“I'm impressed, Mr. Marion,” Selise said as we finally reached the top of the stairs, her breathing just a bit faster than usual. “Most people who climb these stairs for the first time end up getting winded no matter how fit they are.”
“You underestimate me too much, Miss Selise. A flight of stairs, no matter how long, is not enough to slow me down!” I exclaimed cheerfully, eliciting a giggle from the young woman. I would have laughed as well if not for the fact that I was actually tired.
I wasn't physically fatigued or anything like that, but the climb took way more mana than I expected. Since we were climbing uphill, Mr. Marion and Taloress had to use up twice as much mana than usual. Add the fact that Mr. Marion was carrying me inside his body as well as the mana costs to keep both my puppets moving, the result was my rate of consumption overwhelming my rate of mana regeneration. Fortunately, only a tenth of my total mana was used, but it still caused some mental fatigue.
“How about you, miss? Are you doing fine?” Selise asked Taloress a bit hesitantly. Seeing my other puppet so silent must've worried her.
“Ah, Taloress is fine. In fact, she's even fitter than me!” I made Taloress nod just as I said that.
“Oh, I was just worried since she's been so quiet so far,” Selise muttered.
“Oh, that's because Taloress was born mute, so she can't speak,” I explained nonchalantly.
“Wait, really?! I'm so sorry for prying!” Selise exclaimed in a fluster. Taloress simply patted the girl's head reassuringly, which made Selise squirm bashfully.
My guide ended up asking Taloress all sorts of questions in an attempt to get to know her better. Seeing two young women slowly become friends would have been a heartwarming scene, but knowing the fact that Taloress was simply a lifeless doll I was manipulating made it pretty tragic. No, that was an understatement. What I was doing was messed up.
But I couldn't really tell Selise that she was talking to a life-sized doll I was controlling, for obvious reasons. So as she asked Taloress all sorts of questions like her interests and hobbies and whatnot, I just made my puppet nod her head or shake it side to side randomly to answer Selise's questions.
“I hope you don't mind Selise distracting your assistant for a while,” Mr. Bersk suddenly said beside me, a small smile on his face. “She likes making friends with everybody she meets.”
“I don't mind at all, Mr. Bersk. Taloress is quite young herself and has no friends because of her disability. I'm glad she finally met somebody who'd accept her for who she is,” I said without any hint of hesitation. The fact that I managed to lie so smoothly would have shocked me, but my mind was occupied with controlling my two puppets' movements, listening to Selise's questions so Taloress could respond accordingly, and responding to Mr. Bersk. My mind was on overdrive already.
Thankfully, I've had plenty of time to get used to multitasking ever since I started manipulating more than one puppet at a time. But despite my training, listening to two people at once and responding to them while controlling two puppets at once was too much.
“Since the girls are busy talking, how about we go ahead and go inside the Chief's home first?” Mr. Bersk asked. I absently shook my head, to which Mr. Bersk responded with a confused expression. Wait, it was Taloress who was supposed to shake her head!
“Sorry, there was a crick on my neck,” I said as an excuse. “I agree, let's go ahead first. I'm sure the Chief and Belka are already waiting impatiently for us.”
I knew Belka and the old man were already inside thanks to my fabric sense, but of course Mr. Bersk didn't know that, which was why he shot me a curious look as we walked towards the front door. I simply gave him a shrug. But despite me looking calm and nonchalant, I was actually panicking inside. How am I going to hear Selise's questions while I'm inside the house?!
If I fail to control Taloress properly, Selise might worry, maybe even try to remove Taloress' mask if I fail to see what was happening outside the house. If that happened, it would be all too easy to find out my secret if Selise tried to touch Taloress' face and realized she was made of fabric. One mistake was all it would take and my supposedly new life as a businessman would come tumbling down.
Desperate times called for desperate measures. In a reckless move I hope I wouldn't have to ever repeat in the future, I closed my eyes, relying solely on my mana sense to “see” my surroundings. Since everything had mana, even the dirt I was stepping on, my mana sense could theoretically act as a substitute for my sight, but it still functioned way differently than my eyes.
My mana sense didn't let me see mana, it only let me feel it. I could tell there was a house in front of me because I could feel a mass of mana in the shape of a house, but I didn't exactly see it as it is. If I didn't know it was a house in the first place, I wouldn't have known what it was by just relying on my mana sense, which made relying solely on my mana sense for “seeing” pretty inaccurate. After all, mana sense was just that, a sense for feeling mana, not things.
But if I wanted to keep up my act, I had to do this. By closing my eyes, it reduced the information my mind was receiving, which meant I could open up another sense using Taloress, like seeing through her eyes. But instead of sight, I took another risky move. I tried hearing through Taloress. The fact that I haven't tried this before made this experiment extremely risky. For all I know, hearing through two sets of ears might as well overwhelm my mind and render me into a useless vegetable, but there was no other choice.
Mr. Bersk was already leading me into the house, but most of my attention was focused on Taloress. My attempt was starting to bear fruit as I began hearing another set of sounds, but all I could hear was a distant noise, like someone was talking from the end of a cave and I was listening on the other end of it. That must be Selise talking.
The quality of the sound began to improve after a few more seconds as Selise's voice became clearer. Once it was clear enough that I can understand it, I found out she was asking Taloress with worry in her voice. “Loress, are you alright?”
In my fabric sense, I felt Selise's long sleeve rising to Taloress' face, probably to remove her mask. I internally panicked and rushed to bob Taloress' head up and down, my control slightly slipping, which resulted in Taloress' nod becoming more like a headbang.
“O-Oh, alright,” Selise said awkwardly. “I was worried when you went still. Just tell me if you become uncomfortable with my questions, okay?”
I made Taloress nod. After that, Selise returned to talking to my puppet, whom she started calling “Loress.” Whew, that was close. If I was one second late, I bet we'd be hearing Selise screaming right now.
