Chapter 5

Slowly inching forward, with nervous but steady steps, Xiao Chen and his subordinates approached the busy golem. With hearts beating fast from nervousness or excitement like Galum'nor, they moved stealthily as possible.

'Bang' 'Bang' 'Bang'

The golem continued pounding the mountain walls, still oblivious to the approaching danger. Galum'nor, being a muscle head as he was, shouted loudly and madly rushed forward as Xiao Chen stared at him in both annoyance and surprise.

The golem, successfully attracted by Galum'nor's shout, turned his head and stared at Xiao Chen and his group, then towards the charging Galum'nor.

"Oh! Customers"

It said with a deep and loud voice while waving at Xiao Chen and his group who had mouths wide open in shocked. The golem then looked at Galum'nor, grabbed the tree trunk that was supposed to smash to its left leg with its bulky rock hand and lifted it up, and along came Galum'nor, who refused to release his weapon.

"Aggressive customer...no discount for you"

It said while pointing a finger at Galum'nor with his other hand, then picked something from behind the piled-up boulders, the result of its pounding on the mountain walls.

Xiao Chen stared in disbelief. He was speechless and just stared at the golem, still busy rummaging through the boulders looking for something, but soon came to his senses then turned to look at his companions and discovered their also shocked expressions.

"Was this supposed to happen?"

He can't help but ask. He was confused about what was happening.

"Ahem... This is a first"

Rakh'ash'tha said, shrugged his shoulders and stored the readied concoctions inside his crudely made bag while the others sighed in relief. They sighed in relief, perhaps because the expected battle didn't occur, nor do they want it to occur. Trot'thar sat on the ground, Drae'ghanna sheathed her swords on their scabbard on her back, Aro'shanna lowered her enormous axe and Gur'kan just stood in a place, unsure of what to do or what to say.

"Friends... customers... come see my wares... see anything you like... I give discount to everyone.... except for this one"

The golem spoke in broken Orcish language, pausing and continuing after a few words like he was thinking of what are the words to say next then brought forward a box made of logs, tied in a square-ish shape by vines containing different items and pointing a finger at Galum'nor, telling everyone that Galum'nor won't be having any discount.

The square-ish box contained many things, like ores, fruits, rocks, weapons and other things. Xiao Chen and his group continued being speechless. 'What is this, a merchant golem' Xiao Chen thought, staring dumbly at the still excited golem.

"A spirit crystal... a thravum ore... a dargan skin... a herkan stone"

Rakh'ash'tha named a few of the wares that the golem displayed in a surprised tone.

"Are these things precious or rare?"

Xiao Chen can't help but curiously ask. He didn't know what these things were or what were their uses, but Rakh'ash'tha's tone and his very own curiosity prompted him to ask.

"Well... a spirit crystal is something only found deep in the undergrounds with an abundance of spiritual energy, useful to shamans in increasing their mana... The thravum ore is the hardest one to find since it only exists near rivers of fire and only in small quantities, it can be used to forge weapons and armors that are more durable and resilient than any other metal, even the pinkskins thinks so, their highest chieftain had a weapon made of such ore which he treasured dearly even sacrificing great numbers of his army once just to recover his sword from the Warghen Tribe who looted it from his eldest son's corpse. The dargan is one of the strongest and feared predator of Lag'ranna Mountains armed with a sharp set of teeth, claws and skin so thick that a full blow of sword from an orc won't penetrate its thick skin and the herkan stone, a useful stone which can be ground to dust and mixed with several herbs to make a good healing salve..."

Rakh'ash'tha explained in details as he stared dumbfounded at the strange golem. With those details, Xiao Chen now knew that these wares were rare and precious.

"Glad you... know my goods"

The golem said while smiling sheepishly but obviously proud since his parents and kind laughed at his crazy deeds and dreams to become a merchant which seemed unrealistic to them since no creature with a good mind will do business with a talking piece of huge rock much less communicate with one. Golems are creatures that tend to destroy things with their innate talents and abilities and are very hostile to any other creatures besides their own kind, earning them a poor reputation.

"A merchant golem... that's odd"

Drae'ghanna can't help but mutter. She had never seen or encountered one and, according to the words of the elders, this golem is indeed very different from his kind.

"My parents, brothers and brethren laughed at me wanting to be a merchant, that's why I ran away from home. I want to prove to them I can be a merchant, a successful one"

The golem said with a solemn tone while putting down the tree trunk club along with its wielder, who refused to let it go.

"Ugh... strong rock creature"

Galum'nor sulked in a corner, unhappy that his strength, which he was proud of, was not worth a thing to the golem.

"What can we use to buy your wares?"

Xiao Chen asked the golem. He was interested in the golem's wares and wanted to get his hands on them, specially that thravum ore which he wanted to use to forge a personal weapon.

The golem had a hard time determining what to sell his wares for but then just decided that the human money will do for his first transaction or an exchange of items of the same value.

"Gold coins... or items of the same value will do"

The golem then pointed at Gur'kan's attire and smiled as innocently as possible, making Xiao Chen think the golem was but a child that's why it wasn't as aggressive as they expected it to be.

Xiao Chen then was glad that he looted some pouches of gold coins from the enemies that he had slain. He had two pouches filled to the brim with human coins, gold, silver and copper, which are more many than the first two.

He then unfastened the pouches on his waist as the coins made almost inaudible chinking sounds as Xiao Chen waved them in front of the golem.

"Will these coins suffice?"

Xiao Chen asked. He didn't know how much the golem priced his wares; he prayed silently for his coins to be adequate to buy the golem's rare items.

"How many coins do you have?"

The golem made a questioning look as he stared at the pouches of coins, still very excited about making his first transaction.

Xiao Chen was dumbfounded. He opened one of the pouches and gave the other to Rakh'ash'tha to count. After counting the total number of coins, they had the last count of thirteen gold coins, three hundred and twenty-four silver coins and four thousand six hundred and seventy-eight copper coins.

"How much for these?"

Xiao Chen picked the items mentioned and explained by Rakh'ash'tha and didn't bother checking out the other common wares which were skins of other animals, strange looking stones or the many kinds of plants or maybe just common weeds collected by the golem.

"Ugh... how much do you offer?"

The golem asked Xiao Chen, making him speechless. Since human coins are useless in the orc community, Xiao Chen just offered all the coins in his possession for the golem's wares. The golem then proudly declared.

"I, Hakarr, will bring you more good items in the future"

*****

With the successful transaction, Xiao Chen and his group proceeded forward with the aid of Hakarr clearing the path of the boulders then bade them goodbye as it continued to pound on the mountain walls when Xiao Chen and his group were already far enough, not to be affected by his actions.