NOVEL NEXT Chapter 386
The merchant values reputation above all else.
For a novice merchant lacking money and connections, hustling as a peddler is as natural as a beginner adventurer hunting rabbits and gathering herbs.
Establishing a rapport with unfamiliar faces in a strange place and trading with them relies on trust, which benefits our village, city, and organization.
Credit accumulated over continued trades eventually turns into reputation, and that reputation leads to greater deals in the future.
Thus, selling an item set by the owner at a marked-up price is frowned upon and considered a violation of customary practices.
Of course, there’s an old saying that if you don’t get caught, it’s art, but if you do, it’s a crime.
No matter how principled a merchant may be, it’s almost normal to engage in at least one deal outside the law, and even if they haven’t, most will evade taxes to some extent.
Merchants may claim it’s tax-saving, though.
Marywise was no different.
However, Marywise rejected Karem’s stubbornness.
Of course, she did have a moment’s temptation at the offer of extra money, as she might have readily accepted if this were another region.
But this is Iceland.
The people here have a strong resentment regarding food.
If one tries to play tricks with food, it wouldn’t just tarnish the Backpacker family’s name, but it would be a huge issue.
“Karem! So, the proposal—”
“Shut up and take my money!”
“Yikes—!”
The money pouch shook Marywise’s body. She hurriedly caught it, fearing it might fall, but the impact loosened the opening.
“This, this is…!”
As previously stated, trust is more important to a merchant than money.
Even life is worth less than trust, in fact.
“Is that… Aureus Gold Coins? Is this all!?”
However, when money won’t suffice, the need for something more is universal.
“The condition is… pristine! Not counterfeit either. If the weight checks out, then 100 Aureus Coins!? With Aureus!?”
“Is it insufficient?”
“Insufficient?! No way!!!”
In Iceland, what’s most valuable is nothing other than food.
The taste of the crops from Iceland, a twisted land much worse than the troublesome Sephol Island, cannot be compared to mainland crops.
Typically, if you hand over food sovereignty to foreigners this way, merchants will drool and rush to scrape you dry.
Such foolish merchants sank under Alfred’s grain bombings and golden waterfalls, blessed by the great Adobice Kingdom.
Thanks to that, merchants had no choice but to trade food in Iceland at reasonable prices, drenched in tears and the corpses of their comrades.
Of course, except for grains.
The blessings of the Adobice Kingdom elevated even the laborers to a level where they could eat heartily twice a day. No rational merchant would dare to interfere.
A merchant may change into a thief if things turn out badly, but no one would be crazy enough to openly oppose a duke’s family.
However, merchants were astounded for a different reason.
Oh my, even while trading at reasonable prices, the margins are this significant!?
Ah, we didn’t recognize the blessings of the Felwinter family!
Moreover, in recent years, Iceland has begun to awaken to gourmet cuisine, causing the prices of various products to steadily rise.
There was no worry about things not selling.
Icelanders, who harbor grievances about food, spend money without hesitation when it comes to eating.
Even if things don’t sell, just making a round through Iceland will sell everything.
The top-grade sesame brought from the Adobice Kingdom also arrived for the same reason.
Given that, pulling tricks could put one’s life and credit at risk, but—
“How much… no, can I give you everything!?”
Marywise of the Backpacker family boldly placed her credit and life on the scales.
With 100 Aureus Coins, even the ancestors of the Backpacker family would have urged her to sell it at once.
Marywise, intending to create a slush fund, smiled as if she held the last jewel in her hands, much like a thrilled purple extraterrestrial.
Every country has essential components that cannot be left out when cooking.
Like Americans who are crazy about sugar and bacon, or the Chinese who absolutely adore pork. This also applies to Europa.
The wealth-loving Bersengzeto loves fresh vegetables for survival, while the dwarves, true to their nature, adore pork as snacks with beer, just as much as the Chinese.
The two even went so far as to declare war over merely wine and beer, showing their sincere passion.
Naturally, Korea has its essential cooking ingredients too.
Soy sauce, garlic, sesame oil.
There may be Korean dishes without gochujang or doenjang, but there are no Korean dishes made without soy sauce. And if one can produce soy sauce, naturally, it leads to doenjang and gochujang.
Garlic? Even the Chinese are shocked by the modest amounts consumed by Koreans.
And sesame oil.
“Honestly, sesame oil isn’t that important.”
In blunt terms, Karem could very well recreate the meals he used to have in his past life without sesame oil.
Yet sesame oil is the final touch that turns a dish from something lacking into something extraordinary.
“I never imagined I would be this happy.”
Karem grinned with a large sack of sesame in each hand, while Zigmeser acknowledged his joy with a chef’s unique delight in the new spices.
“If you were so pleased, you might as well have stuck around longer.”
“How could I control that?”
At Karem’s continuation, Zigmeser shook his head as if it was hopeless.
“Being the personal chef, I’m dragged around by Catherine every time.”
“I heard a little dwarf gets drunk on beer and can’t handle it. A 12-year-old child really can’t function.”
“Good things are good things.”
Karem stood firm.
