Pathfinder
Chapter Thirteen
Roana popped out from behind where Garam was standing.
Upon her question, Garam shook her head.
“Oh no, I didn’t even realize time passed so quickly as I was watching people passing by.”
“Oh my, that’s good.
What do you want to buy?”
“First, clothes, and maybe I’d like to visit a bookstore.
Oh, and I need to buy a map of this place.”
“Hmm, they sell maps at the bookstore.
Do you have enough money?”
“I have about five silver, but will it be enough?
If it’s not enough, I can sell this bag.”
“With five silver you could buy some cheap clothes, but it might not be enough for books or a horse.”
“Then I should sell this bag first and see how much I can get.”
“Alright.
Trust me.
I’m Roana, the master of bargaining.
I’ll show you the skills I’ve learned at the morning market.
I promise you won’t overpay for anything.”
Roana suddenly worried that the five silver coins might be Garam’s entire fortune.
It was not a small amount, but it wasn’t a lot either.
It was enough to stay at the lowest-grade inn for about five days, but it would be hard to stay even a day at an inn like Roana’s.
Garam seemed to lack some basic economic knowledge, and that made Roana anxious.
What if she spent all the money?
What would she do then?
“By any chance, if that’s all your money, you shouldn’t spend it all, right?
I can take you to a cheaper clothing store.”
“No, it’s okay.
If I don’t have enough left for the horse, I have my own plan, so don’t worry.
So please take me to a good clothing store.”
Hearing that, Roana was somewhat relieved.
She headed towards the place she knew was the best-value general store, taking advantage of her personal connections.
If she used her personal connections, she could get a fairly good deal.
Garam followed closely behind Roana, stepping lively.
After a short walk, they arrived at a store without a signboard.
Although it didn’t have a signboard, it was a famous general store among seasoned travelers.
Without hesitation, Roana pushed open the door of the general store and took Garam to stand in front of the counter.
“Oh?
Is that you, Roana?
Who’s the person next to you?”
The owner of the general store, Rabun, was a regular guest of Fairy of Rest.
He might have been quite handsome when he was younger, and despite a slightly bulging belly, he was still popular among the local ladies.
He was known to be a wealthy man, and his pleasant personality was another reason for his popularity.
“She’s a friend of mine.”
“So, Roana has made an Asian friend.
Alright, what can I do for you?”
Because Roana often brought her friends there, Rabun quickly accepted the situation.
“We want to sell some items.”
Garam placed her backpack on the counter after Roana’s words.
She took out a pen, a flashlight, mosquito repellent, hairbands, and white towels, neatly arranging them next to each other.
“I don’t quite understand what these are except this white cloth.
Can you explain?”
Roana seemed to be genuinely interested in the items from the East, especially the hairbands.
Garam patiently explained, despite the language barrier and difficulties in translation.
As the explanation progressed, even Rabun, the shop owner, started to show interest in the items.
“So, this pen doesn’t need ink, and this is a bug-repelling scent.
And this hairband seems to be made with alchemy, and hmm… it stretches when pulled, so it looks like quite a rare item.
And this thing called a flashlight charges itself when you shake it, so theoretically you can use it permanently, right?”
“Yes, when you shake it, it uses the kinetic energy that’s generated…”
Garam’s flashlight was an advanced self-charging model, and by the time she finished explaining, even Rabun was showing curiosity.
“I don’t fully understand, but you’re saying it’s some kind of magic item, right?”
“Yes.”
“Well, we roughly agreed on the prices, but this white cloth puzzles me.
What’s its purpose?”
“They’re towels, used for drying things.”
“Towels made of white fabric?
Is white fabric that common in the East?
Hmm, anyway, I could probably pay two gold for the magic pen and fifty silver for each of these hairbands.
The bug-repelling scent, well, it has a unique shape, but we sell something similar here for less than one silver.
As for the flashlight, hmm, it’s a high-end item.
Since you say it can be used permanently, how about ten gold?”
“Wait, ten gold?”
As Garam was stunned by the prices that Rabun was quoting, Roana called Rabun, who was trying to bargain unreasonably on the price, in a low voice.
With raised eyebrows and a sly grin, Rabun chuckled and explained that it was just a joke.
“How about twenty gold?
I can’t go any higher than that.
I can probably resell them for twenty-one or twenty-two gold.”
You could sell it for even fifty gold.”
“Well, okay.
Roana, this is bleeding me dry.
