Aurpiel gulped nervously. He walked out of his carriage and bowed at Eluard, "Si… great sir, may I know what sorts of demon beast materials are selling to me…?", moving his pointy ears up and down.
He noticed the awed expressions of the two people earlier. The fat man immediately realized that this young man who came out of nowhere must be somewhat amazing.
Eluard's mind jolted after hearing Aurpiel's question, 'Right, I shouldn't display the luxury of harvests I received at the start. That would be suspicious, or he might think I am dumb.'
After all, selling all things in one go might plummet the significance of the goods he was trying to sell, particularly if only one merchant was involved in the deal.
'Merchants like this guy who sought profits aren't easy to deal with. A person like me who has little knowledge about marketing and similar should tread on this task carefully.'
'If I remember, prices should differ for each merchant. I don't know what specialties this merchant leans into. I should sell 1 elite and 10 common dark luminous wolf hides and see how it goes.'
Seeing Eluard hesitating, Aurpiel's nervousness washed away and was replaced by a calm expression instead.
"10 common and 1 elite dark luminous wolf hides.", Eluard replied.
Aurpiel wrinkled his eyebrows, "I can buy the elite wolf hide for 40 white magic crystals. As for the common ones, I can only give you 5 for each."
Was the trade value low, high, or right at the market price? Eluard didn't know.
He had to blame himself for plunging carelessly even though he reminded himself to be careful earlier.
'This tricky system! What experience?! You want me to be ashamed of myself?!', he cursed.
[ Failure and success are part of growth, dear host. Your decision for this deal awaits. ]
'Damn it!'
The system didn't even give him a hint of whether this deal was profitable or not. But he had to remind himself the system was leaned on magic cultivation, not marketing.
Otherwise, he would've been reincarnated as the son and heir of a wealthy businessman with a business system on the get-go.
Eluard put up a facade, "Too low, but I'll consider it this time since I'm in a hurry.", arrogantly tossed the hides of the dark luminous wolves to Aurpiel and his guards.
A cold breeze went past Aurpiel's bald head, 'Low? What low? They're the damn market price! What arrogance is this?', his mouth twitched in disbelief.
Young masters with great talent were bred from the same brand of prideful parents. This was how Aurpiel saw Eluard as he reluctantly took out 90 white magic crystals packed on a large pouch before tossing it to the arrogant human.
If one hasn't realized it yet, a series of misunderstandings occurred unknowingly between the two parties.
Eluard thought that Aurpiel's prices were low after seeing him wrinkle his eyebrows. The inexperienced academy master assumed that the fat man might have been playing his cards against Eluard all along.
Meanwhile, Aurpiel thought that Eluard saw his prices as too low and might increase them.
Even though the wolf hides were that valuable as a commodity in the current market, he couldn't bear to take out more from his treasury.
After all, he mainly conducted deals with normal people. His business' currency revolved around coins and rarely about magic crystals. The latter and such were the most divine items he could only reach with his life.
That was the main reason he darkened his expression because he was afraid that Eluard would be unreasonable, which the human unconsciously did.
'He must have limited the items he was trying to sell to me. Now that he knows how 'low' these prices are, this damn human shouldn't be approaching us any time soon.', Aurpiel concluded.
Eluard counted the magic crystals on the pouch before leaving without saying goodbye. He didn't want to stay here any longer in case things get more awkward.
Aurpiel only snorted in disdain before returning to his carriage with a gloomy expression. The guards picked up the hides and stored them in the other carriages.
The man from before leaned over but Aurpiel knew what this guy was thinking.
"The two of you don't have to do anything. I guess this day is just an unlucky day for me.", Aurpiel sighed.
"Papa, you don't have to be sad. Lila is still here!", the little girl beside him cheered him up.
Aurpiel smiled and gently stroked Lila's head again.
…
"Ah, where to now? To a village, right?"
Eluard looked at the map and saw a blinking small square west of his current position. On the top of the entire map was labeled, "Alderian Terrestrial Sanctuary".
'Just like old times, eh?', he reminisced the days playing video games, searching the map for his next destination.
