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.

time he would ever do something like this. The quicker he got this thing

than seven gold

The officer nodded. "Yes."

"How much?" Shang asked.

sure, but from what I've seen, seven gold should be too little for so

he scratched his chin in

what I want

looked with interest

that your Ice Wood comes from an ethical source. You might not realize it, 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 even that's

buying it from the surrounding

the Mana Austerum can never have enough Ice

out a new piece of paper, which had some

way she had written when she

she finished writing and took out a candle,

she put the molten wax from the candle at the bottom right

she pushed the paper

"Go to the Mana Austerum and show this to the guards. If everything goes well, they should invite you

read through

Wood, but it also said that he was not one of the

we can't be sure about the origins of other goods. However, since your background has

still isn't really official that you can sell it to the Mages directly. So, there's still

paper for a bit and then looked

investigate my background this quickly?" he

explained. "We spent some Mana to contact the Central Wild, who then sent over an investigator to Coldew Village. They

hours, but that was while pulling the heavy

question. "The

officer snorted at the 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

means

smile. "No problem. You helped me, and I helped you. Also, I see no problem with helping one of my

realized what she meant. "Are

in the later years. At the moment, I'm out gaining practical experience for my

couple of times. "Aren't you

be an officer in some random town. No, I want to join the Duke's official army as

Whirlwind shot through

that sounds nice," Shang

two of them talked for a couple of minutes, now

quickly after she noticed that Shang wasn't talking

disinterested in the conversation and