The Great Wish - Chapter 7.4

Vol.1 Chapter 7 Part 4 

Kuhn crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. His finger was tapping his arm, revealing his inner emotions. When he heard the door open, he turned his head. 

'Darn it.' 

Kuhn sighed. Even if she was wearing a sack, her figure would still shine through. There was no use disguising her as a man like this. 

Kuhn silently stared at her. Sienna awkwardly hesitated. 

"Is there a problem? Did I wear something incorrectly?" 

"You wore it correctly, but..." 

Kuhn passed by her and entered the storage room. He rummaged through the pile of clothing and finally found what he was looking for. 

"Please drape this on top." 

Sienna saw that he was holding up a long robe that would drop down to her thigh. 

"What's the difference between this and what I was wearing before?" 

"There's a difference between a noblewoman wearing a cloak and a man wearing a robe. Thankfully, the marketplace is open to all sorts of merchants right now. Because there are a lot of people walking around with their faces covered, you won't look out of place." 

"Why do they hide their faces?" 

"Because they are merchants. There are some that have scars on their faces, and they don't want to catch anyone's eye." 

Sienna nodded. Whenever she was with him, she learned all kinds of new things. She came to realize that there was a lot she didn't know. 

"Please don't speak either. Your voice will give it away." 

"Didn't you just say that it was strange to not speak to one's companion?" 

"I will be speaking to you. You only need to nod or shake your head." 

"All right." 

"If you want to perfect your disguise, there's one more thing." 

"What is it?" 

"If I speak to you politely, others will think that you are a man of high status. Would it be okay for me to speak to you comfortably?" 

"..." 

"If you don't want to, then we can continue with a less perfect..." 

"Fine!" 

Sienna glared at him as she answered him. 

"But I better like the results I get from this disguise." 

He grinned at her. 

"Of course. And it will be good to give you a false name. A man's name..." 

"Edward." 

Edward Roxan. Sienna decided to use his false name. 

How does it feel? Did I land a blow? Kuhn snickered when he saw her triumphant face. He raised both his hands and pulled the robe's hood over her head. 

"You only need to remember one thing. Never leave my side." 1 

Sienna's eyes widened. He quickly grabbed her arm and dragged her to the door before opening it. 

The reason why Sienna had never ventured far from the linen shop was that it was easier to look around in a place with fewer crowds. She didn't even think of going further into the marketplace. She didn't want to make it harder for her guards to keep an eye on her in such a crowded space. 

However, now she found herself in the center of the bustling marketplace. Kuhn quietly grasped her shoulder, so Sienna went wherever he led her. With him leading the way, they managed to avoid bumping into people. 

Her eyes were constantly looking at her surroundings. It was messy, loud, and full of all sorts of smells. Everything was so fascinating to her. Why was it so loud? Why were they all yelling when all they were doing was selling and buying goods? It was so different from the social parties she attended. 

'How chaotic.' 

However, there was an energy here. Although there weren't any of the pretty smiles she was used to seeing at social parties, all the people in their shabby clothes had a spirited look on their faces. 

Merchants were barking and shouting along the streets as they tried to bring in more customers. Among them, one person's shout caught Sienna's ear. 

"Desert mantis tails! The best aphrodisiac there is! We have desert mantis tails for sale!" 

Desert mantis? How could such a monster be put up for sale? 

Sienna pulled on Kuhn's clothes. She stretched out her hand and pointed to the man selling the desert mantis tail. 

'I must go and see that.' 

Kuhn looked troubled as he let out a sigh. 

"That's a con. Don't mind it. He's a medicine peddler. Ah, you probably don't know what that is. How should I explain this?" 

Sienna shook her head. If it was a con, then she wanted to see it even more. How dare that man swindle her good subjects? She would never forgive him. 

A group of spectators had gathered around the merchant's stall. Sienna and Kuhn were among them. Sienna glared at the merchant and glanced around. 

Bundles of something dried and black were stacked in a pile. It was about the length of a hand. One man solicited the crowd. Another was grinding these unknown objects into a fine powder. Another man was answering the questions of the spectators. Overall, there were six men in total who splitting up the work in this stall. Judging from their clothing, they weren't from the Empire. 

"They aren't something you can see every day. A desert mantis, you see, won't die even if it's been cut into two pieces. A single drop of poison from its tail can kill a water buffalo. That's how terrible they are. When the sun is up, they curl up underneath boulders. But when the sun goes down, they hunt beasts that are dozens of scores bigger than they are..." 

It seemed that these were merely scorpions with the title 'desert mantis tail' slapped on them. 

"But that's not the craziest thing about them. Once the season begins to cool, they find their mates... and five days! They don't rest and mate for five days. Are you not satisfied with your husband at night? Try feeding him this." 

The merchant began to share some dirty stories with the middle-aged customers. There was a burst of rowdy laughter. The seller and some of the spectators began to exchange jokes. 

'Uh...' 

Kuhn restlessly swept back his hair. Usually, these kinds of stories would go in one ear and out the other, but they suddenly sounded so embarrassing. 

