Sword God in a World of Magic

"You want to sell your Ice Wood to earn enough money to enter the Warrior's Academy, correct?" the officer asked.

Shang nodded. "That's my intention."

"You don't want to wait for the yearly exams, right?"

"That's right."

"You do know that you need five gold for the exam?"

"I know. From what I've heard, the Ice Wood I have should be enough."

The officer nodded. "It should be enough, but there is one issue."

"Which is?" Shang asked evenly.

"How good are you at bartering and negotiation?" she asked.

This took Shang by surprise.

He hadn't even thought about that.

"I've never bartered in my life," Shang said.

Why would he need to barter? All the prices in the normal stores on Earth were standardized. Bartering only existed on TV and in pawnshops.

The officer nodded. "That's the issue," she said. "You're planning on selling your Ice Wood in Warrior's Paradise. However, no normal person will buy that much Ice Wood. Additionally, very few normal citizens are even interested in raw resources."

"This means that you have to sell it to a merchant wholesale, and merchants are very shrewd. If I already suspected that you're not good at bartering, the merchants will realize that with one glance."

"Even more, the merchants are not stupid. They will realize that you definitely are not a merchant but an aspiring warrior that wants to earn money. The merchants will quickly realize that the only reason why someone like you would travel so far with such a heavy load was to earn enough money to enter the Warrior's Academy."

"They know that you only need five gold. So, they will act like your load is worth six gold and will magnanimously tell you that they are willing to give you seven."

Shang listened to the officer's words, and he realized something.

He would have accepted that trade.

After all, he would have gotten even more gold than he needed. Additionally, he couldn't be bothered to research everything and negotiate with several merchants.

this would be the only time he would ever do something like this. The quicker he got this thing over with, the

than seven gold in terms

The officer nodded. "Yes."

"How much?" Shang asked.

seven gold should be too little for so much

said as he scratched his

what I want to offer

interest at

but the Mana Austerum burns through Ice Wood at terrifying speeds. That's also the reason why we monopolized Coldew Village's Ice Wood, but

the Mana Austerum need even more Ice Wood, and they're buying it from the surrounding towns. However, the prices in these towns are much higher than the

the Mana Austerum can never

out a new piece of paper, which had some fancy designs on the edges of the

way she had written when she had taken note of

a minute, she finished writing and took out a candle,

the candle

pushed the

certificate for the origin of your Ice Wood," the officer said. "Go to the Mana Austerum and show

read through

Ice Wood, but it also said that he was not one of the normal traders coming

shipments from Coldew Village here directly since we can't be sure about the origins of other goods. However, since

can sell it to the Mages directly.

at the paper for a bit and then looked back at the

how did you investigate my background this quickly?" he

a Communication Crystal to be officially recognized as a town," the officer explained. "We spent some Mana to contact the Central Wild, who then sent over an investigator to Coldew Village. They sent us the information,

the Central Wild. It had taken him a couple of hours, but that was while pulling the heavy sled wagon. A warrior could probably run that distance in just a quarter

his next question. "The Mages won't try to scam me?" he

word scam. "They're genuine Mages. They can't be bothered to waste their time arguing. On top of that, gold has nearly no importance to

"Thank you. This means a

and I helped you. Also, I see no problem with helping one of my

Shang asked, but he quickly realized what she meant. "Are you part of the Warrior's

"I'm currently in the later years. At the moment, I'm out gaining

of times. "Aren't you already

here," she said. "I don't want to just be an officer in some

of Duke Whirlwind

sounds nice,"

two of them talked for a couple of

conversation ended pretty quickly after she noticed that Shang wasn't talking very

assumed that he was disinterested in the conversation and went back to