The Merchant God

Chapter 3: Shop Canvassing

After checking out his new ‘advantage’ on this world, A knock came out from the other side of the door “hey kid! Are you awake now? Its time for breakfast!” as his voice fade out Merck enters the room “Ya look good than yesterday kiddo! Hurry up and get out of the bed. Also I have something to discuss with you so hurry yer a*s down!” as he said that, Merck make his way down to the dinning hall. As Alexander is coming down from the room he notice that there are no other people living in this big house however, that is not the feeling that he is getting. As a person who live up 99 lives and thousands and thousands of years of experience, he can tell that this house is not ordinary neither that old man that save him. “Well overthinking will not help me here, I’m just a kid right now anyway so let’s not make things complicated” and so he makes his way to the dinning hall and saw Merck eating some simple dishes. “Take a sit boy.” Said by Merck. “Are you alone in this house old man?” Alexander asked pretending to not notice anything. “yeah that’s right, why? Want to live here?” Without waiting Alexander’s response “In yer dreams!” Merck laughs out loud. Alexander just stared at Merck like he is staring at a clown.

“So what would you like to discuss with me?” Alexander asked as he sat at the dinning hall and stuff himself with a big bite of steak. “Nothing much, I just wanna know yer plan after this?” Merck sip on his tea “obviously, I will not keep ya here for free. Do ya have money on ya?” Alexander thought about it and remember that on the panel, there is a section there that says money but it has 0 in it “so meaning I don’t have any money on my name” he thought to himself “I don’t have any money on me right now, however if you are willing to let me borrow from you old man then I can think of a plan.” When Merck heard it, he pause a little bit and continued to sip on his tea. “how much do ya want?” Merck asked. “I don’t know the prices of the goods here at your village so I will need to roam around before I can make a decision.” He continued to stuff his mouth with the steak. “Alright, ya can go out after yer meal and go back here once you are decided on how much ya want to borrow. Just a fair warning, I have high interest.” Then Merck laugh and stood up from his chair and walk out of the dinning hall.

After eating his breakfast, Alexander make his way to the bathroom to take a bath and while he is in there, he also check out his current body in the mirror. “hmm… not bad, not too thin and not too buff, I also like this face, not too handsome so I will not stand out that much.” Then he tidied up himself and ready to go out. Once he got out the bath room and on his way to the front door of the house, he was stopped by Merck “by the kid, take this!” he tossed something to Alexander and he caught it “keep that badge. It will save ya from trouble once yer out” After saying so, Merck goes back upstairs. Alexander didn’t check out the badge and just put it in his pocket and makes his way to the front door to leave the house. After Alexander exits the house, a voice rang in the main hall “follow the kid and protect him if necessary.” As the voice fades, a man in the shadow suddenly vanish with out a trace.

As Alexander roams the village, he noticed that there are several shops that he can check out to see the products and specialties of this village. After a few checking a few shops, he can conclude that there are so much changes on the pricing since his last life. For example, a Goat horn which is use for medicinal purposes cost 10 coppers per every 5 grams, hence a full piece of goat horn which is around 70 – 100 grams can cost from around 1 or 2 silvers. After thinking for a while, Alexander now proceed to check out the blacksmith stores to check on metal prices.

Arriving at one of the blacksmith store, he saw a black stone that is big as a normal toddler and he notice that this stone is not simple. With his experience of 99 lives, this is the first time he saw this kind of stone so he walks up to the person in the front desk “old man, what is that stone lying on the ground?” Alexander points at the black stone he saw. “that one? I am not sure as well but we blacksmiths of this village call this piece of stone as ‘black iron’ and it is good for making weapons but it is best for making cauldrons as no matter how many times the cauldron explode, it will not be broken as long as the alchemist using it is below the bronze rank.” Explained by the vendor of the store “if you want to buy some, it will be 1 silver for every 100 grams of this stone. If you are making it into a weapon, you will need at least 500 grams to make a dagger weapon and 1000 grams for a good sword. If you are making a cauldron, you will need at least 2500 grams and that is the cheapest and smallest cauldron you can make.”

