion from bronze to silver, and silver to gold coins in this chiefdom.”

“Ah, that’s about ten coppers for a silver, and fifty silvers for a gold coin, but, of course, that depends on the quality of the coin.”

When the sun started to set, we went to an inn. The merchants removed the saddles from the camels and took their inventory to their rooms. We followed them up to the second floor of the inn. They had rented out the entire floor and we would oversee the security of that floor and the entrances to the building.

“Hey, Bonaventure come here,” said the guard leader.

“Which merchant are we guarding tonight?” I asked before he started to explain the obvious. Although the guard leader wasn’t a bad person, and my charisma made him see me in a better light. I didn’t like talking to him. I don’t know why, perhaps because of his earlier attitude. But that was fine. Not everyone needed to get along.

“The young master wants to speak to you a bit so, bring your squad with you. When you’re done, I’ll tell your squad where to go.”

Perhaps I wasn’t fond of him because he was incompetent. He should tell me where to place my squad first. Now my squad would be standing in the hallway twiddling their thumbs for however long the conversation took. “Sounds good.” It wasn’t any of my concern. If they got attacked and robbed, I would simply take the scraps and leave. No, that was too rash. I could still get more out of them.

#

“You can go in,” said the Urizzo after leading me to the young master’s room. I entered and saw the boy sitting on one of those tiny wooden benches drinking tea from a wooden cup. He was clean shaven, had a small stomach, clear eyes, and a sharp gaze.

I bowed once, and the boy gestured for me to sit.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” I said as I took a seat on another small wooden bench.

“Yes. Now tell me, how far your country is.”

He was an arrogant kid. People in ruling positions with high charisma probably let it get to their heads since they could speak as they wished without any repercussions to those with low charisma. I would need to let him be for now. “Two months, more or less.”

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“How many oases did find, and how many camels could they provide for?”

I scratched my chin. I didn’t know much about the exact water requirements for camels, I needed to give a believable number which didn’t sound exaggerated, nor too little for him to think of the trip as unprofitable. “There is maybe one oasis per a week worth of travel. Some could provide for fifty camels, but others wouldn’t support more than ten.”

Now it was his turn to think. “And what kind of products can be found in your chiefdom which cannot be found here?”

With this I had it in the bag. I would soon have the riches of an entire caravan and a little cult as well.

“Well, we don’t have what you call cotton, nor do we have any dates, or olives. On the other hand, we have pearls, silk, gold, and a lot of different fruits.”

“How much gold and silk do you have?”

“A lot, to be honest I was surprised when I saw the small amount of gold you used to trade. Back home we build small shrines entirely out of gold.” Since I didn’t know how much a lot of silk was. I let it slid and hopped that my statement on gold diverted his attention.

This is when his jaw dropped. It had worked. However, he soon composed himself. “How many of these silver coins do you need to trade for a gold coin there.” He pulled out a silver coin of high purity. It shined even under the room’s dim candlelight. I made it seem like I tried to examine it under the small candle. “Well, I’m not a merchant so I can’t be sure; however, I guess you’d need fifteen to twenty of these for a single gold coin.”

The young master looked at the silver coin and entered a state of deep contemplation. After a few minutes he spoke once again, “I know you must guard the other merchants, so I’ll ask one last question tonight. What is the most dangerous monster you encountered on your way here?

“The desert is empty. The most dangerous thing there are the scorpions, beetles, and spiders which come out at night. Although there is a bit more life in oases.”

The boy nodded. “Go back for tonight, I’ll ask you more questions tomorrow.”

I bowed and left the room. The guard leader showed me to the room which my squad members were to guard. He also told us at what time we were to switch with the guards placed outside the inn.

“What’ you talk about?” asked Fresia.

“Nothing much, just about my homeland.”

“How is it there?”

