Veil

Part 1

「Michio-sama, you're more than welcome to stay here for tonight if you want. We'll prepare the best feast possible to show you our gratitude.」 The Village Chief told me that while we were eating breakfast, which consisted of oatmeal with salad and cheese. I can't say it was the best I have ever had, but all in all it wasn't that bad either. If we assume that this is the absolute bottom tier when it comes to food quality and that it can only go up more civilized cities, then I think I won't have any problems adapting to living in this world, at least as long as the food is concerned. From what the Chief said I think it is safe to assume that dinner is going to be on the more luxurious side, fitting for a hero who saved the village from the Bandit attack. Nothing was said about lunch. It is possible that I am biased based on my current lifestyle where I always had three meals a day, but it looks like in this world the standard is two meals a day: breakfast and dinner. 「Thank you very much. Allow me to take you up on your kind offer.」 「Also, about your plans for tomorrow, the merchant said that his carriage is going to be departing for the city of Veil early in the morning. If you plan on going with him, then I suggest you to go to sleep early tonight.」 「Exactly how long will the journey to Veil take?」 「About three hours by carriage.」 72 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com The biggest question now is whether or not three hours here are the same as the three hours back in my old world. If I assume that they are, then I can do the following calculation: if we were to depart for Veil at around 8:00 AM then we would arrive at our destination at around 11:00 AM. If the merchant wants to wrap everything up in a day trip, he would have to leave the city by 3:00 PM to return to the village by 6:00 PM, meaning that the total time he would be spending in the city would be around four hours. He said he was going to restock on food and basic supplies, so I think that shouldn't take him very long to finish? 'Cause if we were able to return here before it gets dark, then maybe I'll have some free time to go fishing. 「Then I shall do just like you suggest.」 「Wonderful. I will be sure to relay the message to the merchant.」 With that settled, what should I do until tomorrow? Just sitting idly by would most definitely be counterproductive, so it would be nice if I could maybe find myself a spot to hunt some mobs in order to increase my level as much as possible. 「If I may ask, are there any mobs around this village?」 「Mobs? Could you perhaps be talking about monsters?」 「Ahh, yeah. That's right. Monsters. Are there any monsters around here?」 Note to self: Monsters, not Mobs. Gotta keep my player habits in check if I want to avoid making everybody needlessly suspicious of me. 「Well, I guess there are Slow Rabbits in the depths of the forest not far from here.」 「Slow Rabbits? I've never fought them before.」 The name suggested that they are weak as shit, but my gut was telling me that I shouldn't be overly confident just yet. Maybe it's one of those cases where the name is deceitful, masking the monster's true strength? All right now, Village Chief. Time to make you spill some more beans for 73 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com me! 「What kind of a monster are they, exactly? Those Slow Rabbits, I mean.」 「Oh, they are relatively harmless because they tend to distance themselves from any human settlements and even in direct combat they are not much of a threat.」 「Oh, is that so? Good to know.」 Lucky me! Looks like I'll be able to grind with relative ease if they really are so weak. They will serve as a good way to pass the time and who knows, maybe I'll also be able to farm some items that I'll be able to sell for a nice prize? Yes, that should be my current mindset. No use worrying that I might not be able to go back to Japan for now. Instead, I should focus all of my energy into securing a relatively stable situation for myself and I'll definitely need a clear head on my shoulders for that. 「As expected of an Adventurer! Even though they are hardly worth the effort, you'll still get out of your way to hunt them to keep the village safe from their menace!」 Dude… I think you're reading too much into it. Also, why have you reacted by shouting like that? 「If they are as weak as you describe them to be, then is it really a reason to be getting so emotional over them?」 「Y-Yes, of course they are.」 「Uh-huh, okay, keep going…」 「Even the Villagers can defeat one if they assault it in a group.」 Hey. What was that? It took several of you to defeat just one Rabbit?! How is that… no, Michio, keep your cool about you. Remember, gather information first, be a judgemental prick later. 74 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com 「What about the drops? Did it left anything behind when you killed it?」 「Well we did managed to salvage the Rabbit's Fur out of it.」 「I see.」 Does that mean its fur is a drop item or something they salvaged manually by skinning it? It would be nice if it was the former. 「What is it, Michio-sama? Is there any problem with hunting those monsters?」 My doubts must have shown on my face, because the Chief asked me in a worried tone. 「No, everything's fine.」 Although I really wished it wasn't. That was another dilemma for me. Should I really go for it? Will I, a lowlevel character be able to defeat monsters that higher level villagers had to gang up on to defeat just a single one? Then again, if I really want to live in this world as its full-fledged denizen, I'll have to eventually venture into the wild and start hunting monsters myself. I have no guarantee that this Slow Rabbit is really easy to defeat, but if I decide to do it after all then the sooner I take care of it the better. I have no idea if I can even go back to the Japan I know and even if I could, I don't know if I want to go back to the shitty life I had there. And, objectively speaking, how much worse can this world be compared to my own. The risk of imminent death? Sure it's unpleasant, but everyone will die eventually. Ironically, I've found my way into this world thanks to a suicide website. I wanted to end my own life, so what difference does it make if I do it myself or with the assistance of some random monster? I have literally nothing to lose, so I might as well go check those Slow Rabbits out. 「All right, I think I will go check out those monsters now. It won't be a problem as long as I return here in time for dinner, right?」 75 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com As long as I use my Durandal, things shouldn't go south too quickly, and if they do, I can always tuck my tail between my legs and run. I stood up from my chair and started heading towards the door, when the Chief called out to me again. 「Michio-sama. Actually, some of our village youths want to hunt the Slow Rabbits as well. If at all possible, would it be all right for them to join you in your venture to the woods?」 「You mean go for a hunt together with them?」 「If they go with you, I have no doubt that they are going to have a good experience.」 Damn, what do I do now? It would definitely be safer if I had more people with me. But… 「With all due respect, but I think it would be better if I went alone. I have never fought a Slow Rabbit before, so if worse came to worst I don't know if I'd be able to keep all the other's out of harm's way.」 「Now that I think about it, you're right. How wise of you to think about our youths well-being, Michio-sama!」 There was that, but I also had another reason for turning his request down. At my current level I am weak, even if one of my weapons is OP as heck, so if one of the guys who went with me died a gruesome death it would be possible that the family or close friends of the deceased would want me to take responsibility for that, and since this village has adopted a slavery system, I concluded it is in my best interest to avoid such situations at all costs. I'm not risking any chances of becoming a slave because of somebody else's stupidity, oh hell no! 76 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com Part 2 After finishing my meal I put back the Bandits' Intelligence Cards, equip the Copper Sword and slowly make my way into the woods near the village. Strangely enough, not a single monster appeared even after I've been heading straight ahead for about 10 minutes. Normally when it comes to games, I'd have been attacked as soon as taking less than 10 paces outside the village, which should be considered as a safe zone for the players (in this particular case, myself), but no, there wasn't even one random encounter yet. I was honestly kinda disappointed, but at the same time some part of me felt relieved that I didn't have to fight anything yet. Oh, while we're at it, I also wondered why would anyone build a village in a spot full of monsters that were too tough for ordinary people to defeat by themselves? Seems needlessly hazardous and counterproductive to me. Also, since I am finally alone with myself, there's something I want to try. 「Intelligence Card, open!」 You know what happened? Yah, that's right, you guessed it: big fat nothing happened. But it's okay, this time I knew it would happen because the spell was not the same as when the Village Chief did it and I am not the kind of person who would memorize an entire spell after only listening to it once. So now I know that even for my own Intelligence Card this funky incantation is a must. And since I have firmly established that now, I can proceed forward without worrying about it too much. Not long after I reached the thicker part of the woods I finally stumbled upon some strange animal, covered with white fur, about 50 cm long in total. Could this be the Slow Rabbit? I focused my gaze on it and used Identify and this is what came up: 「Slow Rabbit, Lv1」 77 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com Okay, so Identify works on other things than myself and the NPC's without any problems. Thankfully this guy is just Lv1. But then, why would the villagers have difficulties fighting something that has to basically be this world's equivalent of a Slime from other RPG's, meaning the weakest monster possible? I better remain cautious not to have my ass handed to me on a silver platter. I mean how big of a laughingstock would I be if something like that defeated me after I slew so many higher-leveled Bandits essentially by myself? I don't know how big of a wallop this guy actually packs, so I think it would be better for me to use Durandal here instead of a simple Copper Sword. I opened up my Status screen and went through another Character Reset, switching back to my original settings where I had 64 Bonus Points to use by returning to the 1/5 EXP Required and Obtained EXP x5 and putting them all into Bonus Weapon 6 and since that upgrade cost 63 Bonus Points total, I had 1 Point remaining. Now what should I use it for? Maybe… Meteor Crash? The description says that it is a very powerful offensive magic, so having it around might prove useful if I ever find myself to be in a tight spot. I confirmed the selection of Meteor Crash and ended the Character Reset there. Durandal appeared in my left hand on its own. Initially I thought that if I used magic I wouldn't have to resort to using Durandal, but just in case I won't be able to finish that monster off with a single blow it will be my backup plan. I placed it at my waist, but moving around with two swords equipped on me proved to be more than a little difficult, probably because I was not used to it, so I decided to just leave the Copper Sword leaning against a nearby tree. Now I unsheathed Durandal and grabbed it firmly with both my hands. Looks like the Slow Rabbit hasn't noticed me yet. This might be my chance to one shot it with a surprise attack! Here it goes! 「Meteor Crash!」 I yelled that out loud at the top of my lungs. But nothing happened. And nothing changed. I just stood there, staring at the 78 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com rabbit like an idiot while he also looked at me with a question mark above its head. Really now, all that I need now to complete this scene are the cricket noises and some tumbleweed rolling in the background. Thank God we are so deep in the forest where no one could witness that epic fail of mine! The spell! I didn't chant the spell's formula, that's probably why it didn't work! As soon as I thought about that, the chant for Meteor Crash appeared in my mind. Okay, all right, sounds easy enough. Let's try using it now, hopefully to good effect. 