The Merchant God

Chapter 18: The Path to Richness! (Part 1)

After a running from the eastern forest, dawn is about to break and Alexander can already see the gates of the sleeping forest village. As he arrived at the gates, the guards stopped him for inspection and after the inspection, he immediately walks towards Merck’s house. Upon entering the house, he walks toward his room and saw the two kids still sleeping. Alexander didn’t want to wake them up so he quietly settle down on his bed to have a rest.

Time passed and it’s already noon and Alexander just woke up. Upon getting up, he tidy himself and get down to get some food. As he reach the entrance hall of the house, he saw Kratos standing by the side of the front door while Lulu is cleaning the main hall. “both of you stop for a moment and come with me.” Kratos only stare at Alexander while Lulu stopped on cleaning and walk towards Alexander. “whe-where will be go-going big brother a-alexander?” shyly asked by Lulu. Alexander smiled and pats her head “we will be eating outside.” When Kratos and Lulu heard it, though Kratos didn’t have much reaction, Lulu on the other hand is beaming with happiness and immediately tidy up herself.

The young man and the two children walk towards the market place and look for something to it. After a few minutes of walking, they have arrive in a restaurant. “welcome dear customer! Will it be a table for 3?” greeted by a waiter. Alexander nodded and the waiter guide then to an empty table and handed them the menu. “what do you want to eat Lulu?” asked by Alexander “umm… I do-don’t know… ca-can you ju-just order for me big brother?” he nodded and turn to Kratos. “how about you Kratos?” “anything is fine big brother.” Alexander call out the waiter. “can you please prepare each dish in the menu and also bring some fruit juice for the kids and a bottle of wine for me.” The waiter was shocked but immediately smile and take their order to the kitchen.

After a few minutes of waiting, several plates of different dishes came out from the kitchen and served on their table. Kratos is still calm but Lulu on the other hand is drooling over. Alexander can’t help but be fascinated with Lulu. “is this how it feels to be a parent?” he said to himself as this is the first time he fancy children. Although the two kids are calling him big brother, in actuality, Alexander is already a very, very old monster. With 99 life time under his belt, it is not an exaggeration to call him ancestor. “okay, stop drooling over Lulu. You can start eating now. You too Kratos, you will need it to increase your strength to protect Lulu.” Both of the children nodded and started eating.

While eating, Alexander also called the waiter to gather some information regarding the market for wild beast meat for culinary purposes and as per the waiter, there is currently a scarce supply of wild beast meat. Specially the ranked wild beast or as they called an elemental beast. As wild beast reached the yellow rank, instead of being called a beast ranker, they are being called elemental beast as that will be the time when they will be introduced to elemental energy. Once they reach their maturity which is bronze rank, they will under go another evolution thus they will be called beast warriors which are the more adept in controlling elemental energy. Once the reach their full maturity which is the platinum rank, they will under go another evolution which is called Beast King and these beast will have the ability to have a humanoid form.

An elemental beast meat can help a ranker to improve their elemental energy density and its circulation while the meat of the beast warriors can hell a ranker to improve their physical aptitude. As Alexander heard that there is a scarce on the demand of the meat, he smiled and continue eating. After the three ate to their hearts content, Alexander decided to go back home and check out the Secret Land.

After arriving home, Lulu yawned and felt sleepy hence she excuse herself to go to the room to take a nap. Kratos returned on guarding at the front door and Alexander go to the kitchen and secluded himself and entered the secret land. After entering the secret land, he notice that there wasn’t any big changes since the first time he entered however after he roam his eyes at the green plains part of the land, he saw a small house. Out of curiosity, he walks towards the house a knock on the door.

When the door opens, he was greeted by an old man. “welcome back host.” The old man bows “are you here to check out on the harvest for today?” the old man asked. Alexander nodded “No problem! Here’s the current report for the harvest as well as the current beast population.” As Alexander read the report, he was shocked at the progress of the beast farm. “currently we have a total of 700 Kilograms worth of wild beast meat and 200 Kilograms worth of elemental beasts meat. As for the others, they haven’t matured. Also the current population of our gourmet beast is at around 300. Although there was quite a reduction, rest assured host that with the faster time here at the land, the population should grow by a fold or so.” Said the old man. Alexander was happy with thus progress. The next step would be to source out where to sell this meat. “selling them in restaurants would be good however, with this lots of meat, I would have to go in every village nearby to sell it.” Alexander ponders for some time and decided to sell them for now at restaurants.

