Since the window was small, only one person at a time could peek out, "What's the noise all about Sir Gabriel?" Tia asked.

"The heroes have arrived." I replied.

"Will you be joining the celebration at the center plaza?" Johan asked.

"Maybe we will, Tia what do you think?"

"I'll go if you go Sir Gabriel."

"Okay, we'll go to the center plaza then. How about you Johan?" 

"I still need to ask the branch master to look after you, after that maybe I'll join in." he replied.

"Thanks again Johan." I said to him before he left. I turned to Tia and asked her, "Shall we also go now?"

"Okay Sir Gabriel." Tia replied.

We went outside to join in the celebration at the center plaza.

+ + + + +

In the center plaza of the town of Nareña, the formation of armored knights led by Antonius stopped and dismounted, there they were met by the cheers of the residents. The man who rules over Nareña stood in front of the crowd.

The man walked to Antonius and extended his hand, “Welcome to my town court sorcerer.”

“I didn’t expect you to greet us yourself Baron Adelfonse.” Antonius replied.

“That’s the least thing I could do for the so-called heroes.” Adelfonse said and he pointed at the heroes. He came closer to Antonius and whispered, “Those are the new summons huh, they look pretty young and weak to me.”

“Do you even have an idea of how much we need to sacrifice to summon those otherworlders that you’re calling weak?” Antonius replied in a whisper.

“Yes, yes, I do know how many lives you needed to sacrifice, it was around 120 people right?” Adelfonse whispered, “You sacrifice 120 people and then they still get to be called as heroes by the masses, if only they knew how they were summoned and how His Majesty The King uses them.”

"If they knew then this Kingdom is finished, they do believe that the otherworlders have been given by the gods after all." Antonius whispered back.

"Let us continue this talk somewhere more private." Adelfonse whispered as he let go of Antonius' hand and turned to the residents, "LET US REJOICE FOR THE HEROES GIVEN BY THE GODS HAVE ARRIVED."

After his proclamation the whole plaza erupted with cheers and flowers were thrown up in the air enveloping the whole plaza with a sweet flowery fragrance. Everyone in the plaza wore joyful expressions, all except for a pair of eyes looking at the heroes which were filled with anger and hatred. No one noticed one pair of eyes filled with anger amidst a sea of people making joy.

After some time, the heroes moved on with Antonius and Adelfonse at the lead. The whole group paraded through the thoroughfare until they reached the Lord's Manor at the northern side of the town.

Upon arriving at the manor, Antonius and Adelfonse parted from the group and went to the baron’s study.

“Now then, let’s continue our talks.” Adelfonse began, “You’ve come to train those brats here right?”

“What else will we be doing in this town if not that? Think Adelfonse, your town’s only good point is your dungeon and the distance from the capital.”

“Tsk.” Adelfonse clicked his tongue, “This land was given by His Majesty The King to me, and we had an agreement that your summoned brats will train here. That was more than a decade ago and you’ve been training your brats here since then. So don’t you dare belittle my town.”

“My apologies then, now shall we go to the main issue.”

"Hmmp, what do you want now?" Adelfonse asked indignantly.

"His Majesty wants the otherworlders to be ready as soon as possible." Antonius said.

"And? What do you want me to do? They can got train in the dungeon all day and all night." Adelfonse replied.

"Your dungeon is for rookie adventurers, those monsters won't be enough to train the otherworlders quickly." Antonius paused and looked straight at Adelfonse's eye, "I need you to send adventurers or other people to the dungeon where an accident will happen."

"You want me to use the residents as experience for those otherworlders to level up?!" Adelfonse asked angrily.

Antonius wasn't bothered by Adelfonse's anger and he just answered calmly, "Yes, or do you want to lead you zresidents into battle against the Elyuans and the Alenburgians?"

"That is… let the brats kill the prisoners first, if those aren't enough we'll go with your plan." Adelfonse suggested.

"Very well." Antonius agreed as he stood up and made his way to the door, "Let us end this meeting here, I am famished, I hope you have prepared something good."

"Oh it is good alright, my chefs acquired a very fine salt." Adelfonse boasted.

"A fine salt you say? Hahaha, in what fantasy will you find something like that?" Antonius replied mockingly.

"Just you wait, you'll be taking back what you said when you see it, it cost me 12500 Pisas for 100 gramos." 

"12500 PISAS FOR 100 GRAMOS?! ARE YOU STUPID?!" Antonius shouted, "You can buy 3 kilogramos for 15000 Pisas."

“Hmmp, you’ll see, that 12500 Pisas is worth it, the salt coming from the east is nothing compared to this ‘Angel White salt’.”

“I’ve got no more time to quarrel with you, just serve up something nice.” Antonius scowled and left the room.

Adelfonse also left the room soon after. He then ordered the first servant he found to search for the merchant who sold the ‘Angel White Salt’.

That merchant might have more luxury ingredients.

+ + + Ian + + +

After the celebration at the plaza everyone went back to their normal daily routines. As for Tia and I, we explored the town. The town was like a typical medieval town back on Earth, not that I personally knew what they were like. Do they use wattle and daub for their houses here too? I also see some Tudor style houses, most buildings are made up of stone, wood, or bricks. The majority of the buildings are either one story or two story, but I have also seen some buildings that had 4 floors.

"This town looks nice." I said in amazement.

"How about the towns in your world?" Tia asked.

