“Gor, you are back. Did you find what you were looking for?” the boss asked, after finally noticing Harwin's presence.

  “Yes—”

  “Before that. Your idea was a huge success. We have about twenty human and elfin merchant who would like to join us to the capital and its neighboring towns. They are offering ten silver for each day of escort till we reach the capital. Do you think it is enough?”

  Harwin had already calculated all the expenses that the caravan needed to operate.

  The beast-men were not like employees, they were more like a bunch of friends gathered in a group requiring no salary. They only required food and equipment. With food for the men, their rides, cost of equipment and repair cost of carriages, the grand total operating cost per day was about five silver.

  The beast-men usually ate what they hunted and stored for weeks on end so there was not much need to buy food.

  The capital was about a month away from the town of Elsanye so they would be needing hundred and fifty silver for the entire journey.

  This will leave them with a profit by the end of the jounrey. It was not a huge amount but in addition to that they would be selling the ale in the capital for an exorbitant amount as well.

  “Yes, that will leave us with a good sum in our possession after we get rid of all the expenses. More importantly, I have something to discuss about the goods.”

  He explained all that occured during his venture in the market. The boss informed him that he had about 50 silver in his possession for now; it was quite low considering the size of his group but it was obvious that the beastmen were quite unreliable with handling money.

  For now they had enough funds to purchase 125 barrels, but they also had to maintain a buffer amount. Harwin advised the boss to buy around 80 barrels which was also a manageable size.

  They returned to the trade center soon. Gowther was sleeping there, he appeared to have been waiting for a while now. Harwin called his name several times but to no avail.

  The boss was growing quite impatient — well it was his mistake in the first place for making the poor man wait for such long.

  “GOWTHER! WAKE UP!”

  Another dwarf came shouting from the bar. His appearance made the impression of a bartender. He wore an elegant and expensive attire.

  He appeared to be quite professional with no over-grown hair or beard. An over all quite a graceful fellow, well all except for his loud voice.

  “WHAT HAPPENED, DAR?"

  “YOU HAVE VISITORS YOU IDIOT. IT IS STILL THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY AND YOU ARE SLEEPING. GROWING TOO OLD FOR YOUR JOB, EH?”

  “HAHA! I AM AT-LEAST A HUNDRED YEARS YOUNGER THAN YOU, YOU OLD SICK MORON.”

  They were shouting cheerfully at eachother. The boss asked Harwin what they were discussing who was a-bit dumbfounded as he thought they were speaking a common tongue.

  The boss was quite fluent in the beast and also the human tongue which were quite famous in the continent but Gowther and this Dar fellow were discussing in their native language. Only Harwin could decipher their conversation so he translated it for the boss who obviously was once more impressed by his skills.

  “Excuse me for disturbing your lovely discussion but we are quite late. None of you are old as far as looks are concerned so can we discuss the contract further first?”

  “OH GOR — WAIT YOU SPEAK OUR TONGUE AS WELL. I SWEAR YOU GROW MORE AND MORE INTERESTING WITH EVERY WORD YOU UTTER. SEE DARWIN, THIS IS THE HUMAN KID I WAS TALKING ABOUT. HE CAN CHUG A HORN OF ALE IN A SINGLE BREATH WHILE REMAINING SOBER.” Gowther proclaimed.

  “Ah, quite a promising young man. You seem to be quite learned in the dwarfian tongue, have you been to Gilbert?” Darwin spoke rather softly than earlier.

  “No actually—” he was interrupted once again.

  “Can we complete the contract for now. I have a lot matters to attend to so let us discuss the terms once again in my presence. Also, I would like you to speak the human tongue while we converse so we can all understand eachother. I do not like others translating for me.” The boss had finally reached his limit.

  “IMPATIENT YOUNG ONES.THEY THINK THE WORLD REVOLVES AROUND THEM.”

  “I do not appreciate your taunting. Let us discuss business like civil-men. Gor, I thought the contract was ready to be signed.”

  “Yes. I will fetch the contract but please first discuss the terms once again so we can move forward. Mister Gowther, I humbly request you to please cooperate with us.”

  “ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT. I HAVE TAKEN A LIKING TO YOU WHICH IS WHY I WILL COMPLY WITH YOUR REQUEST, BUT DO NOT TAKE THIS AS A SIGN OF WEAKNESS.”

  He looked at Harwin but his words were directed at someone else.

  “Of course, I can not be more grateful.”

