Chapter 10
Chapter 10
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 10
Chapter Title: The Party Met in the Forest (4)
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[ Turk Merchant Owner 'Stran' ]
"Are you the owner of this trading company?"
I already knew the answer, but I asked anyway.
"That's right. My name is Turk Burman. As you can see, I run a modest little trading company."
The man smiled with his eyes and bowed his head as he introduced himself.
As expected of a merchant—he kept a straight face while blatantly lying.
He's passing off his fake name as his real one.
"It looks like there was some trouble with our employees. Would you mind if we spoke privately?"
"...Fine. Let's hear what you have to say."
"This way, then. I'll show you to the reception room."
I followed the merchant with the adventurer party in tow.
Their company building was right there.
This wasn't their headquarters, more like a branch office. Pione Village, this remote outpost, had probably developed thanks to their influence.
Most of the village's economy flowed through the Turk Trading Company, so as the company grew, so did the village.
It had a high transient population but few permanent residents, so it never quite turned into a full city.
Where money moves, people follow.
And where people go, paths naturally form.
It was only natural.
The merchant soon stopped in front of a door. We had arrived.
His real name is Stran. No special magic abilities, no talent for combat.
He was probably in his early thirties.
But starting from nothing at a young age, he built a small trading company into a major player that could shake the economic market in just ten years.
This man in his fine suit was the owner of the massive Turk Trading Company—an important NPC in the game Novel Online.
The story varied depending on your chosen race, but human players always got the "Turk Caravan Escort" quest from him.
I figured these adventurers had taken something similar.
And Pione Village is only accessible during that storyline.
That made sense—their levels matched the early-game story progression.
In that main story quest, his caravan always abandons the player to the monsters and flees.
Most other NPCs bring out about five guards to command the players and fight the monsters.
They didn't deal much damage, but their presence made a big difference because of their high health pools.
That let players safely unload their burst damage while the NPCs tanked.
But this guy? He just runs.
That's why players nicknamed him "Churk" or "Tchurk"—pretty funny stuff.
Average player level for that quest was 50, but getting dumped to minotaurs and bandits ten levels higher wiped a lot of people.
"This is the reception room. It's humble, but please come in."
Following him led to a surprisingly luxurious room.
It looked like an office, but it had leather sofas for guests.
Sitting down, I found them more comfortable than expected.
Until now, I'd only sat in the bumpy wooden wagons, so my butt had been sore. I could really feel the difference.
Might be worth buying a cushion later.
"Wow..."
The adventurers behind me seemed impressed by the high-end furniture.
You rarely saw this level of luxury in the game unless you entered a palace or noble mansion, so it was understandable.
"First, let me apologize. I know words alone won't suffice, but I must do it anyway."
"Pardon?"
The merchant bowed his head politely right off the bat.
Caught off guard by the unexpected gesture, the swordsman and others—who had been ready to chew him out—were left speechless. A natural reaction.
I'd been the same way at first.
"If I may offer an excuse: the horses pulling the lead wagon panicked and bolted. As you know, for a merchant, goods are more precious than life."
"Hah, but you could have turned back right away. Not returning after an hour means...!"
"We were attacked by more beasts. We had more wounded, so after treating them, I sent scouts to look for you. They found only monster corpses and assumed you'd handled it."
"That..."
The swordsman bit his lip, staring at the floor.
Hard to argue with that.
For merchants, money is more precious than life, and time is money.
With caravan trips only once a month, they couldn't turn the whole operation around for a few adventurers.
The swordsman knew that, hence his reaction.
Plus, with wounded to transport, protesting further would be tough.
"Of course, that's not to say we did nothing wrong. Just that we had our own circumstances. So... Hey! Bring it in already!"
The merchant tapped his desk twice with his finger.
Servants soon arrived with fancy pouches.
-Clink.
The sound of metal coins jingling inside.
I could guess what was in there.
Depending on the era or setting, fantasy worlds like this always had one universal solution to every problem.
That being...
"As compensation equal to your original fee, three gold coins per person—a total of fifteen. Please accept them as our apology. Of course, we'll pay your fee again once the caravan reaches its destination."
Money.
"The same as the fee...?!"
The priestess gasped in surprise.
The group's hostility toward the merchants softened.
The elf still looked dissatisfied, but the swordsman, priestess, and mage's eyes sparkled at the gold.
"Yes. We'll deliver shares to the other adventurers who aren't here as well. For those who passed, we'll pass it to their families."
The merchant replied with a friendly smile.
In the lore, regular folk earned one gold a month from non-adventuring work, so this was three months' pay per person from one job.
You might want to rage that money can't fix everything, but in reality, it fixes most things...
And refusing just hurts you.
Still, they're eyeing the gold but not taking it. Because of me?
They hesitated, glancing my way as if gauging my reaction.
Probably because I was the one who saved them from the minotaur, so the reward should go to me first.
Their sneaky peeks confirmed it.
But it was just 15 gold...
No big deal. Spend ten minutes on an elite boss, and you'd make 100 easy.