After thinking for a while “can you make a delivery? I don’t have any money right now. My money is on elder Merck’s house. Is this possible?” the vendor pause for a moment “let me ask the owner sir if this would be possible.” Alexander nod and roam his attention elsewhere while waiting. A few minutes later, an old bald and muscular man came out from the backdoor of the front desk and stares at Alexander and raises his brow “I heard that you would like to order but don’t have any money on you is that right?” questioned by the old man. “that’s right old man! If you can make a delivery of the order to the house of elder Merck, then rest assured that I can pay you by then.” Alexander answered. The old man still staring at Alexander “you sure have guts kid! You are even using old man Merck as collateral! Tell me kid, what’s your relation with that old goof?” a small glint can be seen on the old man’s eyes asking these question. “nothing, he just save my a*s according to him” he shrugged. “do you have any proof that you are under that old man?” Alexander thought to himself and remembers the badge that Merck gave him. “this should be enough.” He handed over the badge to the old man. “hmm… you are really under that dumb goof!” the old man laughs “alright, I will make an exception for you kid and we will make the delivery for you!”, “thank you old man!” Alexander bows “no problem, also just call me Grease, Grease the Blacksmith!” then thump on his chest. “by the way kid, what would you do to the stone? A weapon or a cauldron?” Alexander response immediately, “a cauldron please and also please use about 3000 grams of the stone.” “perfect! Do you need anything else?” Alexander ponder for a while then ask “is there a pill pavilion in this village?” “yes, there is one. You can find it at the central part of this village. You won’t miss it as it is the biggest building in the whole village.” Replied by Grease “great thank you very much old man.” Alexander bows and left the place.

While Alexander is on his way to the central part of the village, he saw a booth that is being surrounded by people. He tried to fit himself to the crows to see what’s going on and after making his way at the front, he saw a man ting up with the woman. “Tsk… a pity that the girl caught up the attention of the young master of the Gaidar family.” Said by the man behind him “if he rejects the young master, it would be the end of his family.” Another voice fluttered in the crowd.

The young master that the people talking about is Levi Gaidar, one of the son of the current patriarch of the Gaidar family. Rumors has it that this young master is so ruthless that even chickens in the village are scared when heard his name. Up to now, the most brutal thing that he did is wipe out an entire commoner family and hanged their heads on the front door of the house and the reason he do that is because the child of that house hold bump into him and nothing more.

While Alexander is pondering on what he is seeing “hey girl, come on look at me. Am I handsome?” ask by young master. The girl is just silent and sitting on a bench with her black robe and black veil. “hey girl! Are you mute or something?!” the young master shouted. Then suddenly the girl saw Alexander in the crows and muttered “I found you.” With her eyes shone, she suddenly stand up and walks up to where Alexander standing up and before Alexander is able to react, the girl already drag him out to the crowd to go somewhere else. But before she and Alexander get out, 2 guards suddenly blocked their way. “Where are you going girl! I am not finished with you! How dare y-“ before the young master was able to finish his sentence, cold aura suddenly shroud the young master rendering him unable to move nor to talk. As the aura intensifies, the young master is having a hard time to breathe and like someone is choking him. As for the 2 guards they already fainted. “this girl is not normal.” Alexander muttered to his heart.

After a few minutes torturing the young master, the girl retrieve her aura and walk away. As for the young master, he also fainted on the ground and the crows disperse immediately as they don’t want to be involved with this situation.

As they walk up far enough, they suddenly come to a stop. Then the girl turns to Alexander and tighten her grip “who are you? Why do you have the body of my young master?” the girl asked “I don’t know what you are talking about girl! Unhand me!” Alexander tried to regain his freedom from her grip but to no avail. “damn this mortal body! If I am at my prime I will squish this girl like an ant.” Said to himself. “I don’t know who you are but I will not let my young master’s body to be defiled by you!” as the girl is about to attacked Alexander, a man is dark armor suddenly appear stopping the girl’s attack and counter attack at the same time. As the punch of the man landed on. The girls chest, the girl was sent flying 20 yards away. “get out of here little lady. I don’t want to kill you. However if you still insist to put harm on this boy, you will leave me no choice.” A calm and eerie voice come from the man. The girl stares at the man then back to Alexander “I will be back.” A cold voice perched at Alexander’s ear and the girl suddenly vanished and at the same time, the man also vanishes.