Later, you’ll have to bring me lots of delicious things.”
“For thirty gold, I’ll personally pick out the best dishes for you.
Please save my face in front of my friend.
Okay?”
“Fine, fine, I can’t help it.
But you have to take my side when I argue with Banom.”
“Of course!
Now, how much for this white towel?”
“It’s too small and can only be used for decoration, but it’s quite thick, so five gold.”
Roana didn’t object to the reasonable price, and Garam realized she had been fooled when she visited the Thornwood General Store.
She briefly considered reporting the shopkeeper to the authorities but decided against it.
Being neither a native of that country nor of that world, Garam was wary of confronting the local authorities.
Plus, if they considered her an illegal immigrant and apprehended her instead, it would have been a disaster.
After all, she knew she could always replenish her inventory at her base camp.
She might as well go back and get some flashlights and sell them again.
“So everything all together is… um… Right, it’s forty-two gold.”
After calculating for a long time, Rabun finally gave an answer with difficulty.
Garam took two of the ten hairbands she had set down and handed them to Roana.
“This is a gift for you.”
“Oh, thank you.
I will keep it and never sell it.”
Roana accepted it without hesitation as if she was really interested in the hairbands.
Garam was slightly surprised by her cool attitude, but she just smiled.
Roughly converted, one gold was worth nearly one million won, so Garam had an amount equivalent to about forty million won.
“Um, just forty gold is enough, but I have a favor to ask.”
Although Rabun, a well-known merchant and wealthy individual, didn’t consider one gold as a large sum, he was always happy to get free money.
Garam had no regrets about it.
She hadn’t worked hard to earn the money, anyway.
“What is it?”
“I will bring some more goods tomorrow, so can you buy them?”
“Hmm?
There weren’t any other goods in the room, were there?”
Roana asked in confusion, but Garam responded confidently, albeit a bit flustered.
“I have cargo coming in, scheduled for tomorrow.”
“There’s no ship arriving here tomorrow.”
“It’s being transported from another port by carriage.”
Roana understood and nodded, although she found it a bit unusual.
As a matter of fact, such a young lady wouldn’t be able to survive for a long time without any way to receive money, although it seemed that she hadn’t traveled for a long time.
Roana, sharpened by her years in the inn-keeping business, could see that Garam lacked some common knowledge.
She sensed that there might be more to Garam’s situation but decided not to inquire further.
She was curious personally but restrained herself from asking.
“Okay, great.
I’ll buy them as long as they’re not ridiculously expensive.”
“And if you happen to know a trustworthy jewelry store, please recommend one.”
“Um, there’s a place called Eye of the Sun right out front; it’s not bad.
If you mention that you know me, you won’t get scammed.”
Garam nodded.
It seemed that her business there was done, so Rabun reached into his pocket and handed her a leather pouch with money in it.
“Three ten-gold coins, one five-gold coin, four one-gold coins, and two fifty-silver coins.
Have a look.”
Garam received the pouch and opened it.
One-gold and five-gold coins were the same as the ones she knew, but the ten-gold coins were triangular.
There were engravings of local animals and buildings on the coins, but the craftsmanship didn’t seem very refined.
Apart from that, the money looked quite different from what Garam was used to, so it didn’t really feel like money.
Instead, it felt like a toy or a mock-up, or perhaps like coins used in a theme park.
“Thank you.
See you tomorrow.”
After taking the unusual-looking coins, Garam securely tucked the pouch into her clothes and left the shop.
Despite not having many coins, it felt quite substantial.
Roana smiled contentedly, looking at the hairband on her wrist, and then noticed Garam’s gaze.
She smiled brightly.
“I’m happy you’re not short on money now.
To be honest, I was a bit worried earlier.
But even though you have a lot of money now, if you keep buying things like books and clothes, it will be gone quickly, so be careful.
Some books cost more than 100 gold.”
It seemed that the cost of living there was not high for things like food, but items that required knowledge or skills were quite expensive.
Especially magical items, which were referred to as magic goods, seemed to be priced in gold units.
Garam took note of her words and decided to keep them in mind when selling items in the future.
“Shall we go buy clothes now?”
Garam was currently wearing Roana’s beige linen dress with a green shawl.
The layered skirt felt quite fluffy, almost like a pleated one.
While it wasn’t as voluminous as a pleated one, it wasn’t suitable for traveling.
“That building is the Mercenary Guild.”
