Barbarians.
And not even adults, but young Barbarians who had not yet come of age.
He was trying to settle the precious fruits of their blood and sweat with a mere three sacks of potatoes that were one step away from rotting.
A deep, fucking rage surged up from my core.
“W-why are you doing this! Let go of me! Chieftain, please stop him!”
Jakan took a step closer, seemingly flustered by my sudden behavior.
“Why are you doing this, Shaman? He is a precious merchant.”
There was a warning in Jakan’s voice.
From his perspective, it was only natural.
For Barbarians who had never left this barren land before the Black Wall in their entire lives, this wandering merchant was the sole route through which outside goods reached them.
But I paid no attention to that and looked down at Tofu with a fearsome expression.
Of course, my inner thoughts were not as recklessly fearless as I looked.
‘He crossed this terrifying frontier to get here. What if he’s unexpectedly powerful and beats the hell out of me?’
In fantasy novels and games, wandering merchants were often secretly reclusive masters or martial arts experts.
‘I need to make sure it’s safe first.’
Only then could I continue throwing my weight around without worry, so I decided to use my skill.
But...... the activation condition for this skill was a problem.
After hesitating inwardly for a moment, I had no better option. I put on a deliberately fierce expression and shouted toward the sky.
“BARBARIAAAAN—!”
A thunderous Warrior’s Roar that seemed capable of tearing the square apart.
Tofu flinched and trembled at my sudden shout.
But something unexpected happened.
“BARBARIAAAN—!”
“A Barbarian never breaks!”
The young Barbarians, their blood boiling at the courage contained in the Warrior’s Roar, began shouting along with me.
In an instant, the square heated up with blazing fervor.
THUMP, THUMP, THUMP—!
The frail human Tofu stood in the middle of dozens of crazed, muscular giants stomping their feet and shouting, “Barbarian!”
His complexion was turning past pale and into ashen white.
Of course, I had not meant to frighten him.
I had merely used my skill.
A translucent system window appeared above Tofu’s head in my field of vision.
==========
【Target Information】
Name: Tofu
Race: Human
【Base Stats】
Strength: 7 / Agility: 12
Stamina: 25 / Intelligence: 14
【Potential】
Overall Grade: A (Bloodline of a Super Merchant)
Growth Progress: 18%
==========
I quickly scanned down the text.
His Strength was pathetic.
‘At least there’s a 0% chance he’ll beat me.’
Still, his Stamina was remarkably high, as befitted a merchant who crossed the wasteland far and wide in search of customers.
But what truly caught my eye was his Potential and trait.
‘Fuck! Why are there so many A-Grades!?’
The blood of a great merchant who could control the continent flowed through this scrawny boy’s veins.
“W-why are you acting this way? You’ve never acted like this before.”
He blinked his eyes innocently and asked.
“If it were not for our family, there would not be any merchants coming all the way to this barren land.”
When I gave no response, he wore a rather firm expression and spoke in a displeased tone, subtly raising his own value.
I had the measure of the situation.
His family had clearly been taking exorbitant profits from these isolated, innocent Barbarian tribes for generations.
No wonder his snake-like swindling came so naturally despite his age.
‘Tsk. Fine. Life imprisonment.’
Having grasped the situation, I sentenced him inwardly and immersed myself in my fearsome act again.
I could feel Jakan approaching in confusion at my crazy behavior, but I did not stop.
“Why are you doing this, Shaman? Do not insult the merchant.”
“Chieftain.”
Still holding Tofu’s wrist, I looked at Jakan.
“What is the work of a Shaman?”
“To manage the household.”
“Then what is trade with a merchant? Is the important duty of managing the tribe’s livelihood the work of the chieftain who protects the tribe?”
At my wise counterargument, an expression of sudden realization crossed Jakan’s face.
“Now that I hear it, Izak, you are right.”
True to an S-Grade chieftain with Intelligence 11, Jakan quickly acknowledged his mistake.
“I am sorry. This is the Shaman’s work. Handle it as you see fit.”
As Jakan stepped back, Tofu’s face crumpled completely.
“C-Chieftain! Where are you going? Save me! Why are you doing this to me?”
Ignoring his desperate cries, I gave him the brightest smile I could make.
I was smiling...... but my eyes were not smiling at all.
“Merchant.”
“EEEK—!”
“There is something I need to discuss with you alone, in a very private and quiet place. Follow me.”
“Chieftain! Save me! I’m scared! Somebody save me!”
***
Inside the Shaman’s tent.
Up close, he was truly nothing more than an ordinary, youthful human boy.
His freckled cheeks and wide eyes, enlarged with fear, proved it.
