The Gate Traveler

In the morning, I wanted to check out the baths the innkeeper had mentioned. After giving Stretch his breakfast, I told him to stay in the room and wait for me. I doubted they would let a dog inside. He wasn’t happy about the idea, but agreed reluctantly, his ears drooping as he watched me leave.

The common room was much emptier in the morning. The innkeeper from last night was behind the bar, with no servers in sight. I approached and greeted him. “Good morning.”

“Good morning. Do you want breakfast? You didn’t eat dinner last night, so you have a meal I owe you. You can eat lunch one day to collect it.”

“Thank you. Yes, please, I’ll have breakfast.”

“You can have eggs with bread and vegetables or chama porridge.”

I decided to live dangerously and try something new. “Porridge, please.”

“You’re a polite fellow; I appreciate that.” The innkeeper said, “Sit down, and I’ll bring it to you.”

After a few minutes, he brought me a bowl of porridge that looked similar to cooked barley with fruits and honey. The aroma of honey and fruit was enticing, and the warmth of the bowl felt comforting in my hands. It was delicious and a pleasant change from the usual.

After eating, I approached him again and asked, “You mentioned the baths last night. Can you give me directions?”

He gave me a startled look and said, “Go to the right and turn left on the first street you see. You’ll see it. It’s a big building with a sign; you can’t miss it.” His startled look puzzled me. Was it something about the way I asked or the time of day? I decided not to dwell on it, concluding that as a Traveler, I’d better get used to such reactions.

As he said, the baths were easy to find. They were in an extensive stone building with a big sign proclaiming them the “Rusha Baths.” I wondered if Rusha was the name of the kingdom or the city. The Map was great, but it was missing many names. After learning of their location, I added the names Mara and Somer to the Map, but most places were still just icons representing towns or cities without names. Interestingly, the wilderness part of the Map was more detailed than the towns or cities.

Inside, I discovered a bath cost two coppers, with signs directing men to the right and women to the left. I went through the right door to a changing room with an attendant. Observing the other person in the room, I noted he handed his clothes to the attendant and received a string with a number on his wrist. I stored my clothes. One door from the changing room led to a room with a big pot of boiling water over a firepit, where another attendant added the hot water to buckets and handed them out. I watched the other gentleman to see what he did. He wet himself with a bucket, took a piece of soap from a shelf, soaped himself, including his hair, and rinsed with another bucket. Simple enough.

I followed his lead but didn’t like the coarse soap or its smell, so I used my soap and shampoo. After I rinsed, the attendant who watched me curiously asked, “Hello, esteemed merchant. Do you sell the soap you used, or is it only for personal use?”

“I have some to sell.”

“My father would like to purchase some for the nobles. Could you meet with him after your bath?”

“I’ll be happy to.” It was good that I had bought a large stock.

I left through the door the other person used and came to a big room with three soaking pools. Judging by the steam, there was a temperature difference. The first was lukewarm, almost cold; the second was just right, and the last was too hot for me. I settled into the medium-heat pool, leaning my head back and feeling myself relax.

I stayed in the pool for at least an hour, enjoying the warmth. A mage occasionally came to check the water and heat it. I could feel him cast a spell on it. It was surprising; when the other mage cast a spell on the meat I sold her, I didn’t feel the casting, but now it was impossible to ignore. I realized it was probably because of my Wizard Class, which I didn’t have when I sold the meat. Until now, I hadn’t noticed that my sensitivity to mana had increased, but now it was apparent.

After my soak, I checked their offered towels and didn’t like them either. They were thick sheets of coarse linen, not the fluffy towels I was used to.

The mage approached me and said, “Hello, esteemed merchant. Are you the person my son mentioned who has nice-smelling soap for sale?”

“Yes. Also, nice fluffy towels and a special soap for hair that keeps it soft.”

“I would be very interested in seeing those things, but I must watch over the baths. Would you mind showing me here or prefer to return in the afternoon when my replacement arrives?”

“I don’t mind showing you here, but let me get dressed first.”

