Vol.1 Ch.5 - Selling snairskin, any buyers?

As we made our way to the bazaar with the giant serpent in tow, we naturallyattracted quite a bit of attention from passing onlookers. In a way, this wasn’tanything that we hadn’t accounted for, since snairs are quite rare to see ingeneral, much less on the backs of two pipsqueaks. Thankfully, the peoplethat had stopped us were mostly just worried about us, but after we lied andsaid we’re just helping my father out with his butchering business, they moreor less lost interest immediately.Speaking of my parents, since it’s still so early my parents probably think Ijust woke up and went to play with Ed as I usually do. Same goes for hisparents, they probably won’t come looking for us just yet. We might run intohis little sister though. She’s way too smart for her age, if anyone were totrack us down this fast, it’d be her. Then again, her parents still don’t allowher to go outside without their permission like they do Ed, so we’re probablyfine on that front as well.By the way, if you’re wondering how we got passed the guards whilstlugging a giant snair around, it’s because the two of us are kind of infamousfor these types of things happening. Namely, since the two of us are the onlytwo boys in the village who frequented wandering outside the village andinto the nearby forest, it wasn’t all too rare to see us come back withsomething interesting in our hands. The guards mostly let us pass without anyissues, but that’s because we’d only be carrying a large stick or something atbest. A dead snair definitely isn’t something to ignore.“Morning, you two!” The local guard greeted us, “A bit early today aren’tyo- HOLY MOLY!”“Ha-ha… W-We found it lying dead like this in the middle of the pathwayleading up to the forest…?”Raising my eyebrows and voice as I said this, I had all but expected him tolet us through without any further suspicions, but then again he’d be a prettylousy guard if he did.“Lying dead in the middle of the road?! That violates rule 46 of the knight’scodex!”“The what now?”“The knight’s codex! Come on, Lune, isn’t your father teaching you to becomea proper knight? Rule 46 states that when a beast is slain, their carcass mustimmediately be disposed of so as not to cause further issues for any peoplethat may pass by that way later. This is also done to ensure the body doesn’tstart to rot while out in the open.”At his matter of fact way of reciting that codex of his, both Ed and I simplynodded our heads at each and every one of the words that came out of hismouth. Although it isn’t as though I didn’t have anything to say to him after hewas done reciting.“I understand all that, sir, but why do knights have to dispose of the carcass?Doesn’t the smell warn the other beasts in the vicinity to go away? Y’know,something like This is a warning, don’t mess with us!”“Actually, it’s quite the opposite. Every living being in this world has what isknown as certain ‘pheromones’ that are kind of like invisible smells. Thepheromones released from a slain beast actually tell the other beasts to cometo its aid, effectively only furthering the issue.”“Invisible smells, you say? But you can’t see smells, so isn’t every smell likethat?”“…” The guard gave me a long, dry stare before motioning for us to continuewith his hands, “Just get out of my face. I’m a knight serving as a guard forthis damned village, not a teacher.”***And just like that, we made it to the bazaar! Our goal is to sell this snair for areplacement sword, Handbook and some food for the road. I’m not sure howmuch a snair actually sells for, but it’s probably enough for the two of us toget our footing. That being said, we can’t just go selling it to any old villageidiot, we need to properly think about this.See, if we sell it to one of dad’s butcher friends, they’ll probably be a lotmore generous with the payment, but they’ll only salvage the meat from it,throwing away the skin. If we’re to squeeze out the maximum amount of valueout of this big momma, then we’ll need to sell her to someone who’ll have ause for even the tiniest bone in its body. Then again, if I sell it to someonewho knows dad, I might get told on by them. I also don’t quite like the idea ofusing my father’s connections to accomplish my goals…“What about the leatherworker?” Ed suggested.“A leatherworker works inversely to a butcher in this case. He’ll use the skinto make accessories out of it, but he’ll just throw the meat away. We needsomeone who’s pretty general when selling their wares.”Just then, both of our eyes had gravitated towards the sketchy looking manwith a large bag on his shoulders. He wasn’t someone either one of us hadrecognized, meaning he’s a traveling merchant. That’s perfect, he’s just whatwe need! Traveling merchants sell the most random stuff to you from all overthe world, so he’ll surely pay a hefty sum for our snair!“Oh? Good day, kiddos! Got something for me?” The merchant had greetedus kindly whilst eyeing the snair we had been carrying this whole time.“Yep! We’d like to sell this here snair!”“Alright! I like eager kids like you! What do you say I give you… 2 silversfor it?”“T-!”Two silvers?! Is this guy joking!? That’s barely enough to buy some candywith! He must not be taking us seriously at all if he thinks we’ll agree to suchan obvious attempt at a scam.