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Side Story:

Lahki’s Merchant Diary, Part 3 

Olav, capital of the Rhoden Kingdom. 

Through one district ran a street lined with various workshops, the craftspeople who owned them known throughout the capital for their excellence. One such workshop was devoted to leatherwork. Despite its modest size, this workshop was filled with experts in their craft. It was so famous that even nobles frequented it. 

Off to the side, a small room served as the workshop’s administrative office. It was a simple affair, built almost as an afterthought, that consisted of one wooden table and several stools. The room stank of leather treatment chemicals, making it difficult for those unaccustomed to the unique smell to spend much time there. 

Two men sat across the table from each other, scowls gracing both of their faces. 

One of them was clearly a craftsman, as evidenced by his dirty leather smock, balding head, and untamed white beard. This stubborn-looking old man was the manager of the workshop. He stroked his beard, his forehead wrinkling, as he fixed his piercing gaze on the young man sitting across from him. 

The second man, a twenty-year-old merchant, wore fine clothing that complemented his attractive face and mussy brown hair. He smiled weakly. 

“Forty-five! And that’s the best yer gonna get!” The wrinkles in the old man’s forehead deepened as he crossed his tree-trunk-like arms. 

The merchant frowned and let out a sigh. “I guess asking for anything more would be a bit much, huh?” 

“Yer damn right! And I’m only meeting with ya ’cause the old lady at the druggist introduced ya. Usually, I wouldn’t deal in leather from unknown sources. My suppliers would give me all sorts of grief if they found out.” 

“That’s certainly true.” 

Workshops in large towns typically only bought leather from specific guilds that they had preexisting agreements with. These guilds wouldn’t care to hear about some stranger coming in and trying to make a deal behind their backs. Since workshops rarely ever purchased leather directly, they were able to demand heavy discounts to bypass the guilds. 

When this merchant had sold kobumi flowers from Luvierte to a druggist he knew, he’d mentioned to her that he’d stumbled across some dead sand wyverns, and she’d made arrangements for him to meet with the old man here in the workshop. Without her, this man never would have come to the negotiating table. 

“So, forty-five sok each, yeah?” 

“Yes, that works for me.” 

The older man uncrossed his burly arms and offered a hand to the merchant with a grin. The young merchant nodded and shook it. 

“Oy! Come over here and pay this man!” 

A young man came running over with a leather pouch. He opened it up to show its contents. 

“Go ahead. Make sure it’s all there.” 

The merchant took the pouch and began carefully counting the coins. 

“Lahki, was it? Well, ya came at the right time! The whole capital’s run out of sand wyvern leather. We have an enormous backlog from some of the nobility. Now we can finally get started on those orders.” 

The young merchant, Lahki, stopped counting the coins and looked back up at the old man with a wry smile. 

If the affiliated guild didn’t have any leather in stock, then dealing directly with a workshop was generally allowed. This meant that Lahki could have sold the sand wyvern leather at an even higher price than what the guilds normally sold it for. 

“Well, looks like you got one over on me.” 

“Gyahahaha! No, I didn’t. The guild would’ve given you no more than thirty, y’know. I was treatin’ you right.” 

The old man shot Lahki a white, toothy grin and patted him hard on the shoulder before standing and returning to the workshop. 

After he’d finished counting the coins, Lahki said his goodbyes to the young man who’d brought them and left the shop. 

His cart was now significantly lighter without the three sand wyvern carcasses. The horses made good time as they pulled him back to the inn. Along the way, a young man with short-cropped blond hair waved him down. 

This muscular man wore leather armor, a simple sword at his waist, and a small shield on his back. He was clearly a mercenary. 

Lahki acknowledged the man and slowed the cart. The man jogged over, calling out to Lahki as he got close. 

“Hey, Lahki. If you’re heading back to the inn, I wanna ride.” 

Before Lahki even had a chance to answer, the man hopped into the back of the cart. Lahki looked back at the newcomer. 

“All done with your errands, Behl?” 

Behl smiled back and nodded. 

“Yup! I got my sword sharpened, so all that’s left is to laze about on my bed and rest.” 

He crossed his legs and sat down in the back of the cart, looking at all the people as they rode past. After a few moments, he turned back to Lahki, as if he’d just remembered something. 

“Did you get a good price on those sand wyverns?” 

Lahki responded with a pained grin as he recalled the meeting at the workshop. 

“Not really. He knocked me all the way down to forty-five sok each. Ah well, I don’t usually deal in leather anyway, so I’ll just tell myself it was a good price.” 