‘But hundreds of calculations for swindling Barbarians must be running through that head of his.’
I spoke to him in a deliberately gentle voice.
“Coming all the way to a place like this at such a young age...... are you not afraid?”
As my attitude softened, Tofu seemed to relax a little. He carefully gauged my mood before answering.
“I-I’m not afraid...... This is what I usually do. I know every road here that avoids the monsters by heart, so it is fine.”
His lips moved, and he cautiously added,
“Still, you are the one scaring me half to death now, Shaman. Why are you acting this way? What did I do wrong?”
What a shameless bastard. He still had not grasped the situation, rolling his eyes with a slick look that made him seem perfectly suited to become a great merchant.
Instead of answering, I pulled aside the leather cloth covering a corner of the tent.
“EEEK—!”
A sharp gasp burst from his mouth.
Of course.
What Tofu saw was a heap of very large, plump D-Grade Potatoes, their skins gleaming with a rich shine.
They were miracle crops that I had personally grown and harvested, with an effect that doubled fullness.
Top-quality food, completely different in quality from the rotten potatoes he had offered moments earlier, sat right before Tofu’s eyes.
“T-this is......? Nothing like this should be able to grow in the Northern Frontier......”
I smiled softly.
“Do you know Barbarians well?”
“Well...... it is not as though I do not know them.”
“How do you know them? What kind of beings do you think we Barbarians are?”
Perhaps he could not bring himself to say what he truly thought: ‘Stupid fools who are easy to swindle.’
He avoided my gaze and hemmed and hawed.
“W-well...... you are all very tall...... and tremendously strong...... and, well, very tough and excellent warriors.”
“Correct. Exactly right. But there is one thing you are wrong about.”
The moment I opened my mouth to expose his swindling point by point,
A familiar resistance struck my mind.
[Warning! Barbarian Mind resists logical thought.]
The Barbarian Kang Jin-ho in my head suddenly whispered that I should shout, “Give me the money, or I’ll smash your skull!”
I clenched my teeth.
My Mental Strength had reached 10, so I could endure at least this much now.
“Urgh......”
But there was nothing I could do about the pain, as though thick needles were piercing my mind.
Enduring the pain, I spoke to him.
“We are no longer poor. Nor do we go hungry.”
Tofu’s gaze returned to the pile of potatoes.
“That is a good thing. But just because you have a few potatoes in this wasteland does not mean you do not need my wares, does it?”
“You are lying right now. Trade with you is important, but we cannot trade with a merchant who lies.”
“Oh, Shaman! I do not think you understand...... Things are not good in the outside world either. The value I offered in potatoes would be considered quite a good price even out there. I am not making any profit......”
Tofu thrashed about and pounded his chest as though he had been wronged. For a moment, I almost wavered.
But I quietly cut him off.
“Our Northern Rock Tribe has laws.”
“Yes......?”
“The tongue of anyone who lies is cut out, and the wrist of anyone who steals is cut off.”
“W-why are you saying that now......?”
At my abrupt statement, he drew in a breath.
“If the prices and market values you just mentioned are not true, what will happen to you? Will your tongue be cut out, or will your wrist be cut off? Or will it be both?”
All color drained from his face.
“Sh-Shaman, that is too cruel a joke. Do you have proof? Proof that I lied, I mean.”
“I.”
I stopped pretending to be a dumb Barbarian and whispered into his ear.
“I am different from the other Barbarians.”
With someone like this, you had to completely seize the initiative from the very beginning.
If he was the heir to a family that had preyed on easy marks for generations, I had to make it sink into his bones that he was no longer the one in charge.
‘And what is more, a slave has walked right in of his own accord!’
Suppressing the cackling in my heart, I put on the mask of a cold-hearted Shaman and continued my threat.
“The Winter Wolf Pelt you appraised outside earlier is E-Grade. It is a cold-weather item that would fetch at least fifty thousand Shillings at a human trading post. Am I wrong?”
The moment I opened my mouth to crush him with logic,
[Warning! Barbarian Mind resists logical thought.]
[Mental Strength is consumed.]
‘Ghk......!’
No! If I gave in here, this sly merchant would have me wrapped around his finger!
“Th-this...... pelt’s condition, c-considering the demand in the northern Empire......”
Oh, the words were coming out!
But ominous red messages appeared one after another before my eyes.
[Failure! Barbarian Mind activates.]
‘N-no!’
I desperately tried to shout, but—
“Pelt good. Expensive.”
“Yes......??”
Tofu asked with a blank expression.
I glared at him with bloodshot eyes as I panted.
