I had not yet taken a few steps into the camp when I heard the very familiar voice of George Bristol.

"Meridin, why don't you come and have a chat."

I then had to show some of the items I had collected and after much philosophical debate, I reluctantly parted with a number of them.

"You know we need items to pay the people who are erecting fortifications, digging latrines, cleaning and maintaining the camp and other useful activities."

"I completely agree." agreed I, carefully dropping a few rats near the table, where the items were piled. "That's why I left almost all of my battle spoils."

"According to the eyewitness estimate, that's just a small fraction of what you took!"

"It's the adrenaline, you know how it is. Envious people's eyes are three times bigger."

"Yes but four eyes see more than two hands."

"I don't know what you're talking about, my friend." I said while frantically gesticulating trying to divert George's attention. "Yeah, I picked up some items," I continued as I kept manipulating my rats. "Which I intend to use to increase the fighting strength of some of the weaker individuals."

"You mean you were going to use them to increase the strength of the weaker you, right?"

"You said it, not me. " I retorted as I felt my rats climb up the table carrying a few choice items.

"Here," I pointed purposefully to the camp. "Look at these people. Look at their fires. Look how calm they are. That's part of your credit. You should reserve a few liters of liquor from old Joseppe's distillery, God bless him, and celebrate for a moment. It'll be ready soon, you know."

"Yes, yes. This alcohol will relieve some of the tension in camp and could be used as an additional means of rewards and stimulations." sighed George, and I hurried to send my rats out of the tent.

"That's right." I agreed. "My favorite friends, the alchemists. What would we do without them…"

We then continued our conversation outside the tent, and soon I was making my way with brisk steps to Mr. Dellucci's workstation. On the way I stopped and gathered up my little thieving accomplices and the loot they brought me and proceeded at a brisk pace while whistling a merry tune.

"Marquis Zlodar, Marquis Zlodar. " I heard a voice behind me.

"Not now. I'm busy. " I replied and looked around.

Behind me stood one of the two boys I had rescued from the clutches of the evil rapist woman.

"Marquis Zlodar." the young man continued breathlessly. "I understood that you were a hero in battle with the orcs."

"Yes, that's right," I slowly agreed. "If it weren't for the creatures I summoned, we would have lost many lives today. "

"I was also told you captured a living orc! They must have given you a big reward." the boy said, his eyes glowing.

“Hey, nobody's given me an award for that.” I said, almost running backwards towards Bristol's tent. But then I remembered the brave little rats in my pockets and scratched my head. “For me, the greatest reward is helping and protecting the people of our race. This is a competition for the future of humanity, as you well know.”

"That's right, that's right. Big brother, uncle Marquis Zlodar is so cool."

"Hahaha. You are right, you are right.” I said scratching my head. “You're a smart boy. Look at this strange magic knife I found."

A few minutes later I was on my way again, this time with my head held high, stepping slowly with my hands behind my back, like a chinese young master from the Ming dynasty, during the Xuande emperor period.

"I'm really cool, aren't I," I thought, nodding my head and mentally agreeing with myself. "I need more people to tell me that."

"Meridin." I heard Tori Victa's voice. "Glad to find you Meridin.I was so worried today."

"Yes, yes, It was a tough fight and I almost lost my life.” I said while nodding my head repeatedly again, and starting to feel some headache. “But thanks to my talent, intuition and remarkable intellect, I managed to save myself."

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"Really, Meridin, you are so brave!" Tori came over and kissed me passionately. "I'm glad you're alive."

"I too am glad to be alive, Tori. Here, I've even prepared a present for you."

With those words I pulled out one of the shaman's weapons I had managed to get my hands on.

"This is a shaman's staff. I don't know what it does, but I think it can increase your power. I'm sure with your abilities, you'll uncover its secrets."

"Thank you, Meridin!"

An hour later, I got dressed and said goodbye to Tori, after promising her at least ten times that I'd be back early at her tent tonight.

"How good it feels to be a hero after a fight. Everyone respects you and you even find interesting items." Then I thought of something else and frowned slightly. "Hopefully it's not a summoning staff.... I should have been a little more careful..." I was lost in thought, and at that moment, I heard a voice again.

"Meridin, Meridin.." I heard a distant voice behind me.

