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.

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

Wood is worth more than seven gold in

The officer nodded. "Yes."

"How much?" Shang asked.

not sure, but from what I've seen, seven gold should be too little for so much Ice

Shang said as he scratched his chin in

let's come to what I want

with interest at

background and confirmed that your Ice Wood comes from an ethical source. You might not realize it, but the Mana Austerum burns through Ice Wood

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

short, the Mana Austerum can

a new piece of paper, which had some fancy designs

written when she had taken note of the things Shang had said previously and

minute, she finished writing and

bit later, she put the molten wax from the candle at the bottom right of the paper and stamped

pushed the paper to

your Ice Wood," the officer said. "Go to the Mana Austerum and show this to the guards. If everything goes well, they

read through

said how Shang had gotten the Ice Wood, but it also said that he

we can't be sure about the origins of other

that you can sell it to

the paper for a bit

how did you investigate my background this

town needs 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

that was while pulling the heavy sled wagon. A warrior could probably run that distance in just a

asked his next question. "The Mages won't try to

top of that, gold has nearly no importance to them. They only want to finish these unimportant

"Thank you. This means a lot to me," he

smile. "No problem. You helped me, and I helped

asked, but he quickly realized what she meant. "Are

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

"Aren't you

just be an officer in some random town.

Duke Whirlwind shot

that sounds nice,"

them talked for a couple of minutes, now that official business

pretty quickly after she noticed

assumed that he was disinterested in the conversation and went back