Dagger 50 Obreim Family

The winters in the eastern region, specially at the mountains, were always freezing, but for him, it was as if it's just a normal day.

He breathe in the cold air and looked towards the other buildings from his balcony. He could see lights in some buildings' windows, while there were some people who woke up to check the thickness of the snow on their roofs.

He didn't linger any longer and returned back inside.

As soon as he went to the first floor, he heard somebody knocking on the door.

"Coming."

When Allen opened the door, he immediately recognized that it was James. The kid was wearing thick clothes suitable for winter.

"h.e.l.lo Mr. Morgan.", James greeted.

"Mhm... and you're really early today. I'm only opening later in the afternoon, I'm going to the bank first to exchange the bronze coins that I have.", Allen said.

"Well... I couldn't really sleep in this kind of cold. Plus, it's my payday today.", James rubbed his glove-covered hands together.

"Oh.", Allen searched for his pockets something and took out a silver coin. "Here's your payment."

Seeing the silver coin, James was stunned and immediately said, "Wait, wait! Didn't you say that my income would be 100 bronze coins? This is too much, mister."

"The exchange rate is bound to change soon. One silver coin would be your income by then, now go buy food for your family.", Allen said.
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"Thank you!", James thanked the shop owner from the bottom of his heart and rushed towards the marketplace.

A few minutes later, Allen left his shop while carrying pouches inside his winter robes.

Allen reached the bank, and saw that there were a few people already in line outside, even though the bank wasn't open for business yet.

If it didn't start snowing yet, there would've probably be a lot of people on the line by now.

He joined the merchants' line, there weren't many merchants present yet to exchange their bronze coins.

When he joined the line, he was noticed by the other merchants at the front and started gossiping about him.

There were some who gave off curious gaze; some who gave off gazes of contempt, who were most likely the rich merchants in the city; and some who gave off hostile gaze.

For Allen, being a merchant was just like an a.s.sa.s.sin, you better know when to strike and when to back off. Apparently, the ones who gave him hostile gazes were his enemies in the merchant circle, but he never cared about them.

"Well if it isn't Mr. Morgan.", a voice said from behind him. Allen turned around and saw that it was an old man.

He recognized this man, he was the leader of the most powerful merchant guild in the city. Currently in the line, Allen was the only one not from the merchant guild.

"Have Mr. Morgan considered my offer of joining my guild?", the old man asked.

"No, I don't want to join your guild.", Allen said in a calm tone.

Hearing Allen's sentence, one of the merchants who had a hostile gaze towards him snorted, "You don't know what kind of a blessing for you to be invited in the guild!"

Another one blew a fuse and added more wood to the fire, "We have worked hard and almost risked everything just to join the guild. Now you're being invited personally by the guild leader, you don't even know what's good for you."

The sentences of th two men also triggered some of their fellow merchants who were listening. After all, they were in the same guild.

On the other hand, Allen only ignored them. If one wants to become a merchant, it was really needed to know when to strike and who to strike.

Those two other merchants who started the ruckus wanted Allen's reputation to plummet from the other merchants around, which was a good trick... that would sadly not work to him.

"Quiet!", the old man reprimanded, which silenced the other merchants.

"You won't really accept the invitation?", the old man asked again. Allen only shook his head in response.

"Alright then.", the old man sighed in disappointment.

Several minutes later, the bank opened up for business. The interior and the furniture of the bank looked so furbished that Allen could see his own reflection on the floor.

Allen then went to the Merchant Corner to exchange his bronze coins.

All the other merchants beside him looked over at the pouch that he was carrying, which surprised them greatly.

"Such a small pouch, I wonder how many bronze coins are there inside it?", a merchant pondered.

"Probably only a few dozens.", another merchant joked.

"Hahaha...", most of the merchants laughed after that remark. However, their guild leader shook his head and even faintly smiled at them.

Allen then opened the pouch and turned it upside down.

-whoosh-

Numerous bronze coins flowed out of the pouch as if it's water. The other merchants were astonished by the sight. Even the lady who was across the desk in front of Allen gaped at the sheer volume of bronze coins.

It only stopped when there was already a small mountain of bronze coins in the merchant corner. Everybody in the bank except for the old man dropped their jaws at the sight of that mountain of bronze coins.

"Wait sir, I think I need to call a mage to count the coins.", the lady immediately went up the second floor of the bank.

Seeing the dropped jaws of his fellow merchants, their guild leader was trying hold back his laughter. He was trying to save the face of his fellow men, because the merchants' contempt on Allen's small pouch was clearly heard by a lot of people inside the bank.

Afterwards, mage went downstairs with the lady and also gaped at the sight of the small mountain. However, he composed himself at once and used his magical sense to instantly count all the coins.

"That's exactly 10,000 bronze coins.", the mage said.

After which, the lady took out a pouch from under desk, "Inside this pouch is exactly 1,000 crown bronze coins, sir."

Allen obtained the pouch, afterwards, the small mountain of bronze coins was kept inside the mage's bag for safekeeping.

As the mage was about to turn around, Allen suddenly said, "I have a few more pouches." He then opened his jacket and showed the pouches within it.

The merchants who ridiculed Allen almost fainted by the sight and now realized why their guild leader wanted to invite him inside the guild, it's because he has a lot of spatial storage treasures... and because he was really rich.

The merchants: "..."

The common people: "..."

The mage: "..."

The bank staffs: "..."

