Dorest

Upon seeing the elderly person, Kiro couldn't help to fix his line of eyesight at the transparent crystal ball.

Perceiving Kiro was curiously staring at the magic tool, the elderly person couldn't help to check him out, as he gazed at him from top to bottom.

When he was done examining him and didn't find something out of the place. The elderly person moved forward and greeted him politely.

"Oh, sorry for the wait. Young man, Nice to meet you. I am Geoffrey, the Chief of this Village." Chief Geoffrey stated whilst darting his sharp eyes to Kiro.

"Mm, nice to meet you, chief Geoffrey, I am called Kiro a traveling merchant." Kiro respectfully said as he gave the elderly person a slight bow.

He used to work as a waiter from the family restaurant, so he wasn't embarrassed by the gesture he made, but he finds it a burdensome thing to do when he thinks about the future.

"Kiro?... Hm, what unusual name, dark hair, and pitch-black eyes are you perhaps from the east?" Chief Geoffrey glanced at Kiro oddly.

"... Yes, I came from the east." Kiro found the question was quite off. But didn't deny the assumption. And while it is also true, the country he used to live in was from the east side of the globe.

"Mm, you have an adequate temperament fitted for a definition of an inexperienced merchant, but sad to say, I still need you to place your hand from this anti-criminal device."

"As a chief, it is my task to keep the tranquility of this village. I assume you won't mind, do you?" Chief Geoffrey responded with a rueful smile.

"Not at all Chief Geoffrey It was I who came here without an Identification Card. "Kiro said while he stretches out his right hand and places his palm from the transparent crystal ball.

a dazzling white light emanates to the translucent crystal orb.

As he stared at the glittering white light, the village chief Geoffrey gave a slight nod of approval.

Glancing at the chief reaction, Kiro couldn't help but blurt out his thoughts.

"Chief Geoffrey, what is the meaning of this color? To be honest, it was my first time seeing the anti-criminal device." Kiro stared curiously at the transparent crystal ball.

"Hoho, looking at how curiously you are scrutinizing at the anti-criminal device. I already knew it was your first time seeing one." Watching the curious Kiro oddly Chief Geoffrey unfolded its mechanism.

"Very well, the meaning of the white color from the device is you never killed a person before."

"While there's more than one color from this anti-criminal device, it is a rare sight even for me to see a spotless white from this device."

"The other color is green represents that you obey the law but have already slain someone. It was approved by the law, or the one it killed was a criminal."

"Next is grey; the person who has this color represents that a person was a criminal from the past and given a pardon. Following that is the black color if one has that color only means the person who does wicked things like killing, abducting a person, or selling illegal magical tools. In short, a dangerous person."

"The last color is to identify if you are a human. If a red color appeared from the criminal device, that person wasn't a human but a demon." Once he utters those words, a thick of hatred could be felt from chief Geoffrey's voice.

Feeling the thick hatred from the village chief's words, the atmosphere around the two became uncomfortable.

Chief Geoffrey was the first one who felt the atmosphere became an unpleasant one, knowing that it was his fault. He tried to hide his embarrassment with a dry laugh.

"Hehehe, sorry about that Kiro the procedure is done you can now enter the village." Chief Geoffrey quickly changed gear, and his years of experience as a chief showed it fruition."Welcome to the Village of Dorest!"

∘

∘

∘

Going Inside the village, Kiro was looking around at the architecture of the houses. What he saw was a house made of distinct types of woods, as for the roof was made of straw.

The scenery before him was like he turned back in time to the Middle age of the Medieval period.

Some curious folks were looking at him inside their wooden house. Kiro saw a child playing with a rag doll, giving her a warm smile.

Following the village, the chief leads.

The group of two people stopped at the tallest building in this place, looking at the house made of stone while the roof wasn't made of cheap straw. Instead, it was made of small wooden tiles.

It is clear as a day that the village chief leads the way to his house.

Geoffrey stopped walking and looked back at Kiro, who's behind him.

"Sorry Kiro, it is rare to see visitors here in my village, so there is no proper lodging for a traveler merchant like yourself. I could let you stay a night here at my place." Chief Geoffrey said apologetically.

"Oh, then I would be grateful If that's the case, even staying in the stable will be luxurious for me," Kiro replied politely. He wouldn't reject the chief Geoffrey's generosity.