「From beyond the infinite universe, the will of the sky is to diminish, destroy! METEOR CRASH!!!!」 I thought I nailed the incantation on the head this time, but once again nothing happened. But I finally noticed why. I didn't have enough MP to cast the spell. Strange. I have eaten more than enough and I am definitely not tired. Moreover, my MP that I lost after using the Fire Rapier should have also been replenished already. But if the spell refused to activate even after all of that, then there is only one possible explanation for this: the Villager's Job MP total at Lv2 was simply too low to use a spell such as Meteor Crash. All this time, the Slow Rabbit just stood there and did nothing, looking at me as if I was some kinda exotic peculiarity. Oi, if you really are a monster, shouldn't you be running away from humans as soon as you see one?! Or maybe it wasn't afraid because it was actually so strong that it thought a single person wasn't enough to even scratch it after it learned that the villagers needed to hunt them down in groups? Well, guess what, buddy, here's some Holy Sword for you to taste! Let's see how tough you will be after I give you a good old stabby-stab where the sun doesn't shine! With that I rushed at the monster and slashed it diagonally from top down. The sword digs into the rabbit's flesh as if it was cutting through butter, shredding him almost in half without any difficulties. The Slow Rabbit, a monstrosity that required a group of villagers to defeat just a single one, fell to the ground, lifeless. All it took was literally one blow and it was over. After a few seconds its body began to emit puffs of green smoke before it 79 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com melted away into nothingness. All that was left of it after the smoke cleared was a tuft of white, soft fur. Upon closer examination, it was the supposed drop item, The Rabbit's Fur. So that's what Chief was talking about when he was saying that they were able to salvage the fur out of the one rabbit they managed to slay. I took the fur and placed it in my inventory and returned to the place where I have left the Copper Sword. Using Durandal honestly felt like too much of an overkill for the opponents of such a low caliber, but there was always a possibility that I can bump into much stronger monsters while casually strolling through the woods or that only this particular Slow Rabbit happened to be weak as shit. With that thought in mind, I decided to explore the depths of the forest for a little while longer. Not long after that first encounter I happened upon two more Slow Rabbits, but they were much the same as the first one: one-shotted with Durandal's single slash, so yeah, using the Holy Sword to fight them definitely felt like I was cheating, but on the other hand I now had 3 pieces of Rabbit's Fur instead of one, so I guess I wasn't really in the position to complain or anything. But when the next battle comes around, maybe I will try using the Copper Sword instead of Durandal, just to give those poor mobs an actual fighting chance, or maybe reset my character entirely again … Huh? What's this? I should have no Bonus Points remaining, but for some reason my status screen says that I have 1 more point to use. Could it be that you automatically get Bonus Points over time? That's pretty neat. Okay, but for now I will discard Bonus Weapon 6 and put my Bonus Points between 1/20 EXP Required and Obtained EXP x10. The Bonus Points are now 0. With Meteor Crash still marked as checked, it is much better usage of the points than before. With my preparations finished, it's time to go look for another Slow Rabbit to check how the current settings I am rocking will fare in actual combat. The Copper Sword's performance was obviously not as good as Durandal's, but all things considered it wasn't that bad either. At least I didn't one-shot the like before, but it didn't change the fact that even such a basic sword tore through their flesh without any major difficulties, maybe not cleaving them cleanly in half but digging pretty deeply into them. 80 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com But I have to tell you, the Slow Rabbit I'm fighting now is pretty tanky. It withstood not only my first attack, but also a second slash that came right after the first one, and it even managed to strike me with a counterattack. Or it would have if I didn't manage to avoid it in the nick of time. We exchanged two blows. This time its hits connected, but the resulting damage wasn't all that impressive. Nevertheless, I have to remain cautious at all times. Even the most insignificant of hits can turn lethal if they'd be allowed to pile up. The one saving grace here was that my enemy wasn't able to move very fast. It was a rabbit, after all. But just when I thought that, it did something totally unexpected which caught me totally off guard. It jumped towards my throat with its bared teeth! 81 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com Part 3 Just what is this thing, a friggin' Caerbannog Rabbit?! Its head is badly damaged, as is the rest of its body but despite that it was still able to move around to such a degree! I instinctively backstepped to prevent it from biting into my throat but that didn't stop it from pressing on the attack. It even threw an occasional body slam into the mix! And let me tell you, when it connected, I felt that with my whole body as a numbing shock spread throughout it! This is really dangerous. I cannot allow any more of those to hit me or I might be toast for sure! I hacked and slashed at the damn thing but it was as if it had engaged some kinda 「Zombie-Berserk Mode」 or something, because no matter how many times I managed to cut it, it just refused to drop dead and die. Damn it, why are my attacks not working as well as they were just a few minutes ago?! Whenever I could I sneaked two or three strikes in, but it just completely abandoned any form of defense in favor of an aggressive offense. This is getting worse by the minute! If I don't do anything, I might die to this rabbit for real! I somehow managed to avoid its subsequent attacks and regain my proper fighting posture and even hit the Slow Rabbit in the belly, making blood gush out of it. Good, it looks like that slash was deep enough to actually do something to it. If I can just keep this up, then I might be able to finally bring this bastard down! But despite my best attempts, it still refuses to drop dead. Another blow. And another one. Another one, another one, another one. At long last, after what seemed to be an eternity for me, the Slow Rabbit finally bites the dust and melts into the ground after emitting a puff of smoke. 82 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com 「Haaa….」 I made a big sigh as my shoulders were frantically moving up and down in tandem with my ragged breath and the aching which was resonating throughout my whole body. That… was… beyond… ridiculous now! Is the difference between a normal weapon and the one obtained through Bonus Weapon really that big? I mean seriously, compared to Durandal, the Copper Sword was like, thousand times weaker, maybe even more! Or could it be that this particular Slow Rabbit was bugged beyond all rationality with how insanely strong and tough to take down he was?! Speaking of which, he should have had a Lv displayed next to his name? I know it was thoughtless of me not to confirm it when the battle started, but I just kinda sorta assumed that it's going to be Lv1, the same as all the others. But now I know what to look out for, so from now on, I will be using Durandal to fight with every enemy that might show up to make sure that a fuckup such as this one won't happen again. I now see that the copper Sword is, without the shade of a doubt, the shittiest of the shitty weapons in this world. As for Durandal, did it not have some kinda life steal or absorption skill? I'm sure that with it I will be healing my wounds faster than the enemies will be able to inflict them upon me, limiting the damage taken to the bare minimum or maybe even eliminate it altogether. With that in mind I put away the Copper Sword and all the Rabbit's Fur I managed to collect and equipped Durandal again. Not long after that encounter I happened upon another Slow Rabbit, but this time I made sure to check it out with Identify. So those things are Lv1 after all? I approached it while remaining cautious and prepared my Holy Sword, slashing at it while it was unaware of my presence. It disappeared in a puff of smoke while leaving the Rabbit's Fur behind while relieving some of my body's pain and recovering a bit of HP. It's great that this is an actual recovery, not a placebo effect. That way I should return to my best condition after defeating just one or two more enemies. I bagged another copy of Rabbit's Fur to my Item Box and continued to look for more prey. There weren't that many monsters left in this neck of the woods anymore, but I continued my search in hope of finding even a single one, but I guess that has its merits too. With no monsters in the immediate vicinity of the village I 83 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com will be able to live that much more calmly, at least until I will finally decide to leave this place for good. I wandered around the forest until it was late afternoon and I killed around 10 more Slow Rabbits. It's not getting dark just yet, but it will soon be 10:00 PM and the last thing I want to do is to wander around in the forest I have no knowledge of when it is getting so late so I should probably make my way back as soon as possible. Even though I could probably still fight some more, that was definitely enough harvesting for today. I slowly exhaled, looked at my own opened hand and used Identify to check my Status. Player Name: Kaga Michio Character Information & Equipment: Class: Villager Lv3, Hero Lv1, Thief Lv3 Weapon: Holy Sword Durandal Accessory: Ring of Determination, Sandals Looks like my levels are slowly rising and the best way to keep it that way is to continue to seek and kill monsters. It might also be connected to the fact that earlier my Bonus Points went up for some reason. That reason might be one of the Jobs leveling up to Lv2. So does that mean I scored some good EXP for those Bandits who attacked the village? I must've gotten so much that I didn't notice gaining a Lv2 in my Jobs since that would explain why reaching Lv3 took me almost an entire day of farming basic mobs. But if the leveling process is so easy, then why are most of the villagers such lowlevels? Could the speed of gaining EXP have something to do with this? Questions for later. For now, it would be nice to receive confirmation regarding Bonus Points. Are they really increasing with each Level Up? And how do I use them without resetting my character all the time? If I want to be able to pull my own weight in here I better find the answer to those questions 84 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com fast. See, this is by far the biggest problem I have with this shitty game: it doesn't give you any Tutorials on how to do things, it's just 「Hey dog, you've been thrown into the game and like, that's it man, go figure the rest out for yourself because we're too lazy to explain even the most basic of mechanics.」. Oh come on, even Dark Souls did it better! For now I unequipped Durandal and headed back in the direction of the village. On my way back I was thinking of resetting my character again and trying the other options from different levels of the Bonus Weapon skill, which were 5 in total, but then a thought occurred to me: those different Bonus Weapons will probably be weaker than the Holy Sword Durandal, a weapon from Bonus Weapon 6, which was capable of decimating enemies with a single blow, not to mention that it's HP Absorption power was necessary for me to recover my health effectively. So maybe I should keep Durandal instead of experimenting with different ones after all? Also, the Rabbit's Fur is quite small and light, so I wonder how many of those would I need to gather in order to make a coat out of it? Something is telling that it would have to be around 100 or 200 of them, maybe even more. Not to mention that the selling price probably won't be that high. All right, Durandal it is. I don't care if using it against Lv1 monsters is going to be considered a cheat or not. All that matters is my own survival and the comfort and ease of the hunt. While finally making up my mind I have reached the back of the village. Next to the Village Chief's house was another one almost as big that had its doors widely opened. A three-story house that the merchant came out of in the morning. I wonder if this is his shop, his personal house, or maybe two of them combined into one? I took a peek inside and surely enough, he was right there behind the counter. 