"Hmm, cities back in my world would have buildings that look like they'll reach the skies, streets filled with people, and much more." I replied.

"Bui-buildings that reach the sky? Only castles are that tall."

"Maybe here that's true, but back in my world many buildings are very tall, our world is much more advanced than yours." I explained, "Your world here is just like our world 500 years ago."

"Fi-five hundred years?!" she exclaimed.

"Yup." I said and fished out my phone, "This tool right here, this isn't a magic device, this is a product of our world's advancement. I guess that's enough exploring for today, let's head back to the inn."

We made our way back to the inn only to find out Johan was looking for us while we were out exploring. So instead of going to the inn we headed to the Merchants' Guild where Johan went according to the inn's receptionist.

Inside the Merchants' Guild the previously busy hall was empty, there were only a few people inside, maybe because it's already late afternoon. I spotted Johan sitting at a table, the branch master was sitting across from him.

"Hey Johan," I called out.

“Ian, we were just talking about you. The baron wishes to meet with you.” Johan said.

“Huh? Why is someone that important looking for me?” I asked.

“He wants more of your product.” the branch master replied in Johan’s stead.

“He wants more salt?” I asked questionably.

“No, do you have anything else?” asked the branch master.

“Uhmm, I got nothing else branch master, I do have 100 grams of pepper,” I answered.

“Pepper huh?” the branch master asked, “That should be fine too I guess, peppers are not that common in this part of the continent.” 

“I have it with me right now, shall I give it to you?”, I answered. Just kidding, I don’t really have one on me right now. I’ll buy one when we;re at our destination already.

“No, you’ll be selling it yourself. C’mon now let’s go to the manor and sell that fine pepper.” the branch master replied.

Without waiting for my agreement the branch master and Johan pulled Tia and I along and boarded a carriage. The carriage took us through the thoroughfare until we reached a walled section inside the town. 

The baron wants to segregate himself from the peasants huh? No, no. Wait, let's not be stereotypical here, maybe not all nobles are rotten. Let’s just say this wall is for defence.

A guard halted us at the gates but when he saw the branch master he let us in. Once inside the walls, a wide grassy courtyard greeted us. After the grassy courtyard, the manor itself greeted us. Standing at the manor’s doors was a portly man.

We disembarked the carriage and the portly man approached us, “Welcome to my manor, is this the merchant? He looks awfully young.”

“He might be young but he got some fine goods, he brought you some pepper too.” the branch master answered the portly man.

“True true, I am Baron Julian de Adelfonse, ruler of the town of Nareña.” he introduced himself in a self-important way.

“I am Gabriel, a travelling merchant, milord.” I replied. Dammit I don’t know how to talk to nobles.

“Where are these peppers that you are selling to me?” the baron asked directly.

“Please wait a moment milord,” I said and bought a 100g pack of black pepper from my skill and took it out of my Item Box via my inner blazer pocket. “Here it is milord, do you want to see the product?”

“Yes, yes, hurry it up and show it to me.” the baron said in a hurry.

I opened the paper packet and when the baron saw the contents he gasped and stepped back. The branch master and Johan were shocked at the baron’s reaction so they took a peek at the contents, they had the same reaction as the baron.

“I-is there a problem?” I asked worriedly, I turned to look at Tia and she was also stunned.

“S-so much black pepper.” she muttered.

“Boy! You didn't tell me that it was black pepper, I thought it;s just some green or red pepper from the east.” the branch master said.

“I-is there a problem?” I asked again.

“IS THERE A PROBLEM!? HAHAHA, JOHAN YOU DEAL WITH THIS.” the branch master said as if giving up and passed his problem to Johan.

“Where did you even find that much black gold?” Johan asked as he grabbed my shoulders.

Black gold? Oh crap, peppers were actually pretty expensive in the medieval era. Fun fact: you could pay taxes using whole peppercorns back then.

“Milord, I’ll give you half of this pack for free as a sign of friendship.” I said to the baron wanting to get out of Johan’s grip.

The baron who was just shocked a while ago immediately regained his composure after hearing my offer, “I accept your token of friendship, and in return I shall invite you to my banquet tonight.”

“I humbly accept your invitation milord.” I answered, I turned to Tia and asked her, “Do you want to join the banquet too?”

“I-I’ll pass this time Sir Gabriel.” she replied, “I’ll go back to the inn now.”

I turned to Johan and asked him to take Tia back to the inn, “Johan, can you escort Tia back to our inn? I’ll give you the remaining half of the pepper.”

“DEAL!!” he shouted.

I split the contents of the pack and gave a half each to the baron and Johan, after which Johan, Tia, and the branch master got on the carriage and left the manor grounds. As for me, I was led inside the manor and into a dining hall where several people were already there, my friends and classmates.

“Who is that?” asked an old man to the baron.

“My merchant friend who was kind enough to give me one more luxurious ingredient.” the baron answered.

“Hmmp, what nonsense did you get this time?” the old man answered disappointedly.

The baron reached into the pack and gave some to the old man, “Heh, is b;ack gold nonsense for you?”

“What in the gods name!? Where did you get this much black gold!?” the old man asked in a surprise.

As the baron and the old man continued their conversation, I had my eyes focused on the old man. That old man was the same old man who hypnotized my friends and classmates. I was trying so hard not to let my anger show.

“Boy!” the old man suddenly called out to me, “Name your price, for this much black gold.”

“I’ll give you 25 kilos of black gold if you let me have her.” I said while pointing at Cess.