“Catch me Anna!”
“Wait up Snow! You are so fast!”
Of course she invites her best friend over right away. Well the first guest we had which is not scheduled to be experimented on is nice to have. Right now those two run over the rope bridges and through the tunnels.
While Snow could just run in unfathomable speeds, she lets her best friend catch her and afterwards slowly catch her. What a lovely pair.
While they are in the Castle I am right now with Ava in the Village explaining the soon to arriving Peddler caravan. The arrangement is, they can trade what they want and ask them to bring specific things to barter, while my exchange is the first to be processed.
As they have always helped with the Farming they got Money from me for their contribution. I will buy their produce mostly cheap and sell it right away to the Peddlers. They are all in agreement to keep their own vegetables from the Market, as they are rather hooked on Mana now and have enough Money anyways.
I buy from the rest of their harvest after tax everything over for one gold per Kilo, while selling it for five. It would be thought of as stealing, but they are in agreement as everything would be mine anyways, as for the Village, Fields, Water and the whole Crater itself.
They believe in me and are even happy to have so much money, as without me they would still try to catch a Mouse to have meat on the table… their Words, not mine…
…
“Can we first go shopping again, before we leave again Null?”
“We should have time. Still not enough toys?”
I tease her a bit. She had to carry Anna on her back to the Village. The poor girl was drenched in sweat but had a big smile on her face, so she found the playground fantastic.
“No, but your library looks a bit empty. How about we put some books in?”
That stings. I know it is empty, as I have no good books for it. It is hard to get factual books.
“There are many books in the bookshop, maybe we can buy from them at least one of each?”
Ah, those are… wait, I do not need to only store work books. Some romance books or adventure books might be nice for Snow to read, or anyone else who comes visiting. I am an Idiot…
“You are totally right. I should have thought about it sooner. Thanks for reminding me. We will buy as much as possible.”
“Great! And we have to go to the Orphanage. They still need some help.”
“Of course.”
She loves to help the children. I think she would just take the whole orphanage with her for the kids to live with us. Sadly that is not possible, do not try to sneak a child out for you to cuddle Snow.
…
“You are not joking? The Village is hidden inside the Forest?”
“As I said, it is not directly inside the Forest. You just have to go with me. You already know about my wares.”
“Suddenly I am not sure about the costs for the transportation being waived. This is rather dangerous in my humble opinion.”
“No, not really. I have the permission of the Guardians of the Forest to travel to and from my Domain. As long as my sign is visible, it is all okay.”
“Just keep it unlit Null. I hate that light.”
“Of course Snow. Only if Monsters come too close. Well not that one would get near us anyways.”
“Lord Null, you mentioned Guardians. What are those?”
“They do not want to know about you, and definitely do not want them be known by you. Keep it that way or vanish in the Forest. Your choice.”
“I keep my curiosity in check, thank you very much.”
Rendlar is a bit skittish, but has nothing to worry. The whole trip is rather easy, as I already know the easiest path without the most plants in the way. Otherwise they would need way more time. No Cart can drive through here, and after they traveled the path it repairs itself. Might be the Root, might be the Forest being weird in itself. Whatever it is, if you do not know how to travel these paths or have anything to show the way you need to be very careful.
Well the way to the Crater can be used by the Amulet, as it shows the way. Back they have to use their own ways to it work out, not really my problem. I will be courteous to Rendlar, but if Blue Ice wants to travel to us, they can find their own ways.
Telling him to keep the Fungal Peaks in sight are not helping him in his worries, but I think he understands what I mean. Just walking with the sight on them and against the glow of the Amulet is the easiest way home. His haulers all listen in too for their own reasons. Mostly survival, but I bet some will sell the Information about what they see. Not to the Information Center of course, as Blue Ice will have an eye on them, rather they sell what they have seen to Blue Ice directly.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
To be honest I had hoped of better resonance with Blue Ice, like them being more chill, pun slightly intended. With the power to hold a town comes responsibilities, but for them to vie for the least sought after resource Town in the west of Telk seems to mean they would eat their own to survive.
For now we work together, but with what Snow found out, the trust on either side has nothing substantial. I will need to work on the crater, so their spies will have find it so welcoming, they do not want to leave anymore.
…
“Welcome to the Lost Village. Domain of my Family and myself. Burial ground of Green Fire.”
The warning was effective. Rendlar was fascinated and the Haulers suddenly were more focused on their job and less focused to remember all the details. The market place was already stacked with the 200 Kilo of produce. For changing of the distribution of the Vegetables, the storage room is not far, while on some counters are packed with different special products I have in stock.
“Is that a Monster Egg?!”
“Yeah, an Egg from a giant flightless Bird. It is unfertilized, so do not have your hopes up.”