「Welcome!」 There weren't any shelves with products of any sort, but it was obviously a store of some kind. 「Sorry for the intrusion.」 85 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com I called out to him from the entrance as I made my way inside. 「Oh, if it isn't Michio-sama! What brings you here today to my fine establishment? Do you perhaps want to do business?」 「That depends. What kind of goods are you selling here, exactly?」 「Oh, just a little bit of everything. This is the only store in the entire village after all. As for the amount of goods we sell, the exact amount depends on how much we order from the city and how long it will take for them to get delivered, hence the occasional shortages.」 So that's why all the counters and shelves are almost empty? Awful. This level of civilization is just the worst. 「Can't you do something to always keep some of the goods at hand instead of waiting for them?」 「Even if I wanted to do so, the only type of goods that could be managed in such a way would be slaves for sale. And that is, you know…」 The merchant spoke quietly. I understand what he was getting at. Even if he wanted to do so, slaves were not a commodity that could be easily obtained even when there was a high demand for them, and they cannot be stored in warehouses like fruits or vegetables. They might not have any rights in this world, but that would be too inhuman of a treatment. Wait a minute, does this guy think I've come here to buy a slave for myself?! 86 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com Part 4 All right, time to defuse the situation. 「Sorry for mentioning something so weird. I guess I am a country bumpkin after all, hahaha…」 「Even the biggest country bumpkin should know that this is how it works in the countryside. Michio-sama, could it be…」 Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck!!! 「… that you allowed the tales from travelling merchants go to your head too much?」 SAFE!!!!! 「Y-Yeah, I guess I just took their words for absolute certainty everywhere in the world. How thoughtless of me.」 「No no, it's fine. I was like that myself until I learned the truth the hard way, so allow me to warn you in advance: even in Veil you won't find many such merchants in Veil, since they dwell mostly in bigger cities.」 「Oh, really? I had no idea it was like that. Guess the stories I've heard were really blown out of proportion.」 「Small wonder given that the folks from bigger cities like to exaggerate to us rednecks from the sticks, so don't worry about it too much. Now that you know how it is you'll be able to properly distinguish truth from fiction in the future.」 「And what about those bigger cities? Are they far from small villages such as this one?」 87 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com 「Veil is the closest one, but as I already said, it's far from being counted among the bigger ones. Nevertheless, people from the neighboring villages tend to go there quite often. As for the bigger ones, they were originally small villages too, but they grew considerably in size the more merchants and peddlers came to live in them. Nowadays, going to one big city from the other would take you around five days by carriage. I do occasionally make trips to the bigger ones, but for the most part I tend to stick to Veil, so that is where I'll be going tomorrow.」 Yeah, I know that much, that's why I agreed to go with him to sell the Bandit equipment in the city in the first place. As the merchant continued his lengthy explanatory exposition dump, I decided to reset my character once again. Since I'll be trying to sell that equipment for as much as possible, maybe investing some Bonus Points in Haggle & Barter skill would be useful? When I added a point to it, I got a message that from now on the prices I will receive for every item I will sell will be 10% better. Hmm, will that amount increase the more points I will put into it? After trying it out, the percentage of the increase in obtained gold rose to 15, 20, 25 and 30% respectively. Just like Bonus Weapons and EXP related skills, it looks like it can be upgraded to Lv.6 at best. Now the most important question here is: will that skill be usable, or was it a total waste of Bonus Points? 「If it's all right with you, I want you to take a look at that Rabbit's Fur.」 I interrupted the merchant's diarrhea of the mouth and changed the topic. 「Rabbit's Fur. Why of course, I can buy it off of you, but a fair warning, don't expect to be paid much for a single… piece…」 He tried to mouth off again, but when I placed all the Rabbit Furs I have obtained today on the counter, he became silent in an instant. 「I asked the Chief if there were any monsters around the village and he pointed in a general direction where the Slow Rabbits were dwelling, so I disposed of a few of them. Well, maybe more than a few, now that I think 88 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com about it, but the point is, I'm not selling just a single piece.」 「No way… impossible…」 The merchant stares at the furs in disbelief and swallows so hard that I was able to hear him clearly from the other side of the counter. Why is he acting so surprised? Ah, could it be…? 「You know, the Chief warned me that these Slow Rabbits were quite strong so I was skeptical about hunting them in the beginning, but it turned out they were total pushovers.」 Except for the Caerbannog one, but I am going to keep that one piece of info to myself until the day death claims me and my body will be put six feet under. 「P-Pushovers?! These ferocious predators?! That is… that's… no, I am sorry. If you are a bona fide Adventurer then of course such beasts would be nothing to you. Forgive my offense, Michio-sama.」 「None taken.」 I understand that for normies with normie stats and normie equipment those monsters could have been undefeatable, but right now I am no longer a normie so there is no reason for me not to boast my strength. 「So? What's it going to be? Are you going to buy those furs off of me or not?」 I asked him the most important business question. 「O-Of course I'll buy them!」 Now that's what I wanted to hear. 「Michio-sama, if I may ask, have you joined any Guild or considered joining one in the near future?」 「I have not joined any Guild and I have not thought about it yet.」 89 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com That was not a lie on my part. I didn't even know there was a possibility like that. 「When you join a Guild, the one I belong to for example, all the merchants belonging to it are contracted to sell you additional goods aside from the ones offered to the general public and they will buy everything you decide to sell them at preferential (read: better than usual) prices, all because the trading profits are the major source of the guild's income. Of course, I will be more than happy to buy it even without you joining our Guild.」 So there is such a complicated restriction when it comes to purchasing goods in this world? Then maybe it will be in my best interest to join a Guild after all. But for now… 「Then please do.」 「The usual Guild price for one piece of Rabbit's Fur is 10 Nar.」 「I understand.」 I don't even know if it's a high price for such an item or not. 「I see that you have a total of 10 Furs and they are all of excellent quality, I will buy them off you for 130 Nar total.」 130? If the usual price was 10 Nar per one piece of fur then the total should be 100 Nar, so that means that my Haggling & Barter skill worked and I have received a 30% better price. It actually worked! This is pretty neat! I can definitely use that! And if the merchant is willing to buy those items from me for such an exuberant price then I guess I have nothing to complain about. The merchant takes the Furs away from me and places thirty copper 10 yen coin-looking coins and 10 white coins on the counter. If I had to take a wild guess then that one coin which is probably silver must be worth 10 Nar and the copper ones should be worth 1 Nar each. Time to count them just to be sure I'm not being scammed here. 「26, 28, 30. Everything seems to be correct.」 90 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com But how am I going to take all of those coins back with me? 「Um, do you… happen to have a coin purse or something?」 「Unfortunately I don't, but you can use this bag if you want.」 And he handed me a small pouch for my newly acquired coins. And since the top is tied with a string, then it means it must be a drawstring coin purse. I placed all of my coins in there while thanking the merchant for being so considerate of me. 「So Picker-san, you said you belong to a Merchants Guild, right. Would you mind telling me more about that?」 I secretly performed Identify on the merchant to learn his name. Identify is pretty convenient for things like that. 「As a certified merchant I belong to a Merchants guild of course. There are a few exceptions like the Adventurers Guild, but in most cases joining one is required for working in a specified field of business or changing Jobs.」 So that would mean I'd have to do the same if I wanted to change my Jobs, but I'll ask him for confirmation just to be sure. 「So if I wanted to become a merchant myself I'd have to join the Merchants Guild?」 「You want to be a merchant, Michio-sama?」 He asked, visibly surprised, so I hurriedly denied it, saying that I was just considering the possibility. 「Allow me to say this: whether you are a member of the Adventurer's Guild or Merchants Guild, you can only belong to one Guild at a time, and there are strict restrictions for quitting the Guild once you have joined.」 「Hmm.」 Well shit. 91 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com 「But do not worry, Michio-sama. Even without a Guild membership, merchants will still do business with you.」 「But in order to have access to specialized goods I'll have to join a Guild anyway, right.」 「Yes, and in addition to that, every Job Change needs to be approved at a Guild Temple.」 Great. More needlessly complicated procedures to rain on my parade. 「If you already have some experience working as a merchant then all you have to do is register at the Guild and be approved at its temple. But if you don't have any experience in that field whatsoever then I'm afraid that getting approval won't be an easy task.」 He seems to know what he's talking about very well, so I should make it a point to attentively listen to what he's saying and ask my questions accordingly. 「So what about the village farmers.」 「All members of the Farmers Guild.」 Even they have to be registered in the Guild? That's crazy! Is there even a Job that does not require joining a Guild to obtain it?! Multiclassing is considered a Bonus Skill by the game, so it would seem that an ordinary person can only have one Job at a time. But then, what about the odd Jobs such as Thief, Villager or a Hero? You can only join one Guild, so I will have to carefully consider all my options before making a final choice. 