Greed is universal
After observing for a while Harrison did not want to leave the town empty-handed so he made his way towards a stall filled with fruit in front what looked like a general store.
He had mixed feelings when he stepped inside. One one hand he didn't have any means of communication with the natives but on the other hand if he completely avoided the interaction he would never have means of communicating with them.
'It's good that my appearance is of a teenage kid so I pose no threat to them and I am easily ignored.', he thought to himself.
After the fruits and vegetable filled stalls he came through a wide door which had big windows on both sides letting in the sunshine, On the windows there was an iron cage made of squares to prevent burglars, probably.
As he came in, he could see a variety of cheeses on the shelves and dried meats hanging on the corner. The next shelf had different ropes and farming tools. After that there were some weapon and armour racks.
He saw something like numbers written on each item but he didn't know which numbers they represented. Finally he spotted what he was looking for the most. A shelf filled with books.
As he came forward toward the bookshelf he suddenly noticed he was being watched. A tall, plump middle-aged man wearing an apron was looking at him with hostility with half his face being covered by a shelf.
'Old man I could rob you blind if I wanted to and you would have no way of proving it.', he thought to himself as he smiled back at the shopkeeper. Harrison of course did not dare to try putting stuff into his inventory as he did not know what would happen to him even if they had no way of proving he stole the items.
He looked at a few books that looked like they were made for children. Rich parent's children to be exact since no children that lived in mud houses would ever get to see one up close, probably. They were filled with illustrations on the covers and he wanted to open them up when he was suddenly grabbed by his shoulder and was shoved towards the door.
It was not gentle, but it was by no means hard. As he turned his head he was greeted by the shopkeepers angry stare and he could only smile back. At the door the shopkeeper wiped his hands on the apron like he just touched something disgusting and waited between the door until Harrison went away.
Harrison did go away, but he didn't give up hope on getting at least one of those books. He found a quiet place between two houses and took out a dagger from his inventory.
Returning back to the shop he held the dagger in his hand and went back to the bookshelf. The shopkeeper's footsteps were soon heard and when he came around the corner he was greeted with him holding his dagger.
The shopkeeper started yelling as Harrison smiled turned the dagger around holding it by the blade and pointed at the bookshelf.
The shopkeeper's expression changed from anger to bewilderment but he soon figured out that the boy wanted an exchange of goods.
'He is probably a mute and wants to look at the pretty drawings,' he thought.
He raised one finger and said: "Olk."
Harrison raised four fingers.
Shopkeeper shook his head raised one finger again and repeated: "Olk."
Harrison raised four fingers again and lowered one as he saw the shopkeeper looking at him angrily.
Shopkeeper shook his head again and raised two fingers and said: "Bolk."
Bartering skill unlocked.
Bartering skill LVL. 1 acquired.
Bonus Wisdom +1 (not applied since over 10)
'Ohhh. An unexpected bonus. Thank you system for nothing.'
Harrison nodded with a smile and pushed the dagger towards him. The shopkeeper took it and weighed it in his hands and tried it's sharpness be running his fingers across it. A smile of satisfaction appeared on his face.
'I probably got shafted but I don't care.', Harrison thought as he saw his demeanor.
Even though he got a good deal out of it he was watching Harrison like a hawk and was walking near him and breathing down his neck until he picked up two books and was leaving the shop. He followed him to the door as if he was a security guard watching his every move.
Harrison walked to the same spot between the houses and took out another dagger and put the two fresh new books in his inventory. He still had five almost intact daggers from his corpse looting and a ruined one.
Just as he was about to leave a window opened on the second story and someone poured something from it which splattered in the middle of the small dark alley.
'Well, that explains the prevailing stench of urine.', he thought as he shook his head.
As he returned to the shop, the shopkeeper gave him a look that basically spelled out why are you back but did not make any aggressive actions towards him.
Showing him the dagger he held by the blade and pointing towards the bookshelf with two fingers raised the business was quickly concluded and he left the shop immediately after a while the shopkeeper watched him for a long time trying to determine the direction where he was going from the stalls in the front of the shop's entrance.
Harrison felt this was enough excitement for today and was leaving the small town the same way he came from.
After a couple of aka shas he almost left the slum area of the town when three of kids surrounded him. The two taller kids stood in front of him and one circled around him from the back.
"Aka sha!", he said to the two in front and tried to move past them.
They were wearing ragged dirty clothes which smelled of sweat and urine and even with him purposely dirtying his clothes there was a stark difference between them. They were barefoot, and he was wearing leather boots which was probably also the main reason they decided to ambush him.
One of the tall boys said something and tried to grab him by his shoulder. Harrison twisted away and looked at him viciously which gave him a bit of pause. The other one jumped on him instead trying to grab him by the waist to tackle him but was greeted by a knee instead and was knocked out cold.
The one who came from behind picked up a fistful of sand from the ground and threw it towards Harrison's face and it flew towards his eyes but he closed them fast enough. Still the other tall boy used this opening to try to tackle him but instead of succeeding he found himself being raised from the ground and body slammed like a rag-doll.
The smaller one wanted to rush into the fray but when he saw the taller ones laying in front of Harrison one knocked out and the other moaning and out of breath crawling on the ground with his head in the sand he hesitated. He just stood there and could not decide if he wanted to run away or attack Harrison.
Harrison just shook his head and pretended to step on the tall boy's head and pointed at the small one showing a vicious smile. He repeatedly wiggled his finger as if to ask him to come closer to get a pummeling as well. The small boy finally lost all semblance of bravery and ran as fast as his dirty feet could take him.
'Heh. I guess greed is universal.', Harrison thought as he walked away leaving the other two laying in the middle of the road.
After a good while of walking he finally came to the dirty underwear which was still prominently displayed on the bushes by the road. He stopped and looked around to check if someone followed him and then rushed into the woods as he saw the coast was clear. Following the markings was easy, and he soon found himself in front of the pond.
Some inventory cleaning and washing time later he was in his cave looking at his spoils of the day.
They were four books for children with vivid covers and a lot of illustrations on the inside. They were not printed but made by hand and he didn't feel he overpaid as he looked at the level of craftmanship and time that went into making them.
'I guess weapons are more appreciated than art in this world.', he thought.
He analyzed all four while eating dinner of roasted ratbit with some water. All he needed to do was open the books in inventory and click on the analyze button and wait so he could multitask easily.
As he was munching on the ratbit, he suddenly had an intense feeling of regret.
"Damn it. I forgot to buy SAAAALT.", he yelled in frustration.