Chapter 11

Sighing in contentment, Harry opened up his Inventory and began sorting through his Items to determine what he wanted to sell, what he would need to keep, and what could be used to trade for those Items that can't be bought. Once he was finished with that, he spent an hour pouring over the city map in order to locate a Player merchant who might be willing to purchase his Items. He hoped to avoid selling to the NPC stores because they only purchased Items for set amounts that were far below their worth; regardless of their quality.

Once he had noted three likely looking merchants, he spent two hours working on his Acrobatic Skill; one of the few Skills that he could gain Points for while in the city (Listening, Night Vision, Searching, and Research the other four he had). It was just after ten in the morning when Harry decided that he'd procrastinated long enough; a decision helped in part by the fact that he'd gained another forty Skill Points for the Acrobatic Skill. He quickly gathered up anything he'd taken off during the night and double checked his Inventory to make certain he hadn't forgotten anything.

He then made his way downstairs and checked out of his room before he headed off to the market place where the first Player merchant had set up a stall. It didn't take him long to find the stall in question and he grimaced when he noticed the large crowd of Players that were hovering around the woman that ran the stall. Since he had no desire to join the crowd or stick around waiting for the other Players to leave, Harry immediately pulled up his map to find the shortest route to the next Player run shop.

Two minutes later, he was once against moving through the streets of the town as he steadily dodged around the other Players on the street. Harry had a little trouble finding the stall in question (it had been set up in one of the less traveled sections of the town) and he was pleased to note that there were not very many people currently hovering around the stall (most of the Players still in town currently out in the fields looking to level up or visiting the more visible shops and stalls).

Harry took a moment to study the man running the stall; a tall black man with broad shoulders and plenty of muscle visible through his skintight sleeveless shirt and armor chest plate. The man was bald with a short cropped goatee and twin cuffs clipped to his left ear and while his overall appearance was intimidating, his face held an open sort of kindness in it that Harry had rarely ever seen in real life. The double handed axe strapped to his back spoke of experience and completed the warrior look that the man embodied. Nodding to himself, Harry decided to see if the man was as honest as he appeared to be or if it was nothing but a fake front to draw in unsuspecting customers.

"Good morning, sir," Harry greeted carefully as he finally approached the merchant after the last customer had finished her business and left the area, taking care not to mangle the words too terribly so as not to offend the man. "Are you interest in buy Items?"

"Japanese is not your native language is it?" the man jovially retorted with a ready grin while Harry grimaced over the revelation that he'd mangled his request despite the care he'd taken.

"Sorry. Guilty," Harry laughed ruefully as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Am still learn speak."

The man laughed with him for a moment before asking, "Why don't you tell me what language you usually speak?"

"English," Harry replied hopefully; he had no issues with learning to speak Japanese but finding another who also spoke English would make life so much easier until he got a better grasp of the language.

"You're in luck; I'm fluent in English as well as Japanese, Spanish, and Italian. You can call me, Agil."

"I'm James, and you just made my day, Mr. Agil, I've been trying to learn more Japanese since I got here but it's not easy without an internet connection or a handy dictionary to reference."

"It's just Agil; no mister needed young man. And I'm always willing to help out a fellow Player," Agil countered as he held his hand out in greeting. "Now, I believe you mentioned something about having stuff for sale? What Items do you have and what's their quality rating?"

"Sorry, old habit, sir," Harry replied as he shyly shook the man's hand and tentatively returned the smile that Agil had flashed at him. "And I have a bunch of Monster meats, hides, teeth, claws, and feathers and some common weapons that I don't need. I want to sell most of it but I don't mind trading if you have anything I need."

"Anything in particular that you are looking for?"

"Yes; I need sturdy ropes, steel wire, a steel shovel, a sturdy fishing rod, sturdy boots, and some durable leather gloves. I also need a steel dagger if you have one. If not, an iron dagger would be better than what I have."

"What? No weapons or armor? What good is a dagger or a shovel going to do you when you stumble on a nest of Monsters?"

"I use traps and pay close attention to where I'm going," Harry confessed with a shrug. "I've done alright for the most part and once I know where a Monster's weak spot is, it's easy to kill them once they're caught in my traps."

"Interesting, I didn't think trapping would be as effective as a good axe or decent sword in dealing damage to the local Monsters. Let's see what you have then."

Harry nodded and complied with the request as he opened up his Inventory and initiated the trade option. Agil let out an impressed whistle when he saw that the quality of the goods Harry was looking to sell or trade were fifteen and twenty points higher than most other Players had brought in over the past few days; the game logic awarded better quality Items when Players used the more risky Skills to kill the Monsters. Even the meat was of a better quality and still relatively fresh and therefore far easier to resale. The two of them haggled over prices for a few minutes (neither of them having a high Sales or Purchase Negotiation Skill at the moment, though Agil had the advantage as a merchant) before goods and money changed hands.

"If you pick up anything else worthwhile, look me up," Agil insisted as they shook hands at the end of the trade.

"I will," Harry enthusiastically replied at the thought of having someone willing to buy more Items from him.

"If you want, I can also help you with your Japanese."

"Oh, you don't have to trouble yourself on my account; I'm sure I can muddle through on my own."

"It won't be any trouble; I want to help you."

"I wouldn't want to be a burden."

"Helping you to improve your grasp of Japanese wouldn't be a burden. Knowing how to speak, read, and write the language fluently so that you can communicate with the other Players could very well mean the difference between life and death in this cursed game."

"I don't know… It's really nice of you to offer but I'm leaving town today…"

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