As I calmed down, I suddenly realized that I wasn't hearing from my own ears anymore. I had been focusing on Taloress so much that I forgot I was now seated inside the Chief's house, and in my mana sense, Bersk, Belka, and who I assume was the Chief, were all looking in my direction. Oh shit!
I quickly turned some of my attention to my own ears, carefully balancing my focus such that I could listen to Selise and listen through my ears as well.
“Maybe it's a mage thing?” I heard Belka say as she stared at me.
“I haven't seen a mage become unresponsive like that before,” an aged voice replied. “Well, I guess they sometimes have this absent look on their faces as they think about their magic research. Maybe that's the case here?”
“Marion doesn't strike me as the smart-type of mage. He's more like the eccentric-type.”
“That is a very rude thing to say, Belka,” I suddenly said, eliciting a jolt from the hunched figure I assumed was the Chief. “And call me Mr. Marion.”
“I'm glad you're back with us, Marion,” Belka replied shamelessly.
“I apologize about that, I tend to space out from time to time,” I said as I shook Taloress' head outside to respond to Selise's question.
“It's quite alright, Mr. Marion. It should be me apologizing for inviting you here out of the blue,” the old man said. His name was Bran, if I remembered it right.
“I'd like to thank you for letting Belka guide me a few days ago, by the way. Thanks to her, I was able to finally lay my mother to rest,” I said sincerely. “Not to mention the help she gave me to take down that Grisly Bear.”
“Yes, that was quite a shocking revelation when Belka told me about it, to be honest,” Bran said as he looked at Belka, a hint of accusation in his voice. “Our Head Hunter usually stays away from monsters at the level of a Grisly Bear unless its directly threatening the village. I couldn't comprehend why she would risk herself and you as well, Mr. Marion, to take down the apex predator in this area.”
My eyebrows raised in surprise. I had a hard time believing we killed the strongest monster in the area with just Belka and me, although it was more like Belka killing the Grisly Bear with me as a support.
Before I could respond, I vaguely felt a movement on Belka's face with my mana sense, probably a grin, as she spoke. “It has been a long time since I had a real hunt, so I decided to take the chance. Besides, I wanted to know what Marion was capable of.”
“Belka, you're being rude!” Bran exclaimed before quickly turning to me. “I apologize for my Head Hunter's behavior, Mr. Marion. I promise you, I never doubted your abilities in the first place!”
“Ha! If you think that was all I was capable of, then you're in for a surprise, Belka,” I replied haughtily. “Do not worry, Mr. Bran, I never sought other people's validation of my power in the first place. Anyway, how about we proceed to the heart of the matter? Selise told me you wanted to meet me?”
“Yes, I wanted to show some hospitality to the first mage that ever graced our humble village. Truly, it is an honor for a practitioner of the mystic arts to accept my invitation in such short notice, for which I thank you, Mr. Marion.”
As I listened to the old man's words, my brows slowly creased in confusion. Wasn't he the Chief of this village? Then why was he so eager to meet me when his people were so hostile to my mere presence? Granted, there were some exceptions like Selise and Mr. Bersk who were fine with me, so was the Chief one of them?
“I'm glad to accept your hospitality, Mr. Bran. But I can't help but wonder about the rather cold reception I received since coming here,” I said bluntly. “I'm not mad or anything, but it would be great if you were to enlighten me of the current situation in your village that the people would shun outsiders like me.”
“I apologize if we caused you any offense, Mr. Marion, but I promise you that the village's gates are always open to you and your companion,” Mr. Bran began, but he was rudely interrupted as Belka sighed.
“Just tell him the reason directly, old man. At this rate, you're going to die of old age first before we finish this conversation.”
Mr. Bran turned to Belka with what I assumed was a glare before sighing. “Fine, I will be very blunt with you, Mr. Marion. We thought you were a necromancer when you arrived at the village.”
The room was silent after that. They stared at me, waiting for my reaction. I simply remained quiet as I faced them, showing no signs of my thoughts. After a few seconds, Mr. Bran started fidgeting in his seat, probably nervous about my silence.
“Oh, that's unfortunate,” I said, breaking the silence. “But I promise all of you that I am no necromancer. I don't even know why I've been mistaken as one in the first place.”
Instead of feeling angry, I felt upset. What part of my appearance showed signs of a necromancer? Did necromancers in this world dress in black coats and wear comedy masks on their faces? Or maybe it was my persona? Did I go overboard with my acting?
“Well, that's a bit of a long story,” Belka said before proceeding to tell me of the events that happened on their side.
It was a pretty interesting revelation, and finding out that Ned was the one responsible for the entire village's malice against me was very infuriating. I was starting to regret feeling sympathy for him earlier. And I even gave him a gift!
“I understand the situation now,” I began. “But I can't help but feel you people jumped to conclusions far too quickly. If you doubted me right from the start, why didn't you just ask me for proof that my purpose in coming here was to bury my mother? Sure, I would have found it insulting, but we would have avoided the predicament I find myself embroiled in right now.”
Belka shrugged. “There might have been an error on our part, but you can't really blame us completely. First of all, you're a mage, and mages aren't famous for their understanding behavior. You just arrived in our village at the time and we didn't know your temperament yet. For all we know, you might have started blasting away at us if we accidentally offended you.”
I wanted to scoff at the thought of me going berserk after being insulted, because I wouldn't, but that didn't make Belka wrong. The fact that all of them had the same mental image of a mage as arrogant and contentious was proof enough that mages in general probably were like that. Not to mention the fearful looks that the people had been giving me since I arrived in this place.
“Secondly,” Belka continued, “you are capable of Life magic but not affiliated with the Holy Mother Church, or else you would have already introduced yourself as a graduate of their colleges or as a priest. That alone was plenty enough reason to suspect you.”
