I Met Someone Interesting

(Morgan Pov)

I wanted to gather some more fruits and nuts because I believe in eating healthy balanced meals. Why am I lying to myself? I was the guy that every employee working at a restaurant recognized.

There were many times when I just showed up and they didn't even bother to ask for my order. It didn't help that whenever I went out to eat, 90% of the time it was at a fast-food restaurant. I never got fat, but I definitely wasn't the poster child for healthy eating.

I blame my job, there was just never enough time to eat a proper meal. I had to be on constant alert. Man, I miss cheeseburgers and other commercialized mass-produced food. I found it comforting that no matter where you went, the food always tasted the same.

Well, at least the food here tastes great. It's also a lot healthier because it doesn't have any of the extra junk added to food in the modern age. So it's not so bad, yet I can't help but feel nostalgic for how things used to be.

That thought process drove my initial search for healthy food choices. Which led me to spot something strange in that thicket over there. If I was moving at my usual pace, I would have passed by it. I only noticed something was there by pure chance.

Alright, let's get a closer look at that thicket. It's not like I have anything better to do at this moment. Maybe I'll find something interesting and if I don't, oh well. I'll just keep looking for random things to eat. Eating is one of the closest things I have to a hobby.

Oh, what's this? It looks like there is a tent in between those trees. At least I think it's a tent, the underbrush is obscuring my vision. I can barely see a tarp-like roof peeking out. There could be someone inside that.

Whoever they are, I hope they are friendly. I haven't talked to another human being in 3 weeks. Screw it, I am willing to take a huge risk just to have a decent conversation. Worst case scenario, I die or I kill the other person. So far my KD is 21 to 1, so I'm still positive.

"Stay here while I go in there and check. If you hear me dying, run away."

I should probably have my decoy bag on me. It looks suspicious if I show up with nothing on me. The bag also helps me a lot with any on-the-spot lies I need to tell. Just in case I need to pull anything out of my inventory, I can just do a little sleight of hand to not arouse suspicion.

As I walked further into the thicket, my suspicions were confirmed. It is indeed a tent, but now it's time to see if anyone is there. Well, there is no time like the present.

I peek through the tent flap and I spot a young woman with cherry red hair rummaging through a crate. She hasn't noticed me yet, I guess she is searching intently for something in that crate. And judging by all the other opened crates, she still hasn't found what she is looking for.

Should I wait for her to find what she is looking for or should I say something? Hmm, I think I'll say something. First impressions are important and scaring someone isn't the best way to start a conversation. It would be funny, but I want to have more options available.

You never know who you can meet out here in the middle of nowhere, it's always better to play it safe. Not sure what she is doing out here, but there has to be a reason why. Until I learn more, I'll play it safe.

Maybe I'm overthinking things like always, but overthinking things has not steered me wrong. It is very rare for me to be blindsided in most situations I find myself in. When I overthink things, I tend to cover nearly all of my bases.

This is great because I end mentally prepared for most of the situations I find myself in. It takes off a lot of pressure I would have on me, making it easier for me to adapt on the fly. Having a lot of experiences in stressful or similar situations also helps a lot in that regard.

You never know what can happen at any given moment, so you take every advantage you can get. You need to make the most out of every second you have, time is something you never seem to have enough of.

Oh god, this is starting to get awkward. I'm just standing over here looking like a dumbass lost in my thoughts. So I am screwed if she turns around at this very moment. From her perspective, she'll see someone who snuck into her tent and is just staring at her.

I think I'll open with a jolly voice.

"Hello there!"

"Bah!"

That might have been a bit too loud.

"Sorry for scaring you."

"...Um, how did you find this place?"

"I was passing by and I noticed something in the thicket. I wanted to know what it was, so I got closer. I'm sorry for entering your tent, my curiosity got the better of me. I hope that you don't mind me entering your tent too much."

"No problem, I just wasn't expecting someone to show up so soon."

"What are you doing out here in the middle of nowhere?"

"I was planning on opening a shop, but I wasn't expecting a visitor so soon."

Ooh, this is embarrassing. I don't have any money on me. I have made a lot of money over the years, but none of it is mine. It's all the tribe's money and quite frankly, I never needed money.

"What kind of a shop is this?"

"Well…"

"Well?"

"It's a secret."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means you can get rare goods you can't find anywhere else here."