  Gowther used as few words as possible to explain his terms while it was Harwin who elaborated the dwarf’s half-completed sentences further.

  When all was said. Harwin left for the reception to get a formal contract. He had been given the power to write any language as well so it came in handy but it was a trading center so there were already ready to be used contracts written with spaces left for personal details, amount and other minor details. It was quite a useful thing to have.

  Christie, the receiver who helped him earlier, was the one who handed him the paper. He could see from her eyes that she had already forgotten about him.

  'Well there was nothing special about me to begin with, so there is no time for remorse,' he thought while returning to the table.

  He filled out the minor details and other information. The boss read it first and then signed. Gowther, however, had a different plan.

  “YOU BEAST-MAN! IS THIS MAN YOUR SLAVE?”

  “Yes.” He was clearly agitated by the sudden question.

  “MAKE HIM PART OF THE DEAL. I WILL GIVE YOU A FEW EXTRA BARRELS OR SILVER COINS FOR HIM. WHAT DO YOU SAY?”

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  “He is not for sale. He is a rather rare man, I have come in possession of. I can not hand him over for your cheap ale, no matter how many barrels you offer.”

  It was quite sad to hear about being someone’s property when Harwin was a free human being not so long ago, but he could not protest.

  The boss was clearly a warrior so he did not have the soft tongue of a merchant. That is why his words were not bend and he spoke bluntly even if it could make him lose the deal.

  “CHEAP ALE? WELL I WILL NOT BE PROVOKED BY YOUR WORDS AND BEHAVIOR. LIKE I SAID BEFORE, THIS HUMAN BOY IS VERY INTERESTING SO IT IS NOT A SURPRISE TO BE POSSESSIVE OF HIM. HOW ABOUT THIS? I WILL OFFER YOU FIFTY SILVER FOR HIM.”

  Fifty silver was quite an amount. Harwin did not know the price of a slave, but from the perspective of running a caravan. You could certainly get a lot of goods for yourself and your companions though he did not think it would last very long in this particular group.

  “As I said before. He is not for sale.”

  The boss responded almost immediately, either he really was already attached to Harwin or thought that he was worth a lot more.

  “HMM...WHAT ABOUT A GOLD EMERYEON. YOU CAN LIVE QUITE COMFORATBLY FOR MONTHS WITH THIS KIND OF MONEY. THE ORIGINAL DEAL WILL ALSO HOLD SO YOU CAN MAKE A PROFIT AT THE CAPITAL AS WELL. WHAT SAY YOU?”

  “Not for sale as I have mentioned a few times already. He will make me alot more by his mere presence.”

  “I SEE. WELL THAT IS SOMETHING. AT-LEAST YOU KNOW HIS WORTH BUT IF YOU EVER CHANGE YOUR MIND, KNOW THAT YOU HAVE A BUYER. AS FOR THE CONTRACT, I WILL SIGN IT AS DWARVES HONOR THEIR WORDS.” He looked at Harwin while giving this statement.

  They were able to successfully purchase the goods. Now all that was left was to transport them to the capital, find a good buyer, negotiate a good deal and then sell them so technically there was a-lot more hardship ahead.

  After getting the goods from Gowther’s warehouse — which was huge. They made their way to the wagons to load all the barrels. There was quite a-lot of space already as most of them were empty in the first place.

  After the hard labor (mostly hard for Harwin, even though he barely transported two barrels in contrast to the beast-men who were lifting four at time and were not even out of breath), he was called aside by the boss for discussing something.

  “Gor, my friend. You have certainly exceeded my expectation. You have given excellent advise and now even found a great deal. I want to reward you somehow. Let me know if you need something for yourself.”

  “There is no need for any rewards boss. I am merely returning the favor. You have certainly provided me with protection and shared your food with me. I can not be so ungrateful as to ask a reward from my benefactor.”

  He was genuinely grateful for all the information that he had gathered from the boss. Who knew if he could have survived in such a place without some protection so even if he was a slave, he certainly owed the boss a lot.

  “None-sense, I want you get something for yourself no matter how small. It will please me if you accept my offer.”

  "If you are so insistent on bestowing further favors on a slave. I suppose, I would like to buy some spices and salt. The food that I eat is rather bland so it will certainly help me a lot to swallow it if I can cook it properly.”

  “Trivial matter. You could have asked me to free you but you wish for something so small and inexpensive. You always seem to intrigue me with your weird quirks.”

