Selling Potions

Is it effective? and how much is it?" A lady, with a simple bronze breastplate and a sword, sheathed diagonally at her back, asked a boy with silver hair and ocean blue eyes that stood behind a trolley decorated with some glass bottles filled with pink liquid.

"It is a low-grade healing potion, used to treat minor injuries of non-tempered bodies, and it would be 16 Bronze Vels per bottle, ma'am." 

I replied, trying not to be intimidated by the muscular body of the lady in front of me.

There were two types of people, those who used magic, and those who didn't. The ones who did, used it to make their bodies stronger. Hence the term tempered.

As their bodies have been strengthened, normal healing methods would no longer work on them, or at least not as good as they should.

Non-tempered bodies were those that hadn't been baptised by mana and, therefore, easier to mend.

"Hmm... how about 14? '' asked the lady in a heavy voice.

"Sorry ma'am, we don't have much of a margin, but since this is your first time here, it will be 15 for you," I replied in the kindest and calmest voice I could muster.

"Deal, give me two." replied the lady taking out some coins, after thinking for a bit.

"Sure thing!"

"Huu..." I sighed after confirming the money once the lady had left. 'It sure is taxing to talk with people who have been through tough fights.' 

Right, that lady was an adventurer. Adventurers are those who take on quests from the Adventurers' Guild to exterminate the beasts and do minor jobs that are neglected by the kingdom's authority.

The Adventurers' Guild also acted as a shield for adventurers to prevent the kingdom from taking advantage of people who were strong but didn't have any backing.

Basically, the typical fantasy Adventurers Guild.

As for how it came to be or who built such an organisation that could go toe to toe with all kingdoms? That kind of information is not something someone could get from a 15-year-old country bumpkin.

It was already late into the evening as the sun had already set, but the market district was bustling as ever.

It wasn't much different than day-time, buyers were buying, sellers were selling, and some were yelling.

'3 left, huh.' I mumbled.

Out of the 12 bottles I brought with me, I had already sold 9. 12 wasn't a big number so I was determined to sell them all today.

In an hour and half, the sun completely vanished and the beautiful moon peeked out of the clouds. By this time, every single bottle was sold and I was left staring at the now filled wooden drawer.

'172 Bronze Vels… Nice,' I thought as I counted today's bounty.

Theoretically, I should have 180 Bronze Vels because of 12 bottles sold for 15 Vels each, but because bargaining is inevitable, the amount was decreased by 8 Vels.

Compared to what it could have been, the result was more than satisfactory.

I nodded with a smile and readied myself to head back.

"Hmm, I should get some more bottles while I'm at it." I said to myself as I removed the stopper from the trolley's wheels.

In a few minutes, I was humming my way towards James's shop, with my trolley in hand and money in its drawer.

***

"Oy... your face seems even stupider with that stupid smirk of yours." said the man in his twenties, who had black hair and a beard.

"Hehe... surely you jest." I laughed his accusation off.

"I want 24 bottles, branded with the zeroth circle, if you would please." I replied, still having the smug smile I got after calculating the profits of today's sale, which turned out to be 132 Bronze Vels.

It was the amount after removing the cost of bottles that I would return to mom.

"You got a lottery or something...? Well not like I care." James replied half-heartedly.

"Oy, Bolg! Bring 24 grade zero bottles! quick!" James called someone named 'Bolg'...

'Hmm? Did he have an assistant last time?' I wondered inside my head.

"Huff!" and a very animalistic sound came back, seemingly in agreement with James's comment.

Soon a brown bear came into view, holding one wooden crate, twice as big as the one I carried home yesterday.

From my guess, Bolg was James's beast companion, just like Dia was mine. Bolg was a bear with grey fur all over his body, but even with the fur, his lithe body was clearly visible.

"You can carry them home by yourself, right?" James said as I glanced at the trolley beside me.

'It will hold out, right?'

—Thud! —Grunt

Bolg dropped the crates on the ground and retreated to the back.

"I can handle this much, Don't worry." I said, patting my chest.

"Why would I be worried about you? Just cough up the money and leave, you are blocking other customers," said James as he continued mining his 'sacred ore' with one hand and made a 'shoo shoo' motion with the other, making my brow twitch.

"Alright, here are 80 Bronze Vels for these. And can I have another zeroth circle seal? I'll be needing one of those." I said as I handed over half of today's bounty.

"Whatever..." replied James as he took the money from my reluctant hands and dropped a white paper slip in the crate.

Then I approached the crate on the ground and tensed up my muscles, then I reached the handles on the sides of the crate and firmed my hold on them.

"Hup!" I pulled it up with all my strength and it started lifting in the air as I quickly moved towards the trolley before my hands gave out.

—Thud! —khinch

"Huff...!" I dropped the crate on the trolley as it made a weird noise.

"Pffft."

Without glancing at the obvious source of laughter, I pulled the trolley hosting a wooden crate, back home.