The Merchant Who Would be King

Have Wagon, Will Travel

Killing the goblin nest before it could become an even bigger problem turned out to be a great move. According to locals, this type of goblin really could breed worse than rabbits. It wasn't unheard of for goblins to multiply into tribes large enough to require armies to deal with them. The rescue of one of their own also earned Hadiin and Marian a lot of goodwill.

In exchange, the people of the hamlet went so far as to award the two with the farmer's horse and wagon out of gratitude.

"Actually," Marian confided after things had calmed down again, "I overheard someone mention that, by presenting the goblin heads to the adventurer's guild in Belleville, they'd receive compensation, perhaps enough to buy the farmer a new horse and wagon."

"That much for a few goblins?" Hadiin's eyes widened. "How can eliminating them be worth so much?"

"I think it's a special case?"

He mulled it over. "Perhaps they're going to claim that they hired us as private adventurers and are claiming the expenses? Perhaps there's some kind of policy in place because there are no soldiers or adventurers officially stationed here."

"Maybe!"

"So? Now what? You've got a horse and wagon. What do we do with it? Are we supposed to get the cryo slimes now?"

It was a good question. Hadiin looked around in thought. "What could we fill the wagon with, that we could sell in the next town?"

Marian shrugged. "We're in a tiny hamlet and next to a forest. Monster parts? Leather scraps? Slime. Goblins might drop some coins, but we just killed all the ones near here. And they didn't have any spoils in their lair."

"Hmm. I'm not sure..."

Marian waited, tapping her foot, looking a bit like she was considering leaving their association.

He snapped his fingers. "I've an idea. The rudimentary foundation of a plan."

"Oh?"

"We have a wagon that can hold a lot of goods. We'll offer to buy whatever we can here and sell it in the village. Belleville, was it? If we let it be known that I have the merchant class and that I will be back to buy more in the future, a possible source of income for this hamlet, they should give us fair prices to encourage our return."

"So we get the locals to collect as much as they can for us, serving as our labour."

"And while they're hunting or crafting or whatever, you and I buy some buckets and collect cryo slime."

"I suppose that works," she agreed, seemingly content with that. "But how much money do we have?"

"About three hundred silver."

"What? How?"

"I got some starting money with my class. Perhaps because I didn't get much for skills?"

"Wow. Ok. Let's put that money to work then."

The two of them split up and jogged all over the village and surrounding area, hunting down locals. To each, they offered coin in exchange for anything the people here could come up with. They made it clear that they would continue to buy as much as could be provided until coin ran out.

Some locals weren't interested, but others definitely were. Anyone with a bow ran into the forest to hunt. The family making bandages approached. The leatherworker sold them everything he had. The old woman cooking went into a frenzy to produce as much smoked jerky as she could make.

While the locals were producing goods, Hadiin and Marian went into the forest and hunted cryo slimes. It turned out that there were magical frost flowers growing in a patch and that this was likely contributing to the formation of the slimes. Marian melted as many as they could and Hadiin filled all the buckets that they could buy with the chilled remains, each container frosting over on the outside because of the contents.