The Merchant’s Tale
“Hey, don’t you ever need a strong horse for the cold? Then I came at the right time.”
Fortunately, not long after leaving the village, we met a group of people selling horses. They were merchants heading south.
The number is three. Not many. Instead, he was hanging a variety of subspace magic pouches.
It’s not cheap, but it’s cheap enough to drag the top to a place like this. A place like this doesn’t necessarily mean that a lot of people come.
“Until a while ago, the beasts of the north made deals with us, but these days, our footsteps have stopped. We also lost our money, and we are forced to go south.”
“We go south, so we buy it at a high price. How about a one-on-one exchange with our horse? These are the breeds that do the best up here.”
Even the famous horses from the north are worth nothing compared to the Han-hyeol horses. Their words did not seem to be particularly well-known.
It wasn’t even a conscientious price, and our horses were protected by bluebird feathers, so they were safe from the cold. Rather, the other items the merchants had attracted attention.
Again, we were protected by the feathers of a blue bird, so we didn’t really need a hat or gloves for cold weather. However, the princess had a lot of money and opened her wallet generously. The merchants couldn’t hold back their laughter.
“This is a big guest after a long time. This time, I thought it was a joke, but it’s a lucky day.”
I did just that. The princess’ wallet was full of gold, not a single silver one.
The merchants smiled when they confirmed that they were pure gold by biting small coins made of gold. In a place like this, the imperial currency would not be used properly, so you brought gold coins for your travel expenses from the beginning.
Of course, this is all thanks to His Majesty’s support. At least we weren’t worried about whether the treasury would be able to afford it. If it had been a country that would go bankrupt while paying for our travel expenses, it would have been the case earlier.
Bad-quality merchants change their jobs to robbers for a short time when they see these wallets, but as these are merchants traveling all the way to the north, something was different.
Whether it was because they recognized the strength of our party, or whether they were the ones who kept the top coat from the beginning, they didn’t try to steal money by attacking customers.
“By the way, how are you going to get this change? We have silver coins, but we don’t have many, so it seems difficult to give us all the change.”
“Would you like me to put a little more fur or fur instead?”
The princess gave strength to her neck and said because it was in front of us.
“Have a change. Instead, would it be okay if I asked you a few questions?”
“Really?”
The merchants’ eyes widened. They looked at each other, and nodded without saying who came first.
“Am, Am, you can ask any questions. Ask me anything. I’ll also tell you how many of my mother’s lovers have passed away.”
“Okay, what can I tell you?”
First, Kisea asked a question as if puzzled.
“Did the beast people stop walking? why?”
“That’s it, we don’t know. We don’t have the courage to go in there.”
The merchants only shrugged their shoulders.
Still, it was because he made a huge profit from the deal with us, so he didn’t say he didn’t know right away, but seemed to think about it a bit.
“Perhaps the Beast King forbade us from doing business with us.”
“Epirna?”
“Sometimes something went wrong, but no one knows exactly what went wrong and how. What is clear is that there is something strange about the Beast Kingdom right now.”
For some reason, there were only very bad stories about our destination. I wonder what the hell is going on there.
“From one day on, there were people who said that living is not living.”
“I really don’t know. One piece of advice though, guests, smart people don’t go into such dangerous places. Money is important to us, but lives are more important, so we decided to get out of there.”
Obviously, at first, the goal was to disarm the Kisea clan’s petrification.
For some reason, I had a feeling that it was not going to end like that.
“Is life more important? Is that a dangerous situation right now?”
This time I asked. This time, the merchants responded immediately without any hesitation.
“The two most hated beasts of the Eastern Plains are the human imperialists and the wolf rattles. And you are half werewolf and half human. Is that enough of an answer?”
Human imperialists? The Imperial Princess, the Imperial Family, is here, but I am hearing such a term for the first time today. For a moment, I wondered if I had heard it right.
Like Kisea-san, she had a puzzled expression on her face. Only then did I know. We don’t know better than we do about that mound, the reality of the Eastern Plains.
They just seemed to be on the same level as us. I should have noticed earlier.
“Anyway, human imperialists, what is a wolf rattle?!”
“I really don’t know.”
“You mean you were going to the plains without knowing anything?”
The merchants looked at each other and just laughed. They giggled at each other for a while before speaking.
“Humans are the enemy of a thousand years oppressing the beasts. A wolf rattles such a human. The beasts think so. Everyone believed so. While doing business with us, he despised us.”
“If you give me money, it doesn’t matter whether you curse or ignore me, but now I don’t even give you money, so there’s no reason to be there.”
We were just at a loss for words. Rocca scratched her head, Kisea’s mouth opened unconsciously because of her absurdity, and the princess was simply embarrassed by this absurd fact.
“Why, why did no one know about this?”
“Why? Because the beast kingdom is very closed. What we are doing is a kind of smuggling.”
“It is our job to look into the products of the continent and exchange them for local specialties. Whether it’s sheep’s wool, or the fruit of a fox tree…”
“But now even that is closed. You guys have come so well. There are no eastern plains experts like us.”
That’s right. Things that were not resolved no matter how much I asked Kisea were resolved today. It never occurred to me that they were making up a word that didn’t exist.
If all of this was made up, they would have been great if they had been storytellers. Instead of coming all the way to a place like this to work as a merchant, I should have gone to the city to perform.
“Do you know the way to the Eastern Plains?”
“road? I know a few things that might be called routes, but it’s too long and too time consuming to tell them all.”
“We also have to go back early and see our wife’s face.”
“What if I give you more money?”
The princess opened the golden wallet again. There, the flash of gold caught the eyes of the merchants. They, who had already become ghosts of gold, only uttered words of consent.
“Then the story is different. If you give me a good price, I can give you a map we made.”
“We will never come here again anyway, so it was a car that needed money to change the industry. how is it? To take over all of our work. As long as you pay, we will do our best to hand over the takeover no matter how long it takes.”
“What’s your wife’s face?”
The princess snorted.
“Can I see you later now?”
“Why are you mad at your wife for being late? Then, gently place this golden coin on your hand. Then get angry at once. For a week, if I stay at the bar late into the night, I won’t say anything.”
The merchants giggled.
“On the other hand, tell me Oh, dear Mrs. In fact, you had a chance to make more money, but your face lit up and I couldn’t stand it. I had a customer offering me gold coins, and I ran to see you. Then my wife will say something like this.”
The person next to him laughed mischievously and changed his voice to mimic the vocal cords.
“A gold coin? you stupid! Money comes first! Now go back to the guest or whatever and get the gold coins. Rip off everything you can tear off! That’s why I’m not going to buy a big house, pay for my children’s education, try on some fancy clothes like a lady, and hold a party!”
“Anyway, we are not as rich as you. I seldom get a chance to get something like this. In fact, there aren’t many opportunities to see it. If you have a chance to make money, you have to work hard.”
A merchant who was playing with the gold coin I received earlier responded.
“That makes old age comfortable. We don’t want to work until we’re old. You have to earn a lot when you’re young, so even when you’re old, you can avoid pounding the ground with a pickaxe. It’s not that it’s bad, it’s that we don’t want to live that way.”
In the end, the princess paid more. It came from the national treasury anyway, so there was no hesitation.
Do these merchants know? I mean, all this money comes from their taxes.
…maybe you don’t care because you don’t pay taxes.
Come to think of it, smuggling was originally smuggling without paying taxes.
