I woke up the following morning feeling refreshed. Tia was still sleeping soundly on the other bed when I woke up. The chilly morning breeze came in through the tiny window.

The cold breeze helped me fully wake up as it sent shivers down my body. I looked around for my weapons, but they weren't there.

Fuck, where'd my weapons go.

I looked at the drawer and under the bed but they're nowhere to be found. I was beginning to panic when I heard the voice in my head.

‘Answer: Weapons are stored in the item box… ‘

Oh, shit yeah, I did wish for somewhere to hide my weapons. How do I retrieve them?

‘Answer: Use item box skill… ‘

Yeah of course, I know I need to use the damn skill, but isn’t there a tutorial or something?

'Answer: Negative… Tutorial skill cannot be implemented… Say skill name to activate skill… '

Aight, I need to load my 1911 though, here goes. Item box.

A list of items stored in my item box appeared in my eyes, I retrieved my 1911 and the box of .45 cartridges. I unloaded the magazine and started loading bullets one by one.

In the middle of my loading TIa woke up, “Hrrmmm… Good morning, Sir Gabriel, what are you doing?” she asked.

“It’s nothing, I’m just preparing my weapon.” I replied.

Loading the magazine just took a minute or so, after which I then loaded the magazine on the gun. I also made sure to keep the safety on, I don’t want any accidental discharge.

We went downstairs after fixing our beds. I plan on going to the merchant guild to register and sell some salt packets. Johan told me that everyone can register there as long as they can pay the registration fee and the annual tax. Tia said she’ll cover the registration fee since it costs 500 Pisas or 5 Pises.

The coins they use here have different names:

         Gold           -       Piso

         Silver Plate -       Kiso

         Silver           -       Pise

         Half-Silver  -       Kise

         Copper Plate-       Kisa

         Copper      -       Pisa

And the conversion is something like this:

         Gold           -       10000 Pisas

         Silver Plate -       1000 Pisas

         Silver           -       100 Pisas

         Half-Silver  -       50 Pisas

         Copper Plate-       10 Pisas

         Copper      -       1 Pisa

That’s enough about money for today, we still need to go to the Merchants’ Guild to sell some salt, but first I need to get some salt from my skill. Can you get me 8 more packets of salt with my remaining 0.8 points?

‘8 10g Packets of salt bought for 0.8 points… Remaining Balance: 44… Items can be found in the Item Box… ’

Nice, I don’t need to wait for boxes to fall from the sky.

I took out the salt packets from my Item Box and placed them inside my pocket. Now that I think of it, this is the first time I reached into my pocket.

I checked my phone to see if it’s still working. “YES! IT STILL WORKS!” I shouted involuntarily.

Tia looked at me wide-eyed, “Si-sir Gabriel?” she asked in surprise.

Someone also banged on the wall from the adjacent room, “KEEP IT DOWN WILL YOU!? PEOPLE ARE STILL DAMN SLEEPING!?”

Oh shit, I might have been too excited. “I-it’s nothing.” I replied to TIa.

I checked if there is a reception here, and holy cow there is a reception. How the hell do I have reception?

I tried calling my family, but to no avail. It didn't even ring, it just got disconnected. Next, I tried calling my friends. It did ring but only for a minute before it also got disconnected. It is possible to contact them then, if only they weren't hypnotized.

Enough of that talk, I'll deal with it when I get there. I need to deal with things happening right now first.

With that thought out of my mind, Tia and I went out of our room and went to the dining hall where we had some breakfast.

The breakfast consists of bread, a bowl of soup, and an egg. Like the dinner before, the soup was bland and there was no salt to put on the egg.

I do have some salt packets in my pockets, but I'm not gonna use them since they're for my business.

After having breakfast, we went to the Merchants' Guild to register and earn some quick cash.

+ + + + +

In a road somewhere between the capital and the dungeon town of Nareña a mounted contingent of people has stopped by the roadside. This was the otherworlders party and a platoon from the 2nd King’s Guard.

Antonius was at the head of the formation, he got off his horse and approached the middle of the formation where the otherworlders are located. “Why did we stop?” he asked one of the knights.

“A sound came from one of the heroes, apparently it came from Sir Carlo.” the knight answered.

“What sound was it?” Antonius asked.