"There's no need to listen to this. There's still a lot we need to see..." 

Sienna gestured to the merchant and then to the pile of bundles next to him. 

Kuhn almost couldn't believe it, so he had to ask. 

"...You want to buy it?" 

Sienna nodded. 

"..." 

He didn't know how to describe this ridiculous feeling. The first gift he'd be buying for the woman he held in his heart was a dried scorpion that served as an aphrodisiac. 

Sienna stretched out her arm once again and pointed at the dried scorpions. She adamantly gestured to him to show that it was what she wanted. Kuhn was unable to reject her demand. 

"Where are you going to use this?" 

Kuhn mumbled under his breath as he approached the man who was in charge of ringing up the customers. 

"How much?" 

"One bundle for one large silver coin..." 

The man slowly looked up as he replied before putting on a strange expression. The customer looked absolutely fine. For such a young kid to have this kind of problem already... His eyes looked at Kuhn with a mixture of pity and sympathy. 

Kuhn became furious and answered back. 

"It's not for me." 

"Did I ask? One large silver coin." 

The merchant snorted as he held out his hand and shook it. Kuhn suppressed the urge to throw the silver coin at the merchant's greasy face and proceeded to exchange the coin for the bundle. 

"Happy now? Let's go." 

He didn't wait to hear Sienna's answer and dragged her away by the arm. Sienna glared up at him from underneath her hood. He sounded very comfortable speaking to her informally. Almost as if he were waiting for this opportunity. 

'So that's how you buy things.' 

This was the first time she saw someone use a silver coin in exchange for goods. It wasn't anything amazing, but she had never done or seen anything like this before. 

As she was being dragged away, something caught Sienna's eye. It was something she hadn't expected to see in such a chaotic place such as this. She dug her feet into the ground and stopped. She saw stones of various colors sparkling from a stall behind a merchant's shoulder. 

'They look like jewels, but they're probably not jewels, right?' 

Even though she didn't know much about the world, she did know that jewels were expensive. It wasn't something that would be sold by a man who was wearing humble clothing without any security present. 

"It is made of solidified tree resin. Basically, the resin hasn't turned into amber just yet. While it may look sturdy, it's actually quite brittle. Its color and transparency are just like that of a jewel, so it's used in a lot of accessories. It won't last very long, though. In about three or four months, its color will fade and it will break." 

Sienna listened to Kuhn's explanation. She couldn't take her eyes off of the round stones that shimmered in a variety of colors. She couldn't tell them apart from jewels at all. 

"How much?" 

Kuhn asked the merchant. 

"A small silver coin." 

Kuhn chuckled. The price was way over the top. He lightly tapped Sienna's shoulder and spoke. 

"Let's go somewhere else. It looks like the merchant doesn't know how to price his goods." 

"You are so impatient for such a young man." 

The merchant quickly caught onto him. 

"You should learn to listen until a person is finished speaking. One small silver coin in exchange for ten of these." 

"You're selling these in a bundle of ten? Is there anyone here that will buy this? I've seen others sell one for five small pieces of silver coin." 

"The quality of my goods are different from the rest. Where did you go and see such trash? For something of this size and quality, they don't compare." 

Kuhn and the merchant began to quarrel over the price. In the end, Kuhn gave him a final offer. 

"A small silver coin for fifteen. And we get to pick them." 

The merchant huffed and grumbled. He was frowning but didn't refuse. From his expression, one could tell that he wasn't going to be gaining a large profit from this transaction. 

'Is this what haggling is?' 

Sienna's eyes were filled with curiosity. The price of an object had changed after a few words. She was surprised that the variable prices in the marketplace didn't cause an economic crash. 

Kuhn picked a variety of different colors and handed the merchant a silver coin. 

"Geez, and you went ahead and picked out all the good ones. You have quite an eye." 

The merchant took the silver coin and half-complimented and half-grumbled. 

After that, this process repeated itself multiple times. Whenever Sienna found something that caught her eye, she'd stop and take a look. If she wanted something, she'd gesture for Kuhn to buy it. After some time, she didn't even have to gesture to him. If Sienna made even a slight indication of being interested in something, Kuhn would just buy it on his own. 

As she walked around and bought a bunch of goods, she came to realize something. 

'The people don't really use the silver coins' official names.' 

There was a total of 4 classes of silver coins. It would take 10 of the smaller coins to equal the value of the coin of the next rank. Each class of silver coin had its own respective name. However, she had not heard anyone use its proper names in the marketplace so far. 

Everyone called the lowest class of silver coins a 'piece'. The next class was '10 pieces', and the next class was 'small silver coin'. The highest class would be called a 'large silver coin'. 

"Do your legs hurt? Why don't we go and rest somewhere and grab something to drink?' 

Completely immersed in the marketplace, Sienna didn't have time to feel anything else. Only after hearing Kuhn's question did Sienna feel a sudden pain in her legs and realize that she had a parched throat. 

Sienna looked at him and nodded. 

1 Kuhn begins speaking to Sienna informally from here on out.?