The Medieval Town

He saw many street hawkers shouting at the top of their voices to sell their items. It was complete chaos and a huge mess.

"Young master, we will be leaving then. Please take care and find us if you need anything. Every third day of the week, we come to town to sell our vegetables," the old man said with a kind smile.

"Thank you for all your help," Sanjay replied, understanding why the old man gave him the information about his schedule. He would surely reward him in the future.

After bidding farewell to each other, Sanjay walked through the middle of the town. Strangely, no one disturbed him. He noticed a few soldiers patrolling in armor on their horses, but even they did not cross his path.

Even in his simple home clothes, their quality was noble enough to command respect.

As he walked around the market, he saw multiple vendors and merchants selling their goods. After a few minutes of searching for any large vendors, he came across a big shop. Judging from the exterior, it was mostly a shop catering to nobles.

At first, he hesitated, worried that someone might mistake him for a commoner and confront him. But after a few seconds of gathering his courage, he entered the shop. The guards at the door did not stop him.

The shop was nearly empty. Although it was a place for nobles, their servants usually came through the back door to buy food for their masters.

Seeing someone enter through the front door, the manager of the shop rose from his chair. He noticed a young man dressed in exotic clothes stepping inside. He frowned, puzzled. For such a small town, he thought he knew all the local nobles.

"Who is this person? Is he not from this town?" the manager wondered.

But noting the young man's refined attire, polished shoes, and clean skin, he decided to welcome him.

"Welcome, sir. What can I get for you?" the manager asked.

Sanjay glanced at the man. He was as fat as a pig—surely the manager of the establishment, judging by his enormous stomach.

"Are you in charge of this place?" Sanjay asked.

"Yes, sir. I am in charge," the manager replied.

"Good. Do you also buy goods?" Sanjay inquired.

Hearing this, the manager frowned. Was this man not a customer? Then why was he wasting his time?

"Sir, I don't know who you are, but we only buy top-quality items from reputable merchants. If you're not here to purchase anything, I must ask you to leave," the fat manager said curtly.

Even though the other person seemed to be a noble, the manager was unafraid. The shop was established by one of the most prominent noble families of the kingdom—the Kalyan family. Their chain of stores was present in all major cities and towns, so they had no reason to fear small-time nobles.

Sanjay said nothing and calmly took a packet of salt from his bag.

Seeing this, the manager was taken aback, wondering what the young man was up to. He scrutinized the object Sanjay held. A transparent covering that contained something solid—it was beyond his understanding.

"You recognize this, right? This is salt," Sanjay said with a confident smile.

"Impossible," the fat manager replied immediately. He had seen salt before. It was always in small particles and never resembled the strange item in Sanjay's hand.

Without a word, Sanjay made a small hole in the packet with a knife and poured some of the salt into his palm.

The manager's eyes widened in astonishment. He reached for the salt in Sanjay's hand and carefully picked up a pinch between his fingers.

He tasted it—and it was indeed salt.

"How is this possible? Such clean salt... it's almost white!" he exclaimed in disbelief. The salt he sold to nobles was trash compared to this.

Sanjay said with a smile, "So, do you want it, or should I take it to someone else?"

"No... no... young master, please have a seat. We can discuss the salt," the fat manager said with an eager expression. He couldn't let his competitors seize this opportunity.

Currently, their stores were not performing well due to competition from multiple other nobles. If he could secure this clean salt, it would boost his business significantly and allow him to make a huge contribution. He was tired of being a small-time manager at some corner store in the kingdom.

"Can you tell me the price of this bag of salt in your hands?" the fat manager asked eagerly.

Sanjay had already enquired about the price of salt outside. One kilogram of salt cost around five gold coins since it was considered a luxury product, affordable only to nobles.

"Twelve gold coins for this bag of salt," Sanjay replied confidently.

The manager frowned. "Sir, I can only offer you five gold coins for it. That way, I can sell it for seven gold coins and still make a profit."

"I understand," Sanjay said, "but this is the highest quality salt in the entire world, and no one but me can supply it to you. This is an exclusive product brought from a far-distant land. Even the packet is luxurious. If you sell it for fifteen gold coins, the nobles will still buy it."