“I’m not sure sir, better ask Sir Carlo yourself.” the knight said.

Not wanting to waste more time Antonius went to Carlo. “What was that sound?” he asked Carlo.

“I don’t know, it came from this.” Carlo said as he fished something out of his pocket.

Hmm, I don’t know what it is, that’s probably why they also don’t know. One of the flaws of hypnosis, the caster’s knowledge will replace the target’s knowledge.

Not knowing what the item was, Antonius just dismissed it and went back to the head of the formation, “It’s nothing, let’s move now.” he said to the knight captain.

The formation was once again on the move, their destination still a considerable distance away.

+ + + Ian + + +

The Merchants’ Guild was just across the street from where we were staying so getting there was no problem.

*Cli-cli-cling*

A bell rang as we entered the Merchants' Guild. Despite it being early, the guild was already crowded with people coming and going, there are also several lines in front of the receptionist counter, and some people were sitting at tables near the corner of the building.

"That's a lot of people." I muttered in amazement, I thought there'd be less people since we came in pretty early.

"I think we'll spend the whole morning here." Tia said.

I'll have to agree with her seeing that there's several long lines for the counters. We were about to go to the back of the line when someone called out to me.

"Hey Gabriel, what are you doing here?" said Johan as he made his way to us.

"I'm going to register as a merchant and sell some salt, just like what you told me last night at the dining hall." I replied.

"I did say something like that, well then, good luck to you. I have to go; I still have an appointment to catch." he said.

"Appointment here in the Guild?" I asked.

"Yes, oh and look at that, a guild employee is coming for me now." he answered as he pointed at a man looking at him.

An opportunity presented itself to me, the only thing I need to do is seize it.

I need 100g of salt ASAP.

'1 pack of 100g salt bought for 1 point… Remaining Balance: 43… '

"Johan, wait, let me join in your meeting. I'll give you a pack of salt." I said to him.

"Hmm? Now this is an interesting deal, how much salt are we talking about?" he asked with a grin.

"I only have an extra 100 grams that I can give." I said in a low voice.

"A hundred gramos of that fine stuff?" He asked back in surprise.

I reached into my blazer and retrieved the pack of salt from my Item Box, "Yeah, here I'll give it to you now."

Damn, I feel like I'm trading some illegal stuff.

"Wh-what? It's a deal." he replied enthusiastically as he grabbed the pack of salt, "You have the makings of a great merchant already."

We followed Johan to a room where he was led by the employee. Inside the room, a man was already seated at one of the couches.

“Good morning, Johan, who have you brought along with you?” the man asked.

“A possible valuable trading partner, he says he wants to become a merchant, so I brought him along.” Johan answered.

“Hmm, you consider this boy a valuable trading partner ehy?” the man said as he looked at me as if he was sizing me up, “What about the lass there?”

“A companion of his.” Johan answered.

“Hmm, so what does he have that makes him a ‘valuable trading partner’?” the man asked.

“He has this.” Johan answered as he presented a small paper packet. Isn’t that the salt packet I gave him last night? Johan then sprinkled a bit of salt onto the man’s palm.

The man pressed his finger on the salt and gave it a little taste, “HUH!? THIS IS SALT? WHY IS IT SO FINE?”

“That my friend, is why he is a valuable trading partner.” Johan said with a grin, “He even gave me 100 gramos of salt just to be a part of this meeting.”

"Quite the bargain you got there." the man replied and he turned to me, "You want to be a merchant right?"

"Yes sir." I answered.

The man took out a piece of paper, wrote something on it, and folded it before he gave it to me, "Show this to anyone manning the counters. You can just skip the line too."

After handing out the paper the man led us out of the room where he whispered something to the employee waiting outside. The employee gave a nod to the man before turning to us, "I'll be guiding you to the counter now Mr. Gabriel."

Wait, is that man like the top brass here? I mean he just said I can skip the line after he gave me a piece of paper and now he whispered something to the employee and the employee obliged.

"Can I ask a question?" I said to the employee.

"I'll answer everything you ask." the employee replied.

"Who exactly is that man?" I asked.

"Oh, did the guild branch master not introduce himself?" she answered with a question.

"Uh no, not really." I replied, "The branch master huh?"