92 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com Part 5 I returned to the Chief's house and had dinner. After that I returned to my room and waited for a few hours, but no matter how long I waited, Teirichisan did not come to visit me. I knew it would be like that. I knew that well, but still some part of me wanted to believe that maybe luck would smile upon me this one time. But alas, this was not meant to be. It would be too good to be true. … I wonder if it's because I'm not some handsome-looking Chad? So I just spent my night alone like a total loser, crying myself to sleep. I feel like I was dreaming, but I cannot remember about what, exactly. To be honest, I was a little surprised that I didn't wake up to the hustle and bustle of Tokyo, but instead there were the sounds of a typical countryside. By the way, my illusion that this world was a virtual one was finally crushed when I felt like my bladder was about to explode, so I hurried to the bathroom to relieve myself. This feeling was too real to be something that was just fabricated by my brain. But of course there was always a chance that all of this is just a hallucination and I was really stuck in a coma in some hospital with machines sustaining all of my bodily functions. If something like that would end up happening, I don't know if I even want to wake up from such a dream. No, this was now the world that I would have to live in. As far as I know for now, returning back to Earth is impossible for me. 「Nnnnnnnnnnn…..」 I slowly stretched my arms as I laid back on the bed. It was very poorly made, just a thin mattress and an even thinner blanket laid on top of simple wooden boards. I wonder if this is the standard for all people who live in this 93 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com world or is it just that poor country bumpkins have to put up with something so uncomfortable? 「Excuse me.」 I heard the Chief's voice outside the door. 「It's the Village Chief, Michio-sama. I'm sorry to be bothering you this early in the morning, but it is time for the wagon to the city of Veil to depart.」 「All right, I'll be there shortly.」 I got up from the bed and went downstairs with all my luggage, that is a copper sword and a drawstring bag. Inside of the bag were all my money and the Intelligence Cards obtained after the battle with the Bandits. For now, those things are my entire property. 「Good morning, Michio-sama.」 「*Yaaaaawn* Morning.」 「We took care of cleaning the clothes you were wearing yesterday. Here you go.」 Inspecting the surroundings closely, my jersey was indeed lying on the table near the entrance. 「Ah, that's right. I had this bad boy with me as well.」 I can't believe I managed to forget about it so easily. Of course the sword and the bag were not my only assets! There was my trusty jersey as well! The front door of the house were open, so I peeked outside and saw that it was still relatively dark. The sun has only just begun to rise on the horizon. I took my jersey, which was now cleaned of all the blood that had stained it during yesterday's battle and returned the clothes the Chief had lent me to him. For the current me, this jersey felt like the second skin. I don't know what I'd have done if I wasn't able to wear it anymore. 94 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com 「Your clothes seem to be made from some highly unusual material. It must be something highly valuable.」 「You think so? It's considered pretty common back where I come from.」 It's just a cheap jersey, identical to the hundreds of thousands of other jerseys you can buy in Japan but judging from what he said they probably don't have clothing made of polyester fibers in here. Such a material probably doesn't even exist here. 「Feel free to use this bag if you like.」 And he presented me with a rather large bag which had what looked to be shoulder straps on it. Could this be a backpack? 「Hooo? That's nice.」 「And here is your breakfast. Please enjoy it during your journey.」 「I'm sorry for making you do all this for me.」 I politely thanked him for the backpack and the food. I placed all of my current belongings into the backpack and closed it. Well, it looked extremely cheap and worn out as heck, but hey, in my current situation I will make use of whatever I can. 「Please, it is the least I can do to thank you for saving our village.」 With that, he handed me another small bag. 「Huh?」 When I opened it, I saw it was filled with coins. They were all emitting a dull, yellowish glow. Are those… gold coins? It looks like there are more than 10 of them in there. 「I know it's not nearly enough to fully repay you for your…」 「No, no, it's fine, this is enough, really.」 95 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com Feeling a little embarrassed, I decided to accept the reward he was offering me with gratitude. 「I'm really sorry I cannot give you any more than that.」 I once again assured him that this much was more than enough. I wanted to put an end to this embarrassing situation already while simultaneously avoiding looking like a greedy bastard who wanted to extort the poor villagers of all their savings. With my shaky situation, I wanted to avoid drawing as much attention to myself as I could, and it will certainly be better to be remembered by the entire village as a humble individual rather than someone who's just money-hungry. With my entire luggage packed up, I placed the backpack on my shoulders and followed after the Chief to the place near the outskirts of the village where the merchant was already preparing his wagon for departure. 「Good morning.」 「Morning.」 We exchanged our greetings casually. 「We will be departing as soon as it gets bright. Could I ask you to take a seat in the front beside me?」 「Fine by me.」 I got on the wagon and took my seat beside the merchant. I just hope it won't be shaking too much. In the back of the wagon there were several items: the equipment of all the Bandits who were defeated, the two swords belonging to Teirichi-san and a small cage that resembled a doghouse. Teirichi-san's dagger was not among the items that we were going to sell. The cage was made almost entirely out of wooden boards, with only the front having a steel fence. I was wondering what that curious structure is, but my unspoken question has answered itself before long, when a man who was 96 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com accused of the item theft yesterday was brought in and placed inside. 「As a criminal he is to be taken to the city and sold to the Slave Merchant.」 The Village Chief explained, probably noticing my questioning gaze. 「You don't say.」 「Half of the sum obtained from the transaction will be paid to you, since you are this man's master, Michio-sama.」 「Well, since I managed to get back what was stolen from me anyway, is there really a need to go that far with admonishing this guy?」 「If we did that, there is always a chance that he would have done it again since he wouldn't have learned any lesson from it. This is the only way to insure such a thing won't happen again.」 So that's how it is. As much as I didn't want to, I had to admit that such a reasoning was very down-to-earth. Besides, an outsider like myself should really not try to meddle in the internal affairs and traditions, so I had no choice but to nod in agreement. Before we left, a young man approached the wagon and started talking to the caged man. 「X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X.」 「X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X.」 Is he a relative of the stealing man? 「X X X X! X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X!!!」 Along with the young man came a little girl, who I presumed to be the man's daughter. Even if I didn't understand the word they were saying, I could read more than enough from the atmosphere itself. She was probably saying things like 「Papa! Please, don't go! Don't leave us!」. They were telling the man not 97 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com to give up and resign himself to his fate, but I think that deep down inside they knew that it was a futile effort. 「It's gotten bright enough. We're leaving!」 Merchant took his place next to me, took hold of the reigns and in the next moment the pair of horses began to move, pulling the wagon behind them. 「Thank you for taking me with you.」 「Don't mention it.」 Saying that it was bright enough for us to leave was a bit of a stretch in my opinion, because I could barely see the horses in front of us, but this guy has probably made this trip countless times already, so he must have been used to it by now. The city of Veil, huh? I wonder what kind of town it will be? 98 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com Part 6 Before we completely left the village and the Chief behind, a thought occurred to me: I might never come back here again, but for me this was my first village, my place of genesis in this strange new world. 99 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com 100 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com Granted, my start in here wasn't exactly a peaceful one and I was this close to being (possibly) turned into a slave over a pair of sandals if anyone ever caught on that I stole them from that barn I woke up in, but other than that the Chief has treated me kindly, so I might reminisce about them from time to time if I ever feel like it. For a while we were just sitting in our respective seats, taking in the sights. The man in the cage has been silent, not saying as much as a word ever since we departed. 「Are the roads safe to travel?」 I asked the merchant in an attempt to break the silence which began to get really awkward really fast. 「I'm not going to lie, monsters are known to be lurking around Veil and the roads that surround it, but they are being exterminated by the Adventurers and the town's guards on a regular basis, so we have nothing to worry about.」 With each passing minute, the world around us was getting more and more bright and the wagon was also slowly gaining speed, rattling and shaking as it did so. Could it be that the roads are in such a bad shape or maybe the wagon itself is at fault here? Or maybe both of those things at once? All around us was a leaf forest, exactly the same as the one near the village where I hunted for Slow Rabbits yesterday. I don't know if it also goes that deep, but it does not seem to be the case here, or at least that is my guess judging after the trees unimpressive height. Also, because it was just the same generic, repetitive scenery all the time it grew dull on me pretty fast, so much so that staring at those trees began to hurt my eyes, and when you combine it with the constant shaking, you'll get something that's more akin to a passiveaggressive torture than anything else. So yeah, we haven't been on the road for more than half an hour and I could already tell that I was not going to have a jolly good time. That being said, I basically had no choice but to grit my teeth and endure it. In an attempt to divert my mind from this uncomfortable feeling I tried to bite into the bread that was among the things the Chief's wife prepared for me for 101 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com breakfast, but this endless shaking made it insanely difficult to enjoy even a smallest bite of it in peace. With that attempt ending up in failure, I returned to staring mindlessly into the space around me since I had nothing better or more interesting to do. ..... ...…. ...... *Sigh* I'm. So. BORED! Not to mention that if I don't shift my sitting position from time to time then my butt will start hurting as if it had wooden splinters piercing into it! Then a small shadow wandered in front of the wagon. An animal, or maybe some kinda monster? 「Oh, a Slow Rabbit. So they are here as well, huh?」 「You seem to be very familiar with them already, Michio-sama.」 「Well, I did hunt a bunch of them yesterday, so I guess there's no way for me to mistake them for anything else now.」 That, of course, was a lot of bullshit on my part. All I did was glance at it and my 「Identify」 skill told me that it was a Slow Rabbit. Probably. The font its name is written in is too small to see it properly from here. 「Ah, you were right, Michio-sama! This is indeed just a Slow Rabbit. In that case we have nothing to worry ourselves with. We can continue without slowing down or having to find a way around it.」 「If you say so.」 The wagon approached the Rabbit and then drove past it without attracting its attention at all. If we had more time on our hands I would have liked to get down from the wagon to hunt it, but for the current moment our biggest priority was getting to Veil as soon as possible. 102 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com 「Wow, we really went past it without a hitch.」 