Chapter 14: Chapter 14 – Troubles of a Merchant

Luke kept running along the paved dirt road, occasionally running into trading caravans and  other travelers. 

There were wooden signs showing the direction of other villages and towns on the multiple  crossroads Luke ran into, but he couldn’t read those, so he just continued heading north. 

‘It would be worthwhile to try and learn the written language of this world.’ 

He kept moving forwards and after around 3 hours of running, he could see huge stone walls in  the distance. 

‘These look like the fort walls from medieval times…’ 

He saw that there was a pretty big crowd in front of the fort’s gate. 

‘This is definitely the town of Millef.’ 

Although he couldn’t see inside of the town, he saw the soldiers stationed on top of the walls,  along with the soldiers guarding the front of the gate, giving people entry into the town. 

People and caravans were also leaving through that same gate. 

Luke stood in line and waited for quite a while before arriving in front of the soldiers.

The soldiers looked him over from head to toe. 

“Name?” 

“Luke.” 

One of the soldiers started scribbling something in a book they were holding.

“Purpose of visit?” 

“I’m here to visit the Bounty Hunter’s Association.” 

The soldier who was writing something down glanced at Luke, before lowering his eyes back  down and continuing his work. 

“You may enter.” 

Luke nodded.

Just as he was passing by the soldier that was questioning him, the soldier who was writing in the  book looked towards Luke. 

He then whispered. 

“Don’t let your guard down around the Association Head...” 

Luke glanced at the soldier, narrowing his eyes. 

‘Interesting…’ 

He continued walking and entered through the huge gate. 

The gate was around 10 meters tall and 8 meters wide, fitting of a fort of this size.

Luke was greeted by a street paved in stone, consisting of small square stone blocks.

The street was overflowing with people, a lot of them bartering, selling their goods or services. 

There were quite a lot of caravans moving along the busy streets, making their way to the town’s  market or out of town. 

Various large buildings were surrounding the street, but Luke could also see something akin to a  town square in front of him, with a grandiose fountain and lots of open space, surrounded in lush  greenery and tall trees. 

Even further ahead, he could see a grand castle surrounded by massive houses. 

‘The area with the massive houses and the castle is separated by an additional wall… Well,  considering that everything else looks medieval, the social classes being segregated wouldn’t be  out of place.’ 

Luke made his way to the town square and asked a random passerby: 

“Excuse me, where can I find the Bounty Hunter’s Association building?”

The man didn’t even stop walking as he raised an eyebrow at Luke and snorted.

‘...Yikes.’ 

Luke then tried asking another passerby the same question: 

“Kyaa!! I’m already engaged! How dare you stare at me with those filthy eyes, let alone ask me  a question?!” 

The woman then slapped Luke, and ran away. 

Luke was bewildered as he rubbed his cheek.

‘What the hell is wrong with these people?!’ 

Luke continued asking more and more people, to no avail: 

“Piss off.” 

“How am I supposed to know?” 

“Wanna die?” 

“How dare a peasant talk to me?” 

Luke gave up and decided to search for the Bounty Hunter’s Association on his own.

He walked through the streets, wondering where he should head next. 

Luke arrived in what looked like a market. 

‘Guess I’ll check it out, even though I’m broke.’ 

Luke could hear various merchants advertising their goods, trying to garner attention.

“Artifacts! Get your artifacts here!! Starting at only 50 denars!” 

‘Ohh, artifacts! Denars must be the currency here?’ 

Luke headed towards the direction he heard the merchant's voice from, and promptly arrived in  front of his stall, full to the brim with oddly shaped objects. 

The merchant then noticed Luke. 

“Hey there! Young man! You look like you could use an artifact or two!”

“Heh, sure I could. Show me what you got.” 

The merchant grinned and turned around, searching his stall for something.

He was short and fat, with a thick ginger beard and a black bandana over his head.

“Here it is!” 

The merchant pulled out a round, gray object. It was as small as a marble. 

“This is a protective artifact! Crush it in your hand, and a strong shield will envelop you, shielding you from any damage!” 

“Would it hold out against a mother Gleem?” 