When she asked that I instinctively thought of the stars and nebula’s, however, that wasn’t something I could talk about. “Well,” I started, “When you’re in the cities the outside world seems barren, however, if you walk far enough, you’ll stumble upon an infinity of small forests densely packed with resources and life. However, each time the city grows, the forests get pushed back, so much so we must search underground for more riches. Because of that we have gold, too much of it, however, not enough food.”

“Well, except the gold that doesn’t sound too different from here, no? Especially when we’re here in the oasis city? Still, I’m mildly interested in the gold part. If you ever decide to go back, tell me.”

“Sure, now go guard the stairs.”

She left and I fell asleep in the hallway, my back against the wall.

#

We kept this up until we sold everything. During that time, I often stayed next to the young master while he asked me whether X or Y product existed in my homeland. I made sure to say that the smaller items with the most value didn’t exist back in the made-up-country. This would make the trip more profitable, both for him (in his mind). And for me, when I took it.

After a week we had sold everything. The merchants took another two days to buy supplies for the village. We left soon after.

#

“I feel something else underground,” said Fresia as she got closer to me. “It’s faster than the worms, and I feel like there are more than one. I think they’re giant scorpions. How the fuck are we so unlucky?”

While she was complaining, I kept my eyes on the sand. Soon I saw a small pillar of sand rise towards me. I grabbed Fresia and used quick step to jump back. A stinger erupted out of the sand and stabbed the air where I had been standing. Soon after the giant black scorpion climbed out of the sand. Its stinger went up to eight feet tall, and the scorpion’s body measured about twelve feet in length. His exoskeleton was black and shinned under the sunlight.

“Thanks for the save.”

“Don’t mention it.” Five other scorpions came out of sand, two guards had already died. One was hit by the stinger in the chest, and the other who had dodged the hit was caught by the scorpions’ pincers.

“God damn it. Everyone, form a line,” screamed the guard leader. We quickly did as he said. The five warriors left formed a line with small gaps for the archers to be able to shoot their bows. The five scorpions didn’t waste time and started running towards us.

It was a one-on-one fight. When my partner came, he attacked with his stinger. I dodged the blow and tried to cut his pincer off at the joint; however, its shell was too hard, and my sword was too weak.

“Support.” I yelled to Fresia while I was deflecting the scorpions blows. However, the arrows didn’t do anything. If I wanted to survive, I needed to use my lightning mage skills. I applied the numbing spell to my blade.

The scorpion once again used its tail to try and strike me down, however, this time I deflected the blow with my blade which stunned him for a half second . In that time, I jumped atop his head, and I drove my blade inside one of his eyes. The scorpion fell limply to the ground. Only twitching a few times as the numbing spell still assaulted his muscles.

In this short time, another guard had died. Thankfully, the guard leader had managed to kill his scorpion. We needed all the available manpower to keep my cash cow, the young master alive.

The archer who always followed him had managed to incapacitate another scorpion by stuffing the scorpions’ eyes with arrows. While this was going on, I ran towards a scorpion which had set his eyes on a grade three swordsmen barely able to hold back its strikes. With my numbing attack, I hit the scorpion’s leg, which slowed him down enough for me to pass his pincer without being chopped in half and pierced his eye.

Finally, the guard leader dealt with the incapacitated scorpion and another scorpion which had dealt with his human partner. All the scorpions were now dead, and I had gained a couple of levels.

Level 2 --> Level 4

Exp (0/700)

Intelligence

Resistance

Endurance

Strength

Agility

Perception

Charisma

Mana

32

25 (+2)

39

28 (+1)

34 (+4)

35 (+1)

43 (+1)

167

“Fucking hell, the beasts are getting out of hand.” Muttered Urizzo as he helped dig a grave for the deceased. And two guards were crying while doing the same. The villages, although wealthy. Didn’t have many capable fighters. Perhaps they had ventured to the capital to replace those who had lost their lives in the last war.

Anyhow, after they dealt with the brunt of their emotions, we continued as so until we reached the village. However, the one place which promised peace and prosperity showed the glimpses of war. Fifty lightly armoured Arabian horses were stationed at the entrance of the village.