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Preliminary Inspection Method
On the inn’s bed in the early afternoon. I blankly stared at the gold in my hand.
The salt I brought from Pyris was turned into 20 gold coins. Since I did not carry it myself, Khan assigned one young man to me. I tried my best to negotiate with the broker but I could not get the price as high as I imagined it to be. It can’t be helped. The market would soon be set up. Foodstuffs would also be sold in bulk at a low price. And since I was on the side asking them to buy the salt at this time, they took advantage of that.
That said, the 10 gold coins were doubled. This was an achievement already but the real challenge was still ahead.
Right now, everyone was gathering information for the market that would start tomorrow. Khan was settling himself in this inn, which he used as the headquarters. He had a big business planned, and thanks to his status, most customers came looking for him. On the other hand, it looked like the people we needed to greet were already taken care of last night.
Even so, I seemed to have underestimated the travel in this world a little. Even though we arrived yesterday, my back was still sore. It was the carriage’s fault.
The carriages here are completely different from the cars in Japan. There was no suspension, and no cushioning either. There were no rubber tires, and even if the roads were maintained, there were small bumps here and there.
Of course, this was not my first time riding a carriage. All the travel in the housing facility, whether the excursion or the auction, all relied on carriages. But the travelling distance was at most just one day. No, it should have taken longer when I was first transported from Tintinabria to the Exee region but, I was not even conscious, too malnourished to move properly in the first half of the journey, in addition, the effect from the numbing drug had not yet worn off, so I was bedridden the whole time and could not care about anything else. Incidentally, the journey from the slave auction venue to Pyris was mostly by boat.
In short, it was my first time spending an entire week straight being jolted along in the carriage. As a result, my back hurt so much. I don’t even want to move now.
But, I had to go outside. Even these 20 gold coins I obtained after that much trouble would turn out to be unused money if I stayed like this. Furthermore, I could earn more. I could not afford to do nothing with such an opportunity right before my eyes.
Of course, it was not about wanting money. My goal remains unchanged. I would show a significant result here. If they knew I had a high-level ability, they would have no choice but to train me.
My ultimate goal was to obtain perpetual youth and immortality. But, it was the ultimate wish everyone desires but could not achieve. Since I was attempting such a huge goal, I needed to have at least high-level abilities.
Fortunately, I had the overpowered ability called Piercing Hand. I could dramatically shorten the time required to train myself. However, even if I took away the experience, I could not demonstrate as much ability as I thought I could. Because the knowledge of the ability simply did not follow.
So, how to gain that knowledge? By getting high-quality teaching materials and excellent instructors. The reason I came to the Viscount House with the status of a slave was simply because of that reason.
Perhaps it might have been quicker to ask for Myluc’s help if I wanted to become a free citizen. And besides, he could probably find me an instructor of a decent level, knowing my potential. But, the environment there was bad. Even if I had the example to follow, there was no one to actually learn from through experience. Should I earnestly request to be allowed to live in the city? He had evidence that I was someone from another world being reborn in this world, but he did not understand my power of Piercing Hand. If I were to ask him to let me live in a large city in order to steal part of other people’s lives, he would surely not help me.
Most of all, living near him was too dangerous. He was involved in the raid on Tock Barony several years ago and furthermore, he was sheltering the target of the retaliation attack. If that fact gets out.....setting aside the slave children, the adults would probably be killed. If they knew I stayed with him while knowing the circumstances, I would also not be spared.
And so, I wanted to make full use of the Viscount’s connections and influences as I wanted to show them some results now so I could be trained into a useful person. In order to do that, I had to endure the pain in my back.
I slowly got up. I take several steps like an old person and turn around at the doorway to the room.
A stained glass was fitted into the old window frame. I could see the dust particles dancing in the air in the sunlight shining in from the window. The dark brown floor, the sky-blue sheets, and the tasteful plaster. It was a comfortable room with a fairly clean impression. Even back in my previous life, I might have stayed at an inn like this if I were to travel to the countryside.
