"What the he** is going on here?" Daniel muttered.
Nobody heard him. Mira was already writing again. Elin was looking at him like he had just spoken in another language.
"You okay, Daniel? Did you forget your coin or something?" she asked.
"Something doesn't feel right... It's not a problem if a buyer wants it at one copper, because it's supply and demand... BUT..." Daniel thought.
Daniel waved both hands at the basket. "Elin, you're telling me EVERY BUYER buys this... at the same ONE COPPER? EVERY BUYER?"
Elin lowered her voice to a dramatic whisper. "Plus, you need a permit to trade those things."
Daniel whispered back, just as dramatically. "A what now?"
"Arden Forest. Just the edge." She thought about it for two seconds, her maximum, then grinned. "I'm going to check the patches for next week anyway. You can come, carry my basket while we talk."
"Fine." He followed her out.
Arden Forest started about a fifteen-minute walk from Meiden, right after Elin's family fields. The edge was bright and friendly, with tall trees, little patches of sunlight, and bushes everywhere.
"So... about the permit. Can you tell me more?" Daniel asked.
"Yawwwnnn... I'm not sure myself, but I heard from some merchants that they have to get a permit to buy and sell goods around Meiden," Elin replied, yawning.
"And where can I get that? I might need one, right?"
"You definitely need it. Otherwise you can't trade around here, they said."
She knelt by a bush with silver-green leaves, humming some song with no real tune, checking which stems had grown back.
"You need to get that from the Royal Trade Steward of the Meiden Road."
"A Royal Trade what??" Daniel knelt next to her and grabbed a handful of silver-green leaves.
"Not those," Elin said, slapping his hand gently. "Those are Stinkweed. They look the same but they smell like Garrick's boots."
He looked closer. Appraise.
[Item: Stinkweed]
[Condition: Fresh.]
[Market value: 0 copper]
"Royal... Trade... Steward... of the Meiden Road. Her name is Madam Velvet Grisewood... But... she's a bit selective, they said," Elin added.
For the next hour, Daniel Appraised everything. Leaves, a poisonous mushroom, a nice-looking stick, rocks, anything he could think of.
"Is this your first time in a wood, FUNNY MAN?" Elin said, watching him be weird, staring at everything he found.
"I'm just trying to appreciate this... you know... like being one with nature."
"Pfttt!!!... If nature was a woman, she'd think you're a pervert," Elin added.
By the time they turned back, Daniel's knees were green, his suit pants had a hole, and he knew more about leaves than he had ever wanted to know in his life.
"Velvet Grisewood... permit... one price for all... Interesting," Daniel thought.
They were on the way back when the trees in front of them exploded.
Not like Boom exploded. But a man came crashing out of the bushes so fast, as if he was being chased by his mom. He was tall and lean, maybe late twenties, with short black hair, a scar cutting through his left eyebrow, and a hooded cloak the color of dead leaves. In one hand he had half a bow. The other half was nowhere.
"RUNNN!!!!" He was running. Too fast. Too serious.
Behind him, something snorted.
"Oh look!!!" said Elin happily. "Kevin!"
Out came a boar. Not big, exactly, more... wide. Brown and bristly, two short yellow tusks, one ear with a chunk missing, and a face that said he had been insulted and would now be pressing charges.
"KEVIN de Boar?!" Daniel screamed. "YOU SAID KEVIN RAN AWAY!"
"Well, he's back," said Elin, drawing her sword.
The hunter tripped on a root and went down flat on his face, sliding like a crashing plane towards Daniel.
Daniel did not think. Instead his body grabbed the hunter by the back of the cloak and dragged him sideways into a bush, screaming the whole time like a kettle.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-" Daniel screamed.
"Let go-" said the hunter.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-" Daniel was still screaming.
"I'M STILL VIRGIN!!" Yep, he is.
Kevin thundered past the spot where the hunter had been a second ago, skidded, turned, and pawed the ground.
Elin stepped in front of him, light on her feet, and smacked him on the nose with the flat of her sword. Not hard. Just a firm BONK, like a mom with a wooden spoon.
Kevin stopped. He shook his head. He looked at Elin with a very terrified face.
"No, Kevin," said Elin. "Bad. Go home."
Kevin snorted one more time and trotted back into the trees without a second doubt, like leaving was his option.
A moment of silence.
The hunter stood up, brushed off his cloak, and looked at his broken bow for a long moment, like it had personally betrayed his whole family.
"FUNNY MAN!" said Elin. "That's the most honest run and scream I ever heard!! HAHAHAHAHAH!!" She laughed hard.
"Shut up. Who wouldn't scream seeing that big monster?" Daniel whispered.
"That boar broke my bow," said the hunter.
