The Byblos, while it was showing information, constantly fed on Aimi's limited mana. Aimi only realized this after she felt her body become heavy and fatigued. Deciding that reading any further will most likely knock her out, she stopped supplying the Byblos with mana and went for a break. By this time, the sun was already high up signifying that it's already noon. Any moment now, Cavaron will be back from who knows where.
Outside, Avani was merged with a tree, taking a share of its nutrients from the earth. She looked like a wood nymph that made a tree its home. Tirta was nowhere within the area but was within the forest taking in the water of a nearby pond and cleansing them with her abilities. Burkhard was, as usual, by Aimi's side and was not bothered by her curiosity for Cavaron. The Azursa, Aomi, was bored of waiting for Aimi so she went to the forest to harvest some berries to eat.
While all of these were happening, Cavaron was outside the forest in the nearest city five kilometers away. He was, as always, looking for an exchange of money. In his hand was a large piece of black wood. However, the fact that he was off to sell it for money makes one wonder what it is.
'The currency from a hundred years ago has changed.' A thought floated in his mind, 'If I remember correctly, ironwood should be a mid-tier material here. Why isn't anyone buying it?' The black wood in his hand was called ironwood. Ironwood is a material comparable to the metal mithril and is often used for magic tools. Like wood, it is harvested from trees but require mithril or better metals to saw or chop it down. Its toughness bears resemblance to iron while retains its wooden flexibility thus making it essential for magi who cannot use certain metals.
Cavaron was in a, ironically, a trading city where people of all three races come for business. He already visited a number of woodworking and magic shops who may be interested in buying a piece of ironwiod. 'Dammit, this should already be the cheapest magic material, unless the Byblos glitched out and showed me false information.' The facts that Cavaron knew that the currency changed and the market of ironwood was as usual were thanks to the Byblos. A god-like artifact making a mistake was unheard of.
Cavaron, frustrated enough as he already is, decided to enter a bar for a break. He immediately went to the nearest unoccupied table and sat down with a groan. Seconds later, a waitress with a skimpy outfit came by, "What's wrong, handsome? Need a drink ta get rid of yer worries?"
Cavaron simply looked up to the waitress in his seat. She had a busty figure, tanned skin, and a head of waist length blond hair with red streaks. She wore a low-cut blouse and a tiny miniskirt that revealed delicious meat. "Is this a brothel? Sorry, I'm not looking for fun." he said.
The waitress turned red, not because of embarrassment, but because of anger. "The hell is up wit'ya!?" She screamed and slammed a tray on Cavaron's face, that he caught making her get stuck in that position. The other patrons including the barkeeper turned to look at the commotion. "Ey, Jalina. Dis guy messin' wit'ya?" A patron asked as he stood and cracked his knuckles.
Cavaron sighed, 'I really should check if the bar is civilized first. Damn my carelessness.' and thought about the situation. He let go of the tray, freeing the waitress named Jalina. "Sorry about my comment, I thought this was a brothel based on your outfit." Cavaron apologized. Jalina was still red, not knowing what to say. Cavaron turned away, "I'll just leave now, sorry for the incident." to leave but before he could do so, some patrons blocked his path.
"Ey, buddy. No one messes with our angel. Got it?" A patron with bulging muscles said. He was a bit taller than Cavaron by a head, and was wearing work clothes. On his fists were steel knuckles, obviously wanting to fight.
"Yeah! Anybody who makes our Jalina angry will die!" Another patron shouted. He had a small stature, but had a well-built and lean body. He was hunched forward with a knife in his right hand, and wore a set of leather clothes.
"That's right! Da's roit! Y'all right!" The other patrons who blocked Cavaron chanted like cultists. However, to Cavaron, they were a fan club of hoodlums.
"I don't want trouble. I will just leave, so could you let me through?" Cavaron asked anyway despite the crowd's angry glares. Still, he got an answer, but not what he wanted.
"Screw you!" The knuckle patron shouted and threw in a punch that Cavaron easily evaded. Seeing this, the knife guy jumped in to stab Cavaron's legs. The knife missed its mark while the target swung behind the knife guy with an axe-kick and flung him to the wall. The knuckle guy earlier kept throwing one punch after another, and each attack missed.
This time, all the other patrons pitched in and delivered attack on their own. The barkeeper ignored the chaos in his bar and just served food and drinks like usual. Five minutes into the rumble, the knuckle guy's attacks became slow and began to get tired. Cavaron used this opportunity to catch a fist, and throw the knuckle guy away to another group of attackers. Jalina, the victim/cause of the situation stood there like an idiot as she watched the others get thrashed effortlessly by Cavaron.