  That was disappointing realization for Harwin as he certainly let such a big opportunity slip. None the less, he had empty pocket right now. He could not have survived in his current state after being freed. He needed to remain with this group, at-least till they reach the capital.

  Harwin was then given a few bronze coins to buy spices to his hearts content, which he did. He also bought some salt and a few cooking utensils. He was by no means a good chef — not even average would be a good class to describe his skills, but it was better than to eat boiled meat every single day.

  They stayed in the town for the night, not in any fancy inns but near their wagons. They were a mercenary group by nature so they always felt better to sleep under the open sky.

  Harwin had already gotten used to this routine as well. For the first few nights, it was difficult to sleep but now due to being used to as well as exhaustion, he was immediately knocked out after laying down.

  In the morrow, after meeting with all the merchants who were to be escorted, they departed on their journey once again.

  He was asked by the boss to ride in his chariot. He previously jumped around different carts and wagons until the driver of it scolded him away so this was an huge upgrade.

  There were two paths which led to the capital:

  One was much more direct but through a forest where it was easier for bandits to ambush incoming merchants and even smaller caravans.

  The second path was through a port-city called Thirysl. It was at the edge of the continent with access to the sea but the trek was much more difficult due to the rocky and craggy terrain which made a day’s journey into a week’s.

  The boss did not even hesitate to go through the forest as their caravan was large and could even qualify as a small battalion due to the presence of more warriors than merchants. To top that all off, they were beast-men who were a fearsome race for their brutish and offensive nature.

  The human merchant were rather concerned about this choice but the boss paid no heed to their worries.

  The caravan made more stops than usual due to the smaller stamina of the humans and their rides. This gave Harwin more opportunities to converse with the merchants. They were also happy to accommodate him and even offered to share some of their food, a kind act that brought a tear to his eyes.

  The food was not something fancy but the bread and curry, which they made was more delicious than anything he have had for the past few days.

  They told him all kinds of folk tales and information regarding this world. Information regarding the country of Silfordan —the capital of which they were traveling to. A few tid-bits were:

  - The head of Silfordan, rather the king of the country was referred to as the 'mage-king'. He was a human and was not handed over the throne by his ancestors but rather won it. It was not by sword unlike in most stories that Harwin had read, but by knowledge.

  - The mage-king was the one of the most knowledgeable human mages to have ever lived. Rome even called him the greatest human to have ever been born.

  - He has no known heir nor has he ever taken a wife. What was even more interesting was that these merchants heard about the mage-king from their parents who in turn heard from their folks and so on for the past few centuries.

  - It was rumored that the high king had already transcended into a higher form of life. No-one had seen him for a few centuries. Some even claimed that he was able to transfer his souls to different beings thus he never dies.

  - The country was amed after “Silfordan the Golden”. An empyrean, not the currency but this was a being that was from the ancient times.

  - Empyrean was a race itself — they transcended other life-forms and were said to live in other dimensions. The country was named after one as it was believed that he saved the region from a grave danger in the ancient times.

  - Silfordan was a god-like figure in this country and divinity hardly ever shows itself to the mortal men. There were a a lot of shrines made through out the country from where you could learn more about him from the priest.

  As for other information such as politics and wars, he was given a rather vague answer:

  - There were rumors of this country going to war against its neighboring country but those were only rumors and there has been peace for sometime now.

  - As for politics: there was feudal system in this world. There was the mage-king in the capital who never seems to make any personal commands. Then there was the High-minister who was the lord of the largest city in the country after the capital and had a vast influence. He handled the affairs of country in the name of the king.

  This was something Harwin had once read in the history of the older world. Something along the lines that the grand ministers were all corrupt and if the king was incompetent or still young of age; the minister ruled in their stead spreading chaos throughout the country for their own benefit.

  Harwin concluded that magika was the most sacred and important source of power in this world as it was the basis for the selection of the ruler.

  If somehow he could meet this mage-king, who seemed much more approachable compared to an empyrean, he might be able to get some information regarding the teleportation magic. The chances were slim but not impossible.

  He thanked the merchants for the delicious meal and sharing their knowledge with him and then left.

  After two days of traveling, they had finally reached the Great forest through which they were to traverse to the capital.

  The trees of it were much larger than the ones in the older world though they shared a similarity to the red woods, which Harwin had only seen on the internet.

  He had a really bad feeling about going through this path, but he was in no position to amend to the decisions of the boss.

  This silence, rather abstaining from suggesting would cost the lad dearly.