Beriz

Birds were chirping out loudly, while settling on the branches of the trees and inside the nests. The green trees were dancing, the winds brushed through them and made them sway to the scenery. The blue sky was making a beautiful background with white stripes of clouds as its accessories. It just could never be tiring seeing this kind of peace looking atmosphere.

A man was walking in a relaxed but solid form. His long, black hair was tied behind his head. He looked like he was in his late 20s. His bearing looked easy going and simple. Not a single bit of harshness was showing through his character if someone just stole a single glance at him. But his steps were not wavering, hesitation could not be seen from his face, and seriousness could be inferred from deep inside his eyes.

He was Enjar, who was walking seemingly aimlessly at the outskirts of Spring Land City. After walking for a while, finally his purpose could be deduced. A group of houses were in close proximity toward each other, either side by side or across the street, or just uniquely erected. Enja followed the way and knocked on one of the houses that were on the back side.

The house itself was not that big or looking extravagant. It was just a simple house that was located at the outskirts of a city, nothing special to be noted about it. But between the other houses around here, this house looked better and somehow cleaner. It seemed that the owner kept a good care of this house. After just a couple of seconds, a voice that belonged to a man resounded. "Who might this be?"

"This is Enjar." Enja answered simply, with a monotone tone. Not long after, the door opened and the identity of the voice was answered. It was a man who was in his 40s. His beards were kept neatly and clean, and his short hairs on his head were combed nicely, looking like a gentleman who knew how to keep himself better.

"Ohh, Mr. Enjar! It's nice to see you! How are you feeling? It looks like you're fine now, good!" The man exclaimed while forwarding his right hand for a handshake. Enja took a handshake and admitted.

"I'm fine now. I was almost being done in by the sickness. Thankfully, I got some feedback from the disease, heh." Enja said half mockingly.

"Ohh? It seems that our genius man just can't stop taking advantage of some risky situation after all, even at your death's doorstep if I may take your validation just now." The gentleman nodded his head while smiling. His neatly used clothing also added to his elegance that was pleasant to be seen or just being around with. Whether it was a sarcastic remark or truly an honest praise, it was hard to discern.

"I was just lucky there. Right now, there are things that I want to discuss with you. Are you free?" Enja smiled while taking a single quick glance at the inner side of the house. The door was opened quite wide after all, so it was not really that big of a deal if he even took a longer glance if he wanted to.

"Yes, we can discuss things if you want. Let's go inside." The man let Enjar enter the house and went inside the inner side of the house for a while, seemingly talking to someone.

Enja sat on a wooden chair and took a look at the simple reception room. There were some chairs and a table that were placed inside of it. Just like the outside appearance of the house, the inside of the house too looked simple and humble. But it was not looking ugly and shabby at all. There were also some decorations here and there.

Not too long after the man talked to someone in the inner side of the house, he got back to Enjar's side and sat down opposite of Enjar. "What is your business now, Mr. Beriz?" Enjar asked.

"Just like you know, I was just handling some small merchant business like always. Getting some surplus was pretty easy too for the last few days." The man called Beriz replied.

"I see. I was just wondering if you are interested in a business that I want to establish." Enja grinned while stating directly and frankly. A glint appeared inside of his eyes.

"A business with you? What kind of business that you might be talking about?" Curiosity emerged from inside of Beriz ' mind. This was the man that somehow in some short years could make a good deal of success and achieved a pretty great wealth. He awed many people in this city because of his stride and achievement. Someone at this caliber wanted to establish business was totally noteworthy. And if he was also looking at him to be a partner or whatnot, that would be truly a chance worth pondering.

"You know, recently I found an idea about… Hmm, it might be called an invention in this world… It's about an idea that I have been thinking about for some time now. But if I want to achieve it in the most profitable manner, I need to prepare it in advance and secure the best possible route for it." Enja explained slowly.

A surprised look appeared on Beriz' face. "A new idea? What do you mean by that?" He asked in a bewildered manner. Talking about inventing a new idea was a topic that could lead to a misunderstanding. It was not easy to invent something. Not only was it not easy to invent it, the risks that followed also something that cannot be underestimated at all. Especially regarding infrastructures, sciences, weapons, or something alike. This, if one was talking about it on a big scale of course.

But if it's just an implementation of a new strategy, or application of a different approach regarding some small scale matters for something that was pretty new, for example, that could not be compared to the aforementioned examples. That's why Beriz did not know what kind of idea that Enjar was talking about.

"Firstly, I'm going to ask you. Are you up to something great?" Enja asked seriously with a resolution inside of his voice. His eyes were showing his solemness, albeit he somehow did not appear that worked up.

Beriz was perplexed. Somehow the situation was becoming a little bit tense. From the tone and the idea that Enjar was about to propose, it seemed like it was going to be something on a grand scale. He could not imagine what kind of matter that could make Enjar be so serious, so naturally he needed to answer it with determination too.

But deciding something big is not that easy of course. Beriz took a moment before answering Enjar. "In my entire career as a simple merchant, one of the biggest things that hindered me to reach a greater height was my status. If we are talking about doing something big, then those nobles would gobble up our profits like a colony of hyenas swarming to the dead zebra. What's the use of aiming too big if most of our profit just went to the pockets of those people?" Beriz answered in a mocking manner.

Enja's sharp eyes shined. He nodded his head, agreeing to what Beriz was talking about. In this society, status of the inborn was really a big deal. If one was born as a commoner, then his prospect of going up to the top social status was going to be difficult. There were going to be many pressures and obstacles that one would need to surpass in order to obtain a higher level of status or even title in this kind of system. It's not impossible, but it's going to be difficult.

Not only that, as a commoner they don't have a better starting point than the nobles in general. They had better support either from the taxes or from the other privileged income that supported them. This was naturally a different thing altogether from a commoner who's income was pretty much more limited.

Enja was about to respond when someone entered the reception room. It was a woman who was quite similar to Beriz' age albeit a bit younger. Just looking from her eyes, one could tell that she was a beautiful woman. She used modest clothings that did not reveal any unnecessary revealing parts of her body and acted in courteous manner. Truly an example of a good wife that could make one proud of being her husband or family member.

On her hands, there was a flat wooden tablet that was being used as a set to bring 2 cups of drinks.