2 Carne Village, the traveler merchant, broken? staff, and a village girl.
Re-Estize kingdom (Carne village)
The sun was rising, in a morning that looked no different from any other. The farmers were going out to work ploughing the fields.
Enri Emmot, a beautiful young maiden in her late teens with golden hair tied in a braid, brown eyes and dressed in brown woolen clothes was begrudgingly milking a goat.
She enjoyed taking care of the fields but not so much working with the animals. It is not that she is not a hard-working girl, however she prefers to work with other people as well.
Because of the lack of resources, farm animals in the village have been reduced, taking care of the animals was now a one-person job.
The village chef to "protect" Enri, as he felt responsible of the orphan after the dead of her father in a goblin raid, decided to assign taking care of the farm animals to her.
With 17 years, no remaining family members (since her mother died giving birth to her) and now, working somewhat isolated from her peers she was becoming increasingly frustrated.
When looking at the group of farmers leaving towards the fields, she felt a small amount of envy. But just then she noticed a small commotion.
'Hmmm? Tax collector? No, they should not come until next month. It's probably an adventurer, or a merchant.' Thought Enri
From the group of farmers one of them started walking back with a person towards the village chief house. That is when Enri got a closer look of the person.
Brown shoulder length hair and a serious face that showed confidence but seemed to hide something mysterious. He was tall, about 6'5" and devilishly handsome.
He was wearing a black suit with gray lines and inside he had a purple shirt and tie. His left hand was holding a black cane with a golden handle that held some leaves decorations.
His shoes were black as well, without a hint of dirt, something strange considering he was walking on foot on a dirt road.
He looked like a noble, but nobles would not come to a remote village such as Carne, now that Enri thought about it, neither would merchants without a caravan nor tax collectors without guards.
'Could he be an adventurer?' That seemed like the most possible answer, however the lack of any other team members, his abundant charisma and the cleanness of his clothing made it hard to believe.
10 minutes before (Outskirts of Carne Village)
'I've always wanted to have a magic store, to sell all kind of items and artifacts. To be the mysterious merchant' said Viktor with a huge grin.
He chose to have the appearance of a handsome tall man with very manly facial features and brown shoulder length hair.
Wearing a formal suit that he knew didn't fit to the medieval era which the place seemed to be at. Thinking 'this may add more to the mystery.'
He did not feel the need to hide his abilities or power since he did not had any enemies in the original world or in-game given he was a developer and not a player.
However he would not be flaunting his magic. Even if any Yggdrasil player ended up in this place he could probably flick them dead in an instant but, so what?
Viktor was not a villain nor an egotistical person who wished to rule the world. He was happy with having a magic store in a corner of this place, and he would not butt heads with others if it was not needed.
And therefore he decided to take on a persona that exuded charisma, wearing something that screamed "otherworldly". People of this world would find it intriguing maybe. People from Viktor's would know something was going on.
"Greetings gentlemen my name is Merek Ead Theano" Viktor greeted the villagers that were watching him with wariness using a name he came up with minutes ago.
(A/N: Merek means strong ruler, Ead means abundant riches, while Theano means divine… so basically the "the Strong divine ruler with abundant riches")
They were going through the gate of the fence that was little more than some sticks with a couple of tree trunks here and there.
The farmers just kept watching him with wariness while murmuring to each other. Hearing the murmurs a couple of meters away was no problem for him but he didn't gave any attention to it.
"I'm a traveling merchant Looking for a place to rest and maybe trade a few wares" Spoke Viktor again. The reaction this time was very different from the first one.
Some farmers started walking again, ignoring him while going to do their business of ploughing the fields. While some watched him with hopeful eyes, and other with despise.
"If you need a place to rest you gonna've to ask the chief. Maybe he'll 'et you stay in one of the empty houses for the day". Said one of the farmers after a couple of seconds had passed.
Then, after a moment of silence, just when Viktor was going to ask who, or where was the village chief.
The same farmer asked to one of the youngest one "hey Billy, care to take the man to the chief? Make sure to come back right away and stay away from the Enri girl, you waste your time trying to woo her"
The young man named Billy gave a hateful stare towards the farmer, but it seemed that the stare was not because of the task of taking Viktor (Merek from now on) to see the chief, since he smiled towards Merek and said a simple "follow".
