"Welcome back, village chief. How was the meeting."

I already bought the materials I needed, ingredients too. Ingredients for my meals can be procured from the village but there are things I can only get here. Fodder for horn basher is also stocked. He will get tired of the grass I grow at home if he keeps eating it all the time, so I need to mix in these for a change of flavour.

In the event that the material prices go higher, I plan to make a trip to other towns, or maybe a city to top up my supply. It would be cheaper if I visit the towns that specialise in the materials I need, so I might take a vacation from doing commissions.

"Ah, thank you brill. I'm sorry for making you wait for this long. You could have left without me, I would have found another ride back. I have a few friends here that I could talk to after all."
"It's not much of a problem for me though. It's nice to take it easy from time to time. I rarely visit here after all."
"Well, as long as it doesn't inconvenience you. Anyway, I will take some time to look around."

He looks serious. He usually has this carefree expression all the time but today, it seems that something is weighing on his mind. The village chief did go to an official meeting. I wonder if they were talking about the prices. I guess it is a serious issue for a small village like ours. However, I think that we can pull through even if the price were raised a bit. The village does produce enough food to feed itself. The only thing that would be problematic will be the spices. Most of the crops that the farmer's family plant are vegetables.

Would the lack of salt be a problem for us? Salt is a mineral and you can mine it. I wonder if there is a salt town somewhere here in the dwarf continent.

"That is fine, I have some leeway. This is where my stall is located and this is my inn. You can just visit me when you are done observing the market."
"Thank you. The meeting is done but the mayor will still let us stay at the accommodations he prepared, so I don't need to find an inn. I should be done within a couple of days, maybe sooner. I can't really trouble you to the point that it affects your work after all."
"Don't worry, take your time."

I need to check some maps for town locations. Maybe I can find an information broker about merchant trade routes. I just need to find places where I can buy bulk materials for cheap.

I'm bored. It has been four days since the village chief finished the meeting. I have done everything I needed to do.

Unfortunately, the nearby towns don't mine the material I wanted to resupply. The price might increase for them too, so I still bought them but the things I needed are far from here.

I should have known this already. The material that I currently have low supply of are the rare kind. If there are towns that can mine those materials here, then the security of that area should be well protected, like this jade town here.

When I was on my way here with those mercenary escorts, we found bandits. This means that they have already judged that the area around that place lacks security. It's a great place for them to start their raiding grounds.

The information broker here already knows of the situation but the price to know the real reason is expensive. There seems to be a lock up of all information relating to that, which is a big red flag for others not to pursue it if you don't want to get involved.

It's risky and pricey for its importance. It doesn't benefit me at all, so I stayed clear of it. I only got the information of places where I can buy the materials I need for cheap.

The places listed are far but the prices are good. Of course there are other materials where the prices are not low enough for me to travel all the way to the listed place. For those materials, I just have to think that the increase of price is for the travel and convenience fee.

"So this is your store, brill."
"Oh, village chief! What a surprise! I'm afraid that it isn't a store but only a stall. My wares aren't enough for me to open a store."
"Hahaha, You'll reach there someday. I just came by to tell you that I finished my business. I'm ready to go back whenever you are finished with yours."
"Oh good, If you don't have anything else to do why not return today? My commission schedule is full and I don't really need to sell anything else. I just need to drop by the office to pay off the stall rent."

I said before that it is nice to slack off every now and then but as expected, I am starting to miss my home. It might be the occasional 'negotiator' who wanted half the price down, or persistent rich folks who want to force me to take on their commission.

It's not really taxing for me to do more commissions but I don't want to work like I have a debt that needs to be repaid. It would only drain my motivation.

"Ah, no, not now. It's midday, we won't make it back in time."
"Hmm? Even Though I have some baggage, horn basher should have enough strength to pull the waggon back to the village in time. He did get stronger since he first came to the village. We should arrive around evening."
"It's fine, we can leave tomorrow morning. I'll just go back and thank the mayor for his hospitality. I'll visit your inn tomorrow, until then."

That was weird. It was quick but I saw the heavy expression the village chief had when I mentioned returning now. Something really seems to be weighing on his mind. Don't tell me he borrowed money from loan sharks to help support the village while the prices are high?

The reason he doesn't want to leave right now is because he is still asking around his fellow village chief and mayors to ask for some kind of subsidy to help the village tide over this price hike?

If that is all then I don't mind donating a bit of my money. I doubt the village chief would take my money but I can lower my prices at the village to help lighten the load. I'll just increase my prices here at the town, so that the village chief that I am not cutting into my flesh to help them.

"Was your business good, brill?"
"Yeah it was fairly good."

I'm fine with not making small talk on the way back to the village but it can't be helped, this is the village chief.

"Fairly good? Did something happen?"
"haha, it's not really that something happened but I lost a bit of money because of my poor planning."

I lost my profit but I consider that loss the price of the lesson I learned. One lesson which I will never forget since I will make sure to prepare better.

"Things like these happen. I'm glad that you are not taking this loss too badly. You learn things as you go through life. Overcoming them means adapting to these problems. It's the secret to a long life."

I'm not sure losing a portion of my profits because of inflation is related to a long life but even if it did, I can always restart to a new life.

"Brill, How do you feel about the village?"

I knew it! I really knew it! The village chief did something to help the village tide through the price increase. That must be the reason he has been looking solemn these past few days.

Is this the part where he asks me if I could help support the village?

I'm not up there with the top earners in the village like the farmer family, the carpenter family, or bron but from their eyes, someone who came from a town, and graduated from an academy, like me, must be a pretty big deal.

"The village is my home."

This is true since this is the only home I have in this continent.

"I see, I'm happy you feel that way. You are new to the village but this concerns everyone."

The farmer family and bron will take care of the food, the carpenter family will help everyone with construction. I do have my forging skills but I don't see any way I can directly help the village during these times.

"The truth is, the bandits have started to spread in the continent. Some army students got involved in a conflict with the bandits at the dragon's road. The battle escalated to the point that an army was sent out to wipe out the dragon's road. Most, if not all, the bandits escaped into the continent. There are a lot of places for them to hide on the continent. It seems that they are finally showing signs around our region. Prices will increase, road will be more dangerous, and small villages like ours will most likely be targeted."
"hah?"