“Sure!” Ed talked over me, “That’s probably enou-UGH!”Right as he was about to accept such a measly payment, I had flicked him onthe back of the head before giving the sly merchant a deadly glare. Themerchant had accidentally shown a sour face to us because I had seen throughhis ruse, but immediately corrected it into a terrifying grin as he spoke.“Hahaha! No need for infighting, young man! I was merely jesting!” He saidas he cupped his hands together, “But please, do tell me where you got thisbeast from. If I am to sell it to someone else, I need to make sure that thematerials used from its body are up to standard!”“Humu!” I gave him a smug chuckle before proudly exclaiming, “No need toworry, for we are the ones who had slain this snair!”“…” The merchant stood there, flabbergasted, before continuing on with hispitch, “I see! You two must be some top-notch adventurers! Please, do tellme how it is that you’d slain it! I simply must know which Runic Stones youused!”“Runic…?”…Stones? What are those? Schnell never mentioned anything about theseRunic Stone thingies in any of his Volumes. I wonder, could that be a newthing that came after his time? I mean, it’s pretty likely, given that Schnelllived about a thousand years ago. Just how much can change in a thousandyears’ time? I mean, I’ve only lived just over thirteen years now, so I can’treally properly grasp the flow of time accurately.“Um, excuse me sir.” Ed raised his hand as he shyly asked, “But what exactlyare Runic Stones?”“You bested a snair without a Runic Stone?!” He jumped from the shock,“Now I know you two are incredible! There are many types of Runic Stones,some allow you to fly, others give you a spring in your step, and some evenmake you up to ten times stronger than you were without them! But wait, ifyou’re this strong without them, it makes me wonder just what else you coulddo with them!”Whoa!! How hasn’t anybody ever told us about these amazing artifacts?!Shoot, if I had known about them earlier, I’d have asked my parents for onefor my birthday! They’d make our journey a cinch if we could just fly towherever we wanted!“DO YOU HAVE ANY?!” We both yelled in unison.“Aha!” He crouched down for a second before showing us two ordinarylooking rocks, “But of course I do! Oh, but they’re the last two I have instock, actually! You two are quite lucky, this offer comes by once in alifetime!”“Amazing! But how much do they cost? We don’t have anything safe from thisdead snair here…”“Oh, my dear boy,” The merchant patted me on the head, “No need toundermine your efforts. Killing a snair whilst simultaneously keeping itsbody in such a presentable state is no easy task. Even those lousy knights justresort to cutting it up into a bloody mess, which leaves us merchants withnothing to sell! What you’ve accomplished is incredible, so I’ll cut you adeal – I’ll give you these two Runic Stones for just that snair. I’ll even waivethe taxes, since you probably don’t know how to calculate them yet.”“What are taxes?”“Exactly.”Who is this magical man? He’s being so kind to two kids he’s never even metbefore. I mean, of course what we did was amazing and all, but a snair is apretty common beast that lurks in most corners of the world. Is it really thatdifficult to choke it out and preserve all of its body parts? Then again, he didcall the knights “lousy”, claiming how they just can’t be bothered to slay itcleanly, instead swapping out tbat efficiency with practicality.But man, this merchant guy is really generous. He’s just giving away his lasttwo Runic Stones to the likes of two random kids? Then again, maybe they’reon clearance? Makes me wonder just where exactly such a kind man comesfrom. He speaks Entropic pretty well, but that doesn’t really narrow anythingdown.“Quick question sir,” I decided to ask out of curiosity, “Where are youfrom?”“Where am I from?” He raised his eyebrow, “What a non-relevant thing toask, but I suppose I’ll answer since I have nothing to hide. I am fromMeridia, of the bountiful land of Cardina.”Ah, Meridia! That’s all the way on the Eastern Continent! I know all too wellabout Meridia, since Schnell is from there as well! It’s apparently thisamazing and bountiful land where peace has been prevailing for centuriesupon centuries. Everyone born there is super generous and humble, whichexplains this guy’s reasons behind practically giving us these incredibleartifacts!“Meridia?” Ed interjected, “Then can you say something in Cardinic?”“Ah, heh heh…” The merchant shied away, “I-I’ve been all around theworld, you see? I’ve kind of forgotten the language, what with me having hadto learn all these other ones for my job.”“Ed, are you saying you don’t believe this guy? People from Meridia aren’tknown for being liars, so even though this guy seems super suspicious, weshould definitely believe his words!”“Right you are, little boy!” The merchant praised me once again, “So, whatwill it be? Do you accept the trade offer?”I looked over at Ed, who was tilting his head repeatedly in a motion that saidDon’t! It’s a trap! and then I turned to the merchant, who was eagerly rubbinghis hands. I didn’t have much time to pick between the two, but in my heartthere was really only ever one option.“We’ll take it!” I said as I let go of the snair.Ed facepalmed, the merchant smiled, and we got scammed.