I got dressed, took out my operating table, and arranged a big stack of towels in different sizes: an unopened box with 50 bars of soap, another box with 24 bottles of body wash, and another box with 24 shampoo bottles. With an opened bar of soap, body wash, and shampoo bottles in hand, I pointed at the soap box and explained, “This box has 50 pieces of soap just like this one. You can smell it and wash your hands to understand the quality.” I pointed at the body wash. “This is also soap but in liquid form; it’s more pleasant on the body, and this box contains 24 bottles.” I pointed at the shampoo box and said, “This box contains 24 bottles of this soap; it’s special for hair and keeps it soft and shiny.”

He took the shampoo bottle, examined it, and asked, “What language is this, and what is this bottle made of? I never saw anything like it.”

“I come from the islands in the far south; this is our local dialect. The bottles are made from a substance produced there, but I have no idea how. My family buys the bottles after they are made. We have a mage in the family who casts the pictures and writing on the bottles.”

He smelled the soap and the shampoo, checked the towels, and asked me, “How much do each of those things cost, and how much do you have?”

This time, I decided to charge the actual price for each item instead of discounting it after appraising it. I looked into my Storage, counted everything, put aside the opened boxes of each for my personal use, and answered, “The box with the 50 pieces of soap costs 3 gold and 2 silver, the boxes with the liquid soap for body and hair cost 3 gold each for 24 bottles. The big towels cost 3 silver each, the medium towels 2 silver each, and the small ones 1 silver each. I have 24 boxes of the soap pieces, 29 boxes of the body liquid soap, and 49 boxes of the hair liquid soap. I have 75 big towels, 95 medium towels, and 64 small towels. All the towels are in various colors, and there is a slight difference in size between some of them, but they are still big, medium, and small.”

He thought momentarily and asked, “Are you planning to return to Rusha in the future?”

“No. After I visit a few more places, I’ll be returning home to stay.”

He rubbed his chin and asked, “How much are you asking for everything you have, with a promise that you don’t have more and won’t be selling to other bathhouses in Rusha?”

I took out a pen and paper and did some calculations, and the mage watched me with interest. After calculating everything, I said, “The total price is 541 gold and 5 silver. Since you are buying in bulk, I’ll sell it to you for 500 gold, and I promise you that if you buy the entire stock, I won’t have more to sell to other bathhouses.”

He hummed under his breath and said, “I’ll take all of it, but I don’t have such a sizeable sum of money here. Can you return in the afternoon?”

“Yes, no problem.”

“Thank you. When you arrive in the afternoon, ask for me. My name is Rob.”

Oops!

Again, I forgot to introduce myself. I need to work on that.

We shook hands, and I introduced myself. “My name is John. It’s nice to meet you. I’ll see you in the afternoon.”

I left and headed back to the inn to collect Stretch.

After collecting him, I went to sell some things. I needed to empty my storage and look for things to buy.

I saw a shop with pots outside on a display table and went inside. The shopkeeper was busy with a customer, so I waited. After he was done, I approached him and extended my hand for a handshake. “Hello, my name is John. Nice to meet you.”

He shook my hand and said, “Mesin. How can I help you?”

“I’m a merchant with unique wares. Will you be interested to see them?”

“Maybe, depends on what you have.”

I showed him an extensive assortment of pots, pans, and bowls. He bought most of the stuff I showed him and didn’t say “too fancy” even once. I liked him just for that.

I continued to explore the city and buy various foods from vendors. Some of it was so good that I bought more and stored it. By selling stuff to multiple shops, I was making money hand over fist. I returned to the bathhouse in the afternoon and concluded our deal.

I enjoyed selling in the city. Most of my sales on the road were small, and I primarily received payment in copper and silver. Here, I made significant sales and received payment in gold. It was much more fun, and I enjoyed being a merchant. It wasn’t so much the money I was making, although I also enjoyed making money, but the actual process of the sale, from offering the goods to negotiation and the final money exchange.

In the evening, after dinner, I approached the innkeeper with an extended hand for a handshake. “My name is John. Nice to meet you. What’s your name?” I remembered to ask.

Yay me!

Maybe one day, I’d get over my introverted ways.

