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.

merchant. As far as he knew, this would be the only time he would

more than seven gold in terms of

The officer nodded. "Yes."

"How much?" Shang asked.

sure, but from what I've seen, seven gold should

Shang said as he scratched his

come to what I want to offer you," the officer

looked with interest at

source. You might not realize it, but the Mana Austerum burns through Ice Wood at terrifying speeds. That's also the reason why

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 much higher

Mana Austerum can

piece of paper, which had some fancy designs on the

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

and took out a candle,

candle at the bottom

the

said. "Go to the Mana Austerum and

read through

basically said how Shang had gotten the Ice Wood, but it also said that he was not one

can't be sure about the origins of other goods. However, since your background has been investigated, our reason for not accepting Ice Wood

that you can sell it to the Mages directly. So, there's

the paper for a bit and then looked back

how did you investigate my background this quickly?" he

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

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

next question. "The Mages

to waste their time arguing. On top of that, gold has nearly no

means a lot to me,"

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

she meant. "Are you part of the Warrior's

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

"Aren't

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

Whirlwind shot

sounds

for a couple of minutes, now

she

was disinterested in the conversation and went back to