Not that I wasn't expecting that to happen. If those guys were so passive and weak, then I wonder why everyone back in the village had so many problems with fighting them, to the point of pissing themselves from fear whenever someone mentioned them? Were they so weak, or is it that I'm just too strong as an Adventurer (putting the matter of my OP Durandal aside)? Be that as it may, that obstacle was now behind us. But another one would soon take its place. From atop the wagon, I managed to spot a small, spherical shape further down the road. I tried to focus my eyes on it, and 「Identify」 showed that it was a Lv1 Gumi Slime. So it would seem that there are even monsters like that in here. This is much closer to the bestiary from the classic RPG games that I know about than that rabbit earlier. 「There's a Gumi Slime up ahead.」 「D-Did you just say G-Gumi Slime?!」 The merchant pulled the reins and stopped the entire wagon in an instant. 「What's wrong? What happened?」 「Gumi Slime is a vicious monster that attacks any people who come near it on sight! Usually it resides only in the depths of the more remote forests, but this one must be on the lookout for prey if it wandered off onto the roads like that. Now that it has crossed our path, we won't be able to go further. We have to either find a way around it or wait for it to go away.」 「We will only waste time if we do that. You stay right here, I'll go and take care of it.」 If avoiding it means making needless detours and wasting precious time, it will really be better for me to fight with it. I should be able to manage just fine, especially with my Durandal. 「Are you sure about that? It's one of the strongest monsters in the entire area! 103 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com It's threat level is so high that even all of the villagers would be unable to defeat if even if they ganged up on it!」 Yeah yeah, you said the same about the Slow Rabbit, and we all saw how true those warnings ended up being. 「Not to mention that if the Gumi Slime catches you inside it, your body will melt instantly!」 He explains with an expression of sheer horror written all over his face. Is it really that dangerous? Because I'm doubtful as heck about that. If what he says is true, then I should be fine as long as I won't allow it to catch me. That and I can't cower away from any Lv1 monster just because someone tells me that it's dangerous. I won't be able to achieve anything at all with such a noobish mindset. No pain, no gain, as they said in my old world. 「We'll be fine. You just focus on keeping the wagon going forward. I will handle the rest.」 I command the merchant in the most confident tone I'm able to muster. 「A-As you command, Michio-sama. I shall trust in your judgement.」 The merchant resumed the wagon's advance, resuming the sickening clutter and shaking. While we're on the subject of fighting monsters, the Hero's Job surely must have some Skills I can use, right? If it turns out that I won't be able to beat it with Durandal, I'd have to try using those. With that in mind, I proceeded to check the Job settings. 「Over… whelming?」 Ugh, the name itself does not tell me anything. The spell has floated into my head, but should I be using it now? And more importantly, can it be used by itself, like any other Skill, or maybe I can only use it with the sword belonging to Teirichi-san? 104 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com 「Michio-sama?」 「It's nothing. Keep going forward.」 「As you wish. I just hope that you really know what you're doing.」 That makes two of us, man. That makes two of us. 105 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com Part 7 I took the backpack off so that it wouldn't hinder my movements and pulled Durandal out of its sheath. As an emergency I can always use the Copper Sword at my feet, but hopefully it won't come to that. As the wagon made its way further down the road the Gumi Slime must have finally noticed our presence because it turned towards us and approached with small jumps of its gel-like body. 「Okay, stop right here.」 「Y-Yes!」 When the wagon lost enough speed, I quickly jumped off of it and ran past the horses towards the Gumi Slime. Holding Durandal with my left hand, I swung it sideways just like I would a baseball bat. It cuts through the slime's body from the left, makes its way through its insides and then leaves through its right side, but it merged itself right back together. Right, of course. As if the things were ever that simple. 「Deliver….. WHOA!!!!」 Gumi Slime jumped at me just as I was about to chant the spell that would allow me to use Overwhelm Skill. I waited for the last possible moment and then twisted my body to avoid getting caught in its belly. Looks like chanting Skills while fighting is impossible to pull off after all. With my next attack I tried cutting him diagonally from above but it jumped to the side just before my blade could reach him, so I dashed after him and repeated the attack just as its body touched the ground, targeting its brain specifically. If gaming logic also applies here, random attacks at its body will only make it put itself together after a second, so the only proper way of 106 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com dispatching it will be to destroy the brain. Durandal's edge cut through the membrane on the top of its body like it was just a wrapping paper and followed all the way through to its lower parts, spreading it all over the ground like a puddle of water after a rainy day. If my guess was correct, then it should be all over now. Hooray for video game clichés. The remains of the Gumi Slime slowly melt away and turn into the puff of green smoke, indicating that it has been defeated. When the smoke dissipated, a drop item was left on the ground: some kinda white powder. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a Gumi Slime Starch. Ooooookay, I guess? I don't want to rack my brains over how something like that came to be, so I'll just pack it into my backpack and go back to the merchant. So, from this one encounter there are a few things that I managed to confirm. They are as follows: 1) I can keep using Durandal to fight against the monsters, but I have to keep in mind that depending on the monster type it might not be able to one-shot them, so I need to take that under consideration. 2) Casting spells and Skills in the middle of the battle is insanely difficult, if not borderline impossible, so they can probably only be used with a first, preemptive strike. But what if I ever find myself in a pinch that would require me to use them? Looks like I'll have to practice using them in a fight after all. Reflecting on the results of the battle in such a way, I have approached the merchant's wagon. 「I-Is it over already? Did you defeat it?」 「Yup, it's as dead as it can be.」 「A-Amazing! Not only did you manage to beat such a terrifying monstrosity by yourself, but in such a short time as well!」 「Sure, whatever you say.」 107 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com All I did was whacking it a few times with my Durandal, so I don't know if that is really something so praiseworthy. On a side note, I don't even want to think how many times I would have to hit that thing with the Copper Sword to kill it. 「Michio-sama, could it be that you are secretly a Mage? Did you use some incredible spell to help you finish the battle in a flash?!」 Merchant asked me in an excited manner. 「Don't be ridiculous. You clearly saw me fighting this thing with a sword, didn't you?」 Part of me wanted to tell him that I am secretly a Sword Mage, but that would be taking things too far. 「Oh, right. Now that you mention it, you also took those Bandits from yesterday down by using nothing but your sword.」 No shit Sherlock. But it's not that I killed them with just a sword because I chose to do so. It's more along the lines of me slaying them with a sword because I didn't know how to use Skills or magic at all. I can bet you that even if my very life depended on it, I'd still be unable to make proper use of them. 「Yeah. So that's that I guess. Any further questions? No? Good.」 I climbed back on the wagon. Magic has to exist in this world. It has to, since it was in the settings when I was creating my character. So I guess there are magicians here, but are they any different from normal humans? 「Oh, is that a Slime Starch, by any chance?」 「Well, yes. That Gumi Slime left if after I have defeated it.」 「How about this then? I will buy it off of you for a special price that you won't get anywhere else as a commemoration of your incredible 108 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com achievement. It will certainly benefit you more than keeping it.」 A merchant gave me a business offer. I will give him my answer, but first I have to make a quick Character Reset to reinvest the 63 Bonus Points I've put into Bonus Weapon 6 into increasing the purchase price by 30%. After my Durandal disappeared I closed the Status screen and got back to talking with the merchant. I just hope he won't find what I just did to be weird enough to start questioning me about it. 「Yes, let's do that.」 I handed the Slime Starch over to him. Was my Reset done in time? Will I receive that 30% better price? 「Thank you very much. To tell you the truth, the Slime Starch is dissolved in water as an ingredient to make alcohol, the so-called Slime Liquor. It's a beverage that many people tend to enjoy.」 「Hoo?」 「The normal market price when selling Slime Starch is 40 Nar, but as a special thank you for protecting me and my wagon from harm, I would like to buy it off of you for a special price of ten times that amount, plus an additional 30 % since you are my personal business partner since yesterday. In other words, I want to give you 520 Nar for this Slime Starch, Michiosama.」 「Well, in that case I don't think there is any need for me to hesitate, is there? I will gladly accept your offer.」 Ten times more than 40 Nar gives 400 Nar, so that 520 must be after applying those 30% from my Bonus Skills, so for a price of redistributing 63 Bonus Points I will receive 5 silver and 20 copper coins. I placed them in the drawstring bag and placed it in the backpack afterwards. 「Is it difficult to become a mage?」 I asked because I was genuinely curious about that. 109 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com 「I guess you could say that. In order to become a mage you have to eat a special medicine before reaching the age of five, but the only ones who can afford it are nobles and the children of millionaires. Personally I have never saw any mages in these parts for as long as I live.」 「Really? Wow.」 Who knew there was such a ridiculous restriction in order to become a mage? If that's the case then I guess I won't be able to become a mage myself, huh? And here I was hoping I could try using some magic since this is a fantasy setting. While I was thinking about all those things the wagon continued to go forward at a steady pace, until suddenly the walls of trees came to an end and the walls of the city came into my field of view. 「Ohhhh, is that the city of Veil?」 「That it is indeed.」 「It's quite big.」 Is the length of the wall more than one kilometer? The town must really be pretty big. Of course, it is still small when compared to the modern Japanese cities. Nevertheless, building such a wall in a world like this one must have cost a ton, so this city must be quite rich if they managed to build something like that. Outside of the walls there were fields spreading all the way into the border with the forest where city residents plowed the earth. The sun was still only about halfway in its journey across the sky, so if we include the time for that battle with the Gumi Slime, the journey from the village to the city took around three hours, so I think I can safely assume that the passage of time is roughly the same here as it is back on earth. 110 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com Part 8 「I don't want to sound like I'm bragging, but this city is the best one out of all the ones built in this region.」 The merchant says. Aside from our own, several merchant wagons were gathering near the ramparts, making a queue that was coming and going in and out of the city. The city of Veil had a main gate, but there was no gatekeeper to guard it and no one was conducting any kind of checks or inspections. 「Is everyone free to enter the city as they please? There are no restrictions whatsoever?」 「But of course. The walls themselves are not high since this is not a castle town and they won't be able to stop those who posses the Movement Magic or other means of teleportation so everyone just stopped being bothered with such procedures.」 