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

Ice Wood is worth more than seven gold in terms of

The officer nodded. "Yes."

"How much?" Shang asked.

gold should be too little for

he

what I want to offer you," the officer

with interest at the

have inspected 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 Wood at terrifying speeds. That's also the reason why we monopolized Coldew Village's Ice Wood,

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

short, the Mana Austerum can never have enough Ice

the officer took out a new piece of paper, which had

officer wrote down some things with deliberate strokes. The way she had written when she had taken

she finished writing and took out a candle, which

put the molten wax from the candle

pushed the paper to

said. "Go to the Mana Austerum and

through the

how Shang had gotten the Ice 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 been investigated, our reason for

official that you can sell it to

looked at the paper for a bit and then looked back at

investigate my

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

to the Central Wild. It had taken him a couple of hours, but that was while pulling the heavy sled wagon. A warrior

"The Mages won't try to scam me?" he

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

nodded. "Thank you. This means a lot

"No problem. You helped me, and I helped you. Also, I see

quickly realized what she meant. "Are you part

years. At the moment,

of times. "Aren't you already an

said. "I don't want to just be an officer in some random

image of Duke Whirlwind

sounds nice,"

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

quickly after she noticed that Shang wasn't talking

he was disinterested in the