“Also, please take note host to also check some elemental herbs out there for us to cultivate so that we can help the beast to reach their full potential.” The old man said. Alexander nodded and collected all the meat and store it in his storage ring. As he walk out the house, he exited the secret land and decided to take a rest in his room. “thanks to the system, I can be lazy and not seclude myself in meditation.” He said to himself as he make his way to his room.

After resting for a few hours, Alexander give a few kilos of beast meat to Lulu to cook it for supper. He also instructed Kratos to help Lulu in cooking then make his way to the restaurant. Once he arrive, he talk to the waiter and asked him if he can talk to the proprietor of the restaurant. The waiter guide him to the back office of the establishment. The waiter knock “sir, there is someone would like to talk to you.” “come in.” Thee waiter open the door and invite Alexander inside. “are you the manager of this restaurant?” Alexander asked. “yes good sir! I am the manager of this humble restaurant. You can call me Bob, at your service.” Then he bows. “great! I heard that there was a scarce of beast meat around and I am here to sell some wild beast meat.” Then Alexander pull out a cloth sack which is full of wild beast meat. “Would you please allow me to check its quality good sir?” asked Bob. Alexander nodded and Bob proceed on opening the sack and check its quality. “hmm… even though its only a mortal beast meat, there is a sliver of elemental energy in it. they are indeed of good quality!” Bob smiles. “Good sir, normally a wild beast meat is priced around 5-7 coppers a kilogram however as these beast meats are in good quality we can offer as high as 10 coppers. Would that be a satisfactory price for you?” when Alexander heard the price, he smiled and agreed with the price. “May ask good sir on how many kilograms of meat your are trying to sell?” Asked by Bob. Alexander thinks for a moment and he take out 10 cloth sack that is full of beast meat. “There are a total of 550 kilograms of meat here, a sack has 50 kilograms of meat. This 10 sacks plus the one on the table hence making it into 550 kilograms.”

When Bob saw the cloth sacks full of meat, he cant help but laugh out loud and a hint of greed can be seen on his eyes. “my good sir! I am shocked on how much meat you take out. Maybe we can make a cooperation deal here. I hope dear sir is interested.” “continue.” Alexander nonchalantly answered. Bob got excited then “since good sir can provide me this much meat, I can be of a middle man for you. I can sell your meat on your behalf and of course, all the sales will go to you dear sir. What we would like in return is for you to supply my restaurants with 300 kilograms of wild beast meat every month. How about it good sir?” Alexander ponders for a little bit and agreed then take took out 2 more cloth sack full of wild beast meat. “take this two sack of meat as a token of our partnership.” Since this manager didn’t try to lowball him and instead provide a higher price plus helped me in my current predicament, he will also show some sincerity.

As the two talks more about their partnership, Alexander remembers the elemental beast meats. “by the bob, I also have another thing to consult you.” He remarked and bring out a smaller cloth sack. “this sack has 25 kilograms worth of elemental beast meat. Since we will be cooperating in this business, I hope, you can provide me a good price for this type of meat.” Bob was shocked with this revelation. His face turned serious and immediately check the quality of the meat. After a few minutes of checking, he sighed and Alexander was a bit apprehensive with that sigh. “Mr. Alexander, I think you should not sell this meat.” When he heard Bob’s verdict, he sighed and muttered “so this meat is not sellable.” When Bob heard it, he immediately followed up. “That not what I meant Mr. Alexander. Normally an elemental beast meat can priced from 60 coppers upto 85 coppers a kilogram. However, the quality of your meat kinda exceed the normal elemental beast meat hence if I were to price it, I can roughly sell it around 1 silver to 1 silver and 20 coppers but if you sell it in the kingdom, it can go more than that.”

Alexander eyes lit up when he heard Bob’s explanation however, the kingdom is too far. It would take him weeks if he travel with his current level. “Do you have any sales channel in the nearest kingdom?” Alexander asked. “hmm… I do have some but it would take roughly 1-2 weeks for the meat to be delivered there and another 1-2 weeks for the p*****t to come.” Explained by Bob. Alexander took out another five small cloth sack. “here’s a 150 kilograms worth of elemental beast. If you can buy it at your price of 1 silver and 20 coppers, then are free to sell it in the kingdom for a higher price.” Bob was shocked and immediately get the money on his desk fearing that Alexander might change his mind. “here you go Mr. Alexander, there’s a total of 55 silvers for the wild beast meat and here’s the p*****t for the elemental beast meat. There’s a total of 180 silvers here.” Alexander retrieve both cloth pouch and store it in his ring.

After the transaction, he bid his good bye to Bob and make his way home to have some supper and call it a day.