“What? How does my ability to cast Life magic lend credence to the possibility that I was a necromancer?” I asked with genuine confusion.
Belka and the Chief shared a look, although with my mana sense not as accurate as my sight, I couldn't pick up any information from their expressions.
“Er, you do know that all necromancers are Life mages, right?” Mr. Bran asked hesitantly.
My mouth fell open at the bomb that the old man just dropped. How the hell should I know that?!
“A-Ahem, I came from an isolated place, Mr. Bran, so I would appreciate it if you enlightened me about this ‘all necromancers are Life mages’ thing. I don't have much knowledge of what necromancers are and what they do in the first place.”
Belka and the old man shared a look again, which was really starting to annoy me.
“No one really knows much about necromancers,” the Chief began. “But what is quite well-known is that necromancy falls under Life magic. To manipulate the dead, necromancers use the magic of Life to reanimate them and do their bidding, although as an ordinary mortal, I am not versed in the specifics of how they do it.”
“Are you saying that any mage capable of Life magic is also capable of becoming a necromancer?” I asked dubiously. “If that's the case, then all Life mages would have been kept under lock and key already by the King.”
“Why do you think the Holy Mother Church is gathering and teaching Life mages for free?” Belka asked with a snort. “They're not doing it simply out of the goodness of their hearts. The Holy Mother Church is just one of many organizations out there keeping an eye out for a potential necromancer. If one of their Life mages got tempted by the power of manipulating the dead, they'd take care of it swiftly.”
“What do you mean ‘take care of it swiftly?’ Surely they don't kill their own mages?” I asked nervously.
“Nobody's heard of a necromancer emerging from the Holy Mother Church's ranks yet since their founding despite the thousands of Life mages that worked under them over the centuries, and we probably never will. I don't know about you, but I don't believe that in a place with so many Life mages, not a single one had been tempted by the allure of power. There's your answer,” Belka replied.
Her words hit me harder than I expected. I always told myself that the Holy Mother Church was probably not as nice as it seemed, but hearing the truth with my own ears was a whole different experience. My only image of the Holy Mother Church was the one painted by Mother Betha, Sister Tillie, and Sister Lina. They represented the Holy Mother Church well, and it seemed I'd forgotten that the actions of a few never represented the whole.
“I think we've gone on a tangent”, the Chief interrupted. “My intention in inviting you to this meeting today was to show you our hospitality, Mr. Marion, although it shames me that our village has ironically done the complete opposite since your arrival. I heard you were a merchant, so as a gesture of good faith, I'd like to offer you a space in the village center where you can sell your products. Normally, there's a fee for renting the space, but for you, it shall be free.”
“That is a very generous offer, Mr. Bran. For how long can I use the space without paying the fee?” I asked.
“Don't worry about that, Mr. Marion. You can use the space for however long you like,” the Chief said with a chuckle.
It was a very good offer, but I can't help but raise my eyebrows in suspicion. The deal was leaning too much in my favor, although maybe the people here were just that generous? Even Belka helped me find Mom's burial spot five days ago for free, although that's because she'd been keeping an eye on me.
There was no sense in trying to suspect the Chief's generous offer when I needed it badly, so I decided to accept it. “Thank you, Mr. Bran. Your offer came at the right time too. With my relationship with the villagers right now, I don't think anybody would agree to let me set up shop beside them.”
“You're welcome, Mr. Marion, and please, just call me Bran, or Chief if you want to stay professional.”
The conversation quickly wrapped up after that. Bran offered to bring out snacks and since it would have been extremely rude to refuse his hospitality, I stayed for half an hour in the Chief's house, making small talk with the three of them while I controlled Taloress outside.
The conversation often centered on where I came from and why I was going around as a traveling merchant instead of taking advantage of my magic capabilities and getting rich, but I politely steered the topic away from it every time it was brought up.
It was only through midway of the conversation that I realized they were continuing to assess me as a stranger, but I couldn't really blame them. As I learned throughout the conversation, the three of them were some of the most important people in the village that decide how things ran, which was why they were trying to know more about me and see if I would be a benefit or a detriment to the village.
But I wasn't the only one sharing things about myself. Throughout the conversation, I also learned a lot about the three people I was talking to. Belka, for instance, was called the ‘Head Hunter’ not because she hunted heads, but rather because she was the Head of Wildpost's hunters. The hunters' responsibility in the village turned out to be hunting for food and defending the village from threats. Belka was basically the leader of the village's militia.
Mr. Bersk, on the other hand, was the ‘Head Blacksmith,’ although I didn't see the point in the title since he was the only blacksmith in the village. He was responsible for supplying the hunters with weapons and arms to defend the village, a task worthy enough to give him an important position.
Lastly, Bran was the Chief, the highest authority in the village. He was the one that called the shots and made the decisions that would affect the entire village. Important people like Belka and Mr. Bersk had the right to advise and offer suggestions on how the village should be run, but in the end, the decision would always be Bran's to make.
Bran told me there were other village ‘Heads’ that sometimes helped him in leading Wildpost, but they usually only came out when the decisions to be made would directly affect them. Other than that, they were usually content with minding their own businesses. Only Belka and Mr. Bersk actively fulfilled their roles as village Heads.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
“Since the other Heads aren't here right now, then I assume they don't have any qualms about me conducting my business here, right?” I asked Bran as I took a bite of bread slathered with butter, retracting the part of my mask that covered my mouth as I did so. I couldn't see their faces, but I could tell they were looking at me weirdly as my mask morphed like a living thing.
“They did raise some questions when they heard of the rumors about a necromancer, but once I clarified things, they were glad to go back to minding their own business, although I think the Head Alchemist might want to speak with you. Probably regarding magic and potions and stuff like that.”
I was glad there was someone else out there not hostile to me. Not only that, assuming this Head Alchemist is also a shopkeeper like Mr. Bersk, I could possibly arrange a profitable business deal with her.