The manager mulled it over, impressed by Sanjay's confident sales pitch. "I see your point, sir. How many can you provide us with now?"

"Currently, I've brought only this packet of salt and a few other items as a trial. If you pay for these items and let me know your requirements, I will bring more by next week," Sanjay explained, showing the other goods.

After examining the items, the manager was shocked. His business instincts immediately recognized their value, especially the soap. Noble ladies would pay anything for beauty products, and the pleasant fragrance of the soap was sure to win their favor.

The manager promptly placed an order for ten kilograms of salt, ten kilograms of sugar, ten bars of soap, and a note of recommendation for clothing, directing Sanjay to the noble cloth store.

After two hours of negotiation with both the fat manager and the noble cloth manager, Sanjay received a total of fifty gold coins. It was a substantial sum of money for this era.

For the next phase of his plan, Sanjay needed to rent a house as a permanent base for his business. After asking the two managers, he was given the name and address of a broker.

The broker was a middle-aged man working for a noble who owned large estates across the kingdom.

As soon as Sanjay entered the broker's office, he received preferential treatment, as the broker mistook him for a noble. However, when Sanjay revealed that he was a merchant looking to lease an estate, the broker became even more enthusiastic. Dhavalpur was a small town where not many wealthy people or merchants visited, and business was slow.

The broker eagerly took him around in a carriage to show him several properties.

Sanjay viewed multiple properties but eventually finalized one.

He rented a villa on the edge of the town, in a relatively safe area. The location was perfect, as nobles and merchants resided there, and the army patrolled the area regularly. He leased it for one year at ten gold coins per month.

The broker also mentioned that Sanjay could buy the villa outright for two hundred gold coins, but he didn't have that amount at the moment.

The villa was huge, consisting of five bedrooms, a dining hall, and even a ballroom. It had ornate designs, high ceilings, and grand staircases.

Sanjay realized he would need to hire a few servants just to maintain the villa's cleanliness.

But first, he needed to earn more money—both in this world and in the modern one.

After paying one month's rent and signing the lease agreement, the broker handed over the keys. Sanjay carefully inspected the villa, checking all doors and windows. After securely locking everything, he prepared to return to the modern world.

The air quality in the modern world was actually worse, though it was somewhat clean.

"Sanjay, come for dinner," his mother called out.

He joined his parents at the dinner table. His father was a strict man, guided by principles, while his mother exuded warmth and care.

"How are your studies going, Sanjay?" his father asked.

"They're good," Sanjay replied with a smile.

"Remember, we have high expectations for you. Study hard; you only have seven months left before your board exams," his father reminded him sternly.

Sanjay nodded, choosing not to say anything further. He understood the need to study—after all, it was always wise to have a solid backup plan.

As he ate, he realized how much he missed his mother's cooking. In his previous life, his parents had never moved with him to the city because they couldn't adapt to its lifestyle and people.

After finishing dinner, Sanjay went to his room and took out the forty gold coins he had left after paying for the villa's rent. The coins looked old but not ancient enough to sell as antiques. More importantly, they didn't belong to any ancient civilization from this world, which could easily expose him.

A simple carbon-dating test would reveal the coins' true origins. "It's better to melt them down and extract the gold," Sanjay thought.

Fortunately, it was a weekday, and he had two days of holiday from school starting tomorrow. He decided to make the most of this time.

He returned to his room and used the "Walker" ability to travel back to the medieval period. It was already morning there, even though he had only spent two hours in the modern world.

Sanjay visited a blacksmith and had all the gold coins melted down into a biscuit-sized, flat rectangular gold bar. The technology in the medieval era wasn't advanced enough to refine out all impurities, but it was sufficient to erase any trace of the coins' original designs or origins.

Satisfied with the result, Sanjay returned to the modern world to sleep. The beds in the medieval villa were far too hard for him to rest comfortably.

P.S: Hope you liked it! Please add it to your collection for future updates. I'm planning to update one chapter every day.