The first big project

The sun is setting as i step out of the library, a bubbly feeling in my stomach as i think about all i have accomplished today.

Made friends with the barkeep of the only giant bar in the city, sold my stupid marbles for a fortune, a whole 2600 coins or 26 enchanted coins, it is easily enough to buy a decent house.

Next big thing I did was discover I could use magic, and that my affinity is why I got here, probably.

You see, in my visit to the library, even though short, I read a small book on conjuring, written by a master conjurer in the form of a diary of sorts.

The book spoke of how conjuring allows one to create fake life and transport items without life over great distances.

In other words it can probably make golems or something and enable teleportation, which brings me to how I got here. Assuming that i always had this affinity i probably teleported here somehow, i mean falling into a liquid tree and appearing in another world is strange on its own.

Appearing in a deserted place where a creature of nightmares makes its lair and probably killed hundreds of creatures is a bit too much of a coincidence.

This smells very ritualistic, rituals exist, the act of moving an inanimate object over long distances is a ritual in itself. What if the stupid tree was some form of mana tree or something and i touched it and it just happened that the creature had sacrificed so much life in its lair that it somehow accumulated power and i just teleported myself over there using the energy as fuel somehow.

It is far fetched but it is the only theory i have, except stupid coincidence.

Let's get back on track and review my great plan while I head back to the inn.

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Lets see, it all started in my first visit to the library, where one of the books mentioned how the king, and I quote ''Provides for his citizens needs before the first snow comes'' which means that every year, before winter, the king provides something to all his controlled cities.

My modern man antenna reacted and told me that he most likely brings essential goods for surviving winter, I was later proved wrong by a fellow merchant but the idea was correct.

More on that later, my plan involves acquiring and reselling some of these goods for profit, quite simple. After all they should be essential goods so if i wait until it starts snowing they will certainly skyrocket in value.

Big problem was that I did not know what or how the king sent those items. First guess was by boat, after all whe are in a port city, that part was correct, my second guess was that he sends tools or raw materials of sorts, that is both correct and incorrect.

When I visited the blacksmiths on my tour of the city I asked of the aid the king provides every year. The smith knew that it existed but he didnt care what they sold, yes sold, because it did not benefit him.

The smith provided me with two pieces of information, the items are sold and they are not for him, so they are now either for the tailors or food for the people.

So i visited the tailors, first the human one which was not very helpful then the elven one that proved a lot smoother, my guess is that he thought i am a fellow elf, head covered and tall stature and all of that, which tells me that elves feel more kinship for each other than humans do.

Figure that out, a race with small numbers care more for each other than humans do, big surprise.

Anyway i was able to milk out some information from him, his name is irrelevant because i can't remember it, but i can perfectly recall what he told me, that the shipment is due to arrive on ship by the end of this week, the giants are to transport the goods closer to the central square where the kings merchant will sell them at a very premium price.

Now i also needed to know what items he brings but the elf didn't feel like telling me, kinship only goes that far, so i bought some items from him, namely some gloves and a hat, the gloves were normal leather, a bit small for my hands but i fancied the hat quite a bit, it looked something like a black beret with extra accessories and a nice arrangement of white feathers on it.

It was quite expensive but i just had to have it, and it also helped me get the information out of the tailor. The goods that the kings merchant sells are pelts, high quality pelts that are not found here, the tailors use these pelts to create cloaks for the people, the rich people that is, a single clock can go up to 300 coins.

They are, as the tailor referred to them, premium goods that repel both water and the cold, not only that but they last many years if properly cared for.

Every year the king which I now classify as an idiot, sends to this city crates of the pelts needed to make the cloaks. I don't know the price but the tailor said that he makes more from selling those cloaks than from everything else combined.

He was saying that while fitting my hat, mindless chatter he probably didn't even notice it.

And so the plan evolved in my head once again, I added a few steps to it. First step was to get some giants to both help me carry the crates and more importantly allow me to meet the king's merchant, I can just say I came to help move the cargo from the ship.

Then as the cargo is being moved i will offer to buy as much as possible, i doubt he will have anything to say against it after all the price is set, why would a merchant care for the profit of an item that he sells for pennies.

After getting my hands on the materials I will carry them to where the king's merchant would have originally sold them and increase the price several times, pretty much selling them for their real market value.

This will probably only work once since the tailors are not idiots and in the future they will go wait for the king's merchant to get off the boat and not wait for him in the traditional trading spot.

I expect some hate for this and heavy resistance from both the tailors and all the bodyguards they will bring with them, all human probably. But I do not fear a direct confrontation due to one reason, the giants, they can each take on dozens of people easily, even the weaker giants are fearsome and I hope to get some of the stronger ones.

The preferred strategy against giants is to keep them busy then shoot them with arrows and magic until they die. But lethal weapons are not allowed inside the city, if someone takes out a sword or bow the city guards will interfere and we don't want that now do we?

I can't wait for tomorrow to come, if this works I will be able to establish myself in this city for good.