"Ah no, they won't stop me this time!" thought I, activating my mana. From the core, a large amount of mana flowed to my muscles and activated them. Thus my speed and strength increased exponentially. I then activated my shadow fusion skill and ran full force towards the darker areas of the camp.

Ten minutes later, I finally made it to Mr. Jovanni's workstation. There I took out the items I had collected during the last battle and together we began to examine them. After a while, Mister Dellucci called two more specialists, one was our best blacksmith and craftsman, and the other specialized in enhancing items by infusing them with mana, writing runes, magic seals, and even some basic mini formations. They also took part in our research.

It turned out that the Orcish weapons contained some very interesting secrets and the two craftsmen showed great interest in them. They wanted to better study the weapons and the other objects I had, as well as the runes and formations that were embedded on them. Especially considering that I had picked precisely those weapons that had the most magical power in them. After some hesitation and negotiation, I left my items in the care of the two artisans.

For myself, I kept a few magical items: two magic rings, each of which somehow made the movement of mana in my body easier. No idea exactly how they worked, but I liked the feeling.

In addition to these, I also liked two iron bracelets that continuously attracted mana to my arm muscles, improving my physical strength.

The last item was a shaman amulet, which we discovered could be used as a mana battery. I could store nearly 30% of my mana in it and use it when needed. The bad thing was that it "leaked" at a rate of about five percent per hour and I had to refill it periodically. The good news was that I could use it in my summoning rituals, such as preparing mana intensive charts and complicated formation parts with it, so that I had my full power when I was doing the actual summoning.

Also, in my ring were a few common weapons to use as needed. I particularly liked a huge shield, which I intended to use to cover myself from the spells of the increasingly frequent magical zombies.

Seeing the items I wanted to keep, the two craftsmen with great effort managed to talk me into leaving the items I wanted to keep for that night and picking them up tomorrow morning before I went hunting. That way they would have a chance to study them and copy the symbols engraved on them. Reluctantly, I agreed and headed for the restorant.

There I had to pay for my order by getting a list of things from the store and after bringing them I picked up more than half a cubic meter of mana-rich, cooked meat!

There were a large number of people in the camp who were unwilling or unable to fight zombies properly. Nico the cook was one of them. He had seen me leave over a ton of meat and after we talked for an hour I offered to help finance his business. He wanted to open a new restaurant, a laundry service and a tailoring business to repair various clothes and items.

He brought two plates of food and we sat at two wooden stumps further away and I questioned him at length about his ideas. This conversation convinced me that he seemed quite serious and besides, I liked his ideas. Also, he already had a prior arrangement with five chefs and a group of two fishermen who were trading fish for various items from the store.

The biggest problem, naturally, was food sources. A restaurant needed daily food deliveries, especially since we didn't have refrigerators. Until now, the restaurants mainly offered grilled fish or fish soup, because there was simply a ridiculous amount of fish in the river.

This is where my ring came in. With it, I could make several hunting expeditions and accumulate a large amount of wild meat that I could easily deliver to our future restaurant. Nico would smoke and salt it for longer lasting use, giving him time to find more hunters and fishermen to contract with.

This was where we hoped my reputation would come in handy. Quite a few people knew who I was and were aware of my summoning powers. They knew of my political influence and solo hunting expertise. It was beyond any doubt that I could raise a good amount of currency with which to trade.

A very big problem was the lack of an official currency, like on Earth. For now, most of the restaurants worked by first paying them with something and then giving you credit for future food purchases. Other new businesses operated on a similar principle. This was inconvenient and required extra work as well as trust from the buyers.

The profit thus generated was not particularly valuable. Usually the things that were traded were not that valuable themselves and there was no way to demand expensive things from the store from the customers. Moreover, what the restaurant accumulated in profit was not necessarily easily exchanged for another kind of good or service.

It was an interesting problem and one I hoped would one day be resolved in a good way.

As a chef, Nico had done quite a bit of experimenting with infusing mana into foods, or cooking several types of fish with natural magical abilities, often managing to retain the natural mana in the resulting meal. This helped in the cultivation of the magical powers of the people who consumed it and improved the physical performance of the body for several hours after eating.

I joked that he was a food alchemist, which made Nico laugh quite a bit.

So, after a while, I too went back to my tent and spent a few hours experimenting with summoning. Finally super tired I went to bed and slept tight until morning.