Movement Magic, huh? So they even have such a thing here? Truly, if this world possesses such methods of travelling then upholding the checks at the gate that pretty much everyone can bypass would really be a futile effort. Huh? But then… what is that wall even here for? If a war was to ever break out, I'm sure that the soldiers could be transported magically over it, without any need to come out of the city on their own feet. Also, if there is something as convenient as movement magic here, then why did we waste our time with coming to Veil by a wagon in the first place? And do they have any countermeasures against the monster attacks? 「Hoo boi.」 111 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com I had so many things that I wanted to ask about, but for now the best course of action would be to wait until we will get ourselves into the city proper. A few minutes later we had passed through the walls and found ourselves in the city. 「We will pay a visit to the Slave Merchant first, then we will go to the station of the Knights Order so you could turn the Intelligence Cards in and then we can go to the Weapon and Armor shops so you could buy yourself some new equipment. Is that okay, Michio-sama?」 「Sure, no objections here.」 We proceeded through the town along the wide, cobbled road. The buildings on both sides of it were all well-kept and about four-five storeys in height. For a civilization where goods and building materials are not as easily accessible like in modern day Japan everything looked to be relatively advanced. The streets were busy and filled with lively, energetic people, but not to the point where you could call this entire place chaotic. Quite the opposite, actually. All in all, this place seemed like a good town. I activated my Identify Skill out of curiosity and saw that the people who were walking past us were a mixture of various professions, like villagers, farmers, peddlers and even warriors. To think that such a menagerie could actually coexist in peace. 「If you keep going straight along this main road you'll reach the city's center, but for now we're going to take a right here.」 「Okay.」 And the wagon turned right at the nearest intersection. 「A fair word of warning: the neighborhood where the Slave Merchant is located is a place where it's best to be on guard at all times if you don't want to wind up involved in some… shady situations. There are also brothels and sex shops nearby, but I wouldn't recommend using their services if this is your first time in a city like that. Besides, and don't take it the wrong way 112 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com Michio-sama, but you look a little bit too young to be partaking of the services offered by the prostitutes.」 And he looked at me like I was some kinda kid who needs to be babysat at all times. 「I'll be sure to take that under advisement.」 He probably thought I didn't even know what a prostitute was. Haha, joke's on you asshole, because I know very well what a prostitute is and exactly what kind of services they tend to provide. Granted, I have never visited any brothel and used said services, but I saw many movies pertaining to the subject, so I have all the theoretical knowledge I might need, so maybe, just maybe the time for me to get rid of my useless V-Card and enter the forbidden, dazzling world of adult, sensual fun. After all, since this is a medieval setting, then the demand for the prostitutes must be quite high and there are bound to be a lot of them. However, with the poor security around the walls and the unrestricted entry to town it is possible that most of them will either be nestled near the slums or they are going to be controlled by gangs or other criminals, just like in my own world. This matter will also need to be investigated in more detail. I mean, it's a standard procedure, right? In order to get to know the potential dangers of this new, strange world it would be best to experience and clarify them for myself after conducting an exhausting, complex research. Yeah, right, let's go with that argument. Huh? What's with that disgusted look like I was a sentient piece of unburnable trash?! This is a survey! A scientific practical survey of another world and the dangers that might lurk in it! Moreover, I have to conduct it personally in order to achieve the best possible results! I can't just rely on somebody else's (in this particular case, the merchant's) words because that someone might be biased against that particular profession, rendering his opinion useless from the scientific standpoint. That is why I am going to JUST DO IT! I WILL MAKE! MY DREAMS! COME TRUE! As soon as we turned right from the main road, the wagon stopped at the second house. Could this be the Slave Merchant's dwelling? It sure looks like 113 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com an ordinary, red-bricked, three story house to me. 「Good morning and welcome. How can we be of service?」 When the wagon came to a halt, a young man jumped out of the doorway almost immediately. A quick Identify revealed that he was a Lv3 Merchant. If his level is so low, then this must mean that he is still just an apprentice. 「I'm here to drop off the criminal who has dared to commit a crime of stealing from a hero. Check the cage at the back of the wagon if you would.」 Going with the merchant's instructions, the Slave Merchant's Apprentice did as he was told and removed the sheet that the cage at the back of the wagon was covered with. After that he examined the caged man for a bit and then said: 「Very well. Please follow me inside the store.」 And we followed after him. 「Since I told him you're a hero, we're bound to receive a good price for that slave.」 Merchant whispered that to me so that the apprentice couldn't hear us. Well of course we're going to get a good price. I mean, I have my 30% Better Prices Skill on and everything, so that is the only result we should be expecting. 「The master will be here shortly. In the meantime, may I ask for the document of ownership necessary for the purchase?」 「But of course. Here you go. And here's a copy for you, Michio-sama.」 The merchant… I'm going to call him Picker-san from now on, it will be easier that way. Picker-san produced two documents and handed one of them off to me. 「And this is?」 114 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com 「An official Deed of Slave Ownership signed by the Village Chief.」 Oh, so I even get to have written confirmation of me having a slave, huh? That's neat, but also a little disturbing at the same time. I continued to look at it while we were guided to one of the rooms at the back of the shop, clearly meant for taking guests in. Soon after we made ourselves comfortable on the large leather sofa, a man appeared before us. He looked to me in his forties and Identify revealed that he was a Slave Merchant. In other words, he was the owner of this whole establishment. His level, 44, was also the highest I have ever seen since I came to this world. Or could it be that this village where I spawned was a literal stick in the mud in the middle of nowhere? 「I am Alan, the owner of this shop.」 「Michio. Kaga Michio.」 「And I'm Picker, a Merchant from the village of Somara. Pleased to make your acquaintance.」 「The pleasure is all mine.」 We stood up, greeted each other and sat down again. But damn, this sofa is really comfortable. Could it be that this Alan guy could afford to buy such a luxurious item because of how much money he was earning from the slave trading business? 「The main gate looked to be quite lively. Did something happen?」 Picker-san began with a little small talk. 「So I take it that the two of you don't know yet?」 「Don't know what?」 He glanced at us and revealed some curious information. 「A Labyrinth was found two days ago.」 115 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com Part 9 「A Labyrinth you say? That is definitely a most curious bit of information.」 Ah, a Labyrinth, huh? Cool, that's very neato, especially since I can't remember if the setting I chose for my game was the one that had both open world and dungeons or only one of the two. But since they mentioned that it had been discovered only two days ago then this must mean that it is a setting with both of them after all. I guess for now I'll just sit here quietly and gather as much information out of their conversation as I possibly can. 「Did you encounter any monsters outside of the town?」 「Not strictly outside of Veil, but we did run into two of them in a rather short amount of time.」 「Twice, huh? Then maybe that means that the activity of other Labyrinths and monsters outside of them will also start to increase? Hmm… which monsters did you encounter?」 「First it was a Slow Rabbit, but the second one was a Gumi Slime!」 「I see. That must have been pretty rough on you, huh?」 Alan the Slave Merchant asked Picker-san with a tinge of honest worry in his voice. 「It would have been if I was alone. But thankfully Michio-sama, this upstanding young man here, happened to be travelling here with me today and he took care of that wretched monstrosity before I even had the chance to blink!」 「This young man took such a monster down alone? I don't want to be rude, 116 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com but he certainly does not look like the fighting type to me.」 「I thought so too when I first met him, but yesterday he also helped to defeat a Bandit party that tried to raid the village where I usually do business and he defeated the most of them all the while saving the lives of the villagers and the village's chief, so he has proven himself to me more than enough.」 Man, it felt incredibly good to be praised this much, but it was also making me super uncomfortable since I am not used to being complemented at all! Also, was that Gumi Slime really that strong? Or maybe it really was, but I just couldn't notice it because I fought it with Durandal and defeated it in three attacks? Anyway, it would be best to change the subject as soon as possible or else my poor heart might not be able to handle all those praises! 「Y-You know, that man would have probably tried to steal that equipment regardless of me being there or not. Not to mention that I just happened to be in the village by sheer coincidence.」 「That may be so, but it does not change the fact that it was you, not anyone else who helped the village, Michio-sama, and that he tried to steal a part of the equipment that was your part of the spoils of battle. I see that you are uncomfortable with him being your slave, but trust me, this is for the better.」 「I agree with him. Now, may I have a look at that Deed of Ownership?」 「Oh, yes, of course. Here you go.」 I gave my document to the Slave Merchant. 「Are there any changes to the usual deal that I should know about?」 「I wish to relay half of the selling price to Michio-sama.」 Picker-san explained to the slave Merchant as he was reading through the Slave's Deed of Ownership. 「Certainly. I see no problems with that.」 「If I may ask, how much is that going to be?」 117 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com 「It has been confirmed that the man you wish to sell is in good health and should have no trouble with performing manual labor, so I think that I'm going to offer you the usual price of 30,000 Nar.」 I don't know if that is a high price or low because I don't know the inner workings of the slave market, so I just looked at Picker-san. He nodded his head lightly. 「I see. This is indeed a good price.」 「I'm glad we are on the same page here.」 「Then as I said before, I'll have half of that sum paid to Michio-sama.」 Looks like my Skill that should give me a 30% increased price did not work this time. Maybe it's because of my current Job settings? Or perhaps the fact that the transaction wasn't made with me directly? 「Is this your first time using the slave selling services, young man?」 Alan the Slave Merchant asked me directly. 「Yes. This is my first time coming to this city after all.」 「I see. Are you an Adventurer? Or do you plan to become one in the near future?」 Eh? Why did he ask such a thing? Could it be that my face looks like that of an Adventurer? Yeah right. What kind of an Adventurer wanders around random villages repelling Bandit attacks and stealing Sandals from old barns, am I right? 