After another five minutes, all of the blocking patrons were on the ground while Cavaron stood there without a scratch. Cavaron turned to barkeeper, "I'll just leave this to you to pay for the damages." and threw something to him. The barkeeper stoically caught whatever it is without looking and pocketed it. Cavaron turned to Jalina for a while before leaving. Jalina stared at his back for a while before running to the barkeeper.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
"Boss! The hell was that!?" she screamed over the counter as she grabbed the barkeeper's shoulders. The barkeeper boredly looked at her and pulled out the thing he received. It was the ironwood Cavaron wanted to sell. Jalina's eyes went wide when she saw it. The barkeeper finally spoke, "He is a well known individual by all three races. You should know that I was once an angel, only to have my wings torn off by your ancestors a hundred years ago, and I have lived longer than all of the people in this bar." Indeed, this barkeeper was too beautiful to be a human. The only other race that was able to produce beautiful males were the Sky Kildera, also known as angels. "It seems that he still remembers the people from the war before. I owe it to him for the life I have now." The barkeeper smiled as he spoke.
Jalina slumped down on a chair after learning from her boss and stood up straight again, "Wait! A hundred years!? Howzat possible!? He looks less than thirty!" The barkeeper shrugged, "No idea, he is a champion, after all." and continued to serve food.
Cavaron was walking down the road while thinking, 'Never thought that slave back then would be a barkeeper now. Now, what will I exchange for money? Seems like the ironwood market is in bad shape.' He went into an alley and ripped open space to check his inventory.
One by one, he pulled out possible items to sell. "Luminite... Does not exist here. Pyrocite... Too common. Ironwood... Market's weird. Adamantite... Could crash the economy. Gold... Too precious." For ten minutes, he stood in an alley checking his items. It would appear that he has at least one of every possible item that exists in this multiverse. Scratching his head, he decided to sell common gems like rubies off for money even if it may net him a lower price than expected.
Getting back on the main road, he asked for directions to jewelers where he could sell the rubies. Within the trade city called Almina, he found that there were around thirty-six jewelers in the same business scattered all over. Luckily, there was a map of the city scattered as well and helped in his navigation. Yet, like the ironwood, he found no buyers because it was too common already. He was about to give up but decided against it until he exhausted all thirty-six shops.
He really did go to thirty-six shops. Standing in front of the thirty-sixth shop, he was already hesitating to go in and ask. Looking at the ruby in his hand, Cavaron took a deep breath and released a long sigh before entering.
The doorbell rang as the door swung open, and a lively voice was heard, "Welcome to Carne's Jewelries!" A young blonde girl welcomed Cavaron from the counter. "How may I he- geh! Cavaron! The hell are you doing here!?" She yelled in surprise and pointed at him when she realized who the customer was. A more important question was how she knew him.
Cavaron stood at the entrance with a dumbfounded expression while he tried to identify the woman at the counter. "Who the... Wait... Carne? And that soul signature... That little girl from Onipiliph?" Racking his mind, Cavaron finally recognized the young woman to be someone from his past due to her unique soul signature. "You... You look different so you weren't summoned, nor do I sense a powerful core in your body so you can't be a champion." He was literally struck dumb. Most likely, it was his first time encountering such a situation.
Cavaron realized a possibility, "You became a Soul Traveler? How did you die?" and asked Carne. Carne looked away and grasped her arm, "...ber." and muttered something. Cavaron went closer, "What?" and asked again. Carne looked at him with tears in her eyes, "I don't want to remember!" and screamed at him.
Cavaron looked at her, unable to do anything else but stand in silence. Clearly, Carne remembered whatever led to her death, and whatever that was was so tragic and painful that she was reincarnated somewhere else. Cavaron waited for her to calm down. With a sniffle, Carne wiped her tears away with her tunic's sleeve. Facing Cavaron, eyes still red, "So, what brought you here?" and asked what his business was.
Cavaron breathed in deep, "I need to sell this for this world's currency." and stated his business as he placed the ruby on the counter between them. Carne took the ruby and appraised it for a while. After that, she went back behind the store, and returned with a pouch. "Here, a pouch of 8 gold Trims, and 80 silver Trims."
Cavaron received the pouch and inspected the new currency. It was an inch in diameter and was two millimeters thick. On its face, a wing, a fist, and a horn were engraved signifying the three races. "Sorry, I can only give that much due to the market price. Even if you were a friend, I don't want to go into the red because of it. The monetary units are similar to 100 copper to 1 silver, and 100 silver to 1 gold." Carne explained the currency to Cavaron which prompted him to just nod because he already knew due to the Byblos. Cavaron nodded to her and turned to leave. Before he could do so, "Wait." Carne called out to him, "I'm sorry for my outburst earlier. It's just a surprise to me that I met a very old friend even after I died. If you want to know, I loved him. Truly, I did."
Without turning, Cavaron listened to what she said, and left with a wave of his hand afterwards. Carne just stood behind the counter as tears fell.
On the road, Cavaron looked back to the past and recalled their meeting, 'Kathair, the hell did you do to make her cry? Wulf, the hell happened that led to her death?' Shaking his head, he decided to go home for the time being.
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Oohhh... Onipiliph... A new place from his old past.