Again, he gave me a strange look and said, “Loman. How can I help you, lad?”

“Can you tell me where the commercial streets in the city are and where the streets are only residential?”

He gave me another strange look—I was tiring of those—and answered, “There are shops on every street, but some areas are specific. You can find the leather workers on the east side of the city. If you cross the bridge near the leather workers and walk east of the city, you will find the tanners area. The food market is on this side of the river, straight ahead on the main road before you turn left for the inn. The blacksmiths’ area is also on the other side of the river in the west. Two fish markets are near the main docks on both sides of the river.”

I thanked him and went up to my room. Before going to sleep, I opened the Map and marked all the streets I visited; I still had a big part of the city to visit.

For the next three weeks, I visited every shop I saw to offer my wares and slowly filled the Map. In the evenings, I would restore weapons for 1,000 mana, regenerate for a few hours, and sleep. It snowed off and on during all this time. It wasn’t heavy snow, and it didn’t stay on the ground for long. Stretch still didn’t like it and preferred to spend his days in the common room of the inn in front of the fire, with the innkeeper and servers who spoiled him rotten with pets and treats. He was living life and enjoying every minute. Every evening, I would ask him how his day went, and I would get a flood of happy emotions accompanied by the taste of food and the pleasure of pets and scratches—spoiled dog.

I left the blacksmiths and leather workers for last, but I was getting close to visiting all the streets in the city. I also visited inns, which turned out to be excellent customers, including my inn. Some shops sold jewelry and potions. I marked them on my Map and planned to return to them later.

When I arrived at the blacksmiths’ area, I entered the first shop I saw. A big man was banging on something on an anvil. One young man was pumping bellows, and another was arranging things on a display wall. The man arranging the display approached me and said, “Good day to you, good sir. How can we serve you?”

“Do you have old or damaged weapons for sale?”

He looked at me with complete bewilderment. “Old and damaged?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“I’m a traveling merchant, and I visit many small towns. Some people can’t afford more than a few coppers for a weapon, but they still need to take care of jurbers or other nasties occasionally. I have a lot of excellent weapons for sale. I’m looking for something for poor people.”

He looked at me like I was less of a lunatic and said, “Wait a few moments, please.”

He went and whispered with the guy banging on the anvil. After a minute, both of them went to the back and returned carrying weapons. They did this another three times, creating a big mound of damaged weapons in the middle of the shop.

The big guy approached me and said, “I can’t promise you very low prices since I can melt those and reuse the metal, but see what interests you, and we will talk.”

“Thank you.”

After appraising all the weapons, I approached him and said, “I would like to take all the weapons you showed me. I can pay in coins or barter damaged weapons for good ones.”

“I sell only for coins. I don’t buy new weapons, only old ones to melt and reuse.”

“No problem. How much for all the weapons you showed me?”

He checked them one by one, writing on a piece of paper. It was the first time I saw paper here; in all the other shops, the merchants did all the calculations in their heads. The paper looked coarse and was light brownish-grey.

After ten minutes, he said, “Three gold and four silver.”

It was more than my Appraisal showed me. My calculation was 2 gold, 8 silver, and 4 coppers. I said, “This is too much for their condition. Remember, I’m a traveling merchant; I have the Appraisal blessing.”

“How much are you willing to pay?”

“2 gold and 8 silver.”

He extended his hand for a handshake, saying, “We have a bargain.”

I shook his hand and paid him 280 copper coins, most of them local and some of mine from Earth—he liked those like everybody else. I stored the weapons and bid them a good day.

Like this, I toured the whole blacksmith’s area and bought weapons. Some wanted to barter for good weapons, some wanted coins only, and one blacksmith wanted exorbitant prices and was unwilling to bend. He made me realize skills were not all-powerful, and that there was a free will aspect to everything. Otherwise, my bargaining skills would have made him capitulate. I also bought tools after my experience in the emerald cave. I bought picks, saws, hammers, an extensive assortment of nails, and other odds and ends.