After a few more minutes, I decided it was time for me to leave and get on with my business for the day. First off, claiming the Grisly Bear's fur that I've been waiting for over the past five days.
“Let's go, I'll bring you to Luth,” Belka said as we excused ourselves from the Chief's home. Mr. Bersk stayed behind to discuss some village matters with the Chief. “Luth's the Head Tanner in Wildpost, responsible for all our leather needs.”
“You could have just told me where to go so you won't have to waste your time guiding me, Belka,” I said as I waved at Taloress and Selise to come over.
“If I let you go to that old man alone, I'm sure you won't get your fur,” Belka replied. “Luth's a greedy old bastard who loves his job too much. When I brought him the Grisly Bear's pelt, he looked like he was about to worship it, and I had to threaten him just so he would agree to give up the fur so I could give it to you.”
“Well, if that's the case, then it can't be helped.” There was no way I was giving away the fur of a powerful monster. If the furs of the weaker monsters in the Wild Woods were enough to make my puppets dozens of times more durable than normal fabric, then I could only imagine how strong they'd become if I made them from the fur of a Grisly Bear.
Once Selise and Taloress joined us, I sighed in relief as I deactivated Taloress' ears, easing the burden on my mind. I've already gotten the hang of using my puppet's senses simultaneously with my own, but it was pretty harsh on the mind.
We made our way down the long flight of stairs once again, but it was not as tiring compared to going up. I was also glad that I could now open my eyes and use my sight normally instead of my mana sense. Using solely my mana sense to see things around me felt weird if I did it for long periods of time, although I'll admit it would be nice to train myself using only my mana sense to see in the event that I'm rendered temporarily blind.
But between my mana sense and fabric sense, I realized that I could never be completely blinded. If I didn't have my eyes, my mana sense could easily help me see everything around me in a ten-meter radius, albeit with less detail compared to my normal sight. And even if my mana sense was taken away, my fabric sense was still there, which would tell me the location of any enemy around me, as long as they wore clothes or had hair. That makes me pretty un-ambushable, huh? Wait, is that even a word?
The trip down the stairs took way less time, and soon, we were back at the village center. There were still people who stared at me when I returned, but when Belka stared back, they all turned their gazes away quickly. Having the Head Hunter around isn't so bad after all!
“I think I'll separate from you guys here. I don't need anything with the Head Tanner anyway,” Selise suddenly said as we passed by Mr. Bersk's smithery. For some reason, she looked nervous as she said that, which made Belka chuckle.
“It's fine, Selise, you've already guided me to the Chief earlier,” I said. “Thank you for accompanying Taloress earlier, by the way. She doesn't have many friends to talk to.”
“I'm glad to make a new friend as well!” Selise replied cheerfully before moving towards her house. “Well, that's it from me! Good luck, you guys!”
I didn't know what I needed luck for, but I waved goodbye to the cheerful young girl, Taloress waving with me.
Belka then lead us to the road that led east of the village center, all the way to the edge of Wildpost. Once we arrived at the wooden wall, there was a gate that led outside, although it was far smaller compared to the main gate at the south. Belka signaled the hunters manning the gate and they opened it swiftly.
“I thought you were going to bring me to where the pelts are being processed?” I asked Belka as she took the lead. “Why are we going outside?”
“The fact that you're asking me that question is enough to tell me you haven't visited a tannery yet,” Belka replied with a smile. “You'll find out soon.”
“What do you—” I was not able to finish my question as the smell hit me. The odor of urine, shit, and rotting meat assaulted my nose all at once. I doubled over, trying my best to keep the snacks I ate earlier in the Chief's house from going up as my eyes watered.
Belka chuckled as she watched me, a fact that made me want to strangle her to get the cheeky grin off her face. “Welcome to Wildpost's tannery, the place where we get all our precious leather from.”
As Belka spoke, I rushed to transfer some of my extra fabric to form a thick layer right where my nose was to at least block some of the odor. The thick layers of fabric were making it difficult to breathe, but I'd rather suffocate than take one whiff more of the horrid stink. No wonder Selise didn't want to come with us!
“Belka you big, walking, lump of muscle! You could have warned me about the smell!” I shouted, forgetting to keep up my Mr. Marion persona.
Belka's grin only grew wider at my insult. “I'm glad you finally dropped that annoying gentlemanly speech you keep on using. And thanks for the compliment.”
“That wasn't a compliment!” I exclaimed in outrage. “Why didn't you warn me about this?!”
“Bah, quit your whining. I don't hear Taloress making any complaints. Keep complaining and we'll have to stay longer here.”
“Because she can't complain in the first place!”
I still had a lot of colorful words I wanted to say to Belka, but I reined in my anger and grudgingly agreed with her assessment. The faster we finished our business here, the sooner we could leave.
Situated a fair distance outside the gate we just passed through was a small wooden shack where dozens of wide-mouthed buckets filled with suspicious liquids sat in front of it. Beside the shack were several racks where large pelts of animal skin were being hung.
As we neared the shack, the smell even got stronger than before. I thought I had a strong willpower after years of constantly training my Authority and magic, but the willpower I needed to just remain conscious in this place was almost not enough. Even Belka was starting to grimace.
The putrid smell seemed to come from the buckets sitting in front of the shack. Half of them were filled with a dark brown liquid while the other half were filled with a golden liquid. Is that poop and urine?!
Upon closer inspection, I realized there were animal skins being soaked inside them. And those are the leather they use to make armor?! And they WEAR it?!
“Luth! Come out, we're here for the fur!” Belka shouted at the shack, interrupting my inner turmoil, but she was only met with silence.
“Maybe nobody's home?” I suggested, turning away from the buckets of filth. I was eager to get the Grisly Bear's fur, but I wouldn't have any qualms if we came back tomorrow, as long as I was away from this nasty place.
