As we made our way to the bazaar with the giant serpent in tow, we naturally attracted quite a bit of attention from passing onlookers. In a way, this wasn’t anything that we hadn’t accounted for, since snairs are quite rare to see in general, much less on the backs of two pipsqueaks. Thankfully, the people that had stopped us were mostly just worried about us, but after we lied and said we’re just helping my father out with his butchering business, they more or less lost interest immediately.
Speaking of my parents, since it’s still so early my parents probably think I just woke up and went to play with Ed as I usually do. Same goes for his parents, they probably won’t come looking for us just yet. We might run into his little sister though. She’s way too smart for her age, if anyone were to track us down this fast, it’d be her. Then again, her parents still don’t allow her to go outside without their permission like they do Ed, so we’re probably fine on that front as well.
By the way, if you’re wondering how we got passed the guards whilst lugging a giant snair around, it’s because the two of us are kind of infamous for these types of things happening. Namely, since the two of us are the only two boys in the village who frequented wandering outside the village and into the nearby forest, it wasn’t all too rare to see us come back with something interesting in our hands. The guards mostly let us pass without any issues, but that’s because we’d only be carrying a large stick or something at best. A dead snair definitely isn’t something to ignore.
“Morning, you two!” The local guard greeted us, “A bit early today aren’t yo- HOLY MOLY!”
“Ha-ha… W-We found it lying dead like this in the middle of the pathway leading up to the forest…?”
Raising my eyebrows and voice as I said this, I had all but expected him to let us through without any further suspicions, but then again he’d be a pretty lousy guard if he did.
“Lying dead in the middle of the road?! That violates rule 46 of the knight’s codex!”
“The what now?”
“The knight’s codex! Come on, Lune, isn’t your father teaching you to become a proper knight? Rule 46 states that when a beast is slain, their carcass must immediately be disposed of so as not to cause further issues for any people that may pass by that way later. This is also done to ensure the body doesn’t start to rot while out in the open.”
At his matter of fact way of reciting that codex of his, both Ed and I simply nodded our heads at each and every one of the words that came out of his mouth. Although it isn’t as though I didn’t have anything to say to him after he was done reciting.
“I understand all that, sir, but why do knights have to dispose of the carcass? Doesn’t the smell warn the other beasts in the vicinity to go away? Y’know, something like This is a warning, don’t mess with us!”
“Actually, it’s quite the opposite. Every living being in this world has what is known as certain ‘pheromones’ that are kind of like invisible smells. The pheromones released from a slain beast actually tell the other beasts to come to its aid, effectively only furthering the issue.”
“Invisible smells, you say? But you can’t see smells, so isn’t every smell like that?”
“…” The guard gave me a long, dry stare before motioning for us to continue with his hands, “Just get out of my face. I’m a knight serving as a guard for this damned village, not a teacher.”
***
And just like that, we made it to the bazaar! Our goal is to sell this snair for a replacement sword, Handbook and some food for the road. I’m not sure how much a snair actually sells for, but it’s probably enough for the two of us to get our footing. That being said, we can’t just go selling it to any old village idiot, we need to properly think about this.
See, if we sell it to one of dad’s butcher friends, they’ll probably be a lot more generous with the payment, but they’ll only salvage the meat from it, throwing away the skin. If we’re to squeeze out the maximum amount of value out of this big momma, then we’ll need to sell her to someone who’ll have a use for even the tiniest bone in its body. Then again, if I sell it to someone who knows dad, I might get told on by them. I also don’t quite like the idea of using my father’s connections to accomplish my goals…
“What about the leatherworker?” Ed suggested.
“A leatherworker works inversely to a butcher in this case. He’ll use the skin to make accessories out of it, but he’ll just throw the meat away. We need someone who’s pretty general when selling their wares.”
Just then, both of our eyes had gravitated towards the sketchy looking man with a large bag on his shoulders. He wasn’t someone either one of us had recognized, meaning he’s a traveling merchant. That’s perfect, he’s just what we need! Traveling merchants sell the most random stuff to you from all over the world, so he’ll surely pay a hefty sum for our snair!
Stolen novel; please report.
“Oh? Good day, kiddos! Got something for me?” The merchant had greeted us kindly whilst eyeing the snair we had been carrying this whole time.
“Yep! We’d like to sell this here snair!”
“Alright! I like eager kids like you! What do you say I give you… 2 silvers for it?”
“T-!”
Two silvers?! Is this guy joking!? That’s barely enough to buy some candy with! He must not be taking us seriously at all if he thinks we’ll agree to such an obvious attempt at a scam.
“Sure!” Ed talked over me, “That’s probably enou-UGH!”
