Rebirth of the Phoenix God

"For that… I can give you up to seven silvers."

If it was two weeks younger Fen, then he might've accepted the offer. Seven silvers? That amount of money was more than enough for him to live safely for nearly two months!

But this wasn't the first time that the young arcanist, now dressed in self-made hunter's clothes, was meeting with the merchants on this road.

"Eleven silvers. Take it or leave it. I have several other interested. Stop wasting my time."

For someone foreign to the situation, this kind of encounter would seem like nothing short of madness. A young man dressed in sewed together pieces of subpar leather and furs dared to haggle with someone capable of creating his own, albeit small, caravan?

"Come on, I have a family to feed!"

Looking at Fen with upturned eyes, the merchant did his best to convince the young man to put the price down a bit. Sadly, his round, sweaty face combined with his entirely bald scalp made his expression nothing short of repulsive. 

"If you need to rely on this kind of trade to feed your family, then I would do you harm by helping you. Get lost."

Rather than allowing the man to save his face, Fen relaxed on a small piece of wood that he was using as a makeshift stool. Below his feet, two orderly rows of the rare birds were lined up. Some might say that given how tense the negotiations were, the way of keeping the prize directly on the ground was a sign of ignorance, but Fen couldn't be bothered to set up anything resembling the other hunters' stalls that littered the borderlands between the road and the wildlands.

"Sir! Please! I will buy them for the eleven silvers! I will buy them!"

With his face twisted in anguish, the merchant reached towards his pouch, only to be stopped in his tracks by Fen's words.

"Now you will pay twelve."

In the end, the merchant didn't refuse. In fact, if he did, he would be stupid as hell. According to the experience that Fen gathered over the last three days, the set of six birds of the kind that he hunted could fetch in any of the nearby cities for at least twenty silvers! 

With the offensive of the monsters, people nearly instantly started to get deeper and deeper into the forest, with the main threat to their health now gone. Due to quite peculiar administrative of the local region, this situation was water for the mill of the local hunters with a bit of brains.

The highway went along the edge of the forest through the entire time from Akhaz to Araram. While Raksha claimed that the forest path would take him nearly all the way to the city, even after nearly three weeks spent by walking, hunting and enjoying the long stroll, once Fen found the way out from the woods, nothing but a road endlessly stretching into the distance greeted his eyes.

At least, his situation was quite comfortable right now. With only a few hours worth of forced march towards the Araram, by selling his last prey, Fen could finally make the dash for his first targeted location. Over the last four days that he spent by actively hunting and selling his price to the merchants on the road, the young man's savings grew considerably.

It was his tactic with which he approached the local business that allowed him to earn so much while being constantly forced to be on the move. Contrary to the local hunters that only now started to delve deeper into the forest, Fen didn't mind the price of the products!

As long as he could increase the weight of his pouch considerably with each trade he did, Fen didn't really mind whether he was taking a loss of few silvers or bronzes on each exchange. Because of that, the hunters that set their stalls in the proximity would only handle his presence for a short moment, before some would try to stop him from lowering the average price of their products.

"I guess it's time to get to the supply station…"

To someone foreign to the Imperial gimmicks, the entire area where Fen found himself could be considered to be most definitely one of the strangest places on the continent. 

Contrary to the usual way of settling a huge number of people in singular locations, the local road was in the private possession of one of the factions within the empire. The merchant's clique that was responsible for not only the highway but also innumerable settlements growing alongside their roads could be said to be on par in terms of political power with inquisition and church combined, looming even over the arcanist guild!

With this kind of influence, it was no wonder why the lands surrounding the road were so much different from what Fen saw back in Akhaz.

His pouch now quite a bit heavier, his hands free from the duty of carrying his price, Fen got directly on the road, following the nearest group going north. Given how he used his legs to cover a considerable distance over the past month, travelling one more hour in order to reach the nearest small settlement didn't pose any problem for the young man.

"Excuse me."

Instead of passing through the extensive checks at the gate before the local supply post, Fen could simply walk past a small fence before entering the proper area of the trading district. In fact, if not for the tradition of calling a small square attached to the warehousing area a trading district, then any city-planner would laugh at how this tiny space was called a district by itself. But for Fen, it didn't matter at all how it was called, as long as he could obtain what he wanted from the man behind the counter!

"What do you want?"

Only sparing a single look at the young man before moving his eyes back to the thick stacks of paper piling up on a table placed beside the counter, the merchant of the supply point could be taken as extremely rude, especially with how Fen could be considered to be his customer.

"A clean set of travelling clothes, basic personal weaponry, rations for one day."

It seemed as if all the recipients in the supply points were like that. Given how those places were set up by wealthy merchants that decided to occupy a small spot to take advantage of the local production while making some side-money by supplying the small businesses and activities around with the tools imported from bigger settlements, it was no wonder that everyone working there was extremely task-oriented.

"That will be two silvers and seven coppers."

There was one way to make sure the wares ordered would meet the standards of a civilised society. Throwing three silver coins on the counter, Fen moved away and used one of the chairs to take some rest as he waited. Watching the man, the young man could see how the sparks in his eyes ignited once he saw the third coin.

"I will be right back."

For a cashier like him, the chance of earning nearly half a silver from a single order was huge. Unless this particular supply-point was one of the most prosperous that existed, then this poor man could maybe make two, three silvers a week. Being able to earn a quarter of that with just minutes would make anyone happy and willing to satisfy the customer!

'Here I go spending a lot again…'

As much as this was kind of necessary course of Fen's actions, it didn't mean that he wasn't pained when seeing his hard-earned money go into the depths of the cashier's pocket. At this point, it was clear that neither party was willing to talk about the change.

'Well, it's not like it matters. Most likely, I won't need any money once I get into the academy.'

Reassuring himself in his thoughts, Fen recalled all the steps that he had to take in order to reach his destination. According to the news he heard on the road, this supply point was the last settlement before the Araram city. Once there, he could join some small caravan as proxy-guard, selling some bullshit about his backstory. Travelling with this caravan on the main imperial road, he could travel east, only to switch jobs and go north through the merchant's highway again.

"Sir, here are the things you ordered!"

In just a few moments, the cashier managed to collect all the items requested by the young man before hastily bringing them all back up. Just a single glance at the clothes, sword and two knives that lied on the counter was enough for Fen to confirm that his guess was on the point. 

In order to get the good stuff, he had to make the cashier a happy man!

Disregarding the public morals, Fen quickly shed his makeshift clothes, leaving only the underwear he bought back in Akhaz on himself before changing to the new clothes he just bought. 

Contrary to arcanist's robes, his current pants and shirt didn't restrict his movements at all, while keeping his body in a perfect temperature for travelling. After tucking the sword behind his belt and grabbing the bag with dried up rations, Fen nodded to the cashier before taking his leave from the supply point. 

Sweeping the area with his eyes for a moment, Fen confirmed that there was no signs of any officials or army detachments on the road as far as his eyes could see. Given how long he took to travel to this point, it would be no wonder if the news about his escape would spread across the entire country already!

But for now, there was nothing he could do. The faster he would get to Araram, the sooner the last stretch of his escape would begin!