"I assume you won't sell these items just to anyone. I mean why else would you set up shop here of all places. There are not a lot of people traveling through this area, you are the first person I have seen out here in weeks.

I am guessing you aren't counting on foot traffic for your customer base all out in the middle of nowhere. So how are people supposed to know there is a shop here? Why set a shop here of all places?"

"Well, this is what my family likes to call a Secret Shop. Normally you wouldn't be able to find or enter this shop without a membership card. As you can see, my shop isn't ready for business just yet. That's why you were able to enter my tent without any problems.

I opened up shop here for the same reasons all merchants open up a new shop. It's to make more money. I believe that Sacae is an untapped market, one that shouldn't be ignored."

So she isn't alone. Good to know.

"I'm not the expert here, so I'll take your word for it. What are you selling? Not sure if I can afford anything you're selling, but is it ok if I can at least take a look at your wares. I have to admit, I am intrigued by these rare goods you can't find anywhere else."

"Hmm. I normally wouldn't do this, but... I'll make an exception for you. You're the first person to visit my shop after all. Just give me a couple of minutes, I can't find the boxes where I placed all my most valuable wares."

"Take your time, I don't mind waiting. I have nothing better to do anyway"

"Thank you for your understanding, I promise this won't take long."

I watch her return to her many boxes, I wish her luck. I don't know if she will have anything I want or need. If she does, I hope she isn't opposed to following the local customs. Most merchants in Sacae are open to using the bartering system, I hope she is too.

While I may not be rich monetarily, I do have items I can use for a trade. It is mainly silk, but it's not my fault that's what the market wants. I basically spent my childhood trying to find a way to mass-produce high-quality silk. The problem was that I succeeded a bit too much.

The silk we make is the best on the market, I made sure of it. It's more lustrous, smoother, stronger, and more durable than any other silk on the market. It also has something most other silks don't have, which is its magical conductivity.

I'm sure that property won't be used to its fullest extent, but man is that feature great for marketing. The cost for production is dirt cheap, all we have to do is feed leftover scraps of meat to our spider farm. We harvest the silk threads then weave them like any other textile.

The problem stems from how fast we produce bolts of this silk. We could have undercut a lot of people in the silk market and dominated it, but we didn't. We didn't want to deal with the problems that would come from having that sort of position.

No need to make enemies or to create extra drama, we just wanted the money. That's why we sell our silks at a very high price and in low amounts. We blame production time for the scarcity of our product and call it a day at the market.

We then hoard most of what we make in our yurts to use for trade or to be set aside for a dowry. That makes women the richest in our tribe because their dowries are extremely large. This is fair because they are the ones actually spinning the threads and weaving the textiles.

I don't mind because they can use that silk to secure a better marriage and a better future for themselves. However, that left the Lorca men very poor by comparison, which leads me to my current destitution.

Despite being the one who invented a process to mass-produce silk, ironically I don't have a lot of silk stored away in my inventory. So I have to make sure any transaction made using this silk is worth the trade.

Oh, she looks ready to begin her marking pitch. I watch her place 7 different items on the counter.

I see 3 different emblems, two of the emblems have a similar design. Which is a weapon over a shield. The main difference between the two is one is a sword and the other is a spear. The third emblem is an axe over a seal with an ocean pattern.

The other 4 items are a glass-like arrow, a silver ring with a red gem, a green lizard-like whip, and a black scroll. I don't know what these items are for or what they can do, all I know is that I definitely can't afford this.

I can sense power brimming from each of them. I vaguely sense magic from all of the items, but I can sense that there are 7 other powers mixed in with it. So there is a lot more to these items than one would first expect.

I am not sure what these powers are or where they even come from, but they exist and now I know they exist. Considering how I haven't sensed these powers until now, there must be a hefty price tag attached to these items.

"Like what you see here?"

"I don't know what these items are, but I know I can't afford them. That being said, I do find them very interesting."

"I'm glad that's the case, this is the best I have to offer to my customers. If that didn't work then I don't know what I would have done. I have other wares for sale, but they aren't as impressive as these 7 items."

"I hope these items are within my price range. What else do you have for sale?"

"I have all sorts of weapons, healing staves, and magic tomes for sale. Do any of these interest you?"

"The magic tomes interest me, but I don't have any gold or silver on me. Would you be open to a trade?"