The game's economy seemed similar here, so three gold felt plenty for now.
-Thud!
"Fine. I'll take it, then. You all have no complaints, right?"
I grabbed the pouch.
I hadn't planned to take it myself, but watching them dither was too frustrating.
Once we left, I'd pocket my share and hand theirs over. Then buy what I needed in the market and proceed with the quest.
Clearing this hidden quest would net me dozens of times more than 15 gold.
...Though as a low-level starter quest, it paled against taking down a demon realm elite boss.
"Business concluded. Let's go."
"Yes, safe travels."
I opened the door and stepped out.
Merchant 'Stran' bowed and bid us farewell politely. Unnecessarily diligent.
Now with money in hand, time to finish today's tasks.
First, hit the market for adventuring supplies. Then check if Pione Village has a library or bookstore with spellbooks.
-Creak!
"?"
As I stepped outside, a man who looked exactly like Stran stood at the door.
Was there an NPC like this? Twins?
He was a tad taller than Stran—subtle, but noticeable up close.
"Ah, that's my twin brother. No need to mind him."
The merchant smiled brightly.
...Twins, huh.
I had a rough idea of his identity, but seeing game NPCs in the flesh felt surreal.
Probably see a lot more of them—enough to get sick of it.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ 2.
《 ~Neutral Stage~ Pione Village Market Street 》
-Murmur murmur
For a frontier village market, it was impressively large.
Bound to be, with all the merchants and adventurers passing through.
The crowd could rival a decent city's—mostly adventurers buying quest or adventuring gear.
Blacksmiths displaying swords and spears to recruit help, apothecaries selling potions: those were the main stalls.
Dwarf handmade crafts too—high quality, popular with female adventurers. Rare ones even had special effects.
Dwarves crafted with spirits, so sometimes spirit essence lingered, granting magic.
In the game, buying weapons here had a tiny chance of extra enchantments.
They were called enchanted weapons.
An easy way to score them with cash—no time sink—so players saved up and bought multiples like gambling.
Cyan strolled the street, reminiscing.
-Whoa, isn't that a high elf? What's a high elf doing here?
-Damn, she's gorgeous... Go talk to her.
-Nah, high elves look pretty but have twisted personalities. Don't wanna get burned.
-Elves are beauties by birth, and they peak with age. Fine race.
One problem: all the stares and attention.
Tch, annoying.
Cyan considered blasting the gawkers away but held back. She could, but restrained herself.
Her outfit was flashy for an adventurer already, and her signature silver hair plus stunning looks drew eyes whether she liked it or not.
She'd noticed.
Even during the caravan dispute, she'd caught the mercenaries' lecherous gazes from afar.
If I could just cast a presence-concealing spell... But no such thing in the tower's books.
They'd probably dragged a fantasy version of her into their filthy minds.
Thinking about it soured her mood.
So first stop: clothing store.
Mainly to buy a plain mage robe to cover her face and tone down the attention.
Found a good one—decent size, changing rooms.
"...How much for this robe?"
"Two silvers, miss... Wait, a high elf?"
The shop girl greeted her warmly at first, then her expression turned odd upon seeing Cyan.
Maybe picking high elf was a mistake, Cyan inwardly regretted.
If only she could shrink these pointed ears—she'd pass for human. But low magic mastery limited her to horn size only.
Anyway, she bought it and changed in the fitting room.
[Open.]
She stored her original gear in Subspace.
⚔ SUBSPACE ⚔ ⚡ Attribute: Darkness 📏 Range: None 🎯 Max Capacity: 1 ℹ️ Special: Requires shadow A storage spell created by Space's Transcendent - Cresia. Stores desired items in a pocket dimension without time or space, enabling permanent preservation. She couldn't access inventory, but had a workaround.
Inside: tower books just in case, the gold from earlier, and sundry items.
One flaw: unusable without a shadow.
Not a big deal.
"This should cut down on the stares."
Changed clothes—much better.
Less conspicuous now, so she could wander freely.
Just to be safe, she bought extras.
Unlike her originals, these lacked indestructible enchantments, so they'd break if durability hit zero.
Rare option, really.
"Take care, beautiful high elf customer!"
Leaving the thrilled clerk with armloads of sales, Cyan resumed market browsing.
Head covered—no more stares.
Might look a bit shady, but mages dressed like this all the time, so nothing odd.
She bought basic potions, a map, simple rations.
Full of real-world rarities—fun shopping.
"This... nice scent. How much?"
A faint, enticing fragrance tickled her nose.
"20 ferons. Made from imported scented wood from the elf city."
Most memorable: a sundries shop.
After clothes and supplies, one regret lingered.
No bath goods—bath salts, shampoo, soap.
No such shops in-game, so she'd puzzled over it. The clothing clerk recommended this place; she used their stuff.
"Not bad. Give me four bottles."
"Thank you!"
Cyan continued her enjoyable shopping in this world.
The initial annoyance from stares faded; soon she was having fun.