“Besides, while other kids my age are starting to learn a trade, I was already working with grown-ups.”
“Yeah. You’re maturing too fast. Good for you. But that attitude won’t last long.”
“It won’t last long? What do you mean?”
“Do you know why married men all flock to taverns, drinking until they go home drunk?”
“Because they have their wives waiting at home?”
Zigmeser snapped his fingers at Karem as if to say that was exactly right.
“Well, of course! Married men tend to get nagged by their wives. When do you think the honey that’s been dripping from your eyes will disappear?”
“Well, I suppose I’m a different case.”
If I had heard those words in my past life, I would have resonated deeply, but now, well… circumstances were quite different in this life.
“I really think I’m a different case.”
“A different case? You?”
“Why? There’s a prime example right nearby.”
“A prime example?”
“The Duke and Duchess of Iceland.”
At those words, Zigmeser couldn’t help but sigh. Indeed, the hands of the precious Felwinter family were set to give birth to their fourth child soon, with a fifth on the way.
Even Richard and Rosetta, the previous marquis couple, had only produced Alfred, but Zigmeser knew well how heated things got every night.
Who wouldn’t prepare delicious food for potent energy?
“So, what are you holding there?”
“Huh? This?”
Zigmeser’s eyes briefly shifted toward the box he was holding. The box was just the right size for the crouched Alicia to fit inside.
“This is Akusare Mushrooms.”
“Akusare… Akusare?”
“That’s right. These Akusare Mushrooms are harvested exclusively by Fungusbee, which is responsible for oil production in Iceland, transformed into a dungeon now.”
Zigmeser, tapping the box and adding extra commentary, wore a face that seemed a bit flustered.
“Thanks to this, I’ve been able to use oil generously, but because the source dried up, the order I placed just now has finally arrived after over a year.”
“Alicia will be delighted.”
“Well, considering she’s been like that lately, who knows.”
Zigmeser shook his head, yelling at the startled Karem.
“What’s with that innocent look on your face? The lady’s situation is largely your fault.”
Suddenly, what was that supposed to mean? As Karem pointed to his chest, wondering what the hell Zigmeser meant, Zigmeser looked up at Karem with incredulity.
“Are you seriously claiming innocence when you corrupted Alicia with your hand skills?”
“Corrupted?! You could say such a thing.”
“In that case, having completely transformed her taste from before counts as corruption!”
“Yet Alicia eats everything without hesitation. Isn’t it just her appetite growing?”
Just as Karem passed the castle gate, he added, “She’s in her growth period, after all.”
Zigmeser, who had been quietly listening to that remark, disapproved of Karem’s nonchalant demeanor but couldn’t deny it.
There still lingered a desire for Alicia’s monopoly as a stubborn dwarf.
“So how do you plan to utilize that?”
Zigmeser chose to divert the topic then.
“This? Sesame, right?”
“Yes. I heard that in the Adobice Kingdom, people sprinkle it on dough right before baking or create… um?”
Zigmeser suddenly halted in mid-sentence, almost as if encountering something unexpected.
Karem realized why the moment he turned his head.
“Fluffy Cloud! No! Stop! You need to listen to Alicia!”
The fluffy creature, with its glossy fur undulating like waves, charged recklessly, kicking up a storm of dust.
Ignoring the distant voice of Alicia, the giant pet dungeon hamster’s gaze was—
“Oh, Zigmeser?”
“What is it?”
“It’s running towards me—huh?”
An ominous sound follows. Zigmeser found himself far from Karem all of a sudden.
Startled by the sudden distance, Karem was flustered.
“What? Why are you over there?”
“Watch out ahead! Ahead!”
“Uh, wait. Damn it!”
As the fluffy creature drew ever closer, Karem instinctively thought to move in reverse.
He noticed how the creature’s sparkling eyes were fixated on the bags in his hands.
‘That can’t happen.’
Defending with the best offense, Karem decided to face the fluffy creature head-on.
“Fluffy Cloud! If you don’t stop now, no snacks tomorrow!!!”
Accompanied by the mounting anger in Alicia’s voice, Karem set the bags down on the ground.
Stepping forward two strides to confront the approaching fluffy creature, Karem spread both arms wide.
At that moment—
Bang─!
The fluffy creature halted its charge.
Both onlookers and the creature were surprised, and above all, Karem, the one who had caused the commotion, was astonished as well.
“This is… unexpected.”
Realizing the fragment of power within himself, Karem quickly grasped the situation and steeled his arms. Gradually, the four paws of the fluffy creature began to lift from the ground.
“Ziit!?”
If it were in the basement, maybe. But up here on terra firma, this fluffy creature was struggling in mid-air as if it had never experienced such weightlessness before, yet Karem’s arms did not waver.
Grabbing the fluffy beast by its neck, Karem lifted it up, slightly tilting the massive dungeon hamster, roughly the size of a wagon.
Bang—
“Karem! Thank you for helping Alicia. But were you always this strong?”
“Um… I didn’t realize I had this much power either.”
“More importantly, something smells unbelievably delicious!”
“What! Wait a minute!”
Karem found himself facing another crisis.