Chapter -8.5: Strange powder [Cancelled Arc]

"Hello there. How may I help you?"

"The eye of the storm is not always what it seems"

"Come with me to the basement"

He guides me to the beneath of the shop. Here, there are a lot of otherworldly relics.

Potteries, strange masks, censers and chained books.

"What catches your eyes?"

"I think this book catches my eyes" I point at a strange looking book. It has a wooden cover on it and it is tightly tied with strange brown strings.

"We found it under a ruined city in the south of here. That city has a lot of strange letters and writing. It seems like it was an abandoned civilization before the Great Storm of thunders and suns"

"How much?"

"Few coins for the scholars like you. If you have any interesting information after reading it, I will pay you handsomely" He cleans a pot

"Alright. Then can I get some kind of plants that can live in this desert?"

"Hmmmm. Let me think. You have strange fruit cacti, palm, grapes and that strange kind of aloe. Perhaps, you should get some goats instead of plants"

"Goats? Who are the dealers?"

"You gotta find him by yourself. Here, I give you this wooden tag," He hands me the tag with a star carving '',If you see someone with goats, show him this then he will talk to you. If not, that is a thief. Kill him without any other question if you can, okay?"

"Understandable"

****

I see a man with goats. I approach him closer then I show him the tag.

He takes a closer look then nods. He whistles out to stop the goats.

"Ah I see you were told by that shopkeeper eh?"

"Yes"

"One pair of goats or family for the same price. I don't tend to separately sell them. I value family"

"How much?"

"30 pieces per pack"

"Seems reasonable but I don't have much money. How about some trade?"

"Let me see your goods"

I open up my rucksack. It has a dragon fruit, sugarcane, a bottle of strange wine, a bag of spice and lastly the book.

"What strange bamboo you have here." he points at sugarcane

"This thing is sweet and easy to grow"

"A strange pink fruit with weird spines around. What is this?"

"Dragon fruit"

"Goat feeding it is. I can trust you with some of the goats here."

"You know what the spice is?" I hold the bag of spice

"Lemme guess. Pain dust?"

"Perhaps"

"Ho ho. I am in need of that."

I give him the sugarcane and the bag of spice for a herd of goats.

****

"My lord! You brought back a herd of goats?" An elf waves at me

"Yes"

"We have goats now!" the elf cheers

"I am getting sick of eating just scorpions and snakes already. There is some cheese in the future" An elvish hunter butchers a giant scorpion carcass

I lure the herd to the destined place for them, in the fences.

I also count the amount of coins I have for the next trip.

Around 200 coins.

These are made of silver but yet the details can't be forged anywhere.

Very beautiful.

"My lord, we have finished another batch of glass bottles. Take a look" an elvish artisan bows to me

"Good, do you know how to make potions right?"

"No, my lord. None of us"

I stand up. Shouldn't elves have the basics of potion making?

"Why none of you knows anything about potion making?"

"We are sorry about this but all of us only don't know how to make potion due to the fact that all of us get exiled before getting chance to learn anything"

"... I am so sorry about it" I prostrate

"No need, my lord. Can you show us some?" he lifts me up

"There is something I can but I don't know if it works"