“The Mercenary Guild?”
It was a building with many burly and rugged-looking men coming and going.
With limited knowledge of fantasy novels, Garam associated mercenaries with soldiers sent to places like Iraq or Afghanistan.
Mercenary guilds made sense for those strong and burly men, but there were occasionally women and even children there.
Seeing such a thing in the middle of the city made Garam feel quite anxious.
Garam was worried that a war would break out there.
“Does your country not have mercenaries?”
“I’m not sure.
I don’t even know what mercenaries are.”
“Well, mercenaries are people who, in exchange for payment, do the work that someone wants.
When you pay and request a job, they arrange for someone who wants to do that job.
There are various types of jobs, from escorting and delivering goods to moving heavy items in someone’s front yard or even having tea with them.
And the Mercenary Guild guarantees the reputation of the person doing the job.”
Garam revised her thoughts based on Roana’s explanation.
It seemed to be a kind of job introduction center.
In an introduction center, there would be no scammers, and this was very useful information for someone like Garam who needed a guide.
Garam firmly stored the location of the Mercenary Guild in her mind.
She could potentially learn some common knowledge from the mercenaries there.
“That building is a bookstore.
Shall we check it out?”
As they walked a little farther, Roana pointed to a building.
After some consideration, Garam decided to give it a try.
The number of pedestrians had drastically decreased as they moved away from the port.
Even though the weather wasn’t hot, the heat emitted by the people had subsided, and Garam finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Upon entering the bookstore, they were greeted by the dusty air filled with countless books.
It had a quiet and peaceful atmosphere, with the midday sun streaming through the windows.
However, as Garam entered the bookstore, she was disappointed to find that there weren’t as many books as she had expected.
Roana, wearing a somewhat fed-up expression, briefly browsed the shelves before heading toward the romance novels.
Garam hesitated as she observed the shelf Roana was heading for, but she decided to explore the surrounding shelves.
Most of the books were about magic.
Garam briefly opened one of the magic books but found the tedious tone reminiscent of philosophy, so she quickly put it back.
While magic was intriguing to her, that wasn’t the kind of book she was looking for.
After browsing through the shelves for a while, Garam picked out four books: A Simple History of the Continent, 100 Things Every Novice Traveler Should Know, Journey Across the Continent, and Asians.
There were many other books with titles that were difficult to decipher and seemed unique to that place, making it hard to guess their contents.
As Garam continued to scan the shelves, she noticed a bookstore employee glaring at Roana, who was engrossed in reading a book while leaning against a shelf.
Roana seemed completely oblivious to the employee’s gaze, even smiling as she immersed herself in the romance novel.
Approaching Roana with a book in hand, Garam caught the employee’s eye.
The employee’s deep frown lessened slightly when he saw the book Garam was holding.
“Did you find any interesting books?”
“Oh, have you picked out everything?”
“Yes, I have, more or less.”
“What do you mean?
You should choose carefully.
It’s not even cheap.”
Roana playfully smiled and tried to return the book she was holding to the shelf.
Without much thought, Garam approached the shelf that Roana had been eyeing and began to carefully examine the surrounding books.
She realized that historical novels like those books could provide a natural glimpse into the lifestyle of that era.
After all, it was widely accepted that well-written historical novels offered more insights than textbooks.
“Hey, Roana.
If it’s okay, could you recommend some interesting books here?
I’ll show them to you while we’re at the inn.
No, better, let’s read them together.”
Reading together would allow Garam to immediately ask Roana if there were any scenes or concepts she didn’t understand.
Garam had put some thought into this.
In response, Roana eagerly began selecting books, listing out what she considered the latest and greatest, must-reads, essentials, groundbreaking works by a genius author, and so on.
In just a matter of moments, she had pulled out seven books.
Seeing Garam’s perplexed expression due to the weight of eleven books, Roana quickly took a few from the pile.
While her path was recharging, Garam had nothing much to do.
Learning about the local way of life by reading books seemed like a reasonable idea.
Garam belatedly came to her senses and smiled at Roana, indicating that it was fine to buy all of them.
“Let’s go and enjoy some delicious food while we read.”
As Garam and Roana returned to the employee with a stack of books, and he greeted them with a wide smile as if trying to hide the previously sulky face.
Seeing that, Garam thought to herself that people were pretty much the same everywhere when it came to facial expressions changing.
“I’d also like to buy a map.”
“Which region’s map would you like to purchase?”