“Luth's always home. He's just not responding in hopes that we'll go away and give up on claiming the fur,” Belka said as she walked to the door and raised her leg. “Luth, this is your last warning! Come out or I'll kick down your door!”
“Alright! Alright! I'm comin' out, so calm your damn titties!” an angry voice replied from within the shack. A moment later, the door swung inward with a noisy creak as a grumpy old man emerged. He was dressed in leather overalls and boots made of the same material. His matted gray hair and beard were unkempt, and his eyes glared at us beneath bushy eyebrows.
“Nice to see you, Luth. I thought I had to kick down your door again,” Belka said with a smile.
“Try that again and we'll see how your hunters fare without their leather armors, you muscle-bound woman!”
“Yes, yes, I've heard that many times already,” Belka said with a wave of her hand. “I know you don't want us staying here as much as we do, so let's get right down to business. Where's the bear's fur?”
Luth's face twisted in indignation. “They don't deserve to be in your grubby hands, Belka! Forget about getting those precious materials, they're going to be of more use if I kept them!”
“Stop your yammering and get us the fur already, Luth. We already talked about this,” Belka said with exasperation.
Instead of obeying her order, Luth crossed his arms in front of his chest and snorted. “Ain't no way I'm giving those precious materials so you can waste them, Head Hunter.”
At his words, Belka's eyes sharpened. “We had a deal, Luth. I give you the bear's carcass, you give me armor and its fur, and you get to keep whatever's left of the monster.”
There was a hint of nervousness under the old man's scowl, but he didn't back down. “Oh yeah? Well, I want to make a new deal. I give you the armor and I keep the rest of the materials. You know I'm the only one in this village who can work with monster materials, Head Hunter. Unless you can make the armor yourself, you either accept my new offer or leave with a bunch of materials you can't even make use of.”
Belka took a menacing step forward towards the nervous Luth. The large woman looked like she was really about to slug the annoying old man on the face, so I decided to step in before things got violent. “Now, now, I think things would end up better for everyone if we took care of this peacefully, yes?”
Belka snorted. “I'm not compromising with this old bastard. We had a deal, and I do not tolerate those who go back on their word.”
“We never had a deal,” Luth said with a sniff. “I'm running a business, Head Hunter, and deals in businesses involve a contract. Do you have a contract regarding this ‘deal’ we had?”
“I don't care one whit for your semantics, you old bastard,” Belka growled. “You will give us the fur.”
“Or what?” Luth challenged.
Before Belka could raise her arm to punch Luth, I butted in. “Since you want a deal, how about we make one now?”
“Marion, don't—”
I raised a hand at Belka. “It's alright, I've got this.”
Belka looked like she was going to ignore me and punch Luth anyway, but after a moment, she grunted and stepped back, much to my relief. I turned to Luth, who was giving me an arrogant look.
“Who are you supposed to be?”
“Good day, Mr. Luth. My name's Mr. Marion, a traveling merchant.”
Luth gave me a suspicious look. “A traveling merchant? No sane merchant would travel to this place so far in the boonies just to sell his wares, so you're either a criminal running from authorities or a crazy man. Judging from your weird getup, I'm betting on the latter.”
I now understood why Belka wanted to punch this annoying bastard, but I ignored his insult and instead gave out a laugh. “Indeed, I could be either of those two, but we're not here to talk about who I am, yes? I'm interested in the fur you have in your possession, so I'm willing to negotiate.”
Luth gave me a look of disdain. “Unless you have something with you that's equal in worth to a C-rank monster material, then I'm not dealing with you.”
I made an exaggerated sigh of disappointment. “Unfortunately, I don't have anything equal in worth to something as valuable as the Grisly Bear's fur.” Luth had a triumphant grin on his face, but I wasn't finished yet. “Well, since we can't make a deal with the fur, I guess we'll have to take back all the Grisly Bear materials, then.”
Luth's jaw dropped. “What?! You can't just take them from me! They don't belong to you!”
“Oh it belongs to him, alright,” Belka said beside me, a grin slowly forming on her face as she realized what I had in mind. “I never said anything about killing the Grisly Bear alone. Mr. Marion here helped in taking it down as well, which means a portion of the Grisly Bear materials also belongs to him.”
Luth's eyes widened as he stared at me. “Wait, you're the necromancer everyone's talking about!”
“I'm not a necromancer, Mr. Luth, and I'd appreciate it if you do not call me as such,” I replied with annoyance. “Now, if you're done wasting our time, we'd like to take back our materials now, please.”
I saw a hint of fear in Luth's eyes when he realized I was the “necromancer” everyone's been talking about in the village, but it seemed he had some balls of steel because he still refused to give up. “They're mine! Belka already commissioned me to make her armor with the entire Grisly Bear's carcass as the payment, which means they're already mine.”
“Commissioned?” Belka asked in a mocking voice. “Do you have a contract for that, Luth? As far as I know, you're running a business, and you said it yourself that in businesses, things are always settled with a contract. So where's this contract supposed to be, huh?”
I laughed loudly at Belka's witty rebuttal. Luth's face looked as red as a tomato as he trembled in rage. He looked like he was about to pop a vein.
“Nobody else in this village can make use of monster materials like I can, Head Hunter,” Luth spat. “If you're going to take back the Grisly Bear, then you won't get your custom-made armor. All you're left with is a bunch of rare materials you can't use.”
“That may be so, but I'd rather fulfill my promise to Mr. Marion and give him the fur. I could always travel to Halros and commission another craftsman there to make me my armor.”
At that, Luth's face fell as he realized he had no leverage over us.
“So what's it going to be?” Belka asked with a large grin. “Are you going to honor our first agreement or do we have to take the Grisly Bear back?”
The old man glared at Belka for a long time. I thought he was still going to refuse, but in the end, he admitted defeat. “Fine, I'll honor the first agreement. But I will not forget this!”