"Yes, I am. I knew what I was in for when I opened up a shop in Sacae. So what do you have to trade?"

I am glad I brought my decoy bag with me. I should test the waters with a silk bolt of middling quality. I need to know more about her skill and character as a merchant. If she can spot all of the qualities of the silk, then she'll know to take the trade.

I'll know about her character depending on how much money she'll try to cheat me out of. I have been doing this for a while, based on previous experiences this bolt is worth 1500 gold. If she can't identify how well it conducts magic, then at most it will go for 1000 gold.

For this test, I am going to play it dumb so the chances I get cheated increase. Either way, I'm getting what I want. I don't care how much money is wasted, knowledge and experience are priceless.

Especially when it concerns anima magic, I could make good progress with magic in general.

"I have this bolt of silk. Is this good enough for a trade?"

"Can I get a closer look at it?"

"Go for it."

This is going to take a while. She is being thorough inspecting it, I'm glad to know I'm not dealing with some amateur. She's pulling out a scale, this is the moment of truth. Will I get cheated out of my money or not?

"This is worth about 1500 gold. I am willing to make a trade of several items equal to that amount. Where did you find this bolt of silk?"

She took the bait, this could be good business in the future for the tribe.

"I'll be honest, I know nothing about this silk. I got this from the Lorca tribe as a reward for saving the life of the chief's daughter. I didn't know it was worth this much gold, even then I wasn't expecting to get this much for that bolt of silk.

Most of the merchants I ran into in the past would try to take advantage of my ignorance. You could have made so much more money by not telling me the truth. Why are you being so honest with me?"

"A merchant has a delicate relationship with their customers. I believe that the customer's trust is more valuable than gold. When you lose that trust, you'll lose more than just a profit. Being a merchant means you have to deal with people every day.

A few words could be the difference between securing or losing an entire market. Maybe I'm exaggerating, but my family believes that everything has a price. And it is our job as merchants to make sure we make a profit without paying such a heavy price, whatever that may be."

"Wasn't expecting that type of answer, but I can respect that sort of code of honor. Can I get a look at what tomes you have for sale? I want to get an idea of my options and how much they cost."

"No problem, just give me a bit more time to find them."

"You're doing me a huge favor, so take as much time as you need."

-----------------(Several Minutes Later)

"I'll take these 15 tomes is this ok with you?"

"The price of all of those tomes together is roughly 1500."

"It might be a little late for introductions, but what's your name? My name is Morgan."

"I never thought I would be anyone's first Anna, everyone usually confuses me with my other sisters."

I am missing some context here, but she seems very happy. Fuck it, I'll just roll with it.

"My name is Anna, it was a pleasure doing business with you Morgan."

"No, the pleasure is all mine. Your honesty and attitude made it a pleasant experience all around."

"Oh, before you go take this."

She hands me a golden card. Nothing is written on it, just a lot of fancy engravings to add flair or importance to the card.

"What is this?"

"It is a Member Card for the secret shops. Like I said earlier, normally you wouldn't be able to set foot into my shop. This Member Card will allow you to have access to the secret shops, but you still have to find them yourself."

"This seems like something awfully important, why would you give this to me?"

"To celebrate the first sale of my new shop."

"Are you sure you should be giving this to me? I don't want you to get in trouble with your business partners for giving this to me. This shop seems like it is part of something very exclusive and above my station."

"You met all the requirements necessary for me to give that card, so don't worry about me. I won't get in trouble for giving this to you. I also have the feeling that you aren't anyone simple, so I don't mind giving this to you."

I hate people with good instincts or intuition with these types of things. It always makes my job a lot harder, but not impossible. Nothing is free in the world, I'll throw her a bone and call it even.

"Thank you for the card. If you ever meet anyone from the Lorca tribe feel free to use my name. I'm sure they will be more willing to help you out if you do. I hope your business does well in the future and we meet again."

------------------------A Few Minutes Later

That was a fun detour. There is still a lot I don't know about. I still can't get what I sensed out of my mind. What are those 7 other powers? And how did they manage to store them into those items?

If she is selling those items, then there is a lot more to her than I thought. This card, I wonder what will come out of it. I don't have a lot of things to look forward to these days, so I guess that is something good.

Wow, that sounded kind of depressing. I need to rethink my life up until now.