Second World

”Of course,” Dylan replied as if it was the most normal thing.

Jack was speechless for a while, before repeating, ”another town away from this capital?”

Dylan furrowed his brow. ”Are you a retard or something?”

Jack thought back to what the guy had told him, then said, ”are you saying that your faction helps you to travel to another town by providing bodyguards to deal with the monsters along the way?”

”Not just bodyguards, I was also provided with carriages, to carry me and my wares.”

”What wares? Canʼt you just put them inside your storage bag?”

”Trade goods canʼt be put inside storage bag, and canʼt be teleported as well. Hence the caravan function of my faction. It provided me with the means not only to travel to other towns, but also to carry the trade goods back in order to make a profit.”

”Trade goods?”

”You are such an ignorant rookie. Donʼt you know any aspects about the mercantile system of this game world?”

”My friend, as you said. Iʼm more of a hack and slash kind of brute.”

Dylan gave him a derisive laugh before saying, ”then let me enlighten your shallow knowledge. Trade goods are items that you can buy in a shop that serves no other game function apart from to be sold. However, simply buying any trade good you find in a shop will not do as well. Because there is a possibility that you buy it at a high price already, and you will end up unable to sell it for profit. You need to study first the price of the goods in one town and compare it with the other town before you can make a profitable trade. If you can identify the townʼs specialty goods, then you can make a killing. But take note that you donʼt overbuy or oversell one item too much, or else you will affect the demand and supply of the towns and the prices will change.”

Jack nodded throughout the explanation. After Dylan stopped, he said, ”thank you for your explanation. That is all well and good, but Iʼm actually more interested in the means to travel to the other towns. Is it only reserved for your faction members? Can you sneak a friend into this caravan?”

”Sneak? What do you think the caravan is? A stowaway boat? Of course, it is not possible! The caravan will undergo a strict check by the faction NPCs before leaving. There is no possibility for an illegal entry.”

”Ah, too bad… What is the requirement to join this Trade Association?”

”Advanced apprentice in Haggling,” Dylan answered. ”But even if you entered the faction, the caravan function wonʼt immediately available to you. You will need to do some of its quests to accumulate points. Once you become a basic expert in Haggling, then you can start to use the points you have to request for a caravan trip. The longer the trip requested, the more points it will be required. But of course, the longer the distance, the possibility of profit from bringing back correct trade goods will be higher.”

Jack checked his status. He was an intermediate apprentice in Haggling. According to Dylanʼs account, he would still need to level up his Haggling skill twice to be able to use the caravan. Too much hassle. He was not the type that enjoyed trading, so increasing his Haggling skill would be a chore. He dismissed the idea of traveling to other cities using the Trade Association. He would just have to go through the normal means.

As he pondered about the new info from Dylan, he suddenly thought of something.

”Hey, Dylan. If you can go to the other towns, that means you should be able to find wares that you might not find in this city, right?”

”Naturally,” Dylan answered.

”Do you mind keeping an eye out for an ingredient for me?”

”Hm? What ingredient?” Dylanʼs business sense tingled from the request.

”Rosemary,” Jack said. It was one of the ingredients required by food recipe Well-done Steak which he had given to Ellie. It was an expert-grade recipe that could increase the experience received by the consumer by 20% for 6 hours. He had been searching for this ingredient all over the capital, including the shops in the noble district, but to no avail.

”Rosemary,” Dylan jotted it down on some kind of a notepad. ”I will keep an eye out, but mind you. It wonʼt be cheap.”

”Well, as long as you didnʼt rip me off and it was still a reasonable price, I will buy it.”

”The system wonʼt allow me to rip you off. There is a range of prices when I sell an item. Even if it is to a player. I cannot just enter my own skyrocket price. All I can do is just set the price to maximum when selling it to you, but it wonʼt be too far from the fair price.”

”Canʼt you just sell me with the standard fair price? Considering we are friends.”

”What friend? I just know you five minutes ago!” Dylan remarked. ”How many of this rosemary that you need?” He then added.

”As much as you can buy,” Jack replied.

”Do you have the coins for it?” Dylan said sarcastically.

”Heh, kid. Donʼt you worry about it. I dare say that I might be the currently richest individual player in this capital.”

”Such a boast from a guy who knows nothing of trading,” Dylan mocked. At the time, the door to the residence in front of them opened, interrupting their banter. Marquess Fernando came out of it.

”All right, Iʼm ready. Let us depart,” he said, and led them into his carriage.

As they were inside the carriage, Jack sent Dylan a friend invite, which he accepted. He said to Dylan. ”If you have gotten the Rosemary and Iʼm not around. You can go to this restaurant called Ellieʼs Restaurant.” He sent the coordinates to Dylan using the map interface.

”Ellieʼs restaurant? Hey, I know that place. It was quite famous amongst players. As it was run by players as well. This Ellie is rather resourceful to be able to build a business place before others. She was one of the players who I respect due to this achievement.”

ʼShould I tell him that the restaurant belongs to me?ʼ Jack thought.

”You can give the Rosemary to her. Donʼt worry, she will honor our agreement and pay you for all the rosemary you bring.”

Dylan nodded, then look at Jack in a more appreciated gaze. ”I didnʼt know you are related to her. What connection do you have with her?”

Jack shrugged. ”Just a business associate,” he said.

Marquess Fernando had no idea what they were talking about, so he waited for them to finish. When he saw their conversations had stopped, he handed to Jack a large pouch. Jack received the pouch and checked it.

”O–one hundred gold coins?” Jack blurted out.

Dylanʼs eyes widen at his words.

”Donʼt be so excited. That coins are not for you,” marquess Fernando said. ”Those are the fund to be used in the auction.”

”Which item in the auction that I should use it on?” Jack asked again.

”As Iʼve said, I donʼt know. The duke just told me that you will know when you see it. Just donʼt waste the coins to bid on useless things. I will be watching you.”

”Why doesnʼt the duke just ask you to bid then?”

”I donʼt know. He just said he needed a player to do the bidding.”

Jack was intrigued, this faction quest didnʼt look so simple. He would prefer a simple quest of monsters killing or such. But beggars couldnʼt be choosers, this was currently the only nobility faction quest available after all.

He stored the coin pouch in his inventory. The coins didnʼt get mixed up with his personal coins count, probably because it was considered as a quest item.

”You got a quest from a duke?” Dylan asked.

”Apparently yes. And apparently, itʼs a vague quest where I need to bid on something which I donʼt know, and without being provided any clue. Should be a piece of cake, right? What about your quest?”

”My quest is simply to attend the auction,” Dylan answered.

”Huh? What kind of cheap ass quest is that? So you just have to be present there? Thatʼs cheating,” Jack complained.

”As I said, you are an ignorant buffoon. Attending such an event is in itself a learning process. Not to mention that I can get to know many nobles and influential NPCs in the auction. A merchant needs to build as wide a connection network as possible if he is to succeed.”

”So troublesome. I would prefer to be the hack and slash kind of brute, thank you,” Jack commented.

Dylan gave him a contemptuous look.

They continued to chat along the way. Marquess Fernando chimed in once in a while. Dylan himself was quite easy-going and fun to talk to. Jack thought that his attitude should be one of those qualities needed for that wide connection network building he was talking about.

😉