Billy asked a couple of questions along the way, which Merek answered the ones he could. Others he would dodge or just lie trying to stick to the persona of a merchant.
When he asked what did Ulrich sells Merek asked "Have you seen magic?"
To which the young man answered "some time ago an alchemist used to come to pick herbs or something, he can do magic but I've never seen it. Enri speaks 'bout him a lot" and he proceeded to spit towards the ground.
'Hmmm? This boy seems smitten with that Enri girl. But if she speaks a lot about the alchemist maybe she has something for the other guy. Well whatever, it's none of my business'.
"Well you see boy, what I sell is magic wares. Enchanted items, potions, magic scrolls, spell books you know all the good stuff"
Noticing he did not had anything other than what he was wearing and a cane. The boy gave him a doubtful look.
Watching the boy look him with doubt Merek pointed to his finger in which he was wearing a gold meteorite ring.
Billy just gave him a questioning look to which Merek answered by letting go of his cane.
However instead of falling, some circles with runes inscribed appeared along the cane going from its handle to the heel as it dissolved into motes of light.
At first the young farmer was bewildered, but suddenly he had a change in behavior while he started smiling and looking at the distance.
Looking towards were Billy was smiling at, Merek found a young girl with her forehead glistening from what looked like sweat, looking at them intently.
Just when Merek was about to raise his hand to greet her, Billy gave him a small "shush" followed by "common let's go get ya' to the chief before these lazy bumps start whining"
Merek took no heed in the young man lack of manner and therefore was not offended considering he was just a village boy and decided to follow him making his cane reappear on his hand.
When they arrived at a village house that was somewhat better than the other ones Billy knocked on the door yelling "chief"
"what's with the ruckus kid" A voice could be heard as well as some steps nearing the door.
"kreeeen" the rusty hinges of the door sounded as a middle age man with wrinkles and a skin that clearly has been punished by the sun more than what is healthy showed up.
"Old man, this guy has some questions to ya" said Billy and left quickly without waiting for an answer.
"kids these days don't know manners, gonna have to talk with his parents… hello sir, how may I help you?" spoke the chief
"Greetings Village chief-san I'm a traveling merchant named Merek Ead Theano, when searching for a place to rest I found your village and wanted to ask if I could stay for a couple of days to rest and trade a few wares if possible" said Merek
"mmm traveling merchant you say… where do you come from sir" asked the village chief given the fancy garments Merek was wearing
Merek answered with the story he chose previously "you see, I was on a travel to one of the places I trade with".
"On the journey I found a sinkhole near a boulder to the side of the trail"
"Since it looked unexplored, I decided to take a look to see if I could find something juicy in there". Rubbing his hands in the common money sign
"…What I found was some kind of tomb. A giant one with lots of rooms and crypts"
"Given I specialize on magical wares I searched around until I found a room with a single casket but when I approached".
Merek stopped his story to add some drama (wich seemed to work as the village chief came closer and gave a "go on" look to Merek.
"That's when it all happened. A dazzling light came up from the floor and after three or four seconds of sudden darkness I found myself on the woods near the village" said Merek ending his story
"you mean the forest of tob, my goodness that is a very dangerous place sir, it's good that you were able to come out without harm. Come in, come in" the village chief spoke showing worry towards Merek.
Merek followed the village chief and answered "Its nothing village chief, in my line of work I must be prepared to deal with any contingency."
The village chief looked him with respect on his eyes as he said "still sir, it's not good to spend too much time there that place is filled with monsters and beast you know"
"You must be tired sir if you had to deal with all that this morning let me get you some refreshments" He called his wife to get refreshments for their guest.
Merek told him then that he was on the forest since the previous day and waited until morning so that they were not bothered by a uninvited guest during the night.
"ONE WHOLE DAY??? Wait, that means… did you happened to hear a loud explosion sound during yesterday's night?"
The village chief asked as during the previous night a really loud "bang" was heard which woke everyone up in the village and put them on alert.
