The customs department had approved all of the items I chose, but the agent didn't recommend any specific items to trade so it fell upon my shoulders to find out how profitable they were. Time was of the essence and I needed to accompany her majesty the queen of pain in the ass across the city looking for merchants.
Every piece of glassware I brought was sold at a handsome price which I wrote down on the notepad. It really was a profitable business, but just as I expected it wasn't sustainable. Salt also fetched me a good price, but it was too heavy to transport in bulk. There were a few decorative items, but those were just a handful of copper coins. In the end, the items that netted me the best profit were actually the ones made of steel.
The blacksmith looked astounded when he saw a stainless steel kitchen knife and offered to pay ten silver coins saying it was better than any work of steel he ever saw. It turned out it wasn't the material what he valued, but the craftsmanship behind it. He begged me to tell him the name of the artisan and where to find him and I didn't have the heart to tell him it was made in bulk by a machine.
"Why are you in such a rush?" Loraina asked once we were on the way.
"Next town is around eight hours away." My answer was honest, but not sincere. Sure, I wanted to get to the next town as soon as possible, but the reason for that was different. After selling everything we received over fifty silver coins and I couldn't wait to hit the next town and sell more stuff. The customs agent had warned me that many agents become too invested into trading and forget their mission, but that wasn't my case.
I couldn't care any less about having fantasy stuff in a fantasy world that would do me no good in real life. What I really wanted was a horse to cut the time we needed to make it to Loraina's castle. Besides, from what little time I spent at the customs department I spotted a few things I wanted to buy for the office. Like a magical coffee machine that really caught my eye and other magical appliances like a magical minibar which sub space could be linked to an agent.
Were they needed for my work? No, not really. Am I going to get them? Absolutely!
I was thinking about what would magical coffee taste like when the fog appeared once more. No wonder we didn't meet any travelers along the way, this undead plague is absolutely annoying.
"You're useless. Don't get in my way, I'll handle them." Loraina said as she chanted some kind of spell which I didn't get to see because it fizzled out when I replied.
"I wasn't going to, it's almost lunch break anyway. I'll meet you here in half an hour." I didn't actually know if it really was lunch break time since I didn't have my watch on me. However, there's no better time to take a break than when you're surrounded with undead in another world.
"You let me all by myself! What if something happened to me!?" Cried the elf queen, her clothes torn in some places and a scratch on her cheek. She had the entire damsel in distress look if not for the absolute destruction around her. It must have been quite the spell.
"You said I should stay clear and I did." I shrug before puking. Having tacos for lunch in the middle of a mission in another world hits you differently. At least I got more wares to sell at the next town. Once we arrived I wanted to book us two bedrooms since we had the money, but Loraina was completely against it.
"We are posing as a couple and it would look weird if we booked two separate rooms."
"Since when we're a couple?"
"Look, the only reason why I'm not being swarmed by men proposing to me is because they think we are together."
"Right." I thought I knew narcissism, but this one is on a whole different level.
Contrary to me who couldn't so much as try a bite of this world food, Loraina had no issues eating whatever they put on her plate. You would think a queen would have a delicate palate, but she eats like she's never seen food before.
"I need to regain mana." She threw in as an excuse. Not that it mattered since we walked all day. With all that exercises worrying about getting fat for binging out on food a little would be pointless. It's a shame I couldn't bring my phone. There's this app that keeps track your calorie consumption when walking and it helps keeping me active through office work. Now that I think about it, that app is probably useless now I work on the field.
It was getting late, but we still had enough time to sell some of the stuff I brought from customs during my lunch break. I did bring some glassware to gain a few coins, but I was more interested in learning how much I could get from miscellaneous items such as notepads, graphite pencils and such. I couldn't bring a ball pen because those were forbidden by customs.
The week went by with me coming and going from one world to another while making small progress. We could have resumed traveling any day, but according to Loraina the undead became stronger the closer we got to her castle. She gave several reasons for that, but the one that stuck the most was that the closest we got to the capital city, the stronger people were hence the undead were bound to be stronger.
It was Friday when we finally reached the six gold coin mark, the price of a horse. I would have thought they were cheaper considering they're just animals, but they're actually quite expensive. Put into perspective, they're as expensive for the average people here as a sports car for modern people in my world.
"I didn't think this through..." I really didn't.
"What?"
"I don't know how to ride horseback," My reply was followed with a ten minute rant about how useless I was and how it didn't make sense a grown man couldn't do something as basic as that. I patiently listened to her or rather, I just ignored her until her anger deflated into resignation. "I never learned because it's not necessary where I come from because we have cars." Judging for her reaction it was clear something that obvious never crossed her mind, but then she countered.
"You still should have learned, horses are way better!" I gave it a try, but five minutes later I found out she was lying when the horse threw me off. I didn't even get all the way up and the damned thing started running full tilt causing me to crash on an empty stall. I got my license at 16 and no car has ever done that to me.
"That's coming out of your treasury." I groan after getting up from a mess of broken boards.
Before clocking off that night I decided I would try to learn horseback riding before returning to Lithurien. It was pointless to have Nora spend her mana to charge the gate back and forth to practice something I could do on my world. Loraina complained that I had no qualms on taking lunch breaks whenever, but I had an answer at the ready.
"Lunch break is sacred where I come from."
"I did not intend to make fun of your religious beliefs." Loraina defused the diplomatic bombshell I threw at her and everything was well in the world once more. Other than the undead, the snobby queen, the lack of toilets and both food and water being tainted, of course. And here I thought I would be strolling across happy little trees with merry elves prancing around in what was supposed to be an elf world yet for some reason I ended in a B rate zombie movie.
Back at my apartment Tasha was already there, this time she looked even more troubled than before. She sat on the other corner of the couch and pretended to watch TV while directing me awkward glances from time to time. Usually, watching TV with her feels nice, but this is different.
"What?" I ask when I couldn't take it anymore.
"We've been dating for a while... perhaps we should make it official." She said without a hint of her usual ice and I find myself repeating the same words I said earlier this week to Loraina.
"Since when we're a couple?"
"We're not!" She said in a rush, then continued shyly as before. "but the bureau..."
"Right, we should let our superiors know." I nod, trying to hide my excitement because next morning I would be filling out a form I never thought I would.