I sometimes slept outdoors, sometimes was given an empty house in a settlement village, but I had not experienced any inconvenience in lodging on this journey. And once we were able to find a decent town to stay, I could stay at a decent inn like this. You could say I was in a privileged environment.
It’s fine. My life was gradually getting better. At first, I was an illegitimate child of a poor serf. Raised as a slave after that, I was serving in a noble’s mansion. But it was precisely because of that I couldn’t just settle here, I had to move on.
Crossing through the broker street, I head to the town’s northeastern part. The space opens up, where previously buildings were densely lined up. It was a square that connected to the northern trade route and was also the entrance to the warehouse district spreading from the east.
Beyond the fence, there were warehouses on the east side, all made of wood Actually, they were not very well made and also did not have that much airtightness. It was good enough, at least they would not be exposed to the rain. That would not be a problem. The warehouses here were not meant for storing goods for a long time. It was nothing more than a temporary place to store goods brought from various regions for the market that starts tomorrow.
It was an area that normally had little traffic. And that was perhaps why there were groups of stray dogs here. It seemed like they would not attack you as long as you do not get too close. But, I don’t know when it comes to children.
I watched the warehouses from a distance in thought.
Korapt’s market was held every year in the seventh month, or Ruby month. It was also somewhat cooler than the plains, so many merchants flocked here over the course of a week. It was like a small festival. Naturally, all sorts of goods were being traded but there were a few things you had to take note of here. The purpose of the merchants participating in this event.
Of course, this also varies greatly depending on your own standing. For example, there were merchants like Khan who had high status, they often participated not to obtain direct profit in the first place. If anything, their main purpose was to socialize and get acquainted with each other. For mid-level merchants whose business was just beginning to grow, they tended to want to promote their own business. In order to do that, they would offer several good-quality items at low prices. And the merchants who had just started their business would try their best to buy up such a bargain. And I’m going to join up with those guys, too.
The problem was, the unscrupulous speculators who took advantage of it. In such places, inexperienced people would especially rush to buy things, not wanting to miss such a profitable deal. Those kinds of people would be a good target for getting rid of inferior quality and warehouse stock....each year, there was no shortage of merchants who fell for it and suffered a great loss.
Drug wholesalers were especially dangerous. If this were, for example, precious metal goods, you could easily distinguish counterfeit goods and if it were found out that you sell lead as gold, it would be legitimately considered outright fraud. They could receive sanctions from the town and rumors would spread among merchants. But, what about deteriorated-quality medicine?
It was definitely tsumaraka bark, right? But what proof did you have that the quality was bad at the time of sale? Wasn’t it just poor management after you bought it? .....it would end up with such conversations.
That was why Khan told me over and over again that it was important to distinguish the quality. So if you bought drugs that had gone bad without realizing it, it was the buyer’s fault. At the very least, it would only bring shame to the pharmacist.
And despite such a risky market, the drug sales tomorrow would be conducted in an auction format. Naturally, you could not approach the items to check their smell. With such a number of items, the transactions had to be quick. So how do you judge their quality? From prior information and the merchant’s face.
What kind of items would be sold, how many, and who would be putting them for sale. Korapt’s officials had distributed the information on the matter. Based on this, experienced merchants decide where to make a purchase. They had their information network, and even as I stood here doing nothing, they were exchanging information with each other in places such as cafes, liquor stores, or Gruvy’s sex establishments around the town.
They had unusually good memories. Which participant, how long they had been in business, what kind of items they sell, how much they sold for, and who won. They remembered that part quite accurately. Naturally, they tended to trust participants who had participated for a long time more than newcomers, but there were always crooked merchants who kept getting involved and their previous sales record helped distinguish them. For them, the market price of drugs and market conditions each year are common knowledge. And, they were skilled in knowing which drugs were oversupplied and whether someone was trying to sell old stock.