"I didn't heard any explosion, but there was a big crater near the place I landed… hmmm… maybe the teleportation trap was coupled with an explosion spell…"
"But then why would it hit somewhere else and before I land… it must have been a mishap, making the explosion arrive before and somewhere a little off"
"Damn those old people leaving tombs filled with traps… good thing they didn't know the proper order of things" said Merek showing a creepy smile as his joke fell flat.
"Sure" answered the chief sweating from hearing a joke from someone whose topic of the joke was something that could left him dead and in pieces.
Changing the topic of conversation and just when his wife came with the refreshments the village chief decided to ask Merek "You said you specialize on magical wares sir, do you care to explain what you mean?"
"From magical scrolls to grimoire, from magic wands to staffs, enchanted weapons or armors, magical artifacts, potions or poisons anything magical."
"If you are searching for any of those, you may be closer than you think, just ask me and I can most certainly provide" Merek finished saying just as he took a sip of the tea provided on the wooden mugs.
Before the chief asked anything else, when Merek tasted the grassy taste of the tea he snapped his finger and a small pitcher full of honey appeared on the table between them.
"Would you care for some honey" Merek asked after dropping some on his tea.
"We wouldn't dare" said both the chief and his wife bewildered at the sudden appearance of the honey pitcher and the fact that he was offering honey (which was expensive on this world) to some villagers.
"I insist" said Merek with the warmest smile he could muster, but given the situation it was a little bit creepy.
"Well it would be an offense if we dared to deny after you insist" answered the village chief a little bit nervous from the fact he was accepting expensive honey from a pitcher that magically appeared after a snap of fingers from a creepy merchant.
After taking a couple of sips from the tea (which was incredibly sweet with just a few drops of honey) they kept talking about the wares Merek traded and such
The village chief spoke "Well, we appreciate that you are willing to trade with us villagers sir but given the nature of your wares and the economy of the village I doubt any of the locals could produce enough money to purchase even the cheapest of your wares".
"Worry not for I not only sell stuff I also buy, and before You express the lack of suitability of your belongings I must remind you value is on the eyes of the beholder"
"I'm not entirely sure what you mean sir Merek." Said the village chief with an ever increasing sense of awe towards Merek.
"Well for instance I'm not entirely sure where I am therefore information about the surrounding Countries their political structures or anything at all about the theology of this area it's valuable for me."
"So if you have any information on those or any maps they could be handsomely rewarded" said Merek As he closed and opened his palm making appear a couple of gold coins in it
Those were Yggdrasil gold coins and Merek showed them to watch the expression of the village chief.
The face of the chief and his wife showed that either they've never seen those type of coins or that they were very rare or valuable.
"Sir we've never seen those coins before, besides if they are gold as they seem, anything we can tell or give you shouldn't be worth their value". Said the village chief
"Never seen them? Is the insignia different from the coins of any of the nearby countries?" asked Merek
"Not only that, their size is about twice as big as the coins from here, look" said the village chief while he proceeded to show some copper coins.
"The silver and gold coins should be about the same size"
"The weight is standardized as well therefore coins from any of the nearby countries should be the same, the difference being their insignia however those are way different than coins from nearby..."
"hmm? Worry not if you provide any useful information these gold coins will be yours… if you have no way to change them to the local currency then maybe we can find another form of payment. I'm sure we can agree on something"
The village chief proceeded to fetch a map and explain the nearby countries what he knew about there political structures there happenings he talked about the adventure groups he knew of and anything in general.
"Very well since you provided with much needed useful information and valuable time here you go" said Merek giving him three gold coins
For him three gold coins was basically nothing. He has an almost if not literally endless supply of them on his [Inventory] and even if he did run out he could just [Create] them with his magical skills.
"maybe you can find a use for these as well" Merek preceded to produce two small glass vials with cork stoppers and some Crimson red liquid
"These are two healing potions they should be able to cure any injuries on one person each, However they only work for injuries and not diseases nor curses"
"S-sir, this…" Just when the village chef was going to refuse Merek intercepted.
"The gold was a payment for the information and your time. If it's not much of a bother take these in place of payment for a place to stay for a couple of days"
"Ohh nonono, it's No bother at all but s-still…w-well Pardon me for a lack of manners" Said the village chief as he took the two potion vials.