Eluard followed the road with the guide of the map and reached his destination sooner than the merchant caravan behind him.
There were barely any walls guarding the village in front of him. Instead, guards patrolled the area, with some of them riding on top of flying beasts and overlooking the situation above.
'Isn't this security a bit too tight?'
It was just a village. Surely, there was no way they had to be this strict unless something bad was going on.
'Was it because of my appearance, or was it something else?'
He was about to take another step when two elven guards stopped him. Eluard was confused, staring at the golden-armored burly men.
"How can a human like you be here? I thought that the hanging bridge has been closed for a few days?", the guard was suspicious, "Don't tell me you traveled yourself here through some illegal means."
Eluard panicked, "Wait, wait! I'm just a wandering mage, okay? I don't know about the hanging bridge closing. Maybe because I arrived here earlier before it happened…"
The guard's menacing eyes intensified, scaring Eluard.
"Look, look.", Eluard said before producing a small ball of flame on top of his palms.
The guards scrutinized Eluard's figure. Seeing that there weren't any weird marks over his body, they etched his face on top of their heads and gestured at Eluard to continue inside.
"Be careful human, we're watching you.", they reminded in a very cold voice.
Eluard scratched his head, "What's up with those guards anyway?"
"Hey!", a loud shout startled Eluard.
"Uh, what is it now?", he turned his head at the source of the voice.
A young male elf ran towards him.
"You look new here. And a human at that, how did you end up inside the sanctuary's border when the bridge was closed days ago?"
"That…", Eluard didn't have any plausible reasons to come up with it.
The elf understood Eluard's hesitance, waving his hands, "If you don't want to say it, it's okay. Not important."
Eluard sighed. The elf suddenly patted his left shoulder.
"Anyway, you should be careful going out these days. I heard that the undead being outbreak at the volcanic grassy plains has spread to the north and the Morning Star Empire, and probably towards the sanctuary as well."
"But why are you telling me this? This seems out of place.", Eluard scratched his cheek.
"Ah, I'm Perith Literas! I aspire to be the greatest storyteller in Aludia!", the elf graciously stood out at the center of the road.
People glanced in their direction, making Eluard feel embarrassed.
"Uh, can't we do this somewhere else with not so many people?", he begged.
"No can do! I want the people to recognize me. After all, I plan to-!"
An angered elven woman suddenly pinched his ears, "Ah! Auntie, stop! Stop!"
The woman easily dragged Perith's helpless thin body.
"You bastard! You dare to run away from your responsibilities at home, huh?!", the woman berated.
"No, no, no! You got it wrong! I already finished my chores! Ah! Forgive me, I won't lie again! Ah!"
After the short commotion, everyone lost interest and went back to their usual lives.
'Is this how the elven communities live?', Eluard looked around. Elves should have their homes on top of trees, or somewhere deep in the woods, but these elves had theirs on the open ground, just like in human communities.
Eluard encountered a few humans on the way. For some reason, however, the elves seem to be rather friendly with them.
There were also families composed of a human and elven parent, surprising Eluard.
'Don't tell me the elves and humans bred off with one another? I thought the elves were strict about their inheritance rules.'
He walked around and searched for the marketplace. He planned to see what goods were on sale.
'I definitely won't be able to buy quality materials here, but this should help me on knowing the market prices around.'
He also hoped to be lucky enough and stumble on something rare as well.
Another commotion suddenly erupted near him, gathering Eluard's attention.
"Oh, look! It's Goddess Haera, the goddess of magic from the Alderian Magic Haven!"
"Why is she here? Didn't she return to the Magic Haven a few days ago?"
People started discussing the arrival of a group of elves. Leading them was a beautiful elf with her golden eyes looking at the sides.
Her graceful figure enchanted Eluard more than ever since he wasn't wearing his mask in the meantime.
Eluard's eyes opened wide.
'Wasn't she that person I saw back from the Leeveria forest a few days ago?'
There were also the twins, Rina and Rono, with the little girl jumping in elation while her twin brother sulked behind.
His stupefaction was interrupted when somebody shouted behind his back.
"Hey, you bastard human! Why are you blocking the damn way?!"
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