Behl laughed. “Anything’s a good price for something you find lying by the side of the road, right? Hey, have you noticed how tense the guards here seem?” His gaze narrowed in on a group of soldiers clustered in the already crowded streets. 

The soldiers had surrounded a suspicious-looking man. Passersby picked up their pace, giving the group a wide berth. Several other guards stood nearby, fixing their steely glares on anyone who came too close. Lahki focused on the road ahead to avoid making eye contact. 

“I wonder if something happened here in the capital.” 

Behl sat up from where he’d been leaning against the side of the cart and pulled himself closer to the driver’s seat, glancing around before speaking to Lahki in a hushed tone. 

“I heard that, just a few days ago, the slave markets here were attacked—a coordinated attack. A lot of slaves are currently on the run. And the biggest of the markets was completely leveled. I went to see it myself. It’s just literally a pile of bricks.” 

Lahki knitted his brow. “Judging by how the guards are acting, it seems like they haven’t caught whoever’s responsible.” 

“Seems like.” 

The two lowered their voices even further, exchanging glances as they neared the guards. 

“Probably best to not stay too long.” 

Lahki let out a heavy sigh and agreed with his friend. Behl resumed his seat, leaning against the side of the cart. 

“You said it. One wrong step and we might end up like that guy.” 

The cart pulled onto a street full of inns, and the two began scanning the area. 

Behl’s eyes fell on a woman standing in front of one of the inns and called out to Lahki, pointing in her direction. 

“There’s Rea. Over there.” 

Lahki steered the cart toward her. As soon as she spotted them, she began waving. 

Rea was dressed in mercenary garb, which allowed for easy maneuverability. She wore her chestnut-colored hair tied up in the back. She smiled at Lahki as the cart pulled up to the inn. 

“Heya, Lahki. How’d it go with the leather?” 

Lahki hopped down and started cleaning out the cart. “They really hammered me down on the price, but I sold them. The kobumi made me a tidy little profit, though, so this has been a good trip for us.” 

Behl butted into the conversation. “Speaking of which, where are we going next? Should we just bum around the capital for a while?” 

Rea glared at Behl, though she was curious how Lahki would respond. 

Lahki stared off into space for a moment before looking back at his two companions. 

“Now that we’ve got some coin to work with, and since the capital doesn’t look like the safest place to be right now, I was thinking about heading to Lamburt for a bit.” 


A bright grin spread across Behl’s face at the thought of finally returning home. 

“Ooh, maybe I can catch up with some friends!” 

Rea, however, looked confused. “Does that mean you’ve finally saved up enough for a permit to run your own shop?” 

“I dunno about that. I might have enough to buy a permit for a small shop at the officially listed rate…but I’d need some connections to make that happen. If it went to auction, there’s no way I could afford it. And that’s all assuming that there are even any permits for sale.” 

Despite the despondent look on his face, Lahki still seemed like he was enjoying himself. His cheerful demeanor spread to Rea and Behl. 

Behl hit his fist into his open palm. “Well then, whaddya say we start preparing for the journey?” 

“Sounds about right. It’s a ten-day trip to Lamburt from here, so we’ll want to make sure we’re well stocked up.” 

“I should to get some souvenirs from the capital for my family while I’m at it.” 

The three returned to their room for a final, fitful night’s rest in the capital. 

*** 

It had been nine days since they’d left the capital, and the trio was heading along a road flanked to the east by the Riebing Mountains as they made their way toward the glamorous port city of Lamburt. The road was usually well traveled, making it relatively safe from bandits. 

However, the monster in front of them had apparently scared away most of the other travelers and sent them running for their lives. The three were completely alone. 

A massive, three-meter-tall, bear-like creature covered in brown fur was blocking the road. Atop its massive body was the head of what looked like a wolf, its large, droopy ears giving it something of an endearing quality. 

For Behl, who was slowly approaching the beast with his shield and sword at the ready, it was anything but endearing. 

Though it wasn’t, strictly speaking, a monster, its massive body, combined with its sharp fangs and claws, made it far more formidable than the likes of goblins and orcs, putting it more in line with ogres in terms of raw power. 

“Dammit! I never thought we’d run into a bear wolf out here! And now he’s fixated on us.” 

Behl continued hurling insults at the bear wolf as he slowly advanced on it, swinging his sword at its face, trying to keep the beast’s attention on him. 

Rea started chanting behind him. “Stone of flames, heed my call. Strike my enemy down!” 

Two large, flaming stones shot off toward the bear wolf, but the beast avoided the attack by lunging toward Behl. It was surprisingly nimble for its size. 