"We do have a vacant house but you know…The accommodations are mmm… too unworthy for a person of your caliber" said the village chief.
"You jest, If I find anything lacking I can modify it or provide myself" answered Merek
"I-if you are sure then let me show you" the chief said as he gestured Merek to follow him.
When moving towards the village house, the same girl was turning the hay on a haystack, she kept working while watching them.
This time Merek asked the village chief about her which he only responded with a long sigh and a "poor child, deserves better but without parents… we do what we can".
To which Merek spoke "I see… life on a frontier village isn't the easiest"
Soon they arrived at a somewhat abandoned village house and he showed it to Merek "it shames me that this is the only place I have to offer". Said the village chief.
"It's more than enough for a place to rest a couple of days. Besides, I can modify it if you allow me" said Merek
To which the chief replied "You can modify it as you see fit sir. You see the owner of this house is not with us anymore so you can stay as long as you need"
"I'm sorry to hear that"
"two years ago, in a goblin raid 7 died there". told the chief
"ohhh, damn… Do you have many of those… you know, monster attacks?" Said Merek
"No no, in fact, they are very rare given the turf of the wise king of the forest is the closest in the forest to the village. Apparently they came because of an internal conflict". Replied the chief
Merek already knew about the wise king of the forest from the previous conversation on the chief house.
Before the chief left, Merek told him that if any villager wanted to trade or if they had any valuable information they could come to him.
The village chief left and Merek thought for a couple of minutes and decided to go to the nearest woods to gather lumber to repair the house.
He would stay there for a couple of days, maybe a week or two but until he decided where to go next, living in a run-down house was not his goal.
Of course, he could technically create the lumber with his (creation divinity).
But showing all your cards was never a good play and even though he thought he had no enemies, it's better to be safe than sorry.
Also he couldn't just tell he was carrying it in his magic ring since even if he was a "magical traveling merchant", who would carry lumber in his "spatial ring"?
While it crossed his mind, using the tier IV spell [Wind Blade] to chop the trees was definitely overkill. So he decided to use a tierless spell to create a weaker [Wind Blade] with as little mana as he could
(A/N decided to call the new magic system spells tierless)
And it was… still overkill. Chopping down 4 trees in a row before dissipating as it hit the fifth tree and left a big gash.
He instinctively understood the problem. It was his not that he lacked mana control. It was just that his mana pool was so huge that what he could measure as small has still a huge amount.
While the tiered system automatically selected the appropriate amount of mana. The tierless spells required him to input the mana he desired.
And doing so was like trying to grab a grain of salt from a salt mountain using an excavator, the control required was insane. He could probably train to control it better but he preferred to leave that for later.
With that in mind he decided then and there to create a new cane, a proper magical item (his previous one was purely cosmetic) by fusing it and enchanting it as needed.
For the handle and neck [Mystic Gold] (one of the prismatic ores of Yggdrasil) was used. The body was made of a [Dead Branch of the World Tree].
While a [Branch of the World Tree] was one of the best materials to make a magic staff given its magic conductivity, the [Dead Branch of the World Tree] was the opposite.
The magic conductivity of it was near cero. Probably a great defensive item could be made from it, but a staff wouldn't normally be made neither from it nor the ferrule's material [Apoithakarah].
Another prismatic ore that worked as a magical dampener. Each material was almost priceless in Yggdrasil, but they were fused to create a cane/staff that most people would call useless despite its price.
Normally to create a cane like this various job classes would be needed like [Alchemist], [Magical blacksmith] and so on. But to Merek it flowed natural. A perk of the [Creator god] job.
Next, he used runes and classic enchantments on the staff to further increase the dampening, dissipation and resistance to magic.
Creating the "trashiest" [Divine] class item to ever exist. The sole purpose of the cane/staff was to waste more mana than needed for spells.
[Tax Cane of Dampening] any Yggdrasil player would just disassemble the cane for its materials, but for Merek it was just what he needed.
He tried using the tierless [Wind Blade] against the tree he left with a gash and it went through, dissolving shortly after chopping down the tree and not colliding with anything else.