Elin and Daniel turned to look at the hunter.
"Fred," said Elin.
"Great, you even named him Fred?" Daniel added.
"No," said the hunter. "My mother did. Fred Chew Ken."
"Pftttt!!!!!" Daniel tried not to laugh.
He looked at Daniel. The suit. The leaves in his hair. The face of a man who had just screamed for eleven seconds straight. Something in his jaw worked like he was chewing a rock.
"...Thanks, Elin," he said finally. It looked like it physically hurt.
Fred grunted. He pointed into the trees with the broken half of his bow. "Main path's muddy past the frog rock. I take the deer trail left, it comes out behind the farm. Faster." Then he turned and walked off into Arden without another word, cloak swishing, smelling strongly of Stinkweed.
[New contact detected: Fred Chew Ken. Hunter. Trust: Owes you one.]
[Contact updated: Elin. Trust: Neutral → Friendly.]
[Note: Fried Chicken]
"Pffftttt!!!!" Daniel almost burst out.
"Hey, what's so funny? Did you think of something?" asked Elin.
On the walk out of the forest, Daniel counted the basket, wondering to himself.
"I need to know more about the permit. Maybe Mira knows something," he thought. "At this point I still don't know much about how trade works around here."
"Elin. That Fred, is he always in the forest?"
"Yep, he's a hunter after all... but he's always hunting animals that merchants don't want."
"Are there things merchants don't want?"
"Of course. Who eats lion meat anyway?"
"L-Lion? In... in... t-this wood??" Daniel said, shaking a little.
He didn't know. That was the problem.
Elin's farm sat between the forest and the town road. It was a small stone house with a crooked fence, a goat named Princess (of course), and a field of green wheat that went down to a little stream. It was beautiful, like a postcard your friend won't send you.
The barn roof had a hole covered with an old cloth. The plow by the fence was rusty, with a crack in the blade. And next to the barn, under a tarp, were three baskets of Silverleaf, the older ones already going brown.
"Oh, that's my family's house," Elin said before he could ask. "This is where we live, and my father is a farmer."
A woman came out of the house drying her hands on her apron, and Daniel forgot how to stand normally.
She was in her early forties, ash-blond braid streaked grey at the temples, a wooden spoon stuck through her belt like she meant to use it on anyone who got in the way. The apron stretched hard across her chest and hips, fighting a losing fight against the heavy curve of her melon and the full swing of her asset. She moved like she knew exactly what the apron was losing and found it funny that men kept missing steps because of it. Daniel watched the way her hips rolled and realized, too late, that Elin’s laugh lived in that mouth. Elin’s face too. Just older, thicker, and a lot more sure of itself.
Daniel stared for one second. Then he stared very hard at the goat.
"Mama! This is Daniel! He's a merchant! Kevin almost ate him!"
"Oh, your Kevin almost ate everyone," said the woman. She looked Daniel over, slowly, the suit, the hole in the pants, the green knees, and a corner of her mouth went up. "You need fresh clothes, before the goat thinks you're his friend."
Daniel made a noise like a bicycle horn. "Aha-ha-ha... You're right, ma'am."
"You're the one who sold Marta's spice," she said. Of course she knew.
"I'm Liesel Gastolin. Sit. It's not every day I have a guest." She pushed him onto the bench with one finger, which was all it took, and went back inside, hips swaying, yelling over her shoulder, "RON! The spice boy is here!"
"Spice boy," Daniel muttered, face hot. "Great. New name. Love it."
A tall man came out of the barn, grey-bearded, wide shoulders, the same sunny eyes as Elin but tired. He held out a big rough hand.
"HO-HO!! SPICE BOY!! Thank you for bringing my daughter home. I'm Ron... Gastolin."
"Technically she brought me home. I was mostly screaming in the background."
Daniel looked at the field. Ron's eyes followed.
"Big field. Food seems to be no problem here, haha..."
SMACKKKK!! A sudden, strong slap landed on Daniel's shoulder.
"BHAHAHAA!!!... YOU ARE RIGHT, BOY... BHAHAHAHA!!!" Ron laughed, but then exhaled heavily.
"HAAAAAAH... But things get harder day by day. Tools already cost double now, and the grain price is still the same."
"Yeah, I heard from Elin about the shortage. Is it always like this?" asked Daniel.
"Never, but things changed lately. Prices are fixed, and only merchants with a permit are able to buy our goods. But folks like us can't argue with that, bhahaha..." Ron said with a laugh, even though Daniel could see the worry on his face.
Daniel was still staring at that field when Liesel came out with a tray of cups. The drink was pale green and smelled like mint and honey and something warm. It almost resembled a tea.