We arrived at the counters not long after, the lines didn't look like they moved. In fact, I think there's more people now.

The long lines didn't matter though, because the employee led us straight to one of the counters. Some people that were in the lines looked shocked as they watched us skip the lines.

"HEY WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA SKIPPING AHEAD OF US HUH?" One of them protested, Hey , if you have a problem with it, take it to the branch master.

The employee stopped and turned around, “If you have a problem then take it up to the branch master. This boy was sent by him."

After hearing what the employee said, the people became quiet. The one who protested was a bit red because of the embarrassment.

"Hey Maya, can you take care of this boy? Branch master sent him." the employee said to the girl behind the counter.

"Sure, my name's Maya, and I'll be your receptionist for today." Maya introduced herself.

"I'm Gabriel, please take care of me today." I replied and handed over the paper to her.

"Hmm, I see, I see. It says here that you want to be a merchant?" Maya asked after reading the paper.

"Yes.” I answered.

“Will you be registering as a peddler or do you have a store?” Maya asked.

“I’ll just register as a peddler for now since I still don’t own a store.” I answered, “The registration fee is 500 Pisas right?”

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about the registration fee Mr. Gabriel.” Maya replied, “The branch master said in the letter to waive off the registration fee and your first annual tax.”

“Huh? He wrote that there?” I asked in surprise, “I-I see, how generous of the branch master.”

“Right, so we’ll just need you to write your name here, age here, and a drop of blood here.” Maya said as she instructed me to fill up several forms.

I finished filling up the forms in no time, after which Maya took the forms to confirm them.

“That’s all good now Mr. Gabriel, welcome to the Merchants’ Guild, you can pick up your guild card tomorrow.”

“Alright, registration complete, can I now sell stuff here?” I asked.

“Yes, let me just call someone to cover for me so I can assist you.” Maya said as she called someone. “Elaine, can you cover for me real quick?”

Maya left her counter and came over to us, “You don’t have to skip your work for us you know, you could’ve just said where I can sell stuff.” I said to her.

“Nuh-uh, branch master’s order.” she replied with a shake of her head, “So, what did you want to sell Mr. Gabriel.”

“80g of salt.” I answered.

“Hmm? Just 80 gramos?” she asked, “Will you even make some profit with that?”

“I just need some money right now, and besides I can even bring more next time.” I answered.

“I see, well then let’s see what you got.” she said.

I took out the salt packets from my pocket, since the packets were made out of paper you couldn’t see the contents inside, “Well here they are, let me open one so you can see it.”

I opened one packet and poured it on my palm, “Th-that’s salt?” Maya asked.

“Yes, here, have a little taste.” I offered some of it for her to taste.

“It is salt!” she replied, “How much will you sell a packet for?”

“That I don’t know.” I replied and I turned to Tia, “How much should we sell it for?”

“I don’t know Sir Gabriel.” Tia answered.

“I see, how about 500 Pisas?” I asked Maya to which she responded with a gasp, “T-too high?”

“Uh-h, actually I think it’s low? Nobles will probably pay 1500 Pisas for this?” Maya answered, “Are you sure you want to sell it for only 500 Pisas?”

“Yeah, I guess? I mean yeah I’ll sell it for 500 Pisas, this one time only though. Let’s say it’s my way of showing gratitude for the special treatment, okay?” I replied.

“Okay, I have received 7 packets, that’ll be 3500 Pisas, am I right?” she said as she gathered all the remaining packets.

“Yes, that is correct.”

“Okay, here is your payment, 3 Kisos and 5 Pises for a total of 3500 Pisas, please confirm the amount.” she said as she gave a couple of coins.

“I can confirm that I have received 3500 Pisas.”

“Pleasure doing business with you Mr. Gabriel.” Maya said as she stood up and offered a handshake.

I stood up and shook her hand, “We’ll keep doing business here until we decide to leave Nareña.”

With our business at the Merchants’ Guild done we decided to leave the building, once we were outside we were greeted by a crowd of people gathered near the Merchants’ Guild.

I asked a person who was near us, “Excuse me sir, why is there a gathering of people there?”

“Hmm? A town crier came a while ago and announced that the summoned heroes will arrive in the afternoon or in the evening.” the man answered.

Huh!? They’re coming here?