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.

wasn't interested in being a merchant. As far as he knew, this would be the only time he would ever

Ice Wood is worth more than seven gold in terms of wholesale?"

The officer nodded. "Yes."

"How much?" Shang asked.

seen, seven gold should be too

as he

let's come to what I want to

looked with interest

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 even that's

Mages 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 than the shipments we get from

Mana Austerum can

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

way she had written when she had taken note of the things

minute, she finished writing and took out a candle, which she quickly

put the molten wax from the candle at the bottom

she 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 goes well, they

read through the

Wood, but it also said that he was not one of the

we can't be sure about the origins of other goods. However,

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

a bit and then looked

investigate my

a town," the officer explained. "We spent some Mana to contact the Central Wild, who then

It had taken him a couple of hours, but that was while pulling the heavy sled wagon. A warrior could probably run that distance in just a

his next question. "The Mages won't try

time arguing. On top of that, gold has nearly no importance

you. This means a lot to me,"

helped me, and I helped you. Also, I see no problem with helping one of my future

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

later years. At the moment, I'm out gaining practical experience for my

couple of times. "Aren't

to just be an officer in some random town. No, I want

of Duke Whirlwind shot

that sounds

a couple of minutes, now that official

quickly after she noticed that Shang wasn't talking very

was disinterested in the conversation and went back to