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“You, you’re really selling this many beast cores?”
It looks like I surprised my unnamed scapegoat of a master with the sheer number of beast cores I’ve gather. And this small pile is only made up of the scavenger crows’! Would she faint if I showed her the number of bear cores I have? “But this marketplace really is convenient, huh?”
It really, really is. Everyone’s wearing a pyramidal hat with writing on it telling sellers exactly what they want. And the vendors are wearing hats that tell everyone exactly what they’re selling. There’s even one person selling those hats, which I bought, by the way. But I made the scapegoat wear it.
“How many scavenger crow cores are you selling?” A man dressed in a suit approached me. Maybe he was the servant of someone rich? He doesn’t look like a martial artist; he’s totally suspicious. “I’m from the Briarwood family.”
“T-the Briarwood family?” The scapegoat looks surprised. Were they famous? I mean, I’ve heard of them too, but I don’t know much about the political circles in the upper echelons of human society. “I’m selling fifty cores, easily enough to bring someone’s status on par with a scavenger crow’s.”
“Ten gold each…. Is there a bulk discount?”
“No discounts! Only sell.” Money is money! Even if these scavenger crow cores are only equivalent to two and a half bear cores, every single penny counts! I still remember my days of struggling to save even one silver to buy my fire starter. There’s no way I can allow discounts. Nuh-uh. Nope.
“…Your servant has an awfully loose mouth.” Your face is loose, you grumpy old man! Look at all those wrinkles and sagging skin.
“Mm.” The scapegoat lowered her head a bit. Were the Briarwood’s really that powerful? “I’m sorry, but she’s right. I don’t do discounts.”
“Tch. Five hundred gold then.” The butler-like man withdrew five bracelets ringed with gold coins from his clothes and placed them into the scapegoat’s hands. Of course, I took them from her and gave the pouch of scavenger crow cores to the man. Then I changed the writing on the scapegoat’s hat to reflect the new sales. Shadow panther cores! 50 gold each!
The butler-like man stared at me. I know I’m beautiful, but he doesn’t have to stare so intensely. “What? Do you have a problem?”
“No. No problem. How many of those cores do you have?”
“22.”
“…1,100 gold then.” The man offered me 11 of those gold-coin bracelets and I handed him the pouch of shadow panther cores. He counted them while I once again adjusted the writing on the scapegoat’s hat. Moonlight wolf cores! 50 gold each!
The man’s expression darkened once he saw the new writing. “…How many?”
“210.” Moonlight wolves travel in packs. It’s a lot easier to gather their cores than any other beasts.
The man frowned. “I’ll give you an interspacial ring for them.”
“Deal!” It looks like I don’t have to become a thief. How nice. But I thought people wouldn’t want to sell interspacial rings? “Can you trade something as precious as that?”
“…You’re not from around here, are you? The Briarwood family has a 4th circle space mage capable of creating interspacial rings.” The man stroked his chin before reaching into his clothes and taking out a simple silver ring. The scapegoat gulped when she saw it.
“Let me inspect it first.” I held my hand out. I’m totally not going to steal it and run. I’m not Snow, gosh. The ring was light and no different from any that you’d see from a jeweler. In fact, it probably was made by a jeweler and enchanted later. “How do I use it?”
“Send a stream of consciousness into it.”
A whatawhatwhat? A stream of consciousness? Like focus on it? Oh! That’s interesting. It’s like I’m holding a cube of empty space the size of a room in my palm. How do I put things inside? Go inside, bone! A skull hanging from my shoulder disappeared and reappeared in the space. It worked! Now, come out! It reappeared on my shoulder. “This is amazing!”
The butler-like man cleared his throat. “You can bind it to yourself with a drop of blood. Also… don’t forget why you have it.”
Right. I’m a salesman right now. I handed over a bulging pouch and cut my finger with mini-DalDal, smearing the ring with blood. It flashed with a white light, and I had a weird feeling of having an eleventh finger. Right, let’s put it someplace safe. Don’t look!
