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.

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

worth more than seven gold in terms of

The officer nodded. "Yes."

"How much?" Shang asked.

but from what I've seen, seven gold should be too little for so much Ice Wood," she

he

what I want

looked with interest

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, but

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

short, the Mana Austerum can never have

paper,

written when she

and took out a candle, which she quickly

the molten wax from the candle at

the paper

for the origin of your Ice Wood," the officer said. "Go to the Mana

read through

it also said that he was not one of the normal

Village here directly since we can't be sure about the origins of other goods. However, since your background has been investigated, our reason

still isn't really official that you can sell it to

bit

investigate my background this quickly?" he

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

to the Central Wild. It had taken him a couple of hours, but that was while pulling the

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

top of that, gold has nearly no

nodded. "Thank you. This means a lot

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

Shang asked, but he quickly realized what she meant. "Are you part of the

moment, I'm out gaining practical experience for

times. "Aren't you already an officer?" he

she said. "I don't want to just be an officer in some random town. No, I want to join the Duke's official army as

image of Duke Whirlwind shot through

sounds nice," Shang

talked for a couple of minutes, now

she

was disinterested in the conversation