Chapter 4: The Merchant

Oliver Walker's perspective of the same day:

In the closest town to the pagan village of Solus is the town of Pelos. There is a traveling merchant, who has just started this occupation. Oliver Walker was a 5'9 slender built young man with short brown hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a brown leather button-down vest over a dirty white cotton button-down and black wool trousers.

He came from the town of Westos that is located southwest of the river Skyes. He rode down the dirt roads in his small wagon pulled by one horse. The horse was gray with black patches all over and a white mane and tail.

In the shabby wooden wagon, he was hauling two fresh-made wooden boxes filled to the brim with; fox, badgers, and beaver pelts. Oliver pulls into the stable for the tavern called The Spice Pouch.

He was resting in Pelos for the night to sell his furs and purchase wheat in the morning before he leaves for the town of Luben. Oliver hops off the wagon and hands the reins to the caretaker of the stable. "Be gentle with her, she is my livelihood," Oliver says with a smile as he pays the caretaker one silver coin and walks into the tavern.

The second he enters the tavern he is blasted with scents of fragrant spices like cinnamon, peppercorn, star anise, nutmeg, clove, and ginger. The interior of the tavern was lively.

The lamps gave the inside a warm golden glare. The nicely finished wood tables stand out. All the townspeople are inside enjoying their nightly alcohol. Oliver walks to a corner table to sit alone and listen to conversations. Taverns are known to be useful to merchants to listen to rumors that might affect their trade routes, prices of merchandise, safer trails to use, and potential new deals.

One of the informative pieces that he listened to was that there is a festival going on in the village of Solus. Which is the location of the wheat he is picking up was grown. So Oliver starts to wonder if the festival might affect the price of the wheat he is about to buy in the morning. But as he was in the middle of his thought his stomach began to growl.

Oliver has not had anything to eat all day since he was on the road the entire time. So he orders a roasted duck and some apple cider ale. The meal cost him seven copper coins. So he pulled out his coin pouch and pays for the order. About ten minutes go by and the roasted duck arrived at the table. The roasted duck was pristine white it laid on a hot slice of freshly baked rye bread and topped with peppercorn, lemongrass, and ginger. the hot hard apple cider was crisp and refreshing.

Oliver devoured the duck. It was delicious this was nothing like anything he has had before. The cider helped wash it all down and refreshed him. Oliver felt instantly satisfied and full. He stood up and left two copper coins as a tip.

Oliver then headed to the front table to rent the smallest room so he can stay for the night to save his money. The front =desk gave him an eight-by-eight sized room. Oliver walked up the stairs and headed to his room which was all the way down the hall and the last door on the right.

It was warm upstairs, due to the fact his room is above the kitchen. Oliver opens the door and looks at the tiny room. All there was inside was a bed, the bed was beat up, but a bed is a bed when he only had three hours of sleep the day before. Oliver closes the door and crashes on the bed. He falls asleep quickly waiting for the next day to bring him a fortune.