Once the ring was safely stowed away in a very private place—I made sure it’d still function properly—I stored all the bones I accumulated on my body inside of it. “Ah, those things were really smothering.”
The scapegoat blinked at me. “…You’re a lot less scary than before.”
I slapped her shoulder, causing her to yelp. Anyways, time to change the writing on her hat again. “Uh, what are those crocodiles called and how much do I sell their cores for?”
“Thick-skinned crocodiles? Their core market price is 250 gold.” The scapegoat had a strange expression while clutching her shoulder. “You’re selling those?”
“Thick-skinned crocodile cores! 250 gold!” I finished writing the words on her hat.
The butler-like man stared at me. “How many?”
“20.” I fell into a river and was swarmed by over a hundred of them. It didn’t take too long to harvest their cores and bones because I fed some of their beast cores into my dress to repeatedly use haste. There was no way I was going to spend days on dismantling crocodiles.
“You’re a lot more capable than I thought…” The butler frowned and handed me 50 bracelets of gold. It seemed like he was carrying around an interspacial ring as well. In return, I handed him the bag of 20 crocodile cores. “Are you selling more? Death vulture cores perhaps? I’ll buy them for the same price as the crocodile cores.”
I poked the scapegoat. “Is that a reasonable price?”
“Yes.”
The old man’s brow was slightly furrowed. Was that concern? He was definitely troubled by something, but he’s a big customer! I’ll sell it to him. “I have 18 cores.”
“4,500 then.”
Why was he so good at math? I guess that’s why they sent him here, huh? I accepted the 45 bracelets and gave him my pouch.
“…Do you have fat bear cores? I’ll buy them for 300 gold each.”
Whoa. That’s way more than the scapegoat’s estimate! “I have twelve.”
“3600 gold.” The man gave me 36 bracelets and accepted my last pouch. “I don’t suppose you have any spirit beast cores? I’d be willing to buy them for 1,000 gold each.”
I don’t think I’ve encountered any spirit beasts yet. “I don’t.”
“Are you selling anything else?”
“No.” I need my engraved bones for personal consumption!
Somewhere along the way of our transactions, the butler-like man’s attention had drifted away from the scapegoat completely and focused on me. “You obtained these cores by killing the beasts, right? It was obvious from the bones.” I nodded. “Did you hunt the bears by yourself?” I nodded again. The man sucked in his breath. “Then you’re at least a low-ranked spirit warrior?”
Am I? I don’t know. “Maybe?”
“…That’s on par with our space mage. Would you … perhaps want to join the Briarwood family as a guest?”
“I’m in the middle of an intense training period right now.” It’s a shame. Noble families are a lot nicer to work for than the army. If I didn’t have to get stronger for Durandal, I’d have totally accepted the offer.
“Can you at least leave me your messenger signature? I’ll be willing to buy any future beast cores from you.”
“I don’t have a messenger.” Those are expensive! …But I guess I’m rich now, huh? “…I should buy one.” Well, a slave never had a need for one in the first place.
“I have a spare,” the man said. He handed me a white tile. “Bind it to yourself.”
At least my finger was still bleeding from the earlier cut…? The bleeding stopped? What the heck? And there’s no trace of a cut. But I can still feel the ring down there, so everything that happened definitely wasn’t a dream. Well, I’ll just cut my finger again and bind this messenger. Gosh, it’s like I have a twelfth finger now.
The man tapped a tile against the one in my hand. “I’ve recorded your signature and stored mine in your messenger. If you need to send me a message, send a stream of consciousness into the artifact, select my signature—I named it Briarwood envoy—and write a message on the surface.”
“Okay.” I feel like such a fancy person now! An interspacial ring, a shit-ton of money, a messenger. I should go on a spending spree! I’m in a marketplace after all, and money is only useful if it’s spent!