The merchant started laughing loudly.

“A mother Gleem? You’re joking right? This artifact can even hold out against multiple Dragon breaths!” 

‘Dragons?! Crap. Of course they exist in this world…’ 

Luke straightened his back and put on his poker face. 

“Could you tell me something about dragons? You see, I don’t know much about them.”

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The merchant smirked. 

“Sure! Buy the artifact and I’ll tell you all about dragons!” 

“How much?” 

Luke was asking with a straight face, even though he was completely and utterly broke.

“For you, 150 denars!” 

Luke smiled. 

“Isn’t that a bit too much? Give it to me for a hundred, and you got a deal.”

The merchant grinned. 

“You drive a hard bargain young man! The lowest I can go is 125!” 

A corner of Luke’s lips went further up. 

“105.” 

The merchant was still grinning, simply enjoying the process of bartering.

“120.” 

Luke found bartering fun as well, fully understanding the merchant’s grin.

“110.” 

“Deal!” 

The merchant extended his hand. 

Luke extended his hand as well, and shook hands with the merchant. 

“Thank you very much. But see, I don’t have any money.” 

The merchant’s grin turned into a half frown, one of the veins on his sweaty forehead popping.

“Why are you wasting my time then?! Shoo! Shoo! I got actual customers waiting for me!”

Luke glanced around him. 

“I don’t see any though?” 

The merchant snorted and crossed his arms over his fat belly. 

“They are sure to come soon!” 

“Haha, how about I pay you with something other than money?” 

The merchant raised one of his eyebrows. 

“What do you have in mind?” 

“I’ll get you at least twenty customers. But in return you’ll give me that artifact, and then give  me some information as well.” 

The merchant snorted. 

“Such a deal won’t tempt me at all.” 

Luke narrowed his eyes, and then turned around, starting to walk away. 

“Suit yourself.” 

The merchant started sweating even more. 

“Wait! Fine… You got a deal!” 

Luke turned his head around to look at the merchant. 

“I’ll be right back.” 

Saying that, Luke headed deeper into the busy market while concocting a new scheme.

 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

 

Luke arrived in the middle of the market, where he could barely breathe because of the sheer  amount of people around him. 

He saw a staircase leading back to the plaza above the market and he made his way to the top of  the stairs.

Luke gathered the wind, preparing to amplify his voice. 

He learned how to do this when he was bored while traveling from one place to another,  experimenting with his wind elemental and partly inspired by the mother Gleem’s whispers. 

Luke opened his mouth. 

“There is a merchant giving away free artifacts! Follow me if you want some of them for  yourself before they run out of stock!!” 

Luke’s voice could be heard through the whole market. 

As the merchant’s stall was on the edge of the market, he naturally couldn’t hear Luke’s  announcement. 

Luke then enveloped his legs in wind and started running in the direction of the merchant’s stall.

Luke arrived pretty fast, and opened his mouth. 

“Hey, merchant! Your customers will be arriving pretty quickly, so let’s make this fast.” 

The merchant doubted Luke’s words but could hear and see a swarm of people making their way  towards his stall. 

“A deal is a deal!” 

The merchant handed over the protective artifact to Luke. 

“Now, go ahead and ask, I don’t have much time.” 

The merchant said that as he glanced at the swarm of people that would be arriving at this stall  soon. 

“Where can I find the Bounty Hunter’s Association? Also, where can I find elementals in this  town?” 

“The Bounty Hunter’s Association is next to the gate that separates the town’s two districts. As  for the elementals, there’s a couple of merchants that trade them, but you’d be better off  searching for elementals in another town, as you can only find wind and earth elementals here,  and pretty weak ones at that.” 

Luke nodded. 

The huge swarm of people was just behind him as he said: 

“Thanks! Nice doing business with you!”

Luke gathered wind around his legs, and jumped high into the air, landing in the plaza above the  fat merchant’s stall. 

‘That went pretty well.’ 

The people swarmed around the fat merchant’s stall, and started demanding free artifacts.

Luke glanced at the merchant’s face that looked as if his soul had left his body.

He started running and headed to the Bounty Hunter’s Association.

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