The guild leader: "Pfft..."

***

Allen returned to the shop earlier than he expected with 10,000 crown bronze coins. Because James didn't return yet, he decided to water the plants.

He took out a watering can from the storage room and started watering the plants.

"Chomp...", suddenly, the plant that he was watering turned into a large venus flytrap-like swallowed the watering can he was using in a blink of an eye.

"This man-eating plant.", Allen emotionlessly looked at the giant venus flytrap-like plant, which shrunk to a little sprout in an instant. Actually, it's just one of the many weird plants inside his shop.

Luckily for him, the plants had no intentions on eating his customers and James, or else they would've become salad by now.

Afterwards, went to the storage room to fetch another watering can.

Time pa.s.sed by in a flash and it was already afternoon, but the sun was nowhere to be seen on the sky due to the cloud cover.

"Good afternoon, mister.", James entered the shop and immediately sat behind the counter to start reading the encyclopedia.

...

The business hours pa.s.sed by in a flash, there weren't many people who entered the shop, and even less who bought plants. Which was probably due to the cold weather.

Suddenly, as Allen was about to approach the door to flip the wooden tab to 'closed', a blond girl wearing robes, who also looked like on the same age as James,and carrying a staff entered the shop.

"Excuse me, is this Alchemist Morgan's shop?", the girl asked.

"Alchemist Morgan? You must be talking about Mr. Morgan.", James said.

"Who could it be then? Of course it's probably him.", the girl said in an angry tone, she was obviously in a bad mood.

"Huh, why do you even have to be angry at me? I'm just helping you!", James' tone rose up, he was triggered by the girl.

"What do you want commoner?! Do you want to become ashes?!", the girl angrily retorted.

"Hmph, I...", before James could continue his sentence, Allen coughed and caught the attention of the two.

"Are you Alchemist Morgan?", the girl asked.

"Mhm.", Allen nodded, he used that alias when he was in Alchem Town. After which, he noticed the two gems from the girl's staff.

"You're an adept?", Allen asked.

"Yes sir, I am!", the girl proudly rose up her chin.

"Oh.", Allen said.

The girl couldn't help but inwardly cringe by Allen's reply, 'Oh?! That's the only thing that you can say?!'

Actually, being an adept at such a young age was already such a feat throughout the lands. So the girl has the reason to be proud of her achievements.

"What do you want from me?", Allen asked.

The girl took out an envelope from her sleeves and handed it over to Allen. There was a seal on the envelope, which was the symbol of the alchemists of the Alchem Town, which was a pill and a vial.

He broke the seal and read the letter from the envelope.

Right after finis.h.i.+ng reading the letter, Allen asked to the girl, "You need an Adept Mana Stabilizing Pill?"

"Yes, I recently broke through and became an adept, my mana inside my body is still chaotic, but I want to solve it fast because I need to go towards the central region.", the girl said.

"Well then, the production of the pill will take a whole winter, are you sure about that?", Allen asked.

"Of course! If I don't take the pill, it would take me almost a year or more to stabilize my condition!", the girl said.

"Do you have the ingredients?", Allen asked.

"Here.", the girl gave Allen a ring, which was a spatial storage. The latter checked the contents of the gem and said, "You don't have a leaf of a Mana Parasol Tree sprout."

"What! Are you sure, sir?", the girl asked.

"Yes."

"How could I forget the most important ingredient!", the girl rubbed her forehead due to stress.

"Don't worry, I have that in here.", Allen said.

"Oh? Thank you sir! I'll try to repay you somehow.", the girl said.

Allen didn't reply anymore and said to James, "It's closing time, you can leave now, flip the wooden tab first before you go."

James said goodbye and did what Allen requested and left the shop.

Allen: "Come on, let's go to the bas.e.m.e.nt."

***

It was already dark when James returned to his house. He entered the house and saw his mother.

"You're exactly in time James, dinner's ready!", Melanie said.

James: "Alright, mom."

"Finally, I'm really hungry.", Albert walked down from the second floor and saw James. "Oh, son. Please tell Mr. Morgan thank you for his generosity, that one silver coin is really helpful this winter."

James scratched his nose and said, "Okay, father. I'm just going to replace my clothes." Then he went upstairs

"He has changed since that Mr. Morgan arrived in the city.", Melanie remarked.

"Mhm, at least he's not stubborn anymore.", Albert replied.

***

When James entered the bedroom, he immediately pulled out a new set of clothes from the closet and replaced the clothes he was wearing.

As he was about to exit the bedroom, he unconsciously looked at a large drawer, which made his hands shake.

He shook his head and snapped out of his stupor, after which, he left the bedroom.

When he arrived at the kitchen, the hot food was already ready. The Obreim family could already considered a well-off family just by the food they were eating.

The income of the family mostly came from Melanie from being a merchant's receptionist.

"Stewed pork, we don't get this everyday.", James remarked.

"Well, it's your payday, so you deserve it.", Melanie said.

"I think I will get a job in one of the mines by the end of the winter, then our income would surely rise and you can eat that everyday.", Albert rubbed James' head.

"Stop it, father.", James tried to get off Albert's hand from his head.

"Hehe... nope, I won't stop.", suddenly he started tickling the kid.

"Hahaha... please stop... hahaha..."

"Hmph! Stop playing and start eating, or else I won't give the both of you any stewed pork!", Melanie snorted.

"Alright, alright!", Albert and James instantly stopped playing and started eating dinner.