25 I Will Avenge My Honor

(Morgan Pov)

Sacaeans are known for never telling lies and being straight forward and it was a scumbag move, but I definitely used that to my advantage. If there is anything my first life taught me, it is the importance of marketing, branding, and reputation to a product.

Reputation was handled by stereotypes, so it was my job to pitch our wares to the merchants. I got lucky 3 years ago when I first did it in Bulgar, but I have been honing my craft. Over the years, I learned the intricate details of the production process of our wares.

So I sensualize the crafting process to the merchants, I provide meticulous details about the creation process. Things like how we select the materials to create our wares, the exact amount of time we spend in each process, and things our product can do that the other products can't.

I then take out the finest-looking raw materials from my inventory and show the merchants. And like any good commercial work, I work some editing magic to make it look better than it actually is. The merchants eat this stuff up and this convinces them that they are making a wise investment.

If that doesn't work, depending on the product I can even do a live demo for them. For example, the silk products we sell, I let them see for themselves how durable the raw material is. This allows them to see the metamorphosis from raw material to finished product, this adds some credibility to my explanations.

It's easier to convince a smart man to do something, tell them the facts, and let them come to their own conclusions. Those who want to appear smart are more willing to trust something the more details you give them and will try to feign intelligence by pretending they know what you are talking about.

Hassar doesn't like what I am doing, feels that it is somewhat dishonest. Technically, I'm not lying at all. I'm just being open about our tribe's work and presenting it in an easy-to-understand manner. We aren't just selling our wares, we are also selling the labor behind the product.

He still has his misgivings about my whole scheme, but he can't argue against the results it brings. We make more money selling our wares this way, and by advising to sell only to certain merchant associations the tribe builds a closer relationship with certain merchants.

The quality of our wares can be trusted. By having our wares be a mainstay with certain merchants the people who like our products will continue buying from those merchants. For every one of our products, I include a brand of sorts for repeat customers to recognize.

By attracting a constant stream of customers for them, the merchants view us in a more favorable light. So in an effort to keep us selling to them, merchants buy our wares at higher rates. It took some time, but my plan is finally working and we are finally gaining profits.

However to make sure they don't get too comfortable I always advise to keep talks open with their rivals. My first life has taught me never to trust businessmen, they will do whatever it takes to cheat you. That's why I don't mind lying to and cheating them out myself.

It's nothing too malicious. I just raise our value by telling them that our products have a secret ingredient or process that makes our wares unique. Once again I'm not lying, I do add some things to our wares and it's different for each one.

Why is this important? Well, I need a job only I can do, so I can escape the chores I don't like doing. Contributing to the overall wealth and looking for ways to improve our products is something that they gave me time to do. I don't slack off, so I get to keep this privilege.

I have avoided doing many of the chores dealing with animals. If the tribe needs extra hands for a task, I don't mind helping out. I have enough knowledge to deal with certain tasks, but I don't know anything about the advanced topics of animal husbandry. But sadly that time is coming to an end.

The young horses have finally physically developed enough for us to train them, it only took about 2 years. Or was it 2 and a half years? The point is the horses are old enough for us to break them in and prepare them for riding purposes. This leads us to today's main event.

Today is the day we have to separate the colts and fillies from the main herd to prevent inbreeding in the main herd. I don't know how they will choose which horses will undergo gelding, but all I know is that isn't a part of my job.

I hate animals, and animals hate me. I don't know why they hate me, but it's okay because eating them brings me an unhealthy amount of solace. They don't disrespect others like they do with me. It's not my fault they declared war on me, I'm just fighting to get even.

Since we have to separate the young horses from the main herd, that means we have another herd of animals to deal with. The adults came to a decision, that the young horses shall be taken care of by the next generation, which means I have more animal-related jobs.

This is a sort of test of skill to see if we can handle taking care of a herd without any help from the adults. A test to see if we can handle and/or be trusted with taking on such a big responsibility. Well not me specifically, as I have shown that I can handle a lot of different responsibilities.

I think I can avoid this job, but I am morally obligated to assist my buddies with this task. They made me a part of their group, which means I have to help them no matter what. No one can say I don't contribute to the group project, I always do my part of the work and I do it perfectly.

The second part of today is choosing our main horses. A while back the tribe had the fortune of running into a small herd of young fillies searching for a stallion to keep them safe. Luckily we had one male horse within the tribe, and the rest is as we say is history.

These fillies were young enough to be trained, but the adults didn't want to risk anything with the children. So it was mainly the adults who used these horses, slowly getting them accustomed to the presence of humans. The first foaling began 2 years ago, and now these horses are ready.

I don't want a horse, but it plays a big part in the status and reputation of the tribe. A tribe without any horses isn't really respected on the plains by natives. Horses are an integral part of the image of the ideal Sacaean, a Sacaean without a horse is like a bird that doesn't have wings.

Sure there are some Sacaeans that don't ride or have any horses, but a vast majority of them are either horseback archers or skilled swordsmen. So not having a horse is fine for an individual, but for a tribe, it sort of sends the message that you don't have the power to amass resources.

Horses are in the top 5 of animals that hate me the most and the top 5 animals I hate most. Coincidentally they are number 2 on both lists, but I will suck it up so the tribe can flex their strength. I hope the horse that I chose to be my main one isn't a complete asshat.

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"Remember you don't always choose the horse, sometimes it is the horses that will choose you to be their rider."(Batu)

What the hell does that even mean? If the horses choose the rider, then I am fucked. I haven't met all of the horses in the tribe, as I have avoided horse duty for so long. Who knows, maybe a miracle will happen, there might be a horse that likes me.

Hey, where did everyone go? I wanted to discuss with everyone what their plan was, but I guess that isn't happening. I have to get a move on, I don't want to be standing there like a jackass. How am I going to go about this? For now, I'll just approach the horses to see where that goes.

--------------------2 Hours Later

Why do these horses keep walking/running away from me? I am just walking towards them, I'm not even being aggressive to them. At least not yet, I'm getting closer and closer to the limit of my patience. I see a gray horse look at me and then walk towards me.

"Hello there. Do you want to be friends with me?"

Wait a second, this horse's ears are flattened back tightly on its head. If I remember what Hassar taught me, this is a sign that the horse is either annoyed or angry. Yup, that seems about accurate considering my luck with these animals.

"Ptuit!"

Did this long-faced bitch just spit at me?! Well, I never thought my life would come to this moment. I am fighting that horse, yup, I am totally going to fight that horse. As an advocate for equal rights, I am not against the idea of throwing hands with a horse.

I think I can take it on, it only has the height advantage on me. But, magic is the ultimate equalizer. No one ever said I had to fight fairly against a horse, this is just another form of natural selection.

"Morgan, what are you doing?"(Hassar)

"Avenging my honor!"

"Stop fooling around and choose a horse already, the others are almost done choosing."

"But the horse disrespected me. I have to do something about it."

"Calm down Morgan, you are just exager-"

"Ptuit!"

"Did you just see what happened?! I don't care, this is my horse now. I'm fighting anyone who wants to claim him. I will get this horse to yield to me, I don't care how long it takes me. Please stop laughing at me."

I am a very patient person, I will establish my dominance over this horse. I will teach this horse how to do all sorts of tricks for my amusement. I hope you are ready to learn how to drift buddy, this will be my petty revenge. I need to get even with that horse, for the sake of my pride.