"Your carriage is really nice. I can barely feel the shaking."
"I modified the suspension myself. If you want, I can also modify your waggon. It isn't that expensive."
"Hahaha, maybe sometime later. I was thinking of asking the carpenter family to repair my waggon. It has been with me for a long time, so the wood needs replacing from time to time."
"If it's like that then it's hard to tell if it is still the same waggon with all the repairs that have been done to it."
"Haha, that is true. However, as long as the metal plate with the carving made by my great, great, great grandmother is still there, it will always be the family waggon."
That is a lot of history right there. Dwarfs live pretty long, so you tend to see your great, great grandchildren.
Now that he mentioned it, I should have something similar to that carved plate. Something that would let people know that I am from some ancient family. It needs to show the passage of time, and it has to be unique enough but not gaudy.
It should be something subtle that I can carry with me at all times but should blend perfectly to my attire. A symbol that only the most perceptive people can notice, like those merchants. It is more like a decorative item but that should double as extra proof of my 'ancient family' lie.
"Next! Present your I.D."
"This is my I.D. I would also like you to inform the mayor that the village chief of Iron Volcano Village #39 is here for the meeting."
"This is mine, I'm here for the market."
"Hmm, alright, everything is in order. I'll inform the mayor of your arrival. This is the location of the accommodations reserved by the mayor for all the dignitaries. Would your companion also be accompanying you to the meeting?"
"Will you, brill?"
"I'm good, no thanks. I should be busy in the coming days. Do you also need a ride back?"
"I'll find you when we are done with the meeting. It shouldn't be that hard for the defence force to know your location inside the town after all, right?"
"Yes, sir. As long as they are staying inside the town. We can find anyone in it, especially if they aren't intentionally hiding from us."
"Good, I'll find you with the help of the defence force after the meeting. If you finished your business first, you can find me through them too. Well then, I will be going on ahead. Take care, brill."
"To you too, village chief."
"Alright, welcome to Jade Mountain Town #7. May you have a pleasant stay. Next!!"
Other than giving back the commissions, what else is there that I need to do?
I think I am running out of supplements for horn basher. I should also stock up on some materials. I can get iron from the village but the others are much easier, and much cheaper to get from the town. However, rather than this town, I should travel to the other town to get the cheapest price.
Even though this is a good town that is famous because of it's rare minerals, it doesn't have a good supply of anything else. I guess I could leave right now and head to the other town to purchase the material before returning back here to continue business.
I might as well do it early in case the village chief’s finishes early. He did say that he wants to observe the market, so I doubt that he will return to the village right after the meeting.
"Village chief, I'm going to visit the next town for a bit, I will come back here in a couple of days. When will you finish your meeting."
"Don't worry about me, just go about your business. I'll be in this town for some time even after the meeting finishes. If I can't find you then, I'll just hitch a ride when the farmer's family visits the town for their crops."
"I see. I don't really have any pressing business, so I should be able to give you a ride back to the village. Anyway, I'll go ahead and head to the next town for some supplies."
"Take care and try to see if you can form a group with the other travellers. It's safer to travel with a big crowd after all."
That is true but I should be safe. My carriage does look good but it is too plain to be attractive to bandits. There is also the fact that this area is considered the far, far, far countryside of the whole continent. The people who live here are poor but self-sufficient. The most they could take from the people here are some food and clothing.
Also, even though this is considered to be far away from the main road, the defence forces are still trained to the standard. Fighting the defence force here is the same as fighting a defence force in a town near the capital. The only difference is that there is a possibility that the army might hear the commotion and aid the town near the capital.
If the hardship they have to endure is the same then they would rather attack those towns and villages near the capital than travel all the way here to steal a sack of potatoes from a villager walking down the road. There is too little gain for the effort they need to put in.
"It looks like you have a full load there. Have you already finished your business in the market?"
"No, I just entered the town to drop off our village chief for the meeting. I have business in the next town."
"Sir, I was the one who inspected the luggage. They entered the town half an hour ago."
"Ok, good. However, we still need to do an inspection as you are leaving with cargo."
"That's fine."
It is a pain since I just entered the town some time ago but I guess this is their way of preventing smuggling and other crimes.
"Alright, you are good to go. Thank you for visiting our town, please come back again soon. May your visit next time help you and this town prosper."
The volcanoes in the village have iron golem wandering about. I don't have to worry about that. The titanium can only be mined after filtrating it from the molten magma. However, those are only from the shed leftover from the titanium golems. Those golems are impossible to beat at my current strength, and filtering the lava for their 'shed skin' is too time consuming and too inefficient for me to do.
"Welcome to Jade Mountain Town #7..."
And I am back! The next town was under tight guard when I visited them. I didn't get to enter the town because it was over capacity.
What in the devil's rock is 'over capacity'? Why does a town need a capacity limit? I mean the inside of the town did look crowded. It was like a school of fish inside the town.
Was there a celebrity visiting the town or something?
Anyway, it was unlucky that I didn't get to enter the town but I was lucky that other merchants also couldn't enter the town. It took some time to wait for the right merchant but I bought enough materials to last me for some time. The bargaining was exhausting as always though.
"Oh, Isn't this Mr. Smith. I assume that you want your usual stall location?"
"Yeah."
"Here are the documents."
I still haven't found an inn but if push comes to shove, I could just sleep at the stall. There is enough space to park the carriage at the stall. There won't be any room since the carriage takes up the majority of the space but I could use it as the stall itself.
The first time I came here, I only spread a roll of leather to lay out my wares, like doing a picnic of blades, but if I use the carriage as the actual stall, I would look like one of those snake oil salesmen from the olden days. It doesn't sound that bad actually.
If I lay down the leather that I used as a mat, then he could sleep under the carriage. There won't be space for him to wander around but he should be used to it during the time we visit the town.