“Don't worry, Mr. Luth,” I said as I stared right into the old man's eyes. “I won't forget this either.”
Much to my satisfaction, the old man looked like he was about to shit his pants as he scurried back inside to fetch the Grisly Bear's fur. I've detected it long ago with my fabric sense, and I even entertained the idea of just stealing it from Luth, but I decided against it. The last thing I wanted was to commit a crime that would set me back right as I was about to start up my life again.
“It seems I underestimated you again, Marion,” Belka commented beside me.
“I have no idea what you're talking about, Belka. I'm a merchant. Negotiating is part of my skill set.”
“I'm pretty sure the threat at the end there wasn't part of the negotiation.”
“That wasn't a threat, it was just a warning. I don't like people taking what is mine.”
Belka stared at me for a few good seconds. “I didn't know you were that possessive.”
I pointedly ignored Belka and waited until Luth finally returned huffing as he dragged two large sacks full of the Grisly Bear's fur. With my fabric sense, I knew Luth didn't leave behind a single strand of the Grisly Bear's fur behind, which meant he at least kept his word when he said he was going to honor the first agreement.
“That's a lot of fur,” Belka said with raised eyebrows.
“What'd you expect? From the size of the pelt you gave me, the damn bear must have been larger than a house,” Luth said as he caught his breath. “Now that you got what you want, can you go now? I still have some work to do.”
From the nervous glances he kept shooting at me, I knew he just wanted to stay away from me as much as possible. I didn't really have any complaints since I wanted to leave behind this reeking place as well.
I hefted one of the large sacks over my shoulder, with Taloress taking the other. The sacks should have been heavy, but since they were filled with fur I could control, I just levitated them slightly as I carried them to counteract the force of gravity, rendering them weightless. Belka and Luth looked surprised as Taloress and I hefted the large sacks easily, but I ignored them as I started walking back quickly to the gate that led back to the village, eager to escape the smell.
After saying some last few things to Luth, probably some threats, Belka caught back up with me. “Where are you going after this?”
“I'll be fetching my wagon and moving it to the village center where I could finally start selling my merchandise. There would probably be no customers buying from the “necromancer,” but there's nothing else I could really do besides trying.”
Belka nodded in agreement. “That's right, it's no good to give up without even trying.”
Thinking about what would happen later almost discouraged me. When I woke up this morning, I was excited to finally start selling clothes again and making money, but after today's revelations, I was confident that my business would probably fail from the get-go, what with the people fearing me and such. Dammit, right when I thought everything was going so well!
To make things worse, a small community like Wildpost meant my target market was extremely small as well. Add in the fact that they were all probably going to avoid me like the plague, and I was sure my target market was nonexistent.
Just as I was contemplating beginning my business in another village in the Wild Woods, an idea struck me. “Say, Belka, if you hate Luth so much, then why do you still avail of his services?”
Belka grimaced. “If I had a choice, I would have gladly abandoned Luth, but the thing is, he was right when he said he's the only one that could make stuff out of monster materials. Tanning leather isn't his only job. He's also the guy that makes the leather armor that all hunters wear. Without him, we'd be hunting in the Wild Woods with nothing to protect us from our own prey. We could avail of the tanneries in the nearest city, but that would increase our expenses more than tenfold.”
I figured as much based on how haughty Luth acted earlier. He may be an arrogant old bastard, but he had the skill to back it up. I could only imagine what Belka had to go through every time she had to acquire the Head Tanner's services. I'm sure it wasn't great, but at least it gave me a perfect opportunity.
“How about I offer you a deal, Belka?” I said slowly, catching the large woman's attention immediately. “You pay Luth to make your hunters' armors, right?”
“Yes, but we also pay him to treat and tan the leathers,” Belka said with a nod.
“Then what if I offer my services and create the leather armors instead? I may be a simple merchant, but Taloress here knows her way around anything that can be considered clothing. Of course, leather armors are included. All you'll need from Luth is to tan the hides, which you could then give to me so we could turn them into armors.”
Belka's eyebrows shot up. “That's a good offer, but how much are you going to charge for it? If it's more expensive than Luth's services, then I would have to refuse your offer. Another thing to consider is the quality of your products. If it turns out you charge less than Luth but make mediocre armors, then I'd have to decline. To us hunters, a good armor could be the only thing that separates us from death.”
I grinned widely under my mask. “Oh I assure you, Belka, my products are more than good enough to protect your hunters. But I understand your doubts since you haven't seen my products yet, so I'll make a sample and show it to you soon.”
“I hope you blow away my expectations,” Belka said with a grin. “You don't know how much I want to stop dealing with Luth. And I have seen one of your products already.”
“Really?” I asked in confusion. I couldn't recall—
“The one that looks like a whore's dress,” Belka said cheerfully.
“How dare you!”
My temper flared and I swung my fist at Belka's arm. I really wanted to slug her in the face, but that would be too much, so I settled for her arm. The moment Mr. Marion's fist struck her skin, it just stopped. Mr. Marion was capable of exerting the same strength of an adult, but even with a punch with no holds barred, Belka didn't even lose a single ounce of balance.
“That's the spirit!” Belka said with a loud laugh without even wincing. “Don't let others insult you or your work, Mr. Marion.”
I grumbled underneath my breath. She had a lot of nerve to say that when she's the one doing all the insults. Damn augmenters and their tough bodies…
Once we arrived at the stables, I quickly fetched my wagon from the glaring stablemaster after making sure that my belongings were all accounted for. Clip and Clop looked quite happy, although I wasn't sure if it was because of seeing me or because of the already-empty buckets of feed in front of them. I'd like to think they were happy to see me.
Belka then brought me back to the village center and pointed me to the space that the Chief would be lending me. It was a small lot located right beside the smithery where I assumed Mr. Bersk lived and plied his trade. The people in the village center eyed me suspiciously as I parked my wagon, but there was nothing I could do about it. I could only hope that some of them might be curious enough to ask me what I'm selling and take some interest.
