Humble Beginnings

A cold breeze runs through me as I walk along the same path that brought me to Previl. And why exactly? Well…

While sitting like literal trash in that one particular backalley, where I swore to prove my manager wrong, I was looking over to the other poor people sitting beside me. Even though I didn’t register it at that moment, there was a mother and his child. The blonde boy proudly flaunted a turquoise seashell, or at least it resembled one.

That’s when suddenly a memory flashed into my mind that I had long displaced…

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“So, when talking about the free market as described by…”

“It is extremely important to know the core principle of supply and demand. Those together make up a balanced market price. The demand arises from the customers. They choose what they want to buy…”

“They also choose how much they are willing to pay for it. On the other side is the seller, who provides a certain amount of wares for which he also chooses a price for. The seller wants to sell his wares for as much money as possible and the buyer wants to buy them for as little money as possible, thus creating a balanced price. The key to this price is the…”

“If there is a higher demand, a seller can raise the price and if there is a higher supply, the seller can choose the seller with the lowest price, since many sellers will offer a common item. Now, this was part of Adam Smith’s ideology, that…”

“Friedrich, you will wake up right this instant!”

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Or something in the lines of that. Yeah…I never really paid a lot of attention to the boring stuff that never interested me back in school. Glad that I didn’t have to continue those subjects in university, but that’s not important right now.

The take away is that my half awake brain was able to listen to the most important stuff from that lesson, so I still have some snippets of the lesson remembered. And thanks to…What was his name? Adam Smithers? Something like that probably. Anyways, thanks to him and the boy with the shell, I now have somewhat of a plan.

I asked those guards from before where this road leads to. They answered that it goes to a beach with only a small footbridge for equally small boats. I suspected as much, since that boy from before had to get it from somewhere near. Though, it’s still a long way, so I’m glad but also surprised that the boy didn’t get lost. I mean, he could have also gotten it from someone else, who knows.

Now the idea I got from the kid is pretty obvious, isn’t it? Collect as many good looking shells as possible and sell them. If I hoard enough, then people won’t be able to find them as much. Or they would have to get the shells themselves. Of course there is also the question of who would actually pay money for shells…

Look, it’s the best chance I got, okay? I’ll figure the selling out after I have the supply. There is also another problem that I only realized once I arrived at the beach: “How will I find seashells under all this snow?”

Before me is the aforementioned beach covered in a thick layer of powdered snow, preventing me from getting my hands on the supply I need. The waves crash lightly, creating a steady rhythm. The sky is a shade darker than the usual white sky and the smell of seasalt lingers in my nose.

“Are there even seashells during winter?” I reach into the cold, revealing a small patch of sand. The combination of the cold white powder, the wet, clumped sand, as well as the dusty, dry sand beneath make for a strongly uncomfortable texture to feel.

However, relatively quickly, I gather shell after shell. How can there be so many? I do not possess much knowledge of marine biology, so I have no scientific explanation for this occurrence. It could be because not many people would go through the hassle of finding them in snow. But if there are so many with the exact same idea, that leaves all of them to someone who would take such a task upon themselves, like me. On the other hand, it just proves that shells are not really valued as much, making me overthink my plan even more. But it’s too late now. I have no other plan besides this one and it seems safer than trying to hunt unknown animals or something like that.

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I’ve spent multiple hours now digging through the snow, placing all my hope in this desperate idea. My hands and fingers are already numb and I can’t even feel my face. On the bright side, the mountain of seashells has become comically large by now. And many of them look beautiful if I do say so myself. Though, I think I should stop my gathering soon before literally freezing to death.

So I flatten the mountain a bit and cover it with the snow piles that have built up from digging in the ground. This is to hide the shells, since I don’t want anyone else to take them away after I spent so much time piling them up. After I finished that up, I took some of the leftover shells that looked above average and put them into every pocket I have.

Yes, I have no bag…I should buy one as soon as possible. Now with weighted clothes, I take my leave, for now. Looking at the beach from further away, I notice how little I actually covered up. It’s only a little patch compared to the sheer size of the beach.

Well…It does mean that I won’t run out of supply for a while, but on the other side it further devalues the shells. The thought of ‘This isn’t gonna work’ just keeps growing and growing in my head, but I can’t let it stop me from trying. I could very well be sitting with people who have those same thoughts in that dark alley, but I choose not to.

This whole inner fight with myself continued all the way until I reached the gate of Previl again. What’s interesting is that the guards don’t search me, even with my suspiciously weighted pockets. But oh well, less trouble for me.

The question now is: how do I sell the shells? Or, more precisely: Do I go around, or will I stay at one place?

If I’m being honest, I’m way too exhausted to continue standing any longer, let alone chasing after people to sell them. So I decided to build a little counter to display and sell them. It’s mainly made out of wood scrap from the alleys (and it looks really pathetic), but it somehow doesn’t collapse even after laying the seashells on it. In the same way I piled up some woodscraps to make a stack to sit on.

To be frank, no one will even know I’m selling them like this, but if I just call out to a few people while shouting some usual phrases like on a main city’s market, I’m sure some people will buy them.

So, with enough faith in this absurd plan, let the selling begin.