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.

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

worth more than seven gold in terms

The officer nodded. "Yes."

"How much?" Shang asked.

I've seen, seven gold should be too little for so

said as he scratched his chin in

to what I want to offer you," the officer

looked with interest

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

Wood, and they're buying it from the surrounding towns. However, the prices in these towns are much

Mana Austerum can

a new piece of paper,

deliberate strokes. The way she had written when she had taken note

writing and took out a candle, which she quickly

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

pushed the paper

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

through the

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

the official shipments from Coldew Village here directly since we can't be sure about the origins of other

sell

looked at the paper for a bit

of, how did you investigate my background this

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, and that's

to 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

"The Mages won't try to

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

This means a lot to

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

asked, but he quickly realized what she meant.

moment, I'm out gaining practical experience for my future as an

couple of times. "Aren't you already

in some random town. No, I want to join the Duke's official

image of Duke Whirlwind shot through

sounds

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

pretty quickly after she noticed that

assumed that he was disinterested in the conversation and