I sat on the edge of the straw mattress, staring at the door. The red 'X' I'd seen the cloaked man draw on the inn was burned into my retinas. In my old life, a red 'X' meant a sale was over or an item was discontinued. Here, I was pretty sure it meant my life was about to be liquidated.
[ Ping! ]
The blue screen flickered to life, the light casting long, jagged shadows against the wood-paneled walls. It didn't look comforting. It looked like a debt collector's ledger.
[ Alert: Account Overdrawn. ] [ Current Balance: -¥1,800. ] [ Daily Interest Rate: 10% (¥180/day). ] [ System Comment: You've been in this world for less than six hours and you're already a financial disaster. Truly, your talent for failure is your only legendary skill. ]
"Shut it," I whispered, rubbing my temples. "I secured a room for a week. That's an asset. I just need a way to pay you back without finding more moss in the dark."
[ Oh, did the 'Master Merchant' forget he has a conversion feature? Or were you planning to pay for Earth goods with dirt and hope? ]
I narrowed my eyes. "Explain. Quickly."
[ You can 'Deposit' any local currency or valuable material directly into the System. Once deposited, it is converted to Yen and stored in your 'Digital Vault.' This prevents theft, as your funds are digitised. The transaction is free of 'Physical Logistics' fees... however... ]
"There's always a 'however' in retail," I muttered.
[ The conversion rate is high. Currently: 1 Bronze Coin = ¥50. ]
I did the math. My head began to ache. A night at the inn was 25 bronze. That meant 25 bronze would be ¥1,250. My ¥5,000 starting balance was only worth 100 bronze. I was essentially a middle-class manager living like a peasant because the exchange rate was a literal highway robbery.
"¥50 for one bronze? That's insane! But... fine. Deposit the coins. Pay off the debt and put the rest in the vault."
[ Processing... 45 Bronze Coins detected. ] [ Conversion: 45 x ¥50 = ¥2,250. ] [ Debt Repayment: ¥1,800 + ¥180 (Initial Interest) = ¥1,980. ] [ New Balance: ¥270. ] I slumped back. ¥270. I couldn't even buy a lukewarm coffee with that. I was technically "debt-free," but in a town like Oakhaven, having no physical coins was as good as being dead.
A loud, rhythmic thumping on the floor below reminded me that my stomach was currently trying to digest itself. It was dinner time.
I straightened my scratchy linen tunic and headed downstairs. The common room of the Old Oak was filled with the smell of roasting fat and sour ale. Martha, the Innkeeper, slammed a wooden bowl of stew onto a table. "Eat up, Merchant. Margot's been out in the courtyard all afternoon showing off those blue 'stones' of yours. She's already had half the neighborhood gossiping over the fence."
I sat down, staring at the greyish-brown broth. "Is that so? And what's the verdict?"
"The verdict is they think she's found Elven treasure," Martha snorted, leaning over the table. "But listen, Kai. You dress like a beggar and talk like a noble. If you're serious about being a merchant, you won't last a morning if you don't register with the Merchant's Guild."
[ Ping! ] [ New Information: The Merchant's Guild. ] [ System Comment: Oh look, a bureaucracy. I bet the registration fee is more than ¥270. ]
"The Guild?" I asked. "Why? I'm an independent contractor."
"Independent? In Oakhaven?" Martha laughed harshly. "The Guild controls the permits. Without a copper badge, the Town Guard will arrest you for 'unlicensed peddling.' And if you sell 'magic' items without giving the Guild their cut, you'll vanish. Fast. Ten silver is the entry fee."
Ten silver. One hundred bronze. ¥5,000.
I was broke, I was being marked by assassins, and now I was a criminal if I tried to sell anything. The System began a slow, rhythmic chime in my ear, mocking my predicament.
[ System: Ten silver? My scanners indicate you have a net worth of... zero silver. Would you like to browse the 'Funeral Arrangements' tab? ]
"I'm not dying tonight," I hissed.
I finished my stew in three minutes and slipped out the back door. I didn't head for the market. I headed back for the forest. If the System wanted ¥5,000 for a badge, I was going to give it the only thing I could: raw materials.
The forest at night was a nightmare. Every rustle sounded like a wolf, and every shadow looked like the man with the red chalk. But I had spent ten years working the 2 AM shift in Tokyo; I was used to the dark and the things that crawled in it.
"System, maximize scanning range. I need herbs, moss, rare wood—anything with a buyback value. Move!"
[ Scanning... ] [ Found: 'Moon-Doped Toadstools' (¥200 per unit). ] [ Found: 'Silver-Veined Moss' (¥500 per patch). ] [ Found: 'Bitter-Root' (¥50 per gram). ]
I spent the next six hours crawling through the dirt like a madman. My hands were stained green, my tunic was torn by briars, and my knees were raw. I was a "Store Manager" doing the work of a manual laborer, but the numbers on the screen were finally moving.
[ Sale Successful... Balance: ¥1,200... ] [ Sale Successful... Balance: ¥3,400... ] [ Sale Successful... Balance: ¥5,200... ]
By the time the first grey light of dawn touched the trees, I was stumbling back toward Oakhaven, exhausted but triumphant. I had enough for the Guild fee. I had enough to survive.
As I approached the inn, I saw a crowd. It wasn't the assassins. It was women—at least a dozen of them—crowding around Martha and Margot.
"I told you!" one woman shouted. "It didn't budge even in that gale last night! My husband's tunics are actually dry!"
"Where is the merchant?" another demanded. "I want the blue ones! My sister says they're made of enchanted glass!"
I leaned against the inn's stone wall, catching my breath. My plan to sell luxury goods was out the window. Why sell a sword when everyone wants a clothespin?
Martha saw me, her eyes widening at my disheveled, mud-covered state. "There he is! The madman himself! Kai, these women are about to tear my door down for those pegs. You got more?"
I looked at the crowd. I looked at my ¥5,200.
[ System: Oh, look at that. You have enough for the Merchant's Guild fee. You can finally go be a 'Legal Retail Slave.' Should I process the payment? ]
I looked at the women. I looked at the "Shadow Tax" mark on the door. Then, I looked at the System shop. The Merchant's Guild would take my money and give me a badge, but it wouldn't give me inventory. And inventory was the only thing that would make me the wealthiest man in history.
"System," I whispered, a tired but sharp grin spreading across my face. "Cancel the Guild fee. I'm not going to the Guild today."
[ System: Excuse me? Are you choosing death? The Guard will arrest you the moment you take a coin. ]
I watched a wealthy-looking woman in a fine wool dress shove her way to the front of the crowd, clutching a pouch of silver. She didn't want a badge. She wanted what I had.
"Wait," I said, my voice projecting with the authority of a man who'd handled fifty-person queues at midnight. "I already have a plan."