「I am not an Adventurer just yet, but I do plan to join their Guild in the near future.」 「So can I assume that you will also be interested in buying yourself more slaves in this near future?」 Wait a minute. What did that guy say just now? 118 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com 「Like, uhm… are there…. Well…. Are there many Adventurers who buy themselves slaves?」 I finally managed to connect my words into a relatively normal sentence. 「Of course there are. More than you think, actually.」 Buying myself a slave, huh? I never even though of such a possibility, probably because in modern times slavery have been long since abolished and no one would even think of going back to those dark times. But this world is vastly different from my own. There are slaves here. Moreover, slavery seems to be a booming branch of business. And if slaves can be sold in exchange for the hefty amounts of money, then of course the opposite should also be possible. But if that's the case… Would it be possible for me to buy myself a female slave? Having…. *Huff… Huff!* a beautiful girl as my slave…. The one I could order around… and do whatever I wished with her… haha, hahahahahahaha…. 「If you don't mind me asking, why are you acting as if it was your first time hearing about all this? This is supposed to be common knowledge, one of the cornerstones of this world that every citizen, regardless of their social standing, should know about.」 「Yeah, about that… you see, I apologize for asking such obvious questions, but for the most of my life I was living with my master deep in the mountains where we trained together and we were only visiting civilized places in order to restock on food and necessary supplies, so I'm afraid that I might not possess any kind of 「common sense」 that you all have. Sorry.」 I went for the first excuse that came into my mind. My logic was that if I spent all my life up to this point training in the mountains with no access to civilization whatsoever, it would perfectly explain my lack of knowledge as well as my supposed prowess in battle. The biggest question here is whether or not they are going to fall for it. Besides… 119 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com My strength comes from me having Durandal as my weapon, nothing else. 「Ah, now that I look at you, you do seem to be rather young, or rather like you just barely entered adulthood. I see, now I get it. You must have had it pretty rough, living a life like that, huh? In that case, do you want to go and see the Labyrinth near this city with your own eyes?」 「I have never been to one before, so that might indeed be a good experience for me. If it is not a problem of course.」 If they really have dungeons in this world, then exploring them might be a good idea. Just like every man feels like it is his duty to stick his… finger into a hole when he sees one, I feel like every aspiring Adventurer should go to the dungeon. Especially if there is a possibility of finding rare treasures or obtaining more levels in a much faster manner. 「Then I will explain it in more detail once you finish going about your business here in town. How does that sound?」 「Of course. Sorry for making you go out of your way like that.」 「Not at all. Anything if it means obtaining another prosperous client.」 I feel like we might have achieved more than simply selling a slave at a good price here. The Slave Merchant left the room for a minute and then returned with the money. 「This is the half price of 15,000 Nar, as agreed.」 「Thank you very much.」 Picker-san received the money gratefully. It was one gold coin and a crapload of silver coins. So one gold coin is equal to 10,000 copper coins? 「And for our newest customer here a sum of 19,500 Nar as a special bonus and encouragement to continue doing business with us. We look forward to any future transactions you'll be willing to make.」 So this time my Bonus Skill worked properly. That's good to know, but I am 120 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com not really fond of the idea of making more people my slaves. This time was an exception, but the prospect of actively ruining someone's life like that is not particularly appealing to me. Buying slaves (female ones that is) might still be an option, but male ones are an absolute no-go. 「We look forward to doing business with you, Michio-sama. Have a nice day.」 Looks like he has already remembered my name. Great, now I have no choice but to come here again. Ah well, maybe he'll tell me more about the Labyrinth, so I guess there'd be no harm in that. 121 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com Part 10 After our business there was done, Picker-san and I left the Slave Shop and got on the wagon again. That latest transaction added a lot more coins to my drawstring bag, and all that just from the 30% better prices. I repeatedly glanced at Picker-san, but he didn't seem to mind at all that I obtained more money than him for such a bizarre reason. The Slave Merchant said it was a gift to encourage more transactions in the future, but that was exactly the thing that I was the most skeptical about. 「I have accepted the money, so I guess there's no backing out now, huh?」 But both my mind and my heart were telling me that getting any deeper into that slave business was a bad idea. I mean, in my time slavery has been abolished in its entirety and even thinking about buying one could be considered a serious crime! But this world seems to have its ethics code taken straight from the Middle Ages, so I guess to them buying and selling slaves is no different than buying things at your local grocery store. I know I myself said that I should get used to living in this new world as soon as possible, but that didn't change the fact that doing something I was taught was wrong to its very core still made me feel uncomfortable. After returning to the main road, we proceeded down to the city's center. 「It's so lively in here.」 There were various stalls on both sides of the road selling various items: food, clothing, etc. and people were gathering near every one of them in large groups. A few of them even had people who looked like priests and street cooks. I couldn't help but to think on how many of those people are your ordinary citizens and how many of them were actually Adventurers. 122 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com 「The building over there is where the Order of Knights is located.」 Picker-san pointed towards a certain building placed at what looked to be the city's central plaza. It was a tall brick building with a bell tower. Apparently that was our next stop. When we parked the wagon outside of it, a younglooking knight came up to greet us. Identify told me that he was a Lv4 Knight, so since his level is so low then that must mean that he is still technically a squire, right? 「X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X.」 「X X X X X X X X X X X X X X. Michio-sama, please give me the Bandits Intelligence Cards, would you?」 Picker-san asked me as he held out his hand. 「Oh, right.」 For a moment I completely forgot that our only goal in coming here was to exchange the Bandit's Intelligence Cards for… presumably money? I took the backpack off my shoulders, opened the drawstring bag, took the Intelligence Cards from it and handed them over to the knight while Pickersan did the same. The two ones he handed over are from the two Bandits that the villagers managed to defeat. I wonder if he'll be able to see something that I wasn't able to see on them. I mean, I already tried looking at those Cards earlier to see if they had any information about a possible bounty on their heads, but ultimately I found nothing of the sort. [I will now check your Intelligence Cards as well.] [Please do.] The merchant held his left hand up and brought it backside up to the Knight's face. 「Investigate the will of the flowing spirit, the wisdom of Intellect: Intelligence Card, open!」 He chanted a short spell, after which the letters appeared in the air above the Intelligence Cards. So he's going to check our personal information as well, 123 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com huh? This is bad. Now he's probably going to check my Intelligence Card as well! But do I even have one of those?! And what am I going to do if it turns out that I do not?! He looked at the merchant's Card for a while and then he nodded his head and handed the Cards back to Picker-san who nodded back at him, and then he turned his gaze onto me. Well, here goes nothing. Without much of a choice I stood before the Knight and raised my left hand towards the Knight's face, imitating Picker-san's movements as closely as possible. 「Is this okay? Did I do it right? Will that do?」 「Investigate the will of the flowing spirit, the wisdom of Intellect: Intelligence Card, open!」 My heart was pounding like crazy the entire time he was chanting the spell, but much to my relief, the Card popped out of my left hand just like it did when the merchant was doing it earlier. That's one bullet dodged, but I still felt somewhat anxious when the knight began to scan the Card with his eyes. What is going to happen now? Is everything going to be okay? 「And… how is it? Is something wrong?」 I asked the knight when he was staying silent for a good while now. I am afraid of that silence. 「You have a last name? Are you a Freeman?」 「Y-Yes?」 I think I just shit myself a little. 「Very well. Please, come with me.」 Looks like I managed to pass for now. The knight entered the building and went to one of the rooms that looked like 124 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com an office and we obediently followed after him. While we were doing that, I had a look at my own Intelligence Card. All of the information about me were written neatly with kanji. Are kanji the official writing in this world? Also, maybe having a last name was a rare thing here? Not to mention that it was my first time hearing that I was a Freeman. Are the Freemen different from normal people here? Maybe they are someone who the nobles dislike? 「So, what was that all about?」 「He was checking whether you had one of the criminal Jobs or not. If you had, then you wouldn't be able to collect the Bounty, since they canoot be handed over to criminals.」 Those words made the world around me freeze in place. I have a THIEF JOB!!!!! But the Job that was listed on my Intelligence Card was a Villager, so that would mean that only the First Job is visible to other people checking your Intelligence Card. Having Villager as my first Job was a little lame, but now I am happy to have it. That way, I will be able to avoid any unnecessary clashes with the law! 「I-Is that so?」 That was all I could say before I heaved a heavy sigh. I tried pulling the Card off my hand, but no matter how hard I tried to do so it just refused to leave. I pushed it back into my hand, grabbed the tip sticking out of it and pulled gently, causing it to retract back. Even though it was sliding in and out of myown flesh, I didn't feel any kind of discomfort. So mysterious. 「We will check the Bandit Intelligence Cards inside. I'll be back with the results shortly, so please wait here.」 Taking advantage of that brief moment of waiting , I asked Picker-san: 125 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com 「A question: how do you extract the Intelligence Cards in ways other than the owner willingly showing them to you? 」 「When a person is killed, their Intelligence Card is going to be ejected approximately 30 minutes after death.」 Picker-san explained matter-of-factly. So what I can understand from it is that you cannot get your hands on Intelligence Cards or steal them if the one bearing it is still alive. A short wait later, a beautiful female knight came out of one of the offices. Identify revealed that she must have been one of the big shots in here, because she had a noble-sounding name and her level was much higher than that of the guy who was in here with us. She was a beautiful lady with a tightlooking body that even the armor could not hide, even though her chest was medium in size at best. She had her flax-colored hair tied in a cute ponytail, but I bet that if she let them down they would reach all the way to her slim waist. 「Are you the one who defeated the Bandits that raided the Somara village yesterday?」 And she directed her sharp, piercing gaze straight towards me. 