Rea’s failed magic attack had only served to infuriate the beast. 

Behl lunched himself at the bear wolf, delivering a light gash to one of its front legs before diving back to safety. 

“Lahki! On my mark, I want you to release the horses as a decoy and get out of here with the money. Start getting ready!” 

“G-got it! Don’t do anything too dangerous!” 

Lahki began looking over the cargo in his cart. A moment later, he retrieved the bag of money that he kept hidden away. He heard a whistling sound as something cut through the air, causing him to lift his head. 

“Gwaaaaaargh!!!” 

At the exact same time, the bear wolf let out a bellowing cry in anger and pain. 

Lahki saw an arrow embedded deep in one of the beast’s eyes. It writhed about wildly, pawing the air with its front legs. 

Another swishing noise, and three arrows embedded themselves in the bear wolf’s hind legs, causing it to lose its balance and stumble backward. 

Never one to let an opportunity pass her by, Rea used her fire magic to sear the bear wolf’s face, the sudden heat causing the beast to tumble to the ground. Behl thrust his sword into the creature’s throat, the blade twisting and turning in his grip as it ripped through thick flesh, taut muscles, and bone. 

He heaved a sigh of relief and yanked his sword out, sending up a plume of blood and filling the air with a warm, coppery smell. 

Lahki looked around for the source of the arrows. He spotted a small group of young mercenaries standing atop a hill a short distance away. 

One of the men, holding a bow, waved to Lahki and started making his way over. 

Behl, who’d been catching his breath next to the bear wolf, suddenly noticed the man. 

“Axe, is that you?!” 

“Hey there, Behl! You’re still alive?” 

Axe offered a warm smile, which Behl returned, and the two shook hands. 

Axe turned his attention to Lahki and Rea. “Well, if it isn’t Lahki and Rea. It’s been a while.” 

“And once again, thanks to you, we’re still here.” 

“Heya, Axe.” 

Axe was a longtime friend of Behl and Rea. They’d met him when all three of them were members of the Lamburt mercenary guild, back before joining up with Lahki. After that, Lahki got to know Axe as well, and would occasionally request his protection when doing business near Lamburt. 

While the three chatted, Behl turned to the other mercenaries as they approached from behind Axe. Axe waved the four men over. 

“I’m the leader of a small squad now, still working for the mercenary guild.” 

Behl gave an overly dramatic gasp of surprise, then patted Axe on the shoulder and smiled brightly. 

“Well, you’re moving on up in the world, Axe.” 

“You could say that.” 

Axe gestured to the bear wolf collapsed in the middle of the road, blocking traffic. 

“Let’s talk business. We’re gonna split up this beast we just killed, right?” 

Lahki nodded. “Fine by me, but how are we going to get it back to town? We don’t have a lot of room in our cart, so maybe we should just take the parts we can use and load them up?” 

Axe agreed with this suggestion. He then motioned for his companions to start cutting up the carcass. 

“How are things in Lamburt? Any new developments?” 

“New developments?” 

Lahki stood next to Axe as the other mercenary helped his man chop away at the bear wolf. 

“Actually, now that you mention it, the town’s lord changed. Things were pretty messy for a while. But that’s all starting to sort itself out.” 

Lahki breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s good to hear. I’d rather not open up shop in a dangerous town.” 

Axe stopped chopping. “Still focused on that dream?” 

Lahki nodded. 

Axe smiled and snapped his fingers. “I mentioned that things were a mess, yeah? Well, some of the larger shops closed down. I hear that the new lord will be offering up some shop permits for sale soon.” 

Lahki’s eyes went wide. 

In towns like Lamburt, with a perimeter wall, space was at a premium. Most shops were already assigned to one thing or another, so spaces rarely opened up. It simply wasn’t possible to own a shop without a permit, and they were almost always purchased by someone from one of the larger towns. New permits were rare as well, since they required either a town expansion, explosive growth, or something equally unlikely. 

The only other cases were when shops went out of business, like now, or when a permit was sold to settle a debt. 

Axe was probably referring to the shops affiliated with the slave markets in the old part of town. With those gone, other medium-sized markets would likely try to secure more space for themselves. A lot of merchants with shops in the new part of town loved the idea of operating a business in the old part, which meant they might sell their existing permits. 

“If only I had a way to buy them before they go up for auction.” 

Lahki racked his brain, trying to think of anyone he might know who could help him get a permit. 

“Well, it seems like we’ll be in Lamburt for a while then.” Rea snickered to herself. 

Lahki nodded, his mind already hatching plans. 



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