So I wish I could have been part of that information exchange but.....who would invite a 6-year-old kid to adults' discussions anyway? Khan? Right now, he was busy with the visitor at the inn, reconfirming the plan for the business from tomorrow onward. Right now, he was completely being put off for later.
And so, I had to gather information on my own, through my own means and efforts. If I was lucky, I might be able to get a decent item without ending up with trash but.....if I messed up my hard-earned gold coins would be gone.
Several guards were walking near the warehouses, scattered around. There were some items worth money placed inside so it would be terrible if a thief were to enter. That’s why they were alert to humans approaching the area. Thinking that it would be fine since I’m just a kid, I tried approaching a little closer, but the guards glared at me severely. Well, that’s natural. There are child thieves in this world.
There was a stray dog walking slowly beside the guard. Now then.....
I checked my own condition again.
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(Self) (7)
・Ultimate Ability Piercing Hand
・Material Human Form
(Rank 7, Male, 6 years old, Active)
・Material Bird Form
(Rank 6, Male, 8 years old)
・Skill Fores Language Level 6
・Skill Business Dealing Level 4
・Skill Drug Compounding Level 4
・Skill Body Manipulation Magic Level 5
・Skill Boujutsu (stick technique) Level 4
Empty (0)
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Unfortunately, I still had no empty slot.
If I were to remove one, as expected, would it be Bird Form?
It was the bird body I habitually used for so many years and it was convenient, but it seemed slightly inferior compared to the birds flying above Korapt. Above all, I could possess them in one go if I could find creatures with a good coat, but that was not the case with skills.
Shall I try becoming another animal besides a bird for once?
I intently stared at the group of stray dogs. There were various dogs. Some were obviously small with poor-looking fur, while others were so well-fed you could not help but wonder where they found enough to eat. There was one that looked like a white Siberian Husky. Judging from the other dogs’ attitude, that one seemed to be the boss dog.
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<Dog> (27)
・Material Beast Form
(Rank 7, Male, 3 years old)
・Skill Claws and Fangs Combat Level 4
・Skill Performance Level 3
Empty (25)
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Claws and Fangs Combat was probably the ability to freely use the dog’s ability to fight. I see, so he rose to become the boss of the group by force.
As for performance.....huh? Was it like, ‘Hands, Down, House’, something like those? So, was it a stray dog? He seemed to have quite the pitiful life, or rather, a dog’s life.
Oops. Let’s leave my sympathy at that. I was going to kill this guy after all. That said, he would feel no pain, fear, or awareness.
……rest in peace.
While the surrounding guards were preoccupied with me and the surrounding passersby, one of the dogs quietly passed away. I felt something was hurting in my heart, but I suppressed that feeling
I looked up at the sky. It was still light out but I could not afford to relax. Even if dogs could see even in the dark, their eyesight was poor.
I returned to the inn and confirmed that it was not crowded with people. Occasionally, loud laughter could be heard coming from Khan’s private room. He must have had guests. That’s convenient.
I took off my clothes as usual. And then I prepared the tattered clothes I wore in Korapt last time, and tied them loosely. I would leave this in a hiding place near the inn. If there were a lot of people at the inn when I returned, I would not be able to return to my room in my dog form. In that case, I just have to return to a naked kid and put on the clothes.
The preparation was ready. I took a deep breath and focused my mind.
My vision suddenly became blurry. The colors were not as clear. I wondered why.
I knew the reason. I could not properly distinguish the color red. So that’s why, while the sky-blue sheet still looked like its original color, the wooden floorboard beneath my feet looked deep grey rather than dark brown. Also, my eyesight was lower overall and if I did not try hard to see, things far away ended up blurry. When I was a bird, I could properly distinguish the three colors, and my eyesight was also good.
It seemed like it was possible to maintain my consciousness. The conditions this time.....if I could no longer remember who I was or my own name, return. There were risks but there was nothing that could be done. Suddenly realizing I had lived my whole life as a stray dog was out of the question.
