Merchant Caravan

A day has passed since Alaric took inventory and commanded the slimes into reproduction. As of right now, the slimes were already showing signs of splitting.

Alaric had moved just about everything of interest into the village warehouse, and fed the rest to the slimes. Thankfully, slimes would eat anything and everything.

"18 bags of stone, 2 cords of wood, 2 kilograms of bread, 1 megaphone, 5 swords, 5 sabers, 2 spears, 2 blood red knives, and the unbloodied clothes of every villager..."

There was not even one stray copper coin, and Alaric was certain that there were some weapons missing. The food was significantly less than expected, it wouldn't be winter for another few months after all. 2 cords of wood and 18 large bags of stone could be considered extremely useful though, enough to build a large hut with some material leftover. The weapons weren't useful yet, but they may be one day.

Although he didn't know what to do with the stock he had, he knew that it was important to have it calculated. It would allow for him to be precise in his future planning. Alaric set the robed corpses in the village's cold storage, a place that had a formation that kept its interior cold year round.

"I'll let the slimes eat those corpses after they finish reproducing, they should provide a large amount of energy. Right now, I'm mainly worried about my own food preserves! The bread is pure carbs, so it'll fill me up fast... but without meat I won't be able to cultivate my body!"

Although meditation and the progression of one's supernatural talent was the most important, a sound mind could be found in a sound body. Every talent wielder out there took fitness extremely seriously.

'Even the village's farmland and seeds have been ransacked and stolen... a balanced diet is near impossible. Thankfully, the bread shouldn't expire for a while.'

While thinking, Alaric was actually waiting for something to happen. It was the beginning of a new week, and as such, a merchant caravan would be visiting each and every village in the range of the Great Forest of Neuling.

Alaric had already had the slime hidden inside of the village chief's abode since it was the most spacious. Of course, the slip slime would be kept inside of his leather bag in case of emergencies.

Alaric glanced at the sky, taking note of the sun's position. 'The caravan should be arriving in about 2 hours, if I woke up at 7 a.m. as per usual. I don't have money... but clothes and wood could take care of that issue.'

Although he wouldn't admit it, Alaric was mostly looking forward to human interaction.

"For now, I'll meditate. I can mourn but I mustn't slow down, although who they are is unknown, I'm sure the enemy becomes stronger by the second!"

Alaric began to gather mana from his surroundings into his system.

...

The hours quickly passed. 1 quickly became 2, and Alaric opened his eyes.

"After becoming a ranked wielder... I seem to be able to meditate even longer than before, this 2 hours isn't my limit at all."

At the same time, the barrier for entry into rank-2 was much higher than that of rank-1. Although Alaric only had to double his reserves and adapt to them once more, it's still gathering 4 times as much as he did before becoming rank-1!

Suddenly, the sound of a bell ringing could be heard in the distance.

Alaric's eyes sparkled, and he exclaimed, "They're here!"

The merchant caravan visited each of the villagers surrounding the forest, and they came with many items of interest. Blankets, pillows, coal, bread, clothing, and even weapons. They sold many miscellaneous items too, they were the source of the megaphone Chief Forger used to gather the villagers.

Upon arrival at the village gates, a long-bearded man shouted, "Chief Forger, come forth and trade for goods!"

Alaric took some steps forward, "Chief Forger will not be attending today, sir."

Someone on the back of the caravan said, "Ya 'ear that boss? The old man doesn't care to meet someone of our status!"

'Dirty instigator...' Alaric thought.

"He's wrong! Our village chief, Chief Forger, met an emergency and went to negotiate with one of the other villages! I, Alaric, can be considered to have been nurtured as the next village chief. Please make do with what we can provide, sirs."

The bearded man, who seemingly was the head of the caravan, said, "Well that'll be alright... the chief mentioned an Alaric a few times."

Alaric thought to himself, 'Thankfully, Chief likes to brag.'

"Yes sir. We don't have any copper coins though, can we trade for wood?"

Five people in the back of the caravan, who were originally organizing stock, began laughing.

"This kid is hilarious!"

"Wood? As if we need such a thing, we're on the road constantly!"

"Copper coins'll get us booze and women, wood'll beget bandits!"

Ignoring their laughter, Alaric continued speaking, "I'm not done speaking you dolts! The village ahead of here, the Ryder Village, has seen a new generation of adults recently! They definitely need wood!

The wood I'm offering is definitely already treated, and can be used at your earliest convenience! You can sell the wood for more than it is worth!"

Alaric paused, 'Did I just... call them dolts? Isn't my patience running weary too easily?'

Despite his language, the leader of the caravan's eyes shined, "Is what you say true?"

The five lackeys seemed bewildered that their boss was taking Alaric seriously, and decisively shut up.

Alaric thought for a moment, before becoming certain that before he left for the city to awaken, a drunken Chief Forger was complaining about the Ryder Village's upcoming generation of adults, saying that their working population had increased quite a bit. It was only natural that they would run into a temporary housing issue along the way.

"Yes! I'm certain. Let me barter! 1 cord of wood... for some method of telling time, and any seeds you have on the caravan!"

The leader thought for a moment, "I can give you a stopwatch that we have on hand... it's rather luxurious too, but our seeds are a no go. The most I can give is a sack of beet seeds!"

"Beet seeds? No, I need spinach seeds! Winter is almost here, beets aren't able to occupy the farm! Just one bag!" Alaric said, unabashedly, before continuing, "Remember, a cord of wood is especially important to Ryder Village, with winter coming and all. Their strong men can't focus on collecting lumber, they need to manage the farms and hunt!"

The caravan boss growled, "Fine. You drive a hard bargain, Alaric right? My name is Roni, but you can call me Boss Beard like everyone else. You're a tough one, kid."

"The villagers are all sleeping in, we had quite the feast last night, come help me collect the cord of wood quietly." Alaric smiled.

'Good thing I cleaned up yesterday...'