North Tarak [foot of the Torrent mountain range], local time [1793.11.23]
The next morning, Zeph was visited by a barber. The guy was from the same race as Kwan, so he suspected he was a part of this gang.
He was a professional, though. Probably literally, as in 10 minutes, Zeph’s face was as smooth as a baby's bottom and his hair done in a local fashion – tied in a high bun.
After he left, Zeph started to organize a list of goods to sell.
“Perishable herbs should be enough,” he murmured mockingly in imitation of her voice. “Enough my ass. We have a fucking half a ton of them.” It wasn’t even an exaggeration, although the local ton was a bit less than on Earth. That didn’t change the fact, that the list of herbs was long.
After waking up with a clear mind, he realized just how many questions and doubts he had about Aisha’s plan. He had to be really distracted yesterday to not ask about the details.
Well, I was fucking tired… He sighed. He wasn’t even in a state of mind to truly appreciate the first shower he took in ages. But the worst part was, he didn’t even notice his mind was exhausted. The first side effects of the new modification, I suppose. Or maybe my Intuition is acting up when I spend my Will? Anyway, I need to be careful with that. Maybe I should prepare some mental tests? Something that requires an active focus? Hmmm…
Before he could start daydreaming, Aisha visited him. She entered without a preamble and looked around.
Seeing the snoring Gremling, she nodded to herself and walked to the table.
“G’morning,” he lazily greeted.
“Hi. Here’s your clothing,” she said, placing a bundle near the table and sitting down. “Want some?” she asked, taking a glass and a green bottle from a new trolley placed here today.
He glanced at her with tired eyes, to which she just shrugged and placed one hand on the sculpture. Zeph constructed the ‘Air sphere’ and continued his work while they sat there in silence. Aisha relaxed and sipped from her drink, just as yesterday.
After the 15 minutes passed, she rested her head in her hand and spoke.
“You almost blew yourself up yesterday.”
There was no accusation in her tone, she merely stated a fact.
“Yes, I know. I think my Intuition is responsible. I have symptoms of imbalance, I think.”
She tilted her head. “No warnings from the System?” He shook his head. “Well, that’s an experimental phrase for you, then. You need to learn how to meditate. Memory can help with analyzing the problem. You can also try to use your Will more actively. Willpower normally counterbalances it.”
“That… I should have thought about it myself…” he said with resignation. It seemed the problem was quite deeper than he originally assumed.
Her next words weren’t reassuring at all. Especially because of her devilish smile. “Fret not, we will train that on our way, too.”
He just slumped down, giving up.
“So, how am I to transport half a ton of materials? No, wait. More importantly, why are you even sending me? It’s an unnecessary risk if we can just pay Kwan for—”
“Relax,” she interrupted him in a calm voice. “Let me explain first. I had to organize some things before going into details. Not to mention, there are things P’pfel shouldn’t hear about, and I am sure he understands that.”
She removed two pouches from her belt and placed them on the table, not removing her hand. “I need you to deliver two packages for me before I show myself in the town. They are generating Mana of their own, so you need to mask it with yours. Can you manage that?” she asked rhetorically.
He moved his hand closer and manipulated the Mana-L seeping out from it to enclose the pouches. Aisha felt it and slowly removed her hand. He could feel as his Mana interacted with freshly-generated Mana-X, the two losing connection with their creators and forming a buffer of ambient Mana in the middle.
I feel like I am constantly using Mana-L these days, he thought. At least WM helps with the production…
He stopped his musings as he felt his ‘construct’ slowly stretching like a balloon – the density inside was increasing. Because Mana-L was much denser in nature it prevented the aggregated Mana-O from escaping freely. Instead of playing with the shape of the encasement or the pressure balance, he decided to change his method.
If I want to keep my Mana around it, I will have to constantly manipulate it… May as well use this, he thought, changing the shape of the vortex of constantly-active ‘ambient Mana channeling’, stretching it to include the pouches. Keeping the technique active required constant Mana manipulation, but it has become second nature for him by this point. Changing the shape would be slightly straining, but nothing he couldn’t manage for a day.
It’s just a shame AMC doesn’t want to level up… Well, I never stopped to read from it, but seeing it sit at the end of Tier one for so long is frustrating…
Finally, he finished removing the Mana-L and picked up the pouches. He moved them about slowly, testing his ability to neutralize their Mana inside his Veil. Changing the shape of AMC on the fly was easier than he had expected.
“Will do,” he declared, placing them down. “It smells like illegal dealings, though. What’s inside?”
She smirked. “A rare case of almost Undead material, nothing really illegal.”
He squinted his eyes. “Almost? Really?”