Now then, it would be a big problem if a stray dog were to sneak into the inn like this. I quickly held my emergency change of clothes with my mouth and hurriedly slipped through the room’s door.
The dogs suddenly turned around when they realized there was a large dog with a good coat of fur. The boss, who had suddenly disappeared, returned from far away. They sensed me by smell and lowered their heads. Un, I ddid not really understand it but it made me a little happy. It must be because I had been living with a lowly status ever since reincarnating into this world but now I was their king.
But, I had different purposes. The guards did not even notice me when I walked past. All according to plan. Then, I looked out over the crude, wooden warehouse cluster.
Each warehouse had a name tag on it. This was to make it simple to distinguish which luggage was whose, but for me, this was convenient. I had more or less learned the names of the sellers for tomorrow’s medicine auction. The drug I was looking for had already been narrowed down all the way back from Pyris.
I walked around without a sound with my flexible dog’s body and no pain in my back. While my view had become dull in color, the space was filled with sounds and smells. Thanks to this, I was able to immediately distinguish which section likely contained the drug I was looking for without looking around every single one of them.
The place releasing the strongest smell was the warehouse at the back. My guess was that they arrived in Korapt quite early on. Looking at the name tag, it read 「Ihike Ishol イハイク・イショール」. He was the man who would be selling the raw materials I was planning to purchase at tomorrow’s auction. But, this was.....
The basis of preserving drugs, was to seal them up. They would basically deteriorate in quality if they came into contact with open air, exposed to sunlight, or moisture. And the drug that had degraded in quality would each give off its own particular smell.
Judging from this smell, this guy’s drugs looked like they were going bad already. I could not say for sure yet but it smelled slightly musty, and the smell from everything besides my targeted drug was just leaking out all over the place. This meant that the medicine management was inadequate.
And sure enough, when I approached another warehouse, the smell was not so strong. Of course, there was still a bit of a smell. However, it was not as bad as the one from earlier. This merchant’s goods might actually be worth spending money on. I raised my head and looked at the name tag.
『Gush Yokona』 (ガッシュ・ヨコーナー)
Ehm what was it? It seemed like I remembered that name somehow. Who was it? .....ah.
It was that guy.
Tamaria’s younger brother, Detel. He ended up not finding a buyer due to his shy nature. And then, Myluc looked everywhere for someone who would take him as a merchant apprentice. And the person who raised his hand and took him, was Yokona.
However, he sold Detel to a noble. Moreover, it was the perverted noble, Count Suud Gofat (スード伯・ゴーファト). As a result, Detel died after being abused. He was one of Tamaria’s enemies.
So, Myluc has broken all ties with this guy. That was the only thing he could do. He must be unable to stomach the anger, but there was no way he could launch a revenge attack for a single slave. At any rate, Detel’s ownership had already changed to Yokona. And the most important, this was Forestia - not Saharia - so someone who did such a thing would just become a criminal. And besides, he could not make any rash moves in his current situation. He was the son of the previous head of his clan but right now, he was just a single individual.
I see. So this was where you were.
Well, my aim was the drug. It was enough if I could buy it. But, if possible, I would like to meet him in person once and offer my greeting.
After walking for some time, I had more or less figured out where the things are. There were merchants who seemed fine to purchase from and those who didn’t. As expected from a dog’s sense of smell.
Inside the fenced-in cluster of warehouses, the stray dogs were hanging around by the entrance as always. They all respectfully lowered their eyes when I approached. Un, it feels good after all. Hey, don’t lick my nose. Kukuku, what cute guys.
Now then. I sat down. As evening approached, the air was starting to cool. The warmth of the dogs’ bodies snuggling up to me was comforting. For now, I would sleep here, as for tomorrow.....tomorrow....tomorrow?
What was tomorrow? Eh?
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