The headache naturally pulled my brows into a vicious frown, and killing intent poured from me.
“Tusk more expensive. But you gave garbage potatoes......!”
“Sh-Shaman? You have a nosebleed.”
“I’LL KILL YOUUU! BARBARIAN!”
“......!”
Tofu’s eyes widened as though they would pop out.
Damn it.
For a moment, my Mental Strength had wavered, and I had become a crazy Barbarian Shaman.
I pulled myself together and barely managed to say,
“And the Tusked Boar Tusk. It is D-Grade. It is worth at least one hundred thousand Shillings.”
A deflating sound leaked through Tofu’s trembling lips.
The Barbarian he had thought was a savage had just spoken the exact market values of the human world—Grades and Shillings—with precision.
“Will you still lie to me?”
I tapped his shoulder, but he could not even answer.
“Suppose you insist that you are innocent. Will the chieftain and the other Barbarians outside believe you? Or will they believe me?”
Looking at Tofu, who now seemed pitiful rather than merely tiresome, I grinned.
“S-save me!”
Tofu sprawled flat on the dirt floor until his forehead touched the ground.
“I-I have committed a crime worthy of death! If you spare my life, I will do anything! I will do everything you tell me to do!”
“Hmm......”
A satisfied smile spread across my face.
I felt dizzy, but I wiped the blood from my nose carelessly with a satisfied smile.
Perfect.
This was the first step toward placing the distribution network and information-gathering ability of someone with the Potential of a Super Merchant entirely under my control.
“Get up, Tofu.”
I raised the groveling boy with a benevolent voice.
“I am a merciful Shaman. If you repent for your wrongdoings and promise fair trade with the Northern Rock Tribe from now on, I will keep today’s events a secret.”
“Oh, thank you! I will serve you as my benefactor for the rest of my life!”
“However.”
I pointed at his enormous pack.
“You will have to settle the debts you have accumulated so far...... will you not?”
“What??”
“Why? Do you have a complaint?”
“A complaint? Not at all! How would you like me to do it?”
Tofu seemed to be sniffling, but that was none of my concern.
.
.
.
I thoroughly emptied Tofu’s pack.
‘What a windfall.’
Nothing like an incredible treasure came out of it, but our tribe had been so poor.
Still, compared to the sins of this bastard who had been taking exorbitant profits, it was not enough.
“Something is lacking.”
“W-what else could there be? You have really taken everything. There is nothing left now. Do you want me to take off my underwear too?”
A lie.
Under my menacing gaze, he thought hard for a moment. Then he rummaged through his pack and pulled out a small box tied with a red ribbon.
It was a rather pretty box.
“This here...... is extremely precious. Normally, I absolutely should not give it away so carelessly...... Sigh. But the crime I committed is so great. I have no choice, no choice at all. It is very precious, but I am giving it to you.”
As if that were true. It was a tearful performance, but it was probably not important.
Still, for the faint possibility that it might be, I drew a battle cry up from my belly.
“BARBARIAAAAN—!”
“AAAH!”
Tofu flattened himself against the floor at my shout inside the cramped tent, but my eyes were fixed on the box.
==========
【Target Information】
Name: Seed of the Ancient Spirit Tree (Dormant)
Grade: Mythic
【Description】
A great legacy left behind by spirits who ruled the land in the distant ancient past.
Its shell has fossilized, leaving it dormant. However, a Great Farmer can break the seed’s shell and make it sprout.
==========
Jackpot.
***
The village square as the sun was setting.
Chieftain Jakan stood with his arms crossed, looking at me with puzzled eyes.
Behind me, Tofu, wearing an almost soulless expression, had piled up the goods I ordered like a mountain.
Three sacks of salt, two sturdy cast-iron pots, butcher knives, and other necessary odds and ends.
As I smiled sinisterly to myself, Jakan asked,
“Just how did you buy all of that, Izak?”
“The merchant was moved by our tribe’s great spirit and gave us especially favorable prices. Is that not right, Tofu?”
I glanced back at the half-crying Tofu and spoke casually.
“Y-yes...... Yes...... Long live the Northern Rock Tribe...... Long live......”
Tofu answered in a fading voice.
I had given him one hundred D-Grade Potatoes, so it was not as though he had made a loss.
They had been potatoes I intended to give the Western Volcano Tribe anyway, so I had not lost anything either.
I patted Jakan’s shoulder and changed the subject.
“More importantly, Jakan. Gather every member of the tribe in the square tonight. There is something extremely important.”
“Something important?”
Jakan tilted his head.
I affectionately stroked the sacks of salt and the cast-iron pots piled on the ground.
Your big brother is going to show you heaven.