「Y-Yes, that's right.」 「That was a band of brigands who had their base of operation in the slums of this town. We are currently in the middle of the operation to root them out, but some of them managed to flee from the city before we could bring them all to justice with our steel. Am I correct to guess that you've been paid for the two of them, but not for the rest?」 Miss Beautiful female Knight glanced at Picker-san. 「Yes Ma'am, that is correct.」 She then looked at the knight who led us here as if she saw something filthy stuck to her shoe, sighted deeply and snapped her fingers. Not 10 seconds 126 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com after another Lv4 Knight came running to her with a white leather bag in his hands. 「This is the prize money for the Bandits. Take it.」 And she threw the bag at me. 「Uwah!」 That was sudden, but thankfully I managed to grab it before it hit the ground. Wasn't that kind of a dick move?! 「There, you have your money. Now if that's all then I suggest you to go away quickly if you don't want to cause any more trouble.」 And she left without saying anything else to us. Eh? That's it? Just like that? Nonono, at least this once let me behave like a proper human being! 「I'm sorry for the trouble! And thank you very much!」 She stopped for a second and glanced at me, but said no other words besides that. Huh? What's going on? Has my sincerity not reached her? Did I mess up again? She didn't say anything. No words of thanks, or not even an explanation on how the village could be under Bandit attack even with all the knights in the city? 「Don't beat yourself up over it, Michio-sama. A majority of the knights come from the noble families, and they always tend to look down on us commoners.」 Picker-san says that as we make our way back to the wagon. I know that. I understand that much. But I still think that's wrong. Why is it that the only ones who can get along with beautiful girls are hot127 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com looking fuckbois from high society?! I thought that something would change once I decided to leave my old world behind, but apparently my luck has not turned for the better at all. 128 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com Part 11 「*Sigh* So, where are we going next? Weapon & Armor shops?」 I asked Picker-san in a tired voice. 「That's right.」 And the wagon resumed its travel along the paved road. As for the prize money from the bandit's Intelligence Cards, I have put it into the drawstring bag in my backpack, just like everything else. I wonder if my Skill also worked on it? If it really works on the basis that the money had to be handed to me directly then I guess it probably did work, so I guess that whole mess of a situation at the guardhouse was all in all worth the trouble, since now I should have quite a sum of money to purchase everything else that I'm going to need. At least one thing worked as intended here. The weapon and armor shop was located just a short distance from the central plaza, so we didn't have to travel far to get there. When we entered, the first thing I saw was a greatsword in a huge display case in the middle of the shop. Identifying it revealed that it was a Steel Greatsword with 3 Skills, which made me think that it could be a pretty decent weapon. When we initially entered the shop there was no one behind the counter, but when the bell above the door rang, a man soon appeared from the shop's depths. He was a Lv11 Weapon's Merchant. So apparently this world can have many separate Jobs even when it comes to merchants and salesmen, not lumping them all under a single category. 「Welcome to my fine establishment. How can I be of service?」 「We would like to sell some equipment.」 129 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com Picker-san said and proceeded to present the Weapons Merchant with all of the equipment that was at the back of the wagon. 「Hmm, let's see now… Souls dwelling in weapons, release your power! Weapon Appraisal!」 Weapon Merchant chanted the spell and began examining the Copper Sword. *BA-THUMP BA-THUMP!* *BA-THUMP BA-THUMP!* Uwaah, for some reason having the weapons appraised like that made me just as nervous as when that Knight from earlier was checking my Intelligence Cards. But on the bright side, appraisal of weapons should go a lot smoother than that previous endeavor and it shouldn't end with a nerve-wracking emotional roller-coaster, or at least I hope so with my whole heart. Also, if there are spells to examine Intelligence Cards and weapons specifically, then could it be that there are also spells meant for identifying Bonus Skills? 「How is it?」 「How many of those do you have?」 「Copper Swords? 18 of them in total.」 「Then I will buy them off of you for 250 Nar per piece.」 That was the Weapon Merchant's offer. Picker-san closed his eyes and nodded lightly, and I can totally see why. That's going to be quite a nice sum, even if it has to be distributed among the villagers in the end. 「Very well.」 「Next, that Iron Sword. I can buy it for 1000 Nar.」 「Oh really?」 「And then…」 He picks up the Flame Rapier and looks at it for quite a while. 130 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com 「What's it going to be?」 「This weapon, the Flame Rapier, I see it has a Skill on it. In that case I'm willing to pay 18,000 Nar for it.」 I kinda expected the numbers to be different for a weapon that has a Skill on it, but for it to be that much?! I looked at Picker-san and he seemed to be just as surprised as I was, but nevertheless he nodded in acceptance once again. 「I am content with that amount.」 「And 500 Nar for that Scimitar.」 He says so after barely glancing at the Curved Sword that was among the weapons we intended to sell. 「Is this a price that include the Skill Slots?」 「With all due respect, Mr. Customer, please don't try to be smart with me. This weapon has no Skills in it, so I can only offer the usual price for it.」 That's what he said. So you want to tell me that even as the Weapons Merchant he is not aware of the existence of the Skill Slots? 「No no, of course it doesn't have any Skills, I'm not going to argue with that. By the way, what price would this sword here fetch?」 I handed the Copper Sword from my waist to the Weapons Merchant. It was the one with the empty Skill Slots that I obtained from killing the Bandits. 「Souls dwelling in weapons, release your power! Weapon Appraisal! This is just an ordinary Copper Sword. 250 Nar and not a single Nar more.」 I didn't like how this asshole emphasized the word 「just」. That Copper Sword is not the same as the other ones, because it has empty Skill Slots. As I thought, this guy simply cannot see them for some reason. Okay, that's fine, I just confirmed that Skill Slots don't have any impact on the item's price at all. All that matters are the Skills themselves. 131 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com 「All right. We'll sell the Scimitar along with the other swords.」 「Thank you very much. Since it's such a large transaction, I'm going to give you a special offer and accept all of them for a total of 35,550 Nar. How about that?」 Is that the effect of my Bonus Skill? But this time the transaction wasn't made directly with me, so it shouldn't activate. Argh, I honestly don't know what is going on anymore! 「Do we have ourselves a deal?」 「I believe we do.」 「Very well. Please wait a minute while I get the money.」 The Weapon Merchant went to the back of the building again and returned with the money shortly. He had three gold coins, five silver coins and an assload of copper coins. I took my share of the coins without even counting them because at this point it is just too troublesome. 「Thank you very much for your patronage.」 「Pleasure doing business with you.」 I put all of my coins in the bowstring back and gave Picker-san the two gold coins. 「Those two coins are the entire village's share, right?」 「That's right, Michio-sama.」 「I gotta say, this is quite a lot for that number of items.」 We managed to sell all of our Copper Swords, Iron Sword, Flame Rapier and two Scimitars for a total of 20,000 Nar. 「Right? Even I'm surprised we managed to sell all of them for so much. I guess luck is on our side today.」 132 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com Yeah, right, luck. And the name of that luck is my 30% Increased Prices Bonus Skill. Go ahead, thank me, praise me for it! ... what? A man can dream, right? Next shop we stopped by was the Armor Shop. 「Since the Bandits who attacked the village didn't wear any armor we have nothing to sell here, but if you want to become a proper Adventurer it is a purchase we just can't neglect, Michio-sama. Don't worry about the price and just pick whatever will best suit your needs. If it'll be necessary I will lend you some of my personal funds.」 「Thank you for the offer, but I don't think going that far is going to be necessary…」 「No no no, this is once again to express my thanks to you for saving the village. If you hadn't shown up, it is quite possible that as one of the wealthiest villagers I would have been killed and had my goods and savings robbed. It is no exaggeration to say that I probably will never be able to fully repay you for what you did yesterday, so allow me to do whatever I can, when I can.」 You say that, but such gratitude from a guy is kinda gay in my book. Then again, at the very least you thanked me. Teirichi-san, on the other hand, did not visit me during the night to thank me with her body. We parked near the shop and went inside the shop, browsing through all the different pieces of armor before we decided that the best fit for me is going to be a Leather Breastplate and a pair of Leather Shoes and we called the shopkeeper. 「Welcome, welcome, oh esteemed customers! How can I be of service?」 I glanced at him with Identify and confirmed that he was The Armor Merchant. Man, they are really going all out with how many Jobs this World has. Could it be that every merchant has his own Job depending on what he is selling? Because if that really is so then the possibilities are literally limitless! 133 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com 「Yeah, we would like to buy this Leather Breastplate and these Leather Shoes and also sell this Bandana here.」 「Souls dwelling in armor, become an unbreakable wall! Armor Appraisal!」 Armor Merchant took the Bandit Bandana I presented him and appraised it with his spell. I would very much prefer if they did it normally without using magic, but if the appraisal can only be done in such a way then I guess there's no helping it. While we're on the subject of magic, I wonder if everyone can use every appraisal spell, or is it limited in such a way that Weapon Merchants can only appraise weapons and Armor Merchants can only appraise armor? 「So? How much for it?」 「First things first: what the hell is this?」 Armor Merchant lifts the bandit Bandana and waves it in front of my face. Is he also going to suspect me of something shady just because I had an item which had the word Bandit in its name?! 「A Bandit Bandana. What of it?」 There is no sense in trying to fool him so I just gave him the name of the item without even trying to hide it. 「Oh, so you do realize what this is? Then again, you look surprised so allow me to give you a free lecture, kid: This is a Bandit equipment. It raises the physical abilities of its wearer, but only if he or she has a Bandit, Thief, or any Job that is connected to being an outlaw. Bandits could pay you up to 10,000 or maybe even 20,000 Nar for it, but since this is a normal store, I'm afraid I cannot accept this.」 So it's only useful for Bandits and the like? All right then, since he won't even touch it let's just leave it at that then. 「Okay, just forget about it and let's do business with something else.」 I put the Bandit Bandana away and continued to sell the other goods to him. 134 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com Well, I have a Thief Job, so technically Bandit Bandana should be of use to me. I'll have to test it if the opportunity to do so ever presents itself. But for now all I can say is that buying and selling things in this world appears to be needlessly complicated, so if I want to make my life easier in the future I need to make a mental note to limit such escapades as much as possible or else my poor Japanese heart won't last long.