"How did your foraging for wild fruits go, sir merchant? Have a satisfying harvest?" farmer Richard asked Peter.
"I harvested a bountiful one, Richard." Peter said enthusiastically. At the same time, he pulled out a medium-sized fruit, a piece of sour orange.
Peter's fingers were straining as he grasped the vividly orange sour orange. It was much larger than the ones usually sold in Earth's markets.
"I'll apologize in advance, sir merchant, if you feel that what I'm about to say to you is offensive, but I'm telling you right now; it is not my intention." Richard said.
Peter acknowledged Richard's intention with a small nod, a silent sign of his approval.
"If your harvest was bountiful, where is your bunch of fruits?" Richard questioned Peter.
Peter patted the large sling bag he was wearing hard. Richard's eye subconsciously followed Peter's hand movement.
"Stop calling me, sir merchant, Richard. Call me Peter instead," Peter requested to the farmer.
"It's a bit confusing. My son shares your name," Richard replied. "But if that's what you want."
"Thank you." Peter replied, smiling.
"Do you mean the ones you picked are there, sir Peter?" Richard curiously returned to the topic with a question.
"Yes." Peter gave confirmation.
The farmer was speechless. "You mean it's a dimensional bag like in the legends?" Richard asked, his eyes wide and incredulous. Peter nodded, surprising the farmer.
Peter nodded but in fact it wasn't a dimensional bag. It was just a normal sling bag that Peach had given him. In reality, he just took one piece of each of the picked fruits and put it in the bag.
Then why did he lie? Why did he pretend it was a dimensional bag?
Because it's convenient for him. Because that's what the situation demands. It's better than him revealing the secrets of the Livelihood Dungeon.
"I'm thinking if there's a market for these kinds of fruits for trade?" Peter said to Richard.
"Excuse me, sir Peter, don't you have any products that you brought with you from where you are from?" farmer Richard curiously inquired.
He screamed in excitement in his mind when he got the expected question he was anticipating.
"There is, but I'm still thinking about whether to bring it out or not." Peter began.
"Why are you still thinking about it, sir?" the farmer asked.
"It's better to be careful. I'm afraid your fellow villagers might not like what I brought," Peter lied.
"Why is that?" asked Richard.
"It's human nature to be wary of new things or outright reject it. I think corn might be a new product in this area. As a trader, I'm also a cautious person. I'm afraid my business might fail and my reputation tarnished." Peter almost believed the lie he told himself. He's thinking that he might have the knock for this merchant occupation. After all, telling lies and making yourself believe your own lies for others to believe you is like an occupational disease for merchants.
Peter closely observed Richard's reaction to the word corn. Peter simply smiled for a short while when he saw Richard wasn't reacting to the word corn. Seems like corn wasn't known here yet.
In reality, the reason he made it look like he had a dimensional bag was to buy time.
It will be another twenty days before the corn can be eaten according to his appraisal. Since corn is food, it is convenient because it has a dimensional bag so the food products will not rot.
...
The next day Peter began to wander around the village.
The reason he told to the farmer was that he would observe the villagers to see if they were open to the new type of food.
Richard even offered to give him a tour of the entire village and introduce him to the every residents, but Peter declined the offer.
"I insist." Richard persistently offered once more.
"Thanks but no thanks, Richard. I'll be embarrassed with myself if I keep inconveniencing you. Please proceed with your regular routine, I can handle this myself," Peter refused once again.
"Don't worry, sir Peter. Peter can do the work in the field. It's not difficult for him to do. The hardest part was over during the last spring." Peter still couldn't convince the very persistent Richard. With furrowed brows he's now thinking long and hard how to make him stop insisting.
"I really don't need assistance. Help Peter. He's still a kid. I can handle this. You've already helped me too much. You've already let a stranger like me stay at your house, you've even fed me for free. It's embarrassing." Peter refused with a shy smile. At the same time as he was explaining, he's a little weirded out for mentioning his name while referring to someone else.
His right cheek twitched a little.
"That's nothing. He's the one who's at fault in the first place. He accused you of something that's not true. But wait sir, are you sure you're gonna be okay going alone?" Richard asked, looking at the person he was talking to. He was a little amused by Peter's facial expression right now.
"It's really okay," Peter replied with a smile while trying to maintain a straight face which caused the uncontrollable trembling of the tip of his right lip. He covered his face to force a cough.
"Your son isn't really lying. I'm sorry." of course, Peter only answered in his mind. If he said that vulgarly, the person he was talking to would probably straight up kick him out of their home or worse, chase him out of the village.
"Don't worry, Richard. I'll pay you back when I sold those corn," Peter vowed to himself.
"I'll be going first, sir Peter." Richard just smiled before saying goodbye to the person he was talking to.