“Some people just don’t like the idea, and some want them very badly. But it isn’t Undead if it can regenerate into a living organism, no? And it’s an important crafting material,” she said innocently, pressing her hands together and looking at him expectantly.
She was met with a deadpan gaze as he just sat there silently.
Seeing no reaction, she dropped the pretense. “Twenty percent.”
“Deal.”
They shook hands.
“Now. For today, you are Horo of mixed blood, the courier,” she started, pulling something from the bundle on the floor. “If, for whatever reason, enforcers ask you to identify yourself, do it as you should. Remember that the Effigy requires your Name, Race, Class, and Profession alongside their levels, but is required only if you are suspected. You are just a hired hand, so these documents should be enough in most situations,” she finished, handing him a file with papers.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
He scanned it quickly to know what he was working with.
“A wagon rented by the inn will drive over around noon. We need to repack the goods before that. It will take you to the wholesale marketplace, so we have to prepare bundles. You can order enchanting reagents and other miscellanea there after you finish selling our goods. All transactions are in the name of Ozmond and are done on paper, so you can just order a delivery of money and goods to the inn.”
He nodded. He was just an errand boy, an easy job.
“The marketplace is here,” she said, placing a map on the table. “The wagoner will take care of himself after the goods are sold, so just walk alongside this avenue and…”
She explained to him in painstaking detail how to find the recipient of the two pouches. And it was necessary – the place was hidden in the maze of the multi-layered wooden terraces.
“Our remuneration will come later, after we reach Lurona city. You got it?” she finished.
“Yes, I will manage,” he said, taking the map.
“Just don’t stare at it the whole time. You would look like a tourist, not a local deliveryman. The streets should be safe, but an easy target is an easy target.”
He rolled his eyes. “Yes, mother. Can we get to work?”
They quickly revised the list he was working on, removing all the plants that wouldn’t make at least one bundle. Aisha told him she would take care of them.
After she left his room, he put on the new clothes and hung the pouches from his neck, hiding them under the shirt. The dark-gray outfit was simple but comfortable. It included a bag and a warm jacket, for which he was grateful. Because of his armor, he forgot it was getting colder by the day. Sadly, it had to be left in his room – he felt vulnerable, but not overwhelmingly so.
I am growing too accustomed to wearing it… I wonder if that’s a bad thing? he thought, looking in the mirror. He hadn’t seen himself this clean and proper in a long time. His shaved face looked unfamiliar even to him. New hairstyle, new me, hmmm?
Repacking the cart took a while. The plants had to be taken out of crates and counted. Fifty made a bundle. Zeph was complaining that they should have done that when buying them in the last village.
Finally, he was on his way. The market was a long way away, so he spent his time admiring the strange architecture of this place. The terraces took up a lot of space, giving an impression of high building density, which simply wasn’t true. Parts of stone buildings were used for business, so the number of people living in them wasn’t all that high. Besides that, he was surprised by the number of shops selling meat. He suspected it can have to do with the lack of refrigerators, but wasn’t so sure.
The traffic was increasing as they came closer to the marketplace, but the roads became wider at the same time. The terraces disappeared as big shops took the place of housing buildings. When he finally saw the warehouses, the road has already grown to three lanes in each direction. He was impressed by the good planning. Especially because it was very pleasant to the eye with all the autumn-colored plants.
The place was very orderly. The three-story warehouses left enough room for people and vehicles to easily move around. Lanes of trees separated the main artery from low-traffic roads and walkways. He had his papers checked at the entrance and was directed to the proper segment of the marketplace. They pulled off the main road when he saw a line of administration buildings with service widows.
The thought of looking manually through all the price boards and searching for better buyers gave him cold shivers.
The lady at the desk smiled broadly when he showed her the list of their goods.
“Mr. Horo, your employer is in luck. The town is paying extra for animal handling supplies right now. Please visit the main warehouse,” she said politely.
Animal handling? he thought, noticing where she had stopped reading. But those are numbing and sleep-inducing herbs? Eh, whatever…
“Maybe I will get some bonus pay then,” he joked. “I will do just that. Should I look for the best buyer for the rest, or are the fluctuation in prices not worth it?”
“I will prepare the form beforehand, then,” she said and started to fill in some documents. “Besides the Rhula herb, the prices are all stable right now. You won’t find a difference beyond 2%. As for Rhula, I am not sure if it’s worth your time for only two bundles, but the Apson’s shop warehouse on the other side of the segment is buying them 10% higher.”
She finished with the paperwork and handed the documents back. She also gave him a map of this marketplace’s segment and a list of potential buyers for the other plants. He thanked her, and they drove away, back into the main street.