Right as he was about to accept such a measly payment, I had flicked him on the back of the head before giving the sly merchant a deadly glare. The merchant had accidentally shown a sour face to us because I had seen through his ruse, but immediately corrected it into a terrifying grin as he spoke.
“Hahaha! No need for infighting, young man! I was merely jesting!” He said as he cupped his hands together, “But please, do tell me where you got this beast from. If I am to sell it to someone else, I need to make sure that the materials used from its body are up to standard!”
“Humu!” I gave him a smug chuckle before proudly exclaiming, “No need to worry, for we are the ones who had slain this snair!”
“…” The merchant stood there, flabbergasted, before continuing on with his pitch, “I see! You two must be some top-notch adventurers! Please, do tell me how it is that you’d slain it! I simply must know which Runic Stones you used!”
“Runic…?”
…Stones? What are those? Schnell never mentioned anything about these Runic Stone thingies in any of his Volumes. I wonder, could that be a new thing that came after his time? I mean, it’s pretty likely, given that Schnell lived about a thousand years ago. Just how much can change in a thousand years’ time? I mean, I’ve only lived just over thirteen years now, so I can’t really properly grasp the flow of time accurately.
“Um, excuse me sir.” Ed raised his hand as he shyly asked, “But what exactly are Runic Stones?”
“You bested a snair without a Runic Stone?!” He jumped from the shock, “Now I know you two are incredible! There are many types of Runic Stones, some allow you to fly, others give you a spring in your step, and some even make you up to ten times stronger than you were without them! But wait, if you’re this strong without them, it makes me wonder just what else you could do with them!”
Whoa!! How hasn’t anybody ever told us about these amazing artifacts?! Shoot, if I had known about them earlier, I’d have asked my parents for one for my birthday! They’d make our journey a cinch if we could just fly to wherever we wanted!
“DO YOU HAVE ANY?!” We both yelled in unison.
“Aha!” He crouched down for a second before showing us two ordinary looking rocks, “But of course I do! Oh, but they’re the last two I have in stock, actually! You two are quite lucky, this offer comes by once in a lifetime!”
“Amazing! But how much do they cost? We don’t have anything safe from this dead snair here…”
“Oh, my dear boy,” The merchant patted me on the head, “No need to undermine your efforts. Killing a snair whilst simultaneously keeping its body in such a presentable state is no easy task. Even those lousy knights just resort to cutting it up into a bloody mess, which leaves us merchants with nothing to sell! What you’ve accomplished is incredible, so I’ll cut you a deal – I’ll give you these two Runic Stones for just that snair. I’ll even waive the taxes, since you probably don’t know how to calculate them yet.”
“What are taxes?”
“Exactly.”
Who is this magical man? He’s being so kind to two kids he’s never even met before. I mean, of course what we did was amazing and all, but a snair is a pretty common beast that lurks in most corners of the world. Is it really that difficult to choke it out and preserve all of its body parts? Then again, he did call the knights “lousy”, claiming how they just can’t be bothered to slay it cleanly, instead swapping out tbat efficiency with practicality.
But man, this merchant guy is really generous. He’s just giving away his last two Runic Stones to the likes of two random kids? Then again, maybe they’re on clearance? Makes me wonder just where exactly such a kind man comes from. He speaks Entropic pretty well, but that doesn’t really narrow anything down.
“Quick question sir,” I decided to ask out of curiosity, “Where are you from?”
“Where am I from?” He raised his eyebrow, “What a non-relevant thing to ask, but I suppose I’ll answer since I have nothing to hide. I am from Meridia, of the bountiful land of Cardina.”
Ah, Meridia! That’s all the way on the Eastern Continent! I know all too well about Meridia, since Schnell is from there as well! It’s apparently this amazing and bountiful land where peace has been prevailing for centuries upon centuries. Everyone born there is super generous and humble, which explains this guy’s reasons behind practically giving us these incredible artifacts!
“Meridia?” Ed interjected, “Then can you say something in Cardinic?”
“Ah, heh heh…” The merchant shied away, “I-I’ve been all around the world, you see? I’ve kind of forgotten the language, what with me having had to learn all these other ones for my job.”
“Ed, are you saying you don’t believe this guy? People from Meridia aren’t known for being liars, so even though this guy seems super suspicious, we should definitely believe his words!”
“Right you are, little boy!” The merchant praised me once again, “So, what will it be? Do you accept the trade offer?”
I looked over at Ed, who was tilting his head repeatedly in a motion that said Don’t! It’s a trap! and then I turned to the merchant, who was eagerly rubbing his hands. I didn’t have much time to pick between the two, but in my heart there was really only ever one option.
“We’ll take it!” I said as I let go of the snair.
Ed facepalmed, the merchant smiled, and we got scammed.