“How do you kno… No, please do not tell me. So it can be used for a Gala of Mages or Vanity object. Maybe both. The intricate shell can maybe be opened to keep it intact…”
There goes the Merchant. Searching for worth in all the things at first sight. Well it is good we have Rendlar here. If it was Claire I would show close to nothing, but as Snow said he is trustworthy I will trust him too.
“Those feathers are from the Parent I guess? Are the cores here too?”
“I need them myself, so no.”
“A pity.”
A white lie. I just do not want to give synthetic Monster cores. I do not know if it is visible or not. So I keep them for the time.
“Unpack the stocks! We start selling to the residents in an hour!”
Rendlar starts the peddling. The Villagers know about the Peddlers, but are still a bit wary. Well they will come after the different kind of booths are stocked. Clothes, food, tools and other miscellaneous things for daily need are put on display.
…
“An Elf?!”
Petal was interested in the strange wares of the Peddlers. Wearing a cape with hood she hides her Root heritage well enough and just looks over what there is being sold, but lost interest pretty fast. Well much of it was already dead tree or just cloth she does not like. The cape might be also not liked by her as she went back to their gazebo rather quickly.
Where did she get that cape from? It was not alive… was it?
…
The transaction was rather smooth. The wares got sold with inflated prices, but they were not that over the top. Around double the worth inside the town, so it was not that bad. All of my Villager had enough Money, but were aware of the inflation and haggled rather fierce, so most of it was sold under double with the promise of bringing specific wares next Month. With this there is at least the promise of return.
“So, was it so bad to come here Rendlar?”
“Do you want a real answer to it?”
“...Yes?”
“The travel is horrifying, going through a forbidden zone just like that might have aged me a bit. Your Village is rather sparsely populated or way too mistrusting as only so many came. While we sold nearly everything, there is the problem with the next transport, as through that uneven terrain it will be hard to transport fragile things fast. And then there is the mystery of all of them having bandages somewhere on their bodies, as I can suspect a terrible thing happening to the People in such a rich Mana presence.”
Wow, that was really honest. Brutally honest to say the least. It might be scary, but not as much as he thinks. With time they would have it easier to come and go.
“Honesty is really your best strength Rendlar. I am happy to have you as direct partner of this transaction. While the transport this time was with me, the next time would be on your own, so I would like to ask you, how much do you think would security for the transport to be at ease cost?”
Scrunching his brows and thinking he seems to calculate the rating for different Mercenaries and what he can scrounge up as force for protection. After a while he lifts his head.
“Four Gold minimum. I need at least some hardened Mercenaries with a good reputation.”
I nod. It might be lower than he would normally say, but seems to try to give me a bargain. Well I can be nice too.
“Lets make it a large Gold. You can take it from my Money as securing the transport of the wares to my Domain and goodwill for our long lasting partnership.”
“I would like to thank you for the generosity. This will put me more at ease. Do you need something specific?”
To be honest…
“I am starting a Library. Not a small one and would like to put in not only those Novels in bookstores but make a true Library with many different skill related Books and different inventions or research logs. I would like to use all the Money for the next shipment to be turned into those books. You never know when you need knowledge and have not the one you need at hand.”
Surprised he looks at me. We talk about over a Mithril worth of Money. I am officially in the category of middle class and the first thing is not vanity to buy but books. Well it is some kind of vanity to have so many books, but seems like people do not think that.
“This will be a rather sizable collection. We might add some people for transport on our caravan.”
“Would that cost more?”
“No, no! It will just be a bigger convoy and we need to keep them dry and secure. The price will be a bit inflated, but as it is a large buy it will only be around two tens higher than normal.”
So 20%… Remembering their kind of speech and changing it directly in my mind to what it really means. Noted.
“This sounds good to me. Next time I might be able to show you my Fort.”
“Sadly, I am not always ready to go myself, so I have to excuse me for the future travels and just send one of my trusted subordinates. Mordred, please come here!”
“Yes Boss?”
“This is Mordred. He is an honest man and will be in charge of the transport and transaction. Sadly I see in the future Claire sending some of her to sell the wares to the People in your Village, but Mordred can be trusted, if something goes awry.”
Looking at the rather large guy, he is build like a brick house. Albeit towering over two meters, he has an honest face and seems rather intelligent. Rendlar seems to trust him, so he will be on my positive list for the foreseeable future.
…
“Can we go shopping again?”
sigh “Of course Snow. But did we not already buy everything we wanted?”
“There might be new stuff! And I like to walk around with you. Oh, and the Orphanage!”
We already gave them… On second thought, we might be back only in a few Months or maybe a year, now that the Merchants come to us and not otherwise around. She is right, we might give them a bit more Money, so the children are fine.