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.

he knew, this would be the only time he would ever do something like this. The

Wood is worth more than seven gold in terms of wholesale?" Shang

The officer nodded. "Yes."

"How much?" Shang asked.

should be too little for so much Ice Wood," she

he scratched his chin in

come to what I want to offer you," the

interest

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

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

can

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

deliberate strokes. The way she had written when she had taken note of the things Shang had said previously and

finished writing and took out a candle, which she quickly

the molten wax from the candle at the bottom right of

she pushed the

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

through

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

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

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

the paper for a bit and then looked back at

you investigate my background this quickly?"

be officially recognized as a town," the officer explained. "We spent some Mana to contact the

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

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

On top of that, gold has nearly no

means a lot to me,"

and I helped you. Also, I

she

years. At the moment, I'm out gaining practical experience for my future as an

of times. "Aren't you already an

officer in some random town. No, I want to join

image of Duke Whirlwind shot through Shang's

that sounds nice," Shang

for a couple of minutes, now that official

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

in the conversation and went back to