The next three hours were mind-numbing. He had to parse through the map to find companies or guilds that interested him and used the closest warehouse, wait as their wagon slowly drove there, then wait again as the goods were asserted and moved. And finally, fill out all the paperwork.
He even started to bargain a little from boredom. Which, surprisingly, worked well enough because the plants were fresh.
In the end, they were richer by 122 gold, 53 silver, and some copper. Well, they weren’t literally gold, silver, or copper, the original names even suggested different colors, but the translation was close enough for him.
Metal is metal! he decided and mentally dubbed them that way.
He understood now why Aisha didn’t like the pay in Barringstone. From the two stacks of curated Hydrargyrum they received, they extracted only three kilograms of pure mercury, or 1500 units. Right now, each unit was worth around 10 silver, so it was a pay of around 150 gold. It may seem like a lot, but the costs of extraction and Aisha’s incense would balance that out almost to nothing.
Of course, it wasn’t that easy to calculate. On one hand, they extracted it themselves, cutting the cost down to reagents only. On the other hand, the old price of a unit was closer to 15 silver. But all in all, it was a risky deal.
The next hour he spent in another segment, happily ordering supplies. Spending money was always more pleasant.
Around 50 gold he spent on enchanting reagents, ordering quite an impressive amount of them. Almost 20 gold disappeared on materials he recognized and wanted to experiment with, in hopes of diverging more General Skills from the ‘Memories of the Earth’. Because of the same sentiment he was tempted to buy glassware but decided it would be too cumbersome. Everything here was sold in bulk, after all.
Not having any new ideas as to what to buy, he finalized the paperwork in the administration building and convinced the wagoner to give him a short ride out of the bustling roads of the marketplace. The guy was returning to his company, either way.
“Where now,” he wondered after getting off and thanking the wagoner. He didn’t even know the poor guy’s name.
He checked his map, correcting his bag.
“Looks like a long walk… Not like I mind,” he said, smiling. Being able to finally spend some time alone was really working wonders on his mood. Even if he still had a job to do.
“Grrrrrr,” his chest vibrated gently.
“Ah, yes. Maybe not so alone, but you don’t count,” he murmured good-naturedly.
He enjoyed the long stroll through the terraces. A multitude of restaurants, bars, and shops attracted his attention. Potted plants, tables with chairs, and benches decorated the place. Storytellers and musicians performed from small podiums set randomly through the maze. Families and couples were leisurely strolling everywhere. The atmosphere was indeed festive in this town.
A shame he was still penniless. All the money they earned today was just empty numbers written in his documents.
“I should have asked her for some pocket money,” he complained as hunger started to settle in. “Then, I could catch a cab back, at least.”
Thankfully, he was nearing his destination. He expected it to be in a more… shady place. But after seeing the town, he wasn’t sure if such a place even existed here.
The fruit shop was set at the end of a low terrace, a few meters above the surface of a big river flowing through the city. A stall was set outside the shop and a mustached merchant with a sketchy face was sitting on a stool behind it.
The terrace was almost empty, but the merchant didn’t even glance in his direction as he moved closer.
“Hello, I have a delivery for you,” Zeph said nonchalantly.
The guy perked up hearing that. “Ah, yes. Fre… Cough, from who may I ask?”
It seemed his true thoughts slipped out for a moment.
“You are Mr. Bram?” Zeph asked instead of answering, speaking in code.
The man sighed with disappointment. “No, but I know him. Let’s go inside,” he said, standing up and shuffling into the shop.
What a strange guy, Zeph thought, following him.
“I’m Faran by the way,” he said, opening the doors to the backroom of the shop.
“Horo, nice to meet you.”
They sat at the table and Faran straightened his face. “So, from who is it and for whom?”
“Red bird to black goat,” Zeph said, making a face. What a stupid code…
Faran blinked a few times. “Shouldn’t they meet personally? I am sure that how it was set up…”
“The circumstances changed. He… The meeting spot will be compromised soon, most likely. As so, red decided it would be better to not invite black. To not leave sauce…” he paused, his face scrunched. “Why are we using this ridiculous code?!” finally, he facepalmed, unable to bear it any longer. “If anyone is hearing this bullshit, they already know something strange is going on!”
The merchant laughed loudly at his misery while Zeph sulked. It took him a good minute to cool down.
“Ohhh, my Gods, she got you good,” he said finally, wiping the tears from the corners of his eyes.
Zeph had a feeling it wasn’t the first time something like that happened.
That bastard woman, he thought with raising anger. And she used my Intuition problems for it! We will see… we will see. His teeth were grinding as he imagined punching that smug face of hers.
Meanwhile, Gru was spending a lot of Will-Mana to keep his body from vibrating. Definitely not from laughter.
Definitely not.
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