'Nice it seems to work as intended…' now, it was nice he could create almost everything from scratch and apparently even the materials from nowhere thanks to his [Creation god] job.
But even when he could just pop anything into existence, doing so to sell the items on the store he wanted to build Merek felt was boring.
Merek decided that, if he could, he would only sell items created from materials found this world. Of course an exception could be made, but it should not become the norm.
He practiced with his new cane and chopped the trees into lumber. After gathering enough wood, he stored it in his [Inventory] "Spatial ring" and went back towards the village.
Using a spell available for almost every artisan class [Repair] he rebuilt the run-down village house into a small wooden house. It looked spectacular, and out of place for a village like Carne.
Even the insides were properly furnished. Sitting on a wooden chair he started to think about what to do next, where to go next and so on.
He was unaware of what was going on outside. When the villagers came from the fields and saw the rebuilt house a commotion began, soon they went to speak with the village chief
After some time, he was experimenting by creating stuff and with the gacha system. He created alchemy glassware and equipment, weaponsmith and armorsmith equipment, an enchanting table and such.
When he used the gacha he got a LV40 sword that also inflicted ice damage with a low chance to freeze the enemies and a LV23 heater shield. The low levels result of using the common gacha.
Apparently, he could use the gacha as many times he wants… but flooding this world with items was of no benefit for him either.
'sigh, this character is to OP, creating anything from nothing is too broken. Will I find any challenge when building my magic store?'
The sound of someone coming near the house alerted him…"knock, knock, knock' the person announced his arrival after standing a few seconds in front of the door.
Merek opened the door
"H-hello sir, I heard you are a trader".
"Greetings miss…" said Merek
"Enri Emmot" said Enri blushing after noticing her blunder
"Well miss Emmot, my name is Merek Ead Theano and you heard correctly. I am indeed a trader. I specialize in trading magical wares, what can I offer you?" Spoke Merek.
"I first wanted to buy some cookware you know, but then then chief said that you probably wouldn't sell that stuff"
"And yet you came here miss Emmot… there must be something else you are interested in, why don't you tell me"
"W-well you see, he also said you'd buy things as well"
"depends… what do you intend to sell miss"
"Information"
"information… is it valuable miss Emmot?"
"I t-think so"
"Well, can you tell me what is it about?"
"…herbs"
"hmmm… indeed, it could be valuable. Do you have a payment you prefer such as gold, or do you want something specific?"
"Gold hold little value in a place like this sir…I lack money, but even if I had lots, in this village there is just so much I can buy"
"Smart miss Emmot, then do you have any other thing you wish?"
"C-can I tell you later?"
"Hmmm I hope you are not trying anything funny right, or is there a trick?" Merek narrowed his eyes
"N-no I wouldn't dare"
"Well you can start then."
"I can show you the location of some herbs an alchemist I know gathers from the forest of tob"
"Show me… aren't you afraid of being alone in the woods with a stranger miss Emmot?"
"You don't strike me as an evil person sir"
"That's good to hear. Your judgement this time may be correct but you should withhold judgment until you gather more information, looks might be deceiving."
"Thanks for the advice sir." Said Enri, leaving an awkward silence for a couple of seconds.
"Well miss Emmot, considering the hour, I think its better to leave our small trip for the morning…you can knock on my door whenever you are ready to leave for the forest tomorrow."
"I will sir. Thanks" said Enri smiling with a small blush after noticing she was speaking with a very handsome man on his house alone.
Leaving the village for the forest was something she has not done since her father died.
Previously she would plough the fields with her father, and sometimes when her alchemist friend used to come they would search for herbs in the forest.
However, after her father died they assigned her to tending the farm animals and her friend came less and less often. By now she has not seen him in at least a year and a half or so.
She understood he had his job and that he needed to take care of his grandmother. She was not angry with him, is just that when she needed someone the most on her life she felt she was left alone and isolated.
Going outside was something she desperately needed. Even if it was just to the forest, leaving the village for some hours would bring some relief… and if she got something from it, that would be a pretty sweet deal.
She had no idea what to ask Merek in exchange for the information, honestly she didn't thought he would agree. But now that he did she had one night to think it through.