"Then let's go inside. It's been a while since I have a visitor here at my place." Chief Geoffrey stated while making an inviting gesture.

"Then, sorry for the trouble," Kiro said in a grateful tone.

∘

∘

∘

Inside the Village Chief House.

Kiro was lying down on the crude wooden bed from his former world. It is called a cheap wooden bed frame, but here it is considered a luxury item.

Staring at the ceiling of the house, Kiro was in deep thought.

"Mm... Everything that happened was so sudden. That damn voice who didn't even give me a chance to reject the offer also, I am now forced to live here In this world."

"... Haah~ What should I do from now on?" Kiro mumbles. Not only was he left behind with nothing but the so-called reward, he didn't even have money to sustain his living. It was not like he could be a forever freeloader here in this village.

As Kiro thinks at this point, he suddenly remembered that he was a penniless person.

"Haah~ now what? Living? How in this world could I live here? I don't even know if I could adopt the lifestyle here from now on. Living in the modern world where everything you need is almost available inside the convenience store. How am I supposed to adopt the lifestyle here?" Kiro voiced his dissatisfaction.

Understanding nothing would be changed, even if he curses for the entire day. He would instead think of ways how to survive in this world.

Whilst he was in deep thought, a sound of knocking could be heard inside the room.

*𝐾𝑛𝑜𝑐𝑘 * 𝐾𝑛𝑜𝑐𝑘*

"Kiro, are you there?" Chief Geoffrey asked in a light tone.

"Yes, what is it? Chief Geoffrey?"

"I thought you were hungry from your long journey, well, it is still early to have lunch, but there was leftover dried meat and soup early in the morning. So I reheated it. If you are hungry, the food will be in the kitchen."

"Okay, Chief Geoffrey, Thanks for the trouble, I'll definitely repay the favor," Kiro responded with a grateful tone.

"Hohoho, it is nothing, helping the young ones, what this old bone ought to do." Hearing Kiro's grateful voice, chief Geoffrey smiles slightly then leaves the corridor.

It was still early to have lunch, but Kiro left the room to have a meal.

∘

∘

∘

Consuming a single serving of dried meat and soup, Kiro roamed around the house whilst searching for the village chief's whereabouts. Subsequently, he found chief Geoffrey in the courtyard of the house; he there was sitting on the wooden bench while absentmindedly staring at the blue sky.

When he noticed Kiro was proactively searching for him. Chief Geoffrey initiated the conversation.

"Mm, you seemed to be done eating, how is the food? It was the local dried meat product here In the village." Chief Geoffrey inquired Kiro in anticipation.

"It is good, and I haven't tasted such strong smoke-dried meat before." Kiro was telling the truth here even though the food was simple. It was delicious.

"Hahaha, that is good to hear. It was our village's special smoked dried meat." Chief Geoffrey heartedly laughs.

Seeing Geoffrey make life easy for him, Kiro didn't hold back and ask a question.

"Chief Geoffrey, I'm here to ask you something, I don't know if you are an expert in this kind of field, I would like to know if you ever heard the name Greasy Grass before."

In a short amount of time pondering how to earn money, he suddenly remembered the rare Greasy Grass inside the Diante Forest.

Because of his Innate appraisal skill, it wasn't hard for him to find the rare grass once more he thought if he wanted to survive in this world. He needed money to support his traveling expenses until he found a nice place to settle in. He can't stay here forever from this village and take advantage of the generosity of the old fellow.

"Greasy Grass? Hmm... If I remember correctly, the direction you came from was near the Diante forest, right? Did you perhaps find one?" Chief Geoffrey said that he gazed at Kiro in deep thought.

"Yeah, I think I saw one inside the forest, but at that moment, I don't have time or luxury to pick up some herbs."

"If what you saw is a real Greasy Grass, you'll make some fortune out of it from time to time adventurers will come by to our village just to seek those rare grass, but only a few succeed to find one. If I didn't recall it incorrectly, Greasy Grass was a very proficient herb for making a mana potion. Once directly eaten, it could even boost your mana recovery." Chief Geoffrey muttered.

"Really? If that's the case, I might go back to the forest and look for it." Kiro's eyes flash with greed. He is a penniless person who desperately needs some money.