"Drink," she said. "My own blend. Silverleaf, dried slow, with a few things I won't tell you." She winked.
He sipped. He was right. It tasted like a tea he used to buy at 24mart. He looked into the cup. Appraise.
[Item: Liesel's Silverleaf water (dried blend)]
[Market value: 14 copper per pouch]
[Note: Not sold anywhere in this region.]
Daniel inhaled the water through his nose and coughed for ten seconds. From the same leaves Elin sold for one copper a bundle. Then he heard a rumbling sound from afar...
Princess the goat stopped chewing and looked at the road.
A carriage was coming. Not a farm cart. A small black one, clean, with a thin man in a long grey coat sitting next to the driver. Ledger under his arm, dentist-polite smile.
Ron's shoulders went stiff. Elin stopped humming. Inside the house, the clatter of pots stopped.
"That's Turan Thula," Elin whispered. "He works for the Steward I told you about earlier. He collects."
He stepped down and didn't look at Daniel at all.
"Good afternoon, Ron." He opened the ledger. "I'm here with the Steward's letter. Unfortunately, your contribution to the Steward will be increased."
"Increased again??" Ron repeated. "You said that last month. I paid twenty-five coppers. Can I have a word with the Steward?"
"Ahhh... and this month it's one silver," Turan said, the way you say it might rain. "Collection is expensive, you know. Carriages. Bad roads. Madam Velvet is a very busy woman. She needn't be bothered by small matters like your costs."
"One silver," said Ron. His voice cracked. "That's nearly a whole month of everything we make. The buyer hasn't come in two weeks, look-" He pointed at the storage.
"Then you have until Day ten." Turan closed the ledger. "Should it not be paid, well. Debts can be worked off."
His eyes went to the doorway, where Liesel was standing with the tea tray. They went down, and then slowly up again, and stayed. The way a man looks at something in a shop window he has already decided to buy.
"I have a large house in Bridge Port," he said softly. "My own. Very quiet. Very private. A woman like her would be wasted on floors." He wet his lips. "I'd see to it she was personally looked after. Day and night. For as long as the debt takes, and Liesel.. debts like this can take a very, very long time." He smiled at her.
The teasing was gone from Liesel's face like someone had blown out a candle.
Liesel's knuckles went white on the spoon. Ron took one step toward the carriage, fists closed, and Elin grabbed his arm with both hands.
"Papa, don't."
Daniel's skin was crawling like he'd walked into a spiderweb in the dark.
"Pardon me, quick question," Daniel said, in his best friendly salesman voice, before his brain could stop his mouth. "Is that one silver in the Steward's contract? I'd love to see the clause."
Turan turned and looked at him for the first time. Up and down. The suit. The green knees.
"And you are?"
"Daniel. I'm a Merchant myself."
"Of course you are." Turan smiled again, thinner, as if he believed it. "It's a private arrangement, merchant. Between me and this guy. Isn't it, Ron?"
Ron looked at the ground. "...Yes."
"Good man. Day ten, remember that." Turan tipped his hat to Liesel, very politely, and let his eyes stay on her one more second than any decent man would, which was somehow the worst part. Then he climbed back into the carriage. It rolled away down the road toward town, kicking up dust over the wheat.
Liesel didn't move from the doorway. Elin went to her and held her hand, and for once she wasn't humming.
"Papa," Elin said, very small. "One silver. That's more than we can afford."
"It is fineeee," said Ron, and none of them believed him.
Elin let go of her mother's hand, went inside, and came back out with a small cloth pouch. She poured it into her palm. Coppers. Not many.
"Twenty-two," she said. "It's for my sword. I was saving for a better blade." She closed her fist around them. "Even with this, it's still... not even enough."
Nobody laughed.
Daniel looked at the dust where the carriage had been. His hands were somehow a little calm, so he let out a slow breath. He knew that if he didn't help, Elin's family would be in huge trouble. Her mother, Liesel, was the price here. Day ten was too soon to find a silver, unless he had Marta's spice left. The spice... yes...
Then a new screen. Red.
[Side Quest: Trapped in a Spiderweb. Help the Gastolin family.]
[Due: Day 10.]
[Goal: 1 silver.]
[Time remaining: 7 days, 18 hours.]
[Failure: Liesel is taken by Turan Thula.]
Daniel read the last line three times. Then he loosened his tie, because suddenly it felt very tight.
"Haaah... I hate this kind of situation," he said quietly. "Even if this is just a side quest, the stakes are actually high."
Behind him, Princess the goat started eating the tarp over the brown herbs, and nobody stopped her.
[Reward: Hidden Trade Route Unlock]
End of Chapter 3.
ns216.73.217.61da2
and then Add to home screen.