“I've got a lot more things left to do, Marion, so I'm gonna have to leave you here,” Belka said as she got off the wagon. “Good luck on your business, 'cause I'm sure you'll need it.”
“I didn't need to hear the last part…” I grumbled as she walked away.
After setting up my wagon, Taloress and I positioned ourselves behind the open counter, officially starting my first day of doing business in Wildpost. And just like I predicted, I had no customers.
●●●
“Hello, Loress!” a cheerful voice greeted from outside the wagon, pulling my attention away from the small animal puppets I created as Tedd's little companions. I was definitely not playing with them out of boredom. “Where's Mr. Marion? Did he leave you to man the shop by yourself?”
I was currently seated just underneath the counter, out of sight from anyone looking from outside. I was still inside Mr. Marion, just like I had been for the past several hours of me waiting for my first customer, although I lost all hope of that at the two-hour mark. Since then, I just left Taloress visible by the counter while I spent my time playi— I mean, training —my Authority by making small animal puppets that interacted with grumpy Tedd. I'd have preferred a customer, but a real conversation partner to while away the boredom is good enough. I'm tired of speaking with Tedd, anyway.
I suddenly stood up with a loud “Welcome to my store!”, making Selise utter an involuntary squeal as she jumped in surprise.
“Don't do that!” she exclaimed angrily.
“How may I help you this fine day, dear Selise?” I asked, ignoring her glare.
“I just wanted to check if everything was going fine here,” Selise said with an unamused look. “Though seeing how lively you are, I shouldn't have bothered.”
“Aw, you're hurting my feelings, Selise. Whatever happened to the sweet and cheerful girl from before?”
The young woman sighed loudly. “Sorry, Mr. Marion, I'm just bored out of my mind, and Terence is out on an errand. Ever since I got my head knocked during our encounter, Dad grounded me and prohibited me from joining the hunters for a week! It's unfair!”
“Mr. Bersk is just concerned for your well-being. Even I wouldn't let Taloress out of my sight if I learned she's been hurt.” Although I said that, I doubt Taloress could truly be hurt when I could just repair her forever as long as I had mana and fabric.
“By the way, I've been meaning to ask, what's your relationship with Loress?” Selise asked.
I wrapped my arm over Taloress' shoulder and pulled her beside me. “My sweet Taloress is my precious partner-in-crime! No matter where we go, we always stick with each other, through thick and thin!” I didn't include the fact that we had to stick together or I won't be able to control Taloress if she went out of the range of my fabric sense.
“So she's your wife then?” Selise asked innocently. Taloress peeked at me as well, an action I unconsciously made her do.
“W-Well, Taloress is very cute, but I'm afraid our relationship is strictly professional.”
Taloress' shoulders slumped, another action that I unconsciously made her do. It was a habit of mine to make my puppets react more like humans, a habit I didn't realize I picked up throughout the years, especially during my journey when I was all alone with nobody to talk to but my puppets. Dammit, this is what happens when I treat my puppets way too much like real people. Well, at least it makes them look more convincing.
Selise gave Taloress a sympathetic look and shot a glare at me. “You don't have to be so mean about it, Mr. Marion.”
“W-What I'd do?!”
“Come on, Loress,” Selise said while ignoring me. “Let's go over to my house and I'll treat you to some sweet pastries I got from Aunt Gerda.”
I had no choice but to send Taloress with Selise, or else the young woman would suspect me of treating Taloress like a slave. Having to activate Taloress' hearing once again made me grimace, but I just gritted my teeth and went on with it.
Taloress looked at me expectantly as if she was asking for permission, and I waved my hand. “It's fine, Taloress. Just don't take too long, okay?”
Taloress excitedly left the wagon and went with Selise, who held my puppet's hand in her own. I still couldn't get over the fact that my own puppet made a friend first. Am I that inept at making friends?
“I guess I could consider Belka my friend…” I grumbled quietly, then my mind summoned an image of a muscled woman calling my best product a whore's dress. “You know what? Nevermind.”
As I watched Taloress and Selise walk towards the smithery, I felt a bunch of people at the edge of my fabric sense suddenly run all over the place. I wonder what their problem is?
All of a sudden, the clanging of a bell echoed throughout the village, a loud and constant noise that reminded me of the alarm on Erfeld when a pack of dire wolves attacked. All around the village center, the people immediately scattered in different directions, a mixture of fear and determination present in their expressions. There was no hesitation in their strides as they ran towards their destinations.
Selise, who had been dragging Taloress earlier to her house, came back running with a panicked expression. “Mr. Marion! Quick, we have to get you to the Chief's house! The village is under attack!”
“By whom?” I asked as I watched the village center quickly empty of people. It was a pretty familiar scene.
“Monsters!” Selise cried. “As a guest, we have to evacuate you to the Chief's house until the attack's over! Let's go!”
“Woah, calm down for a minute, Selise, I'm not going anywhere,” I said as I reached out to the panicking young woman. “First, that was just an alarm to warn us of incoming monsters. I'm sure Belka and her hunters are strong enough to fend off any monster attack. And second, I can't just leave behind my wagon here where anyone could just take whatever they want. So unless the monsters have already broken into the village, I'm staying here.”
Selise shot me an annoyed glare. “That bell is the signal that monsters are already inside the village! Why do you think everybody's going to their battle positions?!”
Oh, was that what the bell was for? Now that she said it, I realized that several large wolves have already entered the range of my fabric sense. Several people were engaged with them, but instead of the usual groups of three that I usually associated with the large wolves, there were easily more than ten of them currently inside the village. How did they even get past the walls?!