It took me three days to visit all the blacksmiths. The next day was nice and sunny without snow, so I took a day off and relaxed; buying and selling was hard work. I spent the day visiting food stalls with Stretch, and we tried many different foods. Since his awakening, he has been less picky about food and was enjoying new things. He still wanted beer occasionally, but not too much–maybe once every 4-5 days. I diagnosed him after each beer but couldn’t see any difference.

After our day off, I went to visit the leather workers. The leather area occupied over ten streets and was very diverse. Some shops sold leather armor in various designs. Some others sold riding leather clothes. Others sold leather clothes for multiple professions, and other shops sold leather sheets for furniture or carts and carriages. I even found three bowyer shops that sold bows and arrows. I had no idea why they were in the leather district; the only leather they sold was the bowstrings.

I bought myself three sets of leather armor in varying degrees of protection and hardness, many old and damaged leather goods, and over twenty damaged bows, and cleaned out all the bowyers from every arrow they had. I told the bowyers I’d return to buy more arrows in a few days. Two looked happy, but one looked intimidated, and I didn’t know why.

I located the alchemists I marked on the Map and visited them individually. It was an interesting experience that taught me a lot. They all sold mana potions that restored 30 mana and cost two gold! No wonder the caravan mage was so excited about the meat. I thought she was simply an excitable person. They also didn’t have health potions. They had various potions, salves, and tinctures for different things like colds, cuts, infections, etc., and the prices were very high. The cheapest was a salve for muscle pain and cost 5 silver, and the most expensive was a potion to treat infections—at least they knew what infections were—which cost 3 gold and 5 silver. They also sold dried plants, and I could sense the mana in them. I made a mental note to sense the plants for mana when I would continue my travels in the wilderness and collect some. I bought nothing, but it was very informative.

Last, I visited the jewelry shops. In this world, the jewelry had a cruder design compared to Earth, and they cut the gems completely differently. They were primarily square or round. Most of the jewelry in this world did not have facets or had only three or four. They polished the rest to a smooth finish. The prices weren’t exorbitant, but not cheap either. I decided not to buy jewelry but offered my emeralds. They were a big hit. It took me three days to sell the content of both chests from shop to shop, but I finally did and earned over 2,500 gold.

The red light started blinking in my vision when I received the money in the shop before last.

When I was outside, I tapped it.

 

Level up +3 wisdom, +3 perception, +2 luck, +3 free points Profession: Merchant Level 6

 

It was about time; I did a lot of selling and buying since I came to Shimoor.

I examined the merchandise at the last jewelry shop I visited. I had no more emeralds, and this shop was extra expensive, so I just left.

It was time to move on. I checked the Map and saw that the river continued far into the west as I needed. Travelers also seemed to explore quite a few of the capitals along this river. Around seventy percent of them had names listed on the Map. Before going to the docks to ask about a ship, I needed to check with Stretch. I found him in the inn in front of the fire. I called him up to our room and talked to him.

“Listen, buddy, with the snow, it will be much more difficult to travel through the wilderness or even on the roads. We can take a ship on the river and travel south like I need. The ships are bigger and more stable than the boats you don’t like, but they’re still traveling over water. What do you say? Will you give a ship a chance?”

He thought for a moment, and I felt his agreement followed by his love for me. The message was clear: “Okay, but only because I love you.”

I hugged, petted, and scratched his ears, saying, “Thanks, buddy. I need to understand what’s going on with my mana. It’s driving me nuts. It just doesn’t make any sense.”

I sensed a question from him.

“It jumps up without any explanation. I’m not opposed to the rise in available mana, but I need to understand how it happens and how to control it. I don’t like that something is happening in my body that I can’t understand and control.”

I got the feeling of a shrug.

“Yeah, I don’t get it either, but I think there are answers in the west.”

He put his head on my lap. I petted him briefly and asked, “I’m going to the docks. Do you want to come with me?”

I got a strong negative and a feeling of warmth.

“Okay, have fun in the common room with all the servers spoiling you.”

I got a strong feeling of smugness and laughed.

I checked the Map and saw that the river curved north near the kingdom of Talis so I would look for a ship heading that way. Talis was also close to one of the Gates located south, so I could check it and see where it leads.

I gave Stretch one last scratch under his chin and headed to the docks.