As he walked away, Richard was whistling in a singsong way.
It seems the farmer is in a good mood.
He can't help it. The merchant he was talking to was not your typical merchant. He was very respectful to someone like him, a lowly farmer. He's easy to talk to and very friendly.
Usually, merchants treat people like serfs/farmer and peasants who have the lowest social standing, with disdain. Some even looked at them as if they are lower than animals.
He once went to a nearby town when he was still an innocent kid. There he was surprised by the way a merchant treated him. From then on, his outlook on life changed. When he returned home, he never tried to leave his village again. He was content with living a hard yet simple life.
Later, when an adventurer returned from another place, the entire village welcomed him. Young Richard was surprised. He was surprised by the respect the newly arrived adventurer was receiving. That's why he asked one of his playmates why they respected him so much.
The said playmate just looked at him like he was looking at a strange kind of creature.
When he returned home, he asked his father the reason for the respect the newly arrived adventurer was receiving. His father did not made things hard for him and told it right away.
According to Richard's father, when he was young, adventurers were respected in their area because of their strength.
Adventurers are people extremely skilled in combat. One of their specialties happened to be killing the monsters that plagues not only the Terragon Kingdom but the majority of Skylark Realm's different territories scattered all throughout the different continents. Because their specialty helps solve the territories and kingdoms problems, the nobles, no matter which faction or kingdom they belonged to, saw the adventurers, specially the strongest ones, in a good light.
Like influential and wealthy merchants, adventurers are given a good social status with the help of the powerful families within the Terragon Kingdom and other territories of the Skylark Realm.
That is why members of these two professions eventually became downright arrogant and completely full of themselves. It's rare for an adventurer or an merchant to be kind and down to earth.
Young Richard's eyes lit up as his father narrates his story.
"Strong adventurers are given the opportunity to stand shoulder to shoulder and look nobles eye to eye. Some say that the truly strongest adventurers become true friends of the royal family." Richard was listening in amazement. He saw his father's gaze drifting away and his eyes shining. At that time, an innocent Richard had no idea what his father's distant gaze meant. All young Richard knew was that he wanted to be a brave adventurer. If possible, he dreams of becoming a mage who is said to be the most respected even among adventurers.
Later on, as Richard grew older, he realized that becoming an adventurer was an unattainable dream. At the same moment he heard his dream being shattered by reality, he understand that instance his father's distant gaze that night. That was the dream of becoming a heroic adventurer. His father used to have that same dream he had as a kid. Even his friends in the village wanted to be strong and admired adventurers at some point in their lives. That's when he realized the possibility that most people dream of becoming adventurers, especially daring men.
The case with merchants is almost the same. The only difference is that they gain the respect of the nobles and the royal family through money, business-savvy and influence.
That's why Richard is trying to get closer to the newly-arrived merchant at the village.
Except for the only kind merchant person he knew this one is very easy to get along with. That other kind merchant he knew was a very guarded person. The type that don't easily believe someone kind to him yet still knew how to respect others despite the social standings or their intentions. But this one seems like someone too nice who can easily be taken advantage of.
He really want to befriend Peter because of his kindness.
Richard could only shake his head when he remembered the kind but strange merchant.
A laugh escaped Richard's mouth as he remembered the exchange between him and Peter earlier.
"What's so funny, father?" asked his son, young Peter, who's also busy doing farm work.
"Nothing." Richard replied with a smile to his son.
"Which merchant refuses to sell his products? Only Peter," Richard said to himself, amused.
"Great, Peter! Very great!" Richard said, ruffling his son's hair.
"'What the hell, old man?" young Peter scolded his father in annoyance. He adjusted his worn-out work hat as it slipped loose.
The mistake of his mischievous son incidentally turned into something good.
Richard is taking a gamble. He wants to befriend the strange merchant, not out of malice, but because he sees him as an opportunity. Though nothing is certain, he hopes that the merchant, who shares his son's name, will succeed in establishing a business in the Kingdom of Terragon. If he can help him now, or at least leave a good impression, the merchant may one day repay the favor for the help he received when he was just starting out. When that time comes, Richard intends to ask for a favor-- for his son. That way, Peter might escape the life that he and his wife have endured ...a life of poverty so severe at times they fear each day may be their last.
Richard glanced at his son, Peter, with a gentle gaze. He was neither ashamed nor embarrassed by his plan; to him, it was the right thing to do. He only wanted to give his son a better chance, a chance to live, even if only a little longer.
Peter, the protagonist, has no idea about Richard's plan.
He would never have imagined that someone like Richard, a humble farmer, just a simple peasant, lacking in education, would be capable of thinking up with such a cunning plan.
It can be said that a parent's love can be terrifying. In their desperation to give their child a better life, they may do anything-- everything within their power.