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

than seven

The officer nodded. "Yes."

"How much?" Shang asked.

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

as he scratched

to what I want to offer

interest at the

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

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

can never

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

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

and took out

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

the

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

through

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

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

you can sell it

for a bit and

how did you investigate

the Central Wild, who then

taken him a couple of hours, but that was while pulling the heavy sled wagon. A warrior

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

word scam. "They're genuine Mages. They can't be bothered to waste their time arguing. On top of that, gold has nearly no importance to them. They only want

This means a

helped you. Also, I see no problem with helping one

Shang asked, but he quickly realized what she meant.

moment, I'm out gaining practical experience for

of times. "Aren't you

in some random town. No,

of Duke Whirlwind shot through Shang's

sounds nice,"

couple of minutes, now that official business was

ended pretty quickly after she

in the conversation and went