TRADING IN COMMODITIES

"Are you really so tough? You are not harmed at all, not even a scratch after the whole city beat you up?" Saye asked me.

"Actually, I've got someone else take the beating for me", I replied to her.

"Really, why didn't I know about it?" she asked me.

"It is my magic, I can create a duplicate of myself", I told her as I summoned my Malevolent Slave.

"Summon Alpha Slave"

An apparition that looked exactly like me appeared before Saye to her shock and surprise.

"What is this? The Mother didn't tell me you have this ability?" she asked me.

"Alpha is my Shadow Slave. He is a manifestation of magic souls that responds to my summon. He can take my form or any others or he can remain as shadows", I replied to her.

Alpha was my Malevolent Slave who evolved from the magic of the Dark Angel, whose soul now resided in my soul realm. After using the Malevolent of the Dark Angel for some time, some Malevolent shifted their loyalty to me, becoming my Malevolent Slaves.

My Malevolent Slave maintains some of the magic of the Dark Angel's Malevolent but at the same time could utilize my magic. So, my Malevolent Slave could use my face changing magic and turn into my appearance.

"The master wants you to go to the family's Trading House to learn about the business", Saye told me.

"Right, what does the Kaleon family do?" I asked her.

"Basically, the Kaleon family is in trading mainly in commodities", she told me.

-----

"Young master Oriese, this is our trading house. We trade in every kind of commodity and other goods", a manager explained to me.

The trading house employed hundreds of people. Everywhere around me there were clerks who counted money and executed contracts with buyers and sellers. Porters took instructions from the trading clerks before sending the instructions to warehouses to complete the trades.

"Hagar, what are you currently busy with?" I asked him.

"At the moment, we've got a large shipment of grains that we could not clear quick enough", Hagar told me.

"Why is that?" I asked him.

"There is a recent surplus of grains, most of which came from Trogdol kingdom. There was a war recently in Trogdol that took the lives of most of their people. When the war ended, the remaining people of Trogdol were left with a surprisingly large harvest of grains and crops that they don't have enough people to consume", Hagar told me.

"Yes, I am aware of the war in Trogdol kingdom. The Lich King killed most of his own people", I said to him.

Suddenly, a clerk came to us.

"Manager Hagar, the merchants from Trogdol are trying to sell us more grains", he reported to Hagar.

"Just turn them away", Hagar told the clerk when I stopped him.

"No, buy everything that the Trogdol merchant sells, provided you get a good discount from him", I told Hagar.

"But I will need the Master's permission to execute such a large trade", he protested to me.

"Keep the tabs on me. I'll buy everything from them", I told Hager to his surprise before I gave him several million Aurs.

"Of course, we will get the best price for you", Hagar told me before he met with the Trogdol merchants.

After some serious haggling, we bought all the Trogdol's grains and food for a fraction of its normal price.

----

Suddenly, Orol came to see how I was doing in the Trading House and Hagar reported to him immediately about my purchases.

"Where did you get so much money to trade?" Orol asked me.

"Oh, I won the money from Yasidee Ermane", I replied to him without elaborating.

"Why did you buy all the grains from the Trogdols? That is a losing trade," Orol asked me without questioning further about the source of my money.

"We should buy everything from them if there are more Trogdol merchants coming here. I will also buy all the excess stock from the other trading houses immediately", I told Orol.

"But there is a major surplus of grains in all the trading houses in Staari city, there is no profit to be made", he protested to me.

"The price will go up again once we buy all the surplus grains from the market", I told him.

"You want me to corner the grains market?" Orol asked me.

"Yes, you can say it that way", I replied to him.

"But there is a risk that we will not be able to sell all the grains and make a loss on it", he told me.

"Grains will not spoil if we keep them inside magical spaces and we can keep them indefinitely", I told my father.

"Young Master, that is not how we do business. What if the abundant harvest in Trogdol kingdom continues indefinitely, we will lose a lot of money that we could have earned if we traded in other commodities", Hagar told me.

"The price of grain will rise soon", I told them to their surprise.

"How could you predict that?" Orol asked me.

"Because there will be war soon in Staari city", I told them.

"War? What war?" Hagar asked me.

"The Demon army from the North is coming here in a few months and once war starts and if the supply of food is not enough, the price will erupt", I told them.

"I've heard some rumors that there is a Demon army marching south, but the Apostles will deal with them easily", Orol told me.

"Not this time. The demon army is vicious this time and the apostles have another war they are fighting inside Elis. A war even if just at the borders will disrupt our usual trade routes causing grains and other necessities to become scarce", I told them.

"Yes, if we cornered the market for necessities before this happens, we will make plenty of money", Orol said to us.

"How did you know about all this military secrets?" Hagar asked me in surprise, and I didn't know how to reply to him.

I couldn't tell them that I saw the Demon army marching south when I flew toward Staari city and how I knew so much about the war between apostles and demons.

"It must be Yasidee. Did you hear it from Yasidee? Their family is the largest arms supplier in the city", Orol asked me softly.

"Yes, the Yasidee family are taking many new orders in preparation of a war soon", I replied to Orol, lying to him to cover my sources of information.

"I will also get confirmation about this from my sources, quietly", Hagar told us.

"Oriese, I never expected that you are keen in our family business and your business instinct is also, so sharp. You really have grown up a lot, the Angels are blessing me", Orol told me happily.

"The Angels have got nothing to do with this", I told him in my mind.

-----

I stayed at home for two weeks after the revenge fest in the market to tend to my fake injuries.

Meanwhile I went to practice with the teachers again.

"Have you mastered the "Starfire Flash" young master?" my instructors asked me.

"Well, I have some progress in the constellation", I told him.

"Well, that's great why don't you try it out", he asked me.

"Starfire Flash"

A sudden flash came out from my hands that engulfed an entire cart of hay in front of me which caused heavy smoke that rose into the skies to cover the training courtyard.

"What happened?" Orol ran out to check what was happening when the instructor told him, "The young master mastered our templar skill".

"What, really?" he asked the instructor who just nodded their heads with glee before he had the last word to himself, "Is he really my son?"

----

After a month of seclusion, I walked to the streets of Starri city again. Unlike the last time, fewer people ran off when they saw me, and some stall owners actually pitched some goods to me.

"Hey, isn't that the awakened genius Oriese of Kaleon", someone suddenly said to me.

"He's Yasidee Ermane, your family's rival in the city", Saye reminded me.

"I remember him", I replied to Saye.

"What do you want Yasidee?" I asked him.

Suddenly he brought out a few boys who were tied with ropes and threw them in front of me.

"These are the scums that hit you on the street. I had revenge for you and tied them up. See I am a good friend of yours, ahaha", Yasidee told me while laughing heartily.

Those tied up cursed themselves for hitting me the other day and thought that I asked the Yasidee guy to vent my anger on them but to their surprise, I said to Yasidee, "Release these good people Yasidee. Release them now, apologize to them and let them punch you until they are satisfied".

"What? Are you joking with me? You, Oriese, wants to be a hero now", he shouted at me with the question.