My confusion must have been apparent even with a mask on because Selise gave an exasperated sigh and started pulling me out of the wagon. “Hey, hold on, Selise—”
“We have no time to waste! For all we know, the wargs could have already gone past the hunters' defenses and are roaming around the village. The moment we see them is a moment too late because it's impossible to outrun them!”
Selise forcefully pulled me out of my wagon and started dragging me and Taloress towards the stairs that would lead to the Chief's house. I was still complaining about her crumpling my fabulous coat with her grubby hands when my fabric sense detected the large wolves get past the people holding them off. I always thought the wolves were not that fast every time I fought them in the forest, but it seemed I underestimated their speed in a flat and smooth terrain like Wildpost's well-maintained roads.
By the time we were climbing up the first few steps up the stairs, the wolves already arrived in the village center looking for prey.
“Oh dear,” I muttered quietly before pulling my hand free from Selise's grip.
“What are you doing?!”
“You go on ahead, Selise. I'll hold them off,” I said to her with a level voice. I hoped it came out as cool as I imagined it to be.
“Stop acting like some cringy hero and get over here.”
“Hey, I'm not some cringy hero!” I responded indignantly as I moved back to my wagon. “And I'm not doing it just for you, you know. I don't want to leave Clip and Clop to the wolves.”
Selise looked like she was about to shout at me for risking my life for a couple of gluttonous horses, but she froze when her eyes moved to the southern edge of the village center, where five wolves were watching us as we bickered.
“The wargs are here,” I heard Selise whisper. Oh, so that's what they're called.
I positioned myself in front of my wagon to prevent the wargs from reaching my precious horses. As I did so, I also made Taloress drag Selise to my location since it would be easier to fight back defensively against the wargs if we stuck together in one place.
Fortunately, Selise seemed quick on the uptake and realized that she couldn't outrun the wargs once they started chasing, so she willingly allowed Taloress to bring her to my wagon.
“Here's the plan, dear Selise: you stay inside the wagon, and Taloress and I will deal with the mutts.”
“What?! I can't just let the two of you fight against five wargs! I'm a hunter too!”
“I'm sure you want to fight as well, Selise, but I already have to protect Clip and Clop. If I had to protect you as well, things would become much harder for me.”
Selise's face contorted in anger and turned to Taloress, but when my puppet nodded in agreement as well, she just nodded darkly and pulled up the wagon's counter to close the window. I think I may have been a bit too harsh there.
I put Selise's emotions out of my mind for now and focused instead on the wargs that spread themselves in front of me while we wasted our time talking. Just like their usual behavior every time I fought them, the wargs slowly surrounded us as they waited for an opportunity to strike. It was fine by me since I took the time to ready my spells.
I summoned a few threads in front of me and formed five magic circles for Force Blasts, one for each warg. As I started channeling mana into the magic circles, the wargs crouched low as they readied to pounce, probably sensing my magic forming.
Before the wargs could take the initiative, I sent Taloress dashing towards the left flank of the wargs surrounding us, her enchanted sword already gripped in her hands. She swung at the nearest warg with extreme speed, the blade making a whooshing sound as it cut through the air, but the warg managed to dodge at the last second. Taloress chased after it, leaving me vulnerable with the four remaining wargs.
The rest of the wargs seemed to think I became easy prey when Taloress moved away from me because they all came at me at once to tear me apart. Heh, just as planned.
The air thundered as all five Force Blasts activated with a deafening boom at the same time, the waves of force combining to form a big one that struck the charging wargs. I heard the cracking of bone as the spell collided with the four wargs and sent them flying away towards the middle of the village center.
Taloress didn't waste a single second and immediately abandoned the fifth warg she was chasing earlier, charging towards the pile of wolves I sent flying with my spell. With their bones broken from the immense force I sent towards them, the four wargs lay helpless on the ground as Taloress stabbed their brains through their eyes one by one with surgical precision.
The last warg growled at me, but its eyes betrayed a hint of fear. Without even bothering to summon another piece of thread, I formed a Force Blast with my will and sent it careening towards the warg. The wolf tried to dodge, but the spell hit its flank and sent it spinning in the air. As if we've practiced it beforehand, Taloress intercepted the warg before it could even land and slashed as it flew by her, cutting the wolf's belly open in midair and spraying blood everywhere. I'll admit, that one looked disgusting and awesome at the same time.
When all the threats were taken care of, I banged on the wagon and heard a faint “eep!” from inside. “Selise, it's safe to come out now.”
When Selise exited the wagon, she looked pale and her hands were trembling, although she tried to hide it by clenching her fists. When she looked at the aftermath of the battle, her already-pale face turned even whiter. “Y-You and Loress did all of this by yourselves…”
“What do you think? Impressive, huh?” I said with a proud stance, my hands on my hips as I looked expectantly at Selise. “You should have seen how it went!”
“Oh, I've seen it, alright…” Selise whispered in a soft voice I almost missed it. “I didn't know you were so… powerful, Mr. Marion.”
“Simple but constant training is all there is to it, Selise. Now, I think it's time for you to evacuate. Sorry, but I won't be following you. If my assumption is right, this group of wargs was just a small part of the monster attack, so I'll see if I can help the other villagers in defending.”
Selise nodded dumbly and started moving towards the stairs. She paused when she passed by Taloress, her hand twitching upwards as if she wanted to touch her friend, but in the end, she continued walking. I stared at her back until she went out of my sight and turned to Taloress. “Is it just me or was Selise acting a bit weird back there?”
Taloress just stared silently at me.
“I guess it was just my imagination,” I grumbled, even though I knew it wasn't. But there was no use worrying about Selise's feelings when there were still monsters on the loose, so Taloress and I climbed on the driver's seat and I signaled Clip and Clop to start running towards the village gates.
The monster attack seemed like a disaster, but I liked to think of it as an opportunity. If the villagers see me helping in the defense of the village, maybe their opinion of me will improve. And then I'll start having customers after this. Hehehe, time to earn me some reputation points.