"Hold your horses' young man, didn't you just get attacked by a group of monsters yet here you are proactively seeking trouble? Aren't you tired of living?" Chief Geoffrey strictly rebuked him.

"I heard it from Milo. A group of monsters attacked your carriage. Just forget about it, no matter how much money you earn, if you can't live to enjoy the fruition of your hard labor, then it is meaningless."

Milo? Kiro finally remembered the watchtower guard. He was speechless from the words coming from the chief Geoffrey's mouth. He recalled that for the sake of his temporary merchant Identity; he made an absurd story even now he couldn't believe someone buys his story.

"Hehehe, don't worry, Chief Geoffrey from the place where I saw the greasy grass. It was an open field. There was no monster in the vicinity. It was just my mind was preoccupied with how to escape." Kiro cracked a laugh. He didn't know that grass yields a lot of profit.

"Chief, what is the market price for a single stalk of Greasy grass?" Kiro tried to avoid the topic by inquiring about an additional question. "If It was before one stalk of greasy grass is equivalent to 50 silver coins, so if you can find a bulk from a normal family with that kind of money. They will have a serene life for at least half a year."

Kiro's eyes flash with greed. He never expected it to be so expensive.

The currency of this world was divided into five types of coins.

10 Iron coins = 1 Copper coin.

10 Copper coins = 1 Silver coin.

100 Silver coins = 1 Gold coin.

100 Gold coins = 1 White Gold coin.

Only means If he got a single stalk, he could live without worrying being broke for at least a month or two.

If he could harvest a lot of herbs, he may have an easy life for a fresh start.

"Is that so? Thank you, Chief Geoffrey, I'll be back at my room." Kiro bids him farewell while excitedly returns to his room.

Chief Geoffrey was staring at the back of the young man who disappeared from the corridor. With his rich experience, he could tell the greed from Kiro's eye. Even though Kiro tried so hard to hide his expression, his simple gesture couldn't escape from old Geoffrey's eye.

∘

∘

∘

Returning from his room, Kiro was walking back and forth at the entrance of his lodge.

After a long while, Kiro eventually went back to the Diante Forest.

Without trying to say goodbye from the village chief, he went out of the house quietly.

He didn't want to meet the village chief lest the Old fellow worries for him for no reason, so he headed back to the entrance where he came in earlier.

Seeing the familiar tower guard, Milo. Kiro waves his right hand at him.

"Hey Kiro, where are you going? Don't tell me you will go back to the forest?"

"... Hehehe, Yep, but not in the place where the monsters were lurking around, but it was in the place where I rested. I just need to verify something." Kiro cracks a dry laugh as he babbles some nonsense.

"Haah~ Even though you are young but you're already at the age where we adults don't interfere with your life. Come back before evening, or else chief Geoffrey might start a search party If you didn't come back In time." Milo reprimanded Kiro lightly, but he wouldn't stop him from going out, after all. His duty was only to guard the village, not to discipline the immature man. In this world, Kiro's age is already considered as a full-fledged adult.

∘

∘

∘

Traveling back to the forest with his newly developed mind, Kiro already memorized the right passage to get back into the woods.

After walking for a half-hour soon enough, a familiar sight appeared before him.

Staring at the massive lush greenery in the forest's midst. Kiro activated his Innate Skill.

"[Appraisal]!" Kiro mumbled the keyword, then he finally saw what he was searching for.

[Greasy Grass] - Rarity rate: Rare.

- Greasy Grass Is a rare Grass that only grows in the part of the Diante Forest.

- The primary ingredient for making a mid-grade mana potion.

- Consuming will boost up the user MP recovery rate by 5% for an hour.

What's more shocking, there's a bunch of them growing with bulk at the same place.

Sadly, he couldn't take all of it. The reason it was on an outrageous demand was because of rarity and the freshness of the stalk and the quality of the herb. Once it is pulled out, Kiro doesn't know how long the liveliness of the stem will last.

Even though Kiro wasn't an expert from this kind of field, he wasn't a fool for not knowing the grass might not be preserved for his long journey without proper equipment to sustain the freshness of the herb. So he decided just to pluck ten pieces of stalk, he already decided that he will give the two parts of the stem for the village chief and another one for